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Chris Licht was ousted as chief executive at CNN, following a series of missteps and plunging ratings. David Zaslav, the CEO of CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, announced the leadership change on CNN’s morning editorial call on Wednesday. Zaslav appointed a four-person leadership team to lead the network in the interim. Licht replaced Jeff Zucker as CNN’s chief executive last year, with a mandate to move the network more toward the political center. The executive’s revamp of CNN’s morning show fell flat, leading to the firing of longtime personality Don Lemon. Licht’s plans to restructure the network’s prime-time lineup have moved slowly.
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An actor known for his roles on the comedy television shows “Bob's Burgers” and “Mr. Show with Bob and David” was arrested Wednesday on charges that he joined a mob of Donald Trump supporters in confronting police officers during the U.S. Capitol riot, court records show.
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In her latest film, “The Blue Caftan,” Moroccan director Maryam Touzani delicately weaves overlapping tales, both traditional and largely taboo in her country and its region. The movie tells the story of a woman and her secretly gay husband who together run a traditional shop making caftans. The marriage grows more complicated when the couple hires a male apprentice. Wading into socially sensitive subjects is not unfamiliar terrain for Touzani. “The Blue Caftan" is scheduled for release Wednesday in Morocco, where gay sex is illegal. Touzani says she gravitates toward telling the stories of the marginalized. Her feature-film directing debut, “Adam,” portrays two women, one of whom hosts the other, a stranger who's pregnant without marriage.
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Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has disclosed that she received a $1,200 congratulatory floral display from Oprah Winfrey and $6,580 in designer clothing for a magazine photo shoot in her first months as the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. The details of gifts given to Jackson were among the reports provided by most members of the court in their annual filings. They were released Wednesday. Reports were not available from Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, who received extensions of up to 90 days, the federal judiciary said. Thomas’ receipt of undisclosed gifts from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow has prompted calls for ethics reform on the nation’s highest court. It was not clear why either man needed more time.
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LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry entered a London courtroom in a high-stakes bid to prove the publisher of the Daily Mirror tabloid had unlawfully snooped on his life.
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Lala Kent would like to thank her “Vanderpump Rules” co-stars Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss. Since their secret monthslong affair dubbed “Scandoval” went public in early March, the Bravo reality show’s heat meter has skyrocketed and cast members have been capitalizing on the infamy. While Sandoval didn’t cheat on Kent, she’s not a stranger to betrayal of this kind. Kent spoke to The Associated Press about moving on from ex Randall Emmett, building her own business empire, her friendship with Sandoval's ex Ariana Madix and how, in a certain way, she's grateful to Sandoval.
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Flamin’ Hot Cheetos get an origin story worthy of any Marvel superhero with Hulu’s totally engrossing “Flamin’ Hot,” says Associated Press critic Mark Kennedy. It’s the tale of how a struggling Mexican American janitor came up with the idea of adding spice to the cornmeal, forever saving after-school snacking. Is it true? Probably not. Don’t let that stop you. You’ll wish “Flaming Hot” was accurate because it's a winning tale of perseverance, family love, proud heritage and blue-collar success, told with a wink, some Cheeto dust and a ton of love by Eva Longoria, in her directorial debut.
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Albums from Janelle Monáe and Niall Horan, as well as a TV movie about a Frito-Lay janitor who claims to have invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos are among the new television, movies, music and games headed to a device near you.
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Japanese writer Haruki Murakami says walls are increasingly built and dividing people and countries as fear and skepticism flourish following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic. He says these events prompted governments to bolster their militaries and people to mistrust each other. In a speech released Wednesday in The Shincho Monthly literary magazine, Murakami said people must choose whether to hide behind the walls of suspicion or risk moving beyond them in search of more freedom. People are compelled to make a choice, like the protagonist in his new novel. “The City and Its Uncertain Walls" was released in April in Japan and an English translation is expected in 2024.
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Françoise Gilot, a prolific painter who was nonetheless more famous for her turbulent relationship with Pablo Picasso — and for leaving him — died on Tuesday in Manhattan. She was 101. Gilot’s daughter, Aurelia Engel, told The Associated Press her mother had died at Mount Sinai West hospital after suffering both lung and heart problems. The French-born Gilot had long made her frustration clear that she would be best known for her relationship with Picasso, whom she met in 1943 at age 21, his junior by four decades. The union produced two children — Claude and Paloma Picasso — but unlike the other key women in Picasso’s life, Gilot eventually left.
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It's rare enough to see a senior British royal testifying in a court of law. What Prince Harry said in the witness box at Britain’s High Court and in his written witness statement was just as unusual. His testimony shone a light on life as a royal and on Harry’s bitter personal feud with the press. Harry described a lifetime of press intrusion that he says cast him as a “thicko” and wrecked his personal relationships. He lashed out at Mirror Group Newspapers for its treatment of his late mother, Princess Diana, and called for regulation of the British press. But he was grilled by the newspapers' lawyer, who said many of Harry's allegations of illegal activity were “speculation.”
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LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry's historic showdown Tuesday with the publisher of a British tabloid exposed his deep suspicions of the press but offered little concrete evidence to support accusations of phone hacking that he said caused so much anguish in his life.
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Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. has settled with a woman who claims he raped her, averting a trial that was about to begin in New York City. The trial was scheduled to start with jury selection Tuesday morning. The woman says Gooding lured her into a hotel room by saying he had to change his clothing and then attacked her. Gooding maintained through his lawyers that it was consensual sex. The accuser was seeking $6 million in damages. Her attorney declined comment. Authorities have said at least 30 women have made sexual misconduct allegations against Gooding, accusing him of groping, unwanted kissing and other inappropriate behavior.
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CNN chief executive Chris Licht apologized to staff members on a conference call for distracting attention from their work through his own trip through the news cycle. Licht's year-long tenure at CNN hit a low point with the publication of a damaging profile in Atlantic magazine about the network's ‘meltdown.’ Meanwhile, a new executive from CNN's parent company is being brought in to help Licht with management. Licht has been trying to make the network more appealing to viewers who didn't like CNN's treatment of former President Donald Trump, which hasn't worked yet and alienated some of his own journalists.
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The bar from the television series “Cheers” sold for $675,000 at auction over the weekend, garnering the highest bid among the nearly 1,000 props, costumes and sets from classic TV shows offered up from a collection amassed by one man. The items sold during Heritage Auctions’ three-day event that wrapped up Sunday in Dallas brought in over $5 million. James Comisar spent more than three decades collecting and caring for the pieces. He says that after his dream of creating a museum to house his collection failed to come together, it was time for the pieces to go to fans.
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A lawyer for Prince Harry says no event early in his life was too trivial or private for the journalists of Mirror Group Newspapers to resist. Attorney David Sherborne said Monday in the opening of Harry's phone hacking lawsuit that demand for such scoops led to the use of illegal means to dig up dirt. A defense lawyer says there's no evidence Harry's phone was ever hacked. Harry was a no-show at court on the opening day of his case and is expected to testify Tuesday in the High Court. The case is the first of the Duke of Sussex's media lawsuits to go to trial.
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Buckingham Palace says Princess Eugenie has given birth to a baby boy. Eugenie, the niece of King Charles III, and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, welcomed their son, Ernest George Ronnie Brooksbank, on May 30th. The baby, who weighed 7lbs 1oz, is the couple’s second child. The couple’s eldest child, two-year-old August, is now a big brother. Eugenie, 33, is the younger daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York. The child is 13th in line to the throne.