Category: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

McKinley Belcher plays Samuel Diggs on the PBS drama ‘Mercy Street.’ (Courtesy image) Period sagas are the next big thing.  As if yearning for some wistful bits of the past, public television docu-series like “Finding Your Roots” and “Who Do You Think You Are,” gave way to cable productions like the celebrated “Boardwalk Empire,” “Hell […]

Joseph Fiennes (left) to play the King of Pop, Michael Jackson (right) in TV drama. (AP Photos/Chris Pizzello/Invision and Michael A. Mariant) LONDON (AP) — Joseph Fiennes will star as Michael Jackson in a one-off TV comedy set to broadcast later this year — a casting decision that has added fuel to a raging debate about opportunities for […]

The Birth of a Nation PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Fox Searchlight Pictures won a bidding war at the Sundance Film Festival for “The Birth of a Nation,” paying a record-setting $17.5 million for the film’s worldwide distribution rights. The studio announced the deal Tuesday after the film premiered to a standing ovation a day […]

Nate Parker, the director, star and producer of “The Birth of a Nation,” takes the stage to introduce his film onstage at the premiere of the film at the Eccles Theatre during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival on Monday, Jan. 25, 2016, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — […]

Actress Gabrielle Union poses for a portrait to promote the film, “The Birth of a Nation,” at the Toyota Mirai Music Lodge during the Sundance Film Festival on Monday, Jan. 25, 2016 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP) PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Actress Gabrielle Union is taking aim at Stacey Dash after […]

NEW YORK (AP) — A gruesome highway accident followed by months of pain and rehab. That’s no laughing matter. In a Sunday, Sept. 20, 2015 file photo, Tracy Morgan presents the award for outstanding drama series at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Morgan may soon be returning to […]

Sean “Diddy” Combs (Dan Steinberg/AP) and Mark Wahlberg (Joel Ryan/Invision/AP) LOS ANGELES (AP) — A bottled water company owned in part by Sean “Diddy” Combs and Mark Wahlberg is pledging to donate 1 million bottles of water to the residents of Flint, Michigan. AQUAhydrate says it’s sending 5,000 cases of water to Flint and will […]

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — An expert on the true-life New York native whose story was told in the Oscar-winning film “12 Years A Slave” has written a new book on blacks who were kidnapped and enslaved in pre-Civil War America. David Fiske’s book is titled “Solomon Northup’s Kindred: The Kidnapping of Free Citizens before the […]

In this Feb. 28, 2015, file photo, Chris Rock appears onstage at Comedy Central’s “Night of Too Many Stars: America Comes Together for Autism Programs” at the Beacon Theatre in New York. Academy Awards producer Reginald Hudlin says host Chris Rock is hard at work rewriting his material for next month’s Oscar show. Hudlin told […]

Filmmaker Spike Lee poses for a portrait to promote the series, “Off the Wall”, at the Toyota Mirai Music Lodge during the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP) PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Spike Lee applauds the Academy for making changes to increase diversity in […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Macklemore explores racism and hip-hop in a new song called “White Privilege II,” rapping about a white person’s position in society with black people fighting injustice and even namechecking Iggy Azalea for appropriating black culture, along with himself. Macklemore explores racism and hip-hop in a new song called “White Privilege II,” […]