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Published by BANG Showbiz English Bill Hader has shared his joy at discovering he is related to Carol Burnett. The 44-year-old actor – who has daughters Hannah, 13, Harper, 10 and eight-year-old Hayley with his ex-wife Maggie Carey, and is said to be back together with his ex-girlfriend Ali Wong, 40 – received an email from the comedienne letting him know they are distant cousins and immediately told his children they are related to Miss Hannigan, the tyrannical orphanage proprietress Carol played in the 1982 movie adaptation of Broadway musical ‘Annie.’ Bill told ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “She emailed me. Yeah, she emailed me and said, ‘Hey, we’re related.’ And I went, ‘What?’ I told my, kids! I’m like, ‘We’re all related to Ms. Hannigan. So it was really fun!” The ‘Saturday Night Live’ star added he has remained in touch with Carol, 89, by text and email but is hoping they can meet soon for dinner. He added: “We’ve been texting and emailing and stuff, so it’s been really exciting. I hope I can, like, have dinner with her.” Bill has played the title role of hitman ‘Barry’ in the HBO sitcom for almost five years, but now the show is coming to an end after four seasons, he is “very happy” to be saying goodbye to the character even if it means bidding farewell to the cast and crew. He added: “It’s nice to write, you know, ‘The End’ on the thing, but it’s it’s going to be sad to say bye to everybody. That’s the hardest part of it. I’m very happy to not have to play this guy anymore. He’s a very dark character, so I’m happy that that’s kind of over with… I’m going to do something very light now.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Andrew Lloyd Webber was “sad” to see ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ end its Broadway run after 35 years. The 75-year-old legendary composer has reflected on his long running musical coming to an end over the weekend with one last show at the Majestic Theatre on Sunday. (16.04.23) The next night, he told ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’: “Well, it was strange really, because, you know, one of the funny things that’s happened with ‘Phantom’ is that over the last few years… well, few months really, a young audience found it. “And it’s, I don’t know, it was sad last night because I just felt it could run on. But there you go.” The musical theatre icon admitted it is “very unusual” for all the stars to align perfectly for a production. He added: “Like the production, the whole thing meshes, it’s just one of those moments. “I mean, it happened with ‘The Lion King’, it’s happened with ‘Hamilton’, it’s happened with me with ‘Phantom’. It doesn’t happen very often.” While speaking to Andrew, chat show host Jimmy noted the play’s 13,981 performances make it the longest running show in Broadway history, and it has also been the largest generator of jobs in come for both Broadway and US theatres as a whole. Meanwhile, the composer had dedicated the final performance to his late son Nicholas, who died of gastric cancer last month aged 43. Amid a standing ovation, he said: “I hope you won’t mind if I dedicate this performance to my son, Nick.” Turning to the musical’s original star, his ex-wife Sarah Brightman, he continued: “When Nick was a little boy, he heard some of this music.” Sarah agreed: “Yes, he did. When Andrew was writing it, he was right there. So his soul is with us. Nick, we love you very much.” After the show, Andrew teased it is possible the music could return to Broadway one day in the future, particularly after its recent box office boom. He said: “Thank you to absolutely everyone who has made this extraordinary run possible… It is just amazing really what has happened, and in the last few months I don’t think any of us thought that ‘Phantom’ would go out quite with the bang it has. “So it may come back, you never know.” View the full article

