It was a scaled-down, but just as energetic version of her Enigma Las Vegas residency show, with 90 minutes of music and multiple costume changes.
"Thank you, Apollo Theater! What a historical moment for me, in my life," Gaga told the crowd at her first New York City show in two years, and her first at the Apollo.
She also cursed up a storm, yelling "Are you ready to f-----g party tonight? Are we making history?"
Gaga kicked off the show with "Just Dance," "Poker Face," and "LoveGame." She told the crowd: "Ask the question: What is your pronoun?" before launching into "Million Reasons." Then came "Born This Way." She ended with "Shallow" from "A Star Is Born."
Spotted in the crowd were Michael Douglas and wife Catherine Zeta-Jones, Amy Poehler, Adam Lambert and Clive Davis.
Gaga also gave a shout out to Pride Month and acknowledged the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
The show was for SiriusXM subscribers and Pandora listeners to mark SiriusXM and Pandora coming together as one company. It will air in its entirety on SiriusXM Hits 1, Howard Stern's Howard 101 and Pandora.
Heidi Montag, Stephanie Pratt, and Spencer Pratt | Photo by Michael Tran/WireImage
Will starring in the new spinoff The Hills: New Beginnings cause even more troubles for the Pratts or are the siblings willing to put their differences aside and finally be civil with each other?
Stephanie Pratt hasn’t spoken to her brother or his wife for a few years
When The Hills ended back in 2010, many of us saw how intense Stephanie Pratt’s feud had gotten with her brother, Spencer, and his wife, Heidi Montag.
Over the course of the show, the Pratts have made it clear that having a relationship with each other is in no one’s best interest and have not been on speaking terms ever since.
Now that The Hills cast is returning to reality television with their new spin-off series, The Hill: New Beginnings, Stephanie Pratt will be working with her brother and his wife once again and is a little nervous about doing so.
Heidi Montag with Spencer Pratt and their son, Gunner Stone | Photo by Michael Tran/FilmMagic
While attending The Hills: New Beginnings premiere in Los Angeles on June 19, Pratt opened up to Entertainment Tonight about her estranged relationship with her brother and admitted that being around him made her “really uncomfortable.”
“I just haven’t seen my [brother Spencer and Heidi]. This might be the first time I see them,” she said without naming the couple. “The show is just the biggest part of my life right now because it’s all so real and every aspect of me is on it.”
Stephanie Pratt then revealed that there is “nothing” that would make her reconcile with Spencer and Heidi, though the couple has revealed they no longer have hard feelings toward her.
Fans will see the hardships Stephanie Pratt had to go through
Though Stephanie Pratt was excited to return to her reality television roots and film with some of her closest friends, working alongside her brother was something she has been dreading for some time.
While they are no longer on speaking terms, the Pratts’ feud has gotten so intense over the years, that the podcast host has had to be hospitalized.
“It’s a few times,” the reality star said about the comments she made on her Pratt Cast podcast in April. “It’s just my… I can’t get into it right now.”
Though she couldn’t speak more on the topic, Stephanie Pratt did share that fans will get an inside look into the ongoing struggles she’s faced trying to make amends with Spencer and Heidi Pratt.
“When I first got here, I was seeing them for the first time after they just [done that],” Stephanie shared. “I’m trying to reconnect because it’s been like eight years of being estranged and you’ll see that kind of happen, and then you might see us get on or you might just see us literally go to hell.”
So far, Pratt is done trying to reconcile with her brother and is standing clear of him to avoid causing any more trouble within their family.
Family spokeswoman Mona Wood-Sword said that Beth, 51, was hospitalized Friday in Honolulu after having difficulty breathing and passing out momentarily and that doctors put her in a coma to spare her from pain during treatment.
“Duane and the family feel she’s such a fighter, she could get better,” Wood-Sword said. “The family still has hope.”
Sources told TMZ that Beth was uncooperative with doctors during her treatment and reportedly tried ripping out tubes used to give her medications and necessary fluids. The site claims mild sedation wasn't strong enough and that she remained agitated until being placed into a medically-induced coma.
Beth was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2017. Chapman was declared cancer-free after removing a tumor. She was later diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
Duane Chapman, 66, told Us Weekly in December 2018 that Beth wasn't necessarily cooperating with her doctors and wanted to explore alternative therapies.
"Beth will not take anything the doctors want to give her. Even the doctor told me he doesn't want her to have seizures if the pain is that bad, but she won't do it," he said. "She takes over-the-counter pain meds. She will not take anything prescription."
Beth wrote on Instagram in February that she was testing out CBD and THC-based therapies and alleged that chemotherapy was "poison." In April, Beth was hospitalized for similar breathing issues that led to her emergency treatment last weekend.
