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Will Smith Resigns From Oscars Academy Following ‘Inexcusable’ Chris Rock Slap

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Will Smith has announced his resignation from the Academy following his “shocking, painful, and inexcusable” actions at last weekend’s Oscars.

The actor said he was “heartbroken” and would accept any consequences that emerged from his scheduled disciplinary hearing, in a statement announcing his decision.

It comes less than a week on from the ceremony, during which Smith took to the stage and slapped Chris Rock after the comedian made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head.

Moments later he was awarded the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in King Richard and gave a tearful acceptance speech about the importance of protecting family.

The Academy said it had received his resignation and would push forward with disciplinary proceedings against him, the details of which are to be discussed at a board meeting on 18 April.

On Friday, Smith apologised again to his fellow nominees and winners for having “deprived” them of the opportunity to celebrate their achievements on the night.

“I have directly responded to the Academy’s disciplinary hearing notice, and I will fully accept any and all consequences for my conduct,” he said in a statement.

“My actions at the 94th Academy Awards presentation were shocking, painful, and inexcusable.

“The list of those I have hurt is long and includes Chris, his family, many of my dear friends and loved ones, all those in attendance, and global audiences at home. I betrayed the trust of the Academy.

“I deprived other nominees and winners of their opportunity to celebrate and be celebrated for their extraordinary work. I am heartbroken.

“I want to put the focus back on those who deserve attention for their achievements and allow the Academy to get back to the incredible work it does to support creativity and artistry in film.

“So, I am resigning from membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and will accept any further consequences the Board deems appropriate.”

He added: “Change takes time and I am committed to doing the work to ensure that I never again allow violence to overtake reason.”

Will Smith accepts the award for Best Actor at this year's Oscars.
Will Smith accepts the award for Best Actor at this year’s Oscars.

ROBYN BECK via Getty Images

A subsequent statement from Academy president David Rubin said: “We have received and accepted Mr Will Smith’s immediate resignation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

“We will continue to move forward with our disciplinary proceedings against Mr Smith for violations of the Academy’s Standards of Conduct, in advance of our next scheduled board meeting on April 18.”

At the meeting, Academy board members will discuss what disciplinary measures will be taken.

Prior to his resignation, Hollywood trade outlet Variety reported that Smith met leaders of the Academy on Tuesday to discuss his outburst and apologised to Rubin and chief executive Dawn Hudson.

Showrunner Will Packer also told Good Morning America that the actor had called him the morning after the ceremony to apologise for the incident.

Packer also said he initially thought the incident was something Rock and Smith had planned together.

He said: “I thought this was part of something that Chris and Will were doing on their own, I thought it was a bit… like everybody else, I knew we hadn’t practised it.

“I wasn’t concerned at all (as Smith was walking on the stage). I figured OK, he’s going to say something or come at him, something funny is going to happen because that’s the nature of Chris and that’s the nature of Will, so let’s see what happens.

“Once I saw Will yelling at the stage with such vitriol my heart dropped and I just remember thinking ‘Oh no, not like this’.”

He also revealed that following the incident the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) had been “prepared” to arrest Smith, telling Rock he had been the victim of “battery”.

The comedian had been “very dismissive” of the options given to him by LAPD officers and had “not wanted to make a bad situation worse,” Packer told the US show.

He said: “Shayla (Cowan, co-producer) told me that they were about to physically remove Will Smith and I had not been a part of those conversations.

“So I immediately went to the Academy leadership that was on site and I said, ‘Chris Rock doesn’t want that’.

“I said, ‘Rock has made it clear that he does not want to make a bad situation worse’. That was Chris’s energy. His tone was not retaliatory. His tone was not angry.

“So, I was advocating what Rock wanted at that time, which was not to physically remove Will Smith at that time. Because, as it had now been explained to me, that was the only option at that point.

“It has been explained to me that there was a conversation that I was not a part of, to ask him to voluntarily leave.”

Smith publicly apologised to Rock online after the incident, saying “violence in all its forms is poisonous and destructive”, and Pinkett Smith called for a “season of healing”.

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What Is Aphasia? Bruce Willis’ Condition Explained

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Bruce Willis is “stepping away” from his acting career after being diagnosed with aphasia, a condition that affects the ability to express or understand speech, Willis’ family announced on Wednesday. The condition is “impacting his cognitive abilities,” the family said.

