Entertainment

A New York judge on Tuesday approved disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein‘s extradition to California, where he faces additional sexual assault charges, ending a legal fight prolonged by the COVID-19 pandemic, the defense’s concerns about Weinstein‘s failing health and a squabble over paperwork. Judge Kenneth Case said there was no reason to delay Weinstein‘s transfer any longer, denying his lawyer’s request to keep him at a state prison near Buffalo - where he is serving a 23-year sentence for a rape conviction last year - until the start of jury selection in the Los Angeles case. Los Angeles authorities plan to collect Weinstein, 69, from the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, New York, at the end of June or in early July, prosecutors said at Tuesday’s extradition hearing in Buffalo...

Actor and stand-up comedian Kevin Hart went on an expletive-filled rant against “cancel culture” during a new interview with the British Sunday Times, saying he‘s not the comic he used to be because of his fear of backlash over his jokes. Mr. Hart, whose latest Netflix special was titled “Zero F—-s Given,” admitted that he isn’t as unfiltered now as when he broke out on the stand-up scene in the late 1990s. “You’re thinking that things you say will come back and bite you on the ass. I can’t be the comic today that I was when I got into this,” he said. “It’s not necessarily about cancel culture,” he continued. “It’s backlash. It’s about the intent behind what you say — there’s an assumption it’s always bad and, somehow, we forgot comedians are going for the laugh. You’re...

Actor and stand-up comedian Jon Lovitz said “cancel culture” today is what the Hollywood blacklist was in the 1950s.  “I’ll just say it, it’s no different than McCarthyism,” the “Saturday Night Live” alum, who returns to the stage in Las Vegas next month, told the New York Post in an interview Friday. Mr. Lovitz said cancel culture, or the public’s ostracizing and censoring of public figures over alleged bad behavior, sometimes hurts his ability as a comedian “to satirize what’s going on in society and point out the hypocrisies.” “As soon as you say to a comedian like me, ‘You can’t say that,’ the first thing in my head is, ‘Oh, and now I have to,’” he said, adding that there is “a difference between making jokes and being outright mean.” “If you don’t have the ability to la...

Jon Stewart appears to be on “Team Rand Paul” when it comes to the origins of COVID-19. The comedian left friend Stephen Colbert at a loss for words Monday evening when he roasted those who deny the possibility that the Wuhan Virology Institute may be the biological ground zero for the deadly pandemic instead of soups found at local wet markets. “What do you mean?” Mr. Colbert asked his guest on CBS’ “The Late Show.” “Do you mean perhaps there’s a chance that this was created in a lab in Wuhan? There’s an investigation. If there’s evidence, I’d like to hear.” “A chance?! Oh, my God,” Mr. Stewart replied incredulously. “There’s a novel respiratory coronavirus overtaking Wuhan, China. What do we do? Oh, you know who we could ask? The Wuhan Novel Respiratory Coronavirus Lab. The disease is th...

Sometimes a single supernova can inspire a whole constellation of stars. India was not exactly a chess superpower when the great Viswanathan Anand burst on to the scene in the early 1980s. His storied career included a six-year reign as undisputed classical world champion starting in 2007. Known for his lightning-quick play as a youth, Anand also racked up a number of rapid and blitz world titles as well. At 51, Anand is easing back on his tournament schedule, though he still ranks 17th on the FIDE world rankings. But the chess boom he inspired in his native land continues to reverberate: India now has 67 grandmasters, took home its first medal (a bronze) in the 2014 Olympiad, and boasts the world’s No. 3 female player and a possible future women’s world champ in GM Humpy Koneru. And a new...

Broadway playwright and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda said he is “truly sorry” for a lack of Afro-Latino representation in his new film “In The Heights.” Mr. Miranda, who is of Puerto Rican descent, served as a producer and actor in the film that takes place in Washington Heights, a predominantly Latino neighborhood in New York City. The film is adapted from his 2008 Broadway musical of the same name. The “Hamilton” creator tweeted an apology Monday after some critics complained he used mostly light-skinned Latino actors in the film’s leading roles. “I can hear the hurt and frustration over colorism, of feeling still unseen in the feedback,” Mr. Miranda wrote. “I hear that without sufficient dark-skinned Afro-Latino representation, the work feels extractive of the community we wanted so mu...

NEW YORK (AP) — “Gone Girl” actor Lisa Banes died 10 days after being injured in a hit-and-run accident in New York City, police said. The 65-year-old Banes, who was struck by a scooter or motorcycle while crossing a street on June 4, died Monday at Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital, a police department spokesperson said. Banes appeared in numerous television shows and movies, including “Gone Girl” in 2014 and “Cocktail” with Tom Cruise in 1988. On television, she had roles on “Nashville,” “Madam Secretary,” “Masters of Sex” and “NCIS.” PHOTOS: Celebrity deaths in 2021: The famous faces we've lost Her manager, David Williams, said Banes was hit as she was crossing Amsterdam Avenue on the way to visit the Juilliard School, her alma mater. Police have made no arrests. Sign up for Dai...

Oscar-nominated character actor Ned Beatty died Sunday. He was 83. TMZ, citing “a family member” and later his manager, reported that Mr. Beatty died in his sleep Sunday, surrounded by relatives at his home. The celebrity news site said the death was due to natural causes and not related to the COVID-19 pandemic. PHOTOS: Celebrity deaths in 2021: The famous faces we've lost Mr. Beatty was nominated for an Academy Award as best supporting actor for the 1976 film “Network,” despite having really only one scene — a sinister 5-minute speech to anchorman Howard Beale. “You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won’t have it!” Mr. Beatty’s character yells at Beale in a starkly lit room. As examples of his range as an actor, TMZ noted that his other best-known rol...

NEW YORK (AP) — Just when a party was poised to break out in movie theaters, the below-expectation debut of “In the Heights” dampened Hollywood’s hopes of a swift or smooth recovery at the summer box office. Jon M. Chu‘s exuberant adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical opened with a modest $11.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Forecasts had ranged from $15 million to $20 million. The release of “In the Heights” — a lavish song-and-dance musical accompanied by glowing reviews from critics and considered a milestone movie for Latinos — was widely seen as a cultural event. On opening weekend, though, the Warner Bros. release narrowly missed the top spot. Instead, “A Quiet Place Part II” edged it with $11.7 million in its third weekend of release. (It’s close enough...

Bill Maher was back again this week on the “warped” ideas of woke liberals and its deleterious cultural consequences. The HBO “Real Time” host blasted the “progressophobia” of young activists, which he said has ironically produced “a growing belief in Whiteness as a malady and White people as irredeemable.” “That’s the phrase coined by Steven Pinker to describe a brain disorder that strikes liberals and makes them incapable of recognizing progress,” the host said. “It’s like situational blindness, only what you can’t see is that your dorm in 2021 is better than the South before the Civil War. …  Acknowledging progress isn’t saying ‘we’re done’ or ‘we don’t need more,’ and being gloomier doesn’t make you a better person.” Mr. Maher cited major corporations celebrating Pride Month as on...