Category: Entertainment

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Steven Knight ‘can’t wait’ to write new Bond film

Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight will write the forthcoming James Bond film, Amazon MGM Studios has confirmed.

The movie, which will be directed by Dune’s Denis Villeneuve, is currently in development and being overseen by the studio after long-serving masterminds Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson stood down in February.

Knight told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast: “It has always been on my bucket list and it’s fantastic to be invited to do it – I can’t wait to get started.

“I’m hoping that, being a Bond fan for so many years, it will be imbued into me and I will be able to produce something that’s the same but different, and better, stronger and bolder,” he added.

However, Knight did not shed any light on which actor might portray 007 in the next film.

Daniel Craig stepped down from the role in 2021 after starring in five Bond films, and there has been much speculation over who will replace him.

British actors Aaron Taylor-Johnson and James Norton have been rumoured as frontrunners for the part, while Irish actor Paul Mescal’s name has also been thrown into the mix.

When asked about it, Knight said: “That is a very, very good question, and one I can’t give you the answer to.”

He did not elaborate as to whether this was because he does not know, or he is not allowed to reveal who it is, or because the decision hasn’t been made yet.

Knight is arguably most well-known for writing the Bafta-winning BBC One drama Peaky Blinders, starring Cillian Murphy, set in the streets of post-World War One Birmingham, which ran for six series and is also being made into a Netflix film.

He was Oscar-nominated in 2004 for Dirty Pretty Things, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Audrey Tautou, and wrote and created 2024 BBC One series This Town, set in 70s and 80s Coventry, which won a Royal Television Society award.

His other work also includes 2021’s Spencer, starring Kristen Stewart as Diana, Princess of Wales, which earned her an Oscar nomination.

The most recent Bond film, 2021’s No Time to Die, was written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Cary Joji Fukunaga and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

Speaking about his selection process for the latest film, Knight said: “I was invited to a meeting with [producer] Amy Pascal, didn’t know what it was about, and very quickly discovered what it was about and became very, very excited and hopeful.

“And then a process is followed where you do some meetings, you discuss some ideas, and then you find out you’ve got it.

“So I found out a while ago but it was announced last night, which is great.”

He agreed it was a “high pressure” job but said “you’ve just got to do what you do, do it as well as you can.”

The latest Bond film is being produced by Pascal and David Heyman, and Hollywood trade publication Variety has suggested it could be released in 2028. (BBC)

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Justin Timberlake reveals Lyme disease diagnosis

Justin Timberlake has said he is suffering from Lyme disease, a serious illness usually contracted after being bitten by a tick and that has seen an upsurge in prevalence across a swathe of the US in recent years.

In an Instagram post, the pop singer wrote: “I’ve been battling some health issues, and was diagnosed with Lyme disease – which I don’t say so you feel bad for me – but to shed some light on what I’ve been up against behind the scenes.”

He added: “If you’ve experienced this disease or know someone who has – then you’re aware: living with this can be relentlessly debilitating, both mentally and physically. When I first got the diagnosis I was shocked for sure. But, at least I could understand why I would be on stage and in a massive amount of nerve pain or, just feeling crazy fatigue or sickness.”

Timberlake’s post came at the end of more than a year of him being on tour, which kicked off in April 2024, about one month after he released the album Everything I Thought It Was.

The singer faced scrutiny following perceived lackluster performances on the road, with some who bought tickets criticizing the concert on social media. Recently, some fans and commentators have pointed out what they felt were signs of fatigue or ill health during his performances.

Timberlake addressed the concerns, saying: “I was faced with a personal decision. Stop touring? Or, keep going and figure it out. I decided the joy that performing brings me far outweighs the fleeting stress my body was feeling. I’m so glad I kept going.”

He added: “Not only did I prove my mental tenacity to myself but, I now have so many special moments with all of you that I will never forget. I was reluctant to talk about this because I was always raised to keep something like this to yourself. But I am trying to be more transparent about my struggles so that they aren’t misinterpreted.”

