Eboni K. Williams from The Real Housewives of New York City surprised fans when standup comedian Sam Bloomstone heckled her from the stage – so she got on stage and hilariously shut him down.
The entire exchange was captured on video by someone in the audience as Bloomstone leaned into making observational jokes about the audience. But once he called out Williams for her “JCPenney Collection” she couldn’t resist taking the mic.
Bloomstone shared the video on TikTok, which was picked up and shared by the Bravo fan account, Queens of Bravo. He began his musings, wondering if a table of audience members were Trump supporters. Then he asks another person why they are wearing sunglasses in the club. “What are you The Situation from The Jersey Shore?” he asked.
“Where’s your joke? Let’s go,” is heard from someone in the audience.
But that’s when Bloomstone probably picked the wrong audience member to heckle. “Well, I gotta tell you, we don’t like this woman, folks,” he said. “She’s a little bit mean. We think this woman … I mean it’s like she’s at an AOC meeting. She keeps chatting in. We don’t like her one bit.”
Comments are heard from an audience member [likely Williams] and he said, “Listen JCPenney Collection upfront, let’s relax!”
Williams hopped on stage once the words, “JCPenney” trickled from Bloomstone’s mouth. The audience screamed as she took the mic from his hand.
“She’s coming up!” he mocked her. “I put my life savings on whatever you are going to say is nothing funny.”
That’s when Williams delivered a smackdown. “It’s not about being funny b*tch,” she said. “What it is about, is you respecting a motherf**king Black queen.” The crowd went crazy. “And what we don’t do – is JCPenney b*tch, OK?”
“A b*tch like me, you gotta respect bro,” she continued. She then patted him on his backside. Williams added, “JCPenney? On your worst day.”
Bloomstone joked, “What just happened?” as Williams exited the stage. But she didn’t stay off the stage for long.
He added, “Am I canceled?” Bloomstone appeared to be ready to continue his set. But Williams wasn’t finished with him. She got back on stage to clarify her fashion.
“These are Italian,” she said referring to her black pants. “Yeah, yeah these are Italian …”
But then, Bloomstone couldn’t help but then make a crude joke, which received jeers from the crowd. Williams stayed up on stage, which is when the video cut out.
Williams commented on the Queens of Bravo post. “It was a fun night ya’ll,” she replied in the thread. “Relax…the comedian joined us all for dinner and more drinks later. And yes, I was drinking before I took the mic. Sorry I’m not perfect and had a little fun.”
A fan suggested that Williams apologize to Bloomstone. “Apologize to the comedian? For the slap sure…for the rest. No way…we had a blast. He loved it…He put me on FaceTimed with his mom after and wants to do a tour together. Y’all just bored.”
Indeed, Bloomstone seemed to be in on the joke. “Did I do a good job??” he also replied in the thread. A fan asked how the whole thing started and he wrote, “Eboni just jumped on stage. How dare I insult her boots!”
Source: Showbiz Cheatsheet
John Mulaney, Jim Gaffigan, Tiffany Haddish, and Kevin Hart are among the big-name comedians whose work has been removed from streaming service Spotify in a fight over royalty payments.
The dispute centers on a group of entertainers who are attempting to be paid a copyright royalty for jokes they wrote when they are played on radio and digital service providers such as Spotify, SiriusXM, Pandora, and YouTube.
The effort to win the royalties is being led by global rights administrator Spoken Giants. That organization wants to collect royalties for underlying composition copyrights of spoken-word media. They point to songwriters, who are paid for use of their music and lyrics.
When negotiations broke down, Spotify removed the comedian content.
The Wall Street Journal reported that comics currently are paid as performers on a digital service through their label or distributor and digital performance rights organization SoundExchange. But they aren’t paid as writers of the work, which Spoken Giants calls their literary rights.
Spoken Giants began reaching out to streaming services and satellite and terrestrial radio in the spring. Other services and radio companies have been talking with Spoken Giants. After some negotiations with Spotify, Spoken Giants said it received an email on the eve of Thanksgiving saying it would remove works represented by the organization until an agreement could be reached.
“Spotify does provide entertainers with exposure and access to large audiences. So having their work taken down is harmful to each individual creator,” said CEO Jim King, a former BMI executive.
Spotify responded by stating it has paid “significant amounts of money for the content in question, and would love to continue to do so.”
Source: Deadline
ATLANTA — Several victims attacked by a well-known comedian are not happy with the punishment he received in their case.
Katt Williams won’t be going to prison, and they said that is not justice.
