AP National Entertainment News

By LEAH WILLINGHAM Associated Press VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. (AP) — Lewis Pugh has followed an unspoken rule during his career as one of the world’s most daring endurance swimmers: Don’t talk about sharks. But he plans to break that this week on a swim around Martha’s Vineyard, where “ Jaws” was filmed 50 years ago.

By THOMAS PEIPERT Associated Press DENVER (AP) — An alligator that appeared in numerous TV shows and films over three decades, most notably the 1996 Adam Sandler comedy “Happy Gilmore,” has died at a gator farm in southern Colorado. Based on his growth rate and tooth loss, Morris the alligator was at least 80 years

By GLENN GAMBOA AP Business Writer MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Elmo, Abby Cadabby and the rest of the “Sesame Street” gang will get some high-profile help as they travel down a new road. The Sesame Workshop – founded in 1969 and currently working on its 56th season, but its first that will not be

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The trials of Lyle and Erik Menendez came at a time of cultural obsession with courts, crime and murder, when live televised trials captivated a national audience. Their resentencing — and the now very real possibility of their freedom — came at another, when true

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A former model reproached one of Harvey Weinstein ’s lawyers for suggesting that her sexual abuse allegations against the ex-studio boss are lies. “You should be ashamed of yourself,” Kaja Sokola retorted. In her fifth and final day of testimony at Weinstein’s sex crimes retrial, she

By ALEXANDRA OLSON AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The film “Lilly,” a biopic about the equal pay icon Lilly Ledbetter, lands in theaters at a difficult time for her biggest political and civil rights champions. Many are gone or out of power, their hopes of building on Ledbetter’s legacy interrupted by a more

CANNES, France (AP) — This year’s Cannes Film Festival has barely started, but it’s already been an attention-grabbing affair, from new rules for its red carpets, nerves about potential U.S. tariffs and the return of Tom Cruise. And that says nothing about the films, expected to be a strong slate as Cannes is seen as

NEW YORK (AP) — HBO is returning — at least in a name. Warner Bros. Discovery said Wednesday that it was rebranding its streaming service as HBO Max this summer, instead of the current Max. The Max name dated to Warner’s merger with Discovery and was considered a curious choice when made in 2023. HBO

By ALICIA RANCILIO Associated Press When CBS’ soap opera “Beyond the Gates” premiered in February, soap opera fans and veterans alike hailed it as a win for Black history and culture. On Monday, the first soap to feature a majority Black cast was renewed for a second season. Its creation was both a savvy business

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The R&B singer Cassie testified Wednesday that Sean “Diddy” Combs raped her when she ended their decade-long relationship, after he locked her in a life of physical abuse by threatening to release degrading sexual videos of her. Addressing the Manhattan courtroom for

By JAIMIE DING and CHRISTOPHER WEBER Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge’s ruling made Lyle and Erik Menendez eligible for parole, but they still face multiple hurdles in their fight to be released from prison nearly three decades after they were convicted of murdering their parents in 1989. Los Angeles County Superior Court

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer CANNES, France (AP) — Three years after flying into the Cannes Film Festival with “Top Gun: Maverick,” Tom Cruise again kicked up a storm on the Croisette with Wednesday’s premiere of “Mission: Impossible — Final Reckoning.” Christopher McQuarrie’s latest “Mission: Impossible” installment was the biggest Hollywood tentpole wading ashore

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — “James Bond” creator Ian Fleming didn’t need to write about Cold War intrigue to consider the ways people scheme against each other. “The Shameful Dream,” a rare Fleming work published this week, is a short story about a Londoner named Bone, Caffery Bone. Fleming’s protagonist

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles judge has granted a restraining order to “The Little Mermaid” actor and singer Halle Bailey, who says her ex-boyfriend, the rapper and YouTuber DDG, has been repeatedly violent with her and she fears for herself and the baby they have together. The

By THOMAS ADAMSON, JOHN LEICESTER and NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNY Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Defiant in diamonds, Kim Kardashian appeared in a Paris courtroom Tuesday to testify in the trial over the 2016 armed robbery that upended her life. The reality star and business mogul gave emotional, at times harrowing, testimony about the night masked men

