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Madonna Donates $2 Mil to Charity, Including $1.3 Mil to African Children’s Hospital, $250K to Kabbalah Center

Roger Friedman
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Madonna Donates $2 Mil to Charity, Including $1.3 Mil to African Children’s Hospital, $250K to Kabbalah Center

EXCLUSIVE Madonna is still giving big chunks of money to the controversial Kabbalah Center in Los Angeles. In 2016 she donated $250,000 to the cult that has taken millions from her over the last 20 or 30 years.

According to the new Form 990 for Madonna’s Ray of Light Foundation, that was about 1/10th of the total money Madonna made in charitable grants. Altogether she gave away $2 million– way up from previous years.

More than half the total– $1.3 million– went to Raising Malawi, her other foundation. That money went to the building of a children’s hospital in Malawi, Africa– the first time Madonna’s years of traveling to Madonna and adopting children there has actually produced a tangible effect. So that’s good news.

She also gave $250,000 to Creating Hope International in Dearborn, Michigan. Their mission is to “assist local organizations that work at the grass roots level in Afghanistan and India, helping people improve their lives and communities.”

Ray of Light also gave a measly $5,000 to Madonna’s pal Rosie O’Donnell’s important foundation for kids learning theater, and $10,000 to cancer research at the TJ Martell Foundation. She also sent $10,000 to the Community Foundation in Flint, Michigan, which still doesn’t have clean water. As usual, even though her biggest following is in the gay community, Madonna gave zip to AIDS research, etc, nothing to Elton John’s AIDS Foundation or amFAR.

But the $1.3 million for the children’s hospital in Malawi is a big deal, especially after past projects fell through or the money disappeared. So kudos for that.

“General Hospital” Celebrates 55th Anniversary by Firing 40 Year Vet Kin Shriner, No Plans for a New Deal with Genie Francis

Roger Friedman
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“General Hospital” Celebrates 55th Anniversary by Firing 40 Year Vet Kin Shriner, No Plans for a New Deal with Genie Francis

ABC’s “General Hospital” celebrated its 55th anniversary yesterday by firing a 40 year vet, Kin Shriner. The actor had been playing Scotty Baldwin on and off since 1977.

“General Hospital,” ABC’s last soap, is clearly going through a huge budget tightening. In January they tossed Genie Francis, also a 40 year player as Laura Spencer, one half of the famous Luke and Laura.

Over the last few weeks there was hope Francis was returning to the show because she had a public lunch with executive producer Frank Valentini. After I received emails about this I called Francis’s agent, who told me in fact there was no offer and there are no deals. Francis, meantime, has been posting photos from a trip to Paris. Living well is the best revenge.

One way to kill soaps is by undermining their base, and turning off older fans. ABC already did this with “All My Children” and “One Life to Live.” The idea is to strip off fan favorite actors and make the fans angry. The ratings drop and then the network has an excuse to cancel the show. It seems like ABC is moving in that direction.

It’s cheaper for them to run a talk — maybe from Roseanne or someone like that — than to produce a soap.

Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One” Makes $27Mil in 3 Days, Second Biggest Opening Weekend So Far of 2018

Roger Friedman
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Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One” Makes $27Mil in 3 Days, Second Biggest Opening Weekend So Far of 2018

“Ready Player One” made $15.2 million Friday night. Adding the Wednesday-Thursday shows that came to $12 million means the Steven Spielberg movie will post a $50 million plus weekend by tomorrow night.

This also means that “Ready Player One” beats “Fifty Shades of Freed” and “A Wrinkle in Time” and is second only to the phenom “Black Panther” so far for 2018 openings.

“Ready Player One” is Spielberg’s biggest opening weekend in a very long time. His last openings on this level were “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” with $100 million in 2008 and “War of the Worlds” in 2005 with over $60 million.

Warner Bros. has to be thrilled. They’ve got a tentpole now since “RPO” should generate two sequels. Author of the book Ernest Cline is working on “Ready Player Two” right now. Even if Spielberg just produces the next two they’ll come with his imprimatur. After so many disappointments with the DC Comics movies, the studio can bask in this glow.

Dear Roseanne Barr: Here’s Your President 100 White Interns, 2 Who Are Not — Is This Your Audience, Too?

Roger Friedman
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Dear Roseanne Barr: Here’s Your President 100 White Interns, 2 Who Are Not — Is This Your Audience, Too?

Roseanne Barr is Donald Trump’s official celebrity backer now. She drew 18-22 million viewers with the return of her show largely based on her squawking about Trump.

Dear Roseanne: here is the class photo of the spring 2018 White House interns with Donald Trump. They are all white with the exception of a black man and an Indian or black woman. That’s a ratio of 100 to 2. Is this your audience, too? Pictures so speak a thousand words. This is the way Donald Trump sees America. But this doesn’t represent our popular in any way? Are you aware of that.

