Guilty Pleasures
By NewsPress Now
Photographer accuses Taylor Swift’s dad of punching him
MELBOURNE, Australia | A photographer told police he was punched in the face by Taylor Swift’s father on the Sydney waterfront on Tuesday, hours after the pop star’s Australian tour ended.
Ben McDonald said he provided police with a statement alleging that Scott Swift assaulted him at the Neutral Bay Wharf, where the father and daughter had just come ashore from a yacht.
The veteran paparazzo said he decided to report the attack to police despite not being seriously injured.
“It was just a punch in the chops. It’s a little tender, but I don’t have any bruising and it didn’t require medical assistance,” McDonald said.
“In 23 years, I haven’t been assaulted and punched in the chops, particularly by the talent’s dad,” he added.
Taylor Swift’s representative accused members of the media of aggression during the interaction.
“Two individuals were aggressively pushing their way towards Taylor, grabbing at her security personnel, and threatening to throw a female staff member into the water,” the represetative said in an email.
The New South Wale Police Force media office confirmed that police were investigating the alleged assault of a 51-year-old man by a 71-year-old man at 2:30 a.m. Police did not release names, in accordance with their policy for such allegations.
Taylor Swift left the country on a private jet Tuesday, after more than 600,000 fans saw the Australian leg of her Eras Tour at seven Australian stadium concerts.
McDonald said media had been waiting to photograph the star as she walked with her entourage from a jetty to two waiting cars.
“There were about four or five security there and at one point, one of the American security started shoving his umbrella into me and my camera and then Taylor got in her car,” McDonald told The Associated Press.
“Someone else came running at me and punched me in the left side of my face. Initially, I thought it was an Australian security that was trying to be the hero of the moment in the front of the Americans, but as it turned out it was her father,” McDonald added.
McDonald said he realized that his alleged assailant was not a part of the security detail after seeing a photo of him holding Swift’s hand while reviewing photos from the evening. McDonald later identified Scott Swift from an online picture.
McDonald said there had been no cause for violence.
“We didn’t go rushing down the jetty. We didn’t go rushing to the back of the boat. We waited for her to come up. Kept it very civil,” he said.
“But no, they had to be (expletives) and put the umbrellas up and umbrellas over her and then shove the umbrellas into our faces and then make out that we’re the ones making contact with them,” he added.
Witness at trial recounts fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin
SANTA FE, N.M. | Testimony at trial Monday turned emotional and argumentative as an eyewitness recounted the fatal 2021 shooting of a cinematographer by actor Alec Baldwin during a movie rehearsal and described gun misfires, crew members walking out and a “ludicrous” pace of work.
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, who was the armorer for the upcoming Western movie “Rust,” is fighting charges of involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence at a trial that entered its third day of testimony Monday. A trial date was set for Baldwin in July on a single charge of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. He has pleaded not guilty.
Defense attorneys highlighted Gutierrez-Reed’s unusual disadvantage and vulnerability at the time as a part-time, 24-year-old armorer without trade-union membership on a set where few dared confront Baldwin directly about concerns about safety and related budgeting.
Monday’s testimony veered into the actor’s handling of the revolver that killed Hutchins — including a video of Baldwin twice practicing a cross-draw maneuver for a camera on Oct. 21, 2021, shortly before the fatal shooting that day. Investigators found no video of the shooting.
The video of Baldwin was accompanied by searing testimony from Ross Addiego, a front-line “Rust” crew member who helped guide the film’s camera. Addiego said that in the moments after a shot rang out on set, he made eye contact with a wounded Hutchins and tried to calm wounded director Joel Souza.
“The first person I made eye contact with was Halyna, who was clearly injured. In fact, she was starting to go flush and I think holding her right side,” said Addiego, breaking into tears. “I think I yelled out, ‘If you can’t help, get … out of here, and someone call 911.’”
Prosecutors guided Addiego through testimony in which he described his anger and frustration with safety procedures on set, including the sight of a storage cart for guns and ammunition that frequently appeared to be unattended and Gutierrez-Reed’s work as an armorer in charge of loading guns with blank and dummy rounds. Investigators found six live rounds on the set of “Rust,” including the one that killed Hutchins.
Addiego noted two gun misfires on set — confirmed as blank rounds without projectiles by workplace safety regulators — and just one safety meeting over the course about two work weeks, when daily meetings are the norm.
He said prior to the fatal shooting he lodged safety complaints with union representatives and the film’s top safety official, assistant director David Halls, who pleaded no contest last year to a charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon and may be called on to testify.
“At times we seemed to be working at ludicrous speeds,” said Addiego, who also testified to the grand jury that indicted Baldwin in January. “We always seemed to be rushed and under the gun.”
