Our website use cookies to improve and personalize your experience and to display advertisements (if any). Our website may also include cookies from third parties like Google Adsense, Google Analytics, and Youtube. By using the website, you consent to the use of cookies.

Oscars 2024: panned by Trump, host Kimmel quips, ‘Isn’t it past your jail time?’

Oscars 2024: panned by Trump, host Kimmel quips, ‘Isn’t it past your jail time?’

HOLLYWOOD'S biggest stars gathered to celebrate the year's best accomplishments in film at the annual Academy Awards. Here are some takeaways from the 96th Oscars ceremony. TRUMP REVIEWS KIMMEL Late in the show, Jimmy Kimmel read aloud from a scathing online review of his performance as Oscars host, revealing at the end that it was written by former U.S. President Donald Trump. "Has there EVER been a WORSE HOST than Jimmy Kimmel at The Oscars," Trump posted on his Truth Social social media platform, also criticizing the show as "Disjointed, boring, and very unfair." Talk show host Kimmel, who's long feuded…
Read More
Black Panther, Wakanda Forever and the problem with Hollywood – an African perspective

Black Panther, Wakanda Forever and the problem with Hollywood – an African perspective

BLACK Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever were global hits that played out in an imaginary African kingdom and featured a universe of black creative talent. What’s not to love about the franchise? Quite a lot, reckons cultural and literary studies scholar Jeanne-Marie Viljoen. We asked her to explain. JEANNE-MARIE VILJOEN, Lecturer, Creative Unit, UniSA, University of South Australia What are Black Panther’s limitations when it comes to diversity? Even though the Black Panther films didn’t represent Africans on their own complex terms, they’re still a major cultural phenomenon. They bring issues of racial representation into the spotlight for Hollywood’s…
Read More
Hollywood directors reach labour pact, writers remain on strike

Hollywood directors reach labour pact, writers remain on strike

HOLLYWOOD'S major studios reached a tentative labour agreement with the union representing film and television directors, likely averting a work stoppage that would have piled pressure on media companies to settle with striking writers. The Directors Guild of America (DGA) will ask its 19,000 members to approve the three-year contract, which was announced late on Saturday after three weeks of talks. The agreement includes gains in wages and residuals plus guardrails around the use of artificial intelligence, according to the DGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents Netflix, Walt Disney Co and other major studios. The Writers…
Read More
Will Smith banned from attending Oscars for 10 years after slap

Will Smith banned from attending Oscars for 10 years after slap

LISA RICHWINE HOLLYWOOD'S film academy banned Will Smith from attending the Oscars for 10 years after the best actor winner slapped presenter Chris Rock on stage at the Academy Awards ceremony 12 days ago. The board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences took the action at a meeting held one week after Smith pre-emptively resigned from the group over his outburst at the live, televised event. "The 94th Oscars were meant to be a celebration of the many individuals in our community who did incredible work this past year," academy President David Rubin and Chief…
Read More
Black, gay and happy: is Hollywood ready for that?

Black, gay and happy: is Hollywood ready for that?

HUGO GREENHALGH DIRECTOR Lee Daniels says he's "a little ghetto, a little homo" and worries the world might not be ready for his next big idea. "I really want to do a gay superhero movie," the Oscar-nominated director told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. And then a gay love story - only one that ends well, too. "I want the guy and guy to walk off happy at the end," the 61-year-old said via a video call from his home in Los Angeles. "I want it to end beautifully," he said. "Some of the major Hollywood gay love stories that have…
Read More
‘I see myself’ – Stars of ‘Equal’ Samira Wiley, Billy Porter on LGBT history

‘I see myself’ – Stars of ‘Equal’ Samira Wiley, Billy Porter on LGBT history

OSCAR LOPEZ EMMY Award-winning actors Samira Wiley and Billy Porter may be among the most well-known LGBT+ stars in Hollywood, but when it comes to queer history, even they admit there's a lot to learn. Wiley and Porter are featured in an upcoming documentary series, "Equal," which mixes archival footage and dramatic reenactments to depict some of the lesser-known moments in LGBT+ history. The series focuses on the U.S. gay rights movement in the 1950s and '60s, looking beyond iconic moments like New York City's Stonewall riots in 1969 that kickstarted modern gay activism to sing the glories of what…
Read More