(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL Wisconsin 73, Rhode Island 62 Richmond 78, N. Iowa 68 Baylor 83, Stephen F. Austin 52 Texas 74, Texas State 53 Texas Tech 51, Abilene Christian 44 Florida St. 69, Indiana 67 Michigan St.at Virginia (Postponed) Sam Houston St. at Houston (Postponed) Robert Morris at West Virginia (Canceled) UT Martin at Tennessee (Canceled) Louisville at Wisconsin (Postponed)
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Turner(LOS ANGELES) — Just before filming his upcoming movie Midnight Sky, George Clooney found himself in the hospital for pancreatitis.
Prior to the hospitalization, the 59-year-old actor had lost nearly 30 pounds for his role in the film, which he believes is what contributed to the health concern.
“I think I was trying too hard to lose the weight quickly and probably wasn’t taking care of myself,” he told the Mirror.
Clooney, who also directs the film, added, “It took a few weeks to get better and as a director, it’s not so easy because you need energy. We were out on this glacier in Finland, which made it a lot harder work. But it certainly helped with the character.”
In addition to dropping some weight for the role, he also stopped shaving and grew facial hair that his wife, Amal, 42, wasn’t too fond of and left his three-year-old twins, Alexander and Ella, polarized.
“I grew a big ugly beard and my son loved it because he’d hide things in it which I wouldn’t know about until I got to work and I’d be like, ‘Oh, there’s a popsicle stuck in my beard,'” Clooney explained. “But my wife and daughter were really happy when it came off because it was very hard to find a face underneath all that mess.”
In the film, Clooney portrays a scientist who ventures through the Arctic to ward off a crew of astronauts returning home after a mysterious global catastrophe.
Midnight Sky is scheduled for a limited theatrical release on December 11, 2020, before being digitally released on December 23, 2020.
ABC Last Saturday as Morgan Wallen played SNL — after his October appearance was cancelled because of COVID-19 concerns — Little Big Town was cheering him on.
Karen Fairchild even sees the experience as an example of how we can all be better to each other in 2021.
“I want to get rid of the cancel culture thing…” she explains. “I thought it was so lovely… to watch him on SNL… And to know that SNL extended that invitation a second time, I was like, ‘That’s awesome.’ Because it could have easily gone the other way.”
“I was so happy for him,” Karen continues, “and happy that they set that example of ‘We’re not cutting you out, we’re actually inviting you back.’ And I hope we see more of that kind of stuff.”
The “Wine, Beer, Whiskey” hitmaker believes that’s what America needs after a rough 2020.
“I feel like it’s so important, because of what we’ve been through as a country, that we set the intention that we are going to be kinder to each other,” Karen says. “Even if we disagree, we’re gonna support and cheer people on… hope for the best for people, be good neighbors.”
“I just think we have to get back to those core values,” she adds. “No matter what side of the coin you’re on politically, it doesn’t matter. That is something we can all agree on.”
Even with six CMA Vocal Group trophies to her credit, Karen realizes it’s not easy.
“I don’t do it every day…” she admits, as her husband laughs. “Jimi [Westbrook]’s like, ‘Yeah, of course she doesn’t!’ But I just mean, as a society, as a community, how can we make 2021 the year of kindness and hopefulness and wishing more for each other instead of being so critical?”
(NEW YORK) — One of the three alleged victims in the criminal indictment of Ghislaine Maxwell is attempting to dismiss her civil lawsuit against Maxwell and the estate of Jeffrey Epstein, but attorneys for Maxwell are objecting, insisting they first be provided with a copy of a confidential settlement agreement the alleged victim, Annie Farmer, reached with a victims’ claims program established by the estate, according to court records.
“Ms. Maxwell respectfully requests that this Court order [Farmer to] provide to Ms. Maxwell an un-redacted copy of the signed and executed release from the claims program,” Maxwell’s lawyer Laura Menninger wrote in a letter to the court Tuesday.
Farmer, 41, has publicly identified herself as “Victim 2” in the criminal case and is almost certain to be called as a witness should Maxwell’s case proceed to trial next summer. Maxwell is charged with facilitating and, in some cases, participating in Epstein’s alleged sexual crimes against three minor girls, including Farmer, in the mid-1990’s.
