They are the world's best-selling artists, and they have brought the "K-Wave" to the White House.
But BTS were not there to show President Joe Biden their "dynamite" moves. Rather, it was to discuss anti-Asian hate.
Crimes targeting East Asians have risen dramatically in the US amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The boy band members - all in their 20s - vowed to help Mr Biden, 79, tackle the issue.
"It's not wrong to be different," BTS member Suga said through an interpreter. "Maybe equality begins when we open up and embrace all of our differences".
Another member, V, said that "everyone has their own history".
"We hope today is one step forward to respecting and understanding each and every one as a valuable person," he added.
Dressed in matching black suits, the seven members group did not take questions from reporters before leaving the White House briefing room to head to their meeting with President Biden.
The group have been outspoken about their experiences with anti-Asian hate.
Following a series of massage parlours shootings targeting Asian women in Georgia last year, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook spoke out about their own experiences with anti-Asian discrimination.
They've "endured expletives without reason" and have been mocked for their appearance, they said.
"We cannot put into words the pain of becoming the subject of hatred and violence for such a reason".
In February, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry - a music industry body - announced that the group beat the likes of Taylor Swift, Drake and Adele to become the world's best-selling artists for a second year running.
"We still feel surprised that music created by South Korean artists reaches so many people around the world, transcending languages and cultural barriers," Jungkook said at the White House.
He added that the group believes that "music is always an amazing and wonderful unifier of all things".
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The Calgary Stampede parade marshal for 2022 will be Kevin Costner, officials announced on Tuesday.
In a video message accompanying the news release, the Academy Award-winning actor and
director said he was honoured to be chosen and noted he has a personal connection to Calgary and Alberta.
"I have a lot of fond memories of being in Calgary. It has made a big difference to me in my life to make Open Range and Let Him Go there. It's one of the most beautiful spots," he said.
"On July 8, I'll be there and I'm really honoured to be a part of what you have done for so long and carry on a tradition. See you at the Parade."
Costner has starred in a long list of hit movies and TV series, including No Way Out, The Untouchables, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams and Dances with Wolves, which won seven Academy Awards, including best director for Costner.
Since 2018 he has played John Dutton, patriarch of the Dutton family, on the award-winning television show Yellowstone.
"A modern-day western, the show is filmed in the rolling hills and Rocky Mountains of Darby, Montana, which is reflected in Costner's love of western heritage and culture," the Stampede said in a release.
Costner is also a musician and he and his band, Modern West, will be performing at The Big Four Roadhouse following his marshal duties on the evening of July 8.
The Calgary Stampede Parade begins at 9 a.m. on Friday, July 8, with the prelude beginning at 7:30 a.m.
The tradition of the Stampede Parade carries on with legendary actor, producer, director and musician Kevin Costner (<a href="https://twitter.com/modernwest?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@modernwest</a>) as this year’s Parade Marshal! <br><br>Come see the <a href="https://twitter.com/Yellowstone?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Yellowstone</a> star open the Calgary Stampede on Friday, July 8. <a href="https://t.co/6yCG7bjRvn">pic.twitter.com/6yCG7bjRvn</a>
The iconic Mona Lisa painting was the victim of a not-so-sweet surprise at the Louvre Museum on Sunday when a man disguised as an elderly woman threw a piece of cake at the glass enclosure protecting the priceless artwork.
The man, who is seen in several social media videos capturing the incident, arrived at the museum in a wheelchair, black wig and lipstick. His identity is unknown.
From the throngs of eager onlookers in the gallery, the man threw the dessert at the Leonardo da Vinci painting, leaving a creamy, white smear on the glass.
As the perpetrator was filmed being escorted from the museum by security, he told the gallery of his environmentalist motive. “Think of the Earth. There are people who are destroying the Earth,” he shouted. “Think about it. Artists tell you: think of the Earth. That’s why I did this.”
This is not the first time Mona Lisa has been the victim of an attack.
In 1911, the painting was stolen by a museum employee and Italian nationalist who executed the heist by hiding in a broom closet until the Louvre Museum closed. The thief carried the painting off the premises, hidden in his coat.
In the 1950s, the Mona Lisa painting was the victim of an acid attack. The painting was partially damaged and has remained behind glass ever since.
Again in 2009, a woman threw a teacup at the painting, though it hit the glass and the artwork was unharmed.
Ronnie Hawkins, the big, boisterous Southern rockabilly singer who called Canada home and helped mentor the first band from this country inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has died.
His wife, Wanda, confirmed to The Canadian Press that Hawkins died Sunday morning after a long illness at age 87. "He went peacefully and he looked as handsome as ever," she said in a phone interview with CP.
The musician known as The Hawk didn't make his reputation in the studio. His highest charting single in the U.S. reached No. 26, and, not a natural songwriter, most of his recorded work consisted of covers. But his stage shows were raucous affairs, characterized by his booming voice, humorous stage patter and acrobatic moves like his "camel walk."
Hawkins, born and raised in Arkansas, got wind of steady work available on the Canadian bar circuit from Conway Twitty, among others. He began touring in Ontario in 1958, and by the time he was featured in a CBC Telescope documentary nine years later, he was ensconced in Canada.
"You know, I don't know anything about Canadian politics, the price of wheat or Niagara Falls," he said in the doccumentary. "But I sure do know one thing: I sure dig it up here."
Hawkins, left, was invested as an honorary officer of the Order of Canada by Gov. Gen. David Johnston in 2014. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
Hawkins's band over the years included musicians and performers who went on to have their own success, including Roy Buchanan, Beverly D'Angelo, David Foster, Lawrence Gowan and Pat Travers.
