Thursday, December 11, 2025
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Whoopi Goldberg May Be First of Kennedy Center Honorees Who Won’t Return Now That Trump is Chairman

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On “The View” today, Whoopi Goldberg announced that she will not return to the Kennedy Center while Donald Trump is chairman.

She was responding to the news that “Hamilton” will not play there in 2026.

Whoopi received the Mark Twain Prize in 2001 from the Kennedy Center.

She said, “I have no plans to go back to the Kennedy Center until the Kennedy Center becomes what it was supposed to be, and that was a welcome place for all artists, no matter what your groove is.”

Goldberg may only be the first of many past honorees who won’t return until Richard Grenell and the sudden new directors are removed. She didn’t say it, but among other things Grenell’s group has no Black members.

Trump swore that the new Kennedy Center will not be “woke.”

The Kennedy Center Honors artists committee in the past sent in recommendations for new inductees in April. The announcement is usually made in May or June.

But now all bets are off for many potential candidates who’ve been waiting to be selected. They would include, among others, Denzel Washington and Liza Minnelli.

Just a couple of years ago, the “Hamilton” creators were inducted because of the show’s startling genius. That they’ve bowed out is significant because in the past — even during the first Trump term — “Hamilton” was a big money maker for the Center.

Who’s next to say ‘no’ to the Kennedy Center? Stay tuned…

“Succession” Creator’s HBO Movie Starring Steve Carell Has No Title Yet So the Content Isn’t Revealed

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“Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong is filming an HBO movie fast, fast, fast.

The just announced project is shooting now in Park City, Utah. It stars Steve Carell as Randall, Jason Schwartzman as Hugo Van Yalk (Souper), Cory Michael Smith as Venis and Ramy Youssef as Jeff.

No title has been revealed because that would give away the plot. But considering “Succession” was about the Murdoch family, this movie will probably be loosely based on the billionaires currently taking over the US. The logline says the fil will follow a group of “billionaire friends” who “get together against the backdrop of a rolling international crisis.”

The movie is set for airing on HBO and MAX this spring, to keep current with news headlines. I do think it’s going to sting, whatever it is.

JFK Grandson Jack Schlossberg Asks RFK Jr’s Wife Cheryl Hines to Apologize to Family Of Dead Child (Video)

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Irreverent JFK grandson Jack Schlossberg has a favor to ask of his cousin’s wife.

Jack wants actress Cheryl Hines, married to Robert Kennedy Jr, to make a phone call to the family of the Texas child that died of measles.

RFK, of course, is the conspiracy theorist and anti-vaxxer who now runs the Department of Health and Human Services.

Jack wants Hines — whose name he spells Heins (original spelling? something to do with Ketchup?) — to make the call because RFK made little of the death at a hearing.

Kennedy called the measles outbreak and the death “not unusual.”

The child died in West Texas on February 26th.

In the last couple of days, Kennedy has had to reverse his anti-vax stance and tell the public they must get the measles vaccine. “I recognize the serious impact of this outbreak on families, children, and healthcare workers,” he posted on Twitter. “The measles outbreak in Texas is a call to action for all of us to reaffirm our commitment to public health.”

Schlossberg regularly takes jabs at various members of the Trump world on social media. He mocks JD Vance, his wife Usha, and others all the time. He cannot curb his enthusiasm, which is a good thing.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Voting Lagging Way Behind 2024 Nominees, with Phish in the Lead

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Fan voting for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is way behind this week last year.

This year’s number 1 vote so far is for Phish. But they’re lagging behind 2024’s number 1, Ozzy Osbourne, by around 34,000 votes.

The gaps grow wider as you go down the list. Mariah Carey, for example, has half as many votes as she did last year at this time.

Is this apathy? Or do fans not know they can vote their choices?

My choices — Chubby Checker, Cyndi Lauper, Joe Cocker, Soundgarden, and Bad Company — are doing well.

But there may be frustration with the Rock Hall that non-rock acts like Carey and Outkast are even listed when so many actual rockers aren’t there. Also even some rock acts — Oasis, Joy Division, and Billy Idol — seem a little on the fringe when you realize a performer like Sting doesn’t have individual membership. Tommy James? The Monkees? Lou Reed? Grand Funk Railroad? Jethro Tull?????