So what is aphasia? And what causes it? Here’s what you need to know.

Aphasia is a condition that affects communication.

Aphasia is a disorder that stems from damage to parts of the brain responsible for speaking, writing and understanding language, the Mayo Clinic explains.

It often occurs after a sudden emergency, like a stroke (when the blood supply to the brain is disrupted) or head injury. But aphasia can also come on more slowly over time. It can affect people of any age, but is most common in those middle-aged and older. Estimates say roughly 180,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with aphasia every year.

The specific communication challenges people face can vary.

With aphasia, some people may speak in short or incomplete sentences or longer sentences that don’t make any sense. Other times, they might use unrecognizable words or seem unable to follow a conversation. All of that may extend to writing, too.

In general, people with aphasia tend to fall into one of three different patterns, according to the Mayo Clinic:

  • Expressive aphasia (sometimes called Broca’s or nonfluent aphasia) in which people are better at understanding others than they are at speaking. They often struggle to get words out or speak in phrases, rather than complete sentences. For example, they might say things like: “Walk park today,” the Mayo Clinic explains.

  • Comprehensive aphasia (sometimes called fluent or Wernicke’s aphasia) in which people tend to speak in long, complex sentences that don’t make sense. They may have difficulty understanding spoken language, and do not always realize that others can’t understand them.

  • Global aphasia. People with this pattern tend to have poor comprehension and difficulty forming words and sentences, the Mayo clinic says.

Aphasia is usually the result of a serious brain issue, like a stroke, injury or tumor.

Aphasia is not something that just happens on its own; it is caused by damage to one (or more) of the areas of the brain responsible for language. Stroke is a common culprit. When the blood supply to part of the brain is stopped or greatly reduced, that prevents brain tissue from getting the oxygen and nutrients it needs to function — which can have an immediate, and sometimes lasting, impact on communication.

Serious head injuries are another possible cause of aphasia, as are brain infections.

But the condition can also develop over time, particularly if a person has a brain tumor or a progressive neurological condition, like Alzheimer’s.

Willis’ family has not provided any details beyond his aphasia diagnosis.

If you have any concerns, talk to a doctor ASAP.

Because aphasia is linked to extremely serious underlying brain issues, it is important to see a doctor right away if you (or a loved one) notices any changes in speech or cognition.

If you suddenly develop any of the following symptoms, you should seek emergency medical care immediately, the Mayo Clinic says, as they may be a sign of a stroke:

  • Difficulty speaking

  • Trouble understanding speech

  • Difficulty with word recall

  • Problems with reading or writing

Depending on a person’s condition, doctors may run tests like a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) scan to better understand what is happening. They may also run tests to gauge a person’s ability to answer questions and hold a conversation.

There are ways to treat aphasia.

Treating aphasia depends a lot on the root cause. For example, after a brain injury like a stroke, some people are able to recover significant function — including language skills — depending on what parts of the brain were affected and how extensive the damage was. Many people go to rehabilitation programs, which often include a speech pathologist (in addition to a team of medical providers) who can help with recovery.

In general, doctors will attempt to deal with whatever the underlying causes of aphasia are, and then help people regain communication skills to the extent it is possible.

“Aphasia therapy aims to improve a person’s ability to communicate by helping him or her to use remaining language abilities, restore language abilities as much as possible, and learn other ways of communicating, such as gestures, pictures, or use of electronic devices,” explains the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. There are individual and group therapy options, as well as speech-generating technologies that can help people communicate throughout their days.

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Jim Carrey ‘Sickened’ By ‘Spineless’ Ovation For Will Smith At Oscars

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Actor Jim Carrey on Monday blasted the Oscars audience for cheering Will Smith shortly after he slapped Chris Rock over a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shaved head. (Watch the video below.)

“I was sickened by the standing ovation,” the “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” actor told CBS’s Gayle King. “I felt like Hollywood is just spineless en masse.”

Just minutes after the incident at Sunday night’s ceremony, guests at the ceremony got to their feet when Will Smith won Best Actor for “King Richard.” In his acceptance speech, he apologized to the academy and fellow nominees for his behavior, rationalizing that “love will make you do crazy things.” He joked that he must “look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams,” whom he portrayed in “King Richard.” (Smith apologized to Rock on Monday.)