This shameful in 2018. Even George and Martha Washington, flanking this loaf of unenriched white bread, know better by now.

With 14 Major Advertisers Fleeing, Laura Ingraham Says She’s Taking Next Week Off– Exactly How Bill O’Reilly Exited Fox News

Roger Friedman
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With 14 Major Advertisers Fleeing, Laura Ingraham Says She’s Taking Next Week Off– Exactly How Bill O’Reilly Exited Fox News

Is Laura Ingraham done at Fox News? Tonight she announced she’s taking next week off following her imbroglio with Parkland, Florida high school student David Hogg.

After attacking Hogg on Twitter, Ingraham became the object of an advertiser boycott. A dozen or so major advertisers have left her show including Johnson & Johnson, Hulu, Office Depot, Liberty Mutual, Jenny Craig among 14 top spenders and big brands. First it was just Hogg, 17, who encouraged the boycott. But it’s snowballed quickly.

This is exactly what happened to Bill O’Reilly last year. Advertisers fled when the New York Times revealed the multi million dollar settlements with women whom he’d sexually harassed. O’Reilly announced he was taking a week off. He never returned.

Fox News doesn’t need Ingraham. She’s new the prime time line up. The network is already fighting off Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, who’s regularly beating Sean Hannity. Ingraham herself was beaten on Thursday night by Lawrence O’Donnell, who follows Maddow. They were pretty much tied on Wednesday night. So Fox News may decide they don’t need to keep rolling the dice with a magnet for bad PR whose advertisers are gone.

Stay tuned…

Springsteen Guitarist Nils Lofgren SOS: Robbed of Beloved Instruments on Tour in Dallas

Roger Friedman
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Springsteen Guitarist Nils Lofgren SOS: Robbed of Beloved Instruments on Tour in Dallas

It’s an SOS from Bruce Springsteen guitarist Nils Lofgren. He and wife Amy have each Tweeted from Dallas that Nils’s guitars were stolen last night. It’s the first night of his solo tour (Nils had a great solo career before joining the E Street Band).

Nils writes: “I’m am devastated by this robbery. These are my first shows out after a very difficult year. Please consider a retweet. Alas, the show must go on. @KesslerTheater it won’t be the show I was planning on. However I do plan on taking the roof off.”

Pop: The Weeknd Surprise Drops New EP “My Dear Melancholy,” and Goes Straight to Number 1

Roger Friedman
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Pop: The Weeknd Surprise Drops New EP “My Dear Melancholy,” and Goes Straight to Number 1

The Weeknd is back. As a surprise holiday weekend gift, the talented R&B star has dropped a six song set called “My Dear Melancholy,”. That’s with a comma, because it’s a set of open letters that are moody, romantic, and full of memorable hooks.

The set comes on the heels of The Weeknd’s huge number 1 hit, “Pray for Me” with Kendrick Lamar, from the “Black Panther” soundtrack.

What I like about The Weeknd is that he has composed the whole thing himself with partners. All of it is original and sounds fresh.

The set, of course, has zoomed to number 1. The charts really needed “My Dear Melancholy,” you know. The staleness of sounds on the radio right now is shocking.

Here are the six songs. My favorite so far is number 5, “Hurt You,” which is co-credited to Swedish DJ Gesaffelstein.

Roman Polanski’s Long Ago Victim Samantha Geimer Confronts Mia Farrow’s Daughter on Twitter: “I object to those using the #MeToo only for their narrow interests”

Roger Friedman
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Roman Polanski’s Long Ago Victim Samantha Geimer Confronts Mia Farrow’s Daughter on Twitter: “I object to those using the #MeToo only for their narrow interests”

Samantha Geimer is crossing swords with Dylan Farrow on Twitter right now. Geimer, now over 50, was Roman Polanski’s rape victim when she was 13 in 1977. Geimer has time after time asked for leniency toward Polanski and supported the vacating of charges against him.

Now Geimer is taking on Dylan Farrow on Twitter. Dylan was the adopted daughter of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen who claims that Allen molested her when she was 7 in 1992. Investigators found no proof Allen did anything and did not recommend charges against him. Still Farrow–via her mother Mia Farrow and brother Ronan– has turned the persecution of Allen into her life’s work. (She has never, however, addressed the fact that Mia’s brother John Farrow is serving 10 to 25 years in prison for molesting two little boys.)

She writes on Twitter: “I object to those using the #MeToo only for their narrow interests when it is for all of us, about all of use, to support all our choices. We all should be reaching down pulling others up, not reaching up to pull people down.”

Dylan Farrow upbraids actress Cate Blanchett for not speaking out against Allen, who directed her to an Oscar in “Blue Jasmine.” Blanchett said in a TV Interview about Allen: “If these allegations need to be re-examined which, in my understanding, they’ve been through court, then I’m a big believer in the justice system and setting legal precedents. If the case needs to be reopened, I am absolutely, wholeheartedly in support of that.”

