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Published by Hong Kong Free Press The annual LGBTQ carnival Pink Dot Hong Kong will be held later this month at the Kowloonbay International Trade & Exhibition Centre, with the theme of “Express Yourself,” encouraging people to have the courage to be their authentic selves. Co-organised by BigLove Alliance, Qlove and LEZO, the October 23 event will be held indoors for the second year to better comply with Covid-19 restrictions, such as those on outdoor public gatherings. In a video played at a press conference on Thursday, Joey Leung, one of the two ambassadors of this year’s event, said the theme made him “want to cry.” “In t… Read More View the full article

Published by New York Daily News NEW YORK — One of the world’s most respected LGBTQ film festivals is about to begin. Over the next 12 days, the 34th annual edition of the New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival will celebrate the power of queer, trans and nonbinary storytelling with U.S. and world premieres, star-studded red carpets, fabulous parties — and even a singalong homage to the late LGBTQ ally Olivia Newton-John in the 1980 camp classic “Xanadu.” This year, more than 130 films and episodic series from 23 countries will make sure that “LGBTQ+ voices are amplified, heard, empowered and celebrated,” according to David Hatkoff, e… Read More View the full article

Published by DPA People put down candles at the scene of a shooting outside a gay bar. A man in Bratislava killed two men and seriously injured a waitress near a popular gay pub in the city centre on Wednesday evening. Pavol Zachar/TASR/dpa Slovakian politicians joined in the nation’s condemnation of hatred and prejudice on Thursday, a day after a man killed two men and seriously injured a waitress near a popular gay pub in Bratislava’s city centre. Investigators have identified the alleged perpetrator, who is dead, police said in a Facebook post after the late Wednesday shootings. The two men, both aged 30, were killed in front of a pub which is popular among the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) community. The pub describes itself as a “lovely gay bar in Bratislava centre.” The shooter confessed to the crime online before presumably killing himself, Sme.sk news site reported. The 19-year-old posted hate messages about sexual minorities and a sort of manifesto that contained homophobic and neo-Nazi sentiments on Twitter and another network, the report said. The posts expressed admiration for other far-right murderers as role models. In the shootings, the man appeared to have used the pistol of his father, who reportedly ran for a minor right-wing populist party at some point in the past. By morning, the two accounts were no longer accessible. Police were not initially willing to confirm the two accounts belonged to the man, or that he was the source of the hate speech, saying investigations are ongoing. However, Slovakian lawmakers and reporters roundly condemned the killings that they attributed to a hatred of sexual minorities. “The long-term hatred against a minority, also fuelled by stupid and irresponsible statements by politicians,” has cost innocent people their lives, President Zuzana Caputova wrote in a Facebook post. Prime Minister Eduard Heger told journalists that it was “unacceptable that anyone has to fear for their lives because of their way of life.” He said social media users should think carefully about their choice of words before writing posts. Many people laid flowers and lit candles at the scene of the crime while the University of Bratislava, where one of the victims had studied, opened a book of condolences. The Ministry of Education hoisted a black flag. Police officers stand on the bank of the Danube near the scene of shooting outside a bar in Zamocka Street. A man in Bratislava killed two men and seriously injured a waitress near a popular gay pub in the city centre on Wednesday evening. Jaroslav Nov·k/TASR/dpa Police officers stand at the scene after shooting outside a bar in Zamocka Street. A man in Bratislava killed two men and seriously injured a waitress near a popular gay pub in the city centre on Wednesday evening. Jaroslav Novák/TASR/dpa View the full article

Published by Reuters UK BRATISLAVA (Reuters) -A “radicalised teenager” shot dead two people outside a gay bar in Slovakia’s capital Bratislava, Prime Minister Eduard Heger said. A gunman killed two people and wounded another near the Teplaren bar in the city centre on Wednesday evening, police said. The suspected attacker was himself found dead on Thursday morning, officers added. “I strongly condemn a murder of two young people shot dead in Bratislava last night by a radicalised teenager,” Heger wrote on Twitter. “No form of white supremacy, racism and extremism against communities, incl. LGBTI, can be tolerated,” h… Read More View the full article

Published by Radar Online mega Geena Davis has opened up about a string of uncomfortable moments with Bill Murray while on set for the ’90s crime comedy, Quick Change, RadarOnline.com has learned. The allegations of the famed comedian’s crude behavior were released in the actress’s upcoming memoir,Dying of Politeness. In her new book, the 66-year-old actress alleged that Murray, 72, made her feel uncomfortable during an audition for the movie, as well as unnecessarily reprimanding her in a patronizing fashion in front of “hundreds” of cast and crew members on set. The bombshell allegations come just after RadarOnline learned of a $100-thousand-dollar hush money payment, doled out by Murray, to keep sexual harassment claims at bay from a woman who claimed the comedian/actor assaulted her on the set of a Disney film. mega According to Davis, the first of a series of uncomfortable moments between herself and Murray started when the comedian screamed at her in front of the cast and crew for being late. However, Davis alleged that the loud outburst was not only unnecessary but ill-placed, as she was delayed by the wardrobe department at the time of the incident. The outburst, while inappropriate, seems meager in comparison to her other claim against the 72-year-old actor and comedian, which took place prior to the alleged screaming incident during auditions. According to a summary of the book’s allegations by The New York Times, Davis writes that while “in a hotel suite,” which was being used to hold auditions for the crime comedy film, “Murray greets her with something called The Thumper, a massage device he insists on using on her, despite her emphatically refusing.” mega “The way he behaved at the first meeting… I should have walked out of that or profoundly defended myself, in which case I wouldn’t have got the part,” Davis said on the infamous hotel suite audition, where she claimed Murray forced her to use “The Thumper” against her will. “I could have avoided that treatment if I’d known how to react or what to do during the audition. But, you know, I was so non-confrontational that I just didn’t…,” Davis continued. Davis remarked that while her remarks may come off as victim blaming, she’s aware that the inappropriate action was not a result of her wrongdoing, “There’s no point in regretting things, and yet, here I was regretting. And yes, exactly, it wasn’t my fault.” mega While Murray has not commented on Davis’ allegations made in her memoir, the account comes after news