Seacrest Scandal Will Be Front and Center Oscar Night
Ryan Seacrest will carry the stench of sexual harassment allegations to the Oscar red carpet this year, said Daniel Holloway, Senior TV Reporter at Variety. And many celebrities will be wary of engaging with him.
“There is the potential for news to break on the carpet on Sunday,” Holloway told Cheddar.
Jennifer Lawrence already told Howard Stern she might not participate in the traditional stop-by with the E! Host. Publicists are reportedly also reluctant to let other celebs speak with him.
Holloway broke news this week, detailing claims of sexual harassment from Seacrest’s former personal stylist Suzie Hardy. She alleges the one-time “American Idol” host slapped her buttocks, grinded against her, and groped her. She says she was fired when she complained about Seacrest’s behavior.
Seacrest has denied the accusations and said Variety didn’t approach him for response before publishing the story.
But Hardy’s story has been corroborated by several witnesses, Holloway said. And Variety “has documentation that we asked to speak with [Seacrest].”
“Live” co-host Kelly Ripa, however, is standing by Seacrest. On Thursday morning, she said on air that it’s “a privilege to work with” him.
Since the story was published on Monday, Seacrest has come under a lot of pressure. At one point, it seemed as though he may have the red carpet pulled out from under him. But NBCUniversal, which televises the Awards’ preview special, decided against it because its own internal investigation did not find any evidence of inappropriate behavior.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/ryan-seacrests-accuser-responds-to-his-denial).
A new mobile app has launched just in time for Valentine's Day. Our.Love bills itself as an A.I.-powered, gamified, relationship wellness app for couples. The app is set in what the company calls the Coupleverse, a virtual world where each couple can build a virtual relationship home as they also build their real-world relationship. Founder and CEO Tal Zlotnitsky joined Cheddar to discuss how the app works. "The concept behind Our.Love is to give people the opportunity to understand where they stand in their relationship through very simple metrics that we provide within the app that will help them in real-time, see where they stand, see where their partner is, and be able to get closer together," he said.
The Super Bowl is just 48 hours away and things are definitely heating up in the social media space, especially on Twitter. Fans across the country are quickly engaging in color commentary as they call it, and actively sharing their views on who's expected to take the big win, which players they are looking forward to seeing. Senior Sports Partner Manager at Twitter, David Herman, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Director and producer Ivan Reitman passed away over the weekend at the age of 75. The filmmaker was the mastermind behind some of America's favorite films such as "Ghostbusters". Reitman’s family released a statement explaining how they are comforted by the lives he has touched through his films.
The 21st Annual Food Network and Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEWFF), is returning to Miami on February 24 with proceeds to benefit the future leaders of the hospitality industry. Lee Schrager, the founder and director of the festival, and Food Network star Jeff Mauro joined Cheddar News to discuss what ticket holders can expect, how the festival benefits students, and how Mauro will be paying tribute to fellow food celebrity, Guy Fieri, by hosting a charity auction dinner. "I mean there's nobody bigger, nobody more magnetic right now in the food space than Guy," Maura said. "I mean the guy had a Super Bowl commercial on last night. That's a dream of mine, so I'm one step closer there just by doing a tight 20 minutes at his tribute dinner."
Jeff Softley, direct to consumer president at Experian, joins Cheddar News to discuss what it means to be credit invisible, how big of an issue this is in the U.S., and what resources are out there to bridge this gap.