Geimer’s response is that Dylan could still file a civil action against Allen to prove her claim. But Dylan won’t do that– she doesn’t have a case, despite her mother and brother attempting to poison anyone they can against Woody based on hearsay.

Good for Geimer for calling out Farrow. She writes: “Ridiculous to attack those who think crimes should be investigated and tried in Court and ask instead that Twitter is now judge and jury for all accusations. You do not have to pursue charges as an adult, but if you do not, the consequences is there will be no guilty verdict.”

Review: Armie Hammer Gets Painted by Geoffrey Rush in Stanley Tucci’s Touching “Final Portrait”

Leah Sydney
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Review: Armie Hammer Gets Painted by Geoffrey Rush in Stanley Tucci’s Touching “Final Portrait”

Geoffrey Rush excels at playing tortured always on the edge characters. Rush repeats this talent by playing the artist Alberto Giacometti in Stanley Tucci’s (he wrote and directed) fine but flawed film “Final Portrait,” currently in limited release. Because of the superb acting by the cast, Sony Picture Classics could very well have another early awards film contender.

Armie Hammer plays James Lord, an American bon-vivant writer and art aficionado who in 1964 on a short trip to Paris is asked by his friend Alberto to sit for a portrait. Thinking it will only take a couple of days; Lord realizes the process is seemingly endless. Woven into the Italian/French drama of it all is Giacometti’s marriage, his long suffering wife Annette is played achingly lovingly by Sylvie Testud. Added to that is his love for and of his loyal prostitute mistress Caroline (Clemence Poesy) with his stalwart exasperated brother Diego forever on the sidelines, played touchingly by Tony Shalhoub.

At the recent Pacific Design Center premiere in LA, Armie introduced the film with designer and art lover Tom Ford sitting front and center. The New York premiere at the Guggenheim Museum had Tucci’s “Devil Wears Prada,” co star Meryl Streep and another “Prada” alum and Tucci sister in law Emily Blunt with her husband John Krasinski, (Tucci is married to Emily’s sister Felicity who is expecting their second child.) Tucci pals Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds also came out to support the talented Tucci.

“Final Portrait” is quiet, patient, thoughtful and at times really funny, with a meditative quality that the engaging actors slip into effortlessly. The bohemian art studio perfectly captures the rag tag mood. What’s missing is more of the backstory on Giacometti’s history which would have added to our understanding of him and his current circumstances. Still though Rush shines as the dramatic and dazzlingly, extremely charming and temperamental and never boring iconic artist.

TV: Roseanne Barr Gets the Last Cackle on Donald Trump, Crazy Like a Fox Comedienne Puts One Over on the Base

Roger Friedman
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TV: Roseanne Barr Gets the Last Cackle on Donald Trump, Crazy Like a Fox Comedienne Puts One Over on the Base

Everyone’s excited that Roseanne Barr scored 18 million viewers– it must be the Trumpers. But in reality, “Roseanne” is the least conservative show on TV. It’s run by Wanda Sykes and cast member Sara Gilbert — two prominent lesbians. The show features a 10 year old cross dressing boy who is probably gay. (The role was originally billed as gender fluid.)

On the premiere show this week, Roseanne and Dan’s daughter, Becky, announced she was going to accept $50,000 to carry another woman’s child. The family supported it. They also supported the 10 year old boy’s decision to wear a skirt to school. The family also warmly welcomed back Roseanne’s sister, Jackie, who  in episode 2 reveals she voted for Jill Stein for President.

“Who?” Roseanne squawks in reply. Exactly.

Not only that, Roseanne and Dan have a black granddaughter (they haven’t even gotten to that yet). Something tells me in weeks to come there will be anti-Wall pro-immigration episode as well. The Conners will turn out to be the accepting, open conservative Republican family in history.  In episode Dan even jokes about Darlene (Gilbert) being gay– wink wink since Gilbert is gay but her alter ego is not.

In a real right wing, conservative Rust Belt home, the boy would have been told to wear pants to school, Jackie would be persona non grata, and Becky would be prohibited from being a surrogate and sent packing. But we aren’t in that world. We’re in a gloss of that world that doesn’t exist.

Donald Trump called Roseanne (the real Roseanne) to congratulate her on her ratings. He’s been told that she supports him, so be probably thinks he had something to do with this. The truth is, Trump’s name is never uttered on the show.

Barr is crazy like a fox. She ginned up the base to get them to watch her show, and the result was a shattering 18 million. Even if 50 percent go away next week (when politics aren’t even mentioned) she’s got a massive hit. Trump doesn’t know it, but he’s been used by Roseanne. She’s getting the last cackle on him. Good for her!

In a Tweet this afternoon, Roseanne marveled at getting a call from Trump. But she also pointed out the other presidents she’d met or talked to– including Carter and Clinton. Just in case no one’s paying attention


 

 

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