Adam Sandler is following in the footsteps of fellow Saturday Night Live veteran comedy legends, including Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy, as the next recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Thursday that Sandler will be the 24th Mark Twain Prize honoree, which will be presented to him at a gala performance on March 19.
In the announcement, Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter proclaimed, “Adam Sandler has entertained audiences for over three decades with his films, music, and his tenure as a fan favorite cast member on SNL,” adding the Happy Gilmore and Hustle star “has created characters that have made us laugh, cry, and cry from laughing. I am looking forward to a laughter-filled evening like no other as we celebrate his career at a ceremony that is sure to bring together the best in comedy.”
The center teased that “some of the biggest names in comedy” will be on hand to fete Sandler, but details have yet to be announced.
Previous winners of the prize also include Whoopi Goldberg, Bob Newhart and Jay Leno, and most recently, Dave Chappelle and Jon Stewart.
When news broke that John Legend and Chrissy Teigen had welcomed their third child, it was through the singer’s update at a private show. Now, they’re making the announcement Instagram official with a new post introducing their child to the world.
“She’s here! Esti Maxine Stephens – the house is bustling and our family could not be happier,” Chrissy wrote next to a photo of her two oldest children holding the newborn. “Daddy sheds nightly tears of joy seeing Luna and Miles so full of love, and I am learning you still need diapers with a c section!? We are in bliss. Thank you for all the love and well wishes – we feel it all!”
John and Chrissy are now parents to Esti, Luna and Miles. They suffered a pregnancy loss in 2020.
Rick Springfield, Michael McDonald and REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin are among the artists taking part in Keep Memory Alive’s 26th annual Power of Love gala, taking place February 18 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The event features a lineup that also includesPaula Abdul, Sam & Dave’s Sam Moore, Alice Cooper, John Mayer, Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger, comedian Nikki Glaser and Sammy Hagar, who will perform and serve as the night’s musical curator.
The annual Power of Love gala raises funds for the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, which provides care and resources to patients and caregivers as they fight diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
In spite of the old joke, people did read Playboy for the articles back in the day, and now some of the magazine’s most famous interviews are living again.
Playboy announced it has launched The Playboy Interviews: Icons & Iconoclasts, a podcast featuring its classic celebrity chats recreated by new stars.
The series launched Thursday, and features stars like Taye Diggs playing Muhammad Ali, Natasha Lyonne as Mae West, Kevin Corrigan as Frank Sinatra, Michael Shannon as Tennessee Williams and Gael Garcia Bernal saying the words of Salvador Dali.
Playboy ceased publication in March 2020, and the brand is now owned by the PLBY Group, which produces the Audible podcast series.
In a statement, Playboy noted, “For generations of fans, the Playboy Interview was revered as the gold standard in American journalism. To read it in its totality is to glimpse a record of everyone who mattered in the history of the 20th and 21st centuries; kicking off a remarkable run of public inquisition that has featured just about every cultural titan of the past half century.”
The statement teases, “Listeners can hear those unabridged interviews as if they were in the room. Each conversation offers a unique look into not just the individual portrayed but the time and place of the interview itself.”
Michael McDonald is one of the many artists booked to help celebrate Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson as they are honored as the Recording Academy’s MusiCares Persons of the Year.
McDonald is part of an all-star lineup that also includes Lionel Richie, Sheryl Crow, Dionne Warwick, The Temptations, Isley Brothers and the Four Tops, along with John Legend, Brandi Carlile, Mumford & Sons and Trombone Shorty.
The 32nd annual MusiCares Persons of the Year benefit gala is set for February 3, two days before the Grammy Awards, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Proceeds from the gala, which also includes a silent auction, will finance essential support for MusiCares, which provides music professionals with health and human services across a spectrum of needs.
Motown founder Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson are set to be honored during Grammy week as the Recording Academy’s MusiCares Persons of the Year, and now we know some of the artists booked to help celebrate them.