On Monday, King pointed out that anyone else besides Smith would’ve probably been escorted out after the assault or even arrested. Carrey said Smith “should have been,” but that Rock — who declined to press charges — simply didn’t want the hassle.

“I’d have announced this morning that I was suing Will for $200 million,” Carrey said. “That video is gonna be there forever. It’s gonna be ubiquitous. You know, that insult is gonna last a very long time.”

“You do not have the right to … smack somebody in the face because they said words,” Carrey continued, adding that it was “a selfish moment that cast a pall over the whole thing.”

At the ceremony on Sunday, Will Smith walked onstage and hit Rock in the face after the comedian made the joke about his wife, who has opened up about her struggles with alopecia, a condition that causes hair loss. Smith shouted at Rock, “Keep my wife’s name out your fucking mouth.”

Carrey isn’t the only comedian who has spoken out about the incident. Kathy Griffin and Patton Oswalt suggested that Smith’s actions could create open season on comics simply for telling jokes the audience doesn’t like.

Check out Carrey’s comments at the 3:10 mark:

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BBC Breakfast Forced Off Air After Fire Alarm Goes Off During Interview With The Apprentice’s Harpreet Kaur

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The Apprentice winner Harpreet Kaur’s interview on BBC Breakfast came to an abrupt end after the show was forced off air on Saturday.

The dessert store owner was appearing on the show to discuss her recent win on the reality series, but a fire alarm went off mid-way through the chat.

Presenters Roger Johnson and Rachel Burden had to bring the show to an early close when a siren could be heard going off, before a voice instructed people to evacuate the building.

“I’m so sorry, for the time being we’re going to have to leave the studios. We’ll see if we can come back and talk about cake,” she said, referring to Harpreet’s winning business idea.

Roger could then be heard saying: “We think we’ve gone off air, we don’t know if you’re watching,” before a title card then appeared.

Having fallen off air just shortly before the start of Saturday Kitchen at 10am, the show did not return to BBC One.

The Apprentice star Lord Sugar, who awarded Harpreet a £250,000 investment into her business after winning the final of the series on Thursday, later joked about the incident on Twitter.

“I hope the fire alarm didn’t go off because Harpreet left another batch of cakes in the oven,” he tweeted.

It turned out to be a false alarm and the BBC later tweeted that everyone was “safe and is back in the building.”

BBC Breakfast airs daily at 6am on BBC One and BBC News. The Apprentice is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan Explains ‘Devastating’ Reason For Reduced Role In Derry Girls Series 3

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Nicola Coughlan has revealed her devastation at the fact appearing in Bridgerton has meant she had to accept a reduced role in the final series of Derry Girls.

The actor has played Clare in the hit Channel 4 sitcom since its debut in 2019, and has since found international fame playing Penelope Featherington in Netflix’s prestige period drama.

Nicola will be seen in the third and final season of Derry Girls when it airs in the coming months, but she has explained fans will see a lot less of her in the show owing to scheduling conflicts and filming delays caused by the pandemic.

Speaking at a press event for Bridgerton’s second season earlier this week, Nicola said (via Digital Spy): “Last year was really difficult. I won’t lie because, you know, at the best of times trying to manage different projects, it’s such a push and pull.

“We were meant to film Derry Girls in January 2021. And I was totally free and they decided to push it again. And that caused me insane stress because I was on [what] in the industry is called first call. So it means you have to go and do the show that you’re on first call to, which was Bridgerton.

“And I was like ‘Guys, can we just film it?’ And they were like, ‘No, we’re gonna wait.’ And I was like, ‘oh’, so [we had to make] compromises happen in the script of Derry Girls. It was devastating to me because I wanted to be in all of this. But compromises had to be made.

“And you know, they had to cut down my role somewhat, which was hard. Really, really hard. But I think, you know, the fans of the show are going to be happy. I think it’s a really nice sign-off for the show.”

Nicola with her Derry Girls co-stars
Nicola with her Derry Girls co-stars

Derry Girls fans were left gutted last year when it was confirmed that the forthcoming season would also be its last.

In a statement, creator Lisa McGee said it was “always the plan to say goodbye” after three series.

She added: “Who knows if Erin, Clare, Orla, Michelle and James will return in some other guise someday, but for now this is it for us and we’re excited to start filming this series with our incredible cast and crew to hopefully take our loyal fans on one last adventure.”

