by tyler | Jun 1, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
A Los Angeles jury has found actor Danny Masterson guilty on two of the three counts of rape in a retrial on Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney.
There was a hung jury on the third count, the District Attorney said.
“We want to express our gratitude to the three women who came forward and bravely shared their experiences. Their courage and strength have been an inspiration to us all,” District Attorney Gascón said. “While we are disappointed that the jury did not convict on all counts, we respect their decision.”
The “That ’70s Show” star, 47, had pleaded not guilty to raping three women at his home in separate incidents between 2001 and 2003.
He is facing a possible sentence of up to 30 years to life in state prison.
Masterson was taken into custody on Wednesday following the verdict.
The trial started on April 24 and the case went to the jury on May 17. Masterson was represented by defense lawyers Shawn Holley and Philip Cohen. Deputy D.A. Ariel Anson and Deputy D.A. Reinhold Mueller prosecuted the case.
CNN has reached out to representatives for Masterson for comment.
“I am experiencing a complex array of emotions – relief, exhaustion, strength, sadness – knowing that my abuser, Danny Masterson, will face accountability for his criminal behavior,” Jane Doe 2 said to CNN in a statement through their representative.
This is the second trial in the case against Masterson. His first trial, which started in October 2022, was declared a mistrial in November after jurors remained deadlocked, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said at the time.
Masterson is best known for his role as Steven Hyde on “That ’70s Show,” which aired for eight seasons on Fox from 1998 to 2006, and costarred Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Laura Prepon, Topher Grace and Wilmer Valderrama.
Kutcher and Masterson also starred in Netflix’s “The Ranch” beginning in 2016, but Netflix and the producers wrote Masterson off the show amid the rape allegations. At the time, Masterson said he was “obviously very disappointed” by the decision, in a statement to CNN.
News of the allegations date back to March 2017 when journalist and former Village Voice editor Tony Ortega wrote on his site, “The Underground Bunker,” that Masterson was being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department.
by tyler | Jun 1, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
Hollywood actor Al Pacino is set to become a father again at the age of 83, with his 29-year old girlfriend Noor Alfallah expecting a child, his representative confirmed to CNN.
The actor, best known for his roles in “Scarface” (1983) and “The Godfather” series, has three other children – two with Beverly D’Angelo and one with Jan Tarrant.
Alfallah works as a producer in the entertainment industry.
In 2014, Pacino told the New Yorker magazine how the fact that his father left him and his mother when he was two has shaped his relationship with his children.
“It’s the missing link, so to speak,” he said. “Having children has helped a lot. I consciously knew that I didn’t want to be like my dad. I wanted to be there. I have three children. I’m responsible to them. I’m a part of their life. When I’m not, it’s upsetting to me and to them.”
Pacino won the Academy Award for Best Actor for 1992’s “Scent of a Woman,” and has also received multiple nominations throughout his career.
Pacino has never retired and continues to appear regularly on film, such as in director Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” (2019), as well as on TV, including the Amazon series “Hunters” (2020-2023).
He joins a growing list of older fathers. At the age of 79, actor Robert De Niro has recently welcomed his seventh child.
by tyler | May 31, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
Kylie Minogue has landed back on the charts with her first UK Top 40 hit in years.
“Padam Padam,” the lead single from her upcoming 16th album, “Tension,” has debuted at No. 26 on Friday’s Singles Chart. It is currently tracking even higher at No. 18.
It’s Minogue’s first hit on the Singles Chart since 2014, when she saw “Into the Blue” hit the list. She’s also on track to enter the US pop charts for the first time since her global 2001 hit, “Can’t Get You Out of My Head.”
Minogue, who just celebrated a birthday, thanked her fans for all the support for the new music.
“I just wanted to say thank you so, so much for all your birthday messages and the Padam reaction and the love,” she wrote on social media. “It’s been an incredible week topped off by it being my birthday today and I can’t thank you enough. My heart is bursting with joy.”
Seven of the 11 songs on “Tension” were produced and co-written with her long-time collaborators, Biff Stannard and Duck Blackwell.
“This album is a blend of personal reflection, club abandon and melancholic highs,” Minogue described the album. “I felt so much freedom when I recorded it and hope you love it!”
by tyler | May 31, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
The world’s most successful K-Pop band has a new song coming.
BTS announced Wednesday that the septet will release their new digital single, “Take Two,” on June 9. The song celebrates the band’s 10th anniversary.
