People
TURIN, Italy — Actor Kevin Spacey, who faces a dozen sex offense charges in Britain, was in the northern Italian city of Turin Monday to receive a lifetime achievement award, teach a master class and introduce a screening of the 1999 film “American Beauty.”
The sold-out events were billed as Spacey's first speaking engagements since #MeToo-era allegations derailed his soaring career. The two-time Academy Award winner lost his starring role on the Netflix series “House of Cards” and saw other opportunities dry up.
Spacey filmed his most recent movie, director Franco Nero’s “The Man Who Drew God,” in Turin. He is set to receive an award for contributing to the growth of cinema and to be interviewed about his career at the city's National Museum of Cinema.
Previous winners of the Stella della Mole Award include actors Isabella Rossellini and Monica Bellucci, and director Dario Argento.
Spacey is scheduled to go on trial in London in June on a dozen charges alleging he sexually assaulted four men between 2001 and 2013, including when he was the artistic director at the city's Old Vic theater. He has pleaded not guilty.
In October, a federal jury in a New York civil case found that Spacey, 63, did not sexually abuse actor Anthony Rapp when both were relatively unknown Broadway actors in 1986 and Rapp was 14 years old. The jurors deliberated a little more than an hour before deciding that Rapp, now 50, hadn’t proven his allegations.
Spacey previously faced allegations in Massachusetts that he groped a man at a bar. Prosecutors later dropped the charges.
A judge in Los Angeles in August approved an arbitrator’s decision to order Spacey to pay $30.9 million to the makers of “House of Cards” for violating his contract by sexually harassing crew members.
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You mess with the She Wolf, you get the claws.
After Colombian pop star Shakira dropped a scathing new dis track, “Bzrp Music Sessions #53,” which brutally trashes her former partner, retired footballer Gerard Pique, she shared an Instagram post celebrating the success of the buzzy hit single and reflecting on the process of making it.
In her post, Shakira called the song a “catharsis” and a “relief,” adding that she “never thought” a song she recorded at 45 years old and in Spanish would debut at No. 1 in the world.
“I want to embrace the millions of women who rise up against the ones who make us feel insignificant,” the Grammy winner wrote in a caption translated by Instagram from Spanish to English.
“Women who stand up for what they feel and think, and raise their hand when they disagree, while others raise eyebrows.”
Released Wednesday, Shakira’s collaboration with Argentine DJ-producer Bizarrap pulls no punches while repeatedly roasting Pique. The “Whenever, Wherever” hitmaker and the Spanish former soccer player dated for more than 11 years and share two children, Milan (9) and Sasha (7).
The vengeful tune also takes aim at Clara Chía Martí, the 23-year-old Pique was revealed to have been dating after he and Shakira split in June. Some have accused Shakira of exhibiting “internalized misogyny” by criticizing Martí, but the singer-songwriter insists women were her “inspiration” for recording the song.
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The estate of pop icon Michael Jackson has paid tribute to the singer's ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley after she died of cardiac arrest Thursday.
In a statement shared with the Los Angeles Times on Friday, co-executors of Jackson's estate, John Branca and John McClain, reflected on the "sudden, tragic loss" of Presley. The singer-songwriter's brief marriage to Jackson lasted from 1994 to 1996.
"Michael cherished the special bond they enjoyed as apparent in the official video for 'You Are Not Alone,' and was comforted by Lisa Marie's generous love, concern and care during their times together," the statement said. "Bringing these two special people together was a memorable moment resulting in a union full of genuine affection and care for each other. My deepest sympathies remain with Lisa's family."
In the aforementioned 1995 music video, Presley and Jackson flaunted their love in several intimate scenes.
When their relationship became public, they were often subjected to speculation that their romance was a "sham." But in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2010, Presley said that wasn't the case.
"He had something so intoxicating about him, and when he was ready to share with you and be himself ... He was like a drug for me," she said.
Jackson, who died in June 2009, was Presley's second husband.
Also paying tribute to Presley was Jackson's sister La Toya Jackson, who posted a video memorializing her former sister-in-law on Instagram Thursday evening.
Jackson shared snippets of the "You Are Not Alone" music video, photos of her brother with his then-bride and pics of Elvis Presley holding his only child.
"We miss you Lisa! You will forever be in our hearts, I will never forget how much you shared the love you had for my brother with me," Jackson captioned her post. "I thank you for being so honest, courageous and explicit with your love."
Presley died Thursday evening after she was hospitalized for a cardiac episode. She was 54. She will be laid to rest at her father's Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, alongside her son, Benjamin Keough, who died in 2020 at age 27.
From combined wire reports