By JAIMIE DING Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Erik and Lyle Menendez will have a new shot at freedom after 35 years behind bars for murdering their parents, a judge ruled Tuesday. The ruling from Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic reduced the brothers’ sentences from life in prison without parole to

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities said Tuesday that a man who attacked rapper Tory Lanez in a California prison is an inmate serving a life sentence for second-degree murder who was previously convicted for an in-prison assault with a deadly weapon. Lanez was in fair condition a day after

By MARTIN MEISSNER and JILL LAWLESS Associated Press BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Competition in the 69th Eurovision Song Contest kicked off Tuesday, with sauna-loving Swedish entry KAJ gaining a place in the final and five countries going home after the first of two semifinals of the pan-continental music extravaganza. Performers from 15 countries battled it

By PHILIP MARCELO Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A former fashion model testifying in Harvey Weinstein ’s retrial on sexual assault charges was confronted on the stand Tuesday with a private journal in which she wrote about people who sexually abused her, but notably left out the disgraced former Hollywood mogul. Michael Cibella, a

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Robert Benton, the Oscar-winning filmmaker who helped reset the rules in Hollywood as the co-creator of “Bonnie and Clyde,” and later received mainstream validation as the writer-director of “Kramer vs. Kramer” and “Places in the Heart,” has died at age 92. Benton’s son, John Benton,

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer CANNES, France (AP) — One hundred years after Charlie Chaplin made dinner rolls dance and ate his shoe like it was a fine meal, “The Gold Rush” has been vividly brought back to life in a new restoration that premiered Tuesday at the Cannes Film Festival. On the opening

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Acclaimed opera tenor Arturo Chacón-Cruz will perform “God Bless America” during pre-race ceremonies for the Indianapolis 500. Chacón-Cruz is the winner of the 2024 International Opera Awards’ Readers’ Award and has performed in more than 60 leading roles in 30 countries. He’s appeared in major opera houses such as New York’s Metropolitan

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — ESPN said Tuesday that its new all-encompassing streaming service will take on a familiar name — ESPN — and launch in September at an initial price of $29.99 per month. The service will enable consumers to view all of ESPN’s various networks, including ones devoted

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Casandra Ventura, the R&B singer and actor known simply as Cassie, began testifying Tuesday in Sean “Diddy” Combs ‘ sex trafficking trial. The music mogul is charged with leveraging his status to coerce women — including Cassie — into abusive sexual encounters and using violence

NEW YORK (AP) — A jury of 12 New Yorkers, plus a half-dozen alternates, is hearing testimony at the federal sex trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs. The group tilts male and middle-aged or older. Only three jurors are under 40. Five are over 60. Classical music listeners outnumber people who identified as hip-hop fans.

By RONALD BLUM Associated Press AMSTERDAM (AP) — When Klaus Mäkelä climbed the Concertgebouw podium and turned to the audience at the orchestra’s third Gustav Mahler Festival in 105 years, the conductor could see the writing on the wall. Facing him was “MAHLER” etched in gold on a cartouche and shining in a spotlight, centered

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainments Writer NEW YORK (AP) — You can’t keep Stanley Tucci from his beloved Italy just like you can’t keep cheese from lasagna. The Golden Globe- and Emmy-winning actor is once again elegantly roaming through the land of his heritage in National Geographic’s new food-travel series “Tucci in Italy,” less than

By HILARY FOX Associated Press LONDON (AP) — “Doctor Who” and Eurovision unite for an evening of music and intergalactic adventure on Saturday — all thanks to Russell T Davies. Before fans tune in for the annual song contest, they can enjoy Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor and Varada Sethu’s Belinda Chandra attending the Interstellar Song Contest

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer CANNES, France (AP) — The 78th Cannes Film Festival got underway Tuesday, kicking off two weeks of French Riviera frenzy. Here are five things to look for at this year’s Cannes: Oscar season starts now It might still be springtime, but, make no mistake, multiple Oscar campaigns will be

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Oprah Winfrey’s latest book club pick is a new novel from Ocean Vuong, one of the country’s most admired young writers. Winfrey announced Tuesday that she has chosen Vuong’s “The Emperor of Gladness,” in which the Vietnamese American author tells of the bond between a