As well as winning huge critical acclaim, Derry Girls has pulled in massive viewing figures, becoming the most-watched TV series in North Ireland since modern records began in 2002.

A trailer for the third season debuted earlier this month, and while no air date has yet been revealed, Channel 4 has promised the show is “coming soon”.

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Martin Lewis On Rishi Sunak Tackling The Cost Of Living Crisis: ‘Nowhere Near Enough’

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Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis has said Rishi Sunak’s spring statement announcements to help tackle the cost of living crisis were “nowhere near enough”.

On Wednesday, the chancellor brought fuel duty down by 5p until next March, raised the national insurance contribution thresholds to remove more low-paid workers from paying it, and took a penny off the basic rate of income tax by 2024.

But the founder of moneysavingexpert.com, speaking to Sky News, made clear there was very little to help with soaring household bills.

Lewis said the national insurance change would have a limited impact on people claiming Universal Credit. and extra cash for a “starving or freezing” fund would only help those in the most extreme circumstances.

Lewis said: “The chancellor has done more than I expected him to do but still nowhere near enough.

“We are still standing on a personal finance precipice in the UK.

“The chancellor is now the only person who can pull us back from that and I don’t think what we saw today is enough to do it.”

Lewis pointed to a “very dangerous time” where typical households will see their energy bills in October go up by £1,300 compared to the same time a year earlier.

“There is nothing close in this budget to covering that amount of money,” he said.

The consumer journalist said the country was reaching the point where people were “heating the human not heating the home”. He explained: “Don’t turn your central heating on, sit in a sleeping back. This is not advice, this is the tangible situation people are putting themselves in. Whether you have to get an electric blanket to get the heat you need, then leave the house to be cold. That is a tactic I am seeing people doing. Stark, isn’t it?”

He added in a message to Sunak: “Chancellor, you are the only person who can help.”

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Jeremy Kyle’s Manager Addresses Claims Talk TV ‘Dropped’ Pilot For His New Show

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Jeremy Kyle’s manager has dismissed claims that Talk TV has “dropped” a pilot for a new show to be fronted by the presenter.

Over the weekend, The Mirror reported that Jeremy had recently filmed a pilot with the upcoming station, in which he and a panel of guests dissected the day’s headlines.

The tabloid claimed that Talk TV had decided not to move forward with this project, after some contributors allegedly expressed discomfort with sharing the screen with the divisive host, whose ITV daytime show was axed in 2019 following the death of a guest.

However, this has been denied by Jeremy’s manager, who told HuffPost UK these claims were “not true” and that the presenter was “full steam ahead with filming”.

Talk TV declined to comment, although a source close to the station said Jeremy would ”definitely be a strong part of the line-up” then the broadcaster launches later in the year.

They added: “We have been piloting lots of shows and formats for TalkTV – as is entirely normal when developing a new channel. Jeremy has been involved in several.

“Per the Mirror story’s suggestion that guest feedback led to a particular pilot being paused – the reality is that guests on shows are welcome and respected but they have absolutely no say on production decisions.”

A second source added that Jeremy had actually filmed multiple pilots with Talk TV “to see what works and what doesn’t”.

“It’s not the case of Jeremy losing a show at all,” they insisted. “This is very much what happens when a station is in its infancy, you try a lot of different stuff out.”

Jeremy Kyle on the set of his former ITV show
Jeremy Kyle on the set of his former ITV show

ITV/Shutterstock

Talk TV has so far confirmed two of its original shows, which will be fronted by Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne.

Last week, The Jeremy Kyle Show was the subject of a two-part Channel 4 documentary called Death On Daytime, which examined the culture surrounding the former daytime show and the suicide of 2019 guest Steve Dymond.

The doc featured interviews with former members of the production team, re-enacted by actors, some of whom claimed that vulnerable guests were deliberately goaded or manipulated by the crew to make for more salacious viewing when they went on stage.

Earlier this week, Jeremy began his show on talkRADIO – the sister channel of Talk TV – by addressing what he referred to as the “elephant in the room”.

“[I’ve had] a couple of texts already talking about a certain programme that was on television last night,” he told listeners. “Yes, I am fully aware.”

He continued: “I will say only this, my friends, to you. I have maintained a consistent approach over the last three years. I have said that I will not comment on the tragic death of Steve Dymond until the legal process is finished, and that is a position that I will maintain.