of the recent payoff and his ex-co-star Lucy Liu speaking out against him. “As we’re doing the scene, Bill starts to sort of hurl insults, and I won’t get into the specifics, but it kept going on and on,”Liu shared of her time working with Murray on the set of Charlie’s Angels for an episode of the Asian Enough podcast. Liu called out the comedian’s behavior as “unacceptable” and “inexcusable.” Liu added that she, “was not going to just sit there and take it.” “So, yes, I stood up for myself and I don’t regret it. Because no matter how low on the totem pole you may be or wherever you came from, there’s no need to condescend or to put other people down. And I would not stand down, and nor should I have,” Liu concluded her thoughts on the incident. View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Fox News has some explaining to do after it was discovered host Tucker Carlson edited out a portion of his interview with Kanye West, in which the rapper spewed more anti-Semitic remarks. In the leaked clip, Ye claimed that Black people are the “real” Jewish race, RadarOnline.com can report. The Donda rapper also discussed the Covid-19 vaccine — yes, he got the jab — and accused Planned Parenthood’s founder of working with the Ku Klux Klan. But none of the comments made it to air. “I’d prefer my kids knew Hanukkah than Kwanzaa, at least it would come with some financial engineering,” Ye told Carlson in one of the unaired segments, referring to the belief that the Jewish community controls the financial system. Mega When the Grammy winner then targeted the late Margaret Sanger, claiming the Planned Parenthood founder worked directly with the KKK “to control the Jew population.” “When I say Jew,” Ye said, “I mean the 12 lost tribes of Judah, the blood of Christ, who the people known as the race Black really are. This is who our people are. The blood of Christ. This, as a Christian, is my belief.” He continued to elaborate before backtracking and warning Carlson that he wanted his next statement edited out. Mega “Think about us judging each other on how white we could talk would be like, you know, a Jewish person judging another Jewish person on how good they danced or something,” Ye continued. “I mean, that’s probably like a bad example and people are going to get mad at that s—,” adding, “I probably want to edit that out.” When Ye addressed the pandemic, the pro-Trump rapper said without hesitation, “I was vaccinated.” He went on to rant about his visions from God. “I have visions that God gives me, just over and over, on community building and how to build these free energy, kinetic, fully kinetic energy communities where we impress — we put the least impression on the earth. We’re not building the new New York skyline cockfight,” he said. “That we are humble in the way that we present ourselves. We’ve got to rethink who we are as a species,” he told Carlson. Mega The TV edits were uncovered by Vice on Tuesday. The clip comes just days after Ye tweeted “death con 3′ on Jewish people — a move that got him in trouble with Twitter. RadarOnline.com has reached out to Fox News for comment. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A Los Angeles city councilwoman day took a leave of absence from her post on Tuesday as a furor raged around her and two colleagues over racist comments she was heard making on an audiotape of their private conversation. Democrat Nury Martinez, who resigned her leadership post a day earlier, announced her leave of absence in a statement issued before the regularly scheduled council meeting. “This has been one of the most difficult times of my life and I recognize this is entirely of my own making,” Martinez, 49, said in the statement.” At this moment, I need to take a leave of absence and take some time to have an honest and heartfelt conversation with my family, my constituents, and community leaders.” Council members Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, who were heard on the recorded call along with local labor leader Ron Herrera, have issued apologies for their part in the inflammatory conversation but have defied calls to step down. A White House spokeswoman said on Tuesday that U.S. President Joe Biden believed that all three should resign. “He believes that they all should resign. The language that was used and tolerated during that conversation was unacceptable, and it was appalling. They should all step down,” Karine Jean-Pierre told a White House briefing. Both Cedillo and de Leon left the council meeting as raucous protesters demanded their resignation. Herrera resigned on Monday night from his position as president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the Los Angeles Times reported. The recorded conversation took place in October 2021 but came to light only this week after it was posted on a Reddit message board and reported by the Times. Martinez is heard on the tape saying that council member Mike Bonin, who is white, treated his Black son as if he were an “accessory” and compared him to a “changuito,” which translates roughly as “little monkey.” Martinez also disparaged Mexicans from Oaxaca and voiced her displeasure with Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, saying “he’s with the Blacks.” Martinez was first elected to the city council in 2013 and became president in 2020. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by David Gregorio) View the full article

Published by AFP Washington (AFP) – US President Joe Biden on Tuesday voiced confidence that he could beat his predecessor Donald Trump in a 2024 rematch — even as he acknowledged the country could sink back into recession under his leadership. The 79-year-old Democrat was asked if he’d be announcing a run for a second term after November’s midterm elections — and if Trump would be a factor in his decision. “I believe I can beat Donald Trump again,” Biden responded, although he stopped short of confirming another tilt at the Oval Office in 2024. Biden defeated Trump in both the state-by-state “electoral college” and the popular vote in 2020 — leading to relentless false claims of widespread voter fraud from the defeated president. Biden indicated to reporters at a NATO summit in March that he would be happy for Trump to be his opponent again. Biden’s popularity has taken a hit in the last year amid soaring inflation, rising violent crime in cities and a seemingly intractable migrant crisis at the southern border. But his approval ratings still outrank the numbers seen in polling for Trump, who regularly mocks Biden — three years his senior — for his age. CNN asked Biden what he would tell voters who consider him too old for reelection. “Name me a president in recent history that’s gotten as much done as I have in the first two years. Not a joke. You may not like what I got done, but the vast majority of the American people do like what I got done,” Biden replied. “And so… it’s a matter of, can you do the job? And I believe I can do the job.” In a wide-ranging interview that took in the war in Ukraine and Saudi-led oil production cuts that are expected to send gas prices soaring again, Biden was asked about fears for the economy amid gloomy growth projections. Biden downplayed the likelihood of a recession but conceded a “slight” downturn is possible. “I don’t think there will be a recession. If it is, it’ll be a very slight recession. That is, we’ll move down slightly,” he said. Trump, 76, came to power during the longest economic expansion in US history, although the economy tumbled into recession in 2020 as the world was gripped by the Covid-19 outbreak. Biden frequently takes questions from the media, but he has held few press conferences or one-to-one televised interviews. He has been more visible recently as he takes to the road to talk up Democratic legislative achievements and slam “MAGA Republicans” — followers of former president Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” agenda — in the final weeks of the midterm election campaign. He also sat down with CBS in September, making headlines for declaring the pandemic over and confirming US commitment to defending Taiwan from a Chinese assault. