Harvey Weinstein LA Trial: Judge Will Allow 5 Witnesses to ‘Prior Bad Acts,’ But Excludes Rose McGowan and Daryl Hannah

Planning ahead? The 2022 Oscars are barely in the rearview, but ABC exec Craig Erwich already has his eye on potential hosts for the 2023 show — with Chris Rock among them.

Sidley Austin, a law firm with offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific, is going big on sports law. Our sister site Sportico has learned that Charles “Chuck” Baker and Irwin Raij, most recently co-chairs of O’Melveny & Myers’ sports industry group, are joining Sidley as co-chairs of its Entertainment, Sports and Media industry group. The move will bring expertise in ownership transactions, stadium construction, media rights and international deal making.Baker has negotiated on behalf of buyers and sellers of pro teams.

EXCLUSIVE: Top Entertainment lawyers Todd Weinstein and Tara Senior have departed Del Shaw as partners to start the new firm Weinstein Senior. Seasoned lawyer Mitch Federer will also be joining Weinstein Senior as partner.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA Los Angeles judge ruled on Wednesday that five additional witnesses will be allowed to testify against Harvey Weinstein at his upcoming rape trial, but excluded testimony from actresses Rose McGowan and Daryl Hannah.Prosecutors wanted to call 15 witnesses to testify about the producer’s “prior bad acts,” but the judge excluded 10 of them.The judge will also allow jurors to be told of Weinstein’s New York conviction involving the sexual assault of Miriam Haley, though Haley will not be called to testify in Los Angeles.Weinstein is facing 11 counts of rape and sexual assault pertaining to five alleged victims. The prosecution wants to call the additional witnesses to show that Weinstein had a propensity to commit sex crimes.

Pussy Riot’s Masha Alyokhina has escaped from Russia as president Vladimir Putin continues to crack down on dissidents in the country.Alyokhina, along with her bandmates, has been arrested and imprisoned multiple times over the past decade and more for publicly protesting Putin’s rule, most recently last year when she was detained for 48 hours after attending protests encouraging others to protest on social media.Amid the continued Russian invasion of Ukraine, a new story in The New York Times reveals that Alyokhina was under house arrest and, when authorities decided to turn that into a 21-day jail sentence last month, she decided to flee Russia.The story outlines Alyokhina’s escape, which included posing as a food courier and being placed on Russia’s wanted list after being refused entry into Belarus on account of her Russian passport having been confiscated by authorities.The report then reveals that Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson was able to assist Alyokhina in getting her a travel document from a European country that allowed her to travel freely from Russia to the EU. It adds that she has now travelled to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.“I still don’t understand completely what I’ve done,” she said in the piece.

Eminem’s music to metal songs after the rapper was included on the list of inductees for 2022.Eminem is one of eight artists set to be inducted into the institution later this year, alongside Dolly Parton, Duran Duran, Lionel Richie, Eurythmics, Carly Simon, Judas Priest and Pat Benatar.During a recent interview with Audacy, CEO Greg Harris commented on the rapper’s inclusion in the class of 2022 and hip-hop’s place in the Rock Hall. “For a lot of years people asked about hip-hop,” he said.

tackled during by a knife wielding assailant during a set at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday — and Rock, who made headlines for being face slapped by WIll Smith at this year’s Oscars,’ both performed a “secret” comedy show Thursday night in Los Angeles, according to The Hollywood Reporter.The tight-lipped, star-studded show that took place inside a small venue inside the Comedy Store club featured a star studded audience consisting of Kim Kardashian, rappers Sean “Diddy” Combs (50 Cent) and Yasiin Bey (Mos Def), in addition to comedian Jeff Ross.Fans paid $160 to see an American Spirit cigarette smoking Chappelle, who was billed as a last minute, unnamed comedian. After raucous ovation, he was joined onstage by Rock about 10 minutes into his set as the duo made light of their viscous circumstances.

Most stocks and sectors closed down Thursday in a massive and broad market selloff that thrashed media and tech shares from big showbiz conglomerates to Amazon, Apple and Meta to Roku, Endeavor, Cinemark and the New York Times.