“When, and trust me there will be a time after the inquest, when it is proper for me to have my say, because there are two sides to every story. I will do it here, and I will do it to you, and that is the most important thing.”

In response to allegations made in Channel 4’s documentary, an ITV rep dismissed claims of a “bad culture” on The Jeremy Kyle Show, insisting: “ITV would never condone any of its production staff misleading or lying to guests.”

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Justin Bieber Reflects On Wife Hailey’s Recent Hospitalisation: ‘It’s Been Really Scary’

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The singer spoke to fans while onstage at a stop on his Justice World Tour in Denver on Wednesday night. After a power outage struck the event, Bieber talked about how life “randomly throws you curveballs.”

“Most of you probably know, or seen, the news about my wife … she’s OK, she’s good, she’s strong,” he said, according to video posted on Twitter. “But it’s been scary … It’s been really scary. But I know for a fact that God has her in the palm of his hands.”

In a statement posted to her Instagram Story on Saturday, Hailey Bieber announced that she had suffered a “very small blood clot” to her brain.

She said she had begun experiencing “stroke like symptoms” while having breakfast with her husband on March 10.

“They found I had suffered a very small blood clot to my brain, which caused a small lack of oxygen, but my body had passed it on its own and I recovered completely within a few hours,” she wrote in the statement, adding it was one of the “scariest moments I’ve ever been through.”

The model noted that she had since returned home and was doing well.

Justin and Hailey Bieber wed in 2018. The Grammy winner told GQ last year that getting married was his “calling.”

He also shared that while their first year of marriage was “really tough,” they had since worked on building memories together as a couple, and that he now has someone to “pour into.”

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Joan Collins Laughs Off Bread Roll Incident After Being Pelted By ‘Drunken Diner’

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Dame Joan Collins has laughed off a recent incident that saw her being “pelted” with a bread roll while out for dinner.

The showbiz legend has revealed she was at an event at the private members’ club the Chelsea Art Club earlier this year when the incident took place.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, the Dynasty star explained she’d been enjoying a “private dinner” in honour of her former PR Stella Wilson’s birthday when she was accosted by a fellow guest.

“A drunken diner who inappropriately wanted to sit with us got upset and threw a hard bread roll at me,” Dame Joan explained, joking: “And she didn’t even have the decency to follow it up with the butter.”

Stella told the tabloid that the star and her husband Percy left shortly after the incident.

She explained: “I was disappointed she had to miss the rest of my birthday but I completely understood why she left. I would have walked out too.

“Thank goodness it was only a bread roll. That was the frightening part of it.”

After celebrating the 70th anniversary of her big-screen debut last year, Dame Joan has two big projects coming in 2022, including an appearance in the musical Tomorrow Morning and the comedy The Gentle Sex.

She received a damehood for her services to charity in 2015.

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RuPaul’s Drag Race Star Kornbread ‘The Snack’ Jeté Shares Update About Her Future On The Show

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RuPaul’s Drag Race star Kornbread “The Snack” Jeté has revealed she will not be returning to the show next year.

Kornbread emerged as an early favourite when Drag Race began its 14th series earlier this year, but was forced to bow out of the competition early due to an ankle injury she suffered on set.

While Drag Race fans assumed that the queen would be invited back in 2023 – as previous queens forced to leave the contest earlier, including Eureka O’Hara and the UK’s Veronica Green have – she confirmed on Friday that she will not be appearing on the next season.

“My run on season 14 was nothing short of AMAZING,” she said. “Unfortunately I will not be returning to Season 15 of RuPauls Drag Race. Great things ahead!”

Kornbread added: “I love and appreciate you all for the support! Let’s make magic!”

She added that she was also not appearing on any All Stars seasons, noting this “wasn’t my decision”.

She later clarified that her “wasn’t my decision” comment referred only to not appearing on All Stars, implying it had been her choice not to return for season 15.

Kornbread – who is transgender –wrote: “A bitch just wants to focus on her transition.”

HuffPost UK has contacted World Of Wonder, the production company behind RuPaul’s Drag Race, for comment.

While Drag Race has been available to watch week-by-week on Netflix UK since its ninth season, this year marked the first series since 2017 that is not available to watch on the streaming giant. Instead, new episodes debut weekly on the platform WowPresents Plus.

This year’s series saw the introduction of a twist in which queens could be saved from elimination by a golden ticket hidden inside a RuPaul-branded chocolate bar.

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