The first lineup of performers announced includes Lionel Richie, Dionne Warwick, Sheryl Crow, Michael McDonald, The Temptations, Isley Brothers and the Four Tops, along with John Legend, Brandi Carlile, Chloe x Halle, Rita Wilson, Mumford & Sons, Trombone Shorty, Jimmie Allen, Molly Tuttle, PJ Morton, Sabastian Yatra, Samara Joy, Lalah Hathaway and Valerie Simpson.
“I am so excited to share the always wonderful MusiCares event with my best friend Smokey Robinson and I can’t wait to hear these wonderful artists celebrate the Motown music,” says Gordy, with Smokey adding, “I’m so excited for this year’s MusiCares lineup. These artists are my friends and I not only love them, but I’m honored that they will be performing my music, along with hits from the Motown catalogue.”
The 32nd annual MusiCares Persons of the Year benefit gala is set for February 3, two days before the Grammys, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Proceeds from the gala, which also includes a silent auction, will provide essential support for MusiCares, which provides music professionals with health and human services across a spectrum of needs.
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court said it has been unable to determine who leaked Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case last May.
After a probe that involved interviews with more than 100 employees, investigators are “unable to identify a person responsible by a preponderance of the evidence,” according to the court.
The draft opinion was leaked and published by Politico on May 2. The copy of the draft opinion showed a majority of justices appeared to vote to effectively overturn the 1973 landmark abortion precedent set in Roe v. Wade.
The findings were independently reviewed by former judge and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who provided an independent analysis.
The court does not say the case is fully closed. Marshall Gail Curley, who oversaw the probe, left the door open to the possibility of new evidence emerging down the line.
“In time, continued investigation and analysis may produce additional leads that could identify the source of the disclosure,” he wrote. “Whether or not any individual is ever identified as the source of the disclosure, the Court should take action to create and implement better policies to govern the handling of Court-sensitive information and determine the best IT systems for security and collaboration.”
On June 24, the court issued its official opinion, which did in fact overturn Roe v. Wade as a national precedent and returned the decision on the legality of abortion to the states.
The leak of the draft opinion immediately triggered protests outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., and across the country. It also led to protesters outside Supreme Court justices’ homes in the D.C. area. About a month after the release of the draft opinion, a man was arrested outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home with a gun, ammunition, pepper spray and zip ties.
Those protests were triggered again when the official opinion was released the following month.
Both conservative and liberal sides pointed the finger at each other for who was responsible for the leaked opinion. The unprecedented publication of Alito’s leaked draft also upended the court’s traditional workflow, an iterative process marked by frank and private exchanges of ideas between justices over the course of months.
“What happened at the court is tremendously bad,” Justice Clarence Thomas said in June of the leak’s impact on court dynamics. “You begin to look over your shoulder. It’s kind of an infidelity.”
The findings released Thursday did eliminate several options as to what may have occurred in the leak, including saying it is highly “unlikely” the court’s IT systems were hacked from outside.
Several other pieces of information about the investigation were detailed, including:
82 staff in addition to the justices had access to the draft;
staff was interviewed under risk of perjury and asked to sign sworn affidavits;
it is not revealed whether the justices themselves were interviewed;
several staff admitted to telling a spouse or family member privately the outcome of the case before release; and
the court received limited outside assistance in the probe, but did do fingerprint analysis of one item of interest.
ABC News’ Mark Osborne contributed to this report.
(SANTA FE, N.M.) — Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will each be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the 2021 fatal shooting on the New Mexico set of the film “Rust,” officials said Thursday.
Santa Fe First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies and special prosecutor Andrea Reeb announced their decision Thursday morning in a written statement shared with media.
First assistant director David Halls has already agreed to no contest for the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon.
“After a thorough review of the evidence and the laws of the state of New Mexico, I have determined that there is sufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Alec Baldwin and other members of the ‘Rust’ film crew,” Carmack-Altwies said in a statement. “On my watch, no one is above the law, and everyone deserves justice.”
In a statement, Baldwin’s lawyer, Luke Nikas, wrote, “This decision distorts Halyna Hutchins’ tragic death and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice. Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun — or anywhere on the movie set. He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds. We will fight these charges, and we will win.”
