Entertainment – International

Kanye West makes brief return year after breakdown

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Rap superstar Kanye West is back nearly a year after suffering a breakdown — making a brief musical appearance in which he appears to keep his feud with Taylor Swift alive. West, a once omnipresent celebrity with a prolific media presence and high-profile marriage to Kim Kardashian, abruptly ended a tour and was hospitalized in November 2016 after unusual rants on stage. Making his most visible appearance this year, […]

Taylor Swift leads MTV Europe award nods

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Taylor Swift led the nominations announced Wednesday for the MTV Europe Music Awards after she caused a stir with her vengeful new persona on “Look What You Made Me Do.” The pop superstar was up for six prizes including Best Artist and Best Video at the international edition of MTV’s awards gala, which will take place in London on November 12. “Look What You Made Me Do,” the lead […]

Saw movie ‘Jigsaw’ pieces together chart-topping opening weekend

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Hollywood may be suffering through a spiritless patch but horror films can still lend a needed jolt, as Lionsgate  film “Jigsaw” and a clutch of other scary films showed by boosting an otherwise flimsy weekend box office. “Jigsaw,” the eighth chapter in the “Saw” franchise, took $16.6 million over the three-day weekend, according to industry website Exhibitor Relations. It beat the same studio’s “Boo 2!,” with $10.1 million. After […]

Hollywood producers kick out disgraced Harvey Weinstein

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The Producers Guild of America banned disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein for life on Monday, vowing that sexual harassment would no longer be tolerated within its ranks. New accusations of sexual assault have continued to pour in since investigations in the New York Times and New Yorker three weeks ago exposed the tycoon as a relentless, bullying sexual predator. More than 50 women including stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie […]

Netflix cancels flagship series ‘House of Cards’

  LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The next season of Netflix’s award-winning “House of Cards” will be the last, a spokesman said Monday, as the series reeled over sexual misconduct allegations against its star Kevin Spacey. The 58-year-old double Oscar winner, who plays ruthless President Francis Underwood in the hit show, is facing claims from actor Anthony Rapp that he “made a sexual advance” at a party 31 years ago while Rapp was underage. […]

‘Pineapple pen’ star to serenade Trump on Japan visit

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — US President Donald Trump will be serenaded with a bizarre hit song about a “pen-pineapple-apple-pen” on his visit to Japan next week. Japan will roll out wacky crooner Pikotaro — whose 45-second “PPAP” ditty went viral last year after being shared by pop star Justin Bieber — when Trump comes to town at the start of an Asian tour, Kyodo News agency reported. The singer, apparently a favorite of Trump’s grandchildren, will attend […]

George Michael album tops UK charts again after 27 years

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — George Michael’s chart-topping 1990 album “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1” returned straight to number one in the British charts on Friday, 10 months after the British pop star’s death at the age of 53. The remastered record sold over 56,000 copies to come first in the charts in the largest first-week sales for a re-released album in charts history. The album was reissued to coincide with a new documentary about […]

Horror movie “Jigsaw” set for weekend box office win

Reuters — Horror movie “Jigsaw” is set to take the top spot at the North American weekend box office from Friday (October 27) through Sunday (October 29). The latest in the “Saw” franchise is expected to take 12.5 million dollars, according to studio estimates published by BoxOfficePro. Comedy sequel “Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween,” directed by and starring Perry, is expected to add almost 12 million dollars. Big budget disaster movie “Geostorm,” starring […]

Fats Domino, boogie-woogie pianist who pioneered rock, dead at 89

by Shaun Tandon Agence France-Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Fats Domino, whose rollicking boogie-woogie piano helped give birth to rock ‘n’ roll, has died in his lifelong home of New Orleans, the coroner said Wednesday. He was 89. One of the top-selling artists of the 1950s, Domino had been hailed as an indispensable influence by legends including Elvis Presley, Bob Marley and especially The Beatles, who called his music their first encounter with […]

Hollywood honors ‘Knight of the Living Dead’ George A. Romero

by Frankie Taggart Agence France-Presse LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — US filmmaker George A. Romero, whose 1968 classic “Night of the Living Dead” spawned the zombie movie genre, was posthumously honored Wednesday with a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. Filmmaker Edgar Wright, actor Malcolm McDowell and special effects guru Greg Nicotero paid tribute to the director, who died in July at the age of 77, at the ceremony in front of a quartet […]

Robert Guillaume, star of TV’s ‘Benson,’ dies at age 89

LOS ANGELES, United States (Reuters) — Two-time Emmy Award-winning actor Robert Guillaume, who became one of the most prominent black actors on U.S. television playing the cantankerous title character in the hit 1980s series “Benson,” died of complications from prostate cancer on Tuesday (October 24), his wife said. He was 89. The gravelly voiced Guillaume, who thrived in Broadway musicals before starring on the TV series “Soap” and its spinoff “Benson,” died at his Los […]

Pink’s ‘Beautiful Trauma’ tops Billboard, becoming one of 2017’s biggest debuts

(Reuters) — Pop star Pink soared to the top of the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart on Monday (Oct. 23) with one of the year’s biggest album sales debut, beating out new albums from rapper Gucci Mane and rocker Beck. “Beautiful Trauma,” Pink’s seventh studio album, sold 408,000 album units in its first week. This comprised of sales from albums and songs and streaming consumption, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan. The strong first week […]