But it was a specific five who would cement Hawkins's reputation in music lore as an elder statesman. Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson eventually left Hawkins en masse for the United States. They backed Bob Dylan and then made their own mark as the Band, with critically hailed albums and hits such as The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Up on Cripple Creek and The Weight.
"We should thank Ronnie Hawkins in being so instrumental in us coming together and for teaching us the 'code of the road,' so to speak," guitarist Robertson said when the Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
For reasons that have been debated — his love of Canada undoubtedly playing a part — Hawkins couldn't fully grasp the brass ring or allow U.S. music industry heavyweights to mould his career. The larger-than-life character seemed content carving out a reputation north of the border.
"I brought the first blues here. Nobody had ever heard of Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, B.B. [King] or anyone in Canada," he once boasted, perhaps dubiously, to music journalist Larry LeBlanc.
Hawkins, often called Rompin' Ronnie, won a Juno Award for country male vocalist of the year in 1982 and received lifetime achievement awards from both the Junos in 1996 and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) in 2007. Always retaining U.S. citizenship, in 2014 he accepted an honorary appointment as officer of the Order of Canada.
As described in Helm's autobiography This Wheel's On Fire, Hawkins often had to charm a young musician's parents to fill out his band. His recruitment pitch to prospective band members was less G-rated and usually included the promise they'd get more sex "than Sinatra," though in less euphemistic terms.
Hawkins may not have sold millions, but he did well enough to reside at a sprawling multimillion-dollar property in Stoney Lake in Ontario's Kawarthas region. As recently as 2016, he was hosting longtime friends Gordon Lightfoot and Kris Kristofferson for a session at his home studio there.
WATCH | The National interviews Ronnie Hawkins and Gordon Lightfoot:
Gordon Lightfoot and Ronnie Hawkins
6 years ago
Duration 7:43
Gordon Lightfoot and Ronnie Hawkins team up for a new song.
His was a life filled with colourful experiences. He recorded with everyone from the great Duane Allman to The Happy Hooker author Xaviera Hollander, portrayed Bob Dylan in Dylan's widely panned film Renaldo and Clara — while also acting in another notable box office flop, Heaven's Gate — and was among the Canadian contributors to the famine benefit song Tears Are Not Enough in 1985.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono guesting at his farm during an extended Toronto stay in 1969 was a particular favourite Hawkins story. He would tell more than one CBC host over the years of a pot-smoking session that included both Lennon and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
True or tall tale? One often didn't know with Hawkins, but he definitely performed at inauguration parties in Washington, D.C., in 1993 for the first U.S. president from Arkansas.
"If the world had more people like Ronnie Hawkins, we'd do less stupid things to each other, we'd hurt fewer people, we'd have a lot more laughs," Bill Clinton said in the 2004 documentary Hawkins: Still Alive and Kickin'. "I've never met another one like him."
Hawkins, left, is pictured with Kris Kristofferson in 2002, when Hawkins received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)
Hawkins was born on Jan. 10, 1935, in Huntsville, Ark., his family moving to Fayetteville when he was a child. He made it to university and enlisted in the National Guard and the army, but for the most part his main interests were cars, girls and, as early as age 12, music.
Hawkins began playing in local bars in 1953, with young Arkansan Levon Helm joining the fold about five years later. In 1959, Hawkins scored a deal with Roulette Records, leading that year to minor hits Forty Days and Mary Lou and an appearance on American Bandstand.
Robbie Robertson, a 16-year-old from Toronto, joined weeks after that TV appearance. The rest of the members of what became the Band were found in southwestern Ontario in 1961-62: Rick Danko from Simcoe, Richard Manuel from Stratford and the classically trained Garth Hudson from London.
Hawkins, Helm wrote in his autobiography, "molded us into the wildest, fiercest speed-driven bar band in America."
WATCH | Ronnie Hawkins remembers Levon Helm:
Hawkins remembers Helm
10 years ago
Duration 7:13
Rocker Ronnie Hawkins reminisces about his longtime friend and 'right arm' Levon Helm.
Hawkins favoured fast, blues-based material but tried to adjust as music trends changed, recording folk and country albums, though they didn't translate into mass success.
By mid-decade, his band was chafing at Hawkins's control and the skint life of backing musicians. Hawkins also had a family life now, after meeting wife Wanda at Toronto's Concord Tavern.
"We wanted to explore a deeper musicality," Robertson told CBC in 2011. "Loved him, but we needed to go and find out what was around the corner."
Hawkins travelled to San Francisco for the live swan song of the Band's original lineup, a 1976 concert captured on screen in Martin Scorsese's iconic rock documentary The Last Waltz. Performing Who Do You Love?, Hawkins was on the bill with the likes of Dylan, Van Morrison and Canadians Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.
Hawkins enjoyed that bit of revelry and recognition, as the early 1970s hadn't always been kind. For his ever-touring band, it had been a period of much turnover. He was an avid drinker then, and those years also included a failed club venture and a marijuana possession rap.
Hawkins would eventually be feted himself at benefit shows. For his 60th birthday at Toronto's Massey Hall, performers included Danko, Helm and Hudson, as well as Sylvia Tyson and Jeff Healey. After quadruple bypass surgery in 2002, the same year he was honoured on Canada's Walk of Fame, a tribute concert featured the Tragically Hip and Tom Cochrane, among others.
Ronnie Hawkins, the big, boisterous Southern rockabilly singer who called Canada home and helped mentor the first band from this country inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has died.
