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(Watch) Baseball Great Reggie Jackson’s Powerful Recollection on Live TV of Racism in Alabama

Roger Friedman
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(Watch) Baseball Great Reggie Jackson’s Powerful Recollection on Live TV of Racism in Alabama

Yankee great Reggie Jackson has always come across as angry in the baseball world. Now we know why.

In a real, stunning, and powerful moment on live TV, Reggie revealed the level of racism he encountered in the 60s when he played in Alabama for the team that became the Oakland Athletics.

The occasion on Tuesday night was the first ever Major League Baseball game played at Rickwood Field, home of the Negro League’s Birmingham Black Barons decades ago. It’s also where the late Willie Mays got his start in baseball.

Jackson played there in 1967 when the Oakland A’s were the Birmingham A’s. He surprised Alex Rodriguez with his answer about what it felt like returning to the ballpark and the city.

Watch this and pay attention. He’s talking about 1967. The same year the Beatles released “Sgt Pepper,” for example. This is not in some mysterious past. This week in 2024, ABC’s “General Hospital” had to post a defense of one of its young Black actresses who’s been receiving hate mail. Social media has made it possible for this all to go public.

Reggie’s recollections are no different than the great Motown and R&B stars of the 60s. Smokey Robinson recently talked about similar stories on his Sirius XM Radio show. It was dangerous for our now beloved singers to perform in the South. This is why “Green Book” was such an important movie.

A stunning moment on television:

“Coming back here is not easy. The racism that I (faced) here when I played here, the difficulty of going through different places that we traveled … fortunately I had a manager and I had players on the team that helped me get through it. But I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.”

“People said to me today and I spoke on it ‘Do you think you’re a better person, do you think you won, when you played here…’ And I said, you know, I would never want to do it again. I walked into restaurants and they would point at me and say ‘The n*gger can’t eat here.’ I would go to a hotel and they would say ‘The n*gger can’t stay here.’ We want to Charlie Finley’s country club for a welcome home dinner, and they pointed me out with the N-word, ‘he can’t come in here.’ Finley marched the whole team out. Finally they let me in. He had said ‘We’re gonna go to a diner, and eat hamburgers, we’ll go where we’re wanted.’”

“Fortunately, I had a manager, Johnny McNamara, that if I couldn’t eat in a place, nobody could eat. We’d get food to travel. If I couldn’t stay in a hotel, they’d drive to the next hotel and find a place where I can stay. If it had not been for Rollie Fingers, Johnny McNamara, Dave Duncan, Joe and Sharon Rudy, I slept on their couch three, four nights a week for about a month and a half. Finally, they were threatened that they would burn our apartment complex down unless I got out.”

“I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.’

“… In 1963, the Klan murdered four black girls, children … 11, 12, 14 years old at a church here and never got indicted. They were from the Klan. Life Magazine did a story on them like they were being honored. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”

“At the same time, had it not been for my white friends, had it not been for my white manager, and for Rudy, Fingers, and Duncan, and Lee Meyers, I wouldn’t have never made it. I was too physically violent. I was ready to physically fight someone. I would’ve gotten killed here, because I would have beat someone’s ass and (then) you would’ve saw me in an Oak tree somewhere.”

Review: Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer Can’t Fire Up “The Bikeriders”

Roger Friedman
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Review: Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer Can’t Fire Up “The Bikeriders”

Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders” was supposed to come out last year. It was delayed, moved, and then shoved into an opening for this weekend. I went tonight to see finally what was going on since screenings were hard to secure and the premiere was last minute in Los Angeles.

Now, however, I know what’s been going on.

“The Bikeriders” is beautiful and stylish, with some jarring performances that could have been sizzling. But it’s nothing, it dies halfway into its premise. The movie feels like an uncooked omelet. It’s a first act, third act, and nothing in between.

These were real motorcycle gangs in Chicago from 1966 to 1973. We know the years because a TV show like “Bewitched” or “Marcus Welby MD” is playing in the background. Austin Butler and Tom Hardy play James Dean and Marlon Brando not so much as Hell’s Angels, but the last cowboys in the Wild West. Jodie Comer is the wise cracking good girl in their midst. But for some reason Comer looks and sounds like Tina Fey playing Sarah Palin.

