Friday, December 19, 2025
Donate
Home Blog Page 76

Coca Cola Isn’t So Sure They’re Giving Up Fructose for Cane Sugar: “We appreciate Trump’s enthuiasm for our product”

Roger Friedman
-
0
Coca Cola Isn’t So Sure They’re Giving Up Fructose for Cane Sugar: “We appreciate Trump’s enthuiasm for our product”

I told you that Donald Trump suddenly announced today that Coca Cola would switch from high fructose syrup to real cane sugar in their drinks.

It’s likely Trump was lying or overstating, what he does at every press conference and speech. (He also blamed Joe Biden for hiring Jerome Powell, when it was Trump who did the hiring.)

Coca Cola issued a classic response to Trump’s claim: “We appreciate President Trump’s enthusiasm for our iconic Coca-Cola brand,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “More details on new innovative offerings within our Coca-Cola product range will be shared soon.”

In other words, pay no attention to the fat man in the blue suit.

I told you earlier that Trump’s unusual interest in the sugar question is likely connected to one of the Republican party’s biggest donors, Jose “Pepe” Fanjul, who owns all the cane sugar in sight. Fanjul is worth $8 billion and never saw a Republican cause or candidate he didn’t like.

Trump’s Cane Mutiny has nothing to do with dietary issues. After all, he eats fast food and swills soft drinks as if he were on Death Row. Also, according to all the sources I’ve consulted, there is no real difference between fructose and cane. But the former is cheaper than the latter. The introduction of cane sugar would drive up prices to the consumer.

Was this just another fake out from Trump, a way of getting attention away from Epstein and the files? Probably it was the same as Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship and a half dozen other things. Whatever happened to Panama, and Greenland?

Broadway: “Gypsy” Announces Sudden Closing, Jean Smart’s “Call Me Izzy” Extends Despite Slow Sales

Roger Friedman
-
0
Broadway: “Gypsy” Announces Sudden Closing, Jean Smart’s “Call Me Izzy” Extends Despite Slow Sales
UPDATED THURS 11:37AM

“Gypsy” starring Audra McDonald is closing early, on August 1th This abrupt announcement came tonight.

Despite great reviews, “Gypsy” has struggled to keep an audience. The musical played at 61% capacity last week after not receiving any Tony Awards.

The announcement seems like it was last minute considering producers had just announced that Montego Glover, who subbed for McDonald on her vacation week, was picking up Sunday matinees as well.

“Gypsy” was selling tickets through October 5th and while current sales were down, things didn’t look so bad in August. But inside information obviously prevailed.

McDonald is currently starring in “The Gilded Age” on HBO.

Meanwhile, things are a mess at “Call Me Izzy” at Roundabout Theater where they just announced an extension despite slow sales. They played at just 28% capacity last week. It wasn’t just because star Jean Smart said she had a knee injury and her standby stood in.”

“Izzy,” an original play that got also got very positive reviews, hit a peak the week of June 22nd of $604K. But the party was over quickly. The week of July 6th, grosses were down to just $233K. Last week, with Izzy being played by capable substitute Johanna Day, receipts came to just $113K.

Smart was just nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Comedy in “Hacks.” She’s won six Emmys already including three for “Hacks.” She’ll likely win again this September. The idea of putting her in a one woman show in a play no one knows anything about was brave but tricky. She should have been off Broadway in a much smaller house.

Alas, “Izzy” will likely close before its limited run is over on August 18th. That’s if Smart returns at all, or the injured knee becomes the reason to close up shop. As good as Day might be, she’s not the reason for this production.

“Gypsy” joins a slew of shows that have shut down since the Tony Awards including “Boop” and “Smash.”

What’s going on? Lack of tourists. As much as Times Square is filled with crowds milling around and taking pictures with Elmo, foreign travelers who’d be the Broadway audience are staying away. The reason, of course, is the horrific reign of Donald Trump. Foreigners aren’t coming to the US because they are either afraid of Trump or angry with him. Canadians, who make up a large part of Broadway audiences, staying home and boycotting the US.

My advice? Go see these two shows immediately before they pack up.

Hugh Jackman Weekend Shows at Radio City Full of Empty Seats, Some Priced as Low as 35 Bucks: Is it the Weather? Or the Divorce?

Roger Friedman
-
0
Hugh Jackman Weekend Shows at Radio City Full of Empty Seats, Some Priced as Low as 35 Bucks: Is it the Weather? Or the Divorce?

Something’s definitely off with Hugh Jackman’s Radio City shows.

The “Wolverine” actor plays three shows this weekend — Friday night, Saturday matinee, and evening.

There are large numbers of empty seats at every show. Some are going for as low as $35.

I thought when I wrote about lagging ticket sales a couple of weeks ago that the promoters would do something to gin up interest.

But the sound of silence has been deafening. The result is that Jackman is going to be lonely this weekend.

What’s the cause of this apathetic response? Is it too hot? It”s not too expensive. Are Jackman’s female fans turned off because of his contentious public divorce from long time wife Debra-Lee Furness?

