The news was announced by his son and by his friend and fellow writer Nelson George.

Prior to his career as a screenwriter, Cooper was a journalist and music critic who changed the music industry when, in 1987, he coined the term “New Jack Swing” to refer to the then-nascent genre of R&B music fused with hip hop popularized by producer Teddy Riley and acts like Bobby Brown, Kool Moe Dee and Janet Jackson.

Cooper’s background as a journalist and critic, and his deep knowledge of the still-young hip hop scene carried through with his screenplays, which were some of the earliest in Hollywood to channel hip hop authentically, and with a focus on Black culture and characters. They in turn helped popularize the music as the defining sound of the 1990s and had a major influence on artists who rose up after.

His films also boosted the careers of some of the era’s most notable actors, most notably Wesley Snipes, who’s menacing turn as crack lord Nino Brown in “New Jack City” was a career-defining and star-making role. The film was also a breakthrough for Chris Rock prior to his stint on “SNL,” and established groundbreaking rapper Ice-T as a respected actor best known, ironically given his music career, for playing cops.

Born in 1958 or 1959 — as of this writing his date of birth wasn’t publicly known for certain — in Harlem, Cooper got his start as an investigative reporter for the Village Voice, where he wrote from 1980 to 1988. He was particularly regarded for his groundbreaking reporting on the growing crack epidemic as well as for his writing about the growing rap music scene. His writing got the attention of Quincy Jones, who hired Cooper to rewrite a script about 1970s NYC gangster Nicky Barnes — which eventually became “New Jack City.”

He continued to work in and out of Hollywood, and occasionally contributed to publications such as Huffington Post.

The post Barry Michael Cooper, ‘New Jack City’ and ‘Above the Rim’ Screenwriter, Dies at 66 appeared first on TheWrap.

So it should serve as a pleasant surprise that “Star Trek: Section 31” arrives full of nuance and charm.

Viewers actually do not need to know any Section 31 lore or have watched “Star Trek: Discovery” — the “Trek” series from which the film is spun off — to understand what is happening in the film, although, if you have, some of the emotional stakes will hit harder. The film itself quickly brings viewers up to speed via a communication from Section 31 command to Alok Sahar (Omari Hardwick), the leader of a covert ops team. He is instructed to recruit Phillipa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh). Georgiou has been a character in “Discovery” since the first season: the briefing quickly recaps the reveal that she was the emperor of the Terran Empire in the Mirror Universe (you know, the evil Earth one where Spock had a beard, and Uhura had a thigh dagger), and that she was brought to the prime universe, became an agent for Section 31, saved the universe, traveled forward in time, traveled back in time and now is the owner of a nightclub (a lot happens in “Discovery”). Alok reluctantly recruits Georgiou and they, along with their team of misfits, must track down a terrifying weapon before it can be used to destroy the Federation.

It’s a simple but effective premise. Despite its title, the film is barely about Section 31, the division being more of a plot device to get all these characters together and on mission. The film —directed and written by “Discovery” alums Olatunde Osunsanmi and Craig Sweeny — is actually more about Georgiou herself.

One of the franchise’s most complicated characters, Georgiou is not traditional Starfleet material. “Discovery” established that when she was emperor in the Mirror Universe, she was a horrific dictator who committed genocide on multiple planets. This kind of character bio is typically reserved for the quintessential “Star Trek” villain. However, she became a fan favorite in Season 2 of “Discovery,” mainly because of Yeoh’s natural charisma —“evil mommy” is how I can best describe her vibe — and her chemistry with the show’s protagonist Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green). Her bond with Michael and other characters in the series caused her to begin questioning her “might makes right” Terran values and to act in more ethical, although not too ethical, ways.