Published by Radar Online MEGA Anderson Cooper tore into Representative George Santos‘ decision to run for reelection despite his countless scandals and the lack of support from his own party, RadarOnline.com has learned. On CNN’s A360, Cooper dedicated time on his show last night to rip Santos. As we previously reported, Santos has faced numerous accusations since being elected to Congress in 2022. MEGA Santos has been accused of fabricating portions of his resume, lying about his finances and even performing as a drag queen in Brazil back in 2008. Santos admitted he dressed up but denied he was an actual drag queen. Other performers in the area scoffed at his denial. MEGA This week, Santos announced he would be running for office once again. However, the Republicans have declined to offer him financial support and many have attempted to distance themselves from the drama surrounding Santos. ‘You Should Be Embarrassed’: Mitt Romney Confronts George Santos During Tense Exchange Before President Biden’s SOTU Address Embattled Politician George Santos CANCELS Don Lemon Appearance, Rips CNN Host Over ‘Sexist’ Age-Shaming Scandal Fibber George Santos CALLED OUT By Piers Morgan Over ‘Lies’ About Jewish Heritage & Mom’s Death After Don Lemon Cancelation MEGA On his show, Cooper didn’t hold back on how he felt about Santos’ decision. He told his viewers, “Sure, he doesn’t have the support of his party on Capitol Hill, or the support of the party leadership back in his district who’ve called for his resignation, or the support of most of his constituents who in recent polling say they want him to resign.” “And yes, he faces multiple federal and local investigations into his finances after he admitted to lying about everything from his college degree to where he worked and even his heritage. But when you have no shame, none of that matters. Today, he announced he’s going to run for reelection,” he added. MEGA Cooper’s senior data analyst Harry Enten joined in on the attack. He said, “So I have good news and bad news. The good news is I went back through history and found some politicians with comparable favorable ratings – right around seven or eight percent. The bad news is those politicians were either at the time convicted criminals or later became convicted criminals, such as Rod Blagojevich and Bob Taft. Both of them had favorable of approval ratings right around seven or eight percent, just like George Santos.” The two then pointed out that Santos has raised next to nothing in fundraising. Political experts do not believe Santos will win reelection. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Sir Elton John wants to celebrate his retirement by holidaying in the Antarctic. The ‘Rocket Man’ singer, 76, is on the last stretch of his ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ tour, which will wrap up in the UK at Glastonbury on 25 June before a final gig in Sweden on 8 July, and his husband David Furnish, 60, said he wants to join him and their children Zachary, 12, and Elijah, 10, on an icy trip. David said in a chat with ‘Your Money Map’: “There are places I’d like to travel and take the boys. I have a real fascination and love of India… and our sons both want to go to the Antarctic, and Elton wants to go as well. “I have no idea how to get there. Or what you do when you get there. But it’s something that we can all do together, which is great.” David added about their retirement plans Elton wants to take their kids to see his beloved Watford football team play “as long as they win”, and says their eldest boy has other travels plans for them. He said: “(Zachary) has turned into a real fishing aficionado and he has already gone online and identified the best fishing places in the world. “He wants to go to Costa Rica, Hawaii and salmon fishing in the north of Scotland.” Elton earlier this month paid an emotional tribute to his fans as he nears the end of his final tour in Britain. He as playing to a sellout 20,000 crowd at the O2 Arena in London when he said his lifelong songwriting partner Bernie Taupin was there and while pointing to a fan waving a banner that said she had been to more than 100 of his gigs, said: “I wanted to thank you all for the support which you have shown me throughout my career. It means so much.” View the full article

Published by PsyPost Research published in Psychoneuroendocrinology has confirmed that negative communication patterns in heterosexual marriages are associated with decreased immune system functioning along with less positive and more negative emotions. The research highlights the physical and emotional consequences for those in marriages with dysfunctional communication patterns. Previous studies have indicated that aggressive conduct during marital conversations can delay wound healing and raise proinflammatory cytokine production. Similarly, adverse communication patterns lead to increased negative emotions and… Read More View the full article

Published by Raw Story A wave of robberies that took place after the victims were drugged has left at least seven clubgoers dead in New York City, The Guardian reported. There have been at least 43 known druggings — mostly taking place at LGBTQ-themed nightclubs — since September 2021, and police are saying the deaths are not isolated incidents. So far, police have arrested four suspects who conspired to “approach intoxicated individuals upon exiting a bar or nightclub, engage them in conversation, and offer and administer dangerous and illicit substances to them for the purpose of causing their incapacitation,” a… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine (Reuters) -Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday fired another shot in his battle with Walt Disney Co, saying the state’s Republican legislature would take steps to nullify the company’s effort to circumvent state oversight of Walt Disney World. DeSantis, a likely Republican presidential candidate who has made attacking “woke Disney” a common theme, said the legislature would revoke a development agreement Disney struck with outgoing members of an oversight board. “They thought they could create some type of development agreement that would render everything that we did null and void,” DeSantis said. “That’s not gonna fly.” The ongoing tussle between DeSantis, who has yet to announce a presidential bid, and one of Florida’s largest employers began in March 2022 when Disney’s then-Chief Executive Bob Chapek spoke out against a bill limiting discussion of sexuality and gender identity in Florida elementary school classrooms. Republicans named the bill the Parental Rights in Education Act, while opponents criticized it as the “Don’t say gay” law. DeSantis said the new bill, announced on Monday, would return control of the special district that is home to Disney World to a state oversight board run by the governor’s appointees. Among other things, it will give the board the power to decide how to develop land adjacent to Disney’s theme parks. DeSantis said the possibilities included a state park, other amusement parks or a state prison. Disney shares were off about 0.2% at $99.68. DeSantis and the Florida legislature have been working to eliminate the virtual autonomy the company enjoyed over Disney World for more than 50 years, saying that constitutes an “unfair advantage.” Disney employs some 75,000 people in the state. Florida lawmakers passed a bill in February giving DeSantis effective control over a board that oversees municipal services and development in a special district in central Florida that encompasses Walt Disney World resort. Current Disney CEO Bob Iger called the move a retaliation, “anti-business” and “anti-Florida.” The company had no comment on DeSantis remarks on Monday. Before the takeover by DeSantis appointees, Disney pushed through changes to the special tax district agreement that limit the board’s action for decades. An attorney for the newly constituted Central Florida Tourism Oversight District last month described what he called the “shocking” revelation that the agreement had been reached three weeks before DeSantis signed legislation granting the state authority over the district. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” said attorney Daniel Langley on March 29. The pact cements a 10-year comprehensive plan, adopted on July 15, 2022, that serves as a blueprint to guide future development. It gives Disney the option to add a fifth major theme park, two minor parks, 1 million square feet of retail space and some 14,000 hotel rooms. It also ensures that future boards would honor a commitment to $527 million in planned capital improvements to support Walt Disney World’s growth over the next decade. “We are a government of laws, not a government of individual men or even a government of ‘woke’ corporations based in California,” DeSantis said. (Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Bill Berkrot) View the full article

