Entertainment News Archives - Page 15 of 34

Oscar winners — and losers — laugh, drink and dance together at after-parties

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Oscar winners and losers partied together at post-show galas across the Los Angeles area. The big winners from the night’s undisputed champion “Anora” were among those getting their Oscar statuettes engraved at the Governors Ball. They included director Sean Baker, who won a record-tying four. At the Vanity Fair party in Beverly Hills, Timothée Chalamet and his girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, were surrounded by people coming to hug him after he lost best actor to Adrien Brody. And show host Conan O’Brien accepted compliments and congratulations. And singer Chappell Roan duetted with the host at Elton John’s annual Oscar party.… Continue Reading

Actor Gene Hackman, prolific Oscar winner, found dead at home at 95 years old

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman has been found dead at his home. He was 95. Hackman starred in “The French Connection,” “Unforgiven” and dozens of other films. He was known for his studied portraits of reluctant heroes and conniving villains and won two Academy Awards. He was an early retiree and a late bloomer. Hackman was in his mid-30s when cast for “Bonnie and Clyde” and past 40 when he won his first Oscar, as the rules-bending New York detective “Popeye” Doyle in the 1971 thriller about tracking down Manhattan drug smugglers, “The French Connection.”… Continue Reading

Joy Reid is leaving MSNBC as her evening show is canceled

NEW YORK (AP) — Joy Reid is leaving MSNBC, the network’s new president announced in a memo to staff on Monday, marking an end to the political analyst and anchor’s prime time news show. Reid’s namesake show, “The ReidOut,” has been a fixture of MSNBC’s evening programming since 2020. In the hourlong newscast, held at 7 p.m. E.T., Reid conducts extensive interviews with politicians and other newsmakers. In the coming weeks, Kulter added, rotating anchors will host Reid’s hour. Current hosts of MSNBC’s “The Weekend” — Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez — will now move to weekdays at 7 p.m. to host a new ensemble news program.… Continue Reading

Roberta Flack, Grammy-winning singer with an intimate style, dies at 88

NEW YORK (AP) — Roberta Flack has died at 88. The Grammy-winning singer and pianist was known for her intimate vocal and musical style on “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and other hits. Her publicist says she died Monday, surrounded by her family. Flack became an overnight star in the early 1970s after Clint Eastwood used “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” in his film “Play Misty for Me.” Flack’s other hits included “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and a duet with former Howard University classmate Donny Hathaway, “Where is the Love?”… Continue Reading

Monty the giant schnauzer wins Westminster dog show

NEW YORK (AP) — A giant schnauzer named Monty has won the top prize at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. Monty bested six other finalists to take best in show Tuesday night at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The award is considered the most prestigious prize in the U.S. dog show world. Each dog is judged according to how closely it matches the ideal for its breed. Winners get a trophy, ribbons and bragging rights, but no cash prize.… Continue Reading

Roses are red, violets are blue, 940 million flowers are traveling (through Miami) to you

MIAMI (AP) — If any husbands or boyfriends mess up Valentine’s Day this week, it’s not because of a shortage of flowers. In the run up to Feb. 14, U.S. Customs and Border Protection says agricultural specialists at Miami International Airport have processed about 940 million stems of cut flowers. Around 90% of the fresh cut flowers being sold for Valentine’s Day in the United States come through Miami, while the other 10% pass through Los Angeles. Roses, carnations, pompons, hydrangeas, chrysanthemums and gypsophila arrive on hundreds of flights, mostly from Colombia and Ecuador, into Miami on their journey to florists and supermarkets across the U.S. and Canada.… Continue Reading

Irv Gotti, music executive who created Murder Inc. Records, dies at 54

NEW YORK (AP) — Irv Gotti, a music mogul who founded Murder Inc. Records and was behind major hip-hop and R&B artists such as Ashanti and Ja Rule, has died. He was 54. Def Jam Recordings announced Gotti’s death in a statement late Wednesday night. Def Jam was the parent company of Murder Inc. It did not give a cause of death. Gotti, whose real name is Irving Lorenzo, founded Murder Inc. with his brother in the late 1990s. The label gained worldwide prominence through platinum-selling artists Ashanti and Ja Rule. Gotti had also worked with artists DMX, Fat Joe and Jay-Z, among other huge names in the genre.… Continue Reading

Beyoncé wins album of the year at the 2025 Grammys for ‘Cowboy Carter’

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Beyoncé has won album of the year at the The 67th Grammy Awards, delivering her the show’s top honor. The ceremony was transformed by the Los Angeles area wildfires but put a spotlight on the city’s resiliency. The telecast began with a powerful opening performance of Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” by Dawes — whose members were directly affected by the Eaton fire — backed by John Legend, Brad Paisley, Sheryl Crow, Brittany Howard and St. Vincent. The Weeknd ended his Grammys boycott with a surprise performance of two new songs. Kendrick Lamar won song and record of the year for “Not Like Us.” Chappell Roan was named best new artist.… Continue Reading

Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, handlers say, predicting 6 more weeks of wintry weather

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — Punxsutawney Phil’s team of top-hatted associates says he has seen his shadow and is predicting six more weeks of wintry weather. The prognosticating woodchuck made his forecast as the sun rose Sunday in western Pennsylvania. The annual ritual goes back more than a century and has far older roots in European agricultural life. The event’s date of Feb. 2 doesn’t just divide the calendar between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It’s also a time of year that figures in the Celtic calendar and the Christian holiday of Candlemas.… Continue Reading

DeepSeek’s new AI chatbot and ChatGPT answer sensitive questions about China differently

HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese tech startup DeepSeek’s new artificial intelligence chatbot has sparked discussions about the competition between China and the U.S. in AI development, with many users flocking to test the rival of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Observers are eager to see whether the Chinese company has matched America’s leading AI companies at a fraction of the cost. The chatbot’s ultimate impact on the AI industry is still unclear, but it appears to censor answers to sensitive topics, a practice commonly seen on China’s internet. For example, when it was asked on Tuesday about Beijing’s bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square in 1989, it said the event was beyond its scope and suggested talking about something else.… Continue Reading