“Section 31” continues Georgiou’s arc from lawful evil to chaotic neutral. For one thing, as the film’s opening flashback reveals, she became emperor of the Terran empire after decimating her opposition in a “Hunger Games”-like combat competition, poisoning her family to eliminate any potential weaknesses and subjugating her boyfriend — San (played as a teenager by James Huang and as an adult by James Hiroyuki Liao), the Peeta to her Katniss — to servitude. It’s brutal, but it is a look into why Georgiou is the way she is. In order to survive, Georgiou had to embody Nietzsche’s master morality that forms the basis of the Terran empire: “the girl I knew has been murdered,” as San laments.

The film doesn’t excuse her past actions. In fact, she grapples with the idea of what it means to “be infected with a conscience” in this new universe where more is expected of her. This mission confronts her with her own culpability: She is the one who ordered the creation of the movie’s McGuffin —the weapon of mass destruction the team is tasked to find — when she was emperor, a weapon so evil that its makers committed suicide on its completion. Can she atone for that? Or, at least, choose to be better? Underneath all that arrogant bravado (“I’m the only one I could never defeat”) is a deeply tragic figure that can no longer deny the consequences of her actions.

Despite all of this deep, philosophical exploration of character, Georgiou and the movie are also just plain fun. It’s a spy thriller, a genre not often utilized by “Star Trek,” complete with a mole hunt and the fast tempos and pulsing rhythms of a spy score, composed by Jeff Russo. While Section 31 was originally introduced as a way to foil spy fiction with a more realistic look at how spycraft works, this film leans into a more “Mission: Impossible” style fantasy, complete with gadgets and stunts. The film is divided into “chapters” with titles like “One Night in Baraam” and “The Godsend,” reminiscent of the films of Quentin Tarantino and a nod back to the spinoff series origins of the film. There are some wonderful set pieces that show off Yeoh’s formidable action chops, including a kinetic brawl in Georgiou’s night club where she wears the most magnificent cape ever seen in a “Star Trek.” It’s a “Star Wars” level cape.

The other characters on the team provide great support to Georgiou in their various shades of moral alignment. One is recognizable by name to fans as Rachel Garrett (Kacey Rohl), future captain of the Enterprise-C from the classic “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise.” The uptight representative of Starfleet, she’s there to make sure the team doesn’t violate any ethical boundaries — she has to tell Georgiou multiple times not to assassinate anyone — but she clearly also struggles with following strict procedure in the face of complex situations. Other characters are original to the film, including the neurotic shapeshifter Quasi (Sam Richardson), Deltan honey trap Melle (Humberly González), himbo mech-head Fuzz (Sven Ruygrok) and a-nano-species-inside-a-robot-Vulcan Zeph (Robert Kazinsky), who inexplicably speaks with an Irish accent. Alok himself is a survivor of the often referenced Eugenics Wars; he’s genetically augmented and, thus, is not allowed to officially join Starfleet. He is suspicious of Georgiou because he’s met dictators before and is unsure if she can be redeemed, but there is also genuine connection and chemistry between them, an understanding of the horrors of being forced to be part of a paradigm that they now regret.

The group becomes, well, maybe not a family, but certainly a team that respects each other for who they are, not who they were.

The first “Star Trek” film in almost 10 years — yes, Justin Lin’s “Star Trek: Beyond” was released in 2016 – “Section 31” is under a lot of pressure, but, despite my initial reservations, it manages to stick the landing. My only critique is that I wish this was a series as originally intended as I would love to spend more time with these characters. Using Section 31 is a clever way of interrogating redemption arcs and who utopias allow to be included, but the film resists the urge to give into the cynicism that has irked fans of “Star Trek” about the organization in the past. “Star Trek: Section 31” has a distinct personality while still feeling like a “Trek” film, with characters outside of the normal scope of the franchise.

“Star Trek: Section 31” premieres Friday, Jan. 24, on Paramount+.

The post ‘Star Trek: Section 31’ Review: Michelle Yeoh Proves Skeptics Wrong in Charming Paramount+ Spinoff Film appeared first on TheWrap.

“The Washington Post editorial this morning essentially equating Biden’s questionable pardons with Trump’s outrageous Jan. 6 pardons was unconscionable,” David Maraniss, a 1993 Pulitzer Prize winner who has been with the paper nearly 50 years, wrote on Bluesky. “The newspaper I’ve been part of for 48 years has utterly lost its soul.”

