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  • Everything sports fans need to know

    Everything sports fans need to know

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    Sports fans, start your internet connections.

    At a press conference in New York on May 13, ESPN executives detailed plans for the Disney-owned sports network’s new streaming service, which will give subscribers access to all of ESPN’s content on streaming for a monthly fee, without needing that pesky cable subscription.

    The new standalone service and app, simply dubbed “ESPN,” will cost $29.99 a month for its unlimited tier, although it can also be acquired bundled with Disney+ and Hulu for $35.99 monthly with ads on Disney+ and Hulu (discounted to $29.99 for the first 12 months). For no ads on those two streamers, the plan costs $44.99 per month (ads will be included on any tier of the ESPN. app).

    That unlimited plan plan includes access to live content from all ESPN networks, ESPN content on ABC, and more, which all adds up to 47,000 live events each year. Select plans also include all content from ESPN+, the company’s current streaming service that mostly includes bonus content separate from the cable channel.

    The streaming app “will redefine our business. Our mission is very clear: Serve the sports fan anytime, anywhere,” Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of ESPN, told reporters. The simple name, Pitaro said, is because “there’s power in our name; there’s trust in our name. Simple, straightforward, clear.”

    Some of the sports content that streaming subscribers will get access to includes, and is definitely not limited to: NFL; NBA; NHL; MLB; WNBA; UFC; UFL; SEC; ACC; Big 12; College Football Playoffs; Wimbledon and US Open tennis; The Masters, PGA Championship and the PGA tour. The network’s signature commentary and news shows will also be included, including: “SportsCenter,” “Get Up,” “First Take,” “NFL Live,” “The Pat McAfee Show” and more.

    The new, redesigned app will have “enhanced stats, betting, short-form video, personalized SportsCenter, all designed to meet fans where they are, on their terms,” he added. It will be an “attractive fan-friendly plan for standalone ESPN” or bundled with Disney+ and Hulu. For those subscribers who already get their Hulu on their Disney+ app, ESPN will be available in the same interface. The company is in discussions with other streamers to try to create more bundling opportunities for subscribers.

    In addition to the “unlimited” tier, ESPN is offering the “select plan,” which is essentially the same as ESPN+ but doesn’t replace it. That plan will cost $11.99 or $119.99 a year. When bundled with Hulu and Disney+ it costs $16.99 a month with ads or $26.99 without them.

    Existing ESPN+ subscribers will automatically become subscribers to ESPN’s new service, based on their current subscription level: Standalone ESPN+ subscribers will get the ESPN select plan, and Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ bundle subscribers get the ESPN select bundle.

    In addition to the NFL, NBA and other professional sports games fans can expect commentator Rich Eisen, who rose to fame on ESPN but lately has been at the NFL Network, is returning home with “The Rich Eisen Show” on the streaming service and ESPN+ this fall.

    No launch date was announced at the presentation, but Pitaro promised that would be announced in the coming weeks. It is likely to be in advance of NFL and college football seasons beginning this fall, as will happen with Fox’s new streamer, Fox One, announced May 12, which will have competing sports programming.

    The new streamer is aimed at getting cable cutters to add ESPN to their existing portfolio of subscriptions. But sports fans who are hanging on to their cable subscriptions need not worry: ESPN will remain available on cable/OTT services.

  • Is Cassie testifying against Diddy? Live updates from court

    Is Cassie testifying against Diddy? Live updates from court

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    Following her allegations of sexual abuse, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura Fine is taking the stand in ex-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs’ criminal trial.

    Ventura Fine, whose November 2023 lawsuit against the hip-hop mogul opened the floodgates to a series of civil complaints, delivered emotional testimony on May 13 about the alleged abuse she says she endured from Combs during their relationship.

    The singer told jurors that Combs, whom she got to know after signing with his label Bad Boy Records, subjected her to psychological abuse “every day” and had big mood swings. He controlled much of her life, whether it was her career or how she dressed, and arguments often ended in physical violence that left her with bruises, she alleged.

    When the rapper first introduced her to his “freak offs,” a term for Combs’ alleged drug-fueled sex parties, Cassie said she was “confused” and “nervous” but “also loved him very much” and “wanted to make him happy.” Over time, she alleged she became afraid that Combs would release blackmail materials, including videos and photos of her with an escort, on the internet.

