Month: March 2021

Chris Harrison, the longtime host of the Bachelor franchise, has apologized again for his comments excusing a current contestant's alleged racist past and said he wants to return as host after his leave of absence. "I am an imperfect man. I made a mistake and I own that," he said in an interview with Michael Strahan on Good Morning America that aired Thursday. "I believe that mistake doesn’t reflect who I am or what I stand for. I am committed to the progress not just for myself but also for the franchise.” But Harrison's apology was "nothing more than a surface response on any of this," Strahan said after the interview. "Obviously he’s a man who wants to clearly stay on the show, but only time will tell if there’s any meaning behind his words." This season, which has the fi...

Chris Harrison says he plans to return to his hosting duties for ABC's "The Bachelor" franchise in his first interview since stepping aside from his longtime role. On Thursday, "Good Morning America" aired Michael Strahan's interview with Harrison in which he voiced his regret for defending current "Bachelor" contestant Rachael Kirkconnell after photos resurfaced of her attending an "Old South" themed party at a plantation in 2018. "I am an imperfect man. I made a mistake and I own that. I believe that mistake doesn't reflect who I am or what I stand for. I am committed to the progress, not just for myself, also for the franchise," Harrison said when asked why he defended Kirkconnell last month. Harrison now says antebellum parties "are not ok [in the] past, present, future. 'BACHELO...

The cover of St Vincent’s 2011 album, Strange Mercy, depicts an open mouth and teeth shrink-wrapped in white latex. It provoked much fascination. Was it Annie Clark’s mouth? She wouldn’t say. One song involved a pearl-handled whip, wielded for pain over pleasure; others negotiated submission and debasement. Perhaps it was a BDSM thing? The startled questions showed the overnight evolution of Clark’s image from the “asexual Pollyanna” (her words) of her first two records. Over the following decade, she restyled herself as a white-haired “near-future cult leader” and then a “dominatrix at the mental institution”. She transcended her indie-rock origins to work with David Byrne, Taylor Swift and Dua Lipa, date the model Cara Delevingne and front Tiffany campaigns. Confounding such a journ...

Meghan replied: “I don’t know how they could expect that, after all of this time, we would still just be silent if there is an active role that The Firm,” — the term the royals are said to use for the whole apparatus of the family — “is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us.” “And, if that comes with risk of losing things, I mean, I . . . there is a lot that has been lost already.” The clip was less than 30-seconds long, but it quickly dominated news websites and broadcast bulletins in Britain. The latest teaser released ahead of Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey shows the Duchess accused Buckingham Palace of “perpetuating falsehoods.” (Reuters) It was the second teaser to be released from Meghan and Harry’s highly anticipated two-hour CBS special with Oprah, whic...

Paramount+, the latest entrant in the streaming wars, launches today, promising a mix of classic TV shows and movies, sort-of-early access to some Hollywood blockbusters, and some reboots of stuff you didn’t know you wanted rebooted: Welcome back, Frasier Crane. But in some ways, the stuff that ViacomCBS’s new service offers may be less important than the timing of its launch. It comes after every other big media company has rolled out its own streaming service. Which means Paramount+ is entering a very crowded marketplace. And that means, most likely, that ViacomCBS isn’t just trying to get someone to pay $10 a month for Paramount+ — it also probably needs them to drop something else. Antenna, a subscription analytics startup, says US consumers subscribed to just 1.5 streaming se...

Britain’s Prince Philip, the 99-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II, is recovering from a “successful” heart operation, Buckingham Palace said Thursday. “The Duke of Edinburgh yesterday underwent a successful procedure for a pre-existing heart condition at St Bartholomew’s Hospital,” the palace said, using Philip’s formal title. “His Royal Highness will remain in hospital for treatment, rest and recuperation for a number of days,” the statement said. Philip — who is due to turn 100 in June — has been hospitalized since Feb. 16 when he was admitted to King Edward VII’s Hospital in London as “a precautionary measure.” He was initially treated for an infection, but on Monday was transferred to St. Bartholomew’s, a specialized cardiac care hospital. ...