Entertainment

Hunger Games star Jena Malone got into character in Los Angeles Wednesday, springing to action when she saw a man allegedly abusing a little white dog. 

On Twitter, the actress replied to a KNBC news story about the incident, explaining in a series of tweets, “I saw a man kicking repeatedly a small dog on [Sunset Boulevard], yanking him up in the air and absolutely choking the dog….I got out of my car to try and get the dog but he started running.”

Several other good Samaritans saw the abuse, too, and also gave chase. They threw the belligerent suspect a beating for good measure before detaining him in a citizen’s arrest. Malone was able to snatch the dog back, she recounted. 

“I’m sorry that it ended in a brawl but the dog was going to die. No question,” she posted. “I can’t imagine the level of torture it had suffered until this point.”

According to the news crew that arrived before the subdued suspect was arrested, the unidentified man said the dog was his mother’s. He denied it was hurt. “There nothin’ wrong with him!” he insisted on camera.

Malone later updated that at a hospital the dog was found to have suffered, “a fractured rib, bone breaks in it’s [sic] hind legs and another fracture in its right paw.” She added, “It was absolutely horrific seeing an animal treated this way.”

However, the story has a happy ending. Vets were able to find a microchip and reunite Champ with his owner, who said her son took her dog a week ago. 

Malone also posted a GoFundMe link to help cover his hospital bills, and as of late Thursday morning it had already exceeded its $10,000 goal.

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Kim Kardashian is making the rounds to promote her family’s new The Kardashians series, debuting today on Hulu, and the last stops shed some light on her current relationship with Pete Davidson, and her former one with her estranged husband, Kanye West.

On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Jimmy showed a picture of Davidson and Kardashian taking part in an Aladdin sketch on Saturday Night Live. Kim confirmed, to applause, that the sketch, which had the pair on a flying carpet, was the first time the couple kissed.

Jimmy joked, “I guess that was a magic carpet,” and asked what became of it after the show. 

“Actually, for Valentine’s Day, he got me the rug and the whole outfits and the little genie lamp,” Kim replied.

To ABC’s Robin Roberts during the ABC News Wednesday night primetime special The Kardashians, Kim shed some light on co-parenting her four children with West: North, 8; Saint, 6; Chicago, 4; and Psalm, 2. Kardashian filed for divorce from West in February 2021 after almost seven years of marriage.

Kim said she is “really open and honest” with their children about her relationship with West, admitting that the younger two “don’t understand as much” but the two older ones “know what’s going on.”

“You wanna take the high road, and sometimes it’s hard…” Kim admitted when Roberts asked how she navigates the posts West shares online about their family.

“I’ve always been like a champion of him speaking his truth and I would always want that,” said Kim, adding that she and West “talk daily” regarding their kids.

“Kanye and I will always be family. At the end of the day, I just want my kids to be happy and healthy and think the world of their dad, and they do,” she declared.

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Bruce Willis and his family are “so honored” by the public response to his aphasia diagnosis, a source tells Us Weekly.

The Die Hard star, 67, and his family are “deeply touched at the sheer outpouring of love and support they’ve received ever since they shared the news,” adds the insider.

Bruce’s wife, Emma Heming Willis, and his ex-wife, Demi Moore, were among those informed about his health condition before it going public with the news a week ago.

The actor’s five children — daughters Rumer, 33, Scout, 30, and Tallulah Willis, 28, whom he shares with Moore, and daughters Mabel, 10, and Evelyn, seven, with his current wife, Heming Willis — “were also aware for some time,” notes the source, adding that the family’s March 30 social media statement “was about breaking the news to the wider community after it became clear that Bruce needed to step back from his career.”

Going public has provided “a sense of relief in many ways,” the insider tells people, adding Bruce feels like he’s “got that monkey off his back.”

Now, adds the source, he can can proceed with a practical and stress-free routine moving forward.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, aphasia can rob a person of their ability to speak, read, and understand language, both spoken and written. The condition, which varies in type and severity, can result from numerous conditions, illnesses or injuries, all of which affect the brain.

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The reunions of MTV’s Real World casts will continue with a fresh look at the gang from Real World: New Orleans. The Real World Homecoming: New Orleans will premiere exclusively on Paramount+ service in the U.S. and Canada Wednesday, April 20. To get yourself ready, there’s a new, drama-filled trailer. The streamer announced all 23 episodes of The Real World: New Orleans will be available to stream Wednesday, April 13… (Trailer contains censored profanity.)