    The “Me & U” singer, who began a professional and sexual relationship with the embattled music mogul when she was 19, settled her lawsuit with Combs for an undisclosed amount one day after filing her complaint. The former pair’s relationship came under further scrutiny when a leaked surveillance video from 2016 appeared to show Combs beating Ventura during an altercation at a Los Angeles hotel.

    Who is Cassie? The singer at the center of Diddy’s sex-crimes trial

    Ventura Fine’s testimony comes one day after the jury in Combs’ sex-crimes trial was shown video of the rapper assaulting her in 2016. The prosecution’s first witness was a former security officer at the hotel, Israel Florez, who testified that he received a call about a “woman in distress” and, when he arrived, saw that Ventura Fine had a “purple eye.”

    During her opening statement, prosecutor Emily Johnson alleged that Combs beat Ventura Fine “viciously.” Defense attorney Teny Geragos, meanwhile, told the jury that Cassie became jealous after realizing that she would never be Combs’ wife.

    Diddy trial live updates: Cassie Ventura Fine takes the stand, alleges Combs dragged her

    Combs’ was arrested in September 2024 and indicted on charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. A superseding indictment filed April 3 charged him with two additional counts: sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

    Cassie and Diddy lawsuit, explained

    Combs’ legal woes began in November 2023 when Ventura Fine accused the rapper of rape, sex trafficking and physical abuse in a civil lawsuit.

    Ventura Fine met a then-37-year-old Combs in 2005 after the rap mogul became interested in signing her to Bad Boy Records. After being lured into an “ostentatious, fast-paced and drug-fueled lifestyle” and romantic relationship with Combs, the singer claimed he “took control” of her life, ranging from her healthcare to her career opportunities, and plied her with drugs and alcohol.

    Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ used Cassie Ventura ‘freak off’ videos for blackmail, prosecutors claim

    Combs also allegedly raped Ventura Fine in 2018 and forced the singer into “repeated unwanted sexual encounters” with male prostitutes he hired and recorded their encounters, per the lawsuit.

    Cassie and Diddy settlement amount was not disclosed

    Despite the bombshell suit, Ventura Fine and Combs settled the legal matter one day later. An exact settlement amount was not disclosed.

    “I have decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms that I have some level of control,” Ventura Fine said in a statement. Meanwhile, Combs wished his ex and her family “all the best” in a separate statement following the settlement.

    How long was Cassie with Diddy?

    Ventura Fine and Combs were romantically involved beginning in 2007 and had an on again, off again relationship until 2018.

    Who is Cassie married to?

    Ventura Fine has been married to Alex Fine, a personal trainer, since 2019. The couple shares two children together, Frankie and Sunny, with a third on the way.

    Cassie’s abuse claims against Diddy resurface after leaked video

    In May 2024, CNN released leaked surveillance footage of Combs physically assaulting Cassie at the now-closed InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles on March 5, 2016.

    In the video, Ventura Fine is seen calling an elevator with a duffle bag in hand, while a different camera angle shows Combs running down the hotel hallway in a bath towel. He catches up with Ventura Fine before the elevator comes, striking and yanking Ventura Fine by the hair and throwing her to the ground, after which the rapper kicks her twice.

    Two days after the footage’s release, Combs said he takes “full responsibility” for his actions, adding he’s “committed to being a better man each and every day.” A week later, Ventura Fine weighed in on the video, saying domestic violence “broke me down to someone I never thought I would become.”

    On May 12, prosecutors showed footage of the 2016 assault to jurors during Combs’ sex-crimes trial. Geragos said the “horrible” and “dehumanizing” video showed domestic violence but said the fight was about a phone Combs was trying to get from Cassie, not about forcing her into sex.

    Can you watch the Diddy trial live?

    Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex-crimes trial is not available to watch live, as cameras are not allowed in the courtroom.

    USA TODAY will be providing live updates throughout the proceedings.

    If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential, 24/7 support to survivors and their loved ones in English and Spanish at: 800.656.HOPE (4673) and Hotline.RAINN.org and en Español RAINN.org/es.Contributing: Patrick Ryan, Anika Reed, Taijuan Moorman, Brendan Morrow, Jay Stahl and KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY; Reuters

  • Brave New World’ release on Disney+?

    Brave New World’ release on Disney+?

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    The wait is (soon to be) over. “Captain America: Brave New World,” will be dropping on Disney+ later this month.

    The Marvel superhero adventure, starring actors Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford, follows Sam Wilson (Mackie) as he takes up the Captain America shield in the wake of a global conspiracy that “puts him on a collision course with the fearsome Red Hulk,” according to Disney.

