Entertainment

Jamie Foxx was right there to support Dave Chappelle when an armed assailant tackled the comedian at the Hollywood Bowl Tuesday night, with Jamie helping calm the crowd after the attack.

Also after the attack, Foxx posted to Instagram a black and white photo of him and Chappelle to make it clear, without a caption, that he’s got Dave’s back. But he didn’t stop there. The Oscar winner was seen on social media showing off his considerable mimicry skills to imitate Chappelle during the attack.

In a video posted by WorldStar Hip Hop, Foxx can be seen riffing in a recording booth, evidently on a break doing some voice-over work for a Netflix project.

Jamie, as Chappelle, shouts, “Damn, man! He ran up on stage on me! I was incensed!…” cracking up whoever was watching and recording him.

Foxx then adds, as Dave, “Thank God for Jamie Foxx. If you’re ever in trouble, Jamie Foxx will show up…All those other comedians just stood there. Waiting for me to die! So they can take over!”

“I see you, Chris Rock!, That will never happen!” Foxx finishes, taking a playful swipe at Rock who was also at Chappelle’s Tuesday-night show there to chill out the fans, and drop possibly the best ad lib of all time. Referring to the alleged attacker, Rock asked, “Was that Will Smith?!”

Isiah Lee, 23, is being held on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. ABC News reports the LA County DA’s Office will determine what charges, if any, will be filed. In the meantime, Lee’s bail has been set at $30,000.

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A day after Dave Chappelle was tackled on stage while playing the Netflix Is a Joke festival at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles Tuesday night, the comedian and Netflix both issued statements regarding the incident.

“Dave Chappelle celebrated four nights of comedy and music, setting record-breaking sales for a comedian at the Hollywood Bowl,” a Chappelle spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday. “This run ties Chappelle with Monty Python for the most headlined shows by any comedian at the Hollywood Bowl, reaching 70k fans of diverse backgrounds during the first Netflix Is a Joke: The Festival, and he refuses to allow last night’s incident to overshadow the magic of this historic moment.”

“As unfortunate and unsettling as the incident was, Chappelle went on with the show,” the statement continued. Jamie Foxx and Chris Rock helped calm the crowd with humor before Chappelle introduced the last and featured musical guests for the evening, hip-hop artists yasiin bey and Talib Kweli, a.k.a. Black Star, who performed music from their new album — the first in nearly 24 years -– which was released on Luminary. Other special comedic guests last night included Earthquake, Leslie Jones, Jeff Ross, Sebastian, Jon Stewart and Michelle Wolf.”

In a separate statement, a Netflix spokesperson said, “We care deeply about the safety of creators and we strongly defend the right of stand-up comedians to perform on stage without fear of violence.”

The attack suspect, identified as 23-year-old Isaiah Lee, allegedly rushed the stage when Chappelle was performing and shoved Dave to stage floor, where the comic tussled with the unknown assailant. The suspect, who was brandishing a knife shaped like a gun, was apprehended and taken to the hospital.

Netflix says it’s actively discussing the security protocols for future events.

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HBO Max has renewed Julia, the comedy series inspired by the life and TV career of Julia Child, for a second season, the streaming service announced on Wednesday. The original series — while exploring the dawn of public television, the women’s movement and the nature of celebrity and America’s cultural growth — is first and foremost a portrait of a “loving marriage with an evolving and complicated power dynamic,” says the streamer. Happy Valley‘s Sarah Lancashire and Frasier‘s David Hyde Pierce star as Child and her husband, Paul. Bebe Neuwirth and Isabella Rossellini co-star…

Deadline reports Peacock has cancelled its Saved by the Bell reboot after two seasons. In the new iteration of the classic ‘90s high school sitcom Zack Morris — played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who returns in a recurring role — is now the governor of California, who, after getting into hot water for shutting down too many low-income high schools, proposes sending students from the affected schools to the highest-performing schools in the state, including his alma mater, Bayside High. The cast includes Haskiri Velazquez, Josie Totah, Alycia Pascual-Peña, Mitchell Hoog, Belmont Cameli, Dexter Darden and John Michael Higgins. Original cast members Elizabeth Berkley Lauren and Mario Lopez were also regulars…

A TV reboot of The Prince of Tides, the 1991 film starring Nick Nolte and Barbra Streisand, based on the novel by the late Pat Conroy, is in early development at Apple TV+, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. The Help filmmaker Tate Taylor is reportedly attached to write the script for the Sony Pictures Television drama, which is already making offers to A-list talent ahead of a potential production start this summer. Insiders tell THR scripts are still being finalized. The original film, directed by Streisand, followed a man who falls in love with his sister’s psychiatrist as he works out the issues that stem from his troubled childhood. It was was nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture…

Oscar winner Ariana DeBose will host this year’s Tony Awards, live from New York’s Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 12 on CBS, organizers announced on Tuesday. “I’m coming home,” DeBose said in a statement. “I’m so honored to celebrate 75 years of excellence in theatre, but more importantly every member of this community who poured themselves into making sure the lights of Broadway have the opportunity to shine brightly once again. This is a dream come true, and I’m excited to see you all on June 12th.” DeBose took home the Best Supporting Actress Oscar this year for her performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. Her upcoming projects include Sony Pictures’ Kraven the Hunter, due out in 2023…

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There’s a whole lot of Mike Myers in the new Netflix comedy series The Pentaverate, which debuts today. It’s about a secret society that has been controlling the world for centuries. So as a powerful man in media, is Myers himself part of a real life secret society?