Maraniss didn’t link to the editorial in question, but he appears to be referring to one actually published late Tuesday by Jason Willick, titled “The Biden-Trump pardons show collapsing executive restraint.”

Among its arguments, the op-ed says “it’s debatable which president’s abuse of the pardon power on Monday… was more damaging,” and describes them as “tit-for-tat escalations.”

While it does refer to Trump’s mass-pardons for Jan.6 insurrectionists “indefensible,” it largely treats Biden’s preemptive pardons of people Trump has threatened to persecute with state power as, effectively, morally equivalent.

Maraniss didn’t follow up on the comment, and as of this writing he has not announced he is resigning from the paper. But it’s not the first time he’s called out his employer in such direct terms. In October, after owner Jeff Bezos killed the Washington Post’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris, Maraniss wrote on Twitter, “Once again but this time more than ever I am embarrassed for my newspaper. The decision in this of all years to not endorse when democracy is on the line is contemptible.”

“The paper I’ve loved working at for 47 years is dying in darkness,” Maraniss added, referring to slogan it adopted during Donald Trump’s first term, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”

And he’s far from the only WaPo vet to revolt as Bezos forces the paper in a decidedly conservative, clearly pro-Trump direction. Among them was columnist Michele Norris, who called the decision to spike the Harris endorsement “a terrible mistake & an insult to the paper’s own longstanding standard.”

Editor at large Robert Kagan also resigned, while writer Molly Roberts and Pultizer Prize-winning journalist David Hoffman both resigned from the board in protest. And the Post’s most famous alumni, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, condemned the decision strongly.

More recently, longtime WaPo editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes resigned on Jan. 3 after editors pulled a cartoon that criticized Bezos.

Bezos has steadfastly stuck by the stark changes he’s imposed on the Post since last fall, enacted at the same time the billionaire visibly became one of Trump’s most prominent courtiers. But the changes have been a disaster for the paper, cratering subscriptions and revenues.

The post Washington Post Editor Slams Paper for Op-Ed ‘Essentially Equating’ Biden, Trump Pardons: ‘Utterly Lost Its Soul’ appeared first on TheWrap.

Burgess claimed to have videos of the rapper sexually assaulting celebrities and minors who were clearly inebriated. Burgess was later subpoenaed by federal prosecutors and testified in front of a grand jury about the alleged videos.

The defamation suit, which was filed on Wednesday in New York claims Burgess, Mitchell and Nextstar engaged in “willful scheme to fabricate and broadcast outrageous lies.” The suit goes on to say that these falsehoods were leveraged “to gain social media fame, enrich themselves, and strip Mr. Combs of his reputation, livelihood, and a right to a fair trial.”

“Combs is taking a stand against the malicious falsehoods that have been fabricated and amplified by individuals seeking to profit at his expense.” Combs’ attorney Erica Wolff shared in a statement with Variety. “These defendants have willfully fabricated and disseminated outrageous lies with reckless disregard for the truth. Their falsehoods have poisoned public perception and contaminated the jury pool. This complaint should serve as a warning that such falsehoods, which undermine Mr. Combs’s right to a fair trial, will no longer be tolerated.”

In the original interview with NewsNation, Burgess said he was working in the Atlanta music industry when Combs’ ex-girlfriend Kim Porter, who shares four children with the rapper, gave him 11 flash drives that contained sex tapes involving at least eight celebrities. 

Burgess allegedly also received Porter’s personal memoir “Kim’s Lost Words: A Journey for Justice, from the other side.” The book reports of physical abuse and acts of sexual coercion and violence that the rapper committed. Ariel Mitchell, who is also a defendant in the lawsuit, said the tapes “tell the story of what Diddy has done over the past 30 years” including his “deviant activities.” 