    USA TODAY’s Brian Truitt gave the film ★★½ out of four, writing that director Julius Onah’s geopolitically tinged “Brave New World” “is an unruly narrative that starts as a paranoia thriller (a la ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’) and devolves into a campy ‘Hulk smash!’ fest.”

    However, Truitt praised Mackie, a 10-year veteran of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, saying he “faithfully has taken the Captain America mantle from Chris Evans and given Cap new swagger and vulnerability.”

    Here’s what to know about when “Captain America: Brave New World” will we available to stream on Disney+.

    Movie review: Anthony Mackie’s Captain America deserves better than ‘Brave New World’

    Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY’s movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox.

    When does ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ come out on Disney+?

    “Captain America: Brave New World” will be available to stream on Disney+, starting Wednesday, May 28 at 12 a.m. ET (9 p.m. PT on May 27).

    Watch ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ on Disney+

    The film, which made its digital debut in April with the home video release featuring three deleted scenes, including one that debuted exclusively on USA TODAY, is already available to buy and rent on digital platforms such as Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango.

    “Captain America: Brave New World” was released in theaters on Feb. 14, 2025.

    Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

    ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ 4K Blu-ray/DVD release

    While its Disney+ debut is a few weeks away, “Captain America: Brave New World” will be available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on Tuesday, May 13, per Marvel Studios.

    Marvel, in a news release, said the digital and Blu-ray version of the movie will offer “hours of exclusive bonus content featuring deleted scenes, a gag reel, featurettes, a filmmaker commentary and much more.”

    The 4K UHD, meanwhile, will be available in a collectible limited edition SteelBook with custom artwork and packaging, the studio said.

    Watch deleted scene from ‘Captain America: Brave New World’

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    ‘Captain America’ exclusive: Anthony Mackie stars in deleted scene

    Sam (Anthony Mackie) tries to get intel from Secret Service agent Leila (Xosha Roquemore) in a deleted scene from “Captain America: Brave New World.”

    The exclusive deleted scene shared with USA TODAY is set in Washington, D.C., and features Sam Wilson sparring in a boxing ring with Leila Taylor (Xosha Roquemore), a Secret Service agent working for President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (Ford). Sam tries to get info on a classified mission from the tight-lipped Leila, which ends up being a trip down to Mexico for Cap to recover stolen adamantium from the villainous Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito).

    ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ cast

    The cast of “Captain America: Brave New World,” according to Marvel Studios, includes

    • Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Captain America
    • Harrison Ford as President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross
    • Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres / Falcon
    • Shira Haas as Ruth Bat-Seraph
    • Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley
    • Xosha Roquemore as Leila Taylor
    • Giancarlo Esposito as Sidewinder
    • Takehiro Hira as Japanese Prime Minister Ozaki
    • Liv Tyler as Betty Ross
    • Tim Blake Nelson as Samuel Sterns

    Watch ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ trailer

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    ‘Captain America’ Anthony Mackie suits up for ‘Brave New World’

    As Sam Wilson, “Avengers” veteran Anthony Mackie gets his first solo Marvel movie with the paranoia thriller “Captain America: Brave New World.”

    We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.

    Contributing: Brian Truitt, USA TODAY

    Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.

  • Sean Penn would work with Woody Allen again

    Sean Penn would work with Woody Allen again

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    Sean Penn says he’d work with Woody Allen despite child sexual abuse allegations levied at the famed director.

    “I’d work with him in a heartbeat, if it was the right thing,” Penn said on the May 12 episode of “The Louis Theroux Podcast.” He received his second Oscar nomination for his work on Allen’s 1999 film “Sweet and Lowdown.”

    During the podcast appearance, the two-time Oscar winner made a series of other controversial comments regarding Allen, seemingly attempting to sow doubt about Dylan Farrow’s claims that she was molested by her famous father.

    “Do I think he has a bad rap? With these things, I don’t know anyone well enough to say 100% this didn’t happen or that didn’t happen,” Penn said.

    The environmental activist continued, telling host Louis Theroux that “God forbid you’re wrong and there’s a victim involved in something, right? But boy, I find the stuff I know about … I’ve read everything, the stories are mostly told by people that I wouldn’t trust with a dime. It just seems so heavily weighted in that way.”

    In 1992, the first allegations were made that Allen molested his daughter. The 2021 HBO documentary “Allen v. Farrow” shows home video footage of a 7-year-old Dylan Farrow making her claims on camera.

