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PLACIDO DOMINGO RESIGNS AS GENERAL DIRECTOR OF LA OPERA
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Opera star Placido Domingo has resigned as general director of the Los Angeles Opera following multiple allegations of sexual harassment reported by The Associated Press.
In a statement Wednesday, Domingo said the allegations have “created an atmosphere in which my ability to serve this company that I so love has been compromised.”
The company’s Board of Directors said in a separate statement that he performed more than 300 times in 31 different roles.
He has served as general director since 2003.
GARTH BROOKS TO RECEIVE GERSHWIN PRIZE FOR POPULAR SONG
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Country music superstar Garth Brooks, whose hits include "Friends in Low Places," ''The Thunder Rolls" and "The Dance," will receive the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in March 2020.
The Library of Congress said Wednesday the 57-year-old Grammy winner is the youngest recipient of the prize.
Since his debut in 1989, Brooks has become a top-selling and touring musical force, bringing his brand of high energy and emotional country music to stadiums and arenas. He's the best-selling solo artist in the United States with more than 148 million in album sales, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
Brooks will be honored with a concert in Washington, D.C., that will air on PBS stations in spring 2020.
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RAPPER KEVIN GATES BANNED FROM LOUISIANA PRISONS AFTER VISIT
ST. GABRIEL, La. (AP) — Rapper Kevin Gates has been banned from all Louisiana prisons after a photo showed him visiting a facility with over $2,000.
News outlets report a photo of Gates at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center sparked an investigation that led to the ban and disciplinary actions against two corrections officers.
A July department report says Deputy Warden Perry Stagg and Maj. Jason Linzy violated rules during Gates' visit. It says Gates bypassed body scanners, didn't sign in and claimed to be visiting his father, although there isn't record of any relatives at the facility.
Department spokesman Ken Pastorick says Stagg was demoted and reassigned while Linzy received a letter of counseling.
Investigators recommended Gates face contraband charges but there was no evidence as the money wasn't seized.
SINGER LOU GRAMM WILL MISS 4 FOREIGNER SHOWS DUE TO ILLNESS
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Lou Gramm, the original singer for the classic rock band Foreigner, will miss four upcoming concerts due to illness.
He and other original members of the band were set to perform with the current lineup in a show called “Foreigner Double Vision: Then And Now.”
Other original members will perform as scheduled in Uncasville, Connecticut, on Wednesday, Atlantic City on Friday, Tuolumne, California, on Oct. 12, and Ridgefield, Washington, on Oct. 13.
Gramm’s publicist says he was hospitalized in Rochester, New York, last week with a severe respiratory infection, dehydration and fatigue.
The band is known for a long string of classic rock hits including “Cold As Ice,” “Feels Like The First Time,” and “Hot Blooded.”
'MAKING A MURDERER' SUBJECT SEEKS PARDON, COMMUTATION
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A man convicted of rape and murder when he was a teenager whose story was documented in the 2015 Netflix series "Making a Murderer" is asking Wisconsin's governor for a pardon.
Attorneys for Brendan Dassey said Wednesday that they are petitioning Democratic Gov. Tony Evers for either a pardon or a commutation of his life prison sentence.
Evers has said he will only consider pardons for people who have completed their prison sentences. He's also ruled out commutations. Evers' spokeswoman had no immediate comment.
Dassey was 16 years old when he told police he and his uncle, Steve Avery, raped and murdered photographer Teresa Halbach in 2015 before burning her body.
Dassey's attorneys say he's borderline intellectually disabled and that he was manipulated into confessing by experienced police officers.
DELIBERATIONS AT GANG TRIAL WHERE TEKASHI 6IX9INE TESTIFIED
NEW YORK (AP) — Deliberations are underway in the New York trial of two alleged members of the gang that up-and-coming rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine (teh-KAH'-shee sihks-NYN') joined to give himself street credibility.
The rapper, whose legal name is Daniel Hernandez, pleaded guilty and took the witness stand in federal court in Manhattan against two alleged fellow members of the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods.
The jury began weighing the racketeering case on Wednesday.
6ix9ine testified that he joined the gang to give him street credibility in exchange for a cut of his music industry earnings. He described being abducted and robbed at gunpoint after having a falling out with one of the defendants.
Defense lawyers have denied the allegations against their clients, Aljermiah Mack and Anthony Ellison.
DR. DRE, IOVINE TO UNVEIL HIGH-TECH NEW BUILDING AT USC
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A high-tech building named after Andre "Dr. Dre" Young and Jimmy Iovine (eye-VEEN’) will be opened on the University of Southern California campus.
