In the documentary out Friday, Swift goes after Blackburn's record as she gets emotional discussing with her parents and team about wanting to voice her opinion in the 2018 midterm elections, adding that she regrets not speaking out against Donald Trump during the 2016 election.
Swift, who had been reluctant to voice her political opinions in the past, broke her silence on politics during the 2018 midterms and endorsed Blackburn's rival for Senate, Democrat Phil Bredesen, and another Democrat running in Tennessee in an Instagram post. In the post's caption, Swift had said Blackburn's voting record "appalls and terrifies me."
Blackburn, a conservative lawmaker closely tied to the President, ended up winning her 2018 race by about 11 points, becoming the first female senator to represent her state.
Later in the documentary, Swift is shown reacting to Blackburn's election victory, saying she "can't believe it."
"She gets to be the first female senator in Tennessee, and she's Trump in a wig," Swift says. "She represents no female interests. She won by being a female applying to the kind of female males want us to be in a horrendous 1950s world."
The pop singer criticizes also Blackburn for her 2013 vote against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and stance against same-sex marriage.
"It's really basic human rights, and it's right and wrong at this point, and I can't see another commercial and see her disguising these policies behind the words 'Tennessee Christian values,'" Swift says, getting emotional. "Those aren't Tennessee Christian values. I live in Tennessee. I am Christian. That's not what we stand for."
After Swift went public with her endorsement of Bredesen, Blackburn told Fox News at the time, "Of course I support women and I want violence to end against women."
It seems the Republican senator doesn't want bad blood between her and Swift, according to a statement provided to CNN.
"Taylor is an exceptionally gifted artist and songwriter, and Nashville is fortunate to be the center of her creative universe," Blackburn said in the statement, first reported by Variety. "While there are policy issues on which we may always disagree, we do agree on the need to throw the entertainment community's collective influence behind legislation protecting songwriters, musicians, and artists from censorship, copyright theft, and profiteering."
She pointed to her and Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler's legislation, the Ask Musicians for Music Act, or AM-FM Act, that seeks to have radio services "pay fair market value" for the music they use.
Swift has been a vocal about concerns around the rights of singers and songwriters to profit from their own music.
"I welcome any further opportunities to work with Tennessee's and the nation's creative communities to protect intellectual property and ensure appropriate compensation for their creations. On that note, I wish Taylor the best — she's earned it," Blackburn added.
Joe Alwyn shows up in Taylor Swift's new Netflix documentary Miss Americana.
In one especially cute moment, Taylor is seen mouthing "I love you," presumably to Joe.
Taylor Swift's new Netflix documentary Miss Americana has ARRIVED, and for those of you wondering if we'd finally get an inside look at her relationship with Joe Alwyn, the answer is yes.
There are two major Joe moments in the doc—in one, Taylor sings him "Call It What You Want," and as he sings along in the background we see her mouth "I love you." Truly, I'll give you a moment, because it's a lot of cute vibes to handle.
And then in another scene we actually see the man himself when Taylor runs off stage after a Reputation tour performance and basically leaps into Joe's arms:
Taylor also talked a bit about her personal life without mentioning Joe by name, saying she's not ready to start a family (or at least she wasn't when this doc was filmed): “There’s part of me that feels like I’m 57 years old, but there’s part of me that’s definitely not ready to have kids and definitely not ready for all that grown up stuff. I kind of don’t really have the luxury of figuring stuff out, though, because my life is planned two years ahead of time. Literally, in two months, they’ll come at me with dates for the next tour.”
She also spoke about life before Joe, saying “I didn’t have a partner that I climbed [that mountain] with that I could high five. I didn’t have anyone I could talk to that could relate to it. I had my mom, but I just wondered….shouldn’t there be someone I could call right now?”
After starting to date Joe amid a ton of public drama, she said they “decided together” to keep their relationship private: “Even though it was [a] really horrible [time], I was happy. But I wasn’t happy in the way I was trained to be happy. It was happiness without anyone else’s input. We were just…happy.”
Just gonna be a huge nerd and end things with a 😍.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reportedly had a way out of the royal family before they tied the knot. When they were engaged, Queen Elizabeth allegedly pushed for a longer transition period for Meghan that would have kept her out of the royal spotlight. But Meghan and Harry turned down the offer and became working members of the monarchy shortly after their $25 million wedding.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Aaron Chown – WPA Pool/Getty Images
Meghan Markle gives up acting for Prince Harry
Before she met Prince Harry, Meghan had a promising career in Hollywood. The future Duchess of Sussex had made a name for herself in the popular legal drama, Suits, and seemed poised for a successful career in the entertainment industry.
That all changed when she started dating Harry. When he proposed
to Meghan, she decided to give up acting altogether and become a full-time
royal.
After the couple tied the knot in 2018, Meghan took on a full
schedule as a senior member of the royal family. But the scrutiny Meghan and Prince
Harry faced over the past two years proved too difficult for them to handle.
At the beginning of 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
announced that they were stepping away from their royal duties in favor of a
quieter life. They plan on splitting their time between the UK and Canada and
will no longer accept public funding.
Queen Elizabeth announces royal split
In the days following the stunning announcement, Prince Harry met with other senior royals about leaving The Firm. This includes several meetings with Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, and Prince William at Her Majesty’s estate in Sandringham.
Following the intense discussions, Queen Elizabeth released a
statement confirming that Harry and Meghan will be leaving the royal family to
lead a more private life. The transition is likely to be finalized sometime
this spring.
“I recognize the challenges they have experienced as a
result of intense scrutiny over the last two years and support their wish for a
more independent life,” Queen Elizabeth shared.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are currently living on Vancouver Island and are reportedly looking to purchase a second home somewhere in Canada. They are also expected to pay back the money that was used to renovate their house, Frogmore Cottage.
