AP National Entertainment News

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer Late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel is mourning the death of one of his oldest friends — his show’s bandleader, Cleto Escobedo III. Kimmel announced Escobedo’s death Tuesday on Instagram, saying “that we are heartbroken is an understatement.” Escobedo was 59. Escobedo and Kimmel met as children in Las

By DAVID BAUDER AP Media Writer In the space of a few months, a journalistic skill that might seem straightforward to many viewers — editing tape for broadcast — has been behind a $16 million legal settlement, a network’s change in how it offers interviews on a news show and, now, the resignation of two

MORRISTOWN, N.J. (AP) — Ace Frehley, the original lead guitarist and founding member of the glam rock band Kiss, died from blunt force injuries to the head that he suffered in a fall earlier this year, an autopsy has determined. Frehley died peacefully on Oct. 16 surrounded by family in Morristown, New Jersey, a few

By HILARY FOX Associated Press There’s a Gary Cole for everyone. Whether you know him from “The West Wing” or “Veep,” “The Good Wife” or “Office Space,” “Dodgeball” or “Midnight Caller,” you most likely know his face. For a while he was the “hero of the schoolyard” with his daughter’s classmates for appearing in “Cadet

By MIKE SILVERMAN Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A rascally superhero born from a stone egg, the Monkey King is beloved in Chinese mythology, appearing in everything from a 16th century epic to modern comics, animated movies and video games — even in poetry by Mao Zedong. And now he’s the star of an

By JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press Israeli actor Gal Gadot has been awarded Israel’s Genesis Prize in recognition of her strong support for the country at a time when many in the entertainment industry have criticized it over the war in Gaza. Describing herself as a “proud Jew and a proud Israeli,” the “Wonder Woman” star,

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Sally Kirkland, a one-time model who became a regular on stage, film and TV, best known for sharing the screen with Paul Newman and Robert Redford in “The Sting” and her Oscar-nominated title role in the 1987 movie “Anna,” has died. She was 84. Her

By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Ann Packer’s “Some Bright Nowhere,” her first novel in a decade, is Oprah Winfrey’s latest book club pick. Published on Tuesday, “Some Bright Nowhere” is the story of a long-married couple and the questions they confront when the wife becomes terminally ill and makes a

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Britain’s government rallied to the defense of the BBC on Tuesday after allegations of bias from its critics and the threat of a lawsuit from U.S. President Donald Trump over the way the broadcaster edited a speech he made after losing the 2020 presidential election Culture Secretary

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The 2025 Latin Grammy Awards are right around the corner, which means it is time to get those viewing party plans in action. Allow us to help. Here’s what you need to know about watching the 2025 Latin Grammys, including how to stream and where

By COLLEEN BARRY Associated Press VENICE, Italy (AP) — The storied Venetian opera house La Fenice is locked in an escalating dispute with its workers over the appointment of a young and telegenic music director with ties to Premier Giorgia Meloni but none with the musicians with whom she has been hired to construct the

By OPE ADETAYO Associated Press LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Protesters in Nigeria have disrupted this week’s opening of a major museum of West African art, where local disputes over the world-renowned Benin Bronzes have already kept them from being put on display. Videos circulating online show more than a dozen young people on Sunday evening

By ALICIA RANCILIO Associated Press Just in time for the theatrical release of “Wicked: For Good,” fans will get a chance to own memorabilia from the 1939 original film, “The Wizard of Oz,” and one item is especially witchy. Heritage Auctions is putting an iconic black hat that Margaret Hamilton wore as the Wicked Witch

By The Associated Press Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan re-teaming as the body-swapping mother and daughter duo in “Freakier Friday” and albums from 5 Seconds of Summer and the rapper NF are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you. Also among the streaming offerings worth your

By BERENICE BAUTISTA Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Frida Kahlo’s “El sueño (La cama)” — in English, “The Dream (The Bed)” — is causing a stir among art historians as its estimated $40 million to $60 million price tag would make it the most expensive work by any female or Latin American artist when

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Canadian-Hungarian-British writer David Szalay won the Booker Prize for fiction on Monday for “Flesh,” the story of one man’s life from working-class origins in Hungary to mega-wealth in Britain, in which what isn’t on the page is just as important as what is. Szalay, 51, beat five

By GLENN GAMBOA AP Business Writer NASHVILLE (AP) — Richard Casper shakes his head as he touches one of the boarded-up windows in the once-abandoned church he plans to transform into a new 24-hour arts center for veterans. The U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Purple Heart recipient said he was an arm’s length away from

By GLENN GAMBOA AP Business Writer NASHVILLE (AP) — In a life filled with milestones, Irving Locker celebrated a new, unexpected one last week: He became a published songwriter. One day before his 101st birthday, “If Freedom Was Free” was released by Big Machine Label Group and CreatiVets, the Nashville-based nonprofit that helps veterans work

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Salman Rushdie was among the honorees Sunday at the Dayton Literary Peace Prize event in Ohio, receiving a lifetime achievement award after publishing his first work of fiction since being stabbed on a New York lecture stage three years ago. The prizes honor both literary merit and the writers’ promotion of

LONDON (AP) — The head of the BBC and the British broadcaster’s top news executive both resigned Sunday after criticism of the way the organization edited a speech by U.S. President Donald Trump. The BBC said Director-General Tim Davie and news CEO Deborah Turness had both decided to leave the corporation. Britain’s publicly funded national

By JAKE COYLE AP Film Writer NEW YORK (AP) — “Predator: Badlands” led all films in North American theaters with a debut of $40 million, according to studio estimates Sunday, a better-than-expected result that slightly lifted the box office from its autumn doldrums. On the heels of the worst box office weekend of 2025, “Predator:

By THOMAS ADAMSON Associated Press PARIS (AP) — When 15-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux realized an Associated Press photo of him at the Louvre on the day of the crown jewels heist had drawn millions of views, his first instinct was not to rush online and unmask himself. Quite the opposite. A fan of Sherlock

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has inducted its 2025 class of music giants. The ceremony held Saturday at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater was a mix of tributes, speeches and performances by acts like Soundgarden, Salt-N-Pepa and Big Boi of Outkast, along with numerous

By ANDREW DALTON AP Entertainment Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cyndi Lauper turned “True Colors” into a defiant call for courage and the music of Outkast, Soundgarden and the White Stripes brought waves of emotion Saturday night at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Partway through the song, Lauper shouted the line

By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry went to Toronto for events marking the end of World War I and found himself on an apology tour for offending Canadians. Speaking to a military charity on Thursday night, the Duke of Sussex sought to once again address the “blue-hatted elephant in the room.”

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — The 2026 Grammy Award nominees are here, and who else but Kendrick Lamar leads this year’s crop with nine nods on the strength of 2024’s “GNX?” It’s an exciting lineup, but like every year, there were a few artists who made the coveted list Friday

By MARK KENNEDY AP Entertainment Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Lea Michele was just a kid actor backstage at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway when she first heard a song from the musical “Chess” on a stereo. Some three decades later, she finds herself singing that same tune in the same theater. The “Glee” and

By THOMAS ADAMSON Associated Press PARIS (AP) — As French police race to track where the Louvre’s stolen crown jewels have gone, a growing chorus wants a brighter light on where they came from. The artifacts were French, but the gems were not. Their exotic routes to Paris run through the shadows of empire —

By MARIA SHERMAN AP Music Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Not like us? More like him: Kendrick Lamar leads the 2026 Grammy Award nominations, announced Friday. The rapper is up for nine trophies at February’s ceremony: record, song and album of the year — marking the third time he’s had simultaneous nominations in those big