Hazel Dukes, the president of the New York State chapter of the NAACP and lifelong civil rights advocate, died Saturday at the age of 92. Dukes peacefully passed away in her New York City home surrounded by family, according to a statement from her son, Ronald Dukes. Dukes, who led the New York State NAACP for nearly five decades, fought tirelessly for voting rights, economic development, fair housing, and education throughout her career. Even in her 90s, she spoke out against police brutality and for adequate health care in underserved neighborhoods, the NAACP’s New York State chapter said in a…
Author: Raja Zahid Khanzada
Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, shared a peaceful and private life, rich in adventure, art and genuine love, before their unexpected deaths, their friends fondly remember. Their close, longtime friends, Daniel and Barbara Lenihan said the couple, who was found dead Wednesday in their New Mexico home, had chosen to live in a quiet area, tucked away inside a home they built atop 12 acres of land up in the mountains just outside of Santa Fe. “They were very private, and we certainly respected that,” Barbara told CNN, adding that Arakawa rarely used cell phones and would usually communicate by email.…
“The Substance” is decidedly not a film for the squeamish. The gross-out fairy tale is one of the few horror flicks to be recognized by the Academy Awards in categories beyond makeup (though it was deservedly nominated there, too). The excessive gore, much of which occurs while its actresses are nude, may have dissuaded some viewers from checking out the film that could win first-time nominee Demi Moore an Oscar for best actress. The splatter of “The Substance” is cartoonish and over-the-top. But its grossest scenes don’t register the same as a brutal kill in a typical scary movie because the violence here is so heightened —…
As we continue to immerse ourselves in the luxurious and intricate experience of another season of “The White Lotus,” it’s essential to discuss a character who doesn’t appear on screen: Mike White, the auteur who has single-handedly written and directed all three seasons of the endlessly meme-ified series. White is a prolific figure in Hollywood, responsible for creating several other well-known and beloved titles in addition to “Lotus.” But there’s more to know about him: He’s an Emmy-winning writer/director with over 25 years of activity. Mike White and Lupe Ontiveros in “Chuck & Buck.” Alexia Pilat/Artisan Pics/Kobal/Shutterstock While his initial…
A famous Nirvana fan is missing Kurt Cobain. Skateboarding legend Tony Hawk shares a special connection with the late Nirvana frontman, who died in 1994 at the age of 27. Hawk’s son, Riley, and Cobain’s daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, welcomed a son together, Ronin Walker Cobain Hawk, in September 2024. Over the weekend, the elder Hawk posted in the stories portion of his verified Instagram account an image of a ticket stub from a 1991 Nirvana concert at a venue called The Vatican in Houston, Texas. Hawk wrote on the post that he went from a skateboard competition directly to…
Michelle Trachtenberg’s former “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” costar Sarah Michelle Gellar is looking back at their time together on screen and off, one day after Trachtenberg died in New York City. On Thursday, Gellar posted a series of photos to her verified Instagram account that showed her and the late 39-year-old former child actress throughout the years. They included moments from the show, their time promoting it and some seemingly personal photographs, including one of Trachtenberg smiling at an infant in a tender moment. Gellar added a message alongside the photos in quotation marks that read: “Michelle, listen to me.…
When it comes to entertainment news, it doesn’t get much bigger than this – at least if you’re a preschooler. Oink. Peppa Pig, loved by under-5s the world over, is about to become a big sister again. She and her little brother, George, will soon have a baby sibling to play with, their mother announced on British national TV. The big reveal came in an exclusive, if somewhat unusual, interview Thursday on ITV’s daytime show “Good Morning Britain,” in which host Richard Arnold introduced Mummy Pig as the “matriarch of an entertainment dynasty” that has “been a favorite of kids…
Jane Fonda persevered over some audio issues Sunday night to encourage activism at the SAG Awards. Fonda received the SAG lifetime achievement award at the event, and the 87-year-old actress reminded the room, “It’s okay to be a late bloomer as long as you don’t miss the flower show.” “I’m a late bloomer. This is the flower show,” she said, gesturing to her statuette. “Yeah. I love acting. We get to open people’s minds to new ideas, take them beyond what they understand of the world and help ‘em laugh when things are tough, like now.” The woman who is…
Jesse Eisenberg is grateful for his friendship with Emma Stone. The “A Real Pain” writer and star gushed about Stone’s support of his career as a writer while he accepted the award for best screenplay at the Film Independent Spirit Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday. Stone produced “A Real Pain,” which Eisenberg also directed. During his speech, Eisenberg said that Stone is the only person who’s read and supported the articles he’s written for McSweeney’s, an independent non-profit publishing company. Eisenberg has had creative writing work published on McSweeney’s several times between 2009 and 2019. Eisenberg and Stone met…
Halle Berry is tired of standing alone in Oscars history. The star achieved a historic moment in 2002 when she became the first Black woman to win best lead actress at the Academy Awards. More than two decades later, Berry, who won for her role in “Monster’s Ball” says it’s “lonely” to still be the only Black performer to win an Oscar in the category. On a recent episode of Trevor Noah’s “What Now?” podcast, Berry said even then, she knew the win “was bigger than me.” While several Black actresses have won the best supporting actress Oscar over the…