While the couple’s departure shocked royal watchers around the
world, inside sources claim that they were offered a way out of the royal
spotlight days before their lavish wedding.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle offered freedom
Before Meghan and Harry tied the knot, Queen Elizabeth reportedly
approached them with an offer that would make her transition into the royal
family a lot smoother. According to The
Sun, Queen Elizabeth wanted Meghan to take on a lesser role in the
family that would allow her to continue acting.
“From the early days, the Queen really wanted to agree a
smooth transition for Meghan,” a source claims. “The offer would have
allowed her to carry on her career but she was happy to stop acting to become a
working member of the royal family.”
At the time of her wedding, Meghan discussed leaving her acting
career behind and said that she was excited to begin a new chapter in her life.
She also stated that she had put everything she had in her career and felt like
it was a good time to step away.
Fast forward two years and palace officials are reportedly
frustrated by Megxit because they believe it could have been prevented if
Meghan and Prince Harry had accepted Queen Elizabeth’s offer.
They are also disappointed because it seems like Meghan and Harry
were pressured into quitting, which could not be further from the truth. The
royal family has not confirmed the rumors about Queen Elizabeth’s offer.
Was Meghan Markle planning Megxit this whole time?
Apart from Her Majesty’s alleged offer, there are rumors that
suggest Meghan had been planning an early exit from the royal family since day
one.
Once Meghan and Prince Harry exchanged vows, it was presumed that
she would be living permanently in the UK. But prior to moving her things from
Canada, Meghan put a bunch of her clothing in a storage unit in Toronto.
A few weeks ago, Meghan had the clothes shipped from the storage facility to her temporary home on Vancouver Island.
The move has sparked a lot of speculation that Meghan never
intended to remain in the UK for the rest of her life and always had plans to
return to Canada. After all, why else would she keep some of her personal items
in Canada if she didn’t plan on returning?
Meghan Markle has not commented on the rumors surrounding her
exit. Prince Harry has spoken out and said that he felt he “had no other choice.”
Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex are in the midst of a very public transition from being at the forefront of the modern monarchy to retired royals who no longer act on behalf of the queen. It all started on January 8th, when the couple made a statement on their Instagram account, revealing that they intended to “step back” from the historic family and begin, among other things, to earn their own independent income.
While members of the public have mixed feelings about it, it is the royal family itself that has been dealing with the lion’s share of the upheaval. Specifically, Prince Harry’s father, Prince Charles, who is next in line to the throne, has been reported to be struggling with the move in a serious way.
For several years, Prince Harry has had a strained relationship with his older brother, Prince William. While it’s not crystal clear when the feud started, it seems to have been prior to the royal wedding, when Prince William reportedly cautioned his brother against moving into marriage so quickly.
From then on, there was always a feeling of tension between the two, with Prince Harry very determined to strike out on his own, forging a separate identity.
Still, with the news that Prince Harry and Meghan will be stepping back from royal duties, a tentative truce has reportedly formed between Prince Harry and Prince William. According to reports, the two have had a series of private conversations that have worked to repair their bond and end the bad blood.
In the months to come, it seems likely that the two will not be spending a lot of time with each other, but for royal fans, it is reassuring to know that the two brothers have managed to become friends once more.
Is Prince Charles angry with Prince Harry?
Even though Prince William might be at peace with Prince Harry’s decision, Prince Charles reportedly is not. According to a recent Page Six report, Prince Charles is firmly at odds with his youngest son and that Prince Harry’s announcement left him “floored.”
Furthermore, the story claims that Prince Harry’s relationship with Prince Charles — as well as his stepmother Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall — is “complicated.” Prince Charles is reportedly saddened over the whole ordeal.
What’s next for the relationship between Prince Harry and Prince Charles?
Prince Charles and Prince Harry | Chris Jackson/Getty Images
It’s hard to predict what the future holds for Prince Harry and his father, at this point in time. Negotiations between Prince Harry and the palace are ongoing, but it has been determined that in the near future, Meghan and Prince Harry will begin to divide their time between the United Kingdom and Canada. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will also lose the right to use their royal titles in an official capacity.
In addition, Prince Harry and Meghan will lose their ability to receive taxpayer funding in any capacity, leaving the doors open for sponsorship deals, corporate contracts, and other moneymaking opportunities. While this is clearly in line with what they want, it could potentially cause strained relations between the couple and their royal relatives.
Traditionally, the royal family keeps its distance from the media and doesn’t involve themselves in television or film projects. However, it seems as though that is exactly the type of work that Prince Harry and Meghan have in mind.
For now, a royal source told the Sun last week: “It’s fair to say that the past week has brought William and Harry back together but the relationship with Charles and Camilla is far more complicated and complex. There remains a real lack of trust there and it’s going to take some time to resolve.”
Hopefully, in the future, Prince Harry and his father will be able to forge the same type of understanding that the two royal brothers have reached. As Prince Charles gets older, he will undoubtedly like to surround himself with all of his family and friends — including his renegade youngest son.
Ciara is already the proud mom to two kids: Sienna Princess Wilson, whom she welcomed with Wilson in 2017, and Future Zahir Wilburn, whom she welcomed with her ex Future in 2014.
The celebrity opened up about how motherhood has impacted her as an artist during an interview for Vogue Arabia's February 2019 issue.
"Being a mother of two made me feel even more confident, inspired, and fearless," she said at the time.
She also talked about how becoming a mom has changed her perspective during a 2015 interview with E! News at the American Music Awards.