Butler’s Benny: you think he’s going to be a hero, or Tony from “West Side Story.” Lanky and coiffed, brooding for no reason, Benny is described upfront as not being able to avoid crashes. He’s also not too bright, and is easily beaten up. Hardy plays Johnny, the gang leader, in what is easily the best performance in the film. He’s violent but has a heart. He’s no genius, but you sense that he knows more than hes letting on.

The rest of the gang includes Michael Shannon in a small role, although he has the best moment. I really liked Boyd Holbrook, who doesn’t look like he’s supposed to be there. It’s revealed that’s correct when Norman Reedus — looking very “Walking Dead” — shows up out of nowhere. Reedus is so electric that he gives his scenes a much needed jolt.

And then there’s Jodie Comer, recalling all these events to Mike Faist, playing a journalist with a big microphone attached to a reel-to-reel tape recorder. (It’s the kind Mr. Phelps has on “Mission Impossible.”) Comer is so engaging as Kathy, The Good Girl who gets mixed up in all the trouble. But again, I could not shake the idea that she was Tina Fey dropped in from another film.

But what is the purpose of all this? Will new generation bikers — criminals, more violent, not warm and fuzzy — supplant this dying gang? Probably. Nichols presents this as a foregone conclusion. Because there is little character development, and no secondary plotting, the movie has nowhere to go except into its finale. The old vs. new thugs’ face off is telegraphed so quickly, i was actually thinking, Hey wait, slow down, the end is coming and we barely know these people. Plus, the main characters — the ones we’re invested in — are dispatched very quickly. Benny, for example, disappears for quite a bit of time. Where does he go? We don’t know, no one tells us, including him when he returns.

“The Bikeriders” does get high marks for cinematography, lighting, and editing. It looks great. It often has a Tarantino-esque feel, but whenever the momentum builds in that direction, it fizzles quickly. I don’t know what Nichols was aiming for here– an homage? a send up? He gets frustratingly close to something that could be smart and clever, then backs away nervously.

Hey– I paid $12. I wanted to like “The Bikeriders” a lot. I was in fairly good sized audience, too, but I could feel them pull away, too, when they realized nothing satisfying was going to happen. “The Bikeriders” is a real disappointment because it’s a missed opportunity.

Tea on the Tillerman: Cat Stevens Throws in With Roger Waters as Pro-Palestinian, Anti-Israel for Show Friday

Roger Friedman
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Tea on the Tillerman: Cat Stevens Throws in With Roger Waters as Pro-Palestinian, Anti-Israel for Show Friday

So much for Cat Stevens aka Yusuf Islam.

We were done with him years ago when he declared war on Americans during the Gulf Wars. Radio stations banned his music. They bulldozed piles of his records. He went after author Salman Rushdie.

But you know, fans got nostalgic and Yusuf was welcomed back. He made guest appearances. I talked to him at his Jazz at Lincon Center comeback show. He signed a deal with Dhani Harrison’s Dark Horse Records.

But now it’s time to wake up and smell the incense. And I’m incensed. Yusuf Islam says he’ll perform with famed antisemite Roger Waters tomorrow in London at a pro-Palestinian rally. I am sorry I ever advocated for him to join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

These are his true colors. If he’s with Roger Waters — who’s appeared on the concert stage dressed as Hitler — he’s antisemitic.

This is Yusuf Islam. The Cat Stevens we enjoyed FIFTY Years ago is dead. Morning has indeed broken, and we can see clearly. Advocating against Israel, playing “Peace Train” without railing against the murders of Jews on October 7th, the violent treatment of women and hostages– this is unacceptable.

Hugh Jackman, Martin Short, Ryan Reynolds, Anthony Anderson Among Jimmy Kimmel Summer Guest Hosts

Roger Friedman
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Hugh Jackman, Martin Short, Ryan Reynolds, Anthony Anderson Among Jimmy Kimmel Summer Guest Hosts

Jimmy Kimmel is taking the summer off, as usual. Who can blame him?

But the show must go on! And so it will with nine guest hosts filling in a week at a time.

The order is:

Martin Short, Anthony Anderson, Kathryn Hahn, Kumail Nanjiani, Lamorne Morris, Jeff Goldblum, RuPaul, and Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman.

This starts on Monday. Martin Short’s guests next week will include his “Only Murders” co-stars Steve Martin and Selena Gomez, plus Melissa McCarthy, Sienna Miller, Jelly Roll, and Beck, with musical performances by Imagine Dragons, Jelly Roll, Beck, and The Warning.