    “You’re talking generally, right? Or, not specifically about Woody Allen?” Theroux asked the “Milk” star. “Because it was mainly his estranged daughter.” Then, Penn said, “daughter but also son” to which Theroux said, “Ronan Farrow the journalist.” Penn responded: “You gave him that title, not me.”

    Prior to Allen’s 12-year-long relationship with Mia Farrow, she and ex-husband André Previn (the famous maestro) adopted Soon-Yi Previn. But later, in 1997, Allen married Soon-Yi Previn, who is 35 years his junior. Previn and Allen have remained together since.

    Sean Penn slams Woody Allen’s estranged son and journalist Ronan Farrow

    Ronan Farrow, Allen’s son with actress Mia Farrow, is a writer for The New Yorker who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for his work that unraveled Harvey Weinstein’s predatory sexual abuse against women in Hollywood.

    “I think he’s quite respected, writes for the New Yorker,” Theroux shot back. Penn said that “I understand that,” before telling Theroux, “Put it this way: I am not aware – and maybe I’m just an ignoramus, that’s a possibility – I am not aware of any clinical psychologist or psychiatrist or anyone I’ve ever heard talk or spoken to around the subject of pedophilia that in 80 years of life, there’s accusations of it happening only once. I’m not aware of that.”

    Ronan Farrow wins Pulitzer Prize in the public service category for Harvey Weinstein investigations

    “And when people try to associate what were his, let’s say, much younger girlfriends, right or wrong is not the conversation here. Post-puberty, consensual stuff is, to me, a different conversation,” Penn said.

    Penn added, “Whatever is the worst of people’s suspicions about him, just check them with the facts separate from the moment and the movement and all who benefitted from that,” seemingly in reference to Farrow’s Pulitzer win and the overall #MeToo movement.

    “Let’s just take a second. That’s all I’m saying. I see he’s not proven guilty, so I take him as innocent, and I would work with him in a heartbeat,” Penn told Theroux.

    Contributing: Erin Jensen

  • What we know so far

    What we know so far

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    There’s a new Spider-Man in the ever-expanding Spider-Verse.

    Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios have just released the first look image for “Spider-Noir,” a new series with Nicolas Cage back as the black-and-white mid-century hero. Based on Marvel’s “Spider-Man Noir” comics, Cage’s character first appeared in animated form channeling classic Bogey in “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” as well as “Across the Spider-Verse.”

    Now, Cage will make his TV debut as an aging, down-on-his-luck private investigator and the one and only superhero in 1930s New York.

    The Amazon Prime Video series will be available both in black-and-white and in color.

    Read on for what we know about “Spider-Noir.”

    ‘Spider-Noir’ release date

    “Spider-Noir” is set to be released in 2026, though a specific date has not yet been shared publicly.

    ‘Spider-Noir’ cast

    In addition to Cage, other actors set to star include Li Jun Li (“Sinners”), Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”), Jack Huston (“American Hustle”) and Lamorne Morris (“New Girl,” “Fargo”).

    Guest stars include Andrew Caldwell, Amy Aquino, Cameron Britton, Kai Caster, Cary Christopher, Lukas Haas, Michael Kostroff, Scott MacArthur, Joe Massingill, Whitney Rice, Andrew Robinson and Amanda Schull.

    Who is Spider-Man Noir?

    A part of an ever-growing list of Spider-Man alternate versions, Spider-Man Noir (aka Spider-Noir or simply Noir) is part of the Marvel Noir universe as a hero who emerges in New York during the Great Depression.

    Noir has all of the Spider-Man origins: Born Peter Parker, he was bitten by a radioactive spider that gave him superhuman abilities. And following the death of his uncle Ben, Noir vows to fight crime.

    ‘Spider-Noir’ show streaming

    Upon its release in 2026, the show will debut domestically on MGM+’s linear cable and satellite channel, then globally on Amazon Prime Video the next day.

    Contributing: Brian Truitt

  • Kim Kardashian jewelry heist trial: ‘Kardashians’ star testifies

    Kim Kardashian jewelry heist trial: ‘Kardashians’ star testifies

    Juliette Jabkhiro and Lucien Libert
     |  Reuters

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    Reality TV star Kim Kardashian said she thought she would be raped and killed as she testified in a Paris court about the 2016 heist in which she was robbed at gunpoint in her hotel room by a gang who stole jewels worth millions.