“The title of the song, ‘Take Two,’ suggests BTS’ moving onto their second chapter after the first chapter of a decade-long journey as artists,” according to the press release. “The single is an ode to their fans, ARMY, showing the septet’s gratitude to their fans.”
Member Suga is credited with participating in the overall production of the track, with fellow members RM and J-hope being involved with the songwriting.
BTS members have been pursuing solo projects, but are coming together to celebrate their anniversary.
The group also unveiled a calendar for the BTS 10th Anniversary FESTA (2023 BTS FESTA). The Festa is an annual event celebrating the group’s debut on June 13, 2013.
From Wednesday through June 17, BTS will reveal various content specially prepared for their 10th anniversary, concluding with a grand finale featuring an offline event in Seoul, Korea.
by tyler | May 31, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
Nothing could be more visceral than the fear monsters that kids imagine under the bed or in the closet are actually real, which provides the backbone of “The Boogeyman,” a movie (very) loosely based on Stephen King’s early short story. Originally earmarked for Hulu, the film is now receiving a theatrical release, where its modestly scaled chills should scare up some business.
King has always been fairly philosophical about taking Hollywood’s money and not fretting about how they handle his work, a mentality that should suit him well given the creative contortions and liberties undertaken to flesh out his story.
As constructed by director Rob Savage (“Host”) and a team of writers (working with producer Shaun Levy), the emphasis shifts to therapist Will Harper (Chris Messina) and his two daughters, who are mourning the death of his wife/their mother when a mysterious patient arrives, bringing a strange tale and dark presence with him.
That patient, Lester Billings (David Dastmalchian), explains how his three children died, and speaks vaguely of the shadowy monster that he believes took them. The threat soon passes to Will’s teenager, Sadie (“Yellowjackets’” Sophie Thatcher), and little sister Sawyer (“Obi-Wan Kenobi’s” Vivien Lyra Blair), who already sleeps with a nightlight because of her fear of the dark.
As is so often the case with these movies, the buildup is generally more terrifying than the payoff, and Savage doesn’t scrimp when it comes to jump-at-you scares. Those moments become particularly unnerving when involving the younger child, which is why even though there’s not an abundance of gore, thematically speaking, the PG-13 rating here feels a trifle generous at best (“Monsters, Inc.,” this isn’t).
As with “It,” one of the adaptations whose success fueled the latest rush to put everything King has ever written except shopping lists on screen, “The Boogeyman” traffics in the unsettling proposition that irrational childhood anxieties have an underlying foundation. Like another recent adaptation (and indeed, many King movies and TV shows), “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone,” it finds horror in the utterly mundane, with the inherent spookiness of that theme helping to carry it through shortcomings in the actual resolution.
By then, “The Boogeyman” has mostly accomplished its mission, which is to say put audiences on the edge of their seats, wondering what horror will emerge from the darkness next. Practically speaking, those relatively inexpensive thrills provide shrewd counter-programming, with its small-boned framework, to a wave of lavish summer blockbusters.
The fact that those seats will initially be situated in a movie theater, surrounded by strangers instead of on a couch at home, reflects a simple formula that King’s work has long demonstrated – namely, that reaching into the deepest recesses of our psyche remains a pretty good way of tapping into our wallets, too.
“The Boogeyman” premieres June 2 in US theaters. It’s rated PG-13.
by tyler | May 31, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
The characters of “Succession” are known to use some sharp words and colorful language, and there was quite a bit of it in the series finale.
Analyzing the scripts from the final episode of 50 of the highest-rated TV finales on IMDB, language tutoring company Preply set out to find out which shows had the most curse-filled finales.
Sunday’s final episode of “Succession,” perhaps unsurprisingly, landed at the top of the list with 235 curse words in all. That’s almost double the finale for “The Wire,” which landed in second place with 127 swear words in its final episode.
Here’s where some other show finales ranked on swear words, according to the study:
1. “With Open Eyes,” the “Succession” finale – 235 curse words (or 2.67 per minute)
2. “The Wire” finale – 127 curse words
3. “Orange is the New Black” finale – 88 curse words
4. “The Thick of It” finale – 87 curse words
5. “Peeky Blinders” finale – 71 curse words
“Veep and “The Sopranos” also made the list, with 52 and 51 curse words in the final episodes, respectively.
The Emmy-winning “Succession” ended on Sunday after four seasons and saw the Roy children losing out on the sale of their father’s company to GoJo. (HBO, like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.)