Combs was charged on September 16, 2024. He pleaded not guilty to multiple counts including allegations he coerced and abused women and sex trafficking by force. The indictment also states he silenced victims through tactics like blackmail, kidnapping and physical beatings. He was denied bail and remains incarcerated. His trial is scheduled to begin on May 5th, but it is unclear if new evidence will further delay the proceedings.  

The post Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Files $50 Million Defamation Suit Against Grand Jury Accuser appeared first on TheWrap.

It’s been an action-packed season for the ladies of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” and they’re ready to lay it all out in the reunion.

The whole gang is here, including Lisa Barlow, Angie Katsanevas, Mary Crosby, Heather gay, Meredith Marks and Bronwyn Newport. Plus, friend of the show Britani Bateman stops by to throw in her two cents as well.

Between Newport realizing she and Barlow only shared a “social friend” type of relationship, Rose’s Alibaba drama and Crosby’s husband being a no-show, the first installment of the three-part reunion is already starting off hot. No safe words — even “opa” or “besos” — will keep these ladies from sharing their true feelings.

We’ve laid out every big moment from the first portion. Check out the five biggest revelations below.

Whitney Rose Explains Her PRISM-Alibaba Drama

After speculation all season, Rose finally shared the backstory on why images that were supposedly from Chinese-owned online marketplace Alibaba, were uploaded to the website for her jewelry company PRISM. During the season, Meredith revealed to some members of the group that some people online believed Whitney was passing Alibaba jewelry off as her own. Whitney said the photo was merely a “placeholder” that was uploaded by her PRISM vendor.

“That photo was there for about 48 hours as a placeholder … that was sent from our vendor — it’s not Alibaba,” Rose said. “We always do a photoshoot. We hadn’t had a chance; my partner’s in Vancouver, she was doing the photoshoot in Vancouver. That photo was there as a placeholder for a short period of time and it was swapped out once we had a model for it. I do not source from Alibaba. I curated a fashion affordable line. So our biggest complaint is that people want to buy my jewelry but they can’t afford it, so I curated fashion pieces that we tie in like an intention to it. Like, when you receive the box, we have our custom designs that we do. I would not tattoo something from Alibaba.”

Lisa Barlow Says Jeweler Revealed Bronwyn Newport and Hubby Todd Never Actually Bought the $4 Million Necklace

Bronwyn Newport’s lavish lifestyle and unique taste in fashion grabbed fans’ attention as she welcomed herself as the newest housewife. And because of that, no one blinked an eye when Newport’s husband, Todd Bradley, pulled his wallet out to purchase a $4 million, 170-carat necklace as a surprise gift to her to celebrate their 10 years of marriage. During the reunion, Bronwyn shared that instead of the hefty spend, she opted for a smaller carat diamond necklace and hoop earrings.

But Lisa Barlow had a different story. She revealed that she personally knows one of the jewelry store employees — named Ema — and they told her the couple never purchased the necklace, nor a pair of $1.4 million earrings, and that it was just a loan the entire time. To further support her story, Barlow shared text messages from Ema, stating the jewelry associate reached out to her after seeing the show. Via text, the Ema claimed Newport and Bradley were supposed to send the money through a wire transfer, but never did.

Newport’s response to Barlow’s statements?

“Well, the next time I see you, I’ll be sure to wear both … I don’t know that we’ll see each other any time soon, but that’s disgusting,” Newport said.

Bronwyn Asked Production to Cut Scenes That Featured Details About the Paternal Side of Her Daughter’s Family

Earlier in the season, Bronwyn Newport opened up about how she was extradited from the Mormon community after getting pregnant with her daughter, Gwen, as an unmarried, 19-year-old college student at Brigham Young University (BYU) — an act that the Mormon Church frowns upon, per the “RHOSLC” cast. Subsequently, Newport dropped out of BYU. Newport states that Gwen’s grandparents have never reached out to build a relationship with their granddaughter, though Newport has contacted them in the past.

