AP National Entertainment News

By STEFANIE DAZIO Associated Press BERLIN (AP) — A performance inside a Catholic cathedral in Germany earlier this month that featured raw, plucked chickens wrapped in diapers onstage — and the country’s president and the local archbishop in the audience — has prompted the church and municipal leaders to apologize that the show “hurt religious

By ALICIA RANCILIO Associated Press Taylor Jenkins Reid recalls a moment writing her new novel, “Atmosphere: A Love Story,” set against NASA’s robust 1980s shuttle program, where she felt stuck. She went, where she often goes, to her husband to talk it through. “I said, ‘I can’t write this book. I don’t know enough about

By The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong’s satirical drama “Mountainhead” and Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Biel playing dysfunctional siblings in the murder thriller series “The Better Sister” are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you. Also among the streaming offerings worth your

By THOMAS ADAMSON Associated Press PARIS (AP) — “She’s messy. It can be messy. But it’s real.” So says Cynthia Nixon — not just of Miranda Hobbes, the character she’s embodied for almost three decades, but of the show itself. “And Just Like That…,” HBO’s “Sex and the City” revival, has come into its own

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Actor and comedian Russell Brand pleaded not guilty in a London court Friday to rape and sexual assault charges involving four women dating back more than 25 years. Brand, who turns 50 next week, denied two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and one count

By JUWON PARK Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Big Ocean, a three-member K-pop group composed entirely of artists with hearing disabilities, is redefining the limits of music and performance — one beat at a time. When Big Ocean takes the stage, they seamlessly incorporate sign language into their performances. But their polished shows

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — As he turned 80 this week, John Fogerty was in a mood to honor his past and to revise it. We should all be so alive and so remembered at his age. Fogerty, in the midst of an international tour, played a rowdy 100-minute set

By SOPHIE BATES Associated Press Clarksdale, Miss. (AP) — Hundreds of people packed inside a local auditorium Thursday to see the hit film “ Sinners,” set in their community and steeped in Mississippi Delta culture. The special screening of the blockbuster horror film included an appearance by Director Ryan Coogler and was made possible by

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs ’ former personal assistant testified Thursday that the hip-hop mogul sexually assaulted her, threw her into a swimming pool, dumped a bucket of ice on her and slammed a door against her arm during a torturous eight-year tenure. The

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump suffered “mental anguish” from CBS News’ editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Democratic opponent Kamala Harris last fall, his lawyers are arguing in court papers. Trump’s status as a “content creator” was also damaged by attention given to the interview, lawyers

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities investigated a previous sexual assault allegation against Smokey Robinson in 2015, but no charges were filed because of insufficient evidence, prosecutors said Friday. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office confirmed the decade-old investigation and its decision to decline charges in a statement on

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge declared Thursday that a man is mentally incompetent to stand trial on charges of stalking Jennifer Aniston and crashing his car through her front gate. The move in a Los Angeles County mental health court came after a second psychiatrist examined the defendant,

By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — After five weeks of testimony from Harvey Weinstein ’s accusers and other prosecution witnesses at his sex crimes retrial, his defense has started presenting its own witnesses. But it’s unclear whether the ex-studio boss himself will be one of them. He’s due to decide in the

By GARY GERARD HAMILTON Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Leon Thomas is such a believer of speaking dreams into existence that the artist-producer has been patiently awaiting — yet expecting — his current moment of musical appreciation. “I feel like this is like a 20-year-long, overnight success, and I’m really enjoying just the process.