"I love being a mom," she said at the time. "It really comes first before everything now. Everything has just happened in perfect timing for me with my son. I felt like I needed to have him in reference to how he's grounding me and putting things into perspective for me. It just kind of makes me not care so much about things. Like, I don't sweat the small stuff anymore and I give that credit to my son."
Before Jennifer Lopez was a Super Bowl LIV halftime headliner, she was performing as a Fly Girl during the "In Living Color" halftime show. The sketch comedy show upstaged the 1992 Super Bowl halftime performance and forever changed the game. The Fox series' cast members, the network's former president, NFL insiders and a couple of Olympic gold medalists discuss the culture-shifting moment.
Washington led Buffalo 17-0 at the half of Super Bowl XXVI in Minneapolis. Those tuned in to the CBS broadcast hoped the action would heat up during the "Winter Magic" spectacular. Instead, they got a monotonic introduction from then-NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and cheesy snowflake graphics.
There was no Diana Ross, no Rolling Stones, no Bruce Springsteen, no Beyoncé and no J-Lo and Shakira.
Olympic figure skaters Dorothy Hamill and Brian Boitano skated atop oversized plastic snowflakes in the middle of the field. Women costumed as snowflakes paraded beside them. Gloria Estefan, known as a trailblazer of the sizzling Miami music scene, performed a winterized rendition of "Live for Loving You" and "Get on Your Feet."
Just a click of a remote away, "In Living Color," which aired on Sundays, dangled its organic connection to youth culture and hip-hop in front of Super Bowl halftime viewers. And they took the bait. The Keenen Ivory Wayans-created series that ran for five seasons, from 1990 until 1994, captured nearly 28.9 million live viewers (including many who weren't previously watching the big game), according to Nielsen. The counterprogramming snagged about 11.7% of the 79.5 million average viewers of CBS' Super Bowl.
Competition often inspires innovation. For 1993, the NFL hired Michael Jackson as the halftime performer. The Super Bowl TV audience rose to 133.4 million viewers. CBS lost the television rights for the '93 game. NBC televised the new halftime spectacular format.
If it weren't for "In Living Color" nudging the NFL to get a tad more creative, we probably wouldn't have had Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction or watched Lady Gaga make a high-flying entrance to halftime. We'd perhaps still have high school marching bands and the occasional miscast musical performer.
Everyone quoted is identified by the title they held during Super Bowl XXVI or during their tenure on the Fox series, unless otherwise noted.
HALFTIME WASN'T ALWAYS SPECTACULAR
Jim Steeg, senior vice president, special events, for the NFL and creator of the halftime spectacular: From, like, 1976 through '86, many of the halftime shows were done by Up with People [a traveling troupe of clean-cut kids who sang and danced] or by Disney [now ESPN's parent company]. Once we got past '86, we decided that we needed to go out and find other producers or production companies to put it together. Get something different and fresh. We talked to maybe 15 different producers; [even] Dick Clark came in.
Super Bowl XXVI, we had Gloria Estefan and Brian Boitano and things like that. But [the theme] wasn't driven by the talent. It was more about a spectacle or spectacular. We were trying to figure out how you could celebrate the North and its elements. With the Olympics around the corner, it worked. And Dorothy Hamill and Boitano were big names. [By the 1992 Olympics, Hamill and Boitano had retired. He would, however, make a comeback in 1994 at the Games in Lillehammer, Norway.] But we couldn't bring in ice. We brought in [a plastic surface]. So they could skate on it.
Lesley Visser, CBS Sports correspondent who hosted the presentation of the Lombardi trophy to Washington: They must have done skating because we were in Minnesota. We were heading out to the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, the next month. Skating is always the No. 1 sport in the [Winter] Olympics. It made sense. I guess Gloria Estefan, who's beloved -- they just wanted a singer present.
Dorothy Hamill, figure skater and halftime performer: Brian and I were on a little slab of plastic "ice." I had people that were actually at the Super Bowl that didn't know. They didn't see Brian or me on the ice because there was so much going on. I'm sure they were watching Gloria and all that. They said, "You were at the Super Bowl? You were on halftime?" I fell on my rear end, so just as well they didn't see it.
Brian Boitano, figure skater and halftime performer: It's a running a joke for my friends. They are always like, "This certainly isn't 'Winter Magic.'" I was very excited to be at the Super Bowl. Dorothy and I came in the night before and practiced on the plastic ice. I was scared to death because I'd never skated on plastic before. And it was elevated off the stadium floor. If I fell off, it would have been very, very embarrassing.
Hamill: [The halftime producers] gave us a piece of music, and I think I had, like, 30 seconds or 40 seconds. Maybe Brian had 40 seconds to perform. We were about a hundred feet away from one another. There were marching bands, cameras and everything in between us. So when we were performing simultaneously -- which wasn't a lot, just like a turn and a glide -- I couldn't see him. We couldn't really match each other.
Steeg: We were in Minnesota. This isn't Miami, New Orleans or Los Angeles. We had to embrace the winter theme. Ironically, here you have Gloria Estefan, the first lady of Miami, as part of the show. [Estefan returned as a Super Bowl halftime performer in 1999 alongside Stevie Wonder. Radio City Music Hall produced the segment; the game was in Miami.]
Boitano: We practiced with Gloria. I had met her before that. You're on a circuit several years after the Olympics. And she was hot then, so I did a lot of events with her. And didn't she wear a tutu during halftime?
Steeg: Let's also remember, most performers, even if we had some tangential discussion with them about it, they'd say: "I'm not going to do the halftime show. That's not for me. I can't see myself involved with it."
Members of the 1980 U.S. men's hockey team, which defeated the Soviet Union in a stunning semifinal upset and went on to win Olympic gold, were a part of the 1992 halftime show as well.
