By Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN (CNN) — More than 400 celebrities are backing Jimmy Kimmel and speaking out against “government threats to our freedom of speech” in an open letter organized by the ACLU. Jennifer Aniston, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Selena Gomez, Billy Crystal, Robert DeNiro, Jane Fonda, Rosie O’Donnell, Jason Bateman, Ben Stiller, Christine Baranski,
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By Lisa Respers France, CNN (CNN) — Angelina Jolie spoke up about the free speech debate going on in the United States. The Oscar-winning actress was asked at a film festival in Spain over the weekend, “What do you fear as an artist and an American?” “It is a very difficult question,” Jolie responded, according
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By Lisa Respers France, CNN (CNN) — Remember when “Dawson’s Creek” replaced its theme song with another one? Well, now they are having to employ an understudy for one of its stars for a special event. James Van Der Beek, who played Dawson Leery on the hit teen drama which ran from 1998 to 2003,
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By Francesca Street, CNN (CNN) — Standing in line for a taxi, in a hot and unfamiliar country thousands of miles from home, Tony and Karen Webb were feeling overwhelmed. It was October 1987 in Freeport, a popular tourist destination in the Bahamas. Tony and Karen were visiting the island from Surrey, England. The couple
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By Lilit Marcus, CNN (CNN) — When Emilia D’Albero heard her name called, she started crying. She had just become the first ever American to win the Mondial du Fromage, a biennial event held in France and known in English as the Cheesemonger World Cup. While some onlookers believe that D’Albero’s victory could change the
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By The Associated Press The last two remaining dates in singer d4vd’s US tour and multiple stops in his upcoming European tour have been removed from ticketing websites, as authorities continue to investigate the discovery of the decomposed body of a teenage girl in Los Angeles. Police have not said d4vd (pronounced “David”) is implicated
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By Maureen O’Hare, CNN (CNN) — In our travel roundup this week, a Scottish hotel owner has invented “tourist plates” to combat the rise in dangerous crashes on his nation’s roads. Plus, why Google Maps doesn’t work in one of Asia’s most developed countries – and how a government decision in October might change that.
Continue Reading Elyssa Goodman, CNN New York (CNN) — “The first time I saw God was at Bizarre,” says visual artist Rachel Rampleman. She is referring to the drag artist God Complex and the now-defunct Brooklyn bar Bizarre. Inspired by the performer’s background as a dancer after seeing him live, Rampleman committed him to the screen for
Continue Reading By Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN (CNN) — Jimmy Kimmel’s staff will continue to be paid for the time being, as discussions continue between the late-night host and Disney executives over the future of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The program was abruptly “pre-empted indefinitely” on Wednesday amid controversy over comments Kimmel made in a monologue about Charlie Kirk’s
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By Jacqui Palumbo, CNN (CNN) — Behind the elegant but unassuming entryway to an apartment near London’s Hyde Park, one of Europe’s most prominent collectors has amassed a remarkable trove of Surrealist and postwar art in a home bursting with color and eclectic design. Now in her 80s, Pauline Karpidas is selling nearly all of
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By Megan Thomas, CNN (CNN) — Sometimes life imitates art, in that order, and Jean Smart’s character on “Hacks” this past season is providing a strange, retroactive parallel to what’s been going on in the real-life world of late-night television of late. Not long after ABC announced the indefinite suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” over
Continue Reading By Megan Thomas, CNN (CNN) — Carrie Underwood is mourning the loss of her friend Brett James, who wrote one of her biggest songs. Grammy-winning songwriter James died in a plane crash on Thursday, according to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was 57. Underwood and James collaborated on the 2005 hit “Jesus, Take
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By Dan Heching, CNN (CNN) — As part of the Television Academy’s first-ever Televerse festival last weekend, a truly meta thing happened: Henry Winkler, perennial star of “Happy Days” and an Emmy-winner for his work on “Barry,” taught an acting class. The performer known for playing the Fonz who has also dipped into impressively distinct
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By Lisa Respers France, CNN (CNN) — Swifties rejoice: your girl is coming back to the big screen. “Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl” will launch in theaters on October 3, the same day her new album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” drops. The news was announced Friday, and for OG fans
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By Billy Stockwell, CNN (CNN) — An oil painting by Pablo Picasso, unseen by the public for more than 80 years, will go under the hammer in Paris next month. The painting, “Bust of a Woman in a Flowery Hat,” depicts French photographer and painter Dora Maar — one of Picasso’s lovers and most famous
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By Azhar Al-Rubaie, CNN Hillah, Iraq (CNN) — The sun hangs heavy over central Iraq in late afternoon, painting the ruins of Babylon in heat and light. Dust rises from the ground in soft clouds, carrying a faint scent that seems older than time itself. In this moment the city feels both empty and eternal,
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By Jack Guy and Riku Inoue, CNN (CNN) — Top Japanese girl band AKB48 have released a single created using AI, after it proved more popular with fans than a rival song written by famed J-pop producer Yasushi Akimoto. As part of a songwriting competition on a Nippon TV program called “Akimoto Yasushi vs AI
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By Karina Tsui, Aaron Cooper, Andy Rose, CNN (CNN) — Grammy-winning songwriter Brett James, known for penning hits including Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” died in a plane crash on Thursday, according to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was 57. A plane registered under James’ legal name, Brett Cornelius, crashed into a
Continue Reading By Leah Dolan, CNN London (CNN) — Marie Antoinette died over 230 years ago. But in the modern day, the teen queen’s presence remains widely felt. A-listers from Kylie Jenner to Miley Cyrus have embodied her likeness for fashion magazines, wearing diaphanous frocks or towering wigs surrounded by a selection of teeth-rotting confectionery. Last year,
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