Guilty Pleasure

By NewsPress Now

DeSantis names Disney World admin to run elections in Orange County

ORLANDO, Fla. | Gov. Ron DeSantis has a new job for the man who has led Walt Disney World’s government since his allies took it over — elections supervisor in Orange County, long one of Florida’s most reliable sources of Democratic votes.

Glen Gilzean was appointed Monday by the Republican governor to oversee the voting in Florida’s fifth largest county, where more than 1.4 million residents live among the largest theme park resorts in the U.S. Just last May, Gilzean was chosen to be administrator of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Committee after DeSantis’ allies took over the Disney World governing district.

Gilzean previously served as a DeSantis appointee on the Florida Commission on Ethics and was president and CEO of Central Florida Urban League.

The county’s longtime elections supervisor Bill Cowles retired in January, about a year before his term was up. Cowles, a Democrat, was first elected in 1996 to the job, which oversees elections in Orlando and surrounding communities.

Neither Gilzean nor a spokesman for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District responded to email inquiries on Monday. As the district’s administrator, Gilzean had an annual salary of $400,000. He’ll earn around half that as elections supervisor.

Gilzean’s new appointment comes at a time of turmoil for the district, which has seen an exodus of experienced staffers since the takeover and multiple litigation. The district provides municipal services such as firefighting, planning and mosquito control, among other things.

A fight between DeSantis and Disney began in 2022 after the company, facing significant pressure internally and externally, publicly opposed a state law which critics have called “Don’t Say Gay.” The 2022 law bans classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades and was championed by DeSantis, who used Disney as a punching bag in speeches until he suspended his presidential campaign this year.

As punishment, DeSantis took over the district through legislation passed by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature and appointed a new board of supervisors, which named Gilzean as administrator.

Disney sued DeSantis and his appointees, claiming the company’s free speech rights were violated for speaking out against the legislation. A federal judge dismissed that lawsuit in January. Disney has appealed.

A separate lawsuit over who controls the district is still pending in state court in Orlando.

Sinead O’Connor’s estate asks Donald Trump to stop playing her music

LONDON | The estate of Sinead O’Connor on Monday asked Donald Trump not to play her music at campaign rallies, saying the late singer considered the former president a “biblical devil.”

Trump has played O’Connor’s biggest hit, “Nothing Compares 2 U,” at events as he campaigns for the Republican presidential nomination.

In a joint statement, O’Connor’s estate and her record label, Chrysalis, demanded Trump “desist from using her music immediately.”

It said the Irish singer, who died last year aged 56, “lived by a fierce moral code defined by honesty, kindness, fairness and decency towards her fellow human beings.”

“It was with outrage therefore that we learned that Donald Trump has been using her iconic performance of Nothing Compares 2 U at his political rallies,” the statement said.

“It is no exaggeration to say that Sinead would have been disgusted, hurt and insulted to have her work misrepresented in this way by someone who she herself referred to as a ‘biblical devil.’ As the guardians of her legacy, we demand that Donald Trump and his associates desist from using her music immediately.”

Fiery and outspoken, O’Connor was a critic of the Roman Catholic Church well before allegations of sexual abuse were widely reported, and was open about her mental health struggles.

She was found unresponsive at her London home in July and pronounced dead at the scene. A coroner ruled that she died of natural causes.

O’Connor joins a growing list of artists who have objected to Trump using their songs, including Rihanna, Neil Young, Linkin Park, the late Tom Petty and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler.

Travis and Jason Kelce honored with bobblehead giveaway

CLEVELAND | Taylor Swift’s boyfriend has taken shaking it off to another level.

Travis Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end who began dating the pop music superstar during this past season, will be honored Tuesday night with a bobblehead giveaway when the Cleveland Cavaliers host the Boston Celtics.

The collectible is a tiny version of Kelce and his older brother, Jason, who officially retired from the Philadelphia Eagles after 13 seasons on Monday. The brothers are Cleveland natives and have long supported their hometown Cavs, who are in turn paying tribute to the local football stars.

The miniature Kelces are decked out in blue Cavs jerseys — Travis in his familiar No. 87, Jason in No. 62 — not bare-chested like he was while attending his brother’s recent playoff game in snowy Buffalo.

A Cavs spokesperson is expecting at least one of the Kelce brothers to attend Tuesday’s game.

Swift, who became a fixture at Chiefs games and was in Las Vegas to see their Super Bowl win over San Francisco last month, is currently on tour overseas. The hit song “Shake It Off” is a staple in her setlist.

Travis Kelce, who played basketball in high school, has vehemently supported all three Cleveland pro sports teams and once dreamed of playing for the Browns. Last year, he threw a memorable first pitch before a Guardians game, uncorking a wild toss and that bounced to the backstop.

Beyond their football exploits, the Kelce brothers have gained popularity through hosting their “New Heights” podcast on which they discuss a wide-range of topics.

EA Sports

announces over 10,000 athletes have accepted NIL deal

More than 10,000 athletes have accepted an offer from EA Sports to have their likeness featured in its upcoming college football video game, the developer announced Monday.

EA Sports began reaching out to college football players in February to pay them to be featured in the game that’s scheduled to launch this summer.

EA Sports said players who opt in to the game will receive a minimum of $600 and a copy of EA Sports College Football 25. There will also be opportunities for them to earn money by promoting the game.

Players who opt out will be left off the game entirely and gamers will be blocked from manually adding, or creating them, EA sports said without specifying how it plans to do that.

John Reseburg, vice president of marketing, communications and partnerships at EA Sports, tweeted that more than 11,000 athletes have been sent an offer.

The developer has said all 134 FBS schools will be in the game.

EA Sports’ yearly college football games stopped being made in 2013 amid lawsuits over using players’ likeness without compensation. The games featured players that might not have had real-life names, but resembled that season’s stars in almost every other way.

That major hurdle was alleviated with the approval of NIL deals for college athletes.

EA Sports has been working on its new game since at least 2021, when it announced it would pay players to be featured in it.

—From AP reports