The topic became a conversation between Newport and Lisa Barlow after Barlow revealed she is close with Gwen’s paternal side, stating she saw a photo of Gwen’s father in Gwen’s grandparents’ home. Because Barlow has her own relationship with Gwen’s estranged family, she maintained that she sees both perspectives and doesn’t want to choose a side to support one more than the other. But after looking at the season, Newport took issue with Barlow seemingly defending Gwen’s family’s supposed actions. In unseen footage, Barlow tells Newport that she “thinks” the family believes Newport had a miscarriage and that no child has ever existed.

During the reunion, Newport reveals she asked production to remove scenes that included her discussion of Gwen’s biological father and his family, saying she didn’t want to “out” any other identifying details about him as she’s never shown anyone what he looks like, even her husband until recently.

By the end of it, Barlow admitted that she had no idea about Newport’s production request and that she regrets ever discussing it. There are no details on whether there’s a path forward for Newport and Barlow, but Barlow called said “this is a horrible situation for everybody.”

Mary Crosby Explains Why Her Husband, Robert Sr., Didn’t Attend the Reunion

Between Justin Rose and John Barlow’s near-fight encounter and Seth Marks calling Angie Katsanevas the b-word, the husbands of “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” showed up and showed out. But one hubby was missing: Mary Crosby’s boo, Robert Sr.

Her explanation for his lack of attendance is that he obviously doesn’t want to be part of “any of this.”

“He’s happy and he’s good with his life and he’s not wanting nothing to interrupt it,” Crosby added.

Todd Bradley Apologetically Explains His “Blunt” Communication With Wife, Bronwyn, During the Season

It was very clear throughout the season that Bronwyn Newport’s husband, Todd Bradley, was a no-nonsense guy. And after a few incidents where Bradley was very curt with, seemingly dismissive of and authoritative over Newport, watchers shared their concerns through a fan question.

Both Newport and Bradley took accountability for the way they spoke to one another during the season and shared that the show has “strengthened” their relationship, as the two have discussed better communication practices.

“The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo.

The post 5 Revelations From ‘Real Housewives of Salt Lake City’ Season 5 Reunion Part 1: Whitney Explains the Alibaba Drama appeared first on TheWrap.

The trailers for writer/director Drew Hancock’s debut feature “Companion” are giving the audience a very good idea of the movie they’re about to watch, and that’s a little unfortunate, because the film is best viewed without any preconceived notions. Hancock’s wry and creepy screenplay sets its own expectations, inviting the audience along for a particular kind of scary thrill ride. When Hancock pulls out the rug we can see through the floor, into the movie’s mechanisms, and it’s a treat to uncover what kind of machine he’s actually built for us — all of which is harder to do if you’re 30 minutes ahead of the plot just because you saw the marketing.

So in the interest of not compounding the issue — especially since “Companion” is such a joy to discover on one’s own — this review will dance around the movie’s core premise to the best of my film critic abilities. “The Red Eye Effect” is bad enough. Let’s not make it worse.

“Companion” stars Sophie Thatcher (“Heretic”) as Iris, who was gliding through life without incident until she met Josh (Jack Quaid, “The Boys”), who is her perfect guy. He’s handsome, he’s charming and you’ve probably seen enough romantic comedies to know that any meet-cute as cute as this — there are oh, so many oranges! — means they’re destined to fall in love. To hear Iris tell it, meeting Josh was one of the two most important, eye-opening moments of her life.

The other, as she says in the film’s opening voiceover, is when she killed him.

The story kicks off when Josh and Iris drive to an isolated luxury house in the middle of a forest — yup, we’re doing one of these — where they’re planning to party with Josh’s friends and their lovers. Kat (Megan Suri, “It Lives Inside”) is Josh’s bestie, and Iris is very jealous of their connection and possible romantic (or formerly romantic) relationship. Her boyfriend, a married Russian who earned his millions the dirty way, is Sergey (Rupert Friend, “Asteroid City”), and he’s just gross. Also in attendance are Josh’s flighty friend Eli (Harvey Guillén, “What We Do in the Shadows”) and his extremely hot boyfriend Patrick (Lukas Gage, “Smile 2”).