“We cannot ignore that this man has not only traumatized not only us. Several other people,” said Lutisha Martinez, one of the victims.
She is one of the several women police said Katt Williams attacked.
They are speaking out after learning Williams accepted an agreement that keeps him a free man.
“We felt very ignored throughout this entire wait,” said Salena Boston.
They think Williams’ celebrity played a role.
“His celebrity just took us out. It made it look like we were I guess making this up,” said Lanette Washington, one of four victims who spoke to Channel 2′s Tom Jones.
Williams faced aggravated assault, aggravated battery, sexual battery, theft by taking and other charges after police say he attacked the women after they asked to take a picture with him outside a club in midtown Atlanta in 2016.
The women said they found out the case was dismissed Monday, Dec., 29th.
They say they also learned the comedian agreed to Pretrial Intervention and virtual mental health evaluations. That didn’t sit well with them.
“And for you to just slap him on the wrist and just say you want another mental health assessment. How many do you need?” Martinez said.
The women said they weren’t included in discussions about the deal. “I didn’t know anything about it. And it’s not right,“Jalisa Rhodes explained.
They said Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis promised them they would get justice.
Willis’ office sent Jones a statement that said Williams entered into the agreement years ago, and his attorney asked for the courts to enforce it. The statement also says emails show the victims were kept informed about the resolution of the case.
The victims’ attorney say the agreement was proposed in 2017.
Loletha Hale says she never heard anything else about it until now. She said she had never seen anything like this in more than 2 decades practicing law.
“There’s really no legal procedural justification for this,” Hale said.
The DA’s office says it also had to consider what could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
Drew Findling, Katt Williams’ attorney, says he was prepared to go to trial, then the resolution was reached. He said Willis was fair.
The victims don’t see it that way. They say the justice system failed them. They are planning a civil suit.
Source: WSB-TV
According to our sources, we hear that comedian and actor Eddie Murphy has signed with Warner Brothers Records to release his new musical album, a reggae album, at the beginning of the new year.
We also hear that among the many folks who perform with Murphy on the album, one of them is the reggae sensation known as Beenie Man. According to sources, the song Murphy did with Snoop Doggy Dogg- or Snoop Lion for this performance- Red Light will also be on the LP.
No word yet on any plans of Murphy adding any music to the tour he had been planning on doing before the pandemic.
Murphy is currently filming the new untitled Netflix film with Kenya Barris directing and starring Jonah Hill, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Lauren London.
More details soon!
Awkwafina is set to join Nicholas Hoult and Nicolas Cage Universal Pictures’ Renfield, a monster movie centered on Dracula’s familiar henchman with Hoult playing the title role.
No word yet on what Awkwafina’s role would be.
The Tomorrow War director Chris McKay is on board to helm the pic, which is based on an original story outline from Robert Kirkman. Ryan Ridley wrote the script. Cage will play Dracula.
McKay’s producing partner Samantha Nisenboim will be joining the project as executive producer. The film will be produced by Skybound Entertainment’s film team including Kirkman, David Alpert, Bryan Furst and Sean Furst.
In the original Dracula novel, R.M. Renfield was an inmate at a lunatic asylum who was thought to be suffering from delusions but actually is a servant of Dracula. Plot details of the movie weren’t announced, but it’s believed to take place during the present day and is not a period piece.
Universal remains committed to creating filmmaker-driven projects based on characters from the studio’s vast monsters legacy. Instead of prescribing a mandated updating of these monster stories and making them all part of a larger scheme, the studio loosened these restrictions and open-sourced to filmmakers, who were inspired to create their own unique stories.
Golden Globe winner Awkwafina most recently was seen in Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which made $431 million at the global box office. She next will be seen opposite Mahershala Ali in Apple’s Swan Song, as well as an untitled Netflix comedy with Sandra Oh. Her Comedy Central series Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens premiered its second season over the summer.
She is repped by UTA, Artists First and Isaac Dunham.
Source: Deadline
Christmas isn’t even here yet and Steve Harvey is already planning to take over television again next year. Harvey just unveiled the trailer for his new upcoming series “Judge Steve Harvey” which will debut on Jan. 4, 2022, at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.
The one-hour unscripted courtroom comedy will see the comedian presiding over a range of cases as real-life people hash out their drama ranging from family disputes and sour friendships to small claims court disputes and unpaid bets. Harvey will bring the laughs as he plays by his own rules, using his own life experiences and some good old common sense.
“I’m extremely excited for the opportunity to continue my fruitful partnership with ABC and collaborate with them on my next venture. Viewers tuning into ‘Judge Steve Harvey’ will watch as I tackle tough and, at times, entertaining issues while also providing much-needed advice and good old-fashioned common sense to the litigants in my court,” Harvey told Deadline.
