Roger Waters wins legal battle to play Frankfurt concert

WGA has handled the strike — and disapprove of the studios’ response — according to an exclusive new survey from Variety Intelligence Platform in conjunction with insights firm YouGov.   Most entertainment-industry professionals (57%) approve of the Writers Guild of America’s handling, versus just 9% who approve of the way studios have, per an online poll conducted May 10-11 among 540 U.S. adults working in show business. These latest results are an update to our previous survey fielded in March, when the strike was still weeks away from starting on May 1. Both surveys follow the VIP+ deep-dive special report “Time to Strike?” on the negotiations that led up to the walkout.  

K.J. Yossman Sweden has won the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. Swedish contestant Loreen came first with her song “Tattoo,” beating out 25 other countries to garner 583 points. Her win means the contest will likely be held in Sweden next year. Traditionally the winning country hosts the following year’s contest. Sweden was followed by Finland’s Käärijä with 526 points and Israel’s Noa Kirel with 362 points, who took second and third place respectively. This year’s Eurovision took place in Liverpool, U.K. on behalf of last year’s winner Ukraine after it was deemed too dangerous to hold Eurovision in the country following the Russian invasion. Ukrainian entry Kalush Orchestra won last year’s contest followed by the U.K.’s Sam Ryder in close second.

Sam Ryder has been joined on stage at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest by Queen drummer Roger Taylor.This year’s instalment of the concert took place in Liverpool, following the ongoing political conflict taking place in Ukraine. Ukraine won the competition last year, with Ryder coming in second place.Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra opened this year’s Eurovision song contest with an emotive rendition of their 2022 winning song, ‘Stefania’.The opening also saw the band joined by musicians and famous figures from afar.

Priscilla Presley is taking some time to meet with her friends in Los Angeles, amid her legal battle with granddaughter Riley Keough. The 77-year-old star was spotted wearing an all-black outfit and having a casual conversation during a recent dinner outing.

Naman Ramachandran Global family entertainment streamer Da Vinci and Bear Grylls‘ production company BecomingX have debuted the first trailer for docuseries “Becoming Xtraordinary.” The series features interview-driven stories of success from Julia Roberts, Roger Federer, Courteney Cox, Channing Tatum, Olympic gold medallists, Nobel laureates and more. Co-produced by Chrome Productions, “Becoming Xtraordinary” comprises three seasons of 10 episodes each, all presented by Grylls and guided by in-studio hosts Mwaksy Mudenda (“Blue Peter”) and YouTuber Evan Edinger. The first season will premiere on May 28 and will be available across Da Vinci’s linear and video-on-demand platforms, including various FAST channels on Local Now, Sling Freestream, TCL Channel, Free TV, Rakuten TV, LG Channels, Netgem and VIDAA.

Two months later, around the same time Cosmo was cracking his first smiles, Johansson and Disney settled the suit. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Johansson’s payout reportedly eclipsed $40 million. In the history of Hollywood, the stars who have successfully sued studios are few and mostly men, from Burt Lancaster to Kevin Costner to Sylvester Stallone, with Olivia de Havilland and Elizabeth Taylor being rare exceptions.

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Ed Sheeran’s victory another high-profile headline-grabbing song-theft legal battle – this time over whether or not he ripped off Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’ when he wrote his 2014 song ‘Thinking Out Loud’ – plus two sets of proposals for better regulating the sale of tickets put forward in US Congress late last month and another industry-led campaign launched last week that says it will advocate for “a ticketing experience better than the nightmare many fans and artists currently navigate”.SECTION TIMES01: Ed Sheeran (00:05:36)02: US tickets (00:18:52)(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)SUBSCRIBE TO SETLISTListen to Setlist and sign up to receive new episodes for free automatically each week through any of these services…Acast | Amazon Music | Apple Podcasts | audioBoom | CastBox | Deezer | Google Podcasts | iHeart | Mixcloud | RSS | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneInSTORIES DISCUSSED THIS WEEK• Non-idiot (allegedly) Ed Sheeran testifies on first day of Thinking Out Loud song-theft trial• Ed Sheeran gets his guitar out in court as song-theft case continues• Ed Sheeran calls musicologist’s actions “criminal” in Thinking Out Loud song-theft trial• Ed Sheeran losing will remove “an essential element in every songwriter’s toolkit”, argues lawyer in song-theft case• Ed Sheeran did not rip off Let’s Get It On says jury in song-theft case• Live Nation responds to proposed new ticketing regulations in the USALSO MENTIONED• The Great Escape conferenceMORE FROM CMU• Upcoming CMU webinars• Buy MMF and CMU Insights’ Dissecting The Digital Dollar book on Amazon• Sign up to receive the CMU Daily news

Details are emerging after Tiger Woods‘ ex Erica Herman filed new court documents that accuse him of sexual harassment.

defeated the Miami Heat in Game 2 of the Knicks second-round playoff series.“The team has been flooded with requests from celebrities, with some saying they will fly in from out of town if they can get tickets,” a source close to MSG told The Post. “There’s way too many asks to address.”Among the boldfacers lucky enough to score a ticket were Jessica Alba, comedians Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan and Dave Chappelle, “Entourage” star Jerry Ferrara and his pal, “New Girl” actor Max Greenfield, and Roger Federer.Former Knick Carmelo Anthony got a standing ovation from the enthusiastic fan base.Also in attendance was Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who is usually a courtside fixture at Milwaukee Bucks games.