In a tense cross-examination, defense attorney Jason Bowles asked Addiego whether he was aware that Gutierrez-Reed had unsuccessfully requested more time for focus on her responsibilities as armorer instead of other prop duties, such as rolling cowboy cigarettes.
“Did you ever stand up to Mr. Baldwin and say, ‘No, we’re not going to move this fast?’” Bowles asked.
“That’s not my job,” Addiego said.
Bowles continued: “With everybody else, grown men, not standing up to Mr. Baldwin, wouldn’t you find that difficult for her also?”
He noted that Addiego has sued Baldwin and Rust Movie Productions and questioned his motives in testifying.
“Are you hoping that you can come in and testify here today and something happens to Ms. Gutierrez-Reed and it will help your lawsuit?” Bowles asked.
“I’m hoping for justice, sir,” Addiego responded. “Two people where injured on a film set. That has affected not only me, that has affected the film industry.”
Also on Monday, prosecutors called on a series of FBI forensic experts in firearms, fingerprinting, gunpowder and DNA-evidence tracing to testify about their examination of a revolver and ammunition seized from the “Rust” set and an ammunition supplier to the film based in Albuquerque.
Prosecutors argue that Gutierrez-Reed is to blame for bringing live ammunition on set. They say six live rounds found on the “Rust” set bear identical characteristics — and don’t match live rounds seized from the movie’s supplier in Albuquerque.
Defense attorneys for Gutierrez-Reed have pointed out shortcomings in the collection of evidence from the set, and say that ammunition supplier Seth Kenney wasn’t properly investigated, and never submitted fingerprints.
FBI firearms expert Bryce Ziegler testified about his analysis of a gun held by Baldwin in the shooting. He said the revolver and its safety features were fully functional when it arrived at an FBI laboratory for testing.
“When I received the firearm and I did an initial function examination, it did not appear that any of the safeties were malfunctioning or anything like that,” Ziegler said.
But Ziegler described additional “accidental discharge testing” on the gun in response to Baldwin’s assertions that the gun went off when he did not press the trigger. Ziegler said the only way he could get the gun to fire without pulling the trigger was by striking the gun with a mallet, knowing that it could break under the procedure and receiving permission to proceed.
“The function of that test is to see if I can get this firearm to fire without actually pulling the trigger,” Ziegler said.
“As I tested in my laboratory, it would not fire without pulling the trigger in the full-cocked setting, without being broken,” he said.
Music producer accuses Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs of sexual misconduct
NEW YORK | Sean “Diddy” Combs was sued Monday by a music producer who accused the hip-hop mogul of sexually assaulting him and forcing him to have sex with prostitutes.
The suit, filed in federal court in New York, accuses Combs of repeated instances of unsolicited groping and sexual touching. It also says the man had to work in a bathroom while Combs showered and walked around naked.
A lawyer for Combs called the events described in the lawsuit “pure fiction.”
“We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies,” said Combs attorney Shawn Holley. “We will address these outlandish allegations in court and take all appropriate action against those who make them,” he added.
A lawyer, Tyrone Blackburn, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the producer did not immediately return an email seeking comment. The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they were sexually assaulted unless they consent to being identified or decide to tell their stories publicly.
In the lawsuit, the producer claims Combs made him solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them. It also described a time when the producer woke up in bed with two sex workers, suspecting he had been drugged.
The legal claim is one of several sexual assault lawsuits filed against Combs in recent months, including a lawsuit from the R&B singer Cassie that was settled last year. Another of Combs’ accusers was a woman who said the rap producer raped her two decades ago when she was 17.
Combs has denied the allegations. In a statement in December, he said the “sickening” claims had been made by people “looking for a quick payday.”
“Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth,” he said.
Two men convicted of killing Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay
NEW YORK | Two men were convicted of murder Tuesday in the death of Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay, a brazen 2002 shooting in the rap legend’s studio.
An anonymous Brooklyn federal jury found Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington guilty on charges of murder while engaged in a narcotics trafficking conspiracy and firearm-related murder for killing the pioneering DJ over what prosecutors characterized as revenge for a failed drug deal.
“Y’all just killed two innocent people,” Washington yelled at the jury following the guilty verdict.
Jordan’s supporters also erupted at the verdict, cursing the jury. “I love y’all,” Jordan said to the group who sat in the courtroom pews before they were escorted out by U.S. Marshalls after more yelling.
Jam Master Jay, born Jason Mizell, worked the turntables in Run-DMC as it helped hip-hop break into the pop music mainstream in the 1980s with such hits as “It’s Tricky” and a fresh take on Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way.” Mizell later started a record label, opened a studio in his old Queens neighborhood and helped bring along other talent, including rapper 50 Cent.
