The always controversial Chris Brown is once again at the center of a Twitter beef, though the R&B star claims he had nothing to do with this one. Someone apparently hacked his account and threatened … Cher. Brown’s camp insisted his Twitter was hacked earlier in the week and Breezy personally wants to defuse any tension with Cher, to whom he wrote: “I have the utmost respect for u as an artist @cher! just to clear this up!” Brown, who performed on Today Friday, added: “@cher if this is your real twitter I would like to say that some of ur fans are spreading false accusations!” Brown’s account was allegedly compromised this week when a sneaky poseur sent Cher a combative tweet slamming her political opinions. The hacked Tweet from “Chris Brown” read: “That damn GRANNY bitch CHER needs to keep her mouth SHUTTTT about her opinion against obama !!! smh she needs a beating.” Sounds about right, but probably not him. The faux Chris didn’t say what Cher’s opinion was, but it’s hard to believe she’s against Obama. Cher re-tweeted a question from one of her followers that asked about the threat, saying, “I Don’t know? Is that something he’s particularly Good at?” Well played, Cher. And Chris Brown , for actually using the site to clear the air and patch things up for once, instead of calling out “haters.” [Photos: WENN.com]
Timothy Poe has come clean. Sort of. The America’s Got Talent contestant who claimed during his Monday night audition that he suffered brain damage as the result of an explosion in Afghanistan – and originally stood by the story in the face of mounting criticism – now admits he had his facts wrong. “It may not have happened exactly like I said it did,” Poe told The New York Post . “I really do not remember a lot of things since the accident.” Poe, an engaged father of two, still says a “blast” went off near his head (and provided the newspaper with documents to prove it) during combat, but admits he boasted about medals he never earned and submitted a photo of another soldier that he attempted to pass off as himself. Another lie? Or misremembering , as Poe would like us to believe? That he never sang until he left the Middle East. “I was in a band,” Poe now says. “But it was before the accident. And at the time of AGT , when the judges asked, before I could even think about answering, my words had already came out.” Friends say Poe is suicidal and members of his family have been threatened. America’s Got Talent viewers will see him during Las Vegas auditions next week and to them, as well as all citizens, he has the following to say: “I would like to take the time to tell the the American people how truly sorry I am that they had to endure the incomplete facts. I understand how they feel.”
Tonight in Afghanistan, President Obama announced an agreement with President Hamid Karzai marking the beginning of the end of the Afghanistan war. 23,000 U.S. troops will depart Afghanistan by the end of this summer with reductions continuing at a steady pace. Next year, the U.S. mission in Afghanistan will shift to a support role as Afghans forces take the lead for combat operations across the country…. Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Blue Hampshire Discovery Date : 02/05/2012 02:06 Number of articles : 2
Pete Hegseth, a 31-year-old Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran and the former director of Vets for Freedom , may be the GOP’s best chance to defeat Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota’s first-term Democratic senator. But he first has to win the endorsement of the state Republican party. The state convention is on May 18 and 19. Hegseth’s chief primary opponent is freshman state representative and high school economics… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Weekly Standard Blog Discovery Date : 30/04/2012 15:42 Number of articles : 2