WHEN EVERYONE TOOK A BATHROOM BREAK
Keenen Ivory Wayans, "In Living Color" creator: There was an ad exec at Frito-Lay, and he's the one who came up with the idea of counterprogramming against the Super Bowl. [Frito-Lay sponsored the "In Living Color" halftime show.] We brainstormed and decided that we'd do it as a live version of the show. We wanted to put up a [countdown] clock on the screen so that people would know when to go back to the game. I was very confident that we would steal the show. It was such a perfect opportunity because halftime was when everybody went to pee.
Jamie Kellner, president of Fox: I give a lot of credit to the marketing department at Pepsi. They posed the idea to me, and it fit perfectly with our brand and theirs. Roger Enrico was the [CEO of Pepsi], and we met on a plane in Dallas to figure out the logistics and how we could all feel safe with a live broadcast that did not have a firm start or end time. [Frito-Lay, which sponsored the "In Living Color" special in 1992, is an American subsidiary of PepsiCo.]
Tommy Davidson, "In Living Color" cast member: Keenen said, "Man, I've got a great idea, you guys." We all talked as friends. Then he said, "What would you guys think if we did this Super Bowl halftime special?" We jumped in the air and said, "We'll beat the ratings!" About a month later, he came back to us and said, "We got the show." You would've thought that he told us that we were in the Super Bowl. Jamie [Foxx], all of us, we went crazy because we knew we were going to beat them.
David Alan Grier, cast member: It was prime for a takeover. Real simple. We were just going to do our show during halftime. And they started running ads all over Fox, wherever they could -- "Be sure to tune in to 'In Living Color.'" We had a very young audience, very urban, but everybody loved it. And I was filming "Boomerang" at the time. I remember Eddie [Murphy, who was the lead actor of the 1992 film] and Reginald Hudlin, the director of "Boomerang," they all knew how big this would be. Everyone, including the studio, allowed me to fly back to film the special. I flew back that morning to get there in time for the live broadcast.
Steeg: We all knew about it. And Fox, at that point in time, was probably a distant fourth to the big networks. And I watched "In Living Color"; we knew about the programming. But people had tried to ambush [halftime] in some way, shape or form. But it hadn't taken. This became a different thing.
Davidson: Keenen says, "All right, Jamie, you're doing this. Jim [Carrey], I pick you to do this. David, I got you doing this." Then he said, "Tommy, I got you hosting because you can handle live." I was like, "Oh my god! I thought you ain't like me!" And I'm like Michael Jordan. All you got to do is give me a ball!
Grier: We had our soundstage, where we always shot the show. And next door to the soundstage was another stage; that's where the live Super Bowl party was going on. That morning when I got into the car [in L.A., after departing New York, where "Boomerang" was filmed, and before heading to the set at the Fox Television Center], the hotel staff was waiting. The doorman and everybody was like, "Yo, man, we're going to watch you. And y'all better get down."
T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh, cast member: The creative chaos was normal at "In Living Color," so going live, we just rolled with it. For most of us, it was our first series. It was my introduction to television. I thought everybody knew their censors by name.
THE SKETCHES THAT STOLE THE SHOW
In the opening skit of the "In Living Color" Super Bowl show, Keenen and his brother (and fellow actor) Damon Wayans pulled former Bills running back Thurman Thomas' fictional wallet out of a locker and discussed the limits of his gold credit card. In real life, the future Hall of Famer was on the field. The special also featured a "Men on Football" skit, an offshoot of the show's "Men on" franchise. Damon and Grier played culture critics in the sketch. Often the jokes were off-color, and they would likely be deemed inappropriate for network television today.
Keenen Ivory Wayans: We knew we'd have football fans, and they may not have seen the show. We decided to combine making fun of football and using the characters from the show. There was a lot of improvisation, and it was scary because I didn't know who was going to say what. That's how we did the show. And I didn't want to compromise that.
Grier: Some of the skits were shot live, and some were pre-taped. Honestly, some of the sketches were probably too risqué. But we had a delay, and if the censors wanted to press the delay button, they'd push it. Now, as far as I know, I don't think they ever pressed it, so we just went buck wild. We were trying to make people flip the channel, instead of watching rodeo dancing and stuff. Damon and I put some sauce on it, especially with the ["Men on"] characters. We would always have something in the pocket. [Parts of the "Men on" sketch were edited out for re-airings.]
Davidson: Keenen later turns to me and says, "Hey, Tommy, can you do Sugar Ray [Leonard]?" And I didn't even care if I really couldn't do a Sugar Ray impression. I said, "Yeah." I went home that night and just kept watching him. I watched Sugar Ray videos 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. I had him nailed by rehearsals. And Jim was Jim. He just did his thing. [Davidson played Sugar Ray interviewing guests during the live taping.]
Kelly Coffield Park, cast member: Jim would just say extreme s--- all the time; everybody did. And it was like, was that on-air? Yeah, it was. Instead of saying, "Now you can go back to watching the game," he'd be extreme. [Carrey referenced the countdown clock that directed fans to go back to watching the Super Bowl after halftime by saying: "You won't miss any of the senseless brutality".] And did he have a huge agenda behind that? He was probably just being ridiculous.
Keenen Ivory Wayans: I mean, the censors had that kill switch. And it looks like we pulled it off. If they missed something, it was on purpose. They wanted the hype. They wanted the controversy. It was good publicity.
Kellner: Keenen and his team wrote a very funny episode that pushed the edge about as far as it could go and not get us in trouble. I sat in the control room with the head of standards and practices for Fox to ride the edit button in case an ad-lib crossed the line. The plan was I would tap his shoulder if I wanted an edit. We both started laughing and missed two edits.