His wife, Wanda, confirmed to The Canadian Press that Hawkins died Sunday morning after a long illness at age 87. "He went peacefully and he looked as handsome as ever," she said in a phone interview with CP.
The musician known as The Hawk didn't make his reputation in the studio. His highest charting single in the U.S. reached No. 26, and, not a natural songwriter, most of his recorded work consisted of covers. But his stage shows were raucous affairs, characterized by his booming voice, humorous stage patter and acrobatic moves like his "camel walk."
Hawkins, born and raised in Arkansas, got wind of steady work available on the Canadian bar circuit from Conway Twitty, among others. He began touring in Ontario in 1958, and by the time he was featured in a CBC Telescope documentary nine years later, he was ensconced in Canada.
"You know, I don't know anything about Canadian politics, the price of wheat or Niagara Falls," he said in the doccumentary. "But I sure do know one thing: I sure dig it up here."
Hawkins, left, was invested as an honorary officer of the Order of Canada by Gov. Gen. David Johnston in 2014. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
Hawkins's band over the years included musicians and performers who went on to have their own success, including Roy Buchanan, Beverly D'Angelo, David Foster, Lawrence Gowan and Pat Travers.
But it was a specific five who would cement Hawkins's reputation in music lore as an elder statesman. Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel and Robbie Robertson eventually left Hawkins en masse for the United States. They backed Bob Dylan and then made their own mark as the Band, with critically hailed albums and hits such as The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Up on Cripple Creek and The Weight.
"We should thank Ronnie Hawkins in being so instrumental in us coming together and for teaching us the 'code of the road,' so to speak," guitarist Robertson said when the Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
For reasons that have been debated — his love of Canada undoubtedly playing a part — Hawkins couldn't fully grasp the brass ring or allow U.S. music industry heavyweights to mould his career. The larger-than-life character seemed content carving out a reputation north of the border.
"I brought the first blues here. Nobody had ever heard of Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, B.B. [King] or anyone in Canada," he once boasted, perhaps dubiously, to music journalist Larry LeBlanc.
Hawkins, often called Rompin' Ronnie, won a Juno Award for country male vocalist of the year in 1982 and received lifetime achievement awards from both the Junos in 1996 and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) in 2007. Always retaining U.S. citizenship, in 2014 he accepted an honorary appointment as officer of the Order of Canada.
As described in Helm's autobiography This Wheel's On Fire, Hawkins often had to charm a young musician's parents to fill out his band. His recruitment pitch to prospective band members was less G-rated and usually included the promise they'd get more sex "than Sinatra," though in less euphemistic terms.
Hawkins may not have sold millions, but he did well enough to reside at a sprawling multimillion-dollar property in Stoney Lake in Ontario's Kawarthas region. As recently as 2016, he was hosting longtime friends Gordon Lightfoot and Kris Kristofferson for a session at his home studio there.
WATCH | The National interviews Ronnie Hawkins and Gordon Lightfoot:
Gordon Lightfoot and Ronnie Hawkins
6 years ago
Duration 7:43
Gordon Lightfoot and Ronnie Hawkins team up for a new song.
His was a life filled with colourful experiences. He recorded with everyone from the great Duane Allman to The Happy Hooker author Xaviera Hollander, portrayed Bob Dylan in Dylan's widely panned film Renaldo and Clara — while also acting in another notable box office flop, Heaven's Gate — and was among the Canadian contributors to the famine benefit song Tears Are Not Enough in 1985.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono guesting at his farm during an extended Toronto stay in 1969 was a particular favourite Hawkins story. He would tell more than one CBC host over the years of a pot-smoking session that included both Lennon and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.
True or tall tale? One often didn't know with Hawkins, but he definitely performed at inauguration parties in Washington, D.C., in 1993 for the first U.S. president from Arkansas.
"If the world had more people like Ronnie Hawkins, we'd do less stupid things to each other, we'd hurt fewer people, we'd have a lot more laughs," Bill Clinton said in the 2004 documentary Hawkins: Still Alive and Kickin'. "I've never met another one like him."
Hawkins, left, is pictured with Kris Kristofferson in 2002, when Hawkins received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)
Hawkins was born on Jan. 10, 1935, in Huntsville, Ark., his family moving to Fayetteville when he was a child. He made it to university and enlisted in the National Guard and the army, but for the most part his main interests were cars, girls and, as early as age 12, music.
Hawkins began playing in local bars in 1953, with young Arkansan Levon Helm joining the fold about five years later. In 1959, Hawkins scored a deal with Roulette Records, leading that year to minor hits Forty Days and Mary Lou and an appearance on American Bandstand.
Robbie Robertson, a 16-year-old from Toronto, joined weeks after that TV appearance. The rest of the members of what became the Band were found in southwestern Ontario in 1961-62: Rick Danko from Simcoe, Richard Manuel from Stratford and the classically trained Garth Hudson from London.
Hawkins, Helm wrote in his autobiography, "molded us into the wildest, fiercest speed-driven bar band in America."
WATCH | Ronnie Hawkins remembers Levon Helm:
Hawkins remembers Helm
10 years ago
Duration 7:13
Rocker Ronnie Hawkins reminisces about his longtime friend and 'right arm' Levon Helm.
Hawkins favoured fast, blues-based material but tried to adjust as music trends changed, recording folk and country albums, though they didn't translate into mass success.
By mid-decade, his band was chafing at Hawkins's control and the skint life of backing musicians. Hawkins also had a family life now, after meeting wife Wanda at Toronto's Concord Tavern.
"We wanted to explore a deeper musicality," Robertson told CBC in 2011. "Loved him, but we needed to go and find out what was around the corner."