    Kardashian, dressed in a black suit and wearing glitzy jewelry, arrived in court on May 13 in a black van minutes earlier, accompanied by her mother Kris Jenner. Cameras are not allowed in the courtroom, and her testimony is not broadcast live.

    “I absolutely thought I was going to die,” she told the court, shedding tears at times during her testimony. “I thought about my sister, thought she would walk in and see me shot dead and have that memory in her forever.”

    Kardashian’s sister, Kourtney Kardashian, had joined her on her trip to Paris. She was not at the hotel during the robbery.

    The suspects are accused of tying up Kardashian with zip ties and duct tape before making off with jewelry, including a $4 million engagement ring given to her by her then-husband rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, according to investigators.

    “I came to Paris for fashion week. Paris was always a place that I loved so much,” Kardashian told the court.

    Kim Kardashian will testify in trial over Paris robbery

    “We were leaving the next morning so I was just packing up, it was around 3 in the morning. I heard stomping up the stairs when I was in bed,” she said, recalling the night of the robbery.

    “And in my bedroom comes in a few police officers, or that I assumed were police officers as they were in police uniforms.

    “Then I heard one of the gentlemen forcefully say ‘ring! ring!’ in English, with an accent, pointing,” she said.

    “I was pretty hysterical and I just looked at the concierge and told him ‘what is going to happen to us, I have to make it home to my babies,’” Kardashian said.

    She said at one point she feared she was going to be raped as the robbers threw her on the bed and one of them grabbed her leg. “But he ended up tying me up and closed my legs,” she said.

    Ahead of Kardashian’s testimony, her stylist Simone Harouche, who was asleep in the same luxury hotel flat at the time of the attack, told the tribunal of the “terror” they both felt during the robbery.

    “‘I have babies, and I have to live’ – that’s what I heard her say. ‘Take everything – I need to live,’” said Harouche, who was downstairs in the duplex suite at the time of the attack, while Kardashian was upstairs.

    Harouche rushed to lock herself in the bathroom and texted Kardashian’s sister Kourtney and their bodyguard for help.

    Trial for men charged with Kim Kardashian 2016 jewelry heist kicks off

    When the robbers left and Kardashian joined her downstairs, “she was beside herself, I’ve never seen her like that before,” Harouche said. “She just was screaming and kept saying, ‘We need to get out of here, we need help, what are we going to do if they come back?’”

    Harouche also cried at times during her testimony, and said she had changed careers and underwent therapy because of the robbery, which she said caused her post-traumatic stress and made her fearful of being around celebrities.

    In all, nine men and one woman are being tried by the criminal court. Five of them – all men – face armed robbery and kidnapping charges and potentially risk being sentenced to life imprisonment. The others are charged with complicity in the heist or the unauthorized possession of a weapon.

    As the robbers escaped on foot or with bicycles, they lost some of the jewellery, including a cross with six diamonds, which a passerby found in the street and brought to the police. But most of the jewels, including the $4 million engagement ring, were never found.

    Contributing: Brendan Morrow

  • Who is Gérard Depardieu? A look back at his acting career

    Who is Gérard Depardieu? A look back at his acting career

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    French actor Gerard Depardieu was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021 and given an 18-month suspended prison sentence in a Paris court on May 13.

    Depardieu has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyer said he plans to appeal the court’s decision.

    The actor has faced a  over a dozen sexual assault allegations in recent years.

    Depardieu has appeared in more than 200 films since he began his career in the late 1960s. He has also acted in television and stage productions and is a two-time César Award winner, which is France’s national film award.

    Here’s a look back at his career.

    Who is French actor Gérard Depardieu?

    Depardieu grew up in Châteauroux, France, which is in the central part of the country. He is known for acting in both English and French speaking roles.

    He began acting in 1967 and first gained prominence with his role in the 1974 comedy film “Les Valseuses,” which translates to “Going Places.”

    In 1976, he appeared alongside Robert De Niro in the historical film “1900.” Four years later, he starred alongside Catherin Deneuve in “The Last Metro,” which earned him his first César Award for Best Actor.

    He became better known around the world by the 1990s, when he starred in “Cyrano de Bergerac.” For that role, he won a second César Award for Best Actor as well as the Cannes Film Festival for Best Actor. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for the role.

    Depardieu also won a Golden Globe Award for co-starring in the 1991 romantic comedy “Green Card.”

