AP National Entertainment News

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Harrison Ford will receive a lifetime achievement award in March from the actors union SAG-AFTRA. “Harrison Ford is a singular presence in American life; an actor whose iconic characters have shaped world culture,” the union’s president, Sean Astin, said in a statement Thursday. “We are honored to celebrate a legend whose

By BARAA ANWER Associated Press JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Arab female film directors have helped change the landscape of Arab cinema in recent years, presenting stories that haven’t been told before and claiming space in an industry in a region that rarely makes room for women to grow. Four influential female directors took part

By JOHN ROGERS Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Peter Arnett, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who spent decades dodging bullets and bombs to bring the world eyewitness accounts of war from the rice paddies of Vietnam to the deserts of Iraq, has died. He was 91. Arnett, who won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for international

By JOHN MYERS JR. and DÁNICA COTO Associated Press KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — The instructions on Wednesday were clear: no serious, sad or long faces. And the crowd filing into a gymnasium in Jamaica’s capital largely obliged as they honored reggae giant Jimmy Cliff. “Jimmy didn’t want a sad or somber occasion,” said Olivia Grange,

By JOHN WAWROW AP Sports Writer ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Marriage, fatherhood and an NFL MVP honor were the furthest things on Josh Allen’s mind when he arrived in Buffalo as a raw but promising quarterback prospect in April 2018. “Envisioning it? I was just trying to figure out protections and how to throw

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer In a seismic shift for one of television’s marquee events, the Academy Awards will depart ABC and begin streaming on YouTube beginning in 2029, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday. ABC will continue to broadcast the annual ceremony through 2028. That year will mark the

By MAE ANDERSON AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Warner Bros. is telling shareholders of the company that it believes a $72 billion buyout offer from Netflix is superior, and to reject a hostile takeover bid from Paramount Skydance. Paramount went hostile with its bid last week, asking shareholders to reject the deal with

By The Associated Press Gil Gerard, who played television’s hunky sci-fi hero William “Buck” Rogers soon after the Star Wars franchise took hold in the late 1970s, has died. He was 82. Gerard died Tuesday in hospice as a result of a rare, aggressive form of cancer, said his manager, Tina Presley Borek. His wife,

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer New York (AP) — It jolted the winter, came alive in the spring, dominated the summer and went three-times platinum in the fall. Alex Warren’s bombastic ballad “Ordinary” is, by many measures, a defining song of 2025. It’s also an unusual hit: slower than a traditional song of the

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Warner Bros. Discovery is recommending its shareholders reject an unsolicited buyout offer from Paramount Skydance in favor of a rival bid from Netflix it said will better serve their interests and the entertainment company’s audiences. The Warner board said in a letter to shareholders on

By LEANNE ITALIE and AMELIA THOMSON-DEVEAUX Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Welcome to exhausted America 2025: Most adults are more than a little fine with doling out cash as gifts, and many plan to be asleep before midnight on New Year’s Eve, according to a new AP-NORC poll. About 6 in 10 Americans say

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer Olympic snowboard champion Lindsey Jacobellis will enjoy her sixth Winter Games from the TV booth. Jacobellis, who recently had a daughter, Ayla, has decided to skip a run for yet another Olympics and instead serve as an analyst for snowboardcross on NBC’s announcing team in Italy. The 40-year-old, whose

By THOMAS ADAMSON and SYLVIE CORBET Associated Press PARIS (AP) — Employees at the Louvre Museum voted to extend a strike that has disrupted operations at the world’s most visited museum, though the venue partially opened Wednesday to allow visitors to enjoy its highlights. The museum said visitors had access to a limited “masterpiece route”

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and MATT SEDENSKY Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic senators on Wednesday hammered the Federal Communications Commission’s leader for pressuring broadcasters to take ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air, suggesting that Brendan Carr was politicizing an independent agency and trampling the First Amendment. The FCC chairman refused to disown his

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Norman Podhoretz, the boastful, hard-line editor and author whose books, essays and stewardship of Commentary magazine marked a political and deeply personal break from the left and made him a leader of the neo-conservative movement, has died. He was 95. Podhoretz died “peacefully and without

By The Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some of Rob and Michele Reiner’s closest friends, including actors Billy Crystal, Albert Brooks, Martin Short and Larry David, have released a statement mourning the couple and praising their love of film and country. “Absorbing all he had learned from his father Carl and his mentor Norman

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — A posthumous memoir by one of Jeffrey Epstein’s best known accusers, Virginia Roberts Guiffre, has sold 1 million copies worldwide two months after its release. Publisher Alfred A. Knopf announced Tuesday that more than half the sales for “Nobody’s Girl,” came out of North America;

By JAIMIE DING Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — A doctor who pleaded guilty in a scheme to supply ketamine to actor Matthew Perry before his overdose death was sentenced Tuesday to 8 months of home confinement. Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence that included 3 years of supervised release to 55-year-old Dr.

By LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer Ryan Coogler’s bluesy vampire thriller “Sinners,” the big screen musical “Wicked: For Good” and the Netflix phenomenon “KPop Demon Hunters” are all a step closer to an Oscar nomination. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released shortlists for 12 categories Tuesday, including for best song, score, international

By RONALD BLUM Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Christine Baranski was in the playground outside St. Matthew’s Church in Bedford, New York, about three years ago when she came across Matthew Guard, artistic director of the Grammy-nominated Skylark Vocal Ensemble. “I love choral music,” she told him. An Emmy- and Tony-Award winning actor, Baranski

LONDON (AP) — Fans of Jane Austen celebrated the acclaimed author’s 250th birthday on Tuesday with a church service in her home village, festive visits to her house and a virtual party for those paying tribute from afar. Thousands of enthusiasts around the world have already taken part in a yearlong celebration of one of

By LOUISE DIXON Associated Press LONDON (AP) — After years of minimalist, pared-back drinks, maximalism is back. Drinkers are looking for more than just a simple serve, and bartenders are dreaming up bold color palettes, layered flavors, oversize garnishes, theatrical glassware and playful twists on classic drinks. The trend harks back to the “really out

By JIM VERTUNO Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Joe Ely, the influential Texas-born singer-songwriter whose blend of honky-tonk, rock and roadhouse blues made him a favorite among other musicians and led to collaborations with Bruce Springsteen and the Clash, has died. He was 78. Ely died in Taos, New Mexico, of complications from Lewy

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — There are giants, and then there is Donna Summer. The Queen of Disco and then some, known for such timeless tunes as “Love to Love You Baby,” “I Feel Love,” “Bad Girls,” “Dim All the Lights,” “On the Radio” and “She Works Hard for the

By The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Howard Stern will spend another three years on SiriusXM, telling listeners Tuesday that he’s “figured out a way to have it all.” And reps confirmed that he’s not trolling us again like he did back in August when he brought on Andy Cohen as a fake replacement