No mention of Meryl Streep, his close pal and maybe sometime girlfriend. That would be fun since she rarely does talk shows!

We will miss Jimmy, especially during the political conventions. Maybe he can drop by from time to time, but he’ll probably be somewhere exotic having a great time!

RIP The Great Donald Sutherland Passes Away at 88, Oscar Recipient, Star of “MASH,” “Ordinary People,” “Klute”

Roger Friedman
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RIP The Great Donald Sutherland Passes Away at 88, Oscar Recipient, Star of “MASH,” “Ordinary People,” “Klute”

This one hurts.

Donald Sutherland has died. The great — and I mean great — actor was 88. He had an Oscar Lifetime Achievement Award in addition to many nominations and other awards

Sutherland’s most famous movies included “Klute,” “Ordinary People,” and “MASH.” More contemporary audiences knows him from “The Hunger Games.” He was most recently on “Lawmen: Bass Reeves.” His other memorable roles were in “Six Degrees of Separation” (brilliant performance), “Don’t Look Now,” and “A Dry White Season.”

Sutherland was self-effacing. For a movie star he was as low key as possible, staying out of the spotlight when he wasn’t on screen. But when he did appear on screen, audiences would break out in spontaneous applause. He was the real thing and everyone knew it. He was also a vehement anti-war activist during the Vietnam era, appearing in a documentary with his “Klute” star (and lover) Jane Fonda called “FTA.”

His reps say he had a long illness. Donald Sutherland will be sorely missed and never forgotten.

Of course, Sutherland’s son, Kiefer, became a big star as well.

Ron Howard wrote on Twitter: “I was blessed to direct him in #Backdraft. One of the most intelligent, interesting & engrossing film actors of all time. Incredible range, creative courage & dedication to serving the story & the audience with supreme excellence.”

Prince Getting a Broadway Show Next Year Based on Hit Film, “Purple Rain,” Written by New Tony Award Winner

Roger Friedman
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Prince Getting a Broadway Show Next Year Based on Hit Film, “Purple Rain,” Written by New Tony Award Winner

It was inevitable. Prince is coming to Broadway.

The late purple rock star will be the subject of an estate approved musical based on his hit movie, “Purple Rain.” The show will launch in Minneapolis next spring, and then likely come to Broadway in fall 2025.

Two former Prince band members — Bobby Z. and Morris Hayes — will serve as musical advisers. Broadway vet Jason Michael Webb will handle music supervision and orchestrations.

The book is from the author of the current hit “Appropriate,” Tony Award winner and two-time Pulitzer Prize-finalist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, based on Prince’s original story. (The movie’s screenplay is by Albert Magnoli and William Blinn.) Music and lyrics are by Prince; and direction by Tony Award-nominee Lileana Blain-Cruz. 

This year is the 40th anniversary of “Purple Rain” so there will be a big celebration this weekend at Paisley Park. All of these creatives who are working on the musical will appear there for panels and cocktail parties and performances. Check it out on the paisleypark webpage.

The original movie only had 9 songs, so I’m assuming the musical — two hours long at least — will have some other Prince hits like “Little Red Corvette” and “1999.” We’ll see how that develops. But you know the final song, with the obligatory jukebox singalong, will the the title track. (Curtain call song– “Let’s Go Crazy”?)

And who will play Prince? Undoubtedly a newcomer as in the Michael Jackson musical, “MJ.” The music will be the draw!

The Kinks’ Legendary Dave Davies Sees Rock Hall Statue For Sale on ebay — And He’d Like It Back!

Roger Friedman
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The Kinks’ Legendary Dave Davies Sees Rock Hall Statue For Sale on ebay — And He’d Like It Back!

Dave Davies of the Kinks got a rude awakening this week. He saw his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame statue for sale on ebay for $12,500.

He’d like it back, thanks.

I spoke to Dave this morning. Twenty years ago he had a stroke that knocked him out of commission for about a year. That seems to be the time the statue went missing.

What happened is unclear. The ebay seller says the statue comes from a storage unit that Davies forgot about, which seems likely, Dave says, because of the stroke. Luckily, Dave has his health after making a full recovery. He has a great girlfriend named Rebecca Wilson, they’ve been together for 12 years. One of his 8 children, Daniel, is releasing new music tomorrow, an album called “Ghost of the Heart.” The title track is below. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

The Kinks are celebrating the 60th anniversary of their first– and seminal — hit, “You Really Got Me,” this year. The Kinks received the statue and were inducted into the Rock Hall in 1990. They are one of the greatest bands of all time, part of the British Invasion, and possibly the original punk group as well. Dave’s innovative style of playing guitar, plus the classic songs he wrote with brother Ray Davies, made the Kinks legendary.