Nicolas Cage has recalled the first concert he ever attended to see The Who.In a newly aired segment from the April 13 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Nicolas Cage partook in the “Colbert Questionert” and was asked about the first concert he ever attended.Cage revealed that his first concert was seeing The Who perform at the Fillmore Stadium in San Fransisco, before going on to explain how “blown away” he was by the performance. “Roger [Daltrey] did this incredible thing where he was spinning the microphone with the cable and he just hit the cymbal.

Eileen Saki, who played Rosie on M*A*S*H, has died, her husband Bob Borgen confirmed. She was 79.

Roger Federer hits the red carpet with his wife, Mirka, at the 2023 Met Gala on Monday evening (May 1) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Allegations of theft and greed over control of the late guitarist Johnny Winter’s music are flying, the Associated Press reports.

Eva Green has claimed that “justice prevailed” after successfully suing a production company over the collapse of an abandoned sci-fi film.The Casino Royal star was set to play the lead role in dystopian thriller A Patriot, but the production company, White Lantern Films, collapsed in October 2019.After the film was abandoned, Green sued the production company, claiming she was still entitled to her $1m (£810,000) fee.On Friday (April 28), the judge ruled in Green’s favour, stating that the actress was entitled to her fee. The counter claim, alleging that Green jeopardised the film by abandoning it, was dismissed.The judge said (via The Independent) : “In particular, I find that Ms Green did not renounce her obligations under the artist agreement; nor did she commit any repudiatory breaches of it.”Following the ruling, Green said in a statement: “My professional reputation has been upheld.“In this legal action I was forced to stand up to a small group of men, funded by deep financial resources, who tried to use me as a scapegoat to cover up their own mistakes,” she said.

Queen‘s Roger Taylor has responded to rumours that his son Rufus is joining Foo Fighters as their new live drummer.Rufus Taylor – the Godson of the late Taylor Hawkins, and current member of The Darkness – performed on-stage with the Foos at last year’s huge Hawkins tribute concerts, which took place in London and Los Angeles.He was one of the numerous guest drummers to join Dave Grohl and co at the emotional shows, appearing alongside the likes of Travis Barker, Nandi Bushell and Hawkins’ teenage son Shane.Last week saw Foo Fighters return with ‘Rescued’, their first single since Hawkins’ death in March 2022. With it, the band shared details of their 11th studio album ‘But Here We Are’ (out June 2).Next month, the group will hit the road for a run of festival appearances and US headline shows.

suing the Florida governor for politically motivated “retaliation” — and Jimmy Fallon has a pretty good guess of which lawyer will be representing Disney in court.In the complaint filed this week, Disney cited a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” from DeSantis, as a result of the company’s response to the governor’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill last year. According to the complaint, the “targeted campaign of government retaliation – orchestrated at every level by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney’s protected speech – now threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region and violates its constitutional rights.”During Wednesday night’s monologue on “The Tonight Show,” host Jimmy Fallon read an additional statement from “the head of Disney’s legal team”: Donald Duck.“We will not give in to this outrageous government overreach,” the duck’s signature angry voice squawked.But just because Donald Duck is apparently the head of Disney’s legal team doesn’t mean he’ll be the one in the courtroom.

Kesha is opening up about her career.

The legacy of MGM Domestic Distribution Chief Erik Lomis was remembered this morning at CinemaCon by his Paramount Domestic Distribution Boss Chris Aronson, who worked with the former at MGM years ago. Lomis died suddenly March 22, having just released MGM’s Creed III to record box office results; a win also for the studio’s streaming parent Amazon.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The winners of the 27th Webby Awards have been announced, with Variety taking home two trophies from the annual awards program that recognizes the best of the internet. The magazine’s Variety Power of Women 2022 from Los Angeles won the Webby People’s Voice Award for events and livestreams in the General Video category, and Variety won the Webby for editorial writing in features and design section of the Websites and Mobile Sites category for co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh’s Oct. 26, 2022, cover story on Hugh Jackman. Variety had garnered four 2023 Webby Awards nominations. Other 2023 Webby Awards winners include Lizzo, former President Barack Obama, Doja Cat, Blackpink, the cast of Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” the cast of Marvel’s “Wakanda Forever,” Trixie Mattel, Hugh Jackman, Christina Aguilera, Patrick Mahomes, Jimmy Kimmel, Roger Federer, Serena Williams and Trevor Noah. Companies, brands and campaigns picking up Webbys this year include the Apple TV app, Adobe’s Frame.io, ESPN’s “30 for 30” podcast, Headspace, Discord, Nike’s Just A/Run, Etsy, Crooked Media’s “Pod Save America” and Spotify’s Wrapped.

“Rust” is set to start filming this week.