Florida Pastor Burns Copies Of Koran This guy is at it again… An Islamophobic pastor in Florida is playing with fire once again. Terry Jones, who sparked international outrage in 2010 when he vowed to burn copies of the Koran, ignited copies of the Islamic holy book outside his Dove World Outreach Center Saturday night, according to the Gainsville Sun. The pastor — who once promised he would “not ever” burn a Koran — also burned an image depicting the prophet Muhammad, the newspaper reported. Jones carried out the incendiary act along with about 20 others to protest the imprisonment of Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, a Christian jailed in Iran since 2009 for his religious beliefs, according to the Christian Post. “Our end result is we would like to have these things brought in front of the United Nations,” Jones told the newspaper. “We would like Islam-dominated countries to adapt at least some form of human rights, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion rights; individual rights [and] civil rights. That would be the outcome that we would desire.” Jones has denied his actions were responsible for any violence. The Gainsville fire department and police quickly arrived after Saturday’s incident. Jones was fined nearly $300 when fire officials said he did not have the proper authorization to burn books, the Gainsville Sun reported. Jones, a former hotel manager turned preacher, first gained notoriety two years ago for placing “Islam is of the Devil” signs outside his church. He then sparked headlines, and condemnation, when he organized “International Burn-a-Koran Day.” Jones eventually called off that Koran burning event. “We feel that God has told us to stop,” he said at the time. However, in 2011, a member of his church burned a Koran and streamed it live via the Internet. That incident was blamed for fueling violent protests in Afghanistan and Indonesia. Source
The CMT Music Awards announced its nominations this morning, and Carrie Underwood led the way with five nominations. Video of the Year Jason Aldean — “Dirt Road Anthem” Kenny Chesney Featuring Grace Potter — “You and Tequila” Toby Keith — “Red Solo Cup” Lady Antebellum — “We Owned the Night” Miranda Lambert — “Over You” Brad Paisley With Carrie Underwood — “Remind Me” Rascal Flatts Featuring Natasha Bedingfield — “Easy” Blake Shelton — “God Gave Me You” Taylor Swift Featuring the Civil Wars — “Safe & Sound” Carrie Underwood — “Good Girl” Male Video of the Year Jason Aldean — “Dirt Road Anthem” Luke Bryan — “I Don’t Want This Night to End” Eric Church — “Drink in My Hand” Toby Keith — “Red Solo Cup” Blake Shelton — “God Gave Me You” Keith Urban — “Long Hot Summer” Female Video of the Year Sara Evans — “My Heart Can’t Tell You No” Miranda Lambert — “Over You” Martina McBride — “I’m Gonna Love You Through It” Kellie Pickler — “Tough” Taylor Swift — “Ours” Carrie Underwood — “Good Girl” Group Video of the Year Eli Young Band — “Crazy Girl” Lady Antebellum — “We Owned the Night” Pistol Annies — “Hell on Heels” Rascal Flatts — “Banjo” The Band Perry — “All Your Life” Zac Brown Band — “Keep Me in Mind” Duo Video of the Year Love and Theft — “Angel Eyes” Montgomery Gentry — “Where I Come From” Sugarland — “Tonight” The Civil Wars — “Poison and Wine” Thompson Square — “Glass” Thompson Square — “I Got You” USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year Lauren Alaina — “Georgia Peaches” Brantley Gilbert — “Country Must Be Country Wide” Hunter Hayes — “Storm Warning” Scotty McCreery — “The Trouble With Girls” Pistol Annies — “Hell on Heels” Thompson Square — “I Got You” Collaborative Video of the Year Kenny Chesney Featuring Grace Potter — “You and Tequila” Brad Paisley With Carrie Underwood — “Remind Me” Rascal Flatts Featuring Natasha Bedingfield — “Easy” Lionel Richie With Shania Twain — “Endless Love” Taylor Swift Featuring the Civil Wars — “Safe & Sound” Zac Brown Band Featuring Jimmy Buffett — “Knee Deep” CMT Performance of the Year Jason Aldean — “Tattoos on This Town” from 2011 CMT Artists of the Year Lady Antebellum — “Dancin’ Away With My Heart” from 2011 CMT Artists of the Year Little Big Town — “Fix You” from Music Builds: The CMT Disaster Relief Concert Blake Shelton — “Footloose” from Invitation Only: Blake Shelton Sting and Vince Gill — “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You” from CMT Crossroads: Sting and Vince Gill Steven Tyler and Carrie Underwood — “Just a Dream/Dream On” from CMT Crossroads: Steven Tyler and Carrie Underwood From the Pepsi Super Bowl Fan Jam
