by tyler | May 26, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
There’s a video of Mike Wallace interviewing Tina Tuner for “60 Minutes” in 1997 that recirculated after she died at the age of 83 this week.
In it, Turner shows Wallace her palatial home in Nice, France, and the pair share a moment over the breathtaking luxury of it all.
“You feel like you deserve all this?” Wallace asks Turner, to which she responds, “I deserve more.”
It was just one example of Turner knowing her worth, something hard won after a difficult past that included poverty, racism and domestic abuse.
While she chose to share her experiences as a survivor of domestic abuse, she also defined herself beyond it.
Turner first went public about the violence she said she suffered in her marriage and musical partnership to Ike Turner during an interview with People magazine in 1981, in part, she said, to make sure people knew the truth.
“I wanted to stop people from thinking that Ike & Tina was so positive, that we were such a great team,” Turner said in the 2021 HBO documentary, “Tina.” “I thought, if nothing else, at least people know.”
Ike and Tina Turner married in 1962. She fled from him 16 years later with only 36 cents and a Mobil credit card in her wallet, an event famously dramatized in the 1993 film “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” featuring Angela Bassett starring as Turner.
“I was living a life of death,” Turner told People. “I didn’t exist. I didn’t fear him killing me when I left, because I was already dead. When I walked out, I didn’t look back.”
Prior to the superstar singer sharing her account, domestic violence was often only associated with women living in poverty. When Turner, as an internationally revered star detailed the brutality she said she lived with, it sparked conversation and cultural awareness about abuse.
She revealed more of her life story in her 1986 book, “I, Tina,” and domestic violence became a frequent topic in many of her interviews.
Yet with all that Turner shared, she told the New York Times in 2019 that she had never told the full story of how bad it was for her.
“I think I’m ashamed,” she said. “I feel I told enough.”
For his part, Ike Turner, who died in 2007 at the age of 76, consistently denied that he was the person his ex-wife described.
“‘Ike Turner, known as the meanest man alive, the ugly woman-beater’ or whatever; people always got to say some [expletive] like that,” he told the Washington Post in 1997. “See, they put that movie out right during the time of that women’s movement, and Tina fit right into that. That women’s-lib thing, she was a good vehicle for them to get behind. It really hurt me a lot, but I’m getting over it, man.”
“You can’t undo what’s been done,” he later said. “And I have no regrets … I did nothing that I’m ashamed of. I did nothing that I won’t do again.”
There was probably plenty Tina Turner would have done differently, as one of the main themes of her 2021 documentary was the unhappiness she endured with him for years.
But there was also triumph.
After being left deeply in debt following their divorce, Tina Turner reclaimed her career and became an even bigger star than when she had performed with her ex-husband.
Her 1984 solo album “Private Dancer” featured several hits, including the Grammy-winning single, “What’s Love Got to Do with It.”
Critics praised both the album and her voice.
“Rolling on the river without Ike in the boat, Tina Turner makes a powerful comeback on Private Dancer,” Debby Miller wrote for Rolling Stone at the time. “Turner throws herself into the material here, her voice rasping but strong, physical and impossibly sensual. There isn’t a single dud among the songs, and they’re given modern rock settings that are neither detached nor very fussy.”
More hit songs, millions of records sold, movie roles, sold-out tours, two inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and a Broadway musical about her life and career followed.
There was also the longtime love she found with Erwin Bach, a record executive with whom she shared the last 40 years of her life.
Turner was clear that she had moved on from her painful past.
“I don’t know if I could ever forgive all that Ike ever did to me,” she said in 2019, adding, “Ike’s dead. So, we don’t have to worry about him.”
by tyler | May 26, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
Tom Hanks called on Harvard’s 2023 graduating class to defend truth in a powerful commencement address on Thursday.
The Oscar winner, who received an honorary doctorate of arts, joked he was receiving the degree “without having done a lick of work” other than playing a Harvard professor in “The Da Vinci Code” movies.
“It’s not fair, but please don’t be embittered by this fact,” he said.
“I don’t know much about Latin. I have no real passion for enzymes, and public global policy is something I scan on the newspaper just before I do the Wordle,” Hanks said. “And yet here I am closing — closing for Josiah, Pallas, and Vic,” he quipped, referring to the three student speakers who proceeded him..
Hanks then pivoted to talking about “truth, justice and the American way.”
“Propaganda and bald-faced lies will erode over time,” Hanks said. “Idolatry and imagery lose luster and effect.”
He went on, saying, “Ignorance and intolerance can be replaced by experience in the wink of an eye, but indifference will narrow the vision of America’s people and make dim the light of Lady Liberty’s symbolic torch.”
