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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R • JUNE 19, 2016
ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
Grammy Extends Deal with CBS, Tune Up Award Process Vanessa Obioha
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istory was made last Wednesday when the Recording Academy announced that it has extended its partnership with CBS Television Network to broadcast the awards show till 2026. Since 1973, the TV network has been the home of the biggest music show. The deal sets new record as the longest continuous relationship between an awards show and a broadcaster in TV history. The network will continue to air the annual Grammy specials as well as additional programmes. Following this deal, Grammy also made major changes in the 2017 awards. It will now accept recordings that are released through streaming platforms. The recordings however must have been released between Oct 1, 2015 and Sept 30, 2016. “The GRAMMYs® aren’t just peerawarded, they’re peer-driven. Throughout the year, members of the music community come to us asking to make changes to the Awards process, and we work with them to figure out how those changes might work,” said Bill Freimuth, Senior Vice President of Awards for The Recording Academy. Other changes include the decrease in number of voting categories from 20 to 15, plus the four General Field categories (Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist). This change, according to the Recording Academy, will help members to vote only in those categories in which they are most knowledgeable, passionate, and qualified. Also the Best New artist was tweaked to allow artists who have at least released five tracks unlike in the past when only artists who have an album are eligible. The Blues category is now divided into two: Best Traditional Blues Album and Best Contemporary Blues Album, while Best Rap/Sung Collaboration is renamed Best Rap/Sung Performance. The 59th Grammy Award will hold on February 12, 2017.
DEPP AND HEARD COURT HEARING GETS NEW DATE
A spokesman for Los Angeles Superior Court where domestic violence case against actor Johnny Depp by his estranged wife Amber Heard was to hold last Friday said that the case has been postponed following a phone conversation between the lawyers of both parties. The delay will allow Depp to provide more witnesses while extending the restraining order for Heard. On May 23, Heard filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences and also acquired a restraining order for Depp to stay at least 100 yards away from her. She said her four-year relationship with the 53 year-old actor has been a turbulent one, claiming that he has a history of drug and alcohol use. She provided pictures as evidence that the actor has physically abused her. The court hearing will now take place on 15 and 16 August.
VIACOM INC. REPLACES FIVE MEMBERS OF ITS GOVERNING BOARD
In what many considered as a conspiratorial move, media mogul Sumner Redstone and his daughter Shari announced that they were replacing five members of its governing board. Among those affected
Johnny Depp
Sumner Redstone
The Defunct Shield
is the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive, Phillipe Dauman. Aggrieved members are claiming that the move is deliberately planned by Shari, Dauman’s greatest critic. She owns 20 per cent of the family firm and is the vice-chair of Viacom. They argued that the ailing Sumner has been arm-twisted by her daughter since the father expressed his desire to have professional managers to run his company rather than his daughter. “Now, when Mr. Redstone’s physical and mental conditions have dramatically declined and he is unable to fend for himself, Shari has moved into his home, taken over his life, isolated him from contact with others, and purports to speak for him,” said Viacom’s aggrieved lead independent board member, Frederic Salerno, in a statement. However, Sumner’s representatives countered by saying that the mogul has the mental capacity to make legal decisions, striking one of the claims in the legal filings by the company’s board members that its owner does not possess his full mental faculties. Although, the change does not take effect immediately, the members are ready to fight the decision in court. Other members affected by the brazen
move include George S. Abrams, Blythe J. McGarvie and William Schwartz. They will be replaced by BuzzFeed Chairman Kenneth Lerer, Nicole Seligman, Thomas May, Judith McHale and Ronald Nelson. The media empire owns Paramount Pictures and cable channels Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and MTV.
ALL EYEZ ON ME GETS NOVEMBER RELEASE
After series of setbacks in the past few years, the first trailer of the Tupac Shakur Biopic was released on Thursday to mark the rapper’s 45th birthday. Starring Demetrius Shipp Jr., Danai Gurira, Kat Graham, Hill Harper, Lauren Cohan and Jamie Hector, the film began with Tupac being arrested in mid-performance in front of thousands of fans, being in jail and a glimpse of the black BMW that he will ride in that would be smashed with bullets in a drive-in shooting that took his life almost 20 years ago. Shot earlier this year in Atlanta, the film will be the first biopic on the rapper. Previous documentaries on his rivalry with Notorious B.I.G include ‘Tupac: Resurrection’ and ‘Biggie and Tupac’. The film was titled after the rapper’s fourth album and will be tentatively
released in November.
WILL SHIELD BE SHREDDED AT MONEY IN THE BANK MATCH TODAY?
The once brotherhood cult, Shied will have its members tearing each other at today’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match. A glimpse of this was seen in last Monday Night’s Raw when Dean Ambrose hosted his former buddies Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns in his Ambrose Asylum show. Seth, who made a stunning comeback at WWE Extreme Rules didn’t mince words in challenging the current WWE World heavyweight Champion for his title. He claimed Roman Reign has never defeated him. While the two went back and forth on their main event match, the maniac Ambrose shocked them by announcing that he will also be contending for the title, that is if he is able defeat Alberto Del Rio, Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Cesaro in the ladder match today. Ambrose has grown to become a crowd’s favourite and winning tonight’s match will boost his career in WWE. Depending on the outcome of the match today, the once bonded Shield may finally be laid to rest.