President Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

Jimmy Kimmel is getting candid about his Oscars future!

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer IATSE told members Friday that the last several weeks of bargaining with the major studios has been “productive,” as the two sides move closer to talks on major issues. The crew union announced that Local 705, which represents costumers, has reached a tentative agreement on issues pertaining solely to its members. That makes 11 out of the 13 “West Coast” locals that have reached agreements on their craft-specific items.

Jordan Moreau A man set himself on fire outside the courthouse where the jurors are being chosen for former president Donald Trump‘s hush money criminal trial. CNN‘s chief legal analyst Laura Coates and MSNBC national correspondent Yasmin Vossoughian both witnessed the self-immolation and spoke about the incident live on air. “I just have to tell you, I have been a student of history for a long time.

Katcy Stephan Jeff Boone has joined Fremantle‘s North American team as its new VP of scripted development. In this role, Boone will be responsible for developing new series for its pipeline and play an active role within Fremantle’s global scripted network. Boone will report to Fremantle’s EVP of Scripted Programming, Jenni Sherwood.

UPDATE: A full jury of 12 and six alternates in has been selected in Donald Trump‘s hush money trial.

Elsbeth is going to be back for a second season at CBS!

EXCLUSIVE: ABC Signature has acquired The Redemption of Al Sharpton, the recent Esquire profile of the civil rights activist by Pulitzer Prize winner Mitchell S. Jackson, to develop as a limited series. No talent is attached at this point but the intention is for Anthony Anderson to star as Sharpton and executive produce. Artists First’s E. Brian Dobbins (black-ish) also is expected to executive produce the project, now in very early stages, with Jackson getting a producing credit.

Anna Marie de la Fuente NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises Chairman Luis Fernandez is spearheading an executive shuffle and a restructuring of Telemundo Studios in a bid to amp up the company’s scripted content for both linear and streaming platforms. “At a time when Telemundo is the most-watched network in prime time, we are super-charging our scripted content production under one strong brand: Telemundo Studios,” said Fernandez who returned in December to Telemundo where he was previously head of the news division for six years before taking a hiatus.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor U.S. lawmakers have moved closer to enacting a countrywide ban on TikTok. Last month, the House of Representatives passed a bill by a wide margin that would ban distribution of TikTok in U.S.

Katy Perry has her eye on a potential successor for her seat on the American Idol judging panel.

Stephen Colbert will travel to Chicago this summer and host The Late Show from the Windy City during the week of the DNC (Democratic National Convention).

The writers of MTV’s Ridiculousness have officially bargained their first contract.

The Oscars took place more than a month ago, but former President Donald Trump continues to grouse about its host, Jimmy Kimmel.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Donald Trump is keeping his Oscars feud with Jimmy Kimmel alive with a new post on Truth Social in which the former president once again slammed Kimmel for being a “horrendous” Academy Awards host. Trump then mixed up Kimmel with this year’s best picture presenter, Al Pacino.

Andrew Wallenstein President and Chief Media Analyst Horror continues to perform well at theaters. But as this new Variety VIP+ analysis of the track record scary movies have put together in 2024, no genre is immune to the ups and downs of the marketplace.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent With France on its highest level of security alert amid geopolitical turmoil in Ukraine and the Middle East, organizers behind the Paris Olympics are still going ahead with ambitious plans to host the opening ceremony along the Seine river on July 26. Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, said on Monday in an interview with French outlets BFM TV and RMC that the opening ceremony could relocate to an indoor location “depending on our analysis of the context.” “We have fallback scenarios.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter A “Golden Axe” animated series has been greenlit at Comedy Central, Variety has learned. Based on the beloved Sega games of the same name, the show hails from co-creators Mike McMahan and Joe Chandler. Matthew Rhys (“The Americans,” “Perry Mason”), Danny Pudi (“Community,” “Mythic Quest”), Lisa Gilroy (“Jury Duty,” “Interior Chinatown”), Liam McIntyre (“Spartacus,” “The Flash”), and Carl Tart (“Grand Crew,” “Star Trek: Lower Decks”) will lead the voice cast.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Studio Ghibli, the animation studio behind “My Neighbor Totoro” and the Oscar-winning animated feature “The Boy and the Heron,” is being awarded an Honorary Palme d’Or at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival. It marks the first time that the award will be given to a group.

Whoopi Goldberg is so over Travis Kelce…

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Shore Fire Media, one of the music industry’s most long-running and far-reaching strategy and communications companies, has announced the promotion of five of its top executives to key leadership positions. Allison Elbl, Matt Hanks, Mark Satlof and Rebecca Shapiro have been promoted to co-presidents, with Jaclyn D. Carter promoted to senior vice president.

William Earl Writers employed by “Sesame Street” producer Sesame Workshop have voted unanimously to support a strike authorization vote from the Writers Guild of America as the April 19 expiration of the current contract approaches. The 35 writers represented by the union have been in negotiations with the production company behind “Sesame Street” and other children’s programs since February.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Civil War” writer-director Alex Garland gave a lengthy interview to Vulture in which he was asked to weigh in on accusations against his film that claim it’s irresponsible to open it in theaters amid such a turbulent election year. Garland’s film is set in an America at war with itself (Texas and California have seceded to become the Western Forces) and follows a group of journalists attempting to interview the U.S. president.

Smartmatic has reached a settlement with One America News Network over claims that the news outlet amplified false claims that the voting systems company rigged the results of the 2020 election.

Travis Kelce is in the hot seat after seemingly showing support for Donald Trump!

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent France’s first lady, Brigitte Macron, will be the subject of a biopic series produced by French mini-major Gaumont. The six-part show is being penned by Bénédicte Charles and Olivier Pouponneau, who previously teamed on the thriller series “J’ai menti.” Titled “Brigitte, une femme libre” (“Brigitte, a free woman”), the series will chart the life of French President Emmanuel Macron‘s wife. Gaumont is keeping the plot of the show under wraps and will be announcing the cast in the next few weeks.

Jon Stewart mocked Donald Trump on The Daily Show as the former POTUS campaigns and makes a run for the White House amid the hush money criminal trial.

Iran is "within minutes" of developing a nuclear capability and "mad enough to use it", the Government has been warned.

The Vice President is no longer heading to late-night.

EXCLUSIVE: Alloy Entertainment has promoted Elysa Koplovitz Dutton to the role of Executive Vice President of Theatrical Film Production, the company’s President and Chief Creative Officer Leslie Morgenstein announced on Monday.

Barron Trump has given insight into what his dad, former President Donald Trump, does at home. The 45th president of the United States and Melania Trump’s 18-year-old son spoke about his father during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Patrick Bet-David, Tom Ellsworth and Vincent Oshana.Barron Trump makes rare appearance with his parents over Easter“I’ve never seen Tom laugh this hard for an hour and a half,” Patrick recalled on an episode of the PBD Podcast earlier this month, revealing that they just “watched Barron run dinner with stories, entertainment, everything.” Vincent called the former president’s youngest son “witty, smart, hilarious,” noting that Barron has a “good head on his shoulders “ and is “smart on politics,” adding, “He’s like ‘You know, everybody’s always going to fight. There’s left.