Entertainment Daypop Archives

Brendan Fraser is coming forward with allegations of sexual assault by an ex-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. In a new interview with GQ, Fraser alleges that the HFPA’s Philip Berk assaulted him at the Beverly Hills Hotel in the summer of 2003. Fraser, through his reps, asked the HFPA for an apology, which Berk says he wrote, but added “My apology admitted no wrongdoing, the usual ‘If I’ve done anything that upset Mr. Fraser, it was not intended and I apologize.’” Berk took a six-month leave of absence from the HFPA in April 2014, following backlash from his memoir, but is still a member. He denied the claim in an e-mail to GQ, saying “Mr. Fraser’s version is a total fabrication.” The HFPA did not respond to Variety’s request for comment. The actor said that the incident made him reclusive and he retreated from public life. He was rarely invited back to the Golden Globes, which the HFPA runs, and he feels as though he was blacklisted as a result. He also believes it’s partly why his career derailed, and said “The phone does stop ringing in your career, and you start asking yourself why. There’s many reasons, but was this one of them? I think it was.”   

MTV announced Thursday that comedian TIffany Haddish will host this summer’s 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards. Last year, MTV expanded the ceremony — formerly known as the MTV Movie Awards  — to recognize television and did away with gender-based category divisions.  Haddish, who had a breakout year in 2017, is making her mark on movies and TV.  The actress had a star turn in last year’s hit film “Girls Trip,” as well as previously appearing in the critically acclaimed NBC series “The Carmichael Show.” In addition to the hosting gig, Haddish will be starring opposite Tracy Morgan in the TBS sitcom “The Last OG” and alongside Kevin Hart in Universal’s “Night School.” The 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards airs at 9 p.m. Pacific on June 18. Categories and nominees are still TBD.

Oprah Winfrey, along with Steven Spielberg and his Kate Capshaw, are the newest celebrities to pledge donations to the March for Our Lives goal of new gun reform laws. On Monday, George and Amal Clooney announced that they would donate $500,000 to the March for Our Lives, an event happening on March 24 in the wake of the Parkland shootings in Florida last week. Following their announcement, Winfrey tweeted out her support and pledged a sizable donation of her own in support. Spielberg and Capshaw also pledged a donation for the group of high school survivors that claimed the lives of 17. “The young students in Florida and now across the country are already demonstrating their leadership with a confidence and maturity that belies their ages,” said the couple in a joint statement. “We are joining in this movement with a donation of $500,000.”  March For Our Lives is happening on March 24 in Washington D.C. and across America.

After canceling a number of shows last week, Wendy Williams announced on-air that she would be taking three weeks off to focus on her health. The host was diagnosed with Graves’ disease, a condition in which the thyroid overproduces hormones resulting in anxiety, hand tremor, heat sensitivity, weight loss, puffy eyes, and and enlarged thyroid. “My doctor has prescribed … are you ready? As of today, three weeks of vacation,” Williams told her audience on the show.  It’s not known if this diagnoses has anything to do with the fall she took back in October after fainting on air. Shortly after the stumble, her publicist said that Williams was “dehydrated and is on her way home for a good day and night of sleep. She has been examined by medical professionals and is well.”   Encore tapings of The Wendy Williams Show will be shown during Williams’ 3-week hiatus.

George and Amal Clooney announced on Tuesday a $500,000 donation to the “March for Our Lives” demonstration organized by the Florida school shooting survivors, to take place next month. The couple made the donation in the name of their 8-month-old twins, Ella and Alexander.  They said their family will be attending the “March for Our Lives” on March 24. George Clooney said in a statement. “Amal and I are so inspired by the courage and eloquence of these young men and women from Stoneman Douglas High School. Our family will be there on March 24 to stand side by side with this incredible generation of young people from all over the country, and in the name of our children Ella and Alexander, we’re donating $500,000 to help pay for this groundbreaking event. Our children’s lives depend on it.”