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Nate Raymond (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to decide whether fetuses are entitled to constitutional rights in light of its June ruling overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized abortion nationwide, steering clear for now of another front in America’s culture wars. The justices turned away an appeal by a Catholic group and two women of a lower court’s ruling against their challenge to a 2019 Rhode Island law that codified the right to abortion in line with the Roe precedent. The two women, pregnant at the time when the case was filed, sued on behalf of their fetuses and later gave birth. The Rhode Island Supreme Court decided that fetuses lacked the proper legal standing to bring the suit. Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee, a Democrat, welcomed Tuesday’s action by the justices. “We’re satisfied that the Supreme Court declined to hear this frivolous appeal. Governor McKee believes that we should be expanding access to reproductive healthcare for women,” spokesperson Matt Sheaff said in a statement, adding that the governor “is committed to using his veto pen to block any legislation that would take our state backwards.” Lawyers representing the plaintiffs did not respond to requests for comment. Conservative Justice Samuel Alito wrote in June’s ruling overturning the abortion rights precedent that in the decision the court took no position on “if and when prenatal life is entitled to any of the rights enjoyed after birth.” Some Republicans at the state level have pursued what are called fetal personhood laws, like one enacted in Georgia affecting fetuses starting at around six weeks of pregnancy, that would grant fetuses before birth a variety of legal rights and protections like those of any person. Under such laws, termination of a pregnancy legally could be considered murder. Lawyers for the group Catholics for Life and the two Rhode Island women – one named Nichole Leigh Rowley and the other using the pseudonym Jane Doe – argued that the case “presents the opportunity for this court to meet that inevitable question head on” by deciding if fetuses possess due process and equal protection rights conferred by the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment. The Rhode Island Supreme Court relied on the now-reversed Roe precedent in finding that the 14th Amendment did not extend rights to fetuses. The Roe ruling had recognized that the right to personal privacy under the U.S. Constitution protected a woman’s ability to terminate her pregnancy. Old Rhode Island laws included a criminal statute, predating the Roe ruling, that had prohibited abortions. After the Roe ruling, a federal court declared that Rhode Island law unconstitutional, and it was not in effect when the Democratic-led legislature enacted the 2019 Reproductive Privacy Act. Gina Raimondo, a Democrat who was the state’s governor at the time and is now President Joe Biden’s U.S. commerce secretary, signed the 2019 law, which codified the then-status quo under Roe in terms of abortion rights. More than a dozen states have enforced near-total abortion bans since the Supreme Court’s abortion June ruling in a case called Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Kevin Spacey flirted with a 19-year-old John Barrowman and “lay on a bed with him”, a court has heard. The former ‘House of Cards’ star is being sued by the ‘Torchwood’ actor’s old schoolmate, Anthony Rapp, who has accused the disgraced actor of assaulting him at a party in 1986 when he was just 14 years old and Spacey was more than a decade older, and as their legal battle continued in Manhattan on Tuesday (11.10.22), the judge was told the trio met in the 1980s. According to testimony from John, now 55, he was staying with Anthony when they met Spacey backstage at a New York theatre before going out to dinner and later to a club, and the ‘American Beauty’ star’s lawyer, Jennifer Keller, said the actor’s attention had been on the former ‘Dancing On Ice’ judge but “nothing inappropriate” had occurred. She asked Anthony, who was on the witness stand, if he believed he had been “seen as a tag-along” but he replied “no”. The lawyer then quoted part of John’s deposition which had not been made public before, in which he stated they had gone back to Spacey’s apartment and lay on the bed, but did not engage in any sexual activity because of his friend’s presence. John later sent flowers to the ‘Usual Suspects’ star and the pair stayed in touch, with the older actor often calling his new friend and his mother, which she “enjoyed”. This account differed from Anthony’s, who had earlier testified they had gone home immediately after going to the nightclub. Spacey’s lawyer asked him: ““It was right after Mr. Barrowman was deposed you realised you had a problem with your story,” The ‘Rent’ actor replied: “I don’t dispute his story. I just don’t remember it.” Elsewhere during the cross-examination, Ms. Keller questioned a speech Anthony gave in 2018, in which he credited Lupita Nyong’o’s New York Times article about her Harvey Weinstein experiences as the reason he came forward about Spacey. She said: “It’s simply not true that her article inspired you, is it?” He replied: “I don’t know how that can’t be true.” The lawyer then pulled up a copy of the article, which was dated 19 October, 2017, before showing screenshots of a conversation between the ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ star and his friend, BuzzFeed reporter Adam Vary. The first was dated 11 October and Anthony had written: “I’m wanting to speak about someone else very powerful in our industry.” His pal replied two days later: “I think everyone here wants to be sure your story has the strongest impact possible.” Asked about the messages, Anthony said: “It was how I remember the events unfolding when I thought back on them.” The lawyer scornfully said: “They weren’t 31 years old, were they?” She then argued the anecdote about Lupita had been seen as “useful to you to get more sympathy,” but the witness insisted that wasn’t the case as he “conflated” the op-ed with the wider allegations about Weinstein. Despite his alleged ordeal, Anthony admitted he had watched Spacey in many films, on television and in theatre performances since then, arguing it was his “duty” as an actor to watch the star’s work, but insisted he had “never wanted a career” like his. Anthony filed a civil suit against Spacey after a 2020 criminal charge of sexual assault was dismissed by a judge and is seeking compensation for mental and emotional suffering, medical expenses and loss of work. Spacey has previously pleaded not guilty to charges of sexually assaulting three men between March 2005 and April 2013 in the UK, while in 2019, charges of indecent assault and sexual assault were dropped in Massachusetts. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Cyndi Lauper’s late mother has inspired her to launch an abortion fund. The ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’ singer has set up the Girls Just Want to Have Fundamental Rights Fund to support organisations fighting for abortion and reproductive healthcare in the wake of the US Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which previously protected women’s rights to an abortion, in June this year. Cyndi said: “If you don’t have control over your own body, how can you be anything but a second-class citizen? “Now, the government has control over your body – not you. “What should be a private medical decision between you and your doctor is now a government decision. So, this is a big issue for me.” Cyndi’s mother Catrine – who appeared in a number of her music videos, including for song ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’ – died aged 91 earlier this year following a battle with Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia. The singer said: “She was in hospice, and we were together. We tried to make it as comfortable as I could for her. We made it like a spa,” she says. “She was incredible, and I’m just lucky that I got to have her as my mom because it inspired me to do so many things, including this Girls Just Wanna Have Fundamental Rights Fund.” Cyndi has also dropped a lyric video for her 1993 abortion rights song ‘Sally’s Pigeons’, which she recently re-released as an acoustic version. She told PEOPLE: [‘Sally’s Pigeons’] was about newspaper headlines – ‘Found Another Dead Young Woman.’ “[There were] lots of dead young women from illegal abortions that were not safe because you couldn’t have a safe procedure. “Young people don’t know what it was like. I saw it every day. I knew how it affected a lot of young women.” Cyndi shared a new version of the track in late June, and she said at the time: “The Supreme Court’s radical decision makes the re-recording and re-release of ‘Sally’s Pigeons’ more relevant than ever. “In my childhood, women didn’t have reproductive freedom and 50 years later we find ourselves in a time warp where one’s freedom to control their own body has been stripped away.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Bill Murray reportedly paid a “much younger” production assistant $100,000 after being accused of “inappropriate behaviour”. The 72-year-old actor’s film ‘Being Mortal’ shut down production in April after an allegation was made against him, and a new report has alleged the ‘Groundhog Day’ star grabbed the unnamed woman near a production bed, kissed her on the mouth – though both were wearing face masks due to COVID-19 protocols 0 and kissing her body while “straddling her”. According to Puck, “the woman interpreted his actions as entirely sexual” and was “horrified” by the actor’s alleged conduct, which was also reported by a second staff member, who witnessed the alleged incident. Sources told the outlet Murray settled the claim out of court for $100,000 in exchange for the woman – who was said to have been “particularly friendly” with the actor – agreeing to maintain confidentiality and giving up her rights to later sue the producers of the film, Searchlight, and Disney. The ‘French Dispatch’ star previously claimed he had “done something [he] thought was funny” on the set of the film and hoped to “make peace” with the woman. He said: “I did something I thought was funny, and it wasn’t taken that way. “The company, the movie studio, wanted to do the right thing, so they wanted to check it all out, investigate it. and so they stopped the production. “As of now, we’re talking and we’re trying to make peace with each other. I think that’s where the real issue is, between our peace. “We’re both professionals, we like each others’ work.” Bill has “done not much else but thinking about it” in recent weeks and claimed the incident and its fallout have been an “education” for him. He continued: “We like each other, I think, and if we can’t really get along and trust each other, there’s no point in going further working together or making the movie as well. It’s been quite an education for me. And I feel like if I don’t see that, you know, the world is different than it was when I was a little kid. You know, what I always thought was funny as a little kid isn’t necessarily the same as what’s funny now. Things change and the times change, so it’s important for me to figure it out. And I think the most important thing is that it’s best for the other person. I thought about it, and if it’s not best for the other person, doesn’t matter what happens for me. “[I wondered], ‘How could I misperceive? How could I be so inaccurate and so insensitive when you think you’re being sensitive to some sensibility that you’ve had for a long time?’ “ So we’re talking about it. We’re, I think we’re gonna make peace with it. I’m very optimistic about that. “I think it’s a sad dog that can’t learn anymore. I think that’s a really sad puppy that can’t learn anymore. I don’t want to be that sad dog and I have no intention of it.” Filming on the movie – which is Aziz Ansari’s directorial debut – has yet to resume. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Lizzo will get married when she wants to “start a business” with her partner. The ‘Juice’ singer is “in love” with Myke Wright and sees them as “life mates” but she would only want to legally affirm their union if it made financial sense. She said: “I’ve known him for over six years. He’s everything. We’re just in love. And that’s it.” Asked about her recent admission she doesn’t believe in monogamy, she added to Vanity Fair magazine: “Is monogamy a religion? People fight for monogamy like they pray to it every day. “I am not a polyamorous person, I’m not in love with multiple partners. That is not me. He’s the love of my life. We are life mates. Do I want to get married? If I wanted to start a business with him, I’d get married because that’s when your finances come together.” The 34-year-old star admitted she would like to have a wedding. She said: “I like weddings. I would like to have a wedding over a marriage.” While Lizzo is “connected” to Myke, she insisted she doesn’t need him to feel “complete”. She explained: ” I’m not thinking about sex when I think about monogamy and rules. I’m thinking about the autonomy and independence of him and me. “How wonderful would it be to be this complete independent person and to come together to make two complete independent people? Not that whole ‘You complete me, you’re my other half.’ “No. I’m whole, and you’re incredible too. We’re like the mirror image of each other. We’re connected. But that doesn’t mean I was incomplete when I met him.” While some stars have admitted to missing the “normal” things they did before finding fame such as running their own errands, the ‘Good as Hell’ hitmaker is delighted to have left them behind her. She exclaimed: “Hell no! I worked at the grocery store. I pushed carts in the winter at King Soopers in Aurora, Colorado. “I used to go to the grocery store all the motherf****** time. I used to get quarters and go to the lavandería to wash my motherf****** clothes. I’ve done all these things; I had very normal formative years.” Read ‘Lizzo Is Here to Talk About All of It—That Flute, That Lyric, Her Man, and More’ by Lisa Robinson in Vanity Fair’s November issue, and on VanityFair.com View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega LeBron James decided not to air an episode of his HBO show The Shop that featured Kanye West after the rapper used his appearance on the program to “reiterate more hate speech,” RadarOnline.com can confirm. In a surprising development to come as the 45-year-old rapper is already under scrutiny for a series of controversial actions over the past week, Kanye reportedly used his appearance on The Shop as an opportunity to double down on his recent anti-Semitic and hateful remarks. Mega According to Maverick Carter, who produces the HBO show alongside LeBron, the pair decided not to air the Kanye episode despite “talking to Kanye directly” the day before filming in an effort to have a “respectful discussion.” “Yesterday we taped an episode of The Shop with Kanye West,” Carter explained in a statement to Andscape on Tuesday. “Kanye was booked weeks ago and, after talking to Kanye directly the day before we taped, I believed he was capable of a respectful discussion and he was ready to address all his recent comments.” “Unfortunately, he used The Shop to reiterate more hate speech and extremely dangerous stereotypes.” “We have made the decision not to air this episode or any of Kanye’s remarks,” Carter continued. “While The Shop embraces thoughtful discourse and differing opinions, we have zero tolerance for hate speech of any kind and will never allow our channels to be used to promote hate.” Mega “I take full responsibility for believing Kanye wanted a different conversation and apologize to our guests and crew,” he concluded. “Hate speech should never have an audience.” As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Kanye first caused controversy last week when he debuted a line of shirts reading “White Lives Matter” during his runway show at Paris Fashion Week last Monday. The Donda rapper then caused even more controversy after he posted a series of shockingly anti-Semitic comments to social media over the weekend. “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” he wrote before his accounts were restricted by both Instagram and Twitter. “The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because Black people are actually Jew also,” Ye continued. “You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.” Mega Even more shocking is the fact that, during a recent interview with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, the rapper-turned-fashion designer once again went on a controversial and anti-Semitic rant – although Carlson secretly edited out that portion of the interview. “I’d prefer my kids knew Hanukkah than Kwanzaa, at least it would come with some financial engineering,” Kanye told Carlson during one unaired portion of the interview, seemingly referring to a conspiracy theory that suggests the Jewish community secretly controls the world’s financial system. “Think about us judging each other on how white we could talk would be like, you know, a Jewish person judging another Jewish person on how good they danced or something,” Ye said in another unaired portion of the interview. “I mean, that’s probably like a bad example and people are going to get mad at that s—,” he added. “I probably want to edit that out.” View the full article

Published by DPA Tesla boss Elon Musk says 10,000 bottles of Burnt Hair have now been sold – despite the name of his debut perfume. Patrick Pleul/dpa The world’s richest person Elon Musk has begun selling bottles of Burnt Hair, a perfume being marketed as the “essence of repugnant desire.” Some 10,000 bottles of Musk musk have already been sold, the tech innovator said on Twitter on Wednesday, reporting a million dollars in Burnt Hair sales. Musk, the tech innovator behind SpaceX, Tesla and other enterprises, is selling the perfume in the shop of his tunnel construction project, The Boring Company. The apparent joke perfume costs $100 or €105 a bottle, making it perhaps the world’s most expensive perfume with an offensive and off-putting name. Tongue-in-cheek marketing talks up the scent as being “just like leaning over a candle at the dinner table, but without all the hard work.” Delivery dates have not yet been set and little information is given about the fragrance. The company is instead leaving it to the celebrity billionaire’s cult status to do the promotion. Musk, who wields massive influence on markets with his 108 million followers on Twitter, whom he has been accused of trolling, previously prompted bumps in cryptocurrencies and a racketeering lawsuit after lending his support to Dogecoin. Burnt Hair is not the Boring Company’s first novelty product, and Musk previous sold a reported 20,000 flamethrowers through the same website. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Chris Colfer has refused to see Lea Michele in ‘Funny Girl’. The 32-year-old actor has no interest in going to watch his former ‘Glee’ co-star take on the role of comedienne Fanny Brice in the Broadway revival of the classic musical and when asked if he wanted to tag along to a show, he appeared to dodge the question by referring to fellow stage hit ‘Six’ but eventually confirmed that he won’t attend ‘Funny Girl’ because he can be “triggered” at home. Speaking on ‘The Michelle Collins Show’ on SiriusXM, he said: “Oh my day suddenly got so full! Sorry! Sorry! Well, I saw ‘Six’ last night and it was amazing. No, [I’m not going], I can be triggered at home.” Lea replaced ‘Booksmart’ actress Beanie Feldstein in ‘Funny Girl’ in September and was said to have received four standing ovations on her opening night but had previously caused controversy when she expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement and was subsequently hit with allegations of bullying from an actress Samantha Ware, who alleged that she had been the victim of derogatory comments relating to her race when the pair were filming ‘Glee’ together. In response to Lea’s comments, Samantha wrote on Twitter: “LMAO REMEMBER WHEN YOU MADE MY FIRST TELEVISON GIG A LIVING HELL?!?! CAUSE ILL NEVER FORGET. I BELIEVE YOU TOLD EVERYONE THAT IF TOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY YOU WOULD “‘S*** IN MY WIG!’ AMONGST OTHER TRAUMATIC MICROAGRESSIONS THAT MADE ME QUESTION A CAREER IN HOLLYWOOD… (sic).” Lea subsequently issued an apology – although she admitted she couldn’t specifically remember making hurtful remarks towards her former co-star. She said at the time: “What matters is that I clearly acted in ways which hurt other people. One of the most important lessons of the last few weeks is that we need to take the time to listen and learn about other people’s perspectives and any role we have played or anything we can do to help address the injustices that they face.