His statement on social media was met with an outpouring of support from fans. “You are so loved, and we’ll be here supporting whatever you decide to do next,” said one. Another added: “Justin you are so appreciated. Thank you for showing up for us time and time again. Take care of yourself. We love you and will continue to ride for you.”

According to Billboard, the Forget Tomorrow world tour pushed Timberlake to the 10th spot of Billboard‘s midyear Boxscore report of touring artists, with the tour grossing $73.2m across 41 shows as of late May.

Timberlake is not the first famous musician who has spoken out publicly about their struggles with a diagnosis of Lyme disease, a condition which can cause a rash and symptoms such as fever, chills, fatigue and muscle and joint aches. Avril Lavigne, Justin Bieber and Shania Twain have also revealed they have suffered from the illness.

Lyme disease can last many months or even years. Potentially disease-bearing ticks have been flourishing recently in the US, especially as climate change leads to warmer summers that encourage tick populations to thrive.

This year, as compared to recent years, there has been an increase in the reported number of ticks and visits to the emergency room because of bites from the tiny parasitic arachnid, according to data from universities and the US federal government.

In May and June this year, the US has seen the highest number of emergency room visits during those months for tick bites since 2019, according to the CDC.

Timberlake began his career as a “Mouseketeer” on the All-New Mickey Mouse Club in 1993, where his cast mates included fellow singers Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. He rose to fame in the popular boy band ‘NSync, before going solo in 2002 and going on to become one of the best-selling pop artists of the 2000s. (Guardian)

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Disney drops ‘Zootopia 2’ trailer

They’re about to make “hisssstory” in an adventure with the first snake ever seen in Zootopia… but remember… never pull a bunny’s ears! Disney just dropped the Official trailer to Zootopia 2, the highly anticipated sequel to its Oscar-winning 2016 animated comedy, Zootopia.

In the film, after cracking the biggest case in Zootopia’s history, rookie cops Judy Hopps (voice of Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (voice of Jason Bateman) find their partnership isn’t as solid as they thought when Chief Bogo (voice of Idris Elba) orders them to join the Partners in Crisis counseling program. But it doesn’t take long for their partnership to be put to the ultimate test when they find themselves on the twisting trail of a mystery tied to the arrival of a venomous snake in the animal metropolis.

The film introduces Gary De’Snake (voice of Ke Huy Quan), Nibbles (voice of Fortune Feimster) and quokka therapist Dr. Fuzzby (voice of Quinta Brunson); it also welcomes back Idris Elba (voice of Chief Bogo); Bonnie Hunt (voice of Bonnie Hopps); Don Lake (voice of Stu Hopps); Nate Torrence (voice of Clawhauser); Jenny Slate (voice of Bellwether); Alan Tudyk (voice of Duke Weaselton); Maurice LaMarche (voice of Mr. Big); Leah Latham (voice of Fru Fru); Josh Dallas (voice of Frantic Pig); Tommy Chong (voice of Yax); Mark Rhino Smith (voice of Officer McHorn); Raymond Persi (voice of Flash); and Shakira (voice of Gazelle).

“It’s been an absolute joy to reteam with so many actors who made the first film so special, and so exciting to expand the world with our phenomenal new cast members,” said director/writer Jared Bush (chief creative officer for Walt Disney Animation Studios). “I can’t wait for audiences to see what other surprises we have in store in this brand-new adventure.”

From the Oscar-winning team of Bush and Byron Howard (directors) and Yvett Merino (producer).

In theaters November 26. (AWN)

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Kelly Osbourne lost ‘best friend’ after Ozzy’s death

Kelly Osbourne says she has lost her “best friend” following the death of her father Ozzy Osbourne.

The heavy metal pioneer died on Tuesday at the age of 76.

He died just a few weeks after performing with Black Sabbath at a big farewell show in his hometown of Birmingham.

