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Empire is saved…for now in this week’s episode, “Bloody Noses & Crack’d Crowns”

Chuck Hodes/Fox Broadcasting Co.(LOS ANGELES) — This week’s episode of Empire, titled “Bloody Noses & Crack’d Crowns,” finds Lucious and Cookie fighting to save Empire from the evil clutches of Eddie. Here are some other highlights from the show: 

— Empire throws a “rent party” in order to raise money to save the label and usurp Eddie’s grand plans to takeover the company. 

— Hakeem and his new girlfriend Haven’s relationship makes Tiana jealous, especially when Tiana sees them performing together onstage at the Empire rent party. Haven eventually tells Hakeem that she has go to back to her real boyfriend, but should he ever need to make Tiana jealous again, he knows where to find her.  

— Andre appears to be in cahoots with Eddie and Anika, but is really cooking up a master plan to help his parents.

— Lucious finds out about Jamal’s band.  

— Eddie convinces Andre to shut down the Xstream server. Andre tells Lucious and Cookie what he had to do and that he put a timer on the server for their sake.

— Blake exposes his racist father and gains back respect from Lucious and Hakeem. 

— Cookie is officially done with Tiana and her attitude.

— Jamal asks Tori and the rest of his collective to perform at the rent party in order to help save Empire. 

— Cookie and Lucious raise over $75 million dollars, effectively saving Empire.  

— After Cookie and Lucious spend a passionate night together, Eddie and Giselle pay the two a home visit  Eddie threatens Lucious, by pulling out a scarf that Lucious wore the night he had Shyne murdered. Eddie says that if Lucious does not withdraw his bid for Empire, he’s taking the scarf as evidence to the police. 

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

John Legend and Chrissy Teigen welcome baby number two

Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for City Harvest(LOS ANGELES) — Congratulations go out to singer/actor John Legend and his model wife, Chrissy Teigen, who welcomed their second child — a baby boy.

Teigen tweeted the news late Wednesday night, writing, “Somebody’s herrrrrrre!” followed by a series of baby bottle emojis. Legend retweeted the message on his Twitter page.

Their newborn son joins the couple’s 2-year-old daughter, Luna.

Apparently, the baby, whose name hasn’t been revealed, came a little sooner than expected — Chrissy revealed June as the due date when she appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show back February.

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Kenya Barris adds Fox divorce-comedy film and Freeform TV

ABC/Bob D’Amico(LOS ANGELES) — Kenya Barris is staying busy.

In addition to the recent announcement of the Uptown Saturday Night remake starring Kevin Hart, which Barris is set to write, the black-ish creator has also snagged a new film and TV series.

Deadline has learned Barris has signed on to write and produce a divorce-comedy film for 20th Century Fox. The as-yet untitled project is described as a “gritty, pull-no-punches comedy” that focuses on a family dealing with divorce. According to Deadline, the script will be based on Barris’ real-life experiences.

In addition to his upcoming film projects, Barris has also snagged another comedy at Freeform. The series, called Besties, follows two lifelong best friends who lean on each other to get through difficult times as they figure out who they are. The half-hour sitcom is said to explore sitcom explores friendship, identity, race and class.

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

“Black Panther” stars reign supreme with 2018 BET nominations

Marvel Studios(LOS ANGELES) — The fictional nation Wakanda will officially be represented at the 2018 BET Awards.

Most of the Black Panther cast, which includes Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Sterling K. Brown, Daniel Kaluuya, Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett and Letitia Wright, has been nominated for a Best Actor/Actress Award. Their film also nabbed a Best Movie Award nomination.

Other nominations include fan favorites like black-ish‘s Yara Shahidi and Miles Brown for the Young Stars Award and breakout star Tiffany Haddish also received a Best Actress Award nod.

The 2018 BET Awards will air live Sunday, June 24 from the Los Angeles starting at 8 p.m. ET. Here are non-music nominees:

The Best International Act Award
Booba (France)
Cassper Nyovest (SA)
Dadju (France)
Davido (Nigeria)
Distruction Boyz (SA)
Fally Ipupa (Dr. Congo)
J Hus (UK)
Niska (France)
Tiwa Savage (Nigeria)
Stefflon Don (UK)
Stormzy (UK)

Best Actress Award
Tiffany Haddish
Lupita Nyong’o
Issa Rae
Angela Bassett
Letitia Wright
Taraji P. Henson   

Best Actor Award           
Chadwick Boseman
Michael B. Jordan
Donald Glover
Sterling K. Brown
Denzel Washington
Daniel Kaluuya

Young Stars Award
Yara Shahidi
Ashton Tyler
Caleb McLaughlin
Lonnie Chavis
Marsai Martin
Miles Brown

Best Movie Award
Black Panther
Girls Trip
A Wrinkle in Time
Detroit
Mudbound

Sportswoman of the Year Award
Serena Williams
Venus Williams
Skylar Diggins-Smith
Candace Parker
Elana Meyers Taylor

Sportsman of the Year Award    
Stephen Curry
LeBron James
Kevin Durant 
Dwayne Wade
Odell Beckham Jr.