Duane previously told Fox News the couple, who starred in their hit A&E reality television show from 2004 until 2012, credits faith with helping them survive.
"Faith is probably the No. 1 thing in our lives, no matter what we’re faced with... Through this cancer episode, we had to drum up as much faith as we could. And the Bible talks about having faith as small as a mustard seed," he said. "And that’s not much... And I thank God that we had at least that much faith to get her through that."
The Associated Press and Fox News' Nicole Darrah contributed to this report.
While "Dog the Bounty Hunter" star Beth Chapman remains in a medically-induced coma, her husband Duane offered fans a small update.
In his first Twitter post since revealing the news of Beth's hospitalization, Duane shared a close-up photo of her right hand, adorned in medical wristbands and an IV but meticulously manicured with rhinestones and fake nails.
"You all know how she is about HER NAILS !!" Chapman captioned the photo late Monday.
Her family members "have been with her at the hospital," where she remains in "very serious" condition, Chapman's lawyer, Andrew Brettler, told USA TODAY on Monday. Duane asked fans Sunday to pray for his wife.
On Friday, Chapman was hospitalized after having difficulty breathing and passing out momentarily. Doctors put her in a coma to spare her from pain during treatment, family spokeswoman Mona Wood-Sword told the Associated Press.
According to an article from Hawaii News Now that Duane shared on his Twitter and Facebook pages, the family told newscasters in a statement Saturday that she had been to the Intensive Care Unit at Queen's Medical Center in Hawaii.
"Please say your prayers for Beth right now thank you love you," Duane wrote early Sunday morning, before sharing the article.
Beth was originally diagnosed with Stage 2 throat cancer in September 2017 after having a nagging cough checked out; it returned later as Stage 4 lung cancer, Wood-Sword told the Associated Press. The reality star began chemotherapy in December 2018, Brettler confirmed to USA TODAY at the time.
More: 'Dog the Bounty Hunter' star Beth Chapman remains in hospital, surrounded by family
Avril Lavigne announced her first tour in five years. The fall trek, a 15-date North American run, launches September 14th in Seattle, Washington and wraps October 11th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
An artist pre-sale begins Tuesday, June 25th at 10 a.m. local time, and fan registration is available now. A Citi card pre-sale runs from Wednesday, June 26th at 10 a.m. local time through Thursday, June 27th at 10 p.m. local time. General tickets go on sale Friday, June 28th at 10 a.m. local time via her website.
One dollar from each ticket purchase will benefit the Avril Lavigne Foundation, which supports people with Lyme disease, serious illnesses or disabilities.
The jaunt will support Lavigne’s February-issued sixth LP, Head Above Water, which follows her self-titled 2013 album. She’s released several singles from the record, including the Nicki Minaj collaboration “Dumb Blonde” and the title-track, on which she recounts her own battle with Lyme disease.
In April, the singer promoted Head Above Water by performing “I Fell in Love With the Devil” on The Late Late Show With James Corden.
Avril Lavigne Tour Dates
September 14 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
September 15 – Portland, OR @ Keller Auditorium
September 17 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
September 18 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Greek Theatre
September 21 – Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre
September 24 – Minneapolis, MN @ State Theatre
September 26 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
September 28 – Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre
October 1 – New York, NY @ Pier 17 at South Street Seaport*
October 3 – Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre
October 5 – Wallingford, CT @ Oakdale Theatre
October 6 – Toronto, ON @ Sony Centre For Performing Arts*
October 8 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian Theatre
October 9 – Washington, DC @ MGM National Harbor
October 11 – Philadelphia, PA @ XCite Center at Parx Casino
9:19 AM PDT 6/24/2019
by
Natalie Jarvey
,
Erik Hayden
With the former BBC executive, WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey finds a leader with the operational chops to woo the telecom giant's Dallas-based top brass.
For the first time in its history, Warner Bros. will have a female CEO.
John Stankey, CEO of parent company WarnerMedia, has found his replacement for ousted Warner Bros. chief Kevin Tsujihara, tapping BBC executive Ann Sarnoff for the role. She will be based in Los Angeles and begin the job later this summer.
The news comes after the company was headed toward the end of its third month searching for a leader who could usher the historic film and TV studio into a new era under AT&T ownership. With Sarnoff, who was President, BBC Studios Americas, Stankey finds a leader with the operational chops to woo the telecom giant's Dallas-based top brass.
Sarnoff joined BBC Worldwide in 2010 after having served as president of Dow Jones Ventures. The executive previously served as the COO of the WNBA, overseeing business operations for the league. Earlier in her career, she worked at Viacom from 1993 to 2003, where she held multiple titles, including COO of VH1 and CMT.