Dr. Dre and Iovine are expected to attend a dedication ceremony for the Iovine and Young Hall on the campus Wednesday. The building was named after the duo who donated a combined $70 million in 2013 to create an art, technology and business academy at the college.
The hall will provide a learning space featuring 3-D printers, electronic labs, a podcast studio and alumni incubator space.
Dr. Dre is best known as a producer, rapper and co-owner of Death Row Records. He later started his own record label, Aftermath Entertainment.
Iovine is a music industry entrepreneur who is known as the co-founder of Interscope Records.
T-PAIN RELISHES IN NEW SUCCESS FOLLOWING 'MASKED SINGER' WIN
NEW YORK (AP) — T-Pain has had an eventful 2019. It's consisted of winning the inaugural season of "The Masked Singer" competition, emceeing the iHeartRadio Music Awards, dropping a new album along with a tour, and hosting his second season of "T-Pain's School of Business." That's his FUSE show that explores niche, innovative businesses founded by millennials.
However, Pain says despite being more visible in pop culture, his career isn't in comeback mode.
The rapper-singer says the projects are all things he was already doing.
UNIVERSAL ORLANDO ACTOR FIRED FOR MAKING RACIST HAND GESTURE
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A Universal Orlando actor who was dressed as movie character “Gru” has been fired for making an “OK” hand gesture that has been designated a hate symbol used by white supremacists in a photo with a biracial girl.
Universal spokesman Tom Schroder on Wednesday confirmed to The Associated Press in an email that the unidentified actor no longer works for the company. Schroder says what the actor did is unacceptable.
A photo shows the actor fully disguised as “Gru” from the “Despicable Me” movie franchise standing behind the girl with a hand making the “OK” gesture on her shoulder.
The photo was taken at a character breakfast.
The “OK” gesture was added last week to the Anti-Defamation League’s online database of hate symbols.
A LITERARY GUY: JIM CARREY NOVEL SCHEDULED FOR NEXT MAY
NEW YORK (AP) — Jim Carrey has set his wild sights on the literary world.
The actor has written a novel called "Memoirs and Misinformation," Alfred A. Knopf announced Wednesday. Along with co-author Dana Vachon, Carrey will take on celebrity, acting, romance and some other subjects he's familiar with. The publisher is calling the book a "fearless and semi-autobiographical deconstruction of persona."
"Memoirs and Misinformation" is scheduled for publication next May. Carrey, who plans a promotional tour, is offering a semi-disclaimer: "None of this is real and all of it is true."
Carrey, 57, is known for films such as "Dumb and Dumber" and "Man on the Moon." He's not the first actor in recent years to turn to fiction writing. Others include Tom Hanks, Sean Penn and Ethan Hawke.
"BAREFOOT CONTESSA" STAR INA GARTEN IS WRITING MEMOIR
NEW YORK (AP) — Celadon Books announced Wednesday that million-selling chef Ina Garten is working on a memoir, not yet titled. It's tentatively scheduled for 2023.
Garten, longtime host of the Food Network's "Barefoot Contessa," has written such bestsellers as "Barefoot Contessa Parties!" and "Barefoot in Paris." A self-taught cook inspired in part by Julia Child, Garten said in a statement that she hoped her book would "inspire readers to find their own unique story."
Garten, 71, was a budget analyst for the federal government before leaving in the late 1970s and purchasing a specialty food store called The Barefoot Contessa. Her first book, "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook," came out in 1999. All of her cookbooks have been released by Clarkson Potter, which has Garten cookbooks scheduled for 2020 and 2023.
SPIKE LEE SHELLS OUT FOR KNICKS MEMORABILIA AT AUCTION
LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. (AP) — Writer-director Spike Lee added to his New York Knicks collection by purchasing 13 items associated with his favorite team in a recent auction.
The family of late Knicks coach Red Holzman sold off 35 items that netted $319,341, according to SCP Auctions, which handled last week’s sale.
Among Lee’s acquisitions was the used original net from Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals, won by the Knicks, and Holzman’s NBA coach of the year trophy that season.
Lee paid $69,184 for the net and $31,517 for the trophy, according to the auction house in Laguna Niguel, California.
Lee attended Game 7 at Madison Square Garden as a 13-year-old.
“It was a memory I will never forget,” he said in a statement from SCP Auctions. “Willis Reed coming back and the Garden went nuts. It was a very special moment in Knicks history.”
Holzman’s championship ring from 1970 went to a bidder for $107,482.
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