Hawkins travelled to San Francisco for the live swan song of the Band's original lineup, a 1976 concert captured on screen in Martin Scorsese's iconic rock documentary The Last Waltz. Performing Who Do You Love?, Hawkins was on the bill with the likes of Dylan, Van Morrison and Canadians Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.
Hawkins enjoyed that bit of revelry and recognition, as the early 1970s hadn't always been kind. For his ever-touring band, it had been a period of much turnover. He was an avid drinker then, and those years also included a failed club venture and a marijuana possession rap.
Hawkins would eventually be feted himself at benefit shows. For his 60th birthday at Toronto's Massey Hall, performers included Danko, Helm and Hudson, as well as Sylvia Tyson and Jeff Healey. After quadruple bypass surgery in 2002, the same year he was honoured on Canada's Walk of Fame, a tribute concert featured the Tragically Hip and Tom Cochrane, among others.
A Dene filmmaker says he was turned away from the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival because he was wearing moccasins.
Kelvin Redvers, who is from the Northwest Territories and works in B.C., says he hopes the incident is a learning moment for event organizers and that it helps expand the festival's idea of what counts as formal wear.
Redvers travelled to France as part of a delegation of six Indigenous filmmakers with support from Telefilm, the Indigenous Screen Office, and Capilano University's FILMBA program.
He was invited to a red carpet screening of Valeria Bruni Tedeschi's Les Amandiers. Cannes has strict rules around formal wear on the red carpet — black tie for men, evening gowns for women — but there are accommodations for traditional formal wear, such as Scottish kilts or Indian saris.
Redvers thought his moccasins, paired with a tux, would qualify.
Kelvin Redvers says he hopes his experience at Cannes will start a conversation among festival organizers about their definition of formal wear. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
"For me, these moccasins are ceremonial, they're formal, basically," he said on CBC's On The Coast Friday. "So I'm going to wear a great tux, I'm going to look super good but I'm gonna insert just a little bit of Indigeneity."
Redvers had the moccasins in a bag as he went through the first security checkpoint, he said. He slipped them on and was then flagged by security at a second checkpoint, who told him he couldn't wear moccasins.
"I was like, 'No, no. This is formal for me, I'm Dene,'" he said.
A French-speaking member of Redvers' cohort tried to discuss the situation with security. Eventually, Redvers said, a security guard had had enough.
"I guess he hit his limit and rather aggressively, simply put his foot down, to 'leave, leave, leave now, leave,'" he said.
WATCH | Dene filmmaker on being turned away at Cannes for wearing moccasins
Cannes security turned away this Dene filmmaker for wearing moccasins
3 hours ago
Duration 7:02
Dene filmmaker Kelvin Redvers travelled to the Cannes Film Festival as part of a delegation of six Indigenous filmmakers. Redvers says he was turned away from the red carpet because he was wearing moccasins.
Redvers was eventually allowed back on the red carpet after swapping footwear, but he said the incident left him and his contingent upset.
"I really was quite shocked at this aggressive treatment for what was such a thing of excitement for me," he said.
Redvers, the Indigenous Screen Office and Telefilm met with festival organizers, who offered an apology. He was then invited to wear moccasins to a red carpet screening of Canadian director David Cronenberg's new film Crimes of the Future on Monday. He said he met some resistance upon arrival, but was eventually waved through.
Redvers says he hopes his red carpet experience has started a conversation among Cannes officials about the nuance of traditional formal wear.
Part of his run-in, he said, could be attributed to the fact that so few Indigenous people have attended Cannes.
"I guess they just hadn't had exposure to something like this pair of beaded moccasins with moose hide," he said.
He says he hopes that is changing, and adds that Cannes is more than red carpets, it is also a time to network. He says all six Indigenous filmmakers made industry contacts that they are hopeful will lead to funding and distribution deals for their projects.
"All of us ... are, we believe, so close to having our films premiere and just making a presence at festivals like this because we've all got great projects going on and there's a lot of great talent coming up."
CBC has reached out to the Cannes Film Festival for comment.
Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey has been charged with sex offenses including assaults on three men following an investigation by police in London, Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Thursday.
Police said the alleged offenses had taken place between March 2005 and April 2013, with four incidents taking place in the capital and one in Gloucestershire. They involved one man who is now in his 40s and two men now in their 30s.
"The CPS has authorized criminal charges against Kevin Spacey, 62, for four counts of sexual assault against three men," Rosemary Ainslie, Head of the CPS Special Crime Division, said in a statement.
"He has also been charged with causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. The charges follow a review of the evidence gathered by the Metropolitan Police in its investigation."
Spacey, once one of Hollywood's biggest stars, has largely disappeared from public view since being accused of sexual misconduct five years ago.
In November 2017, London's Old Vic theater said it had received 20 separate allegations of inappropriate conduct by Spacey from 20 men who came into contact with him at the theater, or in connection with it, between 1995 and 2013.
He was dropped from the TV show "House of Cards" and removed from the movie "All the Money in the World" after the accusations of sexual misconduct came to light.
The 62-year-old, who won Oscars for best actor in "American Beauty" and best supporting actor in "The Usual Suspects," has previously denied all accusations of misconduct.
Roberto Cavazos, an actor who worked at the Old Vic, where Spacey was artistic director between 2004 and 2015, said in 2017 he had encounters with the Hollywood star at the time "that verged on what you could call harassment."
It is not known if Cavazos is one of the men Spacey has been charged with assaulting.
