Hulk Hogan has a message for his fans ... "Don't believe everything you hear!" Days after WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle provided a bleak health assessment of Hulk's current condition, saying he was in such rough shape he had no feeling in his legs and couldn't walk without a cane, TMZ Sports obtained a video which appears to show differently. The clip, shot by Hulk's longtime friend and sports agent, Darren Prince , was shot Thursday night and shows 69-year-old Hogan very much walking without a cane, doing his best Ric Flair strut. "Hulk Hogan here, the greatest of all time, a little stiff, a little sore, but woooooo!" before executing a walk that'd make Ric proud! Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. Of course, Angle, on the latest episode of his podcast, said he spoke with Hogan last month during the taping of WWE Raw's 30th Anniversary show and the WWE legend told him he “had the nerves cut from his lower body" during back … [Read more...] about Hulk Hogan Says Kurt Angle’s Wrong About Health, Walks On Video To Prove It
What do you hear what do you say
Austin Butler Says He’s Still Trying To Shake Off Elvis’ Accent
Getty Austin Butler , who starred as Elvis Presley in the 2022 biopic, admits he has a problem ... he's still trying to shake off The King's southern twang. Butler was interviewed for Friday's episode of "The Graham Norton Show" and addressed his Elvis drawl nearly two years after the film wrapped. Austin said ... "I am getting rid of the accent, but I have probably damaged my vocal cords with all that singing. One song took 40 takes!" Austin got clowned at the 2023 Golden Globes when he won Best Actor ... sounding like the King of Rock 'n Roll. After his speech, Austin said, "I don’t think I sound like [Elvis] still, but I guess I must 'cause I hear it a lot." He added ... the movie "was my only focus in life, so I’m sure that there’s just pieces of my DNA that will always be linked in that way.” Gallery Launch Gallery Everett Collection His voice coach agreed, saying Austin's "accent is genuine" and "might stay … [Read more...] about Austin Butler Says He’s Still Trying To Shake Off Elvis’ Accent
Marquise Brown Pleads Guilty In Speeding Case After Cops Say He Did 126 MPH In A 65
Marquise Brown pleaded guilty to an excessive speeding charge on Wednesday ... six months after cops accused the NFL star of going 126 MPH in a 65 MPH zone. The Cardinals receiver showed up to an Arizona courtroom to enter the plea ... and you can see in video of the hearing, obtained by TMZ Sports , he was wearing a black sweatshirt and black pants for the proceedings. He didn't speak much while in court, though he and his attorney did tell the judge he was changing his initial plea of not guilty and pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of excessive speed. Brown is now facing a fine of up to $500, 30 days in jail, and/or 1 year probation as punishment. He'll learn his fate at a sentencing hearing next month. The 25-year-old was initially pulled over on Aug. 3, 2022 ... after cops say they caught him going 61 MPH over the speed limit in a 2020 Mercedes on a highway in Maricopa County. Brown was arrested and booked into jail. … [Read more...] about Marquise Brown Pleads Guilty In Speeding Case After Cops Say He Did 126 MPH In A 65
Channel 4: Inside The Doomed Sale Of A Crown Jewel Of British Television
There was a moment last November when Channel 4 ’s senior executives breathed a sigh of relief. Sat at the top table of Channel 4’s 40th birthday party, Chief Executive Alex Mahon was flanked by her friend Elisabeth Murdoch and doyens of UK broadcasting, including BBC Director-General Tim Davie and Carolyn McCall, ITV’s Chief Executive. They were raising a glass to a British success story in a rare public display of unity. On the same table was Thérèse Coffey, a senior government minister who had survived three prime ministers in the space of little more than three months. Her presence at the V&A Museum event bemused others, who believed the government only had hostile intentions for Channel 4 after sanctioning a sale of the broadcaster against its wishes. Things soon got weirder. Coffey turned to Mahon and asked if she could raise a glass to Channel 4. She then proceeded to surprise the room full of TV luminaries by serenading her hosts with a rendition of happy … [Read more...] about Channel 4: Inside The Doomed Sale Of A Crown Jewel Of British Television
Thanks, ‘Night Court’! How Multi-Cams Are Having A Moment … Again
Leave it to a sitcom vet like Melissa Rauch to remind the industry that everything old can be new again. After persuading Warner Bros. TV to dust off the Night Court IP and revive it for NBC, multi-cams are suddenly hot again, with every broadcast network — and even a few streamers like Netflix (home to new hit That ’90s Show , which just got renewed ) are putting studio audience comedies in development. While no one is straight-up abandoning single-cams — the success of CBS’ Ghosts and ABC’s Abbott Elementary have certainly made sure of that — there’s no beating the cost-effectiveness of one of TV’s most tried and true genres. “Everybody had a hunch they should probably be doing more of them,” says one high-powered comedy agent. “Night Court is a good sign there is an appetite for that. Everything I’m hearing out of CBS, for example, is that they have pretty hard caps they are trying to hit on these multi-camera shows. The Conners is an exception because … [Read more...] about Thanks, ‘Night Court’! How Multi-Cams Are Having A Moment … Again
‘The Last Of Us’ Has Made A New Hit Of Linda Ronstadt’s 53-Year-Old Song ’Long Long Time’ – All Because Seth Rudetsky Knows Everything
