Rapper YG was arrested Friday morning on robbery charges at his home in Southern California, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department said in a press release. The “Go Loko” artist was taken into custody after sheriff deputies arrived at his residence with a search warrant related to an ongoing criminal investigation involving a robbery. The 29-year-old,
Seemingly every genre was represented at Warner Music Group’s pre-Grammy party on Thursday night, which attracted couples (Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani, Ashlee Simpson and Evan Ross, Ava Max and Cirkut) making a date night out of it, hip-hop heavyweights (Ty Dolla $ign and Wiz Khalifa, who blew clouds of fragrant smoke at photographers in
The Billie Eilish vs. Lizzo throwdown has dominated the 2020 Grammy conversation, but there’ll be plenty of other nail-biters when the awards are handed out on Jan. 26. Will Lil Nas X upset girl power in album of the year, record of the year and/or best new artist? Will country legend and 14-time nominee Tanya
For someone who’s quickly made a career out of mining sadness in songs like his international chart smash “Someone You Loved,” Lewis Capaldi has gotten kind of used to being someone you laugh at. The 23-year-old Scottish upstart is not the first performer whose personality outside of his songs is very different from the one
She may famously “stay high all the time,” but Grammy-nominated Swedish pop export Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson — better-known as Tove Lo — still keeps a steady eye for design. When a stylish, privately-situated midcentury compound in the Hollywood Hills recently popped up for sale with a $4 million ask, the moody songstress quickly swooped
Jeffrey Katzenberg has heard the chatter about streaming wars, but the media mogul thinks that when the dust settles, the fight to attract audiences won’t end with just a few victors. “Everybody suddenly wants to declare winners and losers and the fact is there’s only winners and winners right now,” he said during an interview
Two months ago, the Directors Guild of America heralded a major milestone in its long push for inclusion in the television industry. The DGA’s episodic television director inclusion report found that half of all TV episodes in the 2018-19 season were directed by women or directors of color for the first time. “Inclusion has been
Among the many allegations in ousted Recording Academy CEO Deborah Dugan’s blockbuster legal complaint, the one that possibly cuts most to the heart of the institution — and is of most concern to artists and the public — is the allegation that the nominating process is “rigged.” The example in the complaint points to the
January 24, 2020 2:17PM PT Sony Pictures is in early development of a reboot of the “Anaconda” franchise, hiring “Divergent” writer Evan Daugherty to write the project. The studio has not set up the project with a producer, director or actors. Sony released the original “Anaconda” in 1997 as a horror thriller starring Jennifer Lopez,
January 24, 2020 1:32PM PT A longtime friend of Annabella Sciorra testified Friday in Harvey Weinstein’s criminal trial that the actor turned to cutting herself and exhibited other troubling behavior in the mid-1990s after she was allegedly raped by the disgraced film mogul. The defense questioning of model Kara Young got heated as Judge James
YouTube landed a multiyear deal as the exclusive live-streaming partner for Activision Blizzard’s e-sports events worldwide, including Overwatch League, Call of Duty League, Hearthstone Esports. The agreement (which excludes China) promises to give a big boost to YouTube Gaming, the video giant’s dedicated home for all things related to games. It’s also a loss for
In 1988, presidential candidate George H.W. Bush dismissed his rival Michael Dukakis as a “card-carrying member of the ACLU.” By contrast, Bush proclaimed himself “for the people,” as though the American Civil Liberties Union, a nonprofit organization that defends the equal human rights established in the Constitution, was instead championing UFOs. There’s a documentary or
Quibi CEO Meg Whitman apologized for comparing journalists to sexual predators, saying her remarks did not convey her true feelings about the press. “I used an analogy that was inappropriate and just plain wrong,” Whitman said in an interview at Variety‘s studio at the Sundance Film Festival. “None of us are ever perfect. I didn’t
January 24, 2020 12:47PM PT From bears to lions to deer: Disney is developing a live-action remake of its 1942 animated feature “Bambi,” Variety has confirmed. Screenwriters Geneva Robertson-Dworet (“Captain Marvel”) and Lindsey Beer (“Sierra Burgess Is a Loser”) will write the screenplay, with Chris and Paul Weitz’s Depth of Field producing. The film will employ the
Sony’s “Bad Boys for Life” is dominating North American moviegoing with about $26 million at 2,155 sites, early estimates showed Friday. Universal’s World War I epic “1917” will finish at a distant second with about $13 million in the wake of receiving 10 Academy Award nominations and the top film award from the Producers Guild