Park: I still get positive feedback on the skits. Damon and David were always pushing the limits with "Men on." They were two straight men playing two gay men, so that wouldn't fly now. At least not in such a stereotypical context.
Marlon Wayans, cast member: I remember watching from the dorms at Howard [University]; this was before I joined the cast. I was just the brother to everyone on "In Living Color" back then. My brother Damon and [David] had a Carl Lewis joke in the special that was just so out there. They improvised it. I was just like, "Man, Carl Lewis is coming. He is going to come looking for you. And you can't run from him." But we always handled things with kid gloves. We weren't trying to be dark.
Shawn Wayans, cast member and onstage DJ: There was a whole party going on in between live sketches. That's what "In Living Color" was -- every rapper and actor was there all the time. The halftime special was different because it was live. And we had R&B group Color Me Badd perform before closing out the show. They sang, "I Wanna Sex You Up."
Keenen Ivory Wayans: Our greenroom was like that all the time. Whenever we taped a show, people just came, so we just decided to kind of share the backstage with the public.
Davidson: It was unbelievable because everybody was coming to the tapings of "In Living Color" anyway. Denzel [Washington], Bruce Willis and more. Every week it was an all-star lineup. After we finished taping every show, people stayed. Tupac, everybody.
Grier: After the special's live sketches finished on the soundstage, we pulled back the sliding door, and the party was going on. Everyone was there -- [Blair Underwood, Leonardo DiCaprio] and the late great Sam Kinison.
THE ROCK THAT HIT GOLIATH BETWEEN THE EYES
Keenen Ivory Wayans: As confident as we were, we knew that we could've played ourselves. We were going up against ... it was David and Goliath, and if that rock hadn't hit right between the eyes, we would've been done.
Steeg: I think the hay was in the barn, right? Yeah, it was a concern. And we [at the NFL] said, "This isn't going to ever happen again." We went on the aggressive and selected Radio City to [produce] the halftime show the next year in Pasadena. Don Garber, who's now the commissioner of the MLS, was working with NFL Properties then.
And Don and I said, "We gotta do something about this." I don't remember if the commissioner ever said, "What are you going to do? What's going to take place?" We literally, within the next month, sat down and came up with ideas. We had identified who we wanted to go after by March. And we met with Michael Jackson's agent.
Visser: "In Living Color" was so brilliant. Come on. How about when they did the Homeboy Shopping Network skit. So, yep, Michael Jackson. I think that CBS knew that the sands were shifting.
Steeg: We knew we were going to have to increase the budget. Double at least. We were going to have to get a sponsor to help to underwrite it. These days when you think of $1 million ... [the cost of the production and added expenses of Jackson's performance. Additionally, the NFL donated $100,000 to the singer's Heal the World Foundation]. Pepsi signed on as a sponsor. That sponsor had to be acceptable to Michael Jackson's camp. They paid for probably 50% of our increase. ["In Living Color" did not have a halftime special in 1993.]
Keenen Ivory Wayans: The NFL didn't acknowledge this for years. They really just huddled up and said, "Let's get Michael Jackson, and let's make sure this never happens again." They just kept getting big names, like Prince [2007] and Madonna [2012].
Marlon Wayans: To this day, "In Living Color" had the best halftime show. I love Michael Jackson. And Justin Timberlake [2004 and 2017] is a friend of mine. But you could put all of them onstage and it wouldn't be like the halftime "In Living Color" s--- because it was nothing like going from the excitement of the game to those laughs. The laughs were everything.
Grier: The thing about "In Living Color" was, it captured the zeitgeist of that cultural moment. It took the fashion, music, comedy all rolled into one. And I don't even remember who won the Super Bowl that year [Washington defeated Buffalo 37-24].
Kellner: It was a great day for Fox.
Keenen Ivory Wayans: This little ragtag crew did something that changed a huge event. We made history.
Camilla Parker Bowles reportedly had a hand in Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s exit. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced their departure at the beginning of the year and are currently back in Canada staying out of the spotlight. While Harry and Meghan plan their next move, anonymous sources claim that Camilla encouraged Meghan to leave the royal family and “follow her heart.”
Camilla Parker Bowles and Meghan Markle | Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave the royal family
In a stunning move, Harry and Meghan confirmed that they are
stepping down as senior members of the royal family at the beginning of
January. Taking to Instagram, the Sussexes explained how they no longer want to
depend on public funding and will be spending some of their time in North
America.
Harry met with other members of the royal family after making the shocking announcement. Following the meetings, Queen Elizabeth released a statement in support of the couple’s decision to step down.
Is Meghan Markle Becoming As Unpopular As Camilla Parker Bowles? – The Cheat Sheet
Is Meghan Markle Becoming As Unpopular As Camilla Parker Bowles? The Cheat Sheet
Prince William Cautioned Prince Harry That Things Were Moving Too Quickly with Meghan M… https://t.co/LcfCMgrvfr
Her Majesty also revealed that Harry and Meghan will be giving up
their HRH royal titles and will be paying back the money that was used to
renovate Frogmore Cottage.
Harry has since flown back to Canada to reunite with Meghan and their son, Archie Harrison. The family is staying in a luxurious home on Vancouver Island and is reportedly looking to purchase a home in the region.
Camilla Parker Bowles advises Meghan Markle
A source claims that Camilla and Meghan share a close
relationship behind closed doors. The former Suits star reportedly leans
on Camilla, who has experienced a fair share of royal scandals over the years.
“She knew this was in the works and actually told Meghan to
follow her heart and leave if she needed to,” the insider revealed.
Camilla Parker Bowles has not always had an easy time in the royal family. For years, Camilla engaged in an affair with Prince Charles, who was married to Princess Diana at the time.