    Gérard Depardieu movies

    According to IMDb, Depardieu is known for the following movies:

    • “Cyrano de Bergerac” (1990)
    • “Green Card” (1990)
    • “1492: Conquest of Paradise” (1992)
    • “The Man in the Iron Mask” (1998)

    Depardieu also starred in 1994 romantic comedy “My Father the Hero” with Katherine Heigl and Dalton James.

    Gérard Depardieu children, personal life

    Depardieu has four children, including actors Guillame and Julie Depardieu.

    Guillame Depardieu won a César Award for Most Promising Actor in 1995. He died in 2008 after contracting severe pneumonia.

    Gérard Depardieu has been married once, to Élisabeth Depardieu from 1971 to 1996.

    He is currently in a relationship with Magda Vavrusova, according to Reuters.

    Melina Khan is a trending reporter covering national news for USA TODAY. She can be reached at [email protected]. 

  • Stefon Diggs & Cardi B, Kylie & Timothee have Knicks game date night

    Stefon Diggs & Cardi B, Kylie & Timothee have Knicks game date night

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    Rapper Cardi B and NFL player (and rumored beau) Stefon Diggs took their love courtside this week as the New York Knicks earned a hard-fought win against the Boston Celtics.

    Cardi, who has publicly teased a new relationship, shared several tender moments with Diggs throughout the game, seemingly confirming their attachment. Throughout the game, they whispered in one another’s ears, shared kisses on the cheek, and they walked into the game hand in hand.

    Previously married to rapper Offset, with whom she shares three children, Cardi has been open about their separation and impending divorce, accusing the Migos member of infidelity.

    Diggs, on the other hand, was recently signed to the New England Patriots and previously played for the Houston Texans and the Buffalo Bills.

    Biggest moments from the 2025 Met Gala: Stefon Diggs found his Met Gala look on Pinterest

    The Knicks pulled off a home-court win, the first of the series, beating the Celtics 121 to 113. Their performance in the series has shocked even some die-hard fans as they pulled off two come-from-behind, buzzer-beating wins in the first two games, then suffered a blowout in the third, only to fight their way back to a 3-1 score for the series as a whole.

    As the two teams look toward Game 4, Celtics fans are fretting over what appears to be a serious injury suffered by their star player, Jayson Tatum.

    Kylie Jenner, Timothee Chalamet step out for Knicks game

    Diggs and Cardi B weren’t the only couple using the Knicks game for date night. Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner were also in attendance to support Chalamet’s beloved Knicks.

    Chalamet, a native of the city, is a renowned fan of the blue and orange and notably stayed home to watch the first game of the series while Jenner flew solo at the Met Gala.

    This time the match was a couple’s (and family) affair with Jenner seated next to a sometimes rowdy Chalamet and her older sister Kendall Jenner in tow.

    Jenner and Chalamet’s attendance comes just a week after the couple made their red carpet debut at the David di Donatello Awards in Rome. The appearance was the pair’s first formal joint press event since they started dating in 2023.

    While they have remained fairly mum about the relationship, photos often catch the two in PDA-filled outings from the US Open to the Coachella music festival.

    The Knicks game also reunited Jenner with ex-BFF Jordyn Woods, who is dating Knicks player Karl-Anthony Towns. The two fell out over a scandal involving older sister Khloe Kardashian’s ex-partner (and another NBA player), Tristan Thompson.

    They weren’t the only stars at the May 12 game, though. The match brought out a who’s who of famous Knicks fans from Penn Badgley and Michael J. Fox to Ben Stiller and Tracy Morgan.

    Game 5 is set for Wednesday, May 14, at 7 p.m. ET.

  • Doors ‘Anthology’ finds guitarist Robby Krieger in a reflective mood

    Doors ‘Anthology’ finds guitarist Robby Krieger in a reflective mood

    If you joined a band when you were 19, would you still be talking about it 60 years later?

    Most people would not. But this is Robby Krieger we’re talking about, guitarist for the groundbreaking Los Angeles band The Doors. So you better believe that at 79, he remains chock full of epic memories of the five years his quartet ruled the airwaves and rocked the culture.

    “I think the combination of the poetry (of lead singer Jim Morrison) and the music was so different than anything else at the time, before, or maybe even now,” says Krieger, who cowrote “Light My Fire,” arguably the band’s most iconic song. “So many people come up to me at say, ‘You changed my life.’”