Two years ago to this very day, Seth Rudetsky , the Broadway composer, musician, podcaster, host of a show on SiriusXM radio, fundraiser , musical cruise host, conveyer of pop culture trivia and, now, “source music consultant,” received a text from Craig Mazin, the screenwriter, director and producer. Mazin was friends with Ted Griffin, who is married to Sutton Foster, who knows, as does seemingly everybody else in musical theater, Rudetsky. “I get this text,” Sudetsky remembers, “in all capital letters, saying IT’S EMMY AND GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD WINNING CRAIG MAZIN. STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING. I NEED YOUR HELP.” Specifically, Mazin needed a song for a TV episode he was working on, a show tune along the lines of “I Miss The Music” from the 2006 Kander & Ebb musical Curtains , only older. If you’ve seen the third episode of HBO’s The Last Of U s, the post-apocalyptic drama created by Mazin and Neil Druckmann (based on a 2013 video game), you’ll know where this is … [Read more...] about ‘The Last Of Us’ Has Made A New Hit Of Linda Ronstadt’s 53-Year-Old Song ’Long Long Time’ – All Because Seth Rudetsky Knows Everything
Jay-Z Offered Bacardi $1.5 Billion for Its Half of D’Usse, Got Rejected
Getty Jay-Z made Bacardi an offer he thought it couldn't refuse -- he was willing to spend $1.5 billion just for the booze co.'s 50% stake in D'Usse, but still got rejected. TMZ broke the story ... Jay's in a legal war with Bacardi, trying to force the company to buy him out of their 50/50 partnership in the luxury cognac brand. But, according to new docs, it was Jay who first tried to buy out Bacardi, back in December 2021. Here's what's weird, months before his offer ... Jay says he and Bacardi exchanged valuations of the brand. They were light years apart -- Jay felt his half of D'Usse was worth $2.5 billion, and Bacardi thought it was only worth a measly $460 million! Getty According to the docs, Jay went back to the drawing board and then in December he offered to buy out his partner for the $1.5 bil ... which, keep in mind, would still be 3 times what Bacardi said it was worth. Sweet deal, right? TMZ/Getty Composite … [Read more...] about Jay-Z Offered Bacardi $1.5 Billion for Its Half of D’Usse, Got Rejected
WGA Contract Talks Brittle In Opening Days Over “Ridiculous” AMPTP Proposals
There’ll be fireworks but no fire, and there will be a deal in the end. That’s the word I’m hearing from both sides out of the WGA ’s contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and TV Producers after two days of talks . No one is commenting publicly, but I’ve learned that besides presentations from both sides during the opening days, there’s palpable unease in the room at AMPTP HQ thanks to the multimillion-dollar rollback proposal producers sent the WGA more than a week before negotiations began. “There’s a feeling of, Why did you have to insult us?’” a WGA insider told me over the producers’ request for $60 million in rollbacks from the health and pension plans, residuals and targeted screenplay minimums. “Once again it makes us the least favored child of the guilds.” Some on the other side of the table don’t disagree with that assessment. “Those were ridiculous proposals meant to appease the people at the top, not anyone in the room,” a well-placed … [Read more...] about WGA Contract Talks Brittle In Opening Days Over “Ridiculous” AMPTP Proposals
Old, Old News: Pellicano/Tabloids
Journalists for the Los Angeles legal newspaper Daily Journal write today about a tabloid reporter in the early 1990s surreptitiously taping Anthony Pellicano — bugging the bugger, according to LAObserved — while the PI fed, watered and overall negotiated with the night-crawlers of the news biz. (Actually, that was reported extensively two years ago by local TV news station KCBS and its then reporter Drew Griffin, who used the news break to leap to CNN.) But the Daily Journal claims today that the recorded conversations with Pellicano suggest lawyer Bert Fields didn’t know about the PI’s methods. I, too, was shown some tape transcripts back in 2004 pertaining to this. When I couldn’t hear the recordings themselves — none of the 250 microcassettes were made available to me but they were to KCBS’s Griffin — I didn’t feel comfortable going with the story. At the time, I believed and still do that drawing any such a conclusion one way or the other re Fields/Pellicano from the … [Read more...] about Old, Old News: Pellicano/Tabloids
WGA Claims AMPTP Wants Big Pension & Health Contribution Cuts In New Contract
Things are going downhill already just days before the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and TV Producers are set to start negotiating a new 3-year contract. In an almost bizarre move, the producers allegedly told the WGA last week that they want “60 million dollars in rollbacks for writers, 32 million of that coming from our health plan,” according to an email sent out to WGA members today. “But it doesn’t stop there. Other proposals targeted screenplay minimums (11 million dollar rollback), TV residuals, and our Pension Plan,” adds the correspondence from WGA negotiating committee co-chairs Chip Johannessen and Billy Ray. “These proposed rollbacks for writers come at a time of unprecedented prosperity for the studios,” say Johannessen and Ray. “The collective profits of our 6 major bargaining partners (Disney, CBS, Comcast, Fox, Time Warner and Viacom) just hit a record $40 billion. This prosperity is based on our work, we are the creative force … [Read more...] about WGA Claims AMPTP Wants Big Pension & Health Contribution Cuts In New Contract