“Well, I can neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of any secret society that I am or not in,” Myers tells ABC Audio, adding, “I’ve been obsessed with secret societies my whole life. My mom was in the Royal Air Force and had a top security clearance, so I knew that there were secrets in the world.”

Myers plays eight characters in The Pentaverate, the most he’s ever done in one project. While that sounds exhausting, he says it’s more of a release for him. 

“I always have characters in me that are kind of circling the airport and looking for a place to land,” he shares. “I love performing…and I love playing characters. And that has its own energy that gets you going.”

Citing previous works like Austin Powers, the actor adds, “I’m kind of used to multiple characters.”

In The Pentaverate, instead of being evil or power hungry, the secret society’s fiv leaders are known for being nice. Myers says the show comes during an interesting time in comedy and “it’s good that people are being conscious of not saying things that marginalize, disempower or ridicule.”

Myers himself is known for his trademark brand of humor that is often silly but never mean, which he uses to uncover truths.

“The truth shall set you free, but at first it’s going to upset you…And it’s important that the truth be told,” Myers expresses. “Now I love speaking the truth faster with kindness, but that’s just me.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

There’s a whole lot of Mike Myers in the new Netflix comedy series The Pentaverate, which debuts Thursday. It’s about a secret society that has been controlling the world for centuries. So as a powerful man in media, is Myers himself part of a real-life secret society?

“Well, I can neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of any secret society that I am or not in,” Myers tells ABC Audio, adding, “I’ve been obsessed with secret societies my whole life. My mom was in the Royal Air Force and had a top security clearance, so I knew that there were secrets in the world.”

Myers plays eight characters in The Pentaverate, the most he’s ever done in one project. While that sounds exhausting, he says it’s more of a release for him. 

“I always have characters in me that are kind of circling the airport and looking for a place to land,” he shares. “I love performing…and I love playing characters. And that has its own energy that gets you going.”

Citing previous works like Austin Powers, the actor adds, “I’m kind of used to multiple characters.”

In The Pentaverate, instead of being evil or power hungry, the secret society’s five leaders are known for being nice. Myers says the show comes during an interesting time in comedy and “it’s good that people are being conscious of not saying things that marginalize, disempower or ridicule.”

Myers himself is known for his trademark brand of humor that is often silly but never mean, which he uses to uncover truths.

“The truth shall set you free, but at first it’s going to upset you…And it’s important that the truth be told,” Myers expresses. “Now I love speaking the truth faster with kindness, but that’s just me.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Amber Heard took the stand for the first time today, on the 14th day of her ex-husband Johnny Depp‘s defamation trial against her.

The trial day began with the continued testimony of a psychologist hired by Heard’s defense, Dawn Hughes. The domestic violence expert claimed Heard suffered PTSD from sexual and physical abuse at the hands of the former Pirates of the Caribbean actor.

Previously, a psychologist hired as an expert by Depp’s camp claimed in her estimation Heard was faking her PTSD symptoms, and suffered from histrionic personality disorders. For her part, Hughes disputed that testimony Wednesday.

When Heard took the stand around 2 p.m. Eastern time, she recalled meeting Depp on their 2011 film The Rum Diary and having instant chemistry with him, although they were both apparently still married to other people.

Both before and after her separation, Depp pursued her, Heard alleged, and when they were both single, they began seeing each other. Their relationship see-sawed between “sweet velvety love” to physical abuse, brought on by Depp’s abuse of drugs and alcohol, the actress claimed.

Heard described in detail being allegedly physically and sexually assaulted by Depp, and living with what she called, “the rage, the uncontrolled violence.”

Heard’s testimony painted herself as the blameless victim, willing to do anything to try to keep their relationship together in spite of nearly constant abuse from the actor — quite the opposite of testimony from Depp last week.

“When it was good it was so good…there was just something there that — he was the love of my life,” Heard testified.

“But he was also this other thing! This awful, awful thing that would come out and take over, and you couldn’t see the Johnny I love underneath it.”

Heard’s testimony will resume Thursday, after which Depp’s lawyers can cross-examine her.

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Kim Kardashian wore a dress made famous by Marilyn Monroe to the Met Gala on Monday night, and people are still buzzing about it.

On Wednesday morning, ABC Audio caught up with director Emma Cooper and author Anthony Summers, who collaborated on Netflix’s new documentary The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes, and asked what they thought.

Summers, whose exhaustive recorded interviews with those who knew Monroe make up both the documentary and his 1985 book Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe, wasn’t impressed, noting, “It was glamorous, but I don’t know, wearing the dress of a dead person — and apparently it was the real dress — I don’t think that’s very funny, but maybe I’m dumb to think that.”

He added, “I just thought it was a bit sick.”