The concert was particularly poignant for his daughter Kelly, who got engaged backstage to her long-time partner Sid Wilson, from the band Slipknot.

Many family members were at Villa Park to support the so-called Prince of Darkness for what turned out to be his final performance.

Famous musicians such as Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones, Metallica and Guns N’ Roses also took to the stage.

His band Black Sabbath are credited with inventing heavy metal.

In 2003, the father and daughter released a cover of the Black Sabbath song Changes, which reached number one on the UK singles chart.

In her first comments since his death, Kelly Osbourne posted the opening lyrics from the song on Instagram with a broken heart emoji: “I feel unhappy I am so sad. I lost the best friend I ever had.”

The father-daughter duo were known for having a close relationship.

They appeared together on the MTV reality TV show The Osbournes which ran from 2002-2005. It portrayed the star as the well-meaning, frequently befuddled patriarch of an unruly household.

More recently they reprised their family podcast alongside mother Sharon and brother Jack.

On Tuesday, the Osbourne family released a statement that said: “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love.”

They did not specify a cause of death, although the star had a series of health problems and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2019. (BBC)

Posted on by — Leave a comment

US FCC clears $8bn Skydance-Paramount merger

An $8bn (£5.9bn) merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media has been approved by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The merger between the independent film studio and one of Hollywood’s oldest and most storied companies was first announced in 2024.

The approval came just weeks after Paramount Global agreed to pay $16m (£13.5m) to settle a legal dispute with US President Donald Trump over an interview it broadcast on subsidiary CBS with former Vice-President Kamala Harris.

The settlement did not include a statement of apology or regret.

FCC head Brendan Carr, who was appointed by the president, announced the merger’s approval on Thursday, saying he welcomed Skydance’s ideas to make “significant changes” at CBS.

The approval means the merger could be finalised soon but Paramount did not provide an expected completion date when asked by the BBC. Skydance did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The FCC agreed to transfer broadcast licences for 28 owned-and-operated CBS television stations to the new owner.

“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly,” Mr Carr said. “It is time for a change.”

Mr Carr said Skydance had made promises to the agency, including a “commitment to unbiased journalism” where the merged company would install a ombudsman to evaluate complaints of bias.

Skydance also promised to end diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, something the Trump administration has targeted.

The FCC voted 2-1 to approve the deal, with one commissioner, Anna Gomez, a Democrat, dissenting.

“After months of cowardly capitulation to this administration, Paramount finally got what it wanted. Unfortunately, it is the American public who will ultimately pay the price for its actions,” she wrote.

Paramount Global traces its origins back more than a century to the founding of Paramount Pictures Corporation in 1914. The studio has made many hit films, including the Godfather, Star Trek, and Mission: Impossible series.

Paramount owns streaming service Paramount+, as well as Paramount Pictures, CBS, Nickelodeon, BET, MTV, Comedy Central and other media brands.

But the entertainment giant has struggled over the past decade.

Skydance is owned by David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, who founded US technology giant Oracle.

The FCC’s approval was necessary for the deal to move forward.

The deal, which includes CBS, Paramount Pictures and Comedy Central, was approved after a series of moves by Paramount, including settling a lawsuit from Trump.

According to both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, the settlement over the 60 Minutes interview was agreed – with the help of mediator – so as to not affect the planned merger, which the FCC was reviewing and therefore Trump technically had the power to halt.

Trump had alleged the network had deceptively edited an interview that aired on its 60 Minutes news programme with his presidential election rival Kamala Harris, to “tip the scales in favour of the Democratic party”.

Paramount said it would pay to settle the suit, but with the money allocated to Trump’s future presidential library, not paid to him “directly or indirectly”.

It also comes just days after CBS, owned by Paramount, announced it would end The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, who has been critical of Trump.