Their secret love affair is what really drove Charles and Diana
apart. After they got a divorce, Charles and Camilla started dating and
eventually tied the knot in 2005.
The Duchess of Cambridge faced a lot of public scrutiny over what happened between Charles and Diana, though she has done a lot to repair her image in recent years. While Camilla and Meghan allegedly grew close, the source claims that Charles was oblivious about what the women were planning.
Was Camilla Parker Bowles acting behind Prince Charles’ back?
According to Radar
Online, the insider says that Camilla helped Meghan plan Megxit,
even though Charles wanted her to guide the couple back into the royal family.
“Charles hoped Camilla would be a calming influence, but
he’s been blind to her scheming and stirring that’s been going behind his
back,” the source stated.
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles have not commented on the rumors surrounding Megxit. Camilla was, however, asked if she would miss Harry and Meghan during a recent public event. After a short pause, Camilla responded with a simple, “Course,” before walking away.
In light of the response, the insider claims that Camilla loves
stirring the pot. She is also really good at playing both sides and has
developed into quite the politician.
To make things even more complicated, the source insists that
Meghan looks up to Camilla and respects her authority. That said, there is good
reason to believe that there is absolutely no truth to the rumors about
Camilla’s involvement in Megxit.
Camilla Parker Bowles takes a step back from the drama
Despite the reports to the contrary, Camilla was not involved in the talks between Harry, Queen Elizabeth, Charles, and William in the wake Megxit. In fact, Camilla stayed behind while her husband tried to reason with Harry to stay in the royal family.
As previously mentioned, Camilla faced a lot of controversies
when she became a member of the royal family, yet she never entertained the
idea of leaving.
The notion that Camilla would advise Harry and Meghan to step
down goes against everything she has endured over the years. If anything,
Camilla would have told them to stay in the royal family and fulfill their
duty.
Unless new information comes to light, it is safe to say that
Camilla had little to do with Harry and Meghan’s decision to step down.
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles have not said anything about Harry and Meghan’s exit from the royal family. Their departure is expected to be set in stone in the spring.
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Offset was detained by police on Wednesday at The Grove, a popular open-air shopping complex in Los Angeles.
The rapper -- whose real name is Kiari Kendrell Cephus -- was detained by Los Angeles police officers after receiving a report of a person with a gun in the shopping center's multi-story parking structure, TMZ reports.
Police confirmed to the outlet that they'd received the call around 8 p.m. It's reportedly believed the individual who was believed to be in possession of a firearm fled the scene.
As seen in a cellphone video shot by an onlooker, Offset -- who can be seen wearing a yellow pullover -- was pushed against a wall and detained by an officer while demanding to know why he was being handcuffed.
Another man, believed to be a member of Offset's entourage, was also detained. It's unclear at this time if the Migos rapper or the other man were affiliated with the suspect who reportedly had a gun.
ET has reached out to reps from the artist and to the LAPD for comment.
Offset's most recent run-in with the law came in May 2019, when an arrest warrant was issued for the rapper in Sandy Springs, Georgia, after he was allegedly set off by a person filming him on a cellphone camera, which he is accused of subsequently breaking.
Dawn Dunning, a one-time aspiring actress now working as a costume designer, on Wednesday testified that in 2004 Harvey Weinstein put his hand up her skirt and touched her genitals without her consent. The mogul later propositioned her to have a threesome with him and his assistant in exchange for roles in his upcoming films, she added on the witness stand in Weinstein’s criminal trial.
Dunning said she was waitressing at a nightclub in the Meatpacking District when she first met Weinstein. After introducing herself as an actress, Dunning said she and Weinstein had several meetings where the then-mogul offered to set up screen tests for her at Miramax for some of his upcoming films.
During these initial meetings, Dunning said that Weinstein made comments about her looks and her body, but that she didn’t feel “unsafe” at the time. But one day, when she was invited by Weinstein’s assistant to visit the set of a production in SoHo, she was led to a hotel room that was operating as a production studio. Dunning testified that Weinstein, when alone with her, put his hand up her skirt and touched her genitals.
“His hand went under my underwear,” Dunning said on the witness stand, through tears. “He was trying to put it in my vagina.”
Dunning said she was “shocked” because there weren’t any “red flags” or “alerts” that indicated the encounter would turn sexual.
“I just kind of froze for a minute and then stood up. He told me not to make a big deal about it, he apologized and said it wouldn’t happen again,” she said. Afterward, Dunning testified that she didn’t tell anyone because she was “embarrassed.”
“I wanted to pretend like it didn’t happen. I just didn’t want to be a victim,” she said.
Soon after, Dunning said she was invited to have another meeting with Weinstein at the InterContinental Hotel near Park Avenue. She said she agreed to meet him because she gave him the “benefit of the doubt” that he would stick to his word and not do anything inappropriate to her again.
When she arrived at the hotel, she said shemet up with Weinstein’s assistant, who said they should go up to his suite rather than wait for him to come down. Dunning said that when she opened the door, Weinstein was only wearing an open hotel bathrobe. On a coffee table in the suite was a stack of papers. “He kind of just cut to the chase and said, ‘Here’s contracts for three films. I’ll sign them today if you have a threesome with me and my assistant,'” Dunning said.
She laughed off the proposition at first, thinking it was a crass joke. But it was then that Dunning said Weinstein grew angry, she said. “He started screaming at me. He said, ‘You’ll never make it in this business. This is how this industry works. This is how these three actresses got to where they are,'” Dunning recalled Weinstein telling her. The actresses he listed were Charlize Theron, Salma Hayek and one other whom Dunning couldn’t remember.