Spacey is being sued in the United States by actor Anthony Rapp who accuses him of sexual assault and battery in the 1980s when Rapp was about 14.
A judge in Manhattan last year dismissed claims by a second man who was suing Spacey, after the plaintiff refused to identify himself publicly.
In 2019, Massachusetts prosecutors dropped a criminal case accusing Spacey of sexually assaulting an 18-year-old man at a bar three years earlier after the alleged victim refused to testify.
(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by William James, Michael Holden and Catherine Evans)
British prosecutors said Thursday they have charged actor Kevin Spacey with four counts of sexual assault against three men.
The Crown Prosecution Service said Spacey "has also been charged with causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent."
The alleged incidents took place in London between March 2005 and August 2008, and in western England in April 2013.
Rosemary Ainslie, head of the service's Special Crime Division, said the charges follow a review of evidence gathered by London's Metropolitan Police.
Spacey, 62, was questioned by British police in 2019 about claims by several men that he had assaulted them.
The former House of Cards star ran London's Old Vic Theatre between 2004 and 2015.
Spacey won a best supporting actor Oscar for the 1995 film The Usual Suspects and best actor for the 1999 movie American Beauty.
His celebrated career came to an abrupt halt in 2017 when actor Anthony Rapp accused the star of assaulting him at a party in the 1980s, when Rapp was a teenager.
Spacey denies the allegations and is currently trying to have a sex abuse lawsuit from Rapp in New York thrown out.
A criminal case brought against him, an indecent assault and battery charge stemming from the alleged groping of an 18-year-old man at a Nantucket resort, was dismissed by Massachusetts prosecutors in 2019.
Johnny Depp called his ex-wife's accusations of sexual and physical abuse “insane” Wednesday as he returned to the witness stand in his libel suit against Amber Heard.
“Ridiculous, humiliating, ludicrous, painful, savage, unbelievably brutal, cruel, and all false,” Depp said when asked about his reaction to hearing Heard's allegations when she testified earlier in the trial.
Depp was testifying Wednesday as a rebuttal witness - both he and Heard each testified extensively earlier in the trial.
He gave some specific responses to some of the particular allegations levied by Heard and also her sister, Whitney Henriquez, who provided some of Heard's strongest corroborating testimony.
He concluded his testimony with a final denial of the allegations.
“I have never in my life committed sexual battery, physical abuse, all these outlandish, outrageous stories of me committing these things,” he said. “And living with it for six years, and waiting to be able to bring the truth out.”
He said that “no matter what happens I did get here and I did tell the truth and I have spoken up for what I've been carrying on my back, reluctantly, for six years.”
On cross-examination, jurors saw text messages from Depp's phone to his assistant in which he used vulgar terms to refer to a woman's sexual organs and said “I NEED. I WANT. I TAKE.”
When Heard's lawyers asked whether the text message shows Depp believes he can claim ownership rights over a woman he desires, Depp denied he wrote the message.
“I don't have that kind of hubris,” he said, suggesting the text was doctored or someone might have commandeered his phone. “That's quite grotesque.”
Depp is suing Heard in Fairfax County Circuit Court over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” His lawyers say he was defamed by the article even though it never mentioned his name.
Depp has denied he ever struck Heard and says she was the abuser in the relationship. Heard has testified about more than a dozen separate instances of physical abuse she says she suffered at Depp's hands.
Depp also disputed a claim made by Heard that Depp had nothing to do with getting her a role in the superhero blockbuster “Aquaman.” When Heard testified, she was clearly offended by a question from Depp's lawyers insinuating Depp got her the role.
Depp, though, said that after Heard auditioned for the role, he talked to the studio on her behalf. He was barred from discussing the details of his conversations when Heard's lawyers objected, but said that “ultimately she did get the job, so hopefully, I suppose, I had curbed their worries to some degree.”
On cross-examination, though, jurors saw a text message sent after Heard filed for divorce in which Depp told his sister “I want her replaced in that WB (Warner Bros.) film.”
Still, when Heard's lawyer, J. Benjamin Rottenborn, asked Depp whether he tried to get Heard fired from “Aquaman,” he denied it. He said instead that he just felt duty-bound to let the studio know “that it was going to end up ugly” if they kept Heard in the film.
Also Wednesday, supermodel Kate Moss, a former girlfriend of Depp, denied that she had ever been pushed or assaulted by Depp during the course of their relationship.
Moss also testified as a rebuttal witness. Heard, in her testimony, made a reference to Moss and a rumor that Depp had pushed Moss down a set of stairs when they dated.
Moss, in testimony provided by video link, said Depp never assaulted her. She said she did once slip down a flight of stairs after a rainstorm at a Jamaican resort, and that Depp came to her aid.
She testified for less than 5 minutes and was not cross-examined.
Depp also addressed the accusation in his testimony, saying it happened just as Moss said. He said he'd told the story about Moss to Heard years ago and “Ms. Heard took the story and turned it into a very ugly incident, all in her mind.”
Johnny Depp called his ex-wife's accusations of sexual and physical abuse “insane” Wednesday as he returned to the witness stand in his libel suit against Amber Heard.
“Ridiculous, humiliating, ludicrous, painful, savage, unbelievably brutal, cruel, and all false,” Depp said when asked about his reaction to hearing Heard's allegations when she testified earlier in the trial.
Depp was testifying Wednesday as a rebuttal witness - both he and Heard each testified extensively earlier in the trial.
He gave some specific responses to some of the particular allegations levied by Heard and also her sister, Whitney Henriquez, who provided some of Heard's strongest corroborating testimony.
He concluded his testimony with a final denial of the allegations.