Farmer filed the lawsuit in November 2019, eight months before Maxwell’s arrest, alleging she was sexually trafficked at age 16 as part of “Epstein and Maxwell’s organized ring of procuring young women and girls for sex.” During a 1996 visit to Epstein’s ranch in New Mexico, Farmer claims Maxwell pressured her into receiving a massage and “touched intimate parts of [her] body against her will,” according to Farmer’s complaint.
At a detention hearing for Maxwell in July, Farmer spoke to the court via video link to implore the judge in the criminal case to deny Maxwell’s request to be released on bail. “She is a sexual predator who groomed and abused me and countless other children and young women,” Farmer said. “She has never shown any remorse for her heinous crimes, for the devastating, lasting effects her actions caused.”
Farmer’s civil lawsuit was placed on hold in June while she presented her claims to the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Fund, the voluntary restitution program that began operating earlier this year. In October, Farmer accepted an offer from the fund, which requires her to drop all pending litigation against the estate and any former employees of Epstein. But when Farmer attempted to do just that, Maxwell’s legal team resisted.
“In the event [Farmer] attempts to sue her again in any forum at some unknown time in the future, Ms. Maxwell needs a signed and executed release so that she has a legally enforceable document to seek dismissal of any such claim,” Menninger wrote, arguing that assurances from Farmer’s lawyers in correspondence are “insufficient.”
Sigrid McCawley, an attorney for Farmer described Maxwell’s demands as “perplexing” and “indefensible” and “a clear attempt to stall Ms. Farmer’s ability to receive the compensation that she has been offered through the Victims’ Compensation Program,” according to court records. McCawley, a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman in a letter this week that Farmer had offered to provide Maxwell a copy of the settlement agreement with only the amount of the monetary offer blacked out, but she said Maxwell’s lawyers rejected that attempt to reach a compromise.
Dan Abrams, chief legal analyst for ABC News, said that Maxwell’s unusual effort to obtain information about Farmer’s confidential monetary settlement with the estate as a condition of dismissing the case, should be viewed in the context of Maxwell’s pending criminal trial and a potential cross-examination of Farmer.
“It’s clear that Maxwell’s lawyers want as much information as possible on Farmer and on any of the potential witnesses who could testify in her criminal case,” Abrams said. “If the amount of the settlement was known, you can count on the fact that if Farmer was called to testify, they would want to cite the amount that she settled for to suggest she was in this for money.”
Still, Abrams sees Maxwell as lacking leverage and thinks it unlikely that a judge would grant Maxwell’s request for those details. “Farmer is saying, ‘Forget it. I’m not suing you anymore,’ I don’t see how Maxwell has any basis for demanding information before she agrees to let Farmer not sue her anymore,” he said.
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges and denied the allegations in Farmer’s lawsuit. “To be clear, Ms. Maxwell denies that she had any involvement in any of the activity alleged” in Farmer’s complaint, Menninger wrote in a court filing in May.
Menninger, of Haddon, Morgan and Foreman in Denver, did not respond to a request for comment. McCawley, through a spokesperson for her firm, declined to comment. Lawyers for the Epstein estate have consented to Farmer’s request to dismiss the civil case.
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic(LOS ANGELES) — Pose star Indya Moore has opened their heart to launch TranSanta, an initiative to make sure transgender youth have something to celebrate this holiday.
“I didn’t have a chimney growing up in the Bronx, or in foster care,” the 25-year-old trans star says in an Instagram post, while wearing a festive sweater and Santa hat. “My friends and I want to make sure trans kids know feel like they’re gifts to the world — because they are!”
Moore explains that kids and other young people under 24 years old who are homeless, in foster care or in families who might not be accepting of their identity, can email transsanta2020@gmail.com to find out how they can fill out their wish lists.
On the other side, those “elves” willing to provide gifts for those kids in need can check out their wish lists at TranSanta on LinkedIn.
“We just wanted to show love and connect trans youth to people who love them,” says Moore, “because there are so many people who love us and it can be so hard to know that especially this year with everything going on.”
iStockBy ABC News