With her appointment, Stankey also adds some much-needed X chromosomes to his executive bench, a must after he drew flack for stacking his ranks with men, including Bob Greenblatt, Jeff Zucker, Kevin Reilly and Casey Bloys. It was not lost on observers that, at the time of his exit, Tsujihara was the only diverse senior content-focused leader at the company.
“I am delighted Ann is joining the WarnerMedia team and excited to work side by side with such a talented and accomplished individual. She brings a consistent and proven track record of innovation, creativity and business results to lead an incredibly successful studio to its next chapter of growth,” said Stankey in a statement.
Stankey added, “Ann has shown the ability to innovate and grow revenues and has embraced the evolution taking place in our industry. I am confident she will be a great cultural fit for WarnerMedia and that our employees will embrace her leadership, enthusiasm and passion for our business.”
Among the tricky situations that Sarnoff will have to maneuver will be liasing between the film and TV studios and WarnerMedia's forthcoming streaming service to determine what of the company's vast library and upcoming releases make sense to exploit on the direct-to-consumer offering and what should be preserved for more traditional distribution.
“It is a privilege to join a studio with such a storied history. Warner Bros. has been an industry leader for decades and is known for creating many of the most iconic film, television and gaming properties,” stated Sarnoff. “I accept this position excited by the opportunity to work with the most accomplished executives and teams in media, and confident about carrying this incredible heritage forward with them.”
There will also be the task of winning over the rank and file at Warners, especially with tension high following the AT&T acquisition and subsequent departure of Tsujihara, who had been given greater purview within the organization before a THRreport in March revealed that he'd had an apparent sexual relationship with an actress, Charlotte Kirk, and then used his influence to try to help her career.
Toy Story 4 has done something that no previous Toy Story movie has done. Not only did Andrew Stanton and Stephany Folsom‘s script introduce the decidedly nontraditional toy character known as Forky (Tony Hale), it also chose to explore the mythology behind what it means to be a toy in Pixar’s fictional franchise. How are they made? What gives them sentience? What separates trash from toys? And what rules does a toy have to follow simply by the nature of being a toy?
These are all heady, existential questions, and you don’t need to ponder the answers to them to enjoy Toy Story 4. It’s arguably the funniest of the four films and features some madcap sequences populated with the silliest characters in the franchise who are brought to life by some of the most talented actors working today. It’s got heart, humor, and an added tinge of nostalgia, while also acting as a possible (hopeful) swan song for the toys we’ve spent nearly 25 years getting to know. Be sure to read Matt Goldberg‘s review here. But there’s an interesting subtext here about what it means to be a toy that I’d like to explore. Some spoilers follow.
Back in 1995, Pixar’s Toy Story burst onto the scene in a big way as the studio’s first feature film and the first-ever movie to be completely computer-animated. The conceit was straightforward: A group of toys fear being forgotten and abandoned by their owner, Andy, when his birthday party brings the threat of brand new toys into their closed world. While ToyStory may have reawakened that childhood guilt from not giving an equal share of playtime to each and every one of your toys, it also introduced a fantastic franchise that would go on to tell earnest stories exploring the human emotional condition for the next 25 years (at least). But another aspect of Toy Story that’s been less explored by the movies over the years has been the mythology around the actual toys themselves.
Toy Story establishes the basics: First and foremost, toys in this world are anthropomorphic and lead lives of their own whenever humans are not around but must never be seen as anything other than playthings by humans. They also come with personalities and outlooks befitting their creation (ie an adventurous Space Ranger and a law-keeping cowboy sheriff), might not instantly recognize that they are in fact toys, and desperately desire children to want to play with them and love them. That latter idea was core to the Toy Story story, an evolution of the central idea in the 1988 Pixar short Tin Toy, which saw toys terrified of their destructive owners. But ToyStory also introduced an interesting wrinkle to the mythology of toy creation through the Dr. Frankenstein-like neighbor kid, Sid Phillips.
Sid is put forward as an obstacle to overcome, a sort of miniboss, in the first movie, but he’s also the first character to create a toy that didn’t come out of a box. Sure, Sid’s mutant toys are cobbled-together pieces of other toys, like action figures, baby dolls, and Erector Sets, so they’re less creations from whole cloth and more abominations of existing toys. These mutant toys still abide by the rules of toys established elsewhere in the film; it’s just their appearance that’s been drastically altered. But these good-hearted toys can be pushed too far. With Buzz’s life on the life, Woody rallies the mutants to break the #1 rule of Toyhood in order to scare Sid straight:
As of the release of Toy Story 4, Sid remains the only human who’s aware of toys’ sentient nature. Somehow, he managed to grow up into a well-adjusted individual despite this horrifying Small Soldiers / Puppetmaster scenario and was last seen employed as a garbage man.