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Blake Brittain WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday began hearing arguments in a copyright dispute between a photographer and Andy Warhol’s estate over the famed artist’s paintings of rock star Prince in a case that could help set boundaries for artistic works that draw upon other material. The justices were considering the Andy Warhol Foundation’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that his 1984 paintings – based on a 1981 photo of Prince that celebrity photographer Lynn Goldsmith shot for Newsweek magazine in 1981 – were not protected by a copyright law doctrine called fair use. This doctrine permits unlicensed use of copyright-protected works under certain circumstances. The dispute over where to draw the line between inspiration and misuse has drawn broad interest for its implications for artists and the entertainment industry more broadly. Warhol, who died in 1987, was a central figure in the pop art movement that arose in the 1950s. He often created silkscreen print paintings and other works inspired by photos of famous subjects and commercial products – work that has considerable artistic and monetary value. For instance, Warhol’s 1964 silkscreen portrait of actress Marilyn Monroe was purchased for $195 million in May, setting a record for a work by an American artist sold at auction. Warhol made 14 silkscreen prints and two pencil illustrations inspired by Goldsmith’s photograph. Goldsmith, 74, has said she learned of Warhol’s unlicensed works only after Prince’s 2016 death. She countersued Warhol’s estate for copyright infringement in 2017 after it asked a Manhattan federal court to rule that his works did not violate her rights. Copyright law sometimes allows for the fair use of copyrighted works without the creator’s permission. A key factor courts consider in determining fair use is whether it has a “transformative” purpose such as parody, education or criticism. A federal judge found Warhol’s works were protected by the fair use doctrine, having transformed the “vulnerable” musician depicted in Goldsmith’s work into an “iconic, larger-than-life figure.” In reversing that ruling last year, the Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said judges should not “assume the role of art critic and seek to ascertain the intent behind or meaning of the works” but instead should decide whether the new work has a “fundamentally different and new artistic purpose and character” that “stands apart from the ‘raw material’ used to create it.” The Supreme Court has not ruled on fair use in art since 1994, when it found that rap group 2 Live Crew’s parody of singer Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman” made fair use of the 1960s song. President Joe Biden’s administration has backed Goldsmith, as have trade groups for the recording industry, actors and publishers. Documentary filmmakers, fan fiction writers and the estates of other major figures in the pop art movement have come out in support of Warhol. A ruling is due by the end of June. (Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by AlterNet By Alex Henderson In the United States, gas prices were decreasing during the summer months — much to the relief of the Biden Administration. But with the 2022 midterms less than a month away, Biden officials and Democratic strategists are not happy to see gas prices increasing once again. Journalist Ken Klippenstein, in an article published by The Intercept on October 11, emphasizes that higher gas prices are politically advantageous for the government of Saudi Arabia — which would prefer to have Republicans rather than Democrats in control of the United States’ federal government. “When, jus… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Brendan Gleeson joined the ‘Joker’ sequel to work with Joaquin Phoenix. The 67-year-old actor has been cast in ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’ and revealed that he joined the Todd Phillips film to collaborate with Phoenix after the pair starred in the 2004 film ‘The Village’ together. Brendan confirmed that the success of the original movie – with Joaquin claiming the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Arthur Fleck/Joker – also played a part in persuading him to take the role. Asked how the ‘Joker’ sequel appealed to him, he told Collider: “It wasn’t the material, which is a great way to get me out of having to answer any questions about the criteria. “It was the achievement of the first film. I worked with Joaquin before on ‘The Village’… And so I knew him from then.” Brendan continued: “And that performance, I’m still in awe of it. That performance as Joker, in that first movie. It was one of the most extraordinary achievements I’ve ever had. “And for Todd to have – Worked the movie around to allow for that, I didn’t have to be asked twice. I really didn’t.” Lady Gaga has been cast in the sequel as Harley Quinn and Margot Robbie – who played the Joker’s love interest in three movies – loves the idea of the character being passed around by “great actors”. The 32-year-old actress said: “It makes me so happy because I said from the very beginning, all I want is for Harley Quinn to be one of those characters, the way Macbeth or Batman always gets passed from great actor to great actor. “And I feel like in not so many cases are they female characters. “Queen Elizabeth I, but like beyond that — which I got to have a crack at as well, which I was honoured to do. I was like, ‘Wow, Cate Blanchett did Queen Elizabeth I. Now I get to.’ “ View the full article

Published by AFP Dimorphos' egg-like shape and craggy, boulder-dotted surface finally came into clear view in the last few moments before DART's impact Washington (AFP) – NASA on Tuesday celebrated exceeding expectations during a mission to deflect a distant asteroid, in a sci-fi like test of humanity’s ability to stop an incoming cosmic object from devastating life on Earth. The fridge-sized Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impactor deliberately smashed into the moonlet asteroid Dimorphos on September 26, pushing it into a smaller, faster orbit around its big brother Didymos, NASA chief Bill Nelson announced. That changed its orbital period by four percent, or 32 minutes — from 11 hour 55 minutes to 11 hours 23 minutes, bettering an expectation of 10 minutes. “At some point in the future, if we find an asteroid that is threatening to hit Earth, and would be large enough to really do some damage, thank goodness that we will have had this successful test,” Nelson told AFP. The asteroid pair loop together around our Sun every 2.1 years, and pose no threat to our planet. But they are ideal for studying the “kinetic impact” method of planetary defense. DART’s success as a proof-of-concept has made a reality what was once science fiction — notably films such as “Armageddon,” “Deep Impact,” and “Don’t Look Up.” Never actually photographed before, Dimorphos, which is 530 feet (160 meters) in diameter or roughly the size of a big Egyptian pyramid, appeared as a speck of light around an hour before impact. Its egg-like shape and craggy, boulder-dotted surface finally came into clear view in the last few moments, as DART raced toward it at roughly 14,500 miles (23,500 kilometers) per hour. Pseudo-comet In the days that followed, astronomers rejoiced in stunning images of matter spreading out thousands of miles — pictures collected by Earth and space telescopes, as well as a tiny companion satellite that traveled to the zone with DART. Thanks to its temporary new tail, Dimorphos has turned into a man-made comet. But quantifying just how well the test worked required an analysis of light patterns from ground telescopes, which took a few weeks to become apparent. The binary asteroid system, which was around 6.8 million miles (11 