NEW YORK (AP) — E.l.f. Beauty has acquired Hailey Bieber’s Rhode skincare brand in a $1 billion deal, the companies said. Bieber’s Rhode had $212 million in net sales in the 12 months that ended March 31. The company’s products are only available online, but by the end of this year it plans to begin

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The special Tony Award that honors educators is going to a New York public high school teacher who shows how theater skills can apply to a career in the arts — and also far away from it. “My platform is career focused,” says Gary Edwin

By HILARY FOX Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Being a leading man? Matthew Goode quite likes it. He’s the star of “Dept. Q,” based on the books by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen and set in the cold case division of an Edinburgh police station. From “The Queen’s Gambit” showrunner Scott Frank, the nine-part miniseries launches

By HOLLY MEYER Associated Press BREMEN, Ga. (AP) — Singers at Holly Springs Primitive Baptist Church in West Georgia treat their red hymnals like extensions of themselves, never straying far from their copies of “The Sacred Harp” and its music notes shaped like triangles, ovals, squares and diamonds. In four-part harmony, they sing together for

By HOLLY MEYER and JESSIE WARDARSKI Associated Press BREMEN, Ga. (AP) — “The Sacred Harp” hymnal is beloved by those who sing from it, carrying on the Christian songbook’s more than 180-year-old legacy. They are young and old — and all ages in between. Some have been singing from the hymnal all their lives, just

By HOLLY MEYER Associated Press BREMEN, Ga. (AP) — “The Sacred Harp” is a pre-Civil War compilation of sacred songs that uses music notes shaped like triangles, ovals, squares and diamonds, and it is getting an update. Sung in four-part harmony, “The Sacred Harp” is central to its more than 180-year-old American folk a cappella

By EVELYNE MUSAMBI and CHINEDU ASADU Associated Press NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — In a bookstore in Kenya’s capital, the proprietor arranged a shelf exclusively carrying books by Kenyan author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, who died Wednesday in the United States. Bennet Mbata, who has sold African literature at the Nuria Bookstore for more than 30 years

By ROD McGUIRK Associated Press MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian comedian and actor Magda Szubanski, best known for roles in the television sitcom “Kath and Kim” and the movie “Babe,” announced on Thursday she had been diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer. The 64-year-old Melbourne resident posted on social media that

By TERRY TANG Associated Press It didn’t occur to Ben Wang right away that in taking on “ Karate Kid: Legends,” he’d be the franchise’s first Asian American “Kid.” And that gives him a lot of optimism. “At first I didn’t even think about that,” Wang told The Associated Press. “That feels like a very

By HALLIE GOLDEN Associated Press Louisiana rap artist NBA YoungBoy, who was sentenced to just under two years in prison on gun-related charges, was pardoned by President Donald Trump on Wednesday. The rapper is among a number of high-profile people Trump pardoned this week, including a former New York congressman, a labor union leader and

WASHINGTON (AP) — Reality TV stars Julie and Todd Chrisley, who were in prison after being convicted on federal charges of bank fraud and tax evasion, were pardoned by President Donald Trump and walked free Wednesday. The couple is best known for the long-running TV series “Chrisley Knows Best,” which followed their family and luxurious

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia’s mayor honored actor and producer Quinta Brunson with a key to the city Wednesday in a ceremony dedicating a separate mural at Brunson’s alma mater, which was the inspiration for her show “Abbott Elementary.” The producer, writer and comedian gazed at the shiny key handed to her by Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, the revered Kenyan man of letters and voice of dissent who in dozens of fiction and nonfiction books traced his country’s history from British imperialism to home-ruled tyranny and challenged not only the stories told but the language used to tell them,

By DAVE COLLINS Associated Press A former WWE executive who had been fighting sexual abuse allegations in a lawsuit by an ex-employee has agreed to a confidential settlement and will now help the accuser as she continues suing the company and former leader Vince McMahon, representatives and lawyers said Wednesday. John Laurinaitis, WWE’s former head

By MARIA SHERMAN Associated Press Casandra Ventura, the R&B singer and actor known simply as Cassie, has welcomed her third child, a son. The news arrived Wednesday in the midst of the ongoing Sean “Diddy” Combs sex trafficking trial, at which Cassie is an essential witness. She finished testifying earlier this month while visibly pregnant

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer A stunt performer has sued Kevin Costner, alleging she was subjected to an unscripted rape scene without proper warning, consent or protocols while shooting his film “Horizon: An American Saga: Chapter 2.” Devyn LaBella filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. It names Costner — the director,