County Oakland Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Also on this day:  Alabama becomes the fourth state to withdraw from the Union. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims the Grand Canyon National Monument.

Authorities confirmed that three people died Saturday after the small plane they were flying in crashed into a residential home in Michigan, setting the house ablaze as its five occupants rushed to safety. The plane careened into a home in Lyon Township, Mich.

Tom Hanks is one of the most popular stars in Hollywood, and has enjoyed an incredible career as both an actor and director.MORE: Take a glimpse inside Tom Hanks' home in LAThe father-of-four showed an interest in performing from a young age, and although he was shy, he would star in productions during his time at school.

Stephen and Ayesha Curry made it a family affair for their Eat. Learn. Play’s 8th Annual Christmas Drive held at Oakland Arena over the weekend in Oakland, Calif.

A Detroit-area man upset that his parents asked him to turn off his video game while in their bedroom last week so they could go to sleep flew into a rage and stabbed them, with his stepdad succumbing to his injuries days later, authorities said.  Christopher McKinney, 29, of Madison Heights, faces several charges related to the Dec.

A Michigan youth basketball coach is charged in connection to the beating of his 3-month-old child's mother that was so severe that she will need facial reconstruction, according to media reports.  Oakland County Sheriff's deputies responded to reports of an injured female Saturday in Orion Charter Township outside Detroit. They learned that the woman had walked to a neighbor's home seeking help and said her infant had been taken by her fiance and the child's father -- who has been identified as

Jharrel Jerome is set to lead Amazon Studios’ new series, I’m A Virgo, according to Deadline.

I’m a Virgo, a dark absurdist comedy from Sorry to Bother You writer-director Boots Riley, has been ordered to series by Amazon.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAmazon has given a series order to “I’m a Virgo” from Boots Riley with Jharrel Jerome attached to star.The half-hour series is described as an absurdist, coming of age story about a 13-foot-tall Black man (Jerome) who lives in Oakland, CA.Riley wrote the series and will also direct. He serves as executive producer along with Michael Ellenberg of Media Res, Tze Chun, and Jerome.

Traffic on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge slowed to a crawl Saturday afternoon because of a protest caravan supporting the struggles of farmers in India, according to reports.  The jam was reported just before 2 p.m. PT and had started to ease up around 5:30 p.m., according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Musician Benjamin Earl Turner is among the cast set for Starz’ TV adaptation of Blindspotting, the feature film from Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe “Blindspotting” series at Starz has cast several key roles as production kicks off in Los Angeles and Oakland, Variety has learned exclusively.Along with previously announced series lead Jasmine Cephas Jones, the eight-episode, half-hour dramedy will also star Benjamin Earl Turner, Atticus Woodward, Jaylen Barron, and Candace Nicholas-Lippman.

California can't enforce a ban vanity license plates it considers “offensive to good taste and decency” because that violates freedom of speech, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. U.S.

Peter White Television EditorEXCLUSIVE: Rapper Snoop Dogg is to voice and exec produce an animated comedy for Amazon with Vince Vaughn also exec producing.The streamer is developing Oaklandia, which is written by Daniel Dominguez (right), a writer for season two of HBO Max’s Michael B.

Also on this day: Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen, the first provisional president of the Republic of China, is born. Baseball gets its first “czar” as Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis is elected commissioner of the American and National Leagues.The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opens as President Franklin D.

Voters in cities and counties across at least six states passed police reform measures this week that toughen oversight and allow for more public access to body- and dashboard-camera recordings.  Many areas in which there were massive protests after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis -- such as Seattle; Portland, Ore.; and San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego and Sonoma County in California -- voted to create oversight committees that investigate police misconduct and the use of deadly force

I know that Sen. Kamala Harris will be an exceptional vice president of the United States because I know where she comes from.

Portland, Ore., and Oakland, Calif. filed a lawsuit against two government agencies, claiming they unconstitutionally overreached federal law when sending in troops to "quash civil protests."  According to the 48-page lawsuit, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), as well as the heads of both agencies (Attorney General William Barr and acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf), instituted "a policy that authorized the deployment and operation of

Dino-Ray Ramos Associate Editor/ReporterAlameda County district attorney Nancy O’Malley announced today that they are reopening the investigation of the 2009 shooting of Oscar Grant, who was killed on New Year’s Day by Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland, Calif. The case was the subject in Ryan Coogler’s 2013 film Fruitvale Station.Mehserle claimed he grabbed his gun instead of his taser.