million kilometers) from Earth at impact, is visible only as a single dot from the ground. The dot’s brightness changes as Dimorphos passes in front of Didymos, which is significantly bigger at half-a-mile wide. Four optical telescopes were involved in measuring the orbital period — all in Chile and South Africa — while two US based radar telescopes helped confirm the finding, said NASA planetary scientist Nancy Chabot. The test also showed scientists that the asteroid is less like a solid rock, and more like a “rubbish pile” of boulders bound by mutual gravity. If an asteroid is more solid, the momentum imparted by a spaceship will be limited. But if significant mass is pushed at high velocity in the opposite direction to impact, there will be an additional boost. “It looks like the recoil from the ejecta blast off the surface was a substantial contributor to the overall push given to the asteroid,” said NASA scientist Tom Statler at a briefing. The test will serve as an “anchor point” for simulations and calculations about the outcome of future impacts, he added. Mass extinction No known asteroid larger than 140 meters (460 feet) in size — big enough to devastate a city — has a significant chance to hit Earth for the next 100 years, according to NASA. But wait long enough, and it will happen. The geological record shows, for example, that a six-mile wide asteroid struck Earth 66 million years ago, plunging the world into a long winter that led to the mass extinction of the dinosaurs along with 75 percent of all species. The agency plans to launch in 2026 a telescope called the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor to better characterize potentially hazardous 140-meter asteroids and comets that come within 30 million miles. So far, less than half of the estimated 25,000 NEOs of 140 meters have been discovered. Kinetic impact with a spaceship is just one way to defend the planet, albeit the only method possible with current technology. Should an approaching object be detected early, a spaceship could be sent to fly alongside it for long enough to divert its path via using the ship’s gravitational pull, creating a so-called gravity tractor. Another option would be launching nuclear explosives to redirect or destroy an asteroid. NASA believes the best way to deploy such weapons would be at a distance, to impart force without blowing the asteroid to smithereens, which could further imperil Earth. View the full article

Published by AlterNet By David Badash,The New Civil Rights Movement Appearing at a campaign even Tuesday embattled Republican Senate nominee for Georgia, Herschel Walker, mocked transgender service members to his supporters as U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), stood by and laughed. Walker has never served in the military despite his recent false claims of having had a “military career.” “Hey, just think about it: Pronoun? In our military?” mocked Walker, 60, whose own son is gay. “How do you identify? In our military? These are war times. What happened to pushups?” hew asked as the crowd laughed. “Situps?” “‘Cause I … Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) -Angela Lansbury, the British-born actress whose career spanned eight decades and produced indelible portraits of a wide range of characters from villainesses to sleuths and light comic roles in movies, on stage and on television, died at age 96, her family said on Tuesday in a statement. Lansbury, who played a crime-solving mystery writer in the long-running U.S. television series “Murder, She Wrote,” “died peacefully in her sleep” at home in Los Angeles, according to a statement from her children. The actress was just five days shy of her 97th birthday, the statement said. In movies, Lansbury turned in riveting supporting performances, including her film debut as a teenager playing the conniving Cockney maid in “Gaslight” in 1944, as the doomed Sibyl in “The Picture of Dorian Gray” in 1945 and as Laurence Harvey’s evil, manipulative mother in “The Manchurian Candidate” in 1962. All three roles earned her Academy Award nominations. Nearly seven decades after her first film, she was awarded an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement at age 88 in November 2013. Academy Award winners Geoffrey Rush and Emma Thompson offered a tribute to Lansbury at the ceremony. Rush lauded her as the “living definition of range,” while Thompson recalled tossing a pie at Lansbury during the filming of the 2005 comedy “Nanny McPhee.” (Reporting by Tyler Clifford, Lisa Richwine and Will Dunham; editing by Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Daniel Wiessner (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Labor on Tuesday unveiled a proposal that would make it harder for companies to treat workers as independent contractors, potentially upending the gig economy and other industries that rely heavily on contract labor. The line between when a worker is considered a company’s employee, who is entitled to various legal protections, or an independent contractor has shifted over the last decade, as businesses have faced an increasing number of lawsuits by workers who claim they were misclassified. WHY IS WORKER CLASSIFICATION IMPORTANT? Most federal and state labor laws, such as those requiring a minimum wage and overtime pay, prohibiting discrimination or protecting the right to unionize, only apply to a company’s employees. This makes employees much more expensive for companies to use than independent contractors – up to 30% more, according to some studies. Worker advocates have said that millions of workers are misclassified as independent contractors and deprived of fair wages, benefits, and basic protections against discrimination and retaliation. Business groups have maintained that independent contracting helps to create jobs and gives workers more flexibility and opportunities to operate their own businesses. WHAT IS THE CURRENT LAW? In the final days of the Trump administration last year, the Department of Labor adopted a rule favored by business groups that makes it easier to classify workers as independent contractors under federal wage law. The rule says workers who own their own businesses or have the ability to work for competing companies, such as a driver who works for Uber and Lyft, can be treated as contractors. The Biden administration withdrew the rule, but a federal judge in Texas ruled in March that it had not followed the proper procedure for doing so and reinstated the prior standard. WHAT WOULD THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION PROPOSAL DO? The proposal unveiled on Tuesday would require a company to treat workers as employees when they are “economically dependent” on the company for work. The Labor Department said it will consider whether workers have an opportunity for profit or loss, the permanency of their jobs, and the degree of control a company exercises over a worker, among other factors. The proposal is similar to legal guidance issued during the Obama administration that was withdrawn by the Labor Department under former President Donald Trump, a Republican. The agency must now collect and review public comments, so the rule will likely not be finalized until well into next year. WHICH INDUSTRIES WILL BE AFFECTED MOST? Any change in policy is expected to have a negative impact on an array of industries including retail and manufacturing, but