Meantime, tickets go on sale Friday for Sutton Foster’s December run at Cafe Carlyle. The seats should sell fast, but we’ll see if she has trouble too considering Jackman left Furness for her.

Also just announced at Cafe Carlyle: the famed folk, rock (and classical) musician Judy Collins from September 9th to the 20th. What an amazing opportunity to see a true legend up close!

Exclusive: Trump Shakes Down Coca Cola to Use Real Cane Sugar in Drinks Because One of the Biggest Republican Donors Owns All Of It

Roger Friedman
-
0
Exclusive: Trump Shakes Down Coca Cola to Use Real Cane Sugar in Drinks Because One of the Biggest Republican Donors Owns All Of It

Today Donald Trump wrote something on Truth Social that seemed ridiculous:

“I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so,” he wrote, “I’d like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola. This will be a very good move by them — You’ll see. It’s just better!”

Why would Coca Cola drop their fructose syrup in favor of cane. Simple: One of Trump’s biggest Republican donors owns all the cane sugar in Florida, and then some.

Jose “Pepe” Fanjul owns the Florida Crystals Corporation. Fanjul, who’s Cuban by birth and spends a lot of time at an estate in the Dominican Republic, runs his family’s empire. is the second eldest of the Fanjul brothers, who control a sugar and real estate business valued at $8.2 billion.

Fanjul is the vice chairman and president of Flo-Sun, a Fanjul family-owned sugar growing and refining company, and of Florida Crystals, according to Wikipedia.

According to Google AI: “[The Fanjuls] own and farm over 190,000 acres of land, including two sugar mills, a sugar refinery, a rice mill, and a packaging and distribution center. Florida Crystals also operates the largest biomass renewable power plant in North America. Additionally, they are the only producer of certified organic sugar grown and milled in the U.S. and the largest Regenerative Organic Certified farm in the country.”

The Fanjuls have contributed millions upon millions to Trump and all Republican candidates. If I had the time or a staff to add up all the donations listed on OpenSecrets.org we could give you a total and you’d fall over while reading this article. There are so many pages that finally one reads “Maximum Limit 500.”

OpenSecrets calculates an average of $1.1 million a year by the Fanjul Corporation for lobbying. They say Fanjul Corp’s 2024 donations came to $2.9 milliion. About 99% of the donations were to Republicans. There was also a $1 million donate to Make America Great Again. 

Here’s a link to the pages and pages of Republican donations.

The largest single donation was to the WinRed PAC in 2020 for $85,000.

Everyone in New York — meaning the Upper East Side — knows the Fanjuls. They are fun, social people who split their time between the city, Palm Beach, and the DR. Trump has known them a long time. So the idea that Trump is now arm twisting soda companies to use cane sugar is no surprise — except to the 99% of people who don’t know the background.

And you thought Trump was gulping Coke for his health!

There’s plenty more to read. Click here.

New “Knives Out” Saga with Daniel Craig, Jeremy Renner, Glenn Close, Josh O’Connor World Premiere at Toronto Fest

Roger Friedman
-
0
New “Knives Out” Saga with Daniel Craig, Jeremy Renner, Glenn Close, Josh O’Connor World Premiere at Toronto Fest

The third “Knives Out” movie has set a world premiere.

“Wake Up Dead Man” will bring an all star cast to the Toronto Film Festival in September.

Daniel Craig returns in Rian Johnson’s murder mystery with a big list of names including Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Josh O’Connor, Mila Kunis, Andrew Scott, and Thomas Haden Church.

That will be some red carpet!

TIFF announced a few other premieres today, with more coming on Monday.

They include “Roofman,” Derek Cianfrance’s new release with Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst, Ben Mendelsohn, LaKeith Stanfield, Peter Dinklage and Uzo Aduba; and Paul Greengrass’s “The Lost Bus” with Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrara.

Chloe Zhao’s “Hamnet” will show in Toronto, but it seems like the world premiere will be in Telluride.

More titles on Monday.

“Stranger Things” Season 5 Final Teaser is Here! The End Is Near for Our Friends in Haunted Hawkins

Roger Friedman
-
0
“Stranger Things” Season 5 Final Teaser is Here! The End Is Near for Our Friends in Haunted Hawkins

The “kids” are now adults, but the stakes have risen in Hawkins, Indiana.

“Stranger Things” Season 5 brings a close to the cosmically incorrect saga.

Let’s hope the finale is great.

Pop Fizz: Justin Bieber’s “Swag” Pushing Up “Daisies” with Number 2 Debut Far Behind Travis Scott’s Fake Non-Release

Roger Friedman
-
0
Pop Fizz: Justin Bieber’s “Swag” Pushing Up “Daisies” with Number 2 Debut Far Behind Travis Scott’s Fake Non-Release

What a weird week in the top 100 albums.

Justin Bieber’s surprise album release, “Swag,” is going to finish at number 2 on Friday with just 165,000 copies sold.

Almost all of those are from streaming. He only sold 6,500 paid downloads. Yeesh.

Bieber was hamstrung by having no physical product available. No CDs or LPs. “Swag” just exists in the air.