As we wait to find out what’s going to go horribly wrong, we take note of various details that will probably be important later. Kat’s confession that Iris makes her feel “replaceable.” A mysterious item in Josh and Iris’ luggage. The fact that Josh, ostensibly the perfect guy, actually seems like a total tool. Any movie where a boyfriend rolls over and goes to sleep right after sex without saying a thing is, after all, a movie with a crappy boyfriend in it.

When violence does break out, it seems like a familiar sort of violence. Brutal and disturbing, but in a “low budget what do we do about this murder and how do we keep from killing each other now that the first domino has fallen” kind of way. And hey, it seems like a fine, albeit formulaic place for “Companion” to go, using an unexpected explosion of bloodletting to explore the repressed feelings inside a seemingly harmless person, calling into question the relationships they’ve formed, and forcing everyone to reveal who they really are.

And that’s kind of what happens, but Hancock’s twisteroos are fiendish, and “Companion” soon spirals into exciting and ingenious directions. The fundamental conceits, once finally revealed, speak volumes about the way men view women and women are conditioned to view men. An idyllic vision of love meets the commodification of love, and the commodification of love turns out to be insincere, insecure and dangerous. What’s more, Hancock has a vicious sense of humor about it. The whole thing is freaky and funny as hell.

Thatcher has a wallflower to play for the first chunk of “Companion,” but as she breaks out of her expectations, she goes on an engrossing journey and a lot of people end up dead. All the people she thought she loved, and their mostly-awful friends, drop their façades and reveal their pathetic and dangerous wretchedness. Iris and Josh are on a nonstop collision course with self-discovery, and they don’t make the discoveries they were hoping for. Thatcher captivates and Quaid proves once again that he’s one of the most charming on-screen (and voiceover) performers in the industry, and that he isn’t afraid to tear all that down and dig up the awfulness that veneer often hides.

Hancock does a fabulous job of balancing his film’s early romantic leanings and the horror (and possibly other genre) conceits that emerge as his story unfolds, and all the emotional truths that prop all those aspects up. It’s one of the better screenplays of its ilk in years, setting up ideas and rules and playing with them in every imaginable way, and repeatedly surprising the audience while always playing fair. That it evokes some familiar territory in the first act, especially, is by design, but sometimes it’s more distracting than others.

“Companion” was produced by Zach Eggers, whose own breakout horror feature “Barbarian” was a big hit in 2022 and also relied on unexpected twists and turns. It’s the “Barbarian” connection that’s touted in the trailers, along with the fact that Warner Bros. also released the schmaltzy romance classic “The Notebook.” How cheeky. But the cynicism of “Barbarian” wasn’t tempered. It was ugly — arguably to a fault — and its anger wasn’t always well-placed. Hancock’s film takes a similar approach to the storytelling but tells a more satisfying story. It’s scary, in a very different way. It’s funny, in a somewhat similar way. “Companion” is an impressively constructed mechanism that functions exactly how it’s supposed to, even when it seems like it’s not, and it never lets us down.

The post ‘Companion’ Review: Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid Star in a Wily, Well-Oiled Scary Movie Machine appeared first on TheWrap.

The complaints were filed by The Center for American Rights, a self-described “nonpartisan public interest law firm.” The firm accused ABC Philadelphia’s WPVI-TV of favoring Vice President Kamala Harris when the network hosted the September presidential debate, New York’s WCBS-TV for “news distortion” for the way Harris’ “60 Minutes” interview was edited, and New York’s WNBC-TV of violating the FCC’s equal time rule when Harris appeared on “Saturday Night Live” during the weekend leading up to the presidential election.

In her decision last week, Rosenworcel said that the complaints had aimed to “weaponize” the agency and were “at odds” with the First Amendment. In the order denying the complaints against WPVI and WCBS, the FCC said that the First Amendment restricts the agency from interfering with the free press. In the order denying the complaint against WNBC, the agency noted that the station complied with the equal time rule by giving Trump airtime the next day during a NASCAR race and an NFL “Sunday Night Football” game. She added that the FCC “should not be the President’s speech police” or “journalism’s censor-in-chief.”