At that point, Dunning said Weinstein was “towering” over her and she became “really scared.” When she looked over at his assistant, Dunning said she just had a “blank expression” on her face. Dunning then said she ran out of the room, to the hallway elevator, and out of the hotel.
The interaction was so traumatizing for Dunning that she ultimately stopped pursuing a career as an actress afterward, she said. “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done — the worst and hardest thing I’ve done,” Dunning said of testifying in the case. “I would not wish this on anybody.”
Theron told the New York Times last December that Weinstein would leverage his power over actresses: “One of his lines was that Renée (Zellweger) and I slept with him to get jobs. There was no limit to him. Even in the sexual favors, he would still pit us against each other.”
Dunning testified as one of the prosecution’s “prior bad acts” witnesses on Wednesday morning. Weinstein, who faces five felony counts, including predatory sexual assault and rape, has pleaded not guilty and denied accusations of nonconsensual sex.
Harvey Weinstein Scandal: A Timeline of a Hollywood Mogul's Downfall (Photos)
Harvey Weinstein was once the king of the indie film world. But the Oscar-winning producer's career and reputation have imploded since fall 2017, when scores of women stepped forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct. Here's a breakdown of what happened.
OCT. 5, 2017
The New York Times published a story revealing that Harvey Weinstein had paid financial settlements to at least eight women who have accused him of sexual harassment or assault. Actress Ashley Judd is the only accuser to go on the record, accusing the mogul of assaulting her in his hotel room. In a statement, Weinstein apologizes, vows to take a self-imposed leave of absence from his company, and bizarrely declares war on the NRA.
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OCT. 6, 2017
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, as well as other Congressional Democrats, donate campaign contributions they received from Weinstein to charity.
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OCT. 8, 2017
Weinstein is fired as CEO from The Weinstein Company.
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OCT. 10, 2017
The New Yorker publishes its own piece, written by Ronan Farrow, in which three women, including Italian actress Asia Argento, accuse Weinstein of rape. Through a spokesperson, Weinstein denies any account of nonconsensual sex.
Model and actress Cara Delevingne also comes forward on Oct. 11 to accuse Weinstein of making sexually inappropriate comments and harassing her.
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OCT. 12, 2017
The NYPD and London’s Metro Police both launch criminal investigations of Weinstein. On social media, Rose McGowan accuses Weinstein of raping her. (He has consistently denied engaging in nonconsensual sex.)
OCT. 13, 2017
Director Quentin Tarantino, arguably Weinstein’s greatest discovery, says he is “heartbroken” by the scandal. A petition to expel Weinstein from AMPAS passes 100,000 signatures.
OCT. 14, 2017
The AMPAS Board of Governors expels Weinstein. The Weinstein Company’s development slate falls apart, losing projects with David O. Russell and more. Release of Benedict Cumberbatch’s "The Current War" is delayed.
OCT. 15, 2017
Actress Alyssa Milano kicks off a cultural movement by encouraging women to share their stories of sexual harassment and assault on social media. She asks them to tag the stories #MeToo.
OCT. 17, 2017
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy vows to start an industry-wide commission to create “protections against harassment and abuse.” Frequent Weinstein collaborator and filmmaker Kevin Smith vows to donate all of his Weinstein Company residuals to Women in Film.
OCT. 25, 2017
The Taylor Sheridan film "Wind River," which had a successful release by the Weinstein Company in August, excises the Weinstein name from its home video and streaming releases. Principal financier Acadia Entertainment buys the film back from TWC and self-funds an awards campaign. (It doesn't land any Oscar nominations.)
NOV. 6, 2017
The Television Academy bans Weinstein for life. The New Yorker runs a follow-up piece saying a battery of former Mossad agents and communications experts were used to silence stories of Weinstein’s impropriety for years.
NOV. 15, 2017
TWC is hit with a class-action lawsuit from several of Weinstein’s accusers. The company is forced to sell its live-action "Paddington 2" to Warner Bros. to help infuse the studio with cash and keep the doors open.
DEC. 6, 2017
The Academy announces its “standards of conduct,” which read, in part, “The Academy is categorically opposed to any form of abuse, harassment or discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disability, age, religion, or nationality.”
JAN. 1, 2018
#TimesUp is born as four female talent agents from CAA create a legal defense fund for women in the U.S. workforce to protect them from sexual harassment. The effort is announced and endorsed by contributors like Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Reese Witherspoon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, Fox Film head Stacey Snider, Fox TV honcho Dana Walden, Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey, among others.
JANUARY 7
To draw attention to the mistreatment of women in Hollywood, virtually all women attending the Golden Globes wear black.
JANUARY 8
Immediately after he wins a Golden Globe wearing a #TimesUp pin, James Franco is accused of sexual misconduct by several women. The accusations, which the actor denies, come in the middle of the Oscar nomination voting period.
JANUARY 9
Lady Bird writer-director Greta Gerwig joins Mira Sorvino, Chloe Sevigny and others in saying she would not work in the future with director Woody Allen, who had been accused of sexual assault by his adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow. (He has repeatedly denied the accusation.)
JAN. 10, 2018
Page Six reports that Weinstein and Chapman reached the terms of an eight-figure divorce settlement, with Chapman securing primary custody of the couple's two children.
JAN. 27, 2018
The Academy emails members to reveal the process by which violations of its code of conduct can be reported.
FEB. 6, 2018
“I may be a 75-year-old white male,” says Academy President John Bailey at the annual Oscar Nominees Luncheon, “but I’m as gratified as any of you that the fossilized bedrock of many of Hollywood’s worst abuses [is] being jackhammered into oblivion.” (One month later, the Academy would investigate -- and then dismiss -- accusations of sexual harassment against Bailey himself.)