Ten episodes have already been locked in for the first season of “Judge Steve Harvey” next year while he continues his reign on syndicated radio and hosting gigs on “Family Feud” and “Celebrity Family Feud.”
Take a look at the trailer for Harvey’s newest TV adventure.
Source: Rolling Out, Deadline
Trevor Noah will return as Grammys host.
The Daily Show host and comedian will emcee the 64th annual Grammy Awards, taking place Monday, Jan. 31, at Staples Center (which is being renamed Crypto.com Arena on Dec. 25) in Los Angeles. It will air live on CBS and on-demand on Paramount+.
Noah previously hosted the 63rd Grammys.
“Trevor brought his trademark talent and versatility to last March’s Grammys, and we can’t wait for him to host the event on CBS and Paramount+ again this year,” said George Cheeks, president and CEO of CBS and chief content officer of news and sports at Paramount+.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Riz Ahmed’s Left Handed Films and Lulu Wang’s Local Time are partnering to develop the comedy series “The Son of Good Fortune” at Amazon.
Based on the novel of the same name by Lysley Tenorio, the series is about an undocumented Filipino teenager in the Bay area navigating a tumultuous relationship with his former B-movie action star mother, falling in love for the first time, and working out how to pay back a massive debt before his whole life crumbles.
Andrew Lopez will adapt the book for the screen and serve as an executive producer. Ahmed will executive produce along with Allie Moore of Left Handed. Wang and Dani Melia executive produce for Local Time. Tenorio will serve as consulting producer, with Amazon Studios producing.
The project is the first for Left Handed since it was announced that Ahmed and the company had signed a first-look TV deal at Amazon in January. He previously partnered with the streamer on the critically-acclaimed film “Sound of Metal,” for which Ahmed received an Oscar, BAFTA, and Golden Globe nomination for best actor. He and Left Handed are currently working on the series “Englistan” for BBC Two, with Ahmed having created that series in addition to executive producing.
Ahmed is repped by WME and lawyers Tara Kole and Danny Passman
Wang is currently working on the Amazon series “Expats,” on which she is the writer, director, executive producer, and showrunner. That series is based on the novel “The Expatriates” by Janice Y. K. Lee. She has previously directed and wrote the highly-regarded films “The Farewell” and “Posthumous.”
She is repped by UTA, Redefine Entertainment, and Yorn Levine Barnes.
Lopez is a Filipino and Korean writer, director, actor and stand-up comic. He’s currently developing a pilot for FX, which he will write, produce and star in, with Hiro Murai and Chris Storer executive producing. He is also currently adapting “Slow Burn” as a feature for Amazon, based on a love story Sean Lewis.
Lopez is repped by UTA, Brillstein, and Felker Toczek. Tenorio is repped by The Book Group and CAA.
Source: Variety
Anthony Anderson has become the first Law & Order alum to sign for the upcoming Season 21. Meanwhile, Hugh Dancy has been tapped as a lead in the revival of Dick Wolf’s venerable crime drama.
Anderson, who I hear has signed a one-year deal, will reprise his role as Detective Kevin Bernard, which he played on Seasons 18-20 of Law & Order. He is one of two original cast members, alongside Sam Waterston, who were approached early on about returning in a major way. Waterston is still in discussions, I hear.
Dancy will play a new character, an Assistant District Attorney. He joins fellow new cast addition to the franchise, Jeffrey Donovan, who also is set as a lead, playing an NYPD detective.
The new installment of Law & Order, from Wolf and writer-showrunner Rick Eid, will continue the classic bifurcated format and will once again examine “the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.”
Law & Order is produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group. Wolf, Eid, Arthur W. Forney and Peter Jankowski are executive producers.
Dancy is known for his starring role as Will Graham in NBC’s Hannibal, receiving two Critics Choice Award nominations for Best Actor in a Drama Series. He also starred in Hulu’s The Path and most recently wrapped production on the Apple TV+ anthology series Roar with Nicole Kidman, Cynthia Erivo and Issa Rae. He’ll next be seen starring in Focus Features’ upcoming film Downton Abbey: A New Era, which will hit theaters in March. He is repped by UTA, United Agents in the UK, Untitled Entertainment and Jackoway, Austen, Tyerman.
Anderson has starred in and executive produced ABC’s Black-ish, which is heading into its 8th and final season, since the series’ launch in 2014. He is repped by UTA, Artists First and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.
Source: Deadline