Hollywood Week: Medal of Freedom, Golden Globes, Liam Payne Update, Jeff Baena, Linda Lavin, Aaron Brown
- Details
- Category: Entertainment News
- Published on Saturday, 04 January 2025 12:48
- Written by Janet Walker
President Biden announced the 19 individuals who are the 2024 Medal of Freedom honorees including Hillary Rodman Clinton, Bono, Michael J. Fox, Ralph Lauren, Denzel Washington, Chef Jose Anders, Ervin "Magic" Johnson, Tim Gill, and Anna Wintour.
Medal Of Freedom Ceremony
President Biden announced the 19 individuals who will be presented the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor a citizen can receive, for their exemplary contribution to humanity and "to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors. President Biden believes great leaders keep the faith, give everyone a fair shot, and put decency above all else. These nineteen individuals are great leaders who have made America and the world a better place. They are great leaders because they are good people who have made extraordinary contributions to their country and the world," Biden said.
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Posthumous recipients include Robert Francis Kennedy, Civil Rights and voting activists Fannie Lou Hamer, former Governor of Michigan George W. Romney, former Secretary of Defense Ashton Baldwin Carter. Also honored former Secretary of State and former First Lady Hillary Rodman Clinton, Musician and U2 front-man Bono, Actor and Activist Michael J. Fox, Fashion Designer Ralph Lauren, Professional soccer player Lionel Messi, Dr. Jane Goodall, ethologist and conservationist, "The Science Guy," William Sanford Nye, David M. Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Caryle Group, Award winning writer, director, author and playwright, George Stevens, Jr., Open society founder, investor and philanthropist George Soros, Actor and Academy Award winner Denzel Washington, Humanitarian and Chef Jose Anders, former Professional Basketball player and activists Ervin "Magic" Johnson, LGBTQ1 Activist Tim Gill, and Fashion Icon, Philanthropist and Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour.
The ceremony will be held at The White House on January 4, 2024.
Golden Globes Announces Nominees in Film and Television
Golden Globes
The Golden Globes, the first awards show of the Awards season, and considered the forerunner in the indicator for the upcoming British Academy of Film and Television shortlists and Academy Award nominations will be televised Sunday, January 5, 2024, on CBS and can be streamed live on Paramount Plus. The show will be hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser. The Golden Globes will kick off at 8:00 pm EST and 5:00 pm PDT.
Presenters for the 82nd Annual Golden Globes® include: Andrew Garfield, Anthony Mackie, Anthony Ramos, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ariana DeBose, Auliʻi Cravalho, Awkwafina, Brandi Carlile, Catherine O'Hara, Colin Farrell, Colman Domingo, Demi Moore, Dwayne Johnson, Édgar Ramírez, Elton John, Gal Gadot, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, Jennifer Coolidge, Kaley Cuoco, Kate Hudson, Kathy Bates, Ke Huy Quan, Kerry Washington, Margaret Qualley, Melissa McCarthy, Michael Keaton, Michelle Yeoh, Miles Teller, Mindy Kaling, Morris Chestnut, Nate Bargatze, Nicolas Cage, Rachel Brosnahan, Rob McElhenney, Salma Hayek Pinault, Sarah Paulson, Seth Rogen, Sharon Stone, Vin Diesel, Viola Davis, and Zoë Kravitz.
Aubrey Plaza is also scheduled as a presenter; it is unclear if she will be in attendance.
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Arrests Made in Liam Payne's Death
Argentinian authorities have announced five people have been charged in the death of One Direction singer Liam Payne, who fell several stories off the balcony at the Hotel Casa Sur luxury hotel on October 16, 2024. Several hotel employees were charged with supplying the singer with cocaine.
"Hotel Casa Sur manager Gilda Martin and Esteban Grassi, the hotel's head of reception, are also facing manslaughter charges. According to the judge overseeing the case, both had contributed to "creating a risk that resulted in Payne's death." Martin and Grassi, the judge declared, saw Payne being taken upstairs by three people while inebriated and knew there was a balcony in his room that was a source of risk for Payne," reported The Hollywood Reporter. A fifth person, Roger Noros, has been processed for negligent homicide.
BAFTA Longlist Nominees Announced
Notable Deaths
Jeff Baena, Director, Screenwriter
Actress Aubrey Plaza's husband Jeff Baena, 47, an accomplished director, and screenwriter, took his own life this week. The NYU alumni lived in Los Angeles, and after graduation landed an assistant gig with Academy Award winning Director Robert Zemeckis. Baena and Ms. Plaza, who had kept their relationship quiet for many years, married in 2021. Los Angeles police were called to the home, Friday, January 3, after an assistant discovered Mr. Baena. He was pronounced dead at the scene. No further information is available.
Linda Lavin, Star of Stage & Screen
Linda Lavin, star of stage and screen, died this week at her home in Los Angeles, she was 87. Lavin, who was an accomplished theater actress, before she was cast in the sitcom, "Alice," which would propel her to fame as only television can. "Alice" ran from 1976 to 1985 and earned Ms. Lavin two Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy nomination. After the show ended, she promptly returned to her first love, the New York stage, and in 1987 won the Tony Award for best actress in a play for her role as Kate Jerome, a 1940s Brooklyn matriarch facing the postwar world, in Mr. Simon's "Broadway Bound," reported The New York Times. Ms. Lavin, whose career spanned six decades, was only recently diagnosed with lung cancer, her representative Bill Veloric said.
Aaron Brown, ABC and CNN Anchor
Journalist Aaron Brown, who dedicated his life to the coverage of the news story, and for many was forever known for his coverage of the 9/11 terror attack died this week. He was 76.
The morning of September 11, 2001, for many was like every other morning, for Aaron Brown, it was his first day as the CNN news anchor, even in the 24-hour news cycle, the hard news, the pivotal news of the day, still held the evening spot. One this day, Brown was called into duty, when the first plane hit the world trade center at 8:48 am. He would stay on the air for 17 hours, delivering steady, steely, human coverage, of the devastation, the unfathomable loss.
"The following week, he went to Washington, DC. "He walked to a hotel foyer and everybody in that foyer stood up and applauded" to congratulate him on the live coverage, [CNN's John] Vause added. A month after September 11, Pulitzer Prize-winning television critic Howard Rosenberg praised Brown in a column in The Los Angeles Times, calling him "the steadiest man on television." Brown "is earnest and … trustworthy. A French horn in an industry dominated by kazoos." Ultimately, Brown "was at a terrible place at the right time," Rosenberg wrote," CNN reported.
He died of Pneumonia. Brown is survived by his wife, daughter, two grandchildren, and siblings.
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Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.