“I have never in my life committed sexual battery, physical abuse, all these outlandish, outrageous stories of me committing these things,” he said. “And living with it for six years, and waiting to be able to bring the truth out.”
He said that “no matter what happens I did get here and I did tell the truth and I have spoken up for what I've been carrying on my back, reluctantly, for six years.”
Depp will be cross-examined Wednesday afternoon.
Depp is suing Heard in Fairfax County Circuit Court over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” His lawyers say he was defamed by the article even though it never mentioned his name.
Depp has denied he ever struck Heard and says she was the abuser in the relationship. Heard has testified about more than a dozen separate instances of physical abuse she says she suffered at Depp's hands.
Depp also disputed a claim made by Heard that Depp had nothing to do with getting her a role in the superhero blockbuster “Aquaman.” When Heard testified, she was clearly offended by a question from Depp's lawyers insinuating Depp got her the role.
Depp, though, said that after Heard auditioned for the role, he talked to the studio on her behalf. He was barred from discussing the details of his conversations when Heard's lawyers objected, but said that “ultimately she did get the job, so hopefully, I suppose, I had curbed their worries to some degree.”
Also Wednesday, supermodel Kate Moss, a former girlfriend of Depp, denied that she had ever been pushed or assaulted by Depp during the course of their relationship.
Moss also testified as a rebuttal witness. Heard, in her testimony, made a reference to Moss and a rumor that Depp had pushed Moss down a set of stairs when they dated.
Moss, in testimony provided by video link, said Depp never assaulted her. She said she did once slip down a flight of stairs after a rainstorm at a Jamaican resort, and that Depp came to her aid
She testified for less than 5 minutes and was not cross-examined
Depp also addressed the accusation in his testimony, saying it happened just as Moss said. He said he'd told the story about Moss to Heard years ago and “Ms. Heard took the story and turned it into a very ugly incident, all in her mind.”
Name an object, and a Jerry Bruckheimer film has probably blown it up. For decades now, the prolific producer — often working with longtime colleague Don Simpson — has defined what blockbuster cinema action looks like. Bruckheimer-produced films are nigh-unmissable, even among those who haven’t seen them: The Rock, Armageddon,Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and National Treasure all bear his stamp. Simpson died in 1996, but this month, his name appears on screen alongside Bruckheimer’s in Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel to one of their definitive 1980s hits.
Maverick is a film with tactile appeal, one that uses every inch of the screen and every speaker in a theater to make audiences feel like they’re in a fighter jet. It’s much like its predecessor in that regard, but it goes further, with copious footage shot by pilots from within their own jets. But in 2022, viewers are going to multiverses and hanging with superheroes on a regular basis. Is a vivid, real-life fighter jet experience enough to make a blockbuster work?
In a conversation with Polygon, Bruckheimer had a simple answer: Yes, it is. Actors threw up to bring you this movie. The Navy got involved. It has Tom Cruise. This is why you go to a theater.
This interview has been edited for concision and clarity.
Photo: Scott Garfield/Paramount Pictures
Polygon: It feels likeTop Gun: Maverickhas a lot of hype behind it for a sequel to a 36-year-old movie. Why do you think that is?
Jerry Bruckheimer: Well, I think there’s the stars here from the first movie. A lot of men have come up to me and said, Look, my dad took me to see Top Gun when I was 10. I want to take my son and my daughter to see [Maverick]. It was a great experience for me when I was a kid, and for my dad. I think hopefully that’ll translate into a lot of people going to see the movie in a theater, which is the way you should see it.
What do you think people are hungry to see specifically?
Well, first of all, it’s a movie that’s very authentic. It’s a great character piece. It’s about the love of aviation. That’s what Tom [Cruise] wanted, the story Tom wanted to tell. But also, we took such care and pains to make sure that we shot it practically. So when Joe [Kosinski, the director of Top Gun: Maverick] talked to Tom, he said, “We’ve got to make this real, we’ve got to figure out a way to get those cameras in the plane.” So Joe had a camera built for the cockpit of the plane. He was able to put six cameras inside the cockpit. And it took 15 months to do that, because you have to go through the engineers and lawyers, because [what if] the camera came loose with the actors? All kinds of things could go wrong. But they figured out how to do it. Then the next question is not What do you do with the actors?We put them in there.
Is this similar to the approach taken on the firstTop Gun?
For the first movie, we put [the actors] in an F-14. And everyone threw up, their eyes are all back in their heads, we couldn’t use any footage. We used a little footage on Tom, and that was it. He was the only one that really could keep it together up there, because he was in such good physical shape.
So on the second one, Tom designed a program where the actors had to spend three months on what they call G-force tolerance. We put them in a prop plane, so they could just feel the lightness of being up in the air. And we put them in an aerobatic prop, which they got to feel some of the G-forces. And then we put them in a jet, and the jet — they could really feel some G-forces. And then we put them in the F-18 — and the jump from the previous jets to the F-18s was huge, because they’re so much faster and agile.
It’s quite grueling for our actors. Joe talked to them all and said, “Look, here’s what we’re going to do to get you into an F-18.” And some of the actors said “No, I don’t think so, I’m afraid of flying.” So we lost some talented actors, but the actors that committed to the movie made it wholeheartedly, and gave up so much of their lives to sit in these airplanes.
They had to remember everything — their lines, and to turn the camera on and off. And so since we couldn’t [monitor] the footage up there, when they got back on the ground, we reviewed all the footage. And if it didn’t work, or they didn’t get their lines right, they went right back up and did it again.
One of the things the film makes really clear is how physically challenging it is to be in one of these planes.
