Jussie Smollett arrives at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 26, 2022, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Royal Rift
The Firm had been relatively quiet in the months following the release of Prince Harry and Megan Markle's Netflix's documentary Harry & Megan, but ahead of King Charles III's coronation, the royal family has asked the couple to vacate their UK home. A chunk of the documentary explored The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's relationship with the royals, and viewers even got Prince Harry's account of nearly coming to blows with Prince William. The Associated Press reported that the couple had paid $3.2 million in 2020 to have the home renovated in 2020.
Jussie Smollett's Appeal
Actor Jussie Smollet is looking to avoid serving prison time after he was found guilty of lying to police about a hate crime. In December 2021, he was sentenced to serve 150 days but was released after six days pending an appeal. Smollett's attorneys had until August to file the appellate brief but were granted five extensions since then. In the new filing, his lawyers say the five-month sentence is excessive. They also argue the judge presiding over the case made reversible errors, according to Variety.
'Lord of the Rings' on Stage
The Lord of the Rings is receiving the stage treatment. A semi-immersive musical production of the show is coming to The Watermill Theater in Berkshire, England — next door to author J.R.R. Tolkien's home county. Casting for the show is getting underway Thursday. "This production is location-based and we're concentrating on that," Paul Hart, the artistic director at the Watermill Theater told Deadline, as they look to transform the theater and its immersive outside extension into the Shire of Middle Earth.
The chief suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway has admitted he beat the young Alabama woman to death on a beach in Aruba after she refused his advances. New details in the killing emerged Wednesday as Joran Van der Sloot pleaded guilty to extorting Holloway's mother, resolving a case that has captivated the public’s attention for nearly 20 years.
The trial of a Fugees rapper, who was convicted this year in multimillion-dollar political conspiracies, stretched across the worlds of politics and entertainment — and now the case is touching on the tech world with arguments that his defense attorney bungled the case, in part, by using an artificial intelligence program to write his closing arguments.
Israel said Wednesday that it will allow Egypt to deliver limited quantities of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, the first crack in a 10-day siege on the territory. Palestinians reeled from a massive blast at a Gaza City hospital that killed hundreds the day before and grew increasingly desperate as food and water supplies ran out.
A 4000-year-old slab of rock is being dubbed a treasure map for archaeologists. The rock was found in 1900 at the site of an ancient tomb in northwestern France and it was declared Europe's oldest known map in 2021.
Hundreds of people gathered for a vigil honoring a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy who was stabbed to death over the weekend by his family's landlord in an apparent hate crime.