2025 Nominees as of this week
Phish: 164,849 votes
Billy Idol: 100,385 votes
Soundgarden: 96,138 votes
Bad Company: 93,717 votes
Cyndi Lauper: 87,997 votes
Joe Cocker: 83,148 votes
Chubby Checker: 75,337 votes
The Black Crowes: 66,909 votes
Mariah Carey: 59,553 votes
Outkast: 52,043 votes
Joy Division + New Order: 52,019 votes
The White Stripes: 50,043 votes
Oasis: 48,690 votes
Maná: 19,302 votes


2024 Nominees same time last year

Ozzy Osbourne: 199,297 votes
Foreigner: 186,179 votes
Peter Frampton: 180,760 votes
Dave Matthews Band: 176,004 votes
Cher: 145,067 votes
Lenny Kravitz: 125,803 votes
Mariah Carey: 115,625 votes
Kool & the Gang: 106,389 votes
Oasis: 84,724 votes
Sinéad O’Connor: 71,664 votes
Sade: 69,272 votes
Jane’s Addiction: 63,979 votes
Mary J. Blige: 52,408 votes
A Tribe Called Quest: 41,179 votes
Eric B. & Rakim: 25,021 votes

Look Back: National Board of Review Got Almost Everything Wrong Regarding 2025 Oscar Winners

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Now that awards season is over, let’s take a look back at the kooky National Board of Review.

They got just about everything wrong this winter regarding the eventual Oscar winners. This might be useful for next time around.

The NBR — run by one woman, Annie Schulhof — would have been escorted out of the casino if she’d placed her bets this way.

Schulhof gave Best Picture to “Wicked.” The Oscar winner was “Anora.”

Best Actor and Actress went to Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman, respectively of “Queer” and “Babygirl.”

The Oscars went to Adrien Brody and Mikey Madison.

Schulhof got one acting prize right– Kieran Culkin also won the supporting actor Oscar for “A Real Pain.” But in supporting actress, she chose Ellen Fanning for “A Complete Unknown.” The Oscar went to Zoe Saldana for “Emilia Perez.”

The NBR’s Best Director was Jon M. Chu for “Wicked.” Chu wasn’t nominated for an Oscar.

Her screenplay awards went to “Hard Truths” and “Sing Sing.”

The Oscars — “Anora” and “Conclave.”

“I’m Still Here” won the Oscar for Best International Film. Schulhof went with “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.”

Schulhof’s top 10 films overlapped with just four of the Oscar top 10.

The “Wicked” awards were to get Universal to pay for tables at their annual gala. The “Queer” and “Babygirl” awards could be attributed to having an executive from A24 on the NBR board.

Even with the lean in for A24, Schulhof made a big mistake. She totally ignored “The Brutalist,” and gave it not a mention. So Brody, who won many Best Actor awards elsewhere, and director Brady Corbet, got nada from them. It could be that in the horse trading, Schulhof took Kidman and Craig, and sacrificed Brody and his movie.

She also got documentary wrong, going with “:”Sugarcane.” She totally ignored “No Other Land.” Not even chosen for top docs.

“Hamilton” Cancels Kennedy Center Run in Pre-emptive Strike Before New Trump Board Can 86 Them

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A year from now, no one will be in the room where it happened.

Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway musical “Hamilton” has cancelled its March 2026 run at the Kennedy Center.

It’s a pre-emptive strike, producer Jeffrey Seller says, instead of waiting for the new Trump led all white Trump board cancels them.

The irony is that “Hamilton” was honored with a Kennedy Center honor just a couple of years ago.

Seller notes in a statement that “Hamilton” did a run at the Kennedy Center during Trump’s first administration.

But with the replacement of Deborah Rutter, and everyone else who ran the Center, it was wise to make this decision now.

Here’s Seller’s statement:

“Political disagreement and debate are vital expressions of democracy. These basic concepts of freedom are at the very heart of Hamilton. However, some institutions are sacred and should be protected from politics. The Kennedy Center is one such institution.

“The Kennedy Center was founded over 50 years ago with a sincere bipartisan spirit. Indeed, it was founded during the administration of President Dwight Eisenhower, named after President John F. Kennedy, and opened in 1971 under the administration of Richard M. Nixon. The Kennedy Center was meant to be for all Americans, a place where we could all come together in celebration of the arts. Politics have never affected the presentation of thousands of shows and the display of extraordinary visual arts.

“However, in recent weeks we have sadly seen decades of Kennedy Center neutrality be destroyed. The recent purge by the Trump Administration of both professional staff and performing arts events at or originally produced by the Kennedy Center flies in the face of everything this national cultural center represents. This spirit of nonpartisanship ended on February 7, 2025, with the firing of Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter, the Chairman of the Board David Rubenstein, numerous other Kennedy Center board members, and the cancellation of important programming. These actions bring a new spirit of partisanship to the national treasure that is the Kennedy Center.