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Zazie Beetz discusses her subversive role in “Deadpool 2” and dealing with her newfound fame

Photo Credit: Dave Allocca – StarPix ©2018(NEW YORK) — Zazie Beetz is embarking on a new journey and role as Domino, a newly recruited X-Force superhero, in Deadpool 2.

Beetz, who also plays Van in Donald Glover’s critically acclaimed FX series Atlanta, is aware of her rising star as an actress. Ahead of her upcoming film, Beetz tells ABC Radio she’s curious to see how this movie will affect her seemingly normal day-to-day life.

“[A] sort of like a life changing opportunity both in terms of career, but then both in terms of my personal life,” Beetz says. “A lot of things in a way have changed in terms of like how I may need to function sort of on my day-to-day and stuff like that. Because it’s just your profile is suddenly a lot more prominent. And so, it does change a lot of things. I wonder also how things are going to sort of shift once that kind of really hits theaters.”

While Zazie says she’s nervously excited at the ideal of becoming this projected superstar, the actress humbly adds she’s simply “grateful” for the opportunity to be a part of the project. Of course, it can’t hurt that Zazie also brings something fresh and new to her character Domino.

“I’m so happy that production kind of went the direction they went with in terms of casting a person of color for a role that is sort of typically doesn’t look that way,” she says. “There was initially concern about backlash or something… [from] comic book fans who grew up and had sort of the nostalgia level of a certain look.”

“There’s been a little bit of that here and there, but I have to say it’s been overwhelmingly positive. Which, I’m just like so grateful for.” 

Deadpool 2 hits theaters on May 18. 

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Party like it’s your birthday: John Travolta shows off his dad-dance moves during 50 Cent’s Cannes performance

Photo by Gisela Schober/Getty Images(CANNES) — Thanks to 50 Cent, John Travolta brought some of his Saturday Night Fever dances moves to a Tuesday night party at the Cannes Film Festival.

In a video posted by 50, Travolta’s seen dancing next to the rapper as he performs his hit, “Just A Lil Bit.” Travolta’s impromptu freestyle, which includes some seriously dad-like custom moves, was applauded by the crowd.

50 captioned his video, “Me and John Travolta partying. I swear I only came out here because of him.”

Prior to the party, 50 posted an Instagram photo of him and John at the festival.

“You gotta check out my John Travolta’s new movie Gotti he is great in it,” 50 wrote, captioning a photo of them standing side-by-side.

Gotti, which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday, stars Travolta as the late and legendary New York mobster John Gotti. The biopic also star Travolta’s wife Kelly Preston as Gotti’s wife, Victoria.

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Willow Smith says the pressure of fame made her cut herself

Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — During the latest episode of Jada Pinkett-Smith’s Facebook show, Red Table Talk, Smith’s daughter Willow opened up about the time she felt she lost her sanity.

“I feel like I lost my sanity at one point,” Willow revealed to her mother and grandmother, Adrienne Banfield-Jones. “It was after that whole “Whip My Hair” thing and I just had stopped doing singing lessons and I was kind of like, just in this gray area of, ‘Who am I? Do I have a purpose? Is there anything, like, I can do besides this?’”

Willow, now 17, was just nine years old when her single “Whip My Hair” was released.

“After the tour and the promotion and all of that, they wanted me to finish my album,” Willow explains. “And I was just like, ‘No, I’m not gonna do that.'”

She continues, “And after all of that kinda settled down and it was just like a kind of lull. Like I was just listening to a lot of dark music, and it was just so crazy and I was just like plunged into this black hole, and I was, like, cutting myself.”

The news of her cutting stuns both Jada and her mother, with the two of them inquiring who else knew about her struggles.

“I never talk about it because it was such a short, weird point in my life, but you have to pull yourself out of it,” says Willow. “I honestly felt like I was experiencing so much emotional pain, but my physical circumstances weren’t reflecting that.”

