by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:
WILL SMITH - From Deadline: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has banded recent Oscar-winner Will Smith from attending its programs and events - virtually or in-person - including the Academy Awards ceremony for a period of 10 years. This is his punishment for bitch-slapping Chris Rock during the 94th Academy Awards ceremony, Sun., March 27th.
From Variety: Actor Harry Lennix comes off the porch to tell Will Smith that he should ... voluntarily give back his recent "Best Actor" Oscar in order to restore the awards honor ... saying this with a straight face.
From TMZ - Celebrities keep weighing in - Grammy Award-nominated rapper and recording artist, Fat Joe, says that Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the 94th Academy awards "makes minorities look bad."
TELEVISION - From Variety: Warner Bros. has cancelled the daytime, syndicated talk show, "The Real," after eight seasons (which is 7 years longer than I thought it would last).
CELEBRITY - From TIME: Michelle Yeoh talk to the venerable magazine, in part about her new film, "Everthing Everywhere All at Once."
BUSINESS/WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY - From Deadline: Who is in and who is out at Warner Bros. Discovery? Who is under CEO David Zaslav?
From Deadline: Fri., April 8th, Warner Bros. Discovery has been born of the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger. It will make its Wall Street debut Mon., April 11th. David Zaslav, CEO of Discovery, will be the CEO of the new company.
From Deadline: The 43 billion dollar merger between Discovery and WarnerMedia is set to close this week, and the new leadership structure.
From Deadline: As WarnerMedia approaches its merger with Discovery, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar leaves the company.
From Deadline: Ann Sarnoff, who held the top role in WarnerMedia film and TV, is also departing ahead of the Warner merger with Discovery.
From Deadline: Andy Forssell, the head of HBO Max, is out at WarnerMedia ahead of the merger with Discovery.
From Deadline: The WarnerMedia purge continues - with six former executives dismissed.
MOVIES - From THR: Rapper Kid Cudi (Scott Mescudi), has joined John Woo's action thriller, "Silent Night," which stars Joel Kinnaman. Cudi recently starred in the horror film, "X."
SPORTS - From CBSSports: The University of South Carolina Gamecocks are the winners of the Women's NCAA Basketball Championship, beating the University of Connecticut 64-49. This is the Gamecocks' second NCAA women's basketball title.
MUSIC AWARDS - From Deadline: The winners were announced at the 2022 / 64th Annual Grammy Awards. Oscar-winner Jon Batiste won "Album of the Year" for his LP, "We Are."
BOX OFFICE - From BoxOfficePro: The winner of the 4/1 to 4/3 weekend box office is Sony Pictures' "Morbius" with an estimated take of 39.1 million dollars.
From Here: Here is Negromancer's review of "Morbius."
From Deadline: "Morbius" leads the global box office with an 84 million dollar debut, making 44.9 million of that in 62 international markets.
NETFLIX - From Variety: Netflix has slowed its development of a Will Smith action-thriller, "Fast and Loose," in the wake of the Oscar slap.
NETFLIX - From Deadline: After not speaking for 13 years, director Lee Daniels and Oscar-winning actress Mo'Nique will reunite on the Netflix film, "Demon House." Daniels directed Mo'Nique in the film, "Precious" for which she won her Oscar.
TELEVISION - From Deadline: Actress Demetria McKinney has joined The CW's pilot, "The Winchesters." The project is a prequel to The CW's long-running series, "Supernatural."
MOVIES - From WeGotThisCovered: Marvel Studios stalwarts Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson will star in director Jason Bateman's mystery film, "Project Artemis" for AppleTV.
MOVIES - From MovieWeb: Actor Chris Pine wanted his new action movie, "The Contractor," in which he plays a Special Forces sergeant, to be as authentic as possible.
MOVIES - From Deadline: Bruce Willis' family have announced that the two-time Emmy Award-winning actor is retiring due to health related issues.
OBITS:
From ESPN: NFL quarterback, Dwayne Haskins, has died at the age of 24, Saturday, April 9, 2022, killed when he was struck by a vehicle. Haskins played for the Ohio State Buckeyes from 2016 to 2018, where he was the MVP of the 2019 Rose Bowl. Haskins was currently a member of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers, but he was originally picked by the Washington Redskins in the 2019 NFL Draft - First Round, Pick #15.
From From Variety: Television and film actress, Estelle Harris, has died at the age of 93, Saturday, April 2, 2022. She is best known for playing "Estelle Costanza," the mother of George Costanza on the former NBC sitcom, "Seinfeld." She also provided the voice for "Mrs. Potato Head" in Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story" films, with "Toy Story 4" (2019) being her final film role. She also played "Muriel" on the Disney Channel sitcom, "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" (2005-08).
From Deadline: Television actress, Barrie Youngfellow, has died at the age of 75, Monday, March 28, 2022. Youngfellow is best remembered for starring as "Jan Hoffmeyer Gray" in the sitcom, "It's A Living." The series aired on ABC from 1980-82 and in first-run syndication from 1985-89, and Youngfellow was one of only four actors who appeared in all 120 episodes of the series.
From THR: Film and television producer Walter Coblenz has died at the age of 93, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Coblenz received an Oscar-nomination for producing the 1976 film, "All the King's Men." Coblenz also produced films like "The Candidate" (1972) and "Money Talks" (1997) He also received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for producing (with Lee Rich) the 1973 made-for-TV film, "The Blue Knight."
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WILL SMITH/CHRIS ROCK - From Variety: Will Smith has announced that he is withdrawing his membership from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
From Variety: Will Smith walks onstage at the 94th Academy Awards and slaps Chris Rock in the face for making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
From Variety: The Academy has said that Will Smith was asked to leave the 94th Academy Awards ceremony after slapping presenter Chris Rock, but he refused. The Academy has started disciplinary proceedings against Smith.
From Deadline: Oscar-winner Will Smith formally apologizes to comedian Chris Rock for slapping him during the 94th Academy Awards show.
From Variety: Chris Rock says that he is "still kind of processing what happened."
From Variety: "Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe says that he is "dramatically bored" with hearing people's opinion about "THE SLAP."
From Variety: Will Smith won the "Best Actor" Oscar for portraying the father of tennis stars, Venus and Serena Willaims, Richard Williams, in the biopic, "King Richard." In regards to Smith slapping Chris Rock onstage during the 94th Academy Awards, Richard says, "We don't condone anyone hitting anyone else."
From Variety: The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has confirmed that Chris Rock has declined to file a police report regarding Oscar-winner Will Smith slapping him during the 94th Academy Awards.
From THR: The actors' union, SAG-AFTRA, calls Will Smith's slap of Chris Rock to be "unacceptable."
From People: Of the Oscar slap, "Aquaman" Jason Momoa says that he is shocked that Will Smith slapped Chris Rock and that "There's a tipping point for everyone."
From
Variety: Celebrities react to the Oscar bitch slap heard around the world.
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