“Given these recent actions, our show simply cannot, in good conscience, participate and be a part of this new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center. Therefore, we have cancelled the third engagement of Hamilton at the Kennedy Center, originally scheduled for March 3-April 26, 2026.

“Hamilton was proudly performed at the Kennedy Center in 2018 during the first Trump administration. We are not acting against his administration, but against the partisan policies of the Kennedy Center as a result of his recent takeover.

“Our cancellation is also a business d

ecision. Hamilton is a large and global production, and it would simply be financially and personally devastating to the hundreds of employees of Hamilton if the new leadership of the Kennedy Center suddenly cancelled or re-negotiated our engagement. The actions of the new Chairman of the Board in recent weeks demonstrate that contracts and previous agreements simply cannot be trusted. This is sad, because basic integrity and the rule of law have long been great American principles that help serve as a foundation for our Nation.

“I have personally loved the Kennedy Center since touring it as a seventh grader in 1977 along with the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial. I watched the first Kennedy Center Honors in 1978. Regardless of the political climate, I have always felt at home at The Kennedy Center, and I am grateful for every person who has spent the last 50 years making it a beacon of nonpartisanship and celebration. But we cannot presently support an institution that has been forced by external forces to betray its mission as a national cultural center that fosters the free expression of art in The United States of America.”

Donald Trump — On Social Media –Threatens to Kill Everyone in Gaza, Not Just Hamas (Read Post)

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On Truth Social, at about 4:4pm today Donald Trumo wrote:

“Also, to the People of Gaza: A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD! Make a SMART decision. RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW, OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!”

While we are all concerned about the remaining hostages, dead or alive, this is a frightening threat from a sick man.

He’s not addressing Hamas, which you can see in the full post below. He’s threatening all the people of Gaza, people who are suffering regardless of how pro-Israel you are. It’s revolting, and way beyond ‘unbecoming of a US president.”

Everything Trump says and does is spoken like a demented bully on a playground. He’s not going to get Greenland or the Panama Canal, he just blows smoke up you know where.

I’m as pro-Israel as you can be, but this is unacceptable on every level.

NBC De-Ages Nightly News Anchor as Tom Llamas, 45, Succeeds Popular Lester Holt, 65

Tom Llamas is in as Lester Holt’s successor.

Llamas is taking over as anchor of NBC Nightly News as the network sunsets Lester.

Holt has been very successful, but he’s 65 years old. (He doesn’t look it.) Llamas is 45. He was born in 1979. (I still have a jacket from 1979!)

It’s a young man’s game, you see, and Holt is being sent back to “Dateline” to cover the weekly murder of a young wife or girlfriend by her insane other half.

Llamas was at ABC, hoping David Muir would keel over. But Muir is too young for that, so Llamas came over to NBC and bided his time. He’s the first Cuban American to anchor a network news show.

The result is that he will pick up the torch left behind by people like Huntley and Brinkley. Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams, and Holt.

Llamas will start during the summer.

Meantime, CBS Evening News with John Dickerson and Maurice Dubois remains an enigma, trailing way behind ABC and NBC.

Oscars Ratings Were Actually Up 1% Counting Every Device You Could Possibly Watch Them On

The first reports of the Oscars ratings had them down 7% from last year.

Now ABC says they were actually up 1% from last year, with 19.69 million viewers.

Where did the extra 1.60 million viewers come from in between the reports?

ABC says they came a bunch of places that aren’t publicly monitored: Hulu, smart watches, computers, bus stops, ham radios, and dolphins.

Is it true? Why not? The increased numbers sound better than the lower ones, and considering everything else going on in the world, we need that.

The good news is that the number of young people watching was way up, with more people watching between 18 and 49 totally, and 18 and 34 even more. That’s very important because it speaks to the future of Hollywood.

A lot of that may have to do with the Chalamet effect. “A Complete Unknown” was an actual box office hit because it starred Timothee Chalamet. The Oscars basked in that glory (even though the movie didn’t win anything).

Inside Vanity Fair Party From Hollywood’s Number 1 Guest: “I Don’t See Stars, These Are Just a Bunch of Average People”

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Carl Tabor is Hollywood’s number 1 party guest. His dance card is filled constantly, and he posts pictures and videos from the events with the tighest guest lists and most diligent security.

Of course Carl was at the Vanity Fair Oscar party, where he filmed the main room and got some portraits with actors. Among them: Jon Hamm, and Sofia Vergara.

Scanning around the room on video, Carl observed: “I don’t see stars like I normally did. These are just a bunch of average people.”

The whole thing looks pretty tacky, in fact, not the way I remember it when Graydon Carter was the host. Times have changed!

Love Carl’s intrepid work covering the scene, and posting it to Instagram!