AP National Entertainment News

NEW YORK (AP) — The 77th Primetime Emmy Awards has launched to honor the best of television. Apple TV+ has the two most nominated shows, “Severance” and “The Studio.” Comic Nate Bargatze is the host, marking his first time in that role for any awards show. He’s released three Netflix stand-up specials including last December’s

By ITZEL LUNA Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nate Bargatze, the host of this year’s Emmy Awards, kicked off the ceremony Sunday with a string of jokes poking fun at the television industry. The show opened with a sketch where “Saturday Night Live” stars Mikey Day, Bowen Yang and James Austin Johnson joined Bargatze,

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr. AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Infinity Castle” carved out a place in box-office history this weekend as the Japanese anime film sliced straight to No. 1 — outpacing the horror sequel “The Conjuring: Last Rites.” The Sony-owned Crunchyroll release shattered expectations with a

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer Fox News Channel host Brian Kilmeade apologized on Sunday for advocating for the execution of mentally ill homeless people in a discussion on the network last week, saying his remark was “extremely callous.” Kilmeade’s initial comment came on a “Fox & Friends” episode Wednesday and began getting widespread circulation

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer “Hamnet,” Chloé Zhao’s drama about William Shakespeare’s marriage and the death of their 11-year-old son, won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, putting it on an enviable track to Academy Awards contention. Winners of the top honor at TIFF have historically almost always

By ELÉONORE HUGHES Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Hermeto Pascoal, an eccentric and prolific Brazilian multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger known affectionately as “The Sorcerer of Sounds” and “The Mad Genius,” has died. He was 89. “With serenity and love, we announce that Hermeto Pascoal has passed on to the spiritual realm, surrounded by

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Songwriter Bobby Hart, a key part of the Monkees’ multimedia empire who teamed with Tommy Boyce on such hits as “Last Train to Clarksville” and “I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone,” has died. He was 86. Hart died at his home in Los Angeles, according to

BERLIN (AP) — Belgium’s prime minister traveled to neighboring Germany for a concert led by an Israeli conductor whose appearance was canceled by a Belgian festival, a gesture that added to strong criticism of the decision. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz thanked Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever in a social media post Sunday for “his

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — “The Studio” made Emmy history Sunday night with its 12th trophy, becoming the winningest comedy series ever in a season. With victories for comedy acting, directing and writing Seth Rogen’s Apple TV+ movie-business romp eclipses the record of 11 set last year by “The Bear.”

By SOPHIE BATES Associated Press JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — With powerfully haunting eyes and an enigmatic expression, “Portrait of Frederick,” an enslaved man painted circa 1840, stares out at visitors of the Mississippi Museum of Art. A little further into the museum is Delia, a Black woman dressed in red and wearing a headscarf who

By JULIA FRANKEL Associated Press JERUSALEM (AP) — Palestinian Oscar-winning director Basel Adra said Israeli soldiers conducted a raid at his home in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, searching for him and going through his wife’s phone. Israeli settlers attacked his village, injuring two of his brothers and one cousin, Adra told The Associated

By The Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — The union that represents tens of thousands of actors and other entertainment and media professionals has elected Sean Astin as its new president. On Friday, SAG-AFTRA elected Astin — an actor who appeared in “The Lord of the Rings,” “Stranger Things” and “Rudy” — to succeed Fran

By BEATRICE DUPUY Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Hidden behind cream curtains, designer Christian Siriano transformed the athleisure aisles of the Herald Square Macy’s department store into a cinematic universe as he ushered his New York Fashion Week runway show attendees on a journey through film from black-and-white gowns to full Technicolor looks. Much

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Singer Taylor Swift can answer questions in October — if she is forced — from attorneys involved in the sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit actor Blake Lively brought against Justin Baldoni stemming from their roles in the movie “It Ends With Us,” but she doesn’t have

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer Political analyst Matthew Dowd says MSNBC reacted to a “right wing media mob” in firing him for commentary about hateful rhetoric that aired on the network shortly after early reports this week that conservative activist Charlie Kirk had been shot. In a Substack post Friday, Dowd admitted to being

