Culture House Media Adds Mikhael Tara Garver to Oversee Immersive Entertainment Division (EXCLUSIVE)

Baltimore Orioles play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown is back in the announcer’s booth for tonight’s game against Seattle. He’s returning after being banished since late July for allegedly disparaging remarks about the team.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The Internal Revenue Service filed a claim in Vice Media Group’s bankruptcy case saying the company’s Refinery29 division owes the U.S. government about $40.9 million in back taxes, interest and penalties. The total tax bill for Refinery29, a digital media outlet that focuses on fashion, beauty and wellness topics, runs from the first quarter of 2020 through June 2023, per the IRS’s claim filed on Aug.

Lil Tay’s death was announced via her official Instagram account, but her former manager is now questioning whether the statement was true — and leading fans to wonder whether the teen social media star is still alive.

Lil Tay, the social media star and rapper, has died.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic The saga of American movies in the 1970s is now a mythology. In the first half of the decade, the movies that emerged from the New Hollywood were unprecedented in their realism, their immersion in the gritty side pockets of everyday life, their perception of the darkness hidden in the American Dream. Then, of course, came Lucas and Spielberg, who kicked off the blockbuster revolution — the transformation of movies from reality into fantasy.

Dua Lipa is addressing her relationship with the media.

Festivals past are populating a busy specialty market this weekend with films from Sundance and Venice. Sony Pictures Classics is giving Randall Park’s Shortcomings a substantial 400+ screen release. See Deadline review. Mubi is out with Passages in New York and LA – both premiered to critical acclaim in Park City.

Vice Media announced a series of leadership changes on Tuesday, a day after its bankruptcy sale was closed.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Vice Media Group, the day after closing its sale following its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding, has made changes to its top editorial ranks. The personnel changes were announced by Cory Haik, chief operating officer of Vice Media’s news and entertainment group, in a memo to staff Tuesday, who said they were part of “usher[ing] in an era of rebuilding and focusing on growth across Vice.” Exiting the company are Katie Drummond, senior VP, global news and entertainment; Jason Koebler, editor in chief of Vice’s Motherboard technology publication; and Motherboard executive editor Emanuel Maiberg.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Elizabeth Banks recently told Rolling Stone that the media was behind the “gendered agenda” of “Charlie’s Angels,” her 2019 action-comedy starring Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska that flopped at the box office. The director told The New York Times last year that she wished the film’s marketing “had not been presented as just for girls,” but now she told Rolling Stone that’s the only perspective the media was interested in perpetuating anyway. “So much of the story that the media wanted to tell about ‘Charlie’s Angels’ was that it was some feminist manifesto,” Banks said.

Vice Media is putting bankruptcy, and years of seeking a buyer and fresh cash, behind it, as the edgy digital news and lifestyle brand announces today it’s completed the sale to a consortium of former lenders led by Fortress Investment Group, Soros Fund Management and Monroe Capital.

Just as the global pandemic seemed to profoundly accelerate the demise of movies and theatergoing—something we all cynically assumed would happen, but hell, not that fast! Not so soon! culturally, our internal clocks all have an impending sense of doom that seems to be ticking faster than ever. Climate change is something we presume will destroy our lives eventually, but globally, it’s been unnerving to watch raging forest fires in Australia that appear apocalyptic, or more recently, if you’re a New Yorker, experience firsthand alarming smoke and air quality pollution that looks like it’s been shot by Roger Deakins on the set of “Blade Runner 2049.” Intentional timed or not, this is where Steven Soderbergh and writer Kurt Anderson are coming from with their surprise new sci-fi-ish satirical series, “Command Z” (the Apple key command for “undo,” and specifically the computer power to negate a mistake; the serious was not officially announced until three days prior to release, and not for nothing, we were the only ones that reported about it months ago in advance).

Brent Lang Executive Editor Colin Tilley, the acclaimed director of music videos for Cardi B, Justin Bieber, and Nicki Minaj, will make his feature debut with “Somewhere in Dreamland.” Production recently wrapped on the project, which stars Whitney Peak, from “Gossip Girl” and “Hocus Pocus 2,” as well as S. Epatha Merkerson (“Law & Order”), Golda Rosheuvel (“Bridgerton”), Finn Bennett (“True Detective”) and newcomer Laken Giles. Elisa Victoria penned the original graphic novel and the screenplay with Michael Tully.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor The world of documentary, news and nonfiction content is as varied as the work done by Rachel Maddow, Dawn Porter and Roy Wood Jr. Those three are among the industry notables set to appear at Variety and Rolling Stone’s third annual Truth Seekers Summit, a daylong gathering for the nonfiction production sector to be held Aug. 2 at New York’s Second, an event location on 6th Avenue.

She’s in her diner era.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has been set to receive Outfest’s inaugural Achievement Award for Press and Media, the L.A.-based nonprofit’s highest honor, celebrating representation of the LGBTQ+ community in the media. She’ll claim the prize during the Closing Night of the 41st Outfest Los Angeles Summer Festival this Sunday, July 23rd.

The boyfriend of the Alabama woman who claims to have been kidnapped from the side of a highway outside Birmingham has now deleted all traces of her presence off his social media pages.

New court documents have alleged that Prince Andrew visited Jeffrey Epstein while the paedophile was under house arrest for sex offences.

Bethenny Frankel is mad as hell, and is biting back at the injustices she claims are perpetrated against reality TV stars.

Carlin Glynn, the Tony-winning star of Broadway hit The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, died July 13 from complications of dementia and cancer. She was 83 and her death was confirmed by her daughter, actress Mary Stuart Masterson.