But Carr argues that Rosenworcel’s order was “issued prematurely based on an insufficient investigatory record for the station-specific conduct at issue.”

“We therefore conclude that this complaint requires further consideration,” he added. “Thus, on our own motion and pursuant to our existing authority under section 1.113 of the Commission’s rules, we hereby set aside the Letter Order and reinstate the complaint.”

The decision to reinstate the complaints come as president Donald Trump has previously called for the broadcast licenses of ABC, NBC and CBS to be revoked over their coverage during the campaign.

Meanwhile, a fourth complaint filed by the Media and Democracy Project, which pushed to revoke the broadcast license of Fox Philadelphia’s WTXF-TV, will not have its dismissal reversed. The complaint, which was supported by former News Corp. government relations head Preston Padden, alleged that the Dominion Voting System lawsuit against Fox Corp. showed that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch lacked the “character” to hold a broadcast license.

In the order denying the complaint against WTFX, the FCC said the character assessment requested is “at odds with the First Amendment and continued freedom of the press” and that previous actions that revoked broadcast licenses for “character” issues “involved the station’s clear failure to comply with agency rules (not at issue here) or a clearly adjudicated felony for the station owner (also not at issue here).”

In a joint statement, the Media and Democracy Project and Padden said they “look forward to presenting on appeal the multiple court decisions that raise serious questions about the Murdochs’ and Fox’s character qualifications to remain broadcast licensees.”

They noted that the petition is based on “judicial findings that Fox made repeated false statements that undermined the electoral process and resulted in property damage, injury and death; that Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch engaged in a ‘carefully crafted scheme’ in ‘bad faith’ to deprive Lachlan’s siblings of the control to which they are entitled under an irrevocable trust; and that ‘Murdoch knowingly caused the corporation to violate the law.’”

“As renowned First Amendment scholar Floyd Abrams stated in his filing with the Commission, the First Amendment is no bar to Commission action given the facts of this case. Our petition is clearly distinct from the other politically motivated complaints,” they added. “It simply will be wrong if the Murdochs and Fox escape any responsibility for their prominent role for the riot at the Capitol on January 6th and the efforts to overturn the results of a presidential election.”

Carr has previously said that the “news distortion” complaint against CBS is likely to arise in the context of the agency’s review of Paramount Global’s pending $8 billion merger with Skydance Media. The deal, which is on track to close in the first half of 2025, is subject to regulatory approval from the FCC due to a required transfer of broadcast licenses.

The Center for American Rights has asked that approval of the merger be conditioned upon Paramount’s commitment that it will avoid foreign influence and promote viewpoint diversity – going as far as suggesting the agency coordinate with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) or other national security agencies to review the transaction.

It argues that an investment in Skydance from Tencent Holdings raises questions about “troubling questions about undue foreign influence from China.” It also claims that CBS News has “exhibited improper ideological bias” and that CBS Television has “apparently engaged in illegal racial quotas for its hiring.”

Skydance and Paramount have asked the FCC to dismiss the firm’s objections to the merger, arguing the viewpoint neutrality condition would “improperly encroach on broadcasters’ editorial discretion” and violate the First Amendment. They also said that the allegations of Chinese influence have “no factual foundation and are legally unavailing” and that Tencent’s “entirely passive, non-attributable, minority interests present no basis for concern about undue influence.”

The post Complaints of Bias, ‘News Distortion’ Against CBS, ABC and NBC Reinstated by Trump-Appointed FCC Chair appeared first on TheWrap.

Scorsese and DiCaprio would also produce the project through Scorsese’s Sikelia Productions and DiCaprio’s Appian Way Productions. DiCaprio first acquired the rights to Larson’s bestselling book in 2010, with the project bouncing from studio to studio. It was last set up at Hulu as a big-budget miniseries in 2019 but was later dropped.