COVID-19-related pneumonia yesterday (May 4) following a long battle with liver disease.Describing Pyro as “my best friend and brother”, Malin wrote on his social media channels: “He fought real hard right till the end. He changed my life and so many others in ways I can’t even begin to say.

Déjà vu. As if the slap wasn’t enough, Chris Rock witnessed Dave Chappelle being tackled at the Netflix Is A Joke festival in Los Angeles on May 2, 2022. The Everybody Hates Chris creator quipped back with a response that recounted his own experiences at the Oscars. 

Eminem, Duran Duran, Dolly Parton and Lionel Richie are all set to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2022.Eurythmics, Carly Simon, Judas Priest and Pat Benatar will also be inducted into the Hall Of Fame this year.Kate Bush, Beck, DEVO, Fela Kuti, MC5, New York Dolls, Rage Against The Machine and Dionne Warwick made the initial shortlist for 2022, but didn’t make the final cut.The honourees — voted on by more than 1000 artists, historians and music industry professionals — each “had a profound impact on the sound of youth culture and helped change the course of rock ’n’ roll,” said John Sykes, the chairman of the Rock Hall, in a statement.The 2022 event, which will be the Hall’s 37th annual induction ceremony, will be held on November 5 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.The announcement comes after Parton initially refused the honour on the grounds that she didn’t feel that she had “earned the right”. But she reversed her stance last month to confirm she will accept the honour should she be voted in.Parton continued to explain that, at the time she made her statement bowing out, she hadn’t realised that the institution already included numerous artists from other genres outside the world of rock.

Dolly Parton, who said last week she would gracefully accept an induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame if it were offered, will have to do just that: The country music superstar was among the nominees selected for a spot in the hall today.

Lori Harvey's beauty regularly takes our breath away, but her abs had partygoers stunned on the Met Gala carpet on Monday! The 25-year-old model arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in a stunning custom Michael Kors Collection gown that featured a criss-cross bodice, highlighting abs that even the model's hunky actor star boyfriend, Michael B. Jordan, would be jealous of. This year's Met Gala accompanies the second part of the Costume Institute's exhibition, «In America: An Anthology of Fashion,» with a concept paying homage to the United States' Gilded Age, an era of immense economic growth and major industrialization, as well as massive income inequality, political upheaval, and post-Civil War racism.Dressed in the elegant black number with a train that seemed to go on for miles, Harvey kept true to the general nature of the controversial theme, exuding lavishness and glamour with two giant diamond rings on each hand and a matching pair of dangling diamond earrings. Harvey met her debut at 2017's Met Gala as part of Dolce & Gabanna's new DG Millennials.

Eminem, Duran Duran and Pat Benatar are among the artists to top this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame fan ballot.Duran Duran, a first-time Rock Hall nominee in 2022, came out on top with nearly 934,000 votes, which was 250,000 more votes than second highest artist on the fan ballot, Eminem (684,000).Finishing just 50,000 votes behind the Detroit rapper, two-time nominee Benatar took third place on the fan ballot with 631,000. The fourth and fifth spots went to Eurythmics (442,000) and Dolly Parton (394,000) respectively.Finishing just outside the Top Five: Three-time nominee Judas Priest and first-time nominees Carly Simon and Lionel Richie.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterThe bold and emotional true story of the survivors who spoke out against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was always the stuff of great cinema.On Wednesday, CInemaCon got a look at that movie: Universal’s “She Said.”The film is a dramatic adaptation of the book by Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, the reporting duo whose Weinstein exposé in the New York Times “created a domino effect and accelerated the #MeToo movement,” said star Carey Mulligan on stage at the annual convention of movie theater owners.Mulligan and Zoe Kazan portray Twohey and Kantor, respectively. The trailer features supporting players including Patricia Clarkson and Samantha Morton.

Rob Kardashian testified Wednesday that ex-fiancée Blac Chyna held a gun to his head on numerous occasions during their tumultuous relationship. The former "Rob & Chyna" star, 35, claimed during testimony in a defamation suit filed by Chyna, 33, against the Kardashian clan that the former exotic dancer physically abused him. He said their relationship developed so quickly, he was blindsided when he learned she was pregnant with their daughter Dream, who is now 5.