Willow says she eventually came out of that dark place and stopped hurting herself after deeming her actions “psychotic.”

The latest episode of Red Table Talk is available now available on Facebook.

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Will Adele agree to audition for a starring role in an “Oliver!” remake?

Alasdair McLellan(LONDON) — Now here’s a strange…Twist. The British tabloid The Sun claims that a remake of the 1968 movie musical Oliver! is in the works, and they want the Grammy and Oscar-winning superstar to take a lead role in the Oliver Twist adaptation. The only catch is, she’ll have to audition.

According to The Sun, the producers of the remake want Adele to play the lead female role of Nancy.  But just because she’s one of the best singers in the world today doesn’t mean she can also act, so that’s why the producers want her to try out.

A source tells the paper, “[They’re] still really keen to get Adele on board but they will not be seen to be giving her preferential treatment.  They know she has a world-class voice but want to see if she can sustain that while also acting and dancing. It’s going to be a huge production and they need to cast the right people with enough stamina.”

Theater impresario Cameron Macintosh, who produced Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon and Cats, is supposedly involved in the Oliver! remake.

The source dished, “There’s been a few bumps in the road on the project but everybody is quietly hopeful that once they get Adele in front of the [producers], they can move forward.”

Of course, Adele’s never publicly said she was interested in this movie project — or any movie project, actually — so take The Sun’s report with a grain of salt.

The 1968 film version of Oliver!, based on the Charles Dickens classic Oliver Twist, won six Oscars.

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Pauley Perrette responds to CBS statement on “multiple physical assaults” tweets

Photo: Patrick McElhenney/CBS ©2018 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved(LOS ANGELES) — Pauley Perrette, who recently left CBS’ NCIS after 15 seasons, thanked the network for its response to her tweets over the weekend suggesting she was the victim of “multiple physical assaults.”

“Pauley Perrette had a terrific run on NCIS and we are all going to miss her,” said CBS in a statement on Tuesday, according to Deadline. “Over a year ago, Pauley came to us with a workplace concern. We took the matter seriously and worked with her to find a resolution. We are committed to a safe work environment on all our shows.”

“I want to thank my studio and network CBS. They have always been so good to me and always had my back,” Perrette responded.

The 49-year-old actress posted a series of cryptic tweets on Sunday that began, “I refused to go low, that’s why I’ve never told publicly what happened. But there are tabloid articles out there that are telling total lies about me…”

“Maybe I’m wrong for not ‘spilling the beans’ Telling the story, THE TRUTH,” she continued. “I feel I have to protect my crew, jobs and so many people. But at what cost?…Just know, I’m trying to do the right thing, but maybe silence isn’t the right thing about crime… ?”

Added Perrette, “There is a “machine’ keeping me silent, and feeding FALSE stories about me.  A very rich, very powerful publicity ‘machine.’ No morals, no obligation to truth, and I’m just left here, reading the lies, trying to protect my crew. Trying to remain calm. He did it.”

“I’ve been supporting ant-bullying [sic] programs forever. But now I KNOW because it was ME! If it’s school or work, that you’re required to go to? It’s horrifying. I left. Multiple Physical Assaults…” she concluded.

Perrette’s final NCIS episode aired last Friday.

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

Stan Lee sues his former company Pow! Entertainment for $1 billion

ABC/Richard Cartwright(LOS ANGELES) — Comic-book legend Stan Lee, who created some of Marvel’s biggest superheroes, filed a lawsuit against his former company, Pow! Entertainment, Tuesday, citing his business partners took advantage of his poor eyesight and the fact that he was mourning his wife, Variety reports. Lee is suing for $1 billion. 

When Lee sold his company last year to Camsing International Holding in China, he said he was suffering from macular degeneration, which weakens eyesight. According to the suit, CEO Shane Duffy and Gill Champion used this health condition against him and swindled him into signing over his name. He says the two tricked him into signing away exclusive rights to his name, image and likeness. Lee even claims the two forged his signature. 

In addition to his declining vision, Lee says he did not know nor understand the terms of the contract because he was mourning the death of his wife. 

He now wants $1 billion and his name back. 

Lee is no stranger to legal issues lately. He also filed suit last month against his former publicist and business manager Jerardo Olivarez, whom Lee claims stole $1.4 million. 

Lee created or co-created some of Marvel’s most recognizable characters, like Spider-Man, Iron Man, Hulk, and The Avengers, in the 1960s. He founded Pop! Entertainment in 2001.

Copyright © 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.