the effect on the explosive growth of the “gig economy,” which heavily relies on independent contractors, has received the most attention. Last year, U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told Reuters that many gig workers should be classified as employees. Limiting independent contracting would also have an outsized impact on trucking companies that rely on contractors who own their trucks to meet fluctuations in demand and avoid the costs of maintaining fleets of trucks. Trucking firms raising prices or limiting services could, in turn, place further strain on supply chains that have already been hobbled by the COVID-19 pandemic. HOW WOULD THE RULE AFFECT WORKERS? The proposed changes would be a boon to many workers by guaranteeing them the minimum wage, overtime pay and reimbursements for mileage and some other work-related expenses. Many gig and delivery workers currently work long hours for low pay and lack safety nets, such as paid – or even unpaid – time off, according to worker advocates. At the same time, limiting independent contracting could lead some companies to slash the number of workers they hire, eliminating some jobs altogether. Companies would have greater control over workers who are considered employees and have more say over when and where work is performed. WILL THERE BE LEGAL CHALLENGES TO THE RULE? Almost certainly, given the significant impact it will have. Lawsuits targeting the final rule could claim that the new definition of “employee” is broader than federal wage law allows or that the Department of Labor did not follow the proper administrative procedures in adopting the rule. Trade groups and individual companies and workers could also bring claims under the U.S. Constitution or argue that the rule conflicts with existing regulations on specific industries. (Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Brendan O’Brien (Reuters) -Baltimore prosecutors on Tuesday dismissed their case against a man found guilty of the 1999 killing of his ex-girlfriend in a case that drew national attention after the podcast “Serial” raised doubts about his guilt. Adnan Syed, 42, served more than 20 years in prison for the slaying of Hae Min Lee. A circuit court judge vacated the murder conviction last month and released him after an investigation identified problems with the case, leaving prosecutors to decide whether to retry him. On Tuesday, the State’s Attorney for Baltimore City Marilyn Mosby said during a news conference that she ordered prosecutors to drop the criminal case against Syed after DNA testing cast doubt on his guilt. “The criminal justice system should be based on fair and just prosecution and crux of the matter is that we are standing here today because that wasn’t done 23 years ago,” she said, apologizing to the Lee and Syed families. “Today, justice is done.” Mosby said no DNA was recovered from Lee’s skirt, panty hose or jacket during a touch DNA testing that was recently performed for the first time on the evidence. She added that DNA was found on Lee’s shoes, but it was not from Syed. “Finally, Adnan Syed is able to live as a free man,” Syed’s lawyer, Erica Suter, said in a statement released to local media. Mosby said the investigation into who killed Lee remains open. Syed has maintained he was innocent and did not kill Lee, who was 18 when she was strangled and buried in a Baltimore park. The podcast “Serial,” produced by Chicago public radio station WBEZ, drew national attention to the case in 2014. Prosecutors filed a motion on Sept. 15 to vacate the conviction after conducting a yearlong investigation alongside a public defender representing Syed. Several problems were found with witnesses and evidence from the trial, the investigation found. Four days later, prosecutors told Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Melissa Phinn that they no longer had confidence in “the integrity of the conviction,” and that justice required that Syed at least be afforded a new trial. Prosecutors said they had discovered new information about two alternative suspects, whom they have not named, including one who had threatened to kill Lee, and both of whom have a history of violent crimes against women. Their identities were known to the original prosecutors but not disclosed to the defense as required by law. Phinn then ordered Syed to be released from prison, where he was serving a life sentence, and put him on home detention. Mosby said Syed will need to go through an innocence certification process for those who are wrongly convicted. (Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Chizu Nomiyama) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Catarina Demony and Miguel Pereira LISBON (Reuters) – A commission investigating child sex abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church said on Tuesday it has already gathered more than 400 testimonies of alleged victims but admitted the number of actual cases was “much higher”. The Portuguese commission started its work in January after a report in France revealed around 3,000 priests and religious officials sexually abused over 200,000 children over the past 70 years. The Portuguese Catholic Church has been rocked in recent weeks by various cases of alleged cover-up of sexual abuse including by bishops who remain active in church roles. “Concealment is inherent in sexual abuse cases,” said commission member Daniel Sampaio, a Portuguese psychiatrist. “Of course there was concealment by the Church.” One of the highest-profile cases involves Jose Ornelas, who is the head of the Portuguese Bishops Conference (CEP). Public prosecutors have said they are investigating Ornelas. A teacher has accused him of covering up sex abuse at an orphanage in Mozambique in 2011. According to Portuguese newspaper Publico, the teacher said he reported sex abuse by two Italian priests to Ornelas, who was in charge of the mission at that time. The teacher claims Ornelas took no action. CEP defended Ornelas in a statement and said that he reported the case to the local congregation in Mozambique, which found no evidence of abuse. So far, 424 testimonies have been validated, but Pedro Strecht, the head of the commission, said the number of victims was “much higher” as many of the people the commission spoke with mentioned others they knew who were also abused. Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a conservative, came under fire after he said “400 cases (of alleged sexual abuse of minors) doesn’t seem to me to be particularly high”. On Twitter, lawmakers from left to right have described Rebelo de Sousa’s comments as “unacceptable”. From the 424 testimonies, 17 were sent to the public prosecutors’ office for investigation as all others were committed over 20 years ago and legal proceedings can no longer be initiated. There are 30 other testimonies currently under evaluation that may be eligible to be sent to the public prosecutors’ office, Strecht said. “There are several situations in which the same alleged abuser is mentioned by different people,” he said, adding most of the victims were young boys. “It is unequivocal that given these traumatic events…the victims expect an apology.” Strecht said his team would present a final report in January next year. (Reporting by Catarina Demony, Miguel Pereira and Pedro Nunes in Lisbon; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) View the full article