Published by The Philadelphia Inquirer KUTZTOWN, Pa. — If you ban it, they will come. For the better part of an hour Saturday, dozens of teenagers and their parents snaked around the towering stacks of tomes inside Kutztown’s Firefly Books and sometimes spilled onto the sidewalks of this quaint Berks County college town — most of them clutching the book that conservatives on the local school board didn’t want them to read. Calliope Price, 14 and in the eighth grade, came out to meet Alan Gratz — author of the “banned” young-adult novel about climate change, “Two Degrees” — after hearing about the controversy and realizing that Grat… Read More View the full article

Published by Orlando Sentinel ORLANDO, Fla. — It was 36 hours after the Pulse nightclub massacre of 2016 when Rick Todd decided the history of gay, lesbian and transgender people in Central Florida needed to be told. Sitting in a meeting of LGBTQ leaders reacting to the tragedy, he realized the help that would be forthcoming had its roots in the past. “Who created this community?” he asked himself. “Who laid this foundation?” The end result of his questions is the film “Greetings from Queertown: Orlando,” which debuted at the Florida Film Festival on Monday. For Todd, and others, it has been both a personal journey — and a… Read More View the full article

Published by The Spun By Chris Rosvoglou It was announced Tuesday that Lexi Rodgers, a transgender female basketball player, is ineligible to compete in the WNBL1 South women’s semi-professional basketball league. Basketball Australia ruled that Rodgers cannot compete against biological females in elite or sub-elite basketball. Suzy Batkovic, the director of Basketball Australia, released a statement on this decision. “Firstly, on behalf of Basketball Australia I’d like to acknowledge and sincerely thank Lexi for her cooperation, understanding and patience throughout this process – it’s a complex space that continu… Read More View the full article