The network said the move “is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night [television]” and “is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters”. (BBC)

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Ozzy Osbourne Dies: Black Sabbath frontman, solo singer and Reality TV star was 76

Ozzy Osbourne, the legendary Black Sabbath frontman and solo star who helped pioneer the follow-around reality TV genre with his MTV series The Osbournes, died Tuesday. He was 76. His family confirmed the news in a statement but did not provide a cause of death.

Osbourne reunited with Black Sabbath for a livestreamed final concert on July 5 that also featured a who’s who of hard rock and heavy metal bands.

“It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,” the statement reads. “He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time.”

Born John Michael Osbourne on December 3, 1948, in England, he co-founded the ever-influential and controversial Black Sabbath in 1968 with guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward. Draped in demonic lyrical themes and often-foreboding music, the British quartet was a near-instant success and helped birth and define the heavy metal genre.

After an unharmonious split from the group in 1979, Osbourne enlisted former Quiet Riot guitarist Randy Rhodes and released a pair of 1981 solo discs that reinvigorated his career — and the genre. Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman were multiplatinum hits on both sides of the Atlantic, bringing Osbourne new fans and making a star of Rhoads, who would die in a 1982 plane crash.

Osbourne went on to make many more solo albums to varying critical and commercial success, but he would conquer another medium as the millennium changed.

In 2002, MTV premiered The Osbournes, a verité-style reality series focusing on the home life of patriarch Ozzy, matriarch Sharon Osbourne, daughter Kelly and son Jack. The show provided a side of the singer few had seen — a bit doddering, sometimes befuddled and the source of the series’ comedy. Memorable catchphrase: “Sharrrr-onnnnn!” The final episode aired on March 21, 2005.

The Osbournes reunited in 2009 for the variety show Osbournes Reloaded on the Fox network. A flop with critics and viewers, the series was canceled after one episode. Osbourne and son Jack next starred in Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour, a reality series that aired for three seasons from 2016-18, first on the History channel and then A&E. Most recently, reality show The Osbournes Want to Believe aired in 2020 on Travel Channel.

But all of that was secondary to the music.

Fueled by Osbourne’s signature, singular wails, Black Sabbath caught the attention of a public tiring of flower power and pop rock, hurling onto the scene with its powerhouse self-titled debut album in 1970. Featuring such dark classics-in-waiting as “Black Sabbath,” “The Wizard” and “N.I.B.,” the disc — and the group — certainly weren’t for everyone, but it went Top 10 in the UK and just missed the U.S. Top 20, and a legend was born.

Sabbath’s 1971 follow-up Paranoid solidified Osbourne and the band as hard rock superstars. Stacked with essential songs including “Iron Man,” “War Pigs,” “Fairies Wear Boots” and the near-perfect title track, it topped the UK chart and reached No. 12 stateside.

The band followed that success later that year with its biggest U.S. album, Master of Reality, which went Top 10 on both sides of the pond, featuring “Children of the Grave” and “Sweet Leaf.”

All of Black Sabbath’s first three discs made the Top 300 of Rolling Stone‘s 2003 list of greatest albums of all time, with Paranoid ranking 130th.

The band continued to score hit albums with Black Sabbath, Vol. 4 (1972), Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1974) and Sabotage (1975), all of which hit the UK Top 10 and U.S. Top 30. Its fortunes took a hit in the mid-1970s as Technical Ecstasy (1976) and Never Say Die! (1978) were shrugged off by critics and many fans. Osbourne would leave the group amid reports of substance abuse before the end of the decade.

Never a “singles band,” Osbourne-era Black Sabbath left its mark on hard rock with the aforementioned tracks and others. (Deadline)

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Ellen DeGeneres says she moved to Britain because of Trump

US TV star Ellen DeGeneres has made her first public appearance since moving to the UK, saying she decided to settle in England the day after Donald Trump was re-elected US president.

The comedian and host told a crowd in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, that life “is just better” in the UK.

Ellen said she and wife Portia de Rossi were considering getting married again in England after some moves in the US to reverse the right to gay marriage, and that America can still be “scary for people to be who they are”.