    Those people will delight in “Night Divides the Day: The Doors Anthology” (out now from Genesis Publications, $75), a beefy new book that chronologically recounts the Doors’ rise and too-soon end after Morrison’s 1971 death in Paris at age 27.

    The hardcover tome is filled with archival photos of the band and its memorabilia, along with quotes from current musicians ranging from Slash to Van Morrison as well as the group’s other members: drummer John Densmore, 80, and keyboardist Ray Manzarek (who died in 2013 at age 74).

    Call it a literary time machine. One spread is a black and white photo of the band in early 1967, standing in front of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. The musicians are riding high just days after the release of their hit-packed eponymous debut album. Morrison, a magnetic if troubled front man, holds a massive stick while the rest smile at some joke.

    Nearby, the caption features part of a review of the band’s show at the famous Fillmore Auditorium, where they played on a bill with the Young Rascals (“Good Lovin’”). The reviewer makes plain that The Doors were from a planet unfamiliar to that city’s flower child set.

    “The Doors are a weird group,” it reads. “They start off without much and gradually get into something which is not exactly the Frisco sound but some kind of Eastern-oriented improvisation.”

    The Doors magic mix? Blues, flamenco, jazz and a wild-eyed poet

    For Krieger, the band made its indelible mark precisely because of its wildly different personnel. Densmore was a jazz drummer, Manzarek was steeped in Chicago blues, Morrison was a poet with a compelling set of pipes, and Krieger was a flamenco guitarist.

    What could have added up to a sonic mess became solid gold, with songs such as “The End” (featured prominently in the movie “Apocalypse Now”), “Break On Through,” and “Love Me Two Times” among their many classics. The Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

    “It was kind of meant to be,” says Krieger, who with his current band has been playing many of The Doors’ albums in their entirety at Whiskey A Go Go, the famous LA haunt where the group was the house band in the mid-’60s. “It has to be that. We were all so different, but that’s why it worked.”

    The Doors indeed were an accidental miracle. Manzarek and Morrison were fellow film school students at the University of California, Los Angeles, where Krieger was an undergraduate. Densmore was a local drummer going to school a few towns away, who was brought into a group started by Manzarek that also featured his brothers.

    “Then Ray’s brothers quit, so they needed a guitarist and John, who I knew, brought me in to rehearse with them and that was it,” says Krieger, who says he played that haunting slide intro to the future hit, “Moonlight Drive,” at that first gathering of the foursome. He laughs. “Jim loved that slide. He wanted me to put it on every single song. I said thanks, but no.”

    Morrison and Manzarek were big book fiends and conjured the band’s name from a line in a William Blake poem: “If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: Infinite.”

    The Doors’ heavy first album was a serious departure from the Summer of Love sounds pinging across the airwaves in 1967. Many songs had dark overtones, reflecting Morrison’s cerebral, if haunted, nature. None more so than “The End,” with its violent Oedipal theme. Morrison would seem to go into a trance during live renditions of the tune. Krieger says the singer was a live wire literally from the band’s formation.

    “Jim was something else, man, although remember in the ’60s it wasn’t that crazy to be crazy,” he says with a laugh.

    If Jim Morrison had swapped acid for meditation, one wonders ‘what might have been,’ says Robby Krieger

    The guitarist says that Morrison was on acid when they recorded “The End,” and after the session was over, he snuck back into the studio and doused nonexistent flames he saw with a fire extinguisher. “Jim could ruin a show, for sure, but one thing he never was was late,” Krieger says. “He loved to create art, that’s what he was about.”

    Where all four members had certainly dabbled in the various drugs of the day, Krieger says everyone except for Morrison quickly looked for an alternative mind-expansion outlet.

    “We were into the Maharishi (Mahesh Yogi, spiritual guru to the Beatles), and he came to Los Angeles and we got Jim to go. He looked at (the Maharishi) from about 10 feet away and just shakes his head and says, ‘No, he doesn’t got it.’ And walked away,” he says. “I often wonder what might have been if he’d felt otherwise and given up acid and started meditating like we were doing.”

    Morrison, the rebellious son of a Navy admiral, had model-ready Dionysian looks, so much so that in 1981, a decade after Morrison’s somewhat mysterious passing, Rolling Stone put him on the cover with the famous headline, “Jim Morrison: He’s Hot, He’s Sexy and He’s Dead.”

    He was also a handful, Krieger says. “He’d be on acid with a bunch of people, and start turning the lights on and off really fast, just to see what would happen. Mostly, we just rolled with it. I trusted Jim, but there were times I worried he might go too far.”

