January 25, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Scott Heins/Getty Images(DELAWARE) — (NOTE CONTENT) At a hearing in a Delaware court Monday, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Mary Walrath approved a $17 million settlement plan resolving most of the sexual harassment and assault claims against disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein. 

The Hollywood Reporter notes that the settlement had been approved by nearly 40 women pursuing such claims against the producer; the money allotted will be divided using a point system by a claims examiner.

The settlement also includes an additional $8.4 million to help settle other bankruptcy claims against Weinstein related to his former business dealings.

According to the trade, the examiner will review each victim’s claim, then determine how much of that $17 million pot each victim will receive. If the victims agree to release Weinstein from future claims, they’ll get what the examiner determines to be each victim’s full share; those who don’t agree they won’t pursue future legal action against the former movie mogul will only receive 25% of their share. 

The settlement also grants a “mandatory perpetual release” of claims against Weinstein’s former clients and board members of The Weinstein Company, including his producer brother Bob Weinstein.

Weinstein was fired from the Weinstein Company, the production company he co-founded with his brother,  days after the initial reports of sexual assault against him surfaced in 2017.

Last year, Weinstein was sentenced in New York to 20 years for criminal sexual assault for forcing oral sex on a woman. That sentence was ordered to run consecutively with a three-year sentence for the third-degree rape of another woman.

Weinstein also faces an additional 11 sexual assault counts involving five women in California, which could add an additional 140 years to life in state prison, on top of his 23-year sentence.

He remains behind bars at the Wende Correctional Facility in Erie County, New York.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

January 25, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

iStock/Ridofranz(LOS ANGELES) — While it’s already been reported that a few celebrities of advanced age have gotten the COVID-19 vaccine, like 73-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger, 79-year-old Martha Stewart, 78-year-old Harrison Ford, and 75-year-old Steve Martin, Variety reports that many in showbiz who aren’t yet eligible for the vaccine based on age are doing everything in their considerable power to get it.

“It’s like Hunger Games out there,” one Hollywood exec tells the trade. 

“Managers, agents, producers and a few film directors have pivoted from their daily business to focus on helping clients and stars find vaccines for family members,” Variety reports, quoting an anonymous source.

“We’ve been offered bribes. We see people taking [private] planes to every location. We’ve seen people try to transiently get into the healthcare profession or on staff at nursing homes, so they qualify for an early vaccine,” said Beverly Hills-based Dr. Robert Huizenga, who has appeared as an expert on The Biggest Loser.

He tells Variety his practice has been offered payoffs in excess of $10,000 from Hollywood types looking for the coveted jab, but they’ve refused.

Dr. Ehsan Ali runs Beverly Hills Concierge Doctor, whose client list reportedly includes the likes of Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, tells the Los Angeles Times that money is no object for his clients — but vaccine supply is. “This is the first time where I have not been able to get something for my patients,” he tells the paper. “We get hundreds of calls every single day.”

Dr. Jeff Toll, a physician linked to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles recalled to the paper a patient asking him, “‘If I donate $25,000 to Cedars, would that help me get in line?'” the answer, Dr. Toll says, was no.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

January 25, 2021 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Disney+(LOS ANGELES) — While its traditional live event was scuttled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Film Institute has made its picks for the best movies and TV shows of the year. 

Incidentally, Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, which co-starred the late Chadwick Boseman, was among the AFI’s Movies of the Year — as was Boseman’s final film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. 

On the TV side of things, the first live action Star Wars series, Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian was named among the top programs of the year; other Emmy winners like Netflix’s The Crown, and the streaming service’s hits Bridgerton and The Queen’s Gambit were among the small-screen fare that was honored.

The organization will hail the following movies and TV shows on February 26 during a virtual event: 

AFI Movies of the Year

Da 5 Bloods
Judas and the Black Messiah
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank
Minari
Nomadland
One Night in Miami
Soul
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7

AFI Television Programs of the Year
Better Call Saul
Bridgerton
The Crown
The Good Lord Bird
Lovecraft Country
The Mandalorian
Mrs. America
The Queen’s Gambit
Ted Lasso
Unorthodox

Additionally, the organization is honoring Disney+’s streaming of Hamilton with the AFI Special Award.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.