By ANDREW DeMILLO Associated Press During her three years as the 24th poet laureate, Ada Limón said her travels around the United States taught her just how many poets the country has. Limón said people would approach her during appearances to tell her they wrote poems regularly in a journal, or on a full moon

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — New fiction by Angela Flournoy and Susan Choi, a memoir of tragedy by Yiyun Li and a novel in translation by Nobel laureate Han Kang were among the nominees announced this week for the long lists of the National Book Awards. The National Book Foundation

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Why would anyone keep a prop from the set of “Jaws?” Steven Spielberg was musing about what it felt like while making his 1975 oceanic classic, and how little he thought any of it would matter when shooting the now-legendary opening scene of a woman

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — The Netherlands added itself Friday to a list of countries pressuring organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest to drop Israel from the contest because of its war in the Gaza Strip. Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS, one of dozens of public broadcasters that collectively fund and broadcast the contest,

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer Shaun White and Nina Dobrev have called off their engagement and brought an end to their five-year relationship, a person close to the couple told The Associated Press. The three-time Olympic champion snowboarder and the former star of “The Vampire Diaries” made a mutual decision to part, according to

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer SAN DIEGO (AP) — Sterling K. Brown has three Emmys, including best actor in a drama for “This Is Us.” His friend, “This Is Us” creator Dan Fogelman, has none, despite nine nominations. Both are heading into Sunday’s Emmy Awards with fresh nominations, this time for the first season

LONDON (AP) — Dozens of Ukrainians and their supporters have demonstrated outside the Royal Opera House in London to protest a performance by Russian soprano Anna Netrebko. Protesters outside Thursday’s opening night of Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca” held Ukrainian flags and signs saying “While Netrebko sings, Ukraine bleeds” and “Stop glorifying Russian aggressor culture.” Netrebko received

By BROOKE LEFFERTS Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Kors was feeling loose as he brought his love of nature to urban New York City, for a celebrity-heavy Spring/Summer 2026 show at New York Fashion Week Thursday. The iconic designer likes to make his guests comfortable in his clothes and at his shows, so

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — It sounds impossible, but that’s the magic of it. On Thursday, a new Whitney Houston song arrives 13 years after her death. English singer Calum Scott is responsible. The single is a duet between Scott and Houston, a balladic reinterpretation of the timeless “I Wanna

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer Julian Fellowes has been saying goodbye to “Downton Abbey” for nearly as long as it has existed. By the fifth season of the series, he’d even grown accustomed to writing more definitive endings, not knowing that there would be a sixth season and three feature films to come. But

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Songwriter and producer Bert Berns, who had a hand in some of the biggest hits of the 1960s, including co-writing “Twist and Shout” for the Isley Brothers and the plaintive “Piece of My Heart” sung by Janis Joplin, has been inducted posthumously into the Songwriters

By DAVID BAUDER and ALI SWENSON Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Matthew Dowd opened a floodgate. The MSNBC political analyst, who lost his job shortly after on-air comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination, was the first of many figures to face consequences Thursday for public statements or actions about the shooting. Indeed, raw

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer TORONTO (AP) — Anyone will tell you it’s the audiences that make the Toronto International Film Festival. They aren’t purely industry folks, like they are in Cannes or Venice, but more boisterous, enthusiastic moviegoers with their own rituals, like growling like buccaneers at the piracy warning that plays before

By ANDREW DALTON and AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Many Americans still want to thank the academy, at least a little. About half of U.S. adults say they’ve watched all or most of an awards show on TV or streaming in the past year, according to a new poll from The Associated

By BROOKE LEFFERTS and JOCELYN NOVECK Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Arriving at Ralph Lauren’s latest runway show on Wednesday, Oprah Winfrey reminisced about a big purchase she made long ago, once she started earning enough money to pay rent and have some left over. “My first big splurge was Ralph Lauren towels,” Winfrey