Hanks told the class there are three types of Americans and that they will have to make a choice between “those who embrace liberty and freedom for all, those who won’t, or those who are indifferent.”
The difference, he, added, is in “how truly you believe, in how vociferously you promote, in how tightly you hold to the truth that is self-evident — that of course we are all created equally yet differently and of course we are all in this together.”
“We are all but human,” Hanks said.
Hanks said that, “the truth, to some, is no longer empirical. It’s no longer based on data nor common sense nor even common decency.”
“Telling the truth is no longer the benchmark for public service. It’s no longer the salve to our fears or the guide to our actions. Truth is now considered malleable, by opinion, by zero-sum end games,” he said. “Imagery is manufactured with audacity, with purpose to achieve the primal task of marring the truth with mock logic to achieve with fake expertise, with false sincerity.”
People “play fast and loose” with the truth, he stressed.
“Every day, every year, and for every graduating class, there is a choice to be made,” he said.
He called post-graduation “the never-ending battle you have all officially joined as of today.”
“If you live in the United States of America, the responsibility is yours. Ours. The effort is optional, but the truth is sacred, unalterable, chiseled into the stone of the foundation of our republic,” he said.
by tyler | May 26, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
Celine Dion announced the cancellation of her “Courage World Tour” dates through 2024 and “will likely never tour again,” a source close to Dion told CNN Friday.”
“She is in a lot of pain,” the individual said. “She does daily physical therapy.”
“I’m so sorry to disappoint all of you once again,” an announcement on the singer’s social media read. “I’m working really hard to build back my strength, but touring can be very difficult even when you’re 100%. It’s not fair to you to keep postponing the shows, and even though it breaks my heart, it’s best that we cancel everything now until I’m really ready to be back on stage again. I want you all to know, I’m not giving up… and I can’t wait to see you again!”
Dion postponed several shows in December after she announced she had been diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome, a condition, she said, that doesn’t allow her “to sing the way I’m used to.”
The disorder is “a rare, progressive syndrome that affects the nervous system, specifically the brain and spinal cord,” according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
“While we’re still learning about this rare condition, we now know this is what’s been causing all of the spasms that I’ve been having,” Dion said at the time. “Unfortunately, these spasms affect every aspect of my daily life, sometimes causing difficulties when I walk and not allowing me to use my vocal cords to sing the way I’m used to.”
Tickets for her concerts will be refunded from their point of purchase.
by tyler | May 26, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
Police in Germany have launched a criminal investigation into Roger Waters, the co-founder of Pink Floyd, after he appeared dressed in a costume resembling a Nazi uniform during two concerts in Berlin last week.
Waters was wearing the costume while performing from Pink Floyd’s 1979 concept album “The Wall,” in which the album’s protagonist hallucinates that he is a fascist dictator. The satirical routine has been a part of Waters’ solo shows for at least 30 years, including a famous live performance of the album in Berlin in 1990. This week appears to be the first time the German government has launched a criminal investigation following his performance, however.
Berlin police spokeswoman Jennifer Bähle confirmed to CNN Friday that Waters is being investigated for suspected incitement during two concerts in the city last week, on May 17 and 18. ”We have received information from the public including pictures and videos which according to the external appearance are suitable for fulfilling the offense of incitement to hatred,” she said.
”The State Security Department at the Berlin State Criminal Police Office has initiated a criminal investigation procedure regarding the suspicion of incitement of the people (140 Paragraph 4 of the German criminal Code),” a statement by Berlin police sent to CNN reads.
”The context of the clothing worn is deemed capable of approving, glorifying or justifying the violent and arbitrary rule of the Nazi regime in a manner that violates the dignity of the victims and thereby disrupts public peace,” the statement went on to say.
”After the conclusion of the investigation, the case will be forwarded to the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office for legal assessment,” the police statement ended.
In a statement posted to Facebook dated May 20, Waters criticized the German Bundestag’s 2019 vote to designate the pro-Palestinian “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions” (BDS) movement as antisemitic. Waters has been a frequent proponent of the BDS movement, and a vocal critic of the Israeli state’s treatment of Palestinian people.
A video posted and shared on social media from Waters’ performance at the Mercedes-Benz Arena last week shows the musician in a costume with a red armband emblazoned with two crossed hammers – an image from Pink Floyd’s album “The Wall” that has been appropriated by racist skinhead groups, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The video shows Waters pretending to shoot into the crowd with a prop machine gun. According to the Berlin police, this depiction is likely to glorify the rule of the National Socialists.
