LOS ANGELES – The 2023 BET Awards celebrated 50 years of hip-hop with tributes to the genre’s earliest voices, late legends, and new talent during a show packed with spectacular performances that consistently felt like a party. Sunday’s biggest surprise came when Quavo and Offset, the surviving members of Migos, performed “Bad and Boujee” in … Read more
TOKYO – Author Haruki Murakami says he’s strongly opposed to the redevelopment of a historic and beloved Tokyo park district that would remove his favorite jogging path and tear down the nearly century-old baseball stadium where he was inspired to become a novelist. The plan approved earlier this year by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike to … Read more
NEW YORK – Thousands of effusive marchers danced to club music in New York City streets Sunday as bubbles and confetti rained down, and fellow revelers from Toronto to San Francisco cheered through Pride Month’s grand crescendo. New York’s boisterous throng strolled and danced down Fifth Avenue to Greenwich Village, cheering and waving rainbow flags … Read more
LOS ANGELES – “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” slung its webs back atop the box office ranks while “The Flash” saw a drop faster than the film’s speedy character. The Spidey animated sequel — starring Shameik Moore as the teenage webslinger Miles Morales — reclaimed the No. 1 spot in its fourth week in North American … Read more
NEW YORK – Salman Rushdie, Cheryl Strayed, Carl Hiassen and Ibram X. Kendi are among hundreds of authors who have endorsed an announcement by the American Library Association and the Association of American Publishers that calls attention to the 70th anniversary of a Freedom to Read Statement issued by book publishers and librarians during the … Read more
JERUSALEM – Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan was testifying Sunday at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial to answer questions about an alleged “supply line” of champagne and cigars funneled to the Israeli leader and his wife said to have been in exchange for help with Milchan’s personal and business needs. Milchan, who appeared by … Read more
LOS ANGELES – “Rap City.” “106 & Park.” And even, “Uncut.” From innovative to provocative, BET has played a crucial role in creating several influential programs that helped spread hip-hop to millions of homes across the globe. Other than its rival show “Yo! MTV Raps,” the network known as Black Entertainment Television took up the … Read more