'American Idol' winner apologizes after keeping hat on while performing national anthem

McKinley Franklin editor Peacock has set a July 31 premiere date for its latest docuseries, “American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes.” The streamer announced the date for the new series, which spotlights the son of WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes, on Monday. Growing up under the legendary wrestling icon, Cody Rhodes infamously made a name for himself as the “American Nightmare” when he decided to leave the WWE. (The name was meant to be a counter to his father, known as “The American Dream.”) The new documentary will track his own journey leaving the organization, his eventual return to WrestleMania and his journey chasing the WWE championship – a feat his father, Dusty, never accomplished. 

proposed to use artificial intelligence to scan the faces of extras and use their likeness in perpetuity.On Thursday, the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) officially declared its intention to go on strike, with one of the many areas of concern for the union being the use of AI within the industry.During a press conference, SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) had made a so-called “groundbreaking” proposal that, with the use of AI, would allow the likenesses of film and television background performers to be used indefinitely.Sharing his anger at the proposal on Twitter, Cusack said: “Studios wanna have extras work one day, scan them — own their likeness forever — and eliminate them from the business.“Do you think they will stop with extras? That’s what AI is — a giant Copywrite identity theft [and] criminal enterprise.”Studios wanna have extras work one day Scan them – own their likeness forever – and eliminate them from the business – & do you think they will stop with extras – ? That’s what AI is – a giant Copywrite identity theft – criminal Enterprise / we had no idea this would…— John Cusack (@johncusack) July 14, 2023“We had no idea this would happen… they will say in 10 years when the scope and scale of the plunder is revealed,” he added.

“American Idol” winner Iam Tongi apologized after he forgot to remove his hat while singing the national anthem.Tongi took the field for the special moment on Monday at the 2023 MLB Home Run Derby at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. The musician won the 21st season of “American Idol” in May.“First try at singing the National Anthem. So nervous that it was in front of such a huge crowd.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Strand Releasing has acquired the North American rights to Pierre Creton’s “A Prince,” a French film which world premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. “A Prince” won the SACD Prize from France’s Writers’ Guild for the best French-language film at Directors’ Fortnight. Represented in international markets by Andolfi, “A Prince” follows a horticultural student, Pierre-Joseph, whose sexual encounters with his botany teacher and mentors lead to a unique hybrid tale of science, sex and meditation. “We’re thrilled to be handling ‘A Prince,’ Creton’s work is such a rarified vision that fits so well with the Strand Releasing brand, we look forward to taking this out to some of the top festivals across North America,” said Marcus Hu at Strand Releasing. 

The Native American Media Alliance announced the call for applications for the 3rd Annual Native American Unscripted Workshop.

Manny Coto, who won an Outstanding Drama Series Emmy for 24, worked on its sequel series, co-created Fox’s AI drama neXt and was an EP on Dexter, Star Trek: Enterprise, American Horror Story and others, died Sunday of pancreatic cancer at his home in Pasadena. He was 62.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Emmy-winning writer/producer/director Manny Coto, whose credits include “24” and its sequels “24: Live Another Day” and “24: Legacy,” as well as “American Horror Story,” “Star Trek: Enterprise” and “Dexter,” died Sunday in Pasadena. He was 62. News of Coto’s death was confirmed by a family representative. Coto died after a 13-month battle with pancreatic cancer, and passed away at his home, surrounded by family. Born in Havana, Cuba, Manuel Hector Coto was one of primetime’s most prominent Latino writers and showrunners. He shared the outstanding drama series Emmy in 2005 for Season 5 of “24,” and co-created “24: Legacy.” Coto also spend four seasons as exec producer of “American Horror Story,” and also exec produced two seasons of “American Horror Stories,” directing the 2021 episode “Feral.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The majority of Americans — about 59% — say TikTok a threat to the national security of the United States, according to a recent survey of U.S. adults. The findings from Pew Research Center’s survey of U.S. adults come as TikTok, the popular short-form video app owned by Chinese internet conglomerate ByteDance, continues to be targeted by American lawmakers wary over its ties to China and how TikTok handles user data. Just 17% of Americans say the platform is not a threat to national security, while 23% say they are unsure, per the Pew survey. Opinions about the national security threat posed by TikTok differ by political affiliation and age. Roughly 70% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say TikTok is either a minor or major threat to national security in the U.S., compared with 53% of Democrats and Democratic leaners. The perception of TikTok as a threat also varies by age: Just 13% of adults 18-29 say TikTok is a “major” threat; that rises to 24% among those 30-49, 35% among those 50-64; and 46% among Americans 65 and older.

Following her recent health scare, Madonna has canceled her summer and fall North American tour, with plans to reschedule the dates later.