And how are Dave and Ray getting along these days? “We’re going to see him for his birthday next week,” Dave says. “We get along very well except when we’re fighting!”

But the fighting is not what it used to be. The brothers are getting on pretty well, and Dave sings the praises of BMG for organizing, curating, and releasing their catalog. Whether it’s “Lola” or “All Day and All of the Night” or even “Come Dancing,” there’s nothing like the Kinks!

Trump Media Stock Crumbles as Gag Order Prevents Him from Launching Attacks

Roger Friedman
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Trump Media Stock Crumbles as Gag Order Prevents Him from Launching Attacks

Donald Trump’s DJT Truth Media company has hit an almost all time low on the stock exchange.

This morning, the stock fell to around $26, just four dollars higher than its previous low in April.

A lot of this has to do with the muzzling of Trump by the New York courts. Trump is under a gag order not to attack anyone from the court associated with his recent hush money trial. On Tuesday, the New York Court of Appeals refused to hear former Trump’s appeal of the gag order.

Trump was convicted of committing 34 felonies. He will be sentenced on July 11th.

Without its owner able to launch attacks and spew rhetoric, Truth Media is basically a board for Trump fanatics to carry on in his behalf. But the posters themselves aren’t famous and don’t have wide followings. They’re mostly just blowing off hate for Joe Biden as if they were third graders put in a corner by their teachers.

In the last three months, the Truth Media stock had plummeted, then risen again to around $54, but now it’s worth around half that much.

Justin Timberlake DWI Arrest Good for Business: Ticket Sales Up, New Album and Single Back on Charts

Roger Friedman
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Justin Timberlake DWI Arrest Good for Business: Ticket Sales Up, New Album and Single Back on Charts

Everyone has piled on Justin Timberlake in the last couple of days.

The NSYNC star was arrested in the Hamptons two nights ago for a DWI. It was late at night, he allegedly ran a stop sign on Main Street in Sag Harbor and swerved.

No one who’s written about the incident has been to Sag Harbor so they don’t know that the cops are just sitting there looking for expensive cars they can ticket. If you attempt to make the wrong turn into a parking space, bang!

Anyway. The NY Post has published stories with unnamed sources that are blown up out of control. My source at the American Hotel said Timberlake was NOT intoxicated at the end of the night.

But the whole episode has actually been good for business. Timberlake is in the middle of a tour, which he told the arresting officer might be harmed by the arrest. Far from it! Timberlake’s two shows this weekend in Chicago are almost sold out. His next shows, at Madison Square Garden next week, are in good shape.

Of the two MSG shows, the second one has more seats available. But the first one, on June 25th, is now in the hands of Verified Resellers.

Meanwhile, sales have been sparked of the album, “Everything I Thought It Was,” and the single, “Selfish.” They’re each back in the iTunes top 100.

The arrest actually brought Justin some publicity, regardless of the nature. Almost everyone knows someone who’s been pulled over. It actually might help Timberlake seem a little cooler. After all, no one was hurt (or would have been, that street is deserted after 11pm on a weekday). And Timberlake’s mug shot isn’t of someone disheveled. He actually looks pretty good.

Most legal opinions are that Justin will pay a fine, issue a heartfelt apology, and move on. But lemonade may be made from lemons here after all.

Again, I wrote immediately after the arrest was reported: Justin had dinner with a couple, he wasn’t out carousing with buddies. They shared a pitcher of martinis. That might mean 1.5 drinks per person. The bartender said he wasn’t drunk. All of those people will be called to testify.