Jessica Lynn Lopez, 25, was found at the Ramada Inn in San Diego last Tuesday, exhibiting several self-inflicted cuts and with a suspicious note lying nearby. Only this wasn’t your run-of-the-mill suicide attempt. Not by a long shot. Hours later, the body of a missing San Diego-area woman, who had been the subject of a widely publicized search, was discovered 70 miles to the northeast. Authorities then charged Lopez with murdering Brittany Dawn Killgore (below), 22. Lopez pleaded not guilty at her arraignment Thursday. Investigators have not yet said how the women may have known each other or any alleged motive. Scant information has only fueled speculation and deepened the mystery . “I understand there’s a great deal of interest in the crime and many unanswered questions,” San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis told reporters. “Answers will come in time as this case makes its way through the criminal justice system.” Killgore disappeared April 13, four days after she filed for divorce from her husband, Lance Cpl. Cory Killgore, who has been deployed to Afghanistan for seven months. The couple wed in July 2010 in Missouri. The only trace left behind by the deceased was her cell phone, which was found in San Diego’s trendy Gaslamp Quarter of bars and restaurants. Another Marine, 45-year-old Staff Sergeant Louis Ray Perez, was the last person believed to have seen Killgore and is a person of interest in the case. Perez was arrested after sheriff’s deputies spotted an assault rifle that had been reported stolen, and is being held on bail for that offense. Authorities say that Perez, whose motives are equally unclear, was not cooperative when asked about Killgore, according to the Los Angeles Times . “The case remains under review for potential additional charges,” a spokesman for San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis tells the newspaper. Killgore’s husband, meanwhile, received an emergency leave arranged by the Red Cross and is headed back to San Diego. Stay tuned.
‘American Idol’ host is setting himself up for a long career and (eventually) the ‘Today’ anchor job with new NBC gig. By John Mitchell Ryan Seacrest Photo: Getty Images This morning on “Today,” Ryan Seacrest confirmed a few rumors and shot down a few others. The “American Idol” and “E! News” host and reality-TV mogul announced that he was officially joining the NBC team, beginning with its prime-time coverage of the London Olympics this summer, and that he would continue on as host of “Idol” while scaling back his on-air work at E! “I’ve worked with the E! network for years, and NBC Universal and E! are in the same family. The plan is for me to join the NBC family and continue to have a role on the E! network,” Seacrest told “Today” anchor Matt Lauer. “The first assignment for me will be with the prime-time team at the Olympics on NBC.” After establishing what he would be doing, Seacrest and Lauer continued through an awkward conversation about what he would not be doing, at least not just yet: gunning to take over Lauer’s anchor job on “Today” when his contract expires later this year. “I see you doing this as long as you want to,” Seacrest said to Lauer when pressed about his rumored negotiations with “Today” producers. “So the question is: How long will you be on the ‘Today’ show?” “We have talked about this, joked about this,” Lauer continued. “There is no tension here.” With Lauer’s future with “Today” still in question, Seacrest’s arrival at NBC brings with it some major implications. Here are the top three: Seacrest Is Being Primed to Replace Lauer During their back-and-forth over whether he’d been approached to replace Lauer, Seacrest played coy, joking that his conversations with “Today” producers “were mostly about filling in to do weather.” He never explicitly denied that he was in talks to host, making the subtext of the conversation pretty clear: the anchor job at “Today” remains Lauer’s as long as he wants it, but Seacrest is largely being brought onboard to wait in the wings and learn the ropes. Lauer is reportedly deep in tough negotiations with “Today” and NBC to remain on the program, and the consensus opinion seems to be that the network is looking to do whatever it takes, including meeting his reported $25 million salary demand, to keep him for the near future. That’s a lot of money, but the “Today” show is a cash cow — generating $450 million in ad revenue in 2010, according to New York magazine — and the net sees Lauer as integral to keeping “Today” on top. Lauer provides the stability that is key to success in morning news and is a master at mixing the serious and the silly, which is important when your job is to both report on the war in Afghanistan and later interview a “Toddlers & Tiaras” pageant mother. Seacrest already has the lighthearted side of things down, but he needs to bulk up his bona fides as a credible journalist. Don’t be surprised if, following his coverage of the Olympics, the various NBC News properties (“Today” included) take him on as a correspondent to cover some serious stuff. They are going to groom him to be a TV news Renaissance man, just like Matt