Madonna is speaking out after her recent hospitalization.«Thank you for your positive energy, Prayers and words of healing and encouragement,» Madge shared in an Instagram update on Monday. «I have felt your love.» The 64-year-old artist continued, «I'm on the road to recovery and incredibly grateful for all the blessings in my life.»The «Like a Prayer» singer is recovering after she spent several days in the ICU due to a bacterial infection.

Thania Garcia Madonna’s “Celebration” tour has been delayed again after being postponed after the singer developed a serious bacterial infection. The tour was originally scheduled to begin July 15 in Vancouver though the 64-year-old was rushed to the hospital on June 24 due to the infection, according to an Instagram post from her manager Guy Oseary. For the first time since her hospitalization, Madonna addressed the tour and her health writing that she was “on the road to recovery and incredibly grateful for all the blessings in my life.” She additionally added that she was going to reschedule the North American leg of the tour and bein in October in Europe.

The Idol might be one of HBO’s most talked-about shows of the year.Created by Euphoria’s Sam Levinson, Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and Reza Fahim, the series follows aspiring pop idol Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) as she begins a complex relationship with a self-help guru and cult leader, Tedros (Tesfaye).In April last year, the series underwent a creative overhaul where original director, Amy Seimetz, departed the project. Levinson took over to direct all five episodes.HBO has not announced whether The Idol will return.

Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten has praised Arctic Monkeys, saying that they have “maintained their credibility” despite achieving huge global success.The Irish singer-songwriter recently spoke to NME about his debut solo album ‘Chaos For The Fly’, which was released on June 30. It followed Fontaines’ acclaimed third record, 2022’s ‘Skinty Fia’.Next month the band will hit the road to support Arctic Monkeys on their huge North American stadium tour.“I don’t know what to expect – we haven’t done a support tour since the first album,” Chatten told NME.

Darius Campbell Danesh's girlfriend Lauren Cheek recently opened up about the former Pop Idol's death and said that he suffered from an undiagnosed heart problem which made his heart swell to twice its normal size.The 30-year-old also revealed to The Sun that Darius had a broken neck from a car accident back in 2010 which caused him recurring pain ever since.The singer and actor was sadly found dead in his US apartment, in Rochester, Minnesota, in August last year at the age of 41. A medical examiner said that his death was caused by 'inhalation of chloroethane'. Now, his girlfriend, US businesswoman, has revealed the results of his autopsy and said that he was living with a condition that he had no idea about.

Kelly Clarkson opened up during a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live.

Sophia Scorziello editor A strange — and dangerous — trend is taking over concerts. On Wednesday, American country-pop singer Kelsea Ballerini was hit in the face during a performance in Boise, Idaho, when an object from the crowd was thrown at her onstage. Before returning to her set, the “Love Me Like You Mean It” singer addressed the crowd, saying: “Can we just talk about what happened? All I care about is keeping everyone safe. If you ever don’t feel safe, please let someone around you know. If anyone’s pushing too much or you just have that gut feeling, just always flag it. Don’t throw things. You know?”

“Next Goal Wins” will have its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced on Wednesday.Waititi’s Oscar-winning feature “Jojo Rabbit” also premiered at TIFF and won the festival’s People’s Choice Award in 2019. His most recent film was “Thor: Love and Thunder” (2022) for Marvel/Disney.A sports comedy starring Michael Fassbender, “Next Goal Wins” is based on the story of the 2014 American Samoa soccer team, which lost a FIFA match 31-0 and then hired a Dutch-American coach, Thomas Rongen, to help them prepare for World Cup qualifiers.

Charna Flam “American Gladiators” aired in the 1990’s, but the competition still remains a phenomenon decades later. Last month, ESPN’s “30 for 30” explored the show, and now, Netflix is getting into the game. Netflix’s five-part docuseries, “Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of ‘American Gladiators,” dives into the hit, chronicling the meteoric rise and sweeping impact the superhero-like athletes had on both fans across America and their “average Joe” competitors. Co-directors Jared Hess and Tony Vainuku were fans of “American Gladiators” as teens, so it was natural to revisit the TV show when Netflix presented the opportunity. In their series, the filmmakers explore the good, the bad and the ugly, bringing audiences insight through access to executives who greenlit the production in the ’80s, original crew members and gladiators, including Nitro (Dan Clark), Storm (Debbie Clark), Diamond (Erika Andersch Bunker), Laser (Jim Kalafat), Ice (Lori Fetrick), Zap (Raye Olson), Blaze (Shari E Pendleton Mitchell), Sky (Shirley Eson-Korito) and Tower (Steve Hennebery).

Kelly Clarkson wants to make things very, very clear: she does not have a long-standing feud with Carrie Underwood.

Deadline has confirmed that Evan Peters has joined Disney’s third installment of Tron, entitled, Tron Ares.