She also addressed allegations of a toxic workplace that led to the end of her long-running chat show in 2022, admitting she could be “very blunt”, but dismissed the stories as “clickbait”.

Ellen was one of the biggest names on US TV for 30 years, thanks to her daytime chat show, as well as for her self-titled 1990s sitcom, for hosting the Oscars, Grammys and Emmys, and for voicing Dory in Finding Nemo.

After her talk show was cancelled, she went on a “final stand-up tour” in the US in 2024 then bought a house in the Cotswolds, a historic and picturesque area mainly spanning parts of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire.

On Sunday at the Everyman theatre in nearby Cheltenham, she was in conversation with broadcaster Richard Bacon, who asked whether reports that she moved because of Donald Trump were correct. “Yes,” she replied.

The 67-year-old said she and De Rossi had initially planned to spend three or four months a year in the UK and bought what they thought would be “a part-time house”.

“We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like, ‘He got in’,” she said. “And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here’.”

Ellen has been giving glimpses of her new rural life on social media, in videos showing her farm animals including sheep – although they have now been sold after they kept escaping.

“It’s absolutely beautiful,” she said. “We’re just not used to seeing this kind of beauty. The villages and the towns and the architecture – everything you see is charming and it’s just a simpler way of life.

“It’s clean. Everything here is just better – the way animals are treated, people are polite. I just love it here.

“We moved here in November, which was not the ideal time, but I saw snow for the first time in my life. We love it here. Portia flew her horses here, and I have chickens, and we had sheep for about two weeks.”

On her last tour, she joked that she had been “kicked out of show business twice” – the first time being when she came out as gay in 1997.

That effectively led to the end of her sitcom after advertisers pulled out and the network stopped promoting it, she told the Cheltenham crowd on Sunday.

Bacon asked whether her visibility had encouraged other people to come out. “I would say no,” she replied. “I imagined a lot of people coming out like meerkats poking out of a hole and going back in again. ‘How’s she doing? OK, no, no.'”

But it is “a really hard decision” that doesn’t suit everyone, she continued, and said things are better today “in some ways” but not others.

“If it was [better], all these other people that are actors and actresses that I know they’re gay, they’d be out, but they’re not, because it’s still a problem. People are still scared.”

Ellen also referenced a recent move by the Southern Baptist Convention to endorse the reversal of a Supreme Court case allowing same-sex marriage. At least nine state legislatures have introduced bills to do the same.

“The Baptist Church in America is trying to reverse gay marriage,” she said. “They’re trying to literally stop it from happening in the future and possibly reverse it. Portia and I are already looking into it, and if they do that, we’re going to get married here.”

Later, in response to an audience question, she added: “I wish we were at a place where it was not scary for people to be who they are. I wish that we lived in a society where everybody could accept other people and their differences.

“So until we’re there, I think there’s a hard place to say we have huge progress.”

However, the younger generation are “more comfortable with it” and are “just kind of fluid”, she added. “So I think the younger generation is going to show us the way.”

After some former workers on her talk show made allegations of a toxic workplace culture, the star – who ended every episode by telling viewers to “be kind to one another” – was dubbed as “mean” in the media.

Following the scandal three producers were sacked amid allegations of misconduct and sexual harassment, and the final season of the show opened with Ellen giving an on-air apology.

She addressed that in her 2024 tour and the accompanying Netflix stand-up special.

“No matter what, any article that came up, it was like, ‘She’s mean’, and it’s like, how do I deal with this without sounding like a victim or ‘poor me’ or complaining? But I wanted to address it.

“It’s as simple as, I’m a direct person, and I’m very blunt, and I guess sometimes that means that… I’m mean?” (BBC)

Posted on by — Leave a comment

‘Barbie’ animated feature in works from Illumination and Mattel Studios

Two years after the record-setting release of Barbie, the feminist live-action take on Mattel’s iconic doll that became a cultural phenomenon, Illumination and Mattel Studios have finalized a deal to develop a new Barbie movie that will be the first in animation for theaters, sources tell Deadline.