Flashback: Liza Minnelli’s Wedding to David Gest Remains the Most Bizarre of All

Roger Friedman
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Flashback: Liza Minnelli’s Wedding to David Gest Remains the Most Bizarre of All
There’s a lot of talk about Liza Minnelli right because of a new documentary shown at the Tribeca Film Festival. It seemed like a good time for a Flashback to Liza’s 2002 wedding to David Gest. It made anything from The Addams Family look normal, yet Gest was no Gomez Addams. He ran a fake charity for years — which I reported on at Fox News with lots of evidence. (He listed the very dead producer Stanley Jaffe as CEO.) I went to Liza’s wedding with a friend of a friend. She was very generous. I sat with Liz Smith and Dominick Dunne, and they kept me laughing all night. Here is the report from March 18, 2002. Gest had a penchant for old Hollywood stars. He trucked them around everywhere. There were so many at the wedding, it was like the Monster Mash. (He was famous for having a shrine to Shirley Temple in his house.) Dominick Dunne came back from a visit to those tables and exclaimed to us, “Oh my god! Ann Blyth is still alive!” No offense to Ann. She’s still alive at age 98. She outlived literally everyone! PS Liza deserves a Kennedy Center Honor this year. It’s way past the time.

Liza’s Wedding Delayed by Liz Taylor

Liz Taylor held up Liza Minnelli‘s fourth wedding ceremony, delaying the proceedings by 50 minutes.

The reason? La Taylor forgot her shoes back at her hotel and had to go back and get them. When she finally did arrive, Taylor’s fragile physical state shocked onlookers at Marble Collegiate Church. “She could barely make the two steps up, and then she had to be helped.”

Taylor skipped altogether the wild reception Minnelli and weirdo hubby David Gest gave themselves near the site of the former World Trade Center.

Michael Jackson, top billed as best man, made the ceremony and the reception, but split after giving a quick toast honoring Minnelli and Gest. The entire Jackson 5 — advertised by Minnelli’s new P.T. Barnum-like husband — were not seen. But no one was surprised. The event was all about hype — how much, how many and why not? Even Donald Trump, who was there, should have been impressed by the hubris and the insanity of the whole thing. Guests even received red heart-shaped candy boxes adorned by a rose and a card that read “Liza and David.”

There were stars and more stars at the reception, which was held in the former marble bank building at 55 Wall Street. The gigantic, vaulted-ceilinged space doesn’t have the greatest acoustics. But that didn’t stop a flurry of stars from performing, one after another, until the wee hours. The showstopper had to have been Phoebe Snow, whose rendition of “At Last” brought record industry legends Clive Davis and Ahmet Ertegun to their feet, along with tablemates Liz Smith, Lorraine Bracco (with date Steven Green) and Cynthia McFadden.

Aside from the fore-mentioned, the number of old people and veteran Hollywood stars was quite amazing. Kirk and Ann Douglas, Robert Wagner and Jill St. John, Jane Powell, Ruth Warrick, Anne Jeffreys, Ann Blyth, Tony Franciosa, Hayley Mills, Juliet Mills, Billy Davis Jr. and Marilyn McCoo of the Fifth Dimension, Gena Rowlands, soul singer Chuck Jackson, Dionne Warwick — they were all there and decked out in finery. Dionne even did a duet of “Walk on By” with the Doobie‘s Michael McDonald.

Carroll Baker — “Baby Doll” to anyone over 50 — shouted out when Donny Osmond took the stage. Lauren Bacall boogied to the reunited Doobie Brothers singing “What a Fool Believes.” Mickey Rooney — the closest thing Liza Minnelli had to family at her own wedding — seemed to enjoy Jerry Butler‘s knockout performances of “Mr. Dream Merchant” and “Only the Strong Survive.”

Some stars were truly glamorous. Marisa Berenson, in a beaded gown and diamond brooch, should be giving fashion lessons for the Oscars. ABC’s McFadden, a bridesmaid (her 3-year-old son Spencer was also in the wedding party) sparkled in her black dress. Liz Smith got kudos for her royal blue jacket from Shanghai Tang.

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But everyone agreed that Minnelli — slimmed down and wearing a bright red gown — looked marvelous. She and Gest — who has strange waxy eyebrows that look like parentheses — sat at the center table, closest to the stage, and greeted all their guests. Even though there was quite a bit of dishing about their unusual union, the truth is the reception was fun, not nearly as tacky as you might have guessed. The room looked terrific, very warmly festooned in roses, and there was a nice buzz in the room.

Will the marriage last? No one’s laying odds, obviously. “No one knew who David was before this,” said one guest. “He’s like a combination of Liza’s father, Vincente Minnelli, and her stepfather Sid Luft. He’s a showman. And for Liza, she’s been so lonely. This is companionship. They’re very happy.”

The party was still going on when I left around midnight, although by 11 p.m. the heartiest of the senior citizens had packed up. There were plenty of abandoned tables, but just enough of the 1500 or so guests who danced on through the night.

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