Hollywood Week: Awards Season BAFTA Recap, A$AP Not Guilty, Combs Lawyer Quits, Hearst Corp

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Category: Entertainment News

Published on Saturday, 22 February 2025 11:56

Written by Janet Walker

The 2025 Awards season has been anything but usual, and as the season narrows few of the categories are a lock, and over the course of one week nearly all categories experienced upheaval, as we approach Oscar Sunday.

Awards Season

The British Academy Film Awards presented last week gave the clearest indication of the upcoming Academy Awards in two of the 24 categories with Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldana each securing another win, which to date means that they have been honored with every award in their respective categories.

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The upset of the night came when Academy Award nominee Mikey Madison's name was announced as the winner in the Lead Actress category. Madison who plays a sex worker in the Sean Baker romantic dramady film, Anora, included the sex worker community in her acceptance speech. Demi Moore, who is also nominated for an Academy Award, for her role as the aging starlet Elizabeth Sparkle, in The Substance, had been consistent in winning both the Golden Globes and Critics Choice awards both of which are voted on by members of the media.

Anora, written and directed by Sean Baker, which only the night before had received a huge boost in its Oscar hopes, failed at the BAFTAs to secure either top prize as Director which went to Brady Corbet for The Brutalist, or Best Film which went to Conclave, directed by Edward Berger, leaving the race for Best Pictures and Director up for grabs, as Oscar Sunday counts down.  

Another surprise of the evening went to Academy Award nominee Jesse Eisenberg, who won the BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay, besting the front runners Anora written by Sean Baker, and The Brutalist, written by Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold, September 5 written by Written by Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum, co-written by Alex David and The Substance written by Coralie Fargeat.

By the end of the evening, BAFTA winners included Conclave, which took home four awards, The Brutalist, also ended the evening with four awards. Anora, Emilia Perez, A Real Pain, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Dune Part Two, and Wicked, each received two awards, and The Substance, also received one award.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards, and The Independent Spirt Awards are being held this weekend, with the Academy Awards scheduled for March 2, 2025.

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A$AP Not Guilty

Rihanna's longtime partner, and father of their two sons, was found not guilty this week, a jury in Los Angeles. He faced 24 years in prison for allegedly firing a weapon at a longtime friend.

Prior to the beginning of the trial, LA County prosecutors offered him six months in prison and probation to pled guilty to one count. He refused, insisted on his innocence and gambled with a jury trial. The bet paid off.

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Combs Lawyer Quits

Sean Combs, who has been incarcerated while he awaits his May trial for sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation to engage in prostitution, and has been denied bail on three separate occasion and remains incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, since his arrest.

A member of his legal team Anthony "Tony" Ricco, a Harlem born criminal defense lawyer, submitted a petition to the Southern District of New York stating, "Although I have provided Sean Combs with the high level of legal representation expected by the court, under no circumstances can I continue to effectively serve as counsel for Sean Combs, consistent with the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice."

No evidentiary reasons were submitted, and although the statement is cryptic all information provided by Combs during any of their discussions is covered by lawyer client privilege and cannot be divulged.

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Civil Suits

Texas Personal Injury Attorney Tony Buzbee has recently suffered a setback in the multiple motions he has filed against Combs, as he represents many of the alleged victims.  A letter of demand and lawsuit filed on behalf of Jane Doe, who alleged she had been assaulted by Combs and Roc Nation founder Jay-Z was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.

The rapper released this statement, "The frivolous, fictitious and appalling allegations have been dismissed," he wrote. "This civil suit was without merit and never going anywhere. The fictional tale they created was laughable, if not for the seriousness of the claims. I would not wish this experience on anyone. The trauma that my wife, my children, loved ones and I have endured can never be dismissed. This 1-800 lawyer gets to file a suit hiding behind Jane Doe, and when they quickly realize that the money grab is going to fail, they get to walk away with no repercussions. The system has failed. The court must protect victims, OF COURSE, while with the same ethical responsibility, the courts must protect the innocent from being accused without a shred of evidence. May the truth prevail for all victims and those falsely accused equally," Variety reported.

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Media: Hearst Corp CEO Braces Staff for Cuts

Political advertising produced a banner year for Hearst Corp, who posted a record $13 billion in revenue, according to CEO Steve Swartz, who stated, "It was a tough year for our newspaper and magazine groups and our A+E Networks partnership with The Walt Disney Company, as the advertising market got much more competitive and such sectoral shifts as cord cutting, losses in search-related traffic and competition from generative AI led to lower profits," reported The Hollywood Reporter.

With the exponential increase in profit due to the high-volume political advertising it will be challenging to repeat the gains through this coming year, which unfortunately will lead to staff cuts. Although Swartz did not indicate a purge, but did suggest that as AI continues to advance into the workplace, employees will need to be current on these skill sets.

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.