Reps for Illumination, Universal, and Mattel declined to comment. Not yet dated, we’re told the film will be released by Universal Pictures, which has an exclusive financing and distribution partnership with Illumination. No word yet on the plot of this Barbie or creatives attached.

Transcending all expectations as it grossed over $1.44 billion worldwide, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, starring Margot Robbie, impacted culture like few other films in recent memory. Propelled to the highest heights in part by the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, where audiences paired Barbie with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer in a double-feature event, the film was the highest grossing of 2023 and has solidified its place in history as one the highest-grossing films of all time, along with the highest-grossing for a female director. That pic was released by Warner Bros., rather than Universal, and is the highest-grossing in the studio’s history. The film’s award run culminated in eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, with Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” winning Best Original Song.

Since 1959, Barbie has held down its place as the the global category leader in Dolls, with more than 100 sold every minute. Barbie is also the #1 Girls/Dolls toy brand on social media.  

Mattel officially combined its film and television units to form Mattel Studios last month, as we told you first. The studio has two films slated for release in 2026: a live-action Masters of the Universe, to be released by Amazon MGM Studios, and a live-action Matchbox produced alongside Skydance and Apple. Earlier this month, we broke the news that Jon M. Chu has been enlisted to direct a live-action Hot Wheels movie for Warner Bros, with Mattel Studios and Bad Robot producing. The company also recently announced feature adaptations of the toy brands Whac-A-Mole and View-Master and is developing additional projects based on IP including American Girl, Bob the Builder, Magic 8 Ball, Major Matt Mason, Polly Pocket, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, Thomas & Friends, UNO and Wishbone.

Chris Meledandri’s animation powerhouse Illumination has two films coming up for release through Universal: a sequel to box office smash The Super Mario Bros. Movie (April 3, 2026) with Nintendo and Minions 3 (July 1, 2026). (Deadline)

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Colbert says The Late Show will end after 33 years

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end in May 2026 after 33 years on air, the CBS television network announced in a surprise statement on Thursday.

The move “is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night [television]” and “is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters”, CBS said.

Colbert broke the news at a taping of the show, earlier on Thursday evening, triggering a chorus of boos from the live studio audience.

“I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners,” he said, adding: “And of course, I’m grateful to you, the audience, who have joined us every night in here, out there, all around the world.”

The move brings a close to the more than three-decade old programme, leaving the network without a late-night comedy talk show for the first time since 1993.

Colbert, who took over the CBS programme from David Letterman in 2015, has become one of US President Donald Trump’s staunchest critics on late-night TV.

The presenter was informed of the decision to cancel his show on Wednesday night, he told the audience during his Thursday monologue.

“Yeah, I share your feeling,” he said as the crowd in the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York shouted “no” and booed.

“It’s not just the end of our show, but it’s the end of The Late Show on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away,” he continued. “It is a fantastic job. I wish somebody else was getting it.”

The announcement comes two weeks after CBS parent company Paramount settled a lawsuit with Trump stemming from a CBS interview with his 2024 election rival Kamala Harris.

The Late Show was created by CBS, the BBC’s US news partner, in 1993 as a competitor to NBC’s own talk show. It came after a dispute between hosts David Letterman and Jay Leno over who should succeed Johnny Carson on the wildly-popular Tonight Show.

Before taking over the job at The Late Show, Colbert had been the host of “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central – a programme which skewered US conservative politics and culture.

The announcement of the ending of the programme came amid talks between Paramount and Skydance Media to merge the two companies, a move that would require approval from the US federal government.

Democratic Senator Adam Schiff posted on X on Thursday that he had finished taping an interview with Colbert just before the cancellation was announced.

He questioned whether the announcement was tied to the $16m (£12m) settlement the network agreed to pay to Trump, writing: “If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserved to know”.