I’ll tell ya, the one real trooper — they all were troopers — was Monica [Barbaro], who I think was the only one who didn’t throw up.
Photo: Scott Garfield/Paramount Pictures
There aren’t a lot of movies likeTop Gunanymore, so how do you approach getting people excited for a movie about fighter jets?
The Navy was so helpful in giving us their best pilots, and best engineers and crew members to keep these planes up in the air, all the mechanics. They were a big part of the fact that we could show what a fighter pilot goes through. Because without their cooperation, this movie wouldn’t be the same movie that you’re looking at. We’d have to rely on visual effects. Tom didn’t want to do that. So the Navy was our partner in this.
We had to pay them as a paying partner to help us get this movie to the screen, but they were terrific men and women. And we had a lot of female pilots that work with us. They make an enormous commitment to be able to get one of those jets, and you can just imagine what they have to go through, the physical rigors, just like the guys do. But they’re up for it. And they love what they do. And [some of them] joined the Navy because they saw Top Gun. We kept hearing that over and over again.
So coming off of what might be a big blockbuster action film like this — you’ve been producing blockbuster action movies likeTop Gunfor decades. How do you think action movies have changed? Where do you feel they’re at currently?
It’s always the same. It’s always about your plot, your characters. Your message, if there is one — which I don’t try to do, but its theme, I could say. And that’s where it’s simple. It’s not difficult. You have to have a terrific idea, a great screenplay, fantastic characters. And the characters drive through the plot. And if you get lucky, it’s about the emotion. The reason a Top Gun is effective with an audience is that it’s emotional. It makes you laugh.
I don’t know if you saw [Maverick] with a big audience, but when they screened it for the exhibitors — who are the toughest audience you could ever find — there was laughter, there was applause, there was tears. We used to say that we’re in the transportation business, we transport you from one place to another. My job is to take you for a couple hours and make you forget about everything that’s going on at home, going on in the world. And just focus on what we’re giving you. Just be entertained, get strapped to that seat and go for a ride with us.
The first trailer for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One has been released and it features plenty of action for the upcoming Tom Cruise film. Mission: Impossible7 will release in theaters on July 14, 2023, while Dead Reckoning Part Two will come out on June 28, 2024.
Check out the Mission: Impossible 7 trailer below:
Joining Cruise and Hayley Atwell is returning Mission: Impossible alums Rebecca Ferguson (Doctor Sleep), Simon Pegg (Ready Player One), Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction), Vanessa Kirby (Hobbs & Shaw), and Henry Czerny (Ready or Not) along with newcomers Shea Whigham (Joker), Pom Klementieff (Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Avengers: Infinity War) and Esai Morales (La Bamba, Titans) who will replace Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road) for the villain role.
Following the large critical and commercial success of the past two films, writer/director Christopher McQuarrie inked a deal with the studio to return to write and direct the next two installments.
The Mission: Impossiblefranchise spans almost 25 years and six films, starting off with modest critical and major box office success in the first two films before launching its lead protagonist into grittier and more explosive stories, each film getting progressively better reviews than its predecessor, with the most recent installment, Fallout, earning the highest reviews for both the franchise and the action genre, currently maintaining a 97% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes while also acquiring the highest box office gross of the franchise at over $790 million worldwide.
The folks who hand out Tony Awards believe five is not enough for Angela Lansbury.
The Tony Awards Administration Committee announced Monday the legendary actor, 96, will receive a 2022 special Tony for lifetime achievement in theatre, making it her sixth.
Lansbury made her Broadway debut in 1957 in Hotel Paradiso and won Tonys for Mame in 1966, Dear World in 1969, Gypsy in 1974, Sweeney Todd in 1979 and Blithe Spirit in 2009. Other Broadway credits include A Little Night Music, Gore Vidal's The Best Man and Anyone Can Whistle.
"Angela Lansbury's contributions to the stage are insurmountable," Charlotte St. Martin, president of The Broadway League and Heather Hitchens, president and chief executive officer of the American Theatre Wing, said in a statement.
Born in London, the Murder, She Wrote star has six Golden Globes and 18 Emmy nominations, as well as an honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in Motion Pictures. Lansbury also has a National Medal of Arts and a Kennedy Center Honor.
West Side Story star Ariana DeBose will host the Tonys on June 12.
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne's daughter Aimee was among those who escaped a Hollywood recording studio fire that killed a 26-year-old music producer, Sharon Osbourne and others who work in the space said.
Aimee Osbourne's producer also escaped the blaze that began late Thursday afternoon in the two story commercial building that houses several studios and music-making spaces. It took 78 firefighters more than 50 minutes to extinguish the flames, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Erik Scott said in a statement.
Two people reported respiratory symptoms related to smoke exposure and were evaluated at the scene, but both declined to be taken to a hospital, Scott said.
"Sadly, one person was found dead inside, as firefighters searched the structure," Scott said, adding that no firefighters were injured and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
Authorities had not released the identity of the person killed, but friends and others who worked in the building, including musician and record label owner Jamal Rajad Davis, identified him as 26-year-old Nathan Avery Edwards, who recorded, produced and mixed music under the name Avery Drift.
One of the survivors was the elder daughter of Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, Sharon Osbourne said in an Instagram post.
Aimee Osbourne, 38, and a producer she was working with were "the lucky two that made it out alive," Sharon Osbourne said, without identifying the producer.
"Our prayers go out to the family and friends of the person that lost their life to this senseless fire," Osbourne said.
