NEW YORK — Prosecutors said they now expect music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs could face a prison sentence “substantially higher” than the four to five years they once thought he was likely to face after his conviction on two prostitution-related charges. They made the observation late Thursday in a Manhattan federal court written submission in…
Sean “Diddy” Combs has asked a judge to throw out his guilty verdicts on prostitution-related counts or grant him a new trial, saying such convictions are without precedent. “This conviction stands alone, but it shouldn’t stand at all,” the Wednesday filing said. Combs’ lawyers argue that his two felony convictions were a unique misapplication of…
LONDON — British writer Allan Ahlberg, author of more than 150 children’s books including classics like “Eat Peach Pear Plum” and “The Jolly Postman,” has died, his publisher said Friday. He was 87. Penguin Random House said Ahlberg died on Tuesday. It did not give a cause of death. Ahlberg’s books introduced generations of young…
Veteran producer Lynette Howell Taylor has been elected president of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Taylor will succeed Janet Yang in the role, presiding over the organization that puts on the Oscars, film academy CEO Bill Kramer said Thursday. An academy member since 2014, Taylor has served the organization in several high-profile…
LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) — Justin Timberlake has been diagnosed with Lyme disease, the former NSYNC star said on Instagram Thursday. Timberlake shared the news in a post commemorating his Forget Tomorrow tour, which wrapped in Turkey on Wednesday, adding that the disease “can be relentlessly debilitating, both mentally and physically.” The “SexyBack”…
SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by actor Alec Baldwin for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations in the 2021 fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western movie “Rust.” The judge in a ruling made public Wednesday dismissed the case without prejudice for lack…
NEW YORK — U.S. fashion retailer American Eagle Outfitters wanted to make a splash with its new advertising campaign starring 27-year-old actor Sydney Sweeney. The ad blitz included “clever, even provocative language” and was “definitely going to push buttons,” the company’s chief marketing officer told trade media outlets. It has. The question now is whether…
NEW YORK — Reneé Rapp was clear on her intentions for her sophomore album, “Bite Me,” from the start. “I wanted to love this,” Rapp says. “I wanted to be able to walk away from this and be so proud of myself and impressed, no matter what anybody else thought.” Her first album, 2023’s “Snow…
NEW YORK — In the colorful, animated, musical world of “KPop Demon Hunters,” everyone is a fan. The general public rocks T-shirts supporting their favorite idols. They hold light sticks and stare starry-eyed at stadium stages; they scream, they cry, they cheer, they buy the merch. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, then,…
LOS ANGELES — No matter the time on Martha’s Vineyard, a shimmering glow will be powered by the star presence of Black filmmakers, actors and tastemakers like Issa Rae, Mara Brock Akil and Michelle Obama who are shaping culture on their own terms. For two-plus decades, the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival has been…
