Washington, United States | AFP | Playboy degraded women, it empowered women. It liberated them, and objectified them. The legacy of the iconic magazine founded six decades ago by Hugh Hefner, who died Wednesday at 91, remains a topic of heated debate, especially its impact on women. Playboy brought nudity into …
Read More »Netflix to spend Can$500 mln to make films, TV shows in Canada
Ottawa, Canada | AFP | Netflix will spend Can$500 million (US$400 million) over the next five years to make original films and television shows in Canada, the company and Heritage Minister Melanie Joly announced Thursday. This amounts to about five percent of the video streaming service’s estimated total US$7 billion production …
Read More »Iconic Playboy founder Hugh Hefner dies at 91
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | Hugh Hefner, the silk pajamas-wearing founder of Playboy who helped steer nudity into the American mainstream, died Wednesday, the magazine announced. He was 91 years old. Hefner, who in 1953 founded a trailblazing brand that would help usher in the 20th century’s shifting …
Read More »In political turn, Bieber rallies for Black Lives Matter
New York, United States | AFP | Pop star Justin Bieber, known more for headline-grabbing scandals than activism, on Friday took an unexpected political turn as he hailed the Black Lives Matter movement. The 23-year-old, who abruptly cut short a tour in July, took to Instagram to show support for …
Read More »Emmys 2017: five big moments
Los Angeles, United States | AFP | It was a night of glam frocks, political virtue-signaling, and an R-rated speech, with Elisabeth Moss turning the air blue and Dolly Parton talking about sex toys. After all 27 awards were given out, there were some shocked shows going home empty-handed but — …
Read More »Lady Gaga hospitalized, pulls out of Brazil’s Rock in Rio
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | AFP | Lady Gaga said Thursday she had been hospitalized in “severe pain” and was pulling out of Brazil’s Rock in Rio festival, which she was due to headline this weekend. The US superstar, who revealed Tuesday that she suffers from the chronic disease fibromyalgia, had …
Read More »YouTube star PewDiePie in hot water again, over the N-word
Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | YouTube’s most watched blogger PewDiePie was in hot water again on Monday after using a racial slur while playing a livestreamed video game, just a few months after losing contracts over anti-Semitic remarks. In a video clip available online since Sunday, the 27-year-old Swede, whose real …
Read More »New dimension to Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ and story behind it
Venice, Italy | AFP | Director John Landis says his new 3D version of “Thriller” gives Michael Jackson fans chance to see the groundbreaking video how the late king of pop would have wanted them to. “Michael and I always intended it to be seen in a cinema,” Landis told reporters …
Read More »Hollywood stars enter Confederate symbols row
Venice, Italy | AFP |Hollywood stars George Clooney and Julianne Moore on Saturday weighed in on the debate raging in the United States over statues and other symbols of the pro-slavery side in the American Civil War. The pair spoke out on the issue at the Venice film festival, where …
Read More »Annette Bening says women progressing in film biz
Venice, Italy | AFP | US actress Annette Bening said Wednesday she believes women are making progress in the movie industry, despite only one female-directed film making it into the competition selection at Venice, where she is chairing the awards jury. “There is sexism of course, no question. But I think …
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