The Killers played ‘Mr Brightside’ on a rooftop above the Las Vegas strip for US television last night – watch the performance below.The show was broadcast on the Monday Night Football programme, and came as the Las Vegas Raiders played their first NFL game in their new home.The Raiders, previously based in Oakland, California, beat the New Orleans Saints in their first home game at the Allegiant Stadium.“It’s our pleasure to welcome the Raiders to fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada,” Killers frontman

Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal's critically acclaimed 2018 film Blindspotting.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe series spinoff of “Blindspotting” has been officially ordered at Starz.As Variety exclusively reported last October, the half-hour dramedy will see Jasmine Cephas Jones reprise her role as Ashley from the film.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- William “Bill” Pursell, a Grammy-nominated composer who worked as a Nashville studio musician with artists like Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan, has died.

Two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali has had plenty of success but is always looking to challenge himself in new ways. This year, the Oakland, California, native earned his first Emmy nomination as an executive producer, for Amy Schatz’s documentary We Are the Dream: The Kids of the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest.

Tom Hanks is one of the most popular stars in Hollywood, and has enjoyed an incredible career as both an actor and director. The father-of-four showed an interest in performing from a young age, and although he was shy, he would star in productions during his time at school.

Video released by lawyers for Toronto Raptors President Masai Ujiri appears to show a sheriff’s deputy shoving the executive twice in the moments following the team’s 2019 NBA Finals win in Oakland, Calif.

Ted Johnson Newsweek has apologized for an op ed that sparked a new wave of false conspiracy theories about Kamala Harris, acknowledging that to make readers the essay “inevitably conveyed the ugly message” that she was “somehow not truly American.”The essay, written by John Eastman, professor of law at Chapman University, raised the legal question of whether Harris, who was born in Oakland, was really a natural-born citizen, a requirement to hold the office of president or vice president.

“Playing music and touring makes me happier than anything,” the singer-songwriter Madeline Kenney says on a call from the home she shares with her boyfriend in Oakland, holding her phone to her ear with one hand and cooking an egg with the other. “But career-wise, it's a horrible choice to make.

Also Read: Fox Sports to Put 'Virtual Fans' in the Stands for MLB Games (Video)Hanks, who is a native of the San Francisco Bay area, is no rookie when it comes to baseball or peddling frankfurters: he played Jimmy Dugan, manager of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League team the Rockford Peaches in the 1992 film “A League of Their Own.” And, according to USA Today, he actually was a vendor in the Oakland Coliseum when he younger.Fox Sports tried out a new look Saturday, teaming up

A League Of Their Own star belts out above the crowd chatter during games. Another recording hears him say: “Not a ballgame without a hot dog! Who wants a hot dog?”The familiar voice of Hanks, who sold peanuts at A’s games growing up, will also be heard selling programs, scorecards, peanuts and drinks, reports NBC’s Today Show.The Oakland A’s (Oakland Athletics) are an MLB baseball team based in Oakland, California, who compete in the American League West division.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaThe makers of “Citizen Penn,” a documentary about actor Sean Penn’s volunteer work in Haiti, have updated their film to include footage of the Oscar-winner’s efforts to expand access to COVID-19 testing.Over the past few months, director Don Hardy and producer Shawn Dailey have followed Penn as he worked with his non-profit organization CORE to set up free testing sites in places such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland, New Orleans and the

Will Thorne Staff WriterBoots Riley is looking to follow up his darkly comic, satirical “Sorry to Bother You” with another Bay Area-set project.The directors teased via Twitter that he is developing a new series titled “I’m A Virgo,” which will star “When They See Us” and “Moonlight” alum Jharrel Jerome in the lead role.Riley says the series is about a 13-foot Black man who lives in Oakland, describing it as “dark, absurd, hilarious, and important,” all of which would apply to his 2018 big

Denise Petski Senior Managing EditorSorry To Bother You writer-director Boots Riley is teasing details of the new series he’s doing with Michael Ellenberg’s Media Res. As we reported in 2018, Riley had inked a script deal with Media Res for a project, whose premise was not revealed, that would be shopped to premium outlets.“I have a show about a 13-ft tall Black man who lives in Oakland.

"It is with great sadness that I have to announce to the fans of the Pointer Sisters that my sister, Bonnie died this morning," Anita Pointer said. "Our family is devastated, on behalf of my siblings and I and the entire Pointer family, we ask for your prayers at this time." The Pointer sisters - Ruth, Anita, Bonnie and June - grew up in Oakland, California, where their father was a minister.

Also Read: Bruce Jay Friedman, Oscar-Nominated 'Splash' Screenwriter, Dies at 90She continued, “Bonnie was my best friend and we talked every day, we never had a fight in our life, I already miss her and I will see her again one day.”The Oakland, California based group, made up of sisters Bonnie, Anita, June and Ruth Pointer, are behind 1970s and 80s hits like “I’m So Excited” and “Jump,” as well as  “Fire,” “He’s So Shy,” and “Slow Hand.”Bonnie recorded five albums with the Pointer Sisters, and

While some celebrities are speaking out against police brutality or donating money to help pay for George Floyd protestors' bailouts and helping the Black Lives Matter movement, others are taking to the streets and joining the crowds.