Mizell was gunned down in his studio in front of witnesses on Oct. 30, 2002.
Like the slayings of rap icons Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. in the late 1990s, the Mizell case remained open for years. Authorities were deluged with tips, rumors and theories but struggled to get witnesses to open up.
Jordan, 40, was the famous DJ’s godson. Washington, 59, was an old friend who was bunking at the home of the DJ’s sister. Both men were arrested in 2020 and pleaded not guilty.
“Twenty years is a long time to wait for justice,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Artie McConnell had told jurors in a closing argument, urging them: “Don’t let this go on for another minute.”
The men’s names, or at least their nicknames, have been floated for decades in connection to the case. Authorities publicly named Washington as a suspect in 2007. He, meanwhile, told Playboy magazine in 2003 he’d been outside the studio, heard the shots and saw “Little D” — one of Jordan’s monikers — racing out of the building.
Prosecutors contend that the two men turned on the rap star over a cocaine deal.
Mizell had been part of Run-DMC’s anti-drug message, delivered through a public service announcement and such lyrics as “we are not thugs / we don’t use drugs.” But according to prosecutors and trial testimony, he racked up debts after the group’s heyday and moonlighted as a cocaine middleman to cover his bills and habitual generosity to friends.
“He was a man who got involved in the drug game to take care of the people who depended on him,” McConnell said in his summation.
Prosecution witnesses testified that in Mizell’s final months, he had a plan to acquire 10 kilograms of cocaine and sell it through Jordan, Washington and a Baltimore-based dealer. But the Baltimore connection refused to work with Washington, according to testimony.
According to prosecutors, Washington and Jordan went after Mizell for the sake of vengeance, greed and jealousy.
Two eyewitnesses, former studio aide Uriel Rincon and former Mizell business manager Lydia High, testified that Washington blocked the door and ordered High to lie on the floor. She said he brandished a gun.
Rincon identified Jordan as the man who approached Mizell and exchanged a friendly greeting moments before shots rang out and one bullet wounded Rincon himself. Three other people, including a teenage singer who had just stopped by the studio to tout her demo tape, testified that they were in an adjoining room and heard but didn’t see what happened.
Other witnesses testified that Washington and Jordan made incriminating statements about the Mizell killing after it happened.
Neither Washington nor Jordan testified. Their lawyers questioned key prosecution witnesses’ credibility and their memories of the long-ago shooting, noting that some initially denied they could identify the attackers or had heard who they were.
“Virtually every witness changed their testimony 180 degrees,” one of Washington’s lawyers, Susan Kellman, told the judge during legal arguments.
The witnesses said they had been overwhelmed, loath to pass along secondhand information or scared for their lives.
Washington’s defense also tapped a retired psychology professor, who testified that people’s recollections of any event can become a blend of what they actually experienced and subsequently learned.
The trial shed limited light on a third defendant, Jay Bryant, who was charged last year after prosecutors said his DNA was found on a hat at the scene. They assert that he slipped into the studio building and let Washington and Jordan in through fire door in the back so they could avoid buzzing up.
Bryant has pleaded not guilty and is headed toward a separate trial.
Testimony suggested that he knew someone in common with his co-defendants, but there’s no indication that Bryant was close with Mizell, if indeed they ever met.
Bryant’s uncle testified that his nephew told him he shot Mizell after the DJ reached for a gun, a scenario no other witnesses described.
McConnell said Bryant was “involved, but he’s not the killer.” Prosecutors’ theory doesn’t even place Bryant in the studio, though that’s where authorities found the hat with DNA from him and other people — but not the other defendants, according to court filings.
Still, McConnell suggested that Jordan or Washington could accidentally have left the hat behind after Bryant came into contact with it. But lawyers for Washington and Jordan portrayed the garment as a key piece of evidence in their clients’ favor.
“Jay Bryant is literally reasonable doubt,” one of Jordan’s lawyers, Michael Hueston, told jurors.
While the case may complicate Mizell’s image, Syracuse University media professor J. Christopher Hamilton says it shouldn’t be blotted out.
If he was indeed involved in dealing drugs, “that doesn’t mean to say his achievements shouldn’t be lauded,” said Hamilton, a former entertainment lawyer and Brooklyn prosecutor who grew up partly in Mizell’s neighborhood. Hamilton argues that acceptance from local underworld figures was a necessity for successful rappers of the ‘80s and ‘90s.
“You don’t get these individuals without them walking through the gauntlet of the street,” Hamilton said.
—From AP reports