Another US senator, Elizabeth Warren, echoed those sentiments, posting on X: “America deserves to know if his show was cancelled for political reasons.”

The settlement came after Trump sued CBS last October alleging the network had deceptively edited an interview that aired on its 60 Minutes news programme with his presidential election rival Kamala Harris, to “tip the scales in favour of the Democratic party”.

Paramount said it would pay to settle the suit, but with the money allocated to Trump’s future presidential library, not paid to him “directly or indirectly”. (BBC)

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Gregg Wallace faces backlash over autism defence

Former MasterChef host Gregg Wallace is facing criticism from charities and groups working with disabled people after he appeared to link claims of misconduct he is facing to his autism diagnosis.

Several dozen people have come forward to BBC News with allegations about Wallace, including inappropriate sexual comments, touching and groping, which he denies.

In a statement this week, the presenter defended himself and also said he had recently been diagnosed with autism, but that TV bosses had failed to “investigate my disability” or “protect me from what I now realise was a dangerous environment”.

One charity told BBC News that autism is “not a free pass for bad behaviour”, while other groups warned that such remarks risked stigmatising the autistic community.

Wallace has been sacked as MasterChef host, and a report into the accusations is expected to be published shortly. He has said it has cleared him of “the most serious and sensational allegations”.

On Tuesday, Wallace wrote on Instagram: “My neurodiversity, now formally diagnosed as autism, was suspected and discussed by colleagues across countless seasons of MasterChef.

“Yet nothing was done to investigate my disability or protect me from what I now realise was a dangerous environment for over 20 years.”

The Telegraph reported on Thursday that he plans to sue the BBC and the makers of MasterChef for discrimination on the grounds of his autism following his sacking.

And the Times reported friends of Wallace as saying his autism means he can’t wear underwear, and that his condition was partly to blame for his alleged inappropriate behaviour.

Speaking to BBC News, Seema Flower, founder of disabilities consultancy Blind Ambition, said there was “no excuse” for being inappropriate to people in society.

“Where does it leave us if we use autism as excuse to behave in whatever way we like?” she asked.

Her comments were echoed by Emily Banks, founder of neurodiversity training body Enna.

“To be clear: being autistic is never an excuse for misconduct. It doesn’t absolve anyone of responsibility, and it certainly doesn’t mean you can’t tell the difference between right and wrong.”

Dan Harris, who runs the charity Neurodiversity in Business and is himself autistic, said people like him “may miss social cues sometimes”.

“But autism is not a free pass for bad behaviour,” he added.

“Comments like this stigmatise us and add an unfortunate negative focus on our community.”

Last year, the charity Ambitious About Autism dropped Wallace as an ambassador in the wake of the original claims against him.

The comments have also sparked debate online and on radio phone-ins.

On BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine Show, Jessie Hewitson, Director of NeuroUniverse, said people with autism “have been stereotyped since the dawn of time”.

She said she worried that remarks like this risk “forming a connection in peoples’ minds – either that autistic people behave inappropriately in the workplace or that we cannot take personal responsibility”.

But on social media, many people responded positively to Wallace’s post and sent him supportive messages.

And on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Nicky Campbell Show, which dedicated an hour to the topic on Thursday, some callers were sympathetic.

One called Danielle, who is autistic, said people with the condition “can misread situations quite often”.

“I think growing up undiagnosed, you grow up thinking everything you’re doing is wrong because you’re different and you then internalise a lot of that so you’re very oversensitive as well,” she said.

Another caller, Jake, said he thought Wallace should have had support a long time ago.

“You’ve got a man here who’s clearly out of touch, he’s been out of touch for a long time, he’s had nobody putting him back in line, whether that’s an employer, whether that’s a friend, whether that’s anybody, and at the moment that’s what he needs.

“He needs some compassion to get him back where he needs to be and I feel for his mental health.” (BBC)