The performances in Germany were the subject of profound controversy before Waters arrived. He has consistently denied that he is antisemitic. In his May 20 statement, the singer said he visited the graves of anti-Nazi activists Sophie and Hans Scholl while on tour in Munich last week.
Waters is scheduled to perform in Frankfurt on Sunday.
City authorities in Frankfurt demanded that the venue cancel his concert there, but according to a report in The Guardian, a German court ruled in April that while his performance uses “symbolism manifestly based on that of the National Socialist regime,” the musician’s work “did not glorify or relativize the crimes of the Nazis or identify with Nazi racist ideology.”
Frankfurt’s Jewish community has organized a protest against his upcoming performance. ”On this day, the concert by the musician Roger Waters known for his anti-Semitic stage shows and statements, will take place. We do not want to stand by idly when a well-known anti-Semite and conspiracy theorist is given a stage in Frankfurt, ” the Jewish community said in a statement on Instagram.
According to Waters’ show schedule, he is also expected to perform in a series of concerts in the UK next week, including in Birmingham, Glasgow, London and Manchester.
In an interview with podcaster Katie Halper posted online on May 6, Waters said: “I can be allowed to do a show because it’s theater darling. The idea that no one can dress up in a f**king Nazi uniform ever, to do anything, in a theater or a film, is ludicrous, obviously.”
His comments came shortly after he won a legal battle to revoke Frankfurt city council’s ban on his upcoming concert.
“You don’t dress up like him, in a pro-Himmler or pro-Nazi way,” said Halper. “It’s a scathing critique, you are playing a villainous character.”
“It’s a parody,” Waters replied.
by tyler | May 25, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
There’s a new mega show hitting HBO next month – about the music industry, fame, and lots and lots of sex.
It’s called “The Idol,” and though the show has yet to debut publicly, it’s already made a world of headlines.
“The Idol” comes from Abel Tesfaye, known more popularly as The Weeknd, and Sam Levinson, the showrunner of another hit HBO show, “Euphoria.” “The Idol” follows a budding pop star, Jocelyn, played by 23-year-old Lily-Rose Depp, who falls in love with a cult leader and nightclub owner, played by Tesfaye. The resulting romance is whirlwind to say the least – and has been labeled as downright abusive and pornographic by some critics. (HBO and CNN share parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.)
Though “The Idol” first screened for critics Monday at the Cannes Film Festival, controversy has been swirling around the production months before anyone had seen it. The first director left the show with about 80% of it completed, Rolling Stone reported earlier this year, citing sources who spoke of a chaotic production environment. As of Thursday afternoon, the show has a 27% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
CNN has reached out to representatives for “The Idol.” Outside of what was shown at Cannes, HBO has not provided screeners of the show for review.
With the show set to debut on June 4, here’s a summary of the controversies surrounding “The Idol.”
In March, Rolling Stone published its report on the production of “The Idol,” interviewing 13 unnamed sources who claim the show had gone “wildly, disgustingly off the rails.”
In April 2022, director Amy Seimetz left the production despite having already finished most of the six-episode series. At that time, the show was supposed to debut at the end of 2022. But Levinson took over the production following her exit and, according to Rolling Stone, he decided to rewrite and reshoot the show, causing a delay.
Levinson changed the core of the show, according to Rolling Stone. Where Seimetz had approached the story through the lens of Depp’s character – envisioning a tale about the twisted effects of fame and a carnivorous industry – Levinson’s approach was more focused on a toxic romance, the report said.
Producers who spoke to Rolling Stone claimed the production was chaotic, full of half-written scripts and reshot scenes.
HBO told Rolling Stone in a statement that the show’s “creative team has been committed to creating a safe, collaborative and mutually respectful working environment, and last year, the team made creative changes they felt were in the best interest of both the production and the cast and crew.”
In response to Rolling Stone’s report, Tesfaye posted a clip of the show on Twitter, in which Depp’s character refuses a Rolling Stone cover because the magazine is too “irrelevant.” He captioned the clip with “(Rolling Stone) did we upset you?”
Critics’ response following the show’s debut at Cannes this week has been largely negative. Though some have praised some of the actors’ performances, Levinson’s direction – and the story overall – have been criticized.
“Levinson applies his efficient and stylish direction to every scene. Some of them have momentum, others are contradictory and most of them are confusing,” The Hollywood Reporter noted. “Rarely does a scene go by without the camera showing flashes of her breasts or ass. You start to wonder if this is building to anything, and by episode two it seems likely that it’s probably not.”