FEB. 8, 2018
Los Angeles police send three sexual assault cases concerning Weinstein to the city’s district attorney for possible charges.
MARCH 19, 2018
The Weinstein Company filed for bankruptcy in Delaware, reporting that it had less than $500,000 in cash on hand. Dallas-based Lantern Capital Partners stepped up as a stalking horse bidder prepared to buy virtually all of the company’s assets for $310 million.
Despite a last-minute bid from Broadway producer Howard Kagan’s Inclusion Media, a Delaware bankruptcy judge approves Lantern Capital's purchase of The Weinstein Company's assets.
MAY 25, 2018
Following a months-long investigation by the NYPD, Weinstein is arrested on three felony charges of rape and criminal sex act in connection with two female accusers. Weinstein pleads not guilty and released on $1 million bail pending trial.
MAY 30, 2018
Weinstein is indicted on charges of rape in the first and third degrees, as well as on charges of criminal sexual act in the first degree, as announced by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. Then on June 1, Three women filed additional charges against Weinstein in a class action lawsuit, saying that Weinstein isolated the women “in an attempt to engage in unwanted sexual conduct that took many forms: flashing, groping, fondling, harassing, battering, false imprisonment, sexual assault and attempted rape, and/or completed rape.”
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JULY 2, 2018
A grand jury served Weinstein with three more sexual assault charges, an additional count of criminal sexual act in the first degree for forcing a woman to have sex with him in 2006, and two counts of predatory sexual assault. The latter charge carries a minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of a life sentence. Weinstein would plead not guilty.
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AUG. 3, 2018
Weinstein made a push to have a New York judge toss out a criminal sexual assault case brought against him, saying in a filing that the Manhattan district attorney “failed to provide the Grand Jury with exculpatory evidence of the long-term, consensual, intimate relationship between Mr. Weinstein and the alleged rape victim.”
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AUG. 19, 2018
A report in the New York Times said Asia Argento paid a settlement of $380,000 to actor Jimmy Bennett after accusing her of sexually assaulting him when he was just 17. Argento denied the accusations. Rose McGowan distanced herself from Argento, and Weinstein issued a statement saying Argento displayed a “stunning level of hypocrisy.” “The sheer duplicity of her conduct is quite extraordinary and should demonstrate to everyone how poorly the allegations against Mr. Weinstein were actually vetted and accordingly, cause all of us to pause and allow due process to prevail, not condemnation by fundamental dishonesty,” the statement continued.
AUG. 30, 2018
Former NBC News producer Richard McHugh said that people at “the very highest levels of NBC” worked to quash Ronan Farrow’s Harvey Weinstein story that eventually published in The New Yorker. Then on Sept. 3, NBC News Chairman Andy Lack sent an internal memo saying that after eight months, Farrow's reporting “did not have a single victim or witness willing to go on the record.” Farrow disputed the memo and said NBC's list of sources was incomplete.
SEPT. 6, 2018
The U.S. Attorney’s office in New York opened an investigation into Weinstein’s involvement with the private spy firm Black Cube to see if he violated any federal wire fraud laws. Weinstein had hired Black Cube to gather information on those accusing him of sexual assault.
AUG. 26, 2019
Weinstein is indicted on two new charges of predatory sexual assault. He faces seven counts, including first-degree and third-degree rape.
The new indictment also allows for Annabella Sciorra to testify at his trial. Though Weinstein cannot be charged for raping Sciorra at her apartment in 1993, as she had said in a 2017 interview with the New Yorker, the actress’ testimony could strengthen the D.A.’s case against Weinstein.
The criminal trial, originally scheduled to begin on Sept. 9, is also pushed back to Jan. 2020.
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SEPT. 6, 2019
A judge grants the consolidation of charges against Weinstein, bringing the count back down to five. The consolidation, which was voluntarily requested by the district attorney’s office, dismisses prosecutors’ earlier charges of predatory sexual assault and essentially replaces them with the two new charges of predatory sexual assault that were included in the indictment last month.
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SEPT. 10, 2019
Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, the New York Times reporters who first broke the Weinstein story, publish their book "She Said," which chronicles their investigation into the mogul and the aftermath of their initial story.
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OCT. 15, 2019
Ronan Farrow publishes "Catch and Kill," his own recounting of reporting on Weinstein and the roadblocks he faced while trying to publish his work at NBC News. The book includes damning revelations about NBC News' leadership and a detailed accusation of rape against Matt Lauer. (Lauer has denied the accusation, and NBC News has repeatedly denied many of the details in the book.)
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Time's Up denounces the tentative settlement, describing it as emblematic of a "broken system that privileges powerful abusers at the expense of survivors."
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DEC. 11, 2019
After accusations of ankle bracelet tampering, Weinstein's bail is increased to $5 million.
As court was convening, a group of "silence breakers" — including Rosanna Arquette, Rose McGowan, Lou Godbold, Sarah Ann Masse, Dominique Huett, Lauren Sivan, and Paula Williams — hold a press conference outside the courtroom to call on Weinstein to be held accountable for his actions.
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Just hours after Weinstein left the courtroom after the first day of his trial, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced new charges of sexual assault against the ex-mogul: one felony count each of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force, and sexual battery by restraint.
An arraignment date has not yet been set, but a spokesperson for the DA's office told The Wrap that they expect to wait until Weinstein's trial in New York is complete first.
Weinstein's bail is set to $5 million and, if convicted, he faces up to 28 years in prison.
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A chronological look at how the indie mogul’s career and reputation unraveled
Harvey Weinstein was once the king of the indie film world. But the Oscar-winning producer's career and reputation have imploded since fall 2017, when scores of women stepped forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct. Here's a breakdown of what happened.