Justin would have finished first but Travis Scott hot-footed him with his own surprise album called “Jack Boys 2.”

“Jack Boys 2” is being pegged at 250,000 copies, almost all physical. But you won’t see “Jack Boys” on any actual chart leading up to this moment. That’s because it was sold as part of a merchandise box with a cap and a mask or a shirt and I don’t know what else.

“Jack Boys 2” by itself only sold 60,000 copies. But packaged up with that other mishegos pushed up the sales to 250,000.

Bieber could cry foul. But he has no manager. (Maybe his billionaire wife, Hailey, is calling shots.) So there was no preparation for “Swag,” no marketing. This is why Justin can’t afford a shirt, a belt, pants that fit, a decent roach clip, or a clue.

Bieber’s one consolation here is a modest single hit with a song called “Daisies,” currently number 4 on iTunes.

Come back Friday for the totals.

New York Times Kicks Four Senior Critics to the Curb In Pop Music, Classical, Theater, and TV Just Because They Can

Roger Friedman
-
0
New York Times Kicks Four Senior Critics to the Curb In Pop Music, Classical, Theater, and TV Just Because They Can

The New York Times doesn’t want four senior culture critics anymore.

Are they looking for influencers? At this point, why not?

The Times says they’re re-assigning, code for canning, pop music vet Jon Pareles, theater critic Jesse Green, classical music expert Zach Woolfe, and TV critic Margaret Lyons.

Why? Because they have experience and knowledge and respected (yes even Jesse Green) by the readers.

Also, they don’t have TikTok accounts.

Pareles has been the chief pop critic since 1988. Just last week he wrote an incredible piece on Bruce Springsteen. Pareles has been able to write about new and breaking acts as well as classic artists. He’s shaped the paper’s opinion about pop, rock, R&B, etc with great taste and knowledge of his subjects. Forcing him out is just stupid.

The other three have been at their jobs for some time. Green gets a lot of flack and “everyone hates him.” But everyone “hated” all the former theater critics including Frank Rich and Clive Barnes. Wolfe and Lyons are all well respected.

Sia Michel is the editor who caused this chaos. She thinks moving respected critics to other jobs is going to be fun for them. In other words, they weren’t having a career, they were just piece workers in the factory. Maybe AI will take over.

Sad stuff, that even the Times doesn’t care about the reporters or the readers. But authority no longer matters. The main thing is, can you sell $20 objects from China to unwitting customers.

Emmy Awards Snub Writing for “The Bear,” Cite Ayo Edibiri (Directing), Lisa Colon Zayas (Supporting Actress) for Special Episode

Roger Friedman
-
0
Emmy Awards Snub Writing for “The Bear,” Cite Ayo Edibiri (Directing), Lisa Colon Zayas (Supporting Actress) for Special Episode

Liza Colon Zayas starred in the most interesting episode of “The Bear” in Season 3. (Not the current season — “The Bear” is a year behind the Emmy Awards.)

It was called “Napkins.” Colon-Zayas is nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy. There was nothing funny about the episode, but the actress will win, no questions asked. (She’s already won other awards.) She turned in a remarkable performance.

The episode was directed by the show’s co-star Ayo Edibiri, who was nominated for Best Directing. It’s the only directing nod for “The Bear,” which also surprisingly received nothing for writing. (Maybe too much of it seemed repetitive.)

Interesting because Ayo Edibiri just co-wrote (with Lionel Boyce) episode 4 of season 4, called “Worms.” It’s the best episode of this past season.

“The Bear” is starting to fade. One more season should wrap it up. Jeremy Allen White has gone on to play Bruce Springsteen in the movies. Ebon Moss Bacharach — nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy — is in “The Fantastic Four.” But the real breakout from “The Bear” is Edibiri. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Emmys: Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard Among Five Comedy Guest Actors Nominated for Playing Themselves from “The Studio”

Roger Friedman
-
0
Emmys: Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard Among Five Comedy Guest Actors Nominated for Playing Themselves from “The Studio”

If you appeared in a comedy series as a guest actor in the 2024-25 season and you weren’t in “The Studio,” forget it.

Five of the six male actors nominated came from the Apple TV series, all playing themselves.

Among them: directors Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard (who will win). Also in that group: Dave Franco, Anthony Mackie, and Bryan Cranston.

The lone exception was Jon Bernthal for “The Bear.”

Among guest actresses in a comedy series, Zoe Kravitz was the lone entry from “The Studio.”

Cynthia Erivo was nominated from “Poker Face,” the show’s only major award.

“The Bear” produced Jamie Lee Curtis and Olivia Colman. “Hacks” picked up two for Robby Hoffman and Julianne Nicholson as the Dance Mom (my choice).

None of the guests who appeared on “Only Murders in the Building” were nominated.

Congrats to Scott Glenn, nominated for guest actor in “The White Lotus.” His late manager, Johnny Planco, is smiling in heaven.

1...757677...2,323Page 76 of 2,323

Hollywood to the Hudson

Company

Trending

Categories

© Showbiz411.com