First published in 2003, “Devil in the White City” follows H.H. Holmes, a notorious criminal regarded as the first American serial killer for the lurid tabloid pieces published around his crimes. The story is set in 1893 at the Chicago World’s Fair, and contrasts Holmes’ killings against the efforts of architect Daniel Burnham to make the World’s Fair a reality.

If the project enters production, it would be a major addition to the 20th Century Studios slate, which Disney is seeking to expand beyond its most well-known IP like “Avatar” and “Alien” under the leadership of presidents Steve Asbell and David Greenbaum, the latter of whom is also the president of Disney’s live-action division. Production SVP Sarah Shepard is also involved in negotiations, with all three executives overseeing the project for Disney.

Scorsese and DiCaprio first partnered on the 2002 film “Gangs of New York,” with DiCaprio next playing Howard Hughes in Scorsese’s 2004 follow-up “The Aviator.” The two would go on to work together on “The Departed,” which won Scorsese a Best Director Oscar, as well as on “Shutter Island,” “The Wolf of Wall Street,” and most recently, “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

Scorsese is repped by WME. LBI Entertainment reps Scorsese, DiCaprio and Appian Way. The talks were first reported by Deadline.

The post Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio in Talks to Revive ‘Devil In the White City’ at 20th Century Studios appeared first on TheWrap.

Monday’s college national championship game between Ohio State and Notre Dame brought in an impressive audience.

The matchup, which saw the Buckeyes take victory over the Fighting Irish, scored 22.1 million viewers on Monday night, according to Nielsen viewing figures. The game peaked with 26.1 million viewers from 8:30-8:45 p.m. ET.

The game currently ranks as the most-watched non-NFL sporting event over the past year, and drew the biggest audience of the inaugural 12-team college football playoffs.

The Ohio State-Notre Dame game followed up on the 2025 inauguration of Donald Trump, which brought in an average total viewership of 24.59 million from 10:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. ET across 15 networks, including in the viewership include ABC, CBS, NBC, Merit Street Media, Telemundo, Univision, CNBC, CNN, CNNe, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, MSNBC, Newsmax, NewsNation and PBS.

Monday night’s game saw a slightly bigger audience Rose Bowl game between Oregon and Ohio State, which scored 21.1 million viewers. By comparison the delayed Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame and Georgia drew a viewership of 15.8 million.

On Saturday, the game between the Houston Texans and Kansas City Chiefs became ESPN’s most-watched NFL game ever with an average viewership of 32.7 million. The matchup scored the biggest Saturday afternoon kickoff audience in ten seasons since 2016, including all 4:30 p.m. ET kickoffs across all networks.

The Ohio State-Notre Dame saw Ohio State win their 9th national title, defeating Notre Dame 34-23. The game took place in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.

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The layoffs come as the news organization plots a new course for the future through a broader global audience with an emphasis on digital. The cuts will reportedly help CNN cut production costs and consolidate teams according to the report.

The job cuts are also reportedly not expected to affect CNN’s biggest names as they are under contract. The news organization employs about 3,500 people.

A spokesperson for CNN would not confirm CNBC’s report but told TheWrap more information is forthcoming.

News of the layoff has been expected for weeks but now the cuts seem to be just around the corner. It was announced last week that CNN’s net worth had been cut in half in the last two years. In 2021, their worth was $4.4 billion which fell to $2.3 billion in 2023. That represents a 47% drop according to what the company shared during the network’s defamation trial last Friday.

“The numbers represent the Plaintiff’s interpretation of a subset of data as presented in litigation, and they do not represent financial data for the whole of CNN’s business,” a CNN spokesperson told TheWrap.

The net worth decline is in lock step with the networks viewership issues the past couple years. Following the 2024 election, CNN – along with MSNBC – both suffered a serious ratings hit. TheWrap reported in November that CNN’s viewership declined 27% in the weeks following Donald Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris, with CNN averaging 367,000 total viewers post-election.

If the layoffs at CNN come to pass, they would join a number of outlets hit with cuts in the last few months. Vox, The Washington Post and the Huffington Post have all laid off a number of workers since the start of 2025.

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