Variety called the show a “sordid male fantasy,” writing: “It shouldn’t take degradation and suffering to make Jocelyn stronger. ‘Euphoria’ audiences won’t be too surprised by the shameful way (Levinson) treats Depp’s character, as both she and the show appear trapped under The Weeknd’s thumb.”
Others have put it more bluntly, simply calling the show “gross and sexist.”
But those involved have stood by Levinson and “The Idol.”
“It’s always a little sad and disheartening to see mean, false things said about someone you care about. It wasn’t reflective at all of my experience,” said Depp, responding to the Rolling Stone article.
Tesfaye also defended the show at Cannes, saying: “We initially wanted to make a dark, twisted fairy tale with the music industry and everything I know about it, and heighten it.”
Hank Azaria also called his time on the show “the opposite” of a chaotic set, while Jane Adams called Levinson “brilliant.”
“I’m getting very upset in this society,” Adams said. “Can we just create? Can we get messy and be free to think?”
Levinson, for his part, didn’t appear publicly concerned at the Cannes press conference. He said after his wife read him the Rolling Stone article, he told her: “I think we’re about to have the biggest show of the summer.”
Levinson is most known for creating the Emmy-winning hit show “Euphoria,” starring Zendaya, based on an Israeli show of the same name.
Despite the show’s popularity, criticism has been leveled at Levinson for its seemingly gratuitous and graphic portrayals of nudity and sex, particularly for a show about teenagers.
But several cast members on the show have stated they’ve felt comfortable with the amount of nudity, noting there have always been intimacy coordinators on set confirming their safety and comfort. Still, at least four cast members – Sydney Sweeney, Minka Kelly, Chloe Cherry, and Martha Kelly – have said they pushed back at times when they felt nudity wasn’t necessary.
Sweeney, who plays Cassie Howard on the show, has praised Levinson for making her feel comfortable.
“There are moments where Cassie was supposed to be shirtless and I would tell Sam, ‘I don’t really think that’s necessary here.’ He was like, ‘OK, we don’t need it,’” Sweeney told The Independent in 2022. “I’ve never felt like Sam has pushed it on me or was trying to get a nude scene into an HBO show. When I didn’t want to do it, he didn’t make me.”
“The Idol” will air on HBO and stream on Max, formerly HBO Max, on June 4.
by tyler | May 25, 2023 | CNN, entertainment
As the world mourns the loss of music icon Tina Turner, one of “The Best” singer’s most famous friends, Oprah Winfrey, shared a moving tribute on her website and social media.
Winfrey, who devoted portions of her landmark daytime talk show to Turner in the late 90s and the aughts, said in a statement posted to her Instagram on Wednesday that the influential pop culture figure “was a role model not only for me but for the world.”
“She once shared with me that when her time came to leave this earth, she would not be afraid, but excited and curious,” Winfrey said, adding “I am a better woman, a better human, because her life touched mine. She was indeed simply the best.”
The family of Turner told CNN in a statement that she died “peacefully” in her home in Switzerland on Wednesday after suffering from an undisclosed “long illness.” She was 83.
Her turbulent life with Ike Turner and their rise to fame was depicted in the 1993 biopic “What’s Love Got To Do With It” starring Angela Bassett, who told CNN in a statement on Wednesday that “Turner showed others who lived in fear what a beautiful future filled with love, compassion, and freedom should look like.”
While in concert in Phoenix, Arizona on Wednesday night, singer Lizzo performed a spirited rendition of “Proud Mary,” and also said that she was not letting herself cry yet over the loss of Turner, instead choosing to “celebrate what an incredible legend Tina Turner is and always will be.”
“As a black girl in a rock band, I would not exist if it was not for the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Lizzo added onstage.
As people showed support by placing flowers on Turner’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, rock legends from Turner’s era including Ringo Starr, Brian Wilson and Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger took to social media to share their sentiments.
“I’m so saddened by the passing of my wonderful friend Tina Turner,” Jagger said on Twitter, adding that Turner was “inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her.”
In a statement shared with CNN, singer Roberta Flack paid tribute to Turner by remembering her “meteoric energy on stage” during their 1971 “Soul to Soul” tour in Ghana.
“My friend, Tina, thank you for inspiring us to always be everything we were meant to be–regardless of life’s challenges. A woman without limits. You will always be my hero,” Flack’s statement read.
The White House said that Turner’s death is a “massive loss” shortly after the news broke on Wednesday, with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying that Turner was “a music icon who had many stages, many amazing moments in her career.”
Celebrities from all corners of the industry continued to post tributes throughout the day on Wednesday. Among them were Mariah Carey, Jennifer Hudson, Halle Berry, Keith Urban and more.