Possible prison sentences on charges
Carmack-Altwies’ office said in October she would conduct a “thorough review of the information and evidence to make a thoughtful, timely decision about whether to bring charges” following a yearlong sheriff’s investigation into the on-set shooting.
Halyna Hutchins, 42, was working as a cinematographer on the Western when she was shot and killed by the film’s star, Baldwin, during an accident while he was practicing using a Colt .45 revolver on set. Director Joel Souza was also injured in the shooting.
Hutchins’ family said they support the charges and found them warranted “for the killing of Halyna Hutchins with conscious disregard for human life.”
“Our independent investigation also supports that charges are warranted,” attorney Brian Panish said in a statement on behalf of the family. “It is a comfort to the family that, in New Mexico, no one is above the law. We support the charges, will fully cooperate with this prosecution, and fervently hope the justice system works to protect the public and hold accountable those who break the law.”
In an interview with ABC News, Lisa Torraco, attorney for Halls, said he signed his plea agreement Wednesday.
“Mr. Halls and I are disappointed that she decided to bring a charge at all,” she said. “We believe that criminally he should have been completely exonerated. But we are happy with the resolution that she did propose, and that is the petty misdemeanor negligent use of a weapon.”
She continued, “When confronted with a potential felony, hearing up to 6 1/2 years in prison, or confronted with a petty misdemeanor, which was six months unsupervised probation, sometimes it gets to be the weighing of which choice is better, which of the lesser evils.”
No charges will be filed in the shooting of Souza, the district attorney’s office said.
Carmack-Altwies and Reeb will formally file charges before the end of the month, at which point each defendant will be issued a summons for their first court appearance, which can be done virtually or waived, prosecutors said. During a preliminary hearing, a judge will decide whether there is probable cause to move forward with a trial. Preliminary hearings are typically scheduled within 60 days of charges being filed, according to the district attorney’s office.
Should the case go to trial, a jury would have to decide under which definition of involuntary manslaughter Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed were guilty. For the first count of involuntary manslaughter, prosecutors must prove “underlying negligence,” while the second count, involuntary manslaughter in the commission of a lawful act, “requires proof that there was more than simple negligence involved in a death,” the district attorney’s office said.
Both counts are fourth-degree felonies punishable by up to 18 months in jail, however, a firearm enhancement on the second charge could carry a mandatory sentence of five years in prison, prosecutors said.
‘Cold gun’
Souza reportedly told investigators that Baldwin was sitting in a pew in the area’s church practicing his cross draw, facing the camera and crew and pointing the revolver toward the camera lens, when the shooting occurred, according to a search warrant affidavit.
Halls had handed the gun to Baldwin while proclaiming “cold gun,” to let the crew know a gun with no live rounds was being used, according to a search warrant affidavit.
Hutchins was killed by a live round inside the gun, authorities said.
Questions have surrounded how live ammunition made it onto the set and into the prop gun and whether proper safety precautions were taken by crew members.
Halls reportedly told investigators that he didn’t know there were any live rounds in the gun when he gave it to Baldwin, according to a search warrant affidavit.
The attorney for “Rust” armorer Gutierrez-Reed, who was in charge of guns and ammunition on the set, has previously said that his client had no idea where the live rounds came from and was not in the church where the rehearsal was taking place.
Her attorney, Jason Bowles, has alleged that Gutierrez-Reed was not called inside the church to inspect the weapons before they were brought out and that Baldwin did not accept her offer to train him on the cross draw, a “dangerous” method of carrying a handgun that started in the Old West.
“Hannah is, and has always been, very emotional and sad about this tragic accident,” Bowles said in a statement following the announcement of charges. “But she did not commit involuntary manslaughter. These charges are the result of a very flawed investigation, and an inaccurate understanding of the full facts. We intend to bring the full truth to light, and believe Hannah will be exonerated of wrongdoing by a jury.”
“If any one of these three people — Alec Baldwin, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed or David Halls — had done their job, Halyna Hutchins would be alive today. It’s that simple,” Reeb said in a statement. “The evidence clearly shows a pattern of criminal disregard for safety on the ‘Rust’ film set. In New Mexico, there is no room for film sets that don’t take our state’s commitment to gun safety and public safety seriously.”