Cooper for her part, disagreed, asking Summers, “Don’t you think Marilyn would have had a bit of a sense of humor about that?”

The filmmaker then drew a parallel between Kim’s fame and Marilyn’s.

“I was really amazed to look at Kim Kardashian’s Instagram — talk about, you know, modern life — and she’s got 309 million followers who all saw her in that dress,” Cooper declares. “So maybe there’s a world where we can say, you know what, Marilyn maybe would have done that herself, Tony. Who knows? She was a pretty smart player.”

Summers, 79, allowed, “Maybe you’re right, and I’m a boring old sod.”

The author, incidentally, once spoke with designer Jean-Louis, who originally made the dress for Monroe, which she wore when she serenaded President Kennedy on his 45th birthday.

“[H]e apparently had to literally sew it on to her it was so tight,” Summers recalled, adding dryly, “How it was later removed is not in the record.” 

The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes is streaming on Netflix now.

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Actor Benedict Wong became a real-life hero during an interview alongside his Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness co-star Xochitl [SOH-chee] Gomez.

Gomez plays America Chavez in the film, a teen who has the ability to travel across dimensions and who, the film presents, has two moms. That LGBTQ nod was enough to get the movie banned from Saudi Arabia, China and other countries.

“It’s a big deal that America is in this movie. It’s just huge,” she tells Asia One. “And I’m just so happy that Marvel has stuck to it and kept the scene in there.” She added, “…Although, yes, my name may be circled within hate and stuff but it’s okay.”

Wong, a British national born of Hong Kong immigrants, responded, “It’s not okay. It’s not okay. We have to all collectively understand that.”

Thea actor, who plays the sorcerer also named Wong in the film, said of Gomez, “She auditioned aged 13 and she joined us aged 14, one of the youngest actors to join the MCU of a film of that magnitude. You know, she’s just a young girl playing her role and full praise for that.”

He went on: “There’s a real level of shame for all those trolls that are cowards not to actually put their face [out there], and they should feel a deep shame of what they’re doing.”

Wong added, “Let’s all just play nice. Let’s all just enjoy what we are representing. It’s sad that fans in that country won’t get to see this. But all we are doing is radiating representation, voicing the voiceless. And that’s all that we can do — represent people so that they can be seen.”

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opens Friday from Marvel Studios, which is owned by Disney, parent company of ABC News.

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As he usually does when he appears on The Late Late Show, Tom Cruise poked fun at his pal James Corden on Tuesday night.

The Top Gun star appeared in the show’s green-room introduction segment, and chimed in on Corden’s recent announcement that this would be his last season in The Late Late Show‘s host chair.

“James! It’s such a privilege to be here, and I’m sorry about the news,” Cruise shared in his segment. “I’m sorry you got fired.”

Cruise, who was there to promote his new film Top Gun: Maverick, along with co-star Monica Barbero, added, “But I just wanted you to know that I’m here for you. I’m here for you tonight, and for whatever you need.” He also told James,”I would not have fired you.”

Corden countered with, “Well, I would love it if you could lend me some money,” drawing laughter from the audience.

Cruise responded, “I told you, anything, James, anything.”

On the couch with the Top Gun stars later, Corden explained that it was great to finally have the pair in person, following the COVID-restricted remote interviews.

Barbero admitted that she got unexpectedly star-struck meeting Cruise, which surprised the Mission: Impossible superstar. “I thought she was so cool,” he said.

The actress, who underwent rigorous flying training for the film in an F-18, and also said that Tom, an avid pilot himself in real life, was her best instructor.

Top Gun: Maverick opens in theaters May 27.

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Benedict Cumberbatch can’t reveal much about Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but he did tease it as the “scariest” installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe yet.

Directed by Sam Raimi, the filmmaker behind the Evil Dead franchise and the Tobey Maguire-led Spider-Man trilogy, the sequel to 2016’s Doctor Strange sees the titular hero exploring the multiverse — in some cases unwillingly.

“It’s kind of got a little bit of everything for everybody,” Cumberbatch said Wednesday on Good Morning America, calling it “a bit of a genre-buster” and sharing his hope that it becomes “one of the jewels in the crown of the MCU.”

The two-time Oscar nominee said the sequel is a “really fun ride” that has all of Raimi’s “trademarks,” which he listed as “darker tones,” “jump scares” and “schlock horror,” paired with his experience in the superhero genre.

“I think it’s definitely the scariest of the Marvel films so far, so that was a fun element to bring,” Cumberbatch said.

In addition to bringing back characters like Rachel McAdams as Dr. Christine Palmer, and introducing fans to new characters like Xochitl [SOH-chee] Gomez as America Chavez, there are also numerous rumored cameos — none of which Cumberbatch said he can discuss, save teasing the cast is “phenomenal.”

He added, “I then get to play a couple variants of the character himself to turbocharge his development, which was great fun.”

Cumberbatch says of his magical alter-ego, “I think he’s becoming one of the well-established characters in the pantheon and this sort of phase four that Marvel’s going into with the multiverse he’s the guy cracking it open, so I’m having great fun playing him.”

Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

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