Published by Radar Online MEGA Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has called for his supporters to continue to boycott Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch products over their partnership with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney — days after Donald Trump Jr. caught backlash for calling for conservatives to drink the beer once again, RadarOnline.com has learned. On Monday, DeSantis sat down for an interview with political commentator Benny Johnson. During the chat, he was asked about his take on Bud Light and the controversy surrounding the brand. MEGA DeSantis said he did not support ‘woke companies’ who were “trying to change our country, trying to change policy, [and] trying to change [the] culture’ in America.” MEGA He continued, “Why would you want to drink Bud Light? I mean like honestly, that’s like them rubbing our faces in it, and it’s like these companies that do this, if they never have any response, they are just gonna keep doing it.” Gavin Newsom Trashes Ron DeSantis, Predicts Florida Governor Will Get ‘Rolled’ By Trump In 2024 Election Nikki Haley’s Campaign Trashes Ex-Prez Donald Trump In Leaked Letter To Donors: ‘More Consumed By The Grievances Of The Past’ Ex-Prez Donald Trump Attacks Ron DeSantis’ ‘Pudding Fingers’ In Bizarre Campaign Commercial “So, if you as a consumer are like… “yeah, they’re doing that, but I’m just gonna keep drinking it anyways,” well, then they’re gonna keep doing it,” DeSantis added. “’So I think we have power as consumers to make our voice heard, and not on every company because sometimes conservative consumers aren’t going to make a dent in some companies.” MEGA Since 2021, Anheuser-Busch has donated $215k to DeSantis and other Republican groups. On his podcast, Trump Jr. defended the “iconic” company and pointed to its history of donating to Republican candidates. “So, here’s the deal. Anheuser-Busch totally s— the bed with this Dylan Mulvaney thing. I’m not, though, for destroying an American, an iconic company for something like this,” he said. “The company itself doesn’t participate in the same leftist nonsense as the other big conglomerates,” he added. “Frankly, they don’t participate in the same woke garbage that other people in the beer industry actually do, who are significantly worse offenders when I looked into it. But if they do this again, then it’s on them. Then, s—- them.” MEGA Anheuser-Busch has launched a series of new ad campaigns touting their love of America. The backlash against the brand continues despite its efforts to shut it down. View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega A key figure who helped organize the pro-Trump “Stop the Steal” rally apologized this week after he was accused of asking teenage boys for sexual pictures, RadarOnline.com has learned. Ali Alexander, 37, came under fire last month after British right-wing political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos accused Alexander of asking at least two teenage boys for sexual pictures in 2017. Mega Although Alexander claimed the allegations against him are false, he admitted in his apology that he was “careless” and failed to properly “qualify” the individuals he was sending “inappropriate messages” to. “I apologize for any inappropriate messages sent over the years,” he wrote. “When I’ve flirted or others have flirted with me, I’ve flexed my credentials or dropped corny pick up lines,” Alexander continued. “Other times, I’ve been careless and should’ve qualified those coming up to me’s identities during flirtatious banter at the start.” According to Daily Beast, rumors of Alexander’s allegedly illicit behavior toward underage boys began circulating in 2015. Mega The rumors gained momentum late last month after Yiannopoulos began releasing video interviews and other evidence allegedly implicating Alexander in the sexual propositioning of young men. “The reason I’m doing this is because he used my name,” Yiannopoulos said when asked why he decided to release the allegations against Alexander last month. Donald Trump’s Alleged Former Mistress Karen McDougal Lives It Up At Lavish Birthday Celebration Ex-Prez Donald Trump Unleashes On Fox News In 2 AM Rant, Demands Network ‘FINALLY ADMIT’ 2020 Election Was Stolen Ron DeSantis Refuses To Drink ‘Woke’ Bud Light, Opposes Donald Trump Jr’s Plea To Call Off Beer Ban Over Trans Star Dylan Mulvaney Other sources suggested Yiannopoulos turned on Alexander after Alexander and “America First” leader Nick Fuentes pushed Yiannopoulos out of a position in Kanye West’s 2024 presidential campaign. In one cache of alleged evidence against Alexander from 2017, the “Stop the Steal” organizer allegedly asked for – and allegedly received – nude photographs from a then-15-year-old boy named Aidan Dunkin. Mega “You don’t even send me videos anymore,” Alexander allegedly wrote to then-17-year-old Duncan two years later in 2019. “No good jack off material. Don’t even wanna be my side piece.” Duncan has since spoken out about his alleged relationship with Alexander and claimed he was “naïve and desperate” and “had no choice” but to “cooperate” with Alexander’s requests. “When I was 15 I was naive and desperate,” Duncan wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “I thought I had no choice but to cooperate with inappropriate and humiliating requests if I wanted to make it in politics. I figured that was just the nature of the game.” Alexander is also accused of forming a relationship with another teenager named Lance Johnston in 2019. Mega According to screenshotted messages between Alexander and Johnston from July 2019, a then-34-year-old Alexander allegedly asked the then-17-year-old Johnston to send photos of himself naked. Fuentes and other MAGA supporters have since “disavowed” Alexander over the allegations against him, although Fuentes has also blamed Alexander’s two alleged victims for “going along” with Alexander’s “flirting” despite being underage. Never miss a story — sign up for the RadarOnline.com newsletter to get your daily dose of dope. Daily. Breaking. Celebrity news. All free. “[Duncan] and Lance were willing to go along flirting with Ali (to varying degrees) without any protest because they thought it would advance their political careers,” Fuentes wrote over the weekend. “If you are flirting with adult gay men because you think it’s going to land you a job, you know full well what you’re doing and it’s gross,” he continued. “Sorry but even at 15, I would have never sent nudes to an adult gay man. There’s something wrong there.” View the full article