Lauer. Seacrest Poses More of a Threat to the “Today” Ladies Seacrest’s appearance on “Today” pretty much changed the question from “will he” to ” when will he” join the “Today” team and in what capacity. But if they are grooming him to replace Lauer eventually, it will disrupt the chain of succession at “Today.” When Katie Couric left the show, Lauer stepped into the alpha anchor chair, after years of paying his dues as newsreader and co-anchor. Anne Curry would rightfully assume that position if Lauer left, but many have commented that she has had a “rocky transition to her new role” as co-anchor since Meredith Vieira’s departure. Seacrest’s hiring makes it seem like NBC execs are stacking the deck — and not in Savannah Guthrie’s or Curry’s favor. If the “Idol” host leapfrogs Curry somewhere down the road for the lead anchor chair, it will also keep Guthrie from ascending through the ranks the way her colleagues have before her. “Today” won’t demote Curry in any way — and, to be fair, she hasn’t been all that bad — but the lukewarm reception she’s received makes it unlikely she’ll ever be made lead anchor either. Guthrie, however, has more to worry about. She often steps in when Curry or Lauer are out, and if Seacrest is being groomed for Lauer’s spot, producers may opt to have him step up where she normally would. Seacrest Isn’t Going Anywhere Anytime Soon With his plans to continue on as host of “American Idol” and keep his thriving reality-show empire alive on E!, Seacrest will become an even more powerful media figure after he joins NBC. He has his fingers in just about every genre of television except serious news, and that’s essentially what NBC is offering him. In so doing, it also secures his place in the most stable arena in the media canon. The popularity of reality TV ebbs and flows — remember that “Survivor” and “American Idol” were once the top shows on television and now regularly attract only half the audience they did at their peak — so staking your career to it is kind of like building a house on sand. Seacrest has become a mogul by seizing on zeitgeist — “Idol,” the “Kardashian” franchise he built as a producer, his red-carpet work with E! — but he’s also a 37-year-old man who knows the things that have brought him so much success will eventually fade away. But the news never goes out of style. By getting in good with NBC, Seacrest also secures himself the long-term broadcast career he may have otherwise missed out on had he hedged his bets entirely on “Idol” and his reality-TV empire. For a little perspective, the “Today” show has been on the air since 1952 and is the fourth-longest-running television series ever, behind only “Meet the Press,” “The CBS Evening News” and “Hallmark Hall of Fame.” “American Idol” is puttering along with series-low ratings in its 11th season. So what Ryan Seacrest was really announcing this morning on “Today” was his next chapter. Sure, the timeframes haven’t been set and the ink isn’t entirely dry, but his decision to join NBC as an on-air player marks the transition to a new career. It may resemble the old one, but make no mistake: We are being primed for Ryan Seacrest: News Man. What do you think of Seacrest’s announcement? Let us know in the comments!
Early this morning, an American Army staff sergeant walked out of a military base in the rural Panjwai district, in the southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan, headed to the nearest villages and went into three different houses, where he shot and killed at least 16 unarmed civilians. (An AP photographer confirmed seeing 15 bodies .) Villagers say five of the dead were young girls below the age… Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Daily Intelligencer – New York Magazine Discovery Date : 11/03/2012 17:03 Number of articles : 2
Movieline’s New York-based readers had a chance over the last few days to review their favorite Shakespeare screen adaptation in exactly 10 words for a chance to win tickets to tomorrow’s opening-night screening of the documentary Shakespeare High . After browsing the entries left both here and on Twitter, we have settled on a winner! Congratulations to Chris Connolly , who summed up the epic 1996 Hamlet thusly: “Hamlet and Ophelia finally get busy in Branagh’s perfect adaptation.” Bam . Congratulations, Chris! We’ll be in touch with info about Friday’s screening. And thank you all for playing! Shakespeare High opens this weekend at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center at Lincoln Center.