The Emmys are moving from Sunday to Monday this year, thanks to the show’s move from CBS to NBC, which also airs Sunday Night Football. The 74th Annual Emmy Awards will take place Monday, September 12, live coast to coast at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT., the The Television Academy and NBC announced on Wednesday. A week prior to the network’s Emmys telecast, the 2022 Creative Arts Emmy Awards will be handed out over two consecutive nights on Saturday, September 3 and Sunday, September 4, with an edited presentation to be broadcast on Saturday, September 10, at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on FXX. Nominations for the 74th Emmy Awards will be announced Tuesday, July 12…

AMC Networks has greenlit the Orphan Black spinoff, Orphan Black: Echoes, scheduled to air on AMC+ and the company’s linear networks in 2023. Per AMC, the spinoff, set in the near future, “takes a deep dive into the exploration of the scientific manipulation of human existence” and “follows a group of women as they weave their way into each other’s lives and embark on a thrilling journey, unravelling the mystery of their identity and uncovering a wrenching story of love and betrayal”…

AMC is also developing a series adaptation of Richard Russo’s novel Straight Man with Better Call Saul‘s Bob Odenkirk set to star as William Henry Devereaux, Jr., “the unlikely chairman of the English department in a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt,” according to the network. If greenlit, it would mark Odenkirk’s third series for AMC, following Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad. Straight Man is eyeing a 2023 launch…

Severance has been renewed for season two at Apple TV+. The workplace thriller, executive-produced by Ben Stiller, centers on Lumen Industries, a company that’s looking “to take work-life balance to a new level,” per Apple. Severence stars Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro, Britt Lower, Zach Cherry, Dichen Lachman, Jen Tullock, Tramell Tillman, Michael Chernus and Christopher Walken…

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The new Hulu true crime series The Girl from Plainville is inspired by the true story of Michelle Carter‘s unprecedented “texting-suicide” case, which led to the death of Conrad Roy III and Carter’s conviction of involuntary manslaughter.

In the limited series, Chloë Sevigny plays Conrad’s mother, Lynn Roy, and tells ABC Audio that she was “surprised” how much the role affected her.

“I think [because] I’m a new mother, had a child in 2020 and the material, yeah, really hit in a way that was harder than I had anticipated,” she explains.

Elle Fanning, who plays Michelle, also admits the material was heavy, and adds that she felt a strong responsibility to tell the story “the right way,” which doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with everything.

“You don’t have to like someone to play them, but you have to at least understand and come at it from a human perspective,” she says. “And I do feel like I understand her.”

One way that Elle understands is when it comes to technology and social media. 

“I could relate, in a sense, to growing up in social media,” the actress shares. “Like this false intimacy that our phones can create and especially like a relationship that was literally all over text. You know, [Michelle and Conrad] met only a handful of times, and that just felt — it’s very modern.”

Elle adds the series can be looked at as a cautionary tale to remind people “words matter.”

“Like it’s so easy to bully over a device… It’s so easy to do that because you’re not standing in front of someone and see how those words you’re saying affect them, and you probably wouldn’t say the same things if you were standing in front of them,” she says.

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Celebrated actress Sheryl Lee Ralph has played and starred in roles that have cemented her as one of the most beloved actresses in Black film and TV. 

Her current portrayal as the hard yet warmhearted veteran teacher Barbara Howard on the hit series Abbott Elementary, shows why the 65-year-old actress is loved by many. But according to Ralph, she wasn’t always shown appreciation. In a recent interview with People, she opens up about a time she was fired from a project after being told she wasn’t “Black enough.”

The exclusive interview details the highs and lows of Ralph’s decades-long career, including the hurtful memory of the star’s early years.  

“People’s thinking was not very inclusive. You [had] directors who were still trying to tell you how to be Black,” Ralph said. “I was fired from a pilot because the producer told me I was ‘not Black enough.’ Those were his words. It was horrible. I can still remember the way I felt.”

Ralph recalled a similar incident in a March interview with the hosts of The View: “[I] had a memorable audition with a big casting director who looked at me and said, ‘Everybody knows you’re a beautiful, talented, Black girl. But what do I do with a beautiful, talented, Black girl? Do I put you in a movie with Tom Cruise? Do you kiss? Who goes to see that movie?'”

She told the co-hosts she left that audition “with some of the best ammunition.”

“Everybody knew I was a beautiful, talented, Black girl and I should be in the movies with the likes of a Tom Cruise, and he should kiss me,” she said.

Despite feeling hurt by the comments, Ralph remains positive, saying, “Look at me now.”

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Douglas Trumbull, the Oscar winner who revolutionized cinematic visual effects, and who passed away February 7, will be joining some other science fiction film legends for one final mission to space.

The company Celestis announced that some of Trumbull’s remains will join those of Star Trek‘s James “Scotty” Doohan, and Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry, and his wife, former Star Trek actress Majel Barrett Roddenberry.

They will depart on Celestis’ first ever deep space Voyager mission aboard United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Rocket that will be launched later this year from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Trumbull’s expertise helped the Trek crew reach space onscreen, in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. He also inspired and trained artists who worked on Star Wars and countless other films.

