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Spike Lee to produce new HBO documentary for 20th anniversary of 9/11

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ABC/Arturo Holmes(LOS ANGELES) — Spike Lee and HBO have teamed up to produce a new documentary chronicling the historical events of September 11, 2001 and COVID-19. 

According to Variety, the film will follow “the life, loss and survival of New York residents over the twenty years since the terrorist attacks on the original World Trade Center complex.” 

As director and producer, the Emmy-winning Lee said he’s “proud” to share another Spike Lee film about his home state. 

“As a New Yawker who bleeds orange and blue (the colors of New York City), I’m proud to have a ‘Spike Lee Joint’ about how our/my city dealt with being the epicenters of 9/11 and COVID-19. With over 200 interviews, we dig deep into what makes NYC the greatest city on this God’s earth and also the diverse citizens who make it so,” said Lee in a statement. “You will lose ya money betting against New York, New York. And dat’s da truth, Ruth. Be Safe. Peace And Love.”

The multi-part film will debut later this year on HBO and HBO Max, offering an “unprecedented, sweeping portrait of New Yorkers as they rebuild and rebound, from a devastating terrorist attack through the ongoing global pandemic.” 

By Rachel George
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Paris Hilton recalls "mean" interview with David Letterman

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YANN COATSALIOU/AFP via Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Paris Hilton used Monday’s episode of her podcast This Is Paris to speak out about a 2007 interview she did with David Letterman, then host of CBS’ The Late Show, in which she felt he intentionally set out to humiliate her.

Hilton claims Letterman’s public relations team had been after her to appear on the show, but she “kept saying no.”  She finally agreed in order to promote a new fragrance she had coming out — providing he promised not to bring up her time in jail for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.

“There was not supposed to be one question [about the sentence], and then he just kept pushing me and pushing me and I was just getting so uncomfortable, and I was so upset,” she continued. “It was like he was just purposely trying to humiliate me.”

“It was just very cruel and very mean,” she said.  “After it ended, I just looked at him, and I said, ‘I am never coming on this show again.  You’ve crossed the line.’  I didn’t tell him off because I’m not that type of person, but I got angry.”

Hilton insisted Letterman would have a harder time getting away with that interview if it happened today.

“It’s such a different world now,” she says.

Hilton she eventually did return to Letterman’s show after he profusely apologized.  She said their next interview was “so much better.”

By George Costantino
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Golden Globes ratings tank; broadcast beat by 'America's Funniest Home Videos'

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NBCUniversal(NEW YORK) — Since it could be argued that some of the cringey technical glitches from Sunday night’s Golden Globes belonged on America’s Funniest Home Videos, it’s ironic the telecast apparently got beat in the ratings by the family-friendly show on ABC. 

The bug-filled NBC awards show hosted by Tina Fey in New York, and Amy Poehler in Los Angeles, and co-starring a host of technical issues, attracted 5.42 million viewers, according to early numbers quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. 

By comparison, 2020’s Golden Globes telecast attracted more than 18 million viewers, the trade says.

According to the trade, it’s the lowest audience for the Globes since 2008, when a writer’s strike left it little more than a press conference where the winners’ names were read.

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

San Diego Comic-Con going virtual…again

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Comic-Con International(SAN DIEGO) — (NOTE LANGUAGE) Like last year, San Diego Comic-Con will be virtual again, in light of the coronavirus pandemic, the event’s organizers have announced.

In a posting on its official website, the organizers noted, “While we are buoyed by the…growing number of individuals being inoculated, it appears that July will still be too early to safely hold an in-person event of the magnitude of Comic-Con.”

The organizers continue to say they’re postponing the convention as an in-person gathering until 2022.

They also noted that, “the challenges of this past year and the multiple postponements of our two largest events have left us with limited financial resources,” which have reduced the normally four-day, in person event to a three-day online one, spanning July 23-25, 2021.

For those who have never been, comic conventions — particularly major ones like San Diego’s and New York’s — combine many no-no’s of the “new normal”: Hundreds of thousands of people crammed in close proximity, sweaty cosplayers, and celebrities pressing flesh with autograph seekers. 

“I think those are going to be one of the last things to come back full force,” Spawn creator Todd McFarlane tells ABC Audio.

McFarlane, one of the most famous comic artists in the world, adds, “I don’t know if I’m going to the first convention [after COVID]. Who’s going to that? People vaccinated and people don’t give a sh**. I don’t know if I want to be in that room,” he admits. 

“Think about a [movie] theater: like everybody’s stationary, even at a football game or something like that. For the most part…they’re pretty stationary. But man, convention is just mosh pit going by. It’s like a packed airport.”

McFarlane also sympathizes with fans, saying “it must be super frustrating.” The die-hard baseball fan notes, “[I]f I don’t go see the Arizona Cardinals and with my own two eyes, I feel pretty satisfied watching them on TV… But I think a lot of people go to the conventions for the interaction with some of their peers. And other people will come for the TV and movie celebrities to see them with their own two eyes up close. You can see them on a screen, and Zoom, but it’s not like, ‘Oh, my God, I went to the bathroom, I guess who was there!'”

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

Dios Mio! Hilaria and Alec Baldwin welcome their sixth child

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Walt Disney Television/Yolanda Perez(NEW YORK) — If you’re keeping count, Hilaria and Alec Baldwin have just welcomed their sixth child. 

However, if you’re really keeping count, you’ll know that they just welcomed their fifth child back in September. 

Baldwin posted to Instagram a picture of his bilingual Bostonian wife laying down with their growing brood, including the new bundle of joy, whose name is not known, as well as four month old Eduardo “Edu” Pao Lucas, Romeo Alejandro David, 2½, four year-old Leonardo Ángel Charles, Rafael Thomas, 5½, and 7-year-old Carmen Gabriela.

Alec is also dad to 25-year-old daughter Ireland, which would be why the post was captioned with a “7.” 

The Baldwins’ last child was born in September, and the new bundle of joy is obviously not a preemie, according to the photo.

It’s not known whether the new addition was born via surrogate or adopted, and a rep for Mrs. Baldwin didn’t respond to a request for comment as of press time.

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