    “Night Divides the Day,” which takes its name from a lyric in “Break On Through,” spends a good many pages on Morrison’s most famous trespass: a 1969 gig in Miami during which Morrison, annoyed with the crowd, was arrested for indecent exposure for allegedly taking his pants down. Fiction, Krieger says.

    “It was close, sure, and he would have done it had Ray not said to our equipment manager, ‘Don’t let him take his pants down!’ But no, didn’t happen,” he says.

    But the damage, in essence, was done. Morrison was convicted in 1970 of indecent exposure and profanity and was awaiting sentencing when he decamped to Paris with his longtime girlfriend, Pamela Courson.

    The stress of it all caused Morrison to gain weight and continue to abuse substances; his death was ruled as heart failure, even though no autopsy was performed. Morrison is buried in Paris’ fabled Père Lachaise Cemetery, where his headstone remains perpetually covered with mementos from fans.

    Of the culture’s enduring fascination with Morrison and the music he and his bandmates created, Krieger seems as impressed as anyone.

    “Ten years ago we had the 50th anniversary of the band getting going, and I was going, wow, 50 years and we’re still being talked about,” he says. “Now it’s 60. It just keeps going and going. It’s just crazy.”

  • Melissa recalls how mom kicked down the door’

    Melissa recalls how mom kicked down the door’

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    One goal overshadowed all others for Melissa Rivers when producing a television special honoring her mother, “Joan Rivers: A Dead Funny All-Star Tribute.” It had to be hilarious.

    “My mom always said, and I say it in the special, when you make someone laugh, you give them a mini vacation, and God knows we need a vacation,” Rivers says.

    The hourlong tribute airs May 13 on NBC (10 ET/PT), with an extended, uncensored version streaming on Peacock May14. “The Peacock version is what really happened in the room,” Rivers teases.

    In the special, taped in November, Tiffany Haddish raps to a rendition of “Hava Nagila” recalling how Joan’s jokes “split your side like a kidney stone.” Nikki Glaser applauds Joan’s candor about aging and plastic surgery, and Aubrey Plaza retires Joan’s not-so-politically-correct jokes. Rachel Brosnahan, who cites Joan as an inspiration for Midge on Amazon Prime’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” rapidly fires off as many Joan quips as she can in one minute. Chelsea Handler praises Joan as “a pioneer for women in comedy,” explaining “she walked so that we could run!”

    Joan Rivers (born Joan Molinksy), died in 2014 after she stopped breathing during a procedure on her throat. She became the first woman to host a late-night show, was celebrated for her brutally honest appraisal of celebrity fashion on red carpets and built a billion-dollar QVC brand.

    “These women wanted to be there,” Melissa Rivers, 57, says. “I think it’s because she kicked down the door. It wasn’t a glass ceiling; it was a door, and she kicked it down. And they all know that. They know that they would not be able to do what they do, especially the material they do, if she hadn’t made it OK first.”

    Patton Oswalt tells the audience gathered at the Apollo Theater for the taping that Joan wrote 70,000 jokes.

    “I would find random pieces of paper with five words on it and be like, ‘Oh, this is yours. You left it,’” Rivers says. Joan “would record all of her standup when she was working in clubs and working at new material, and then start to figure out why something didn’t work or why something did work. She was very, very disciplined.”

    Sarah Silverman, also featured in the tribute, recalls in an interview with USA TODAY that Joan was “always writing. She was a comic’s comic ’til the end, and she still had so much more in her. What a tragic, frustrating death.

    “She was 81,” Silverman continues, “but she was the youngest, hippest 81, with so much more. One thing that really inspires me about Joan is she once said that she didn’t feel like she hit her stride in standup until she was in her 70s.”

    Melissa Rivers marries attorney Steve Mitchel after pair lost home in LA fires

    Rivers’ favorite part of the taping was seeing how her mother’s humor can still captivate an audience today.

    “Every time on the monitor (in the green room), when one of my mom’s clips would roll, everyone would stop and watch and laugh,” she says. “And a number of people said to me that night, ‘She’s still the funniest person in the room.’”

    Rivers says her mother “didn’t like talking about legacy,” because it “was for people who aren’t relevant.” But the tribute gives Joan one more opportunity to bask in the love of a crowd.

    “She was truly a writer, and she loved performing live,” Rivers says. “She loved an audience more than anything.”