January 24, 2020 12:15PM PT CBS is developing a project that takes a comedic look at the age-old “12 Angry Men” dilemma of how does a jury come to a unanimous verdict? The network has issued a pilot order for “We The Jury,” a hybrid series from “9JKL” co-creator Dana Klein and Stephanie Darrow. The
Sean Hannity has talked with President Donald Trump many times, but never quite like this. Hannity is the latest TV-news personality to take on what has in recent years developed into a Super Bowl Sunday tradition: a pre-game interview with the President of the United States. Savannah Guthrie, Gayle King and Bill O’Reilly are among
Warner Bros.’ Hamburg-based German division, Warner Bros. Entertainment GmbH, has agreed for the first time to financial contributions of €1 million ($1.1 million) annually for regional funder Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein (FFHSH). The three-year deal, signed between Warner Bros. and the FFHSH on Friday, marks the first time that Warner Bros. has contributed to any of
A private investigator was called to testify on Friday afternoon during the Harvey Weinstein trial. Sam Anson, an investigator for the company Guidepost Solutions, was called in as a witness by the state. Anson said he was approached directly by Weinstein to investigate people he believed were talking to journalists about his sexual conduct with
Chance the Rapper is ready to get his prank on. MTV Studios has announced Chance as the host of its revival of the prank show “Punk’d,” which is coming to short form content platform Quibi. “Punk’d” was a hidden camera reality show which aired for ten seasons on MTV and was created by Ashton Kutcher,
In this week’s International TV Newswire Variety recaps more NATPE news from All3Media, Comedy Central Latin America, AMC’s Acorn TV, VIS, El Deseo, Globo and Univision, ZED pre-sales from Realscreen and Aardman’s latest distribution pickup. All3Media Sells to Comedy Central, AMC Networks in Latin America Comedy Central Latin America and All3Media International have closed a deal for
Aiming to reduce its waste and emissions, London-based “Idol” producer-distributor Fremantle has formed a partnership with Albert, a collaborative industry-backed project aimed at tackling the environmental impact of the entertainment sector. Founded in 2011, Albert is governed by an industry consortium that includes BAFTA, independent companies and broadcasters. Fremantle is working with Albert to develop
Taylor Swift has bowed out of a possible performance on the Grammy Awards program Sunday night just as stealthily as it appeared she might have bowed into it, multiple sources tell Variety. Her possible appearance on the show had been kept a secret — albeit not an extremely well-kept secret — so her exit won’t
Facebook is throwing its weight behind the 62nd Grammy Awards, hoping to engage music fans and demonstrate its commitment to the industry and artists. The social giant, in addition to splashing videos, photos and key moments from this Sunday’s Grammys across Facebook and Instagram, will air its first Grammys TV ad in the CBS telecast
January 24, 2020 10:11AM PT In a surprise move, veteran programmer, on-air personality and Radio Hall of Famer Kid Kelly has left SiriusXM after nearly 20 years with the radio giant, a rep for the company has confirmed to Variety. The news was first reported by RAMP. He most recently served as SiriusXM’s VP of
A podcast shingle co-created by Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger has inked a deal with a major studio. Warner Bros. Digital Networks has signed a first-look deal with Rainy Day Podcasts, a new company from Jagged Films partners Mick Jagger and Victoria Pearman, producer Steve Bing and writer Josh Olson, with the aim of producing
Aerosmith’s star-studded tribute concert as the 2020 MusiCares Person of the Year honorees on Friday night (January 24) will cement another important milestone in the historic Boston-founded band’s contributions to the American rock canon. But over the past decade, some of the band’s best-known music has remained part of the cultural conversation through some of
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“Black Mirror” creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones have departed their Endemol Shine-backed production banner House of Tomorrow amid ongoing talks for an exclusive deal with Netflix, but Variety understands concerns around IP ownership are throwing a spanner in the works. The pair, who are long-time creative collaborators, resigned earlier last year, but officially stepped
Is Apple TV Plus — the tech giant’s foray into the streaming wars — a roaring success? That’s been the initial takeaway from estimates by research firm Ampere Analysis, which has pegged Apple TV Plus as having racked up 33.6 million customers in the U.S. alone as of the end of 2019. As initially reported