Longtime Hollywood armorer Thell Reed, the father of Gutierrez-Reed, reportedly told investigators that ammunition once in his possession “may match the ammunition found on the set of Rust,” according to an affidavit for a search warrant executed last year.
The warrant authorized the search of an Albuquerque prop house, PDQ Arm and Prop LLC, owned by Seth Kenney. Kenney reportedly told detectives that he was hired to supply “Rust” with guns, as well as dummy rounds and blanks, according to the search warrant affidavit.
Reed told investigators that he worked with Kenney on a set several weeks before the “Rust” shooting occurred, and that Kenney allegedly took “an ammo can” containing live rounds back with him to New Mexico, according to the affidavit.
Kenney has denied providing live ammunition to the set.
“It’s not a possibility that they came from PDQ or from myself personally,” Kenney told ABC News days after the shooting. “When we send dummy rounds out, they get individually rattle tested before they get sent out.”
Baldwin thought charges ‘highly unlikely’
Baldwin previously said he didn’t believe he would face any criminal charges in the accident.
“I’ve been told by people who are in the know, in terms of even inside the state, that it’s highly unlikely that I would be charged with anything criminally,” he told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in a interview weeks after the shooting.
Baldwin said in the interview and consistently that he did not pull the trigger on the gun, a claim countered by investigators, who said the gun could not have fired without the trigger being pulled.
Carmack-Altwies said in an interview with ABC News that Baldwin was charged because he was one with the gun and pulled the trigger. “The trigger had to be pulled, Alec is wrong,” she said.
The district attorney’s announcement comes after the family of Hutchins reached a settlement in its wrongful death lawsuit against the film’s producers, including Baldwin and Rust Movie Productions, LLC, in October.
Carmack-Altweis’ office had said that the settlement would have “no impact” on her decision to file charges.
The incident has also led to several lawsuits, including one filed by Baldwin alleging negligence of his crew members.
“Rust” is slated to resume filming in January with all of the principal actors and Souza back as director. It’s unclear if the pending charges will affect production.
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky, Doug Lantz, Alyssa Pone and Robert Zepeda contributed to this report.
The Eagles are extending their time on the road. The band just added another date to their Hotel California tour.
The latest show is set to take place April 8 in Baltimore, Maryland, with tickets going on sale January 27 at 10 a.m. ET.
The Hotel California tour, which the Eagles launched in 2019, has the band playing their classic 1976 album in its entirety, backed by an orchestra and choir. In addition to the album, the band, which currently consists of Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit, with Vince Gill,also treats fans to a set of greatest hits.
The 2023 leg is set to kick off February 17 in Lincoln, California. Eagles.com has the complete list of tour dates.
Amanda Bynes will reunite with her former All That co-stars Kel Mitchell, Danny Tamberelli and Lori Beth Denberg at the upcoming ’90s Con.
“I’m really excited to reunite with my castmates and meet the fans,” Bynes said in a statement obtained by Variety.
“What better way to return than with the ‘All That’ gang…including Amanda Bynes who will be joining Danny, Lori Beth, and me this year,” said Mitchell, 44, in a statement.
The All That event will include a meet-and-greet, photo ops for sale, autographs and a chance to take a photo on a replica of the show’s orange couch with the cast members.
’90s Con will mark Bynes’ first public event since the termination of her nine-year conservatorship in March 2022.
Billed as “Saturday Night Live for tweens,” All That originally ran for 10 seasons on Nickelodeon from 1994-2005. In addition to Bynes, Mitchell, Tamberelli and Denberg, the series also starred Angelique Bates, Katrina Johnson, Alisa Reyes, Josh Server, Kenan Thompson, Leon Frierson, Christy Knowings, Nick Cannon and Mark Saul across its initial 10-season run.
The series spawned several spinoffs, including Kenan & Kel and The Amanda Show, before it was officially rebooted with a new cast in 2019.
’90s Con 2023, will take place at the Connecticut Convention Center March 17-19. You can find more information at Thats4Entertainment.com.