Aimee Osbourne is a singer who releases electronic pop music under the name ARO, her initials. She did not take part in the Osbourne family's reality show as her younger siblings Kelly and Jack Osbourne did.
Davis, whose stage name is Jamal Rajad, both lives and works in his space in the building with his wife and four cats. He thought his wife was burning incense when he began to see and smell smoke.
He said he and others emerged into the hallway and it became clear that smoke and serious heat were coming from a unit a few doors down. The man from that space had locked himself out and began trying to break the door open as Davis and others shouted for him to stop.
He got it open and it was, "Boom! Big old flames!" Davis told The Associated Press in an interview.
At that point Davis began to yell to Osbourne and others to get out as he ran back to his space.
"I grabbed everything big, my 65-inch TV, my PlayStation interface in my studio, my internet box, grabbed whatever I seen that was right there that I thought was important," he said.
He dropped the stuff outside and tried to run back in to get his cats, but it was too late.
"I was already choking," he said. "So I took my shirt off, tied it around my face, and I tried to get a little bit further. I made about five or six steps and I couldn't make it to my kitties."
Jonathan Wellman, who rented a recording space in the building down the hall from Edwards, told The Los Angeles Times he was "a talented young artist, producer, engineer."
Davis said several people were able to follow the sound of his voice to a safe exit.
"I'm grateful for that, he said, but ungrateful that Avery died. He was on the bottom floor with us. I didn't realize. I only had a few seconds. I couldn't even save my cats."
Davis, Wellman and others said they heard no smoke detectors and saw no sprinklers go off.
It was not immediately clear if the building had any code violations or citations.
Warning: spoilers forDownton Abbey: A New Eraare in play. If you haven’t seen the film yet, you may want to check out one of our other lovely articles.
The cast of Downton Abbey is a large ensemble that is impressive in a multitude of ways. That sort of advantage can cut both ways, as some characters once central to the plot of a TV series can sometimes get lost in the cinematic shuffle. Writer/creator Julian Fellowes recently admitted to feeling a couple of characters had gotten the short end of the stick in the first movie. So when it came time to write the story for the upcoming movieA New Era, he consciously used the opportunity to beef up a couple central figures in the Downton dynasty, Robert and Cora Grantham.
Again, it cannot be stressed enough that we’ll be going deep into details involving a plotline that runs throughout this film, connecting straight to the ending. So if you haven’t seen the movie, you can always read something like my official review ofDownton Abbey: A New Era to remain informed, but unspoiled. Now that we’ve got that formality out of the way, it’s time to revisit my talk with Downton Abbey writer/creator Julian Fellowes.
Taking place on the press day for A New Era, Robert and Cora’s story was something I had to ask about another health scare, this time in reference to Cora Crawley, the Countess of Grantham. In light of the “iconic character” death promised inDownton Abbey’ssequel, that choice felt like it had a specific purpose. Julian Fellowes confirmed as much to CinemaBlend, revealing he’d woven in this obstacle with the following intent:
With Cora and Robert, who both have quite emotional storylines this time. I felt that in the earlier film, although they were in it a lot, they were on-screen but they didn’t have their own particular emotional journey. And so I did want to give them both something with sort of meat on the bones for them to get their teeth into. So that was conscious.
Powerful rumors surround a movie like Downton Abbey: A New Era during its production cycle, because of how anticipated the next chapter’s developments happen to be. This time out, the subject of great interest happened to be speculation that an “iconic character” was going to die in Downton Abbey 2. Immediately that whisper seemed to point out that Dame Maggie Smith’s Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, was going to be the one saying goodbye.
The ending of 2019’s Downton Abbey movie practically sets this up, as Violet revealed to Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) that she was terminally ill, with no specific timetable as to how long she had left. Trailers forA New Erafueled that speculation, but the surprise involving Cora's illness not only draws attention from that assumption, it also strikes a crucial chord.
Throughout the latest Downton story, we see Cora going for medical tests that recall the Dowager Countess' recent developments all too well. Frequently seen as tired and not feeling well, McGovern's iconic Downton Abbey characters eventually arrives at one of the hardest-hitting moments in the sequel. Upon learning of Cora’s medical concerns, husband Robert (Hugh Bonneville) has a moment where he breaks down into tears during a party at the French villa they had travelled to together.
Paying homage to their sometimes-complicated-but-always-loving marriage, it's also a moment that calls back to certain developments mentioned throughout the series' history. Eventually, all turns out to be well, as resident physician Dr. Clarkson (David Robb) reveals that Cora is suffering from the very treatable pernicious anemia. Strangely enough, this wasn’t the first diagnosis of this particular condition, as Downton Abbey’s series finale initially saw Lord Merton (Douglas Reith) given that same news.
Certain characters in the firmament of this fan-favorite series will always be standouts. Much as Julian Fellowes knew Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess was always a huge win for the series, strengthening the relationship of Downton's beautiful pair continues to pay off for the fans.
As always Downton Abbey 3 isn’t a sure thing, but should there be another return to the lives of the ever-growing Crawley family, the foundation continues to provide ample opportunities. All that has to happen is for the fans to embrace A New Era, and that day could come sooner than later.
Downton Abbey: A New Era is currently in theaters, ready to soak up the tears and the laughter of its eager audience. Whether you’re heading out to the movies or have already seen Julian Fellowes’ latest, you can still revisit the stories that came before. Peacock Plus subscribers can access the entire series, as well as Downton Abbey: The Motion Picture, at the time of this writing.
Downton Abbey Creator Julian Fellowes Admits He Beefed Up Two Classic Characters In A New Era Because They Were Underused In The Previous Films - CinemaBlend Read More
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