“From his youth, throughout all of his life, Douglas was fascinated and in awe of the stars, planets, space and beyond,” said Julia Trumbull, his widow. “The mysteries of the universe, its beauty, grace and power inspired his imagination, his work and his life. I can think of no greater honor and fitting adventure for Douglas to join his Star Trek friends on this final voyage on the Enterprise flight into deep space.”

According to the company, “The Celestis Enterprise Flight will launch from planet Earth and travel beyond the Earth-Moon system, beyond the James Webb telescope, and into interplanetary deep space — where it will join the other planets, moons, comets, and asteroids in our solar system on a never-ending journey through the cosmos.”

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(NOTE LANGUAGE) Netflix’s upcoming ‘Netflix Is a Joke’ comedy festival kicks off on April 28, and the streaming service has just announced new shows from top talent as the event gets closer.

The festival, which runs through May 8 across more than 25 Los Angeles venues, has just announced John Mulaney will present John Mulaney: From Scratch, with special guest Earthquake, at the Hollywood Bowl May 7.

Snoop Dogg will host Snoop Dogg’s F*cn Around Comedy Special May 5 at the Hollywood Palladium. The night of legendary Black comedians that includes Katt Williams, Mike Epps, and more will be shot for a forthcoming Netflix special.

Additionally, Billy on the Street veteran Billy Eichner will topline Stand Out: An LGBTQ+ Celebration at the Greek Theatre. The show will feature comedy from Wanda Sykes, Eddie Izzard, Fortune Feimster and more, and will run on Netflix at a later date.

What’s more, comedian Bill Burr‘s “joke filled hang” called Bill Burr & Friends, will be shot at the Hollywood Palladium on May 4, and Sebastian Maniscalco‘s Nobody Does This tour will swing by the Wiltern on May 1 as part of the festival.

All told, more than 130 comedians will be doing their thing at the festival, as previously reported, including Amy Schumer, who stops by the Hollywood Palladium May 6. Chris Rock will also take the mic during the festival, but his dates and venue have yet to be announced.

Here’s hoping their gigs go more smoothly than the last time Schumer and Rock shared a bill.

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Keef Knight’s tragic run-in with the police during season one of Hulu’s Woke amped up not only his career as a cartoonist, but also his activism. And, since the Black-focused animation dramedy is finally returning for a second season after three production delays due to COVID-19, its stars say Woke isn’t a show just for Black people: it’s for everyone.

Lamorne Morris, who plays Knight, tells ABC Audio that he’s both excited for the return and anxious to see people’s reactions. While the main characters, played by Sasheer Zamata, T. Murph and Blake Anderson, provide their unique perspective on Black-related issues, Morris believes anyone can see themselves in one of the characters.

“We talk about the allies, the folks who want to be allies…the overnight activists…,” Morris said. “I think no matter who you are, you can follow one of these characters…and it would possibly mirror your own life.”

Zamata agrees, pointing out that each character “gets to analyze the idea of being ‘woke’ in a different way.”

“I hope people get to watch it and identify with some of the themes that we’re throwing out there and maybe question some of the stuff that they’ve been seeing in their own life,” she says.

In speaking on the difference between Woke and other projects that highlight the Black experience, all the stars agree that comedy is a great way to address what some consider sensitive topics.

“When we approach it with a funny point of view or an entertaining point of view, it opens that world up to everybody,” Anderson says.

Zamata adds, “…Hopefully they come for the laughs, but also learn a little bit at the end of the day, too.”

Season two of Woke premieres Friday, April 8.

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Kourtney Kardashian is setting the record straight on rumors that she recently married Travis Barker. The truth: she did — and she didn’t.

On Monday, reports surfaced that the Kardashians reality star and Blink-182 drummer tied the knot in Las Vegas following the 2022 Grammy Awards. Then on Wednesday, Kardashian shared a series of photos from the “ceremony” on Instagram, along with a caption on what went down.

“Once upon a time in a land far, far away (Las Vegas) at 2am, after an epic night and a little tequila, a queen and her handsome king ventured out to the only open chapel with an Elvis and got married (with no license),” she wrote. “Practice makes perfect.”

The snaps featured the couple wearing matching leather jackets and embracing in a chapel, with an impersonator featured in the background of the images.

The couple, who confirmed their relationship with an Instagram post in February 2021, announced their engagement in October. Kardashian shared snaps from Barker’s romantic proposal on the beach, simply captioning her post, “forever.”

Barker has been married twice before, to Melissa Kennedy from 2001 to 2002 and to Shanna Moakler from 2004 to 2008. He shares two children with Moakler: 18-year-old Landon and 16-year-old Alabama.

Kourtney has never married but shares three children with her ex, Scott Disick: 12-year-old Mason, 9-year-old Penelope and 7-year-old Reign.

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