Steve Harvey Fights Lawsuits Over His TV Show And Radio Show
Steve Harvey is battling several legal issues as his entertainment platforms have taken hits in various ways.
The comedian and his companies are at the center of a few litigation claims and complaints and his talk show and radio show’s schedules have been shaken up.
For one, former “Bad Girls Club” star Danielle Victor accused Harvey’s talk show “Steve” of scheduling her to appear on a dating segment before rescinding the invitation purportedly because of her reality TV past.
“I grew up watching @iamsteveharveytv I looked at him as an icon and now I don’t know how I feel about him or the people he works for,” she said on Instagram Sept. 27. “This isn’t racist but it’s discriminatory, period.”
It followed another lawsuit from Kaliqah Muhammad, who filed a claim in September alleging that two executives from his brands urged her to engage in sexual encounters with them and when she refused, she was fired. Muhammad, a receptionist/travel coordinator for Harvey’s radio and production companies said Gerald Washington, former president of Steve Harvey World and president of Strategic Partnerships and Content Development for Steve Harvey Radio Network, and Meagan Dotson, a Harvey company secretary, allegedly sent her text messages asking about “sexy pictures” encouraging her to meet in bed with the pair.
Additionally, Harvey faces a $5 million lawsuit from the widow of “What’s Happening” star Fred “Rerun” Berry. Essie Berry accused Harvey of blocking her efforts to make it in the entertainment industry, filing an affidavit claiming Harvey’s associates have “harassed, bullied, stalked, silenced, threatened, and intimidated” her, making her life “a living hell.”
The litigations and complaint come on top of issues with “Steve” and Harvey’s radio show, “The Steve Harvey Morning Show.”
Harvey’s nationally syndicated radio show is being replaced in Dallas by former “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Claudia Jordan’s program, “The Morning Rush with Claudia and Rudy.” It took over in the 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. time slot that Harvey’s morning show held for 15 years.
Additionally, the comic’s talk show is set to be replaced in select NBC markets for the fall 2019 season as the peacock network tests Kelly Clarkson’snew talk show as a lead-in to “The Ellen Degeneres Show.” However, it’s not all bad news. His representatives clarified that the show is not being canceled altogether and will still air in other non-NBC markets, as it does in Atlanta where “Steve” airs on Fox.
Source: Atlanta Black Star
Comedy Central Launches ‘This Week At The Comedy Cellar’!
The hottest of hot takes served faster than ever. In a world where comedy is more necessary, more urgent than ever before, Comedy Central provides audiences with a groundbreaking new series during which comedians sort through the noise to deliver the freshest jokes through a topical filter. This Week at the Comedy Cellar, a new, weekly, half-hour stand-up series filmed at the legendary New York City comedy club, premieres Friday, October 26 at 11:00 p.m. ET/PT and delivers stand-up comedy as has never been seen before.
Recorded over the course of the same week they premiere, each episode of This Week at the Comedy Cellar provides a front row seat to fans of topical comedy as comedians react to recent headlines, weaving sharp takes on current events into a tight and topical 30-minute weekly show. Interspersed among the stand-up sets is a one-of-a-kind look at the famed Comedy Cellar “comics’ table,” where featured comedians will debate the week’s topics and discuss their process of taking what everyone’s been talking about and spinning it into comedy. Each episode will also feature a biographical spotlight on one of that week’s featured stand-ups.
Comedy Central will post the extended comedian roundtable discussions and various stand-up highlights weekly on cc.com/StandUp and on YouTube. The CC App, cc.com/StandUp and YouTube will feature clips from each episode. In addition, full episodes of This Week at the Comedy Cellar will be available the day after premiere on the Comedy Central App and cc.com. Fans can follow the social conversation about the series on Twitter @StandUp (71.5k) and Instagram @ccstandup (71.8k) using the hashtag #ComedyCellar.
This Week at the Comedy Cellar is executive produced by Noam Dworman (for the Comedy Cellar) and Ray Ellin; Michael Hirschorn and Jessica Antonini from Ish Entertainment; and Ted Tremper. Christian McLaughlin, Anne Harris and Chloe Ifshin are the Executives in Charge of Production for Comedy Central.
Featuring an expertly curated line-up of series and specials, Comedy Central is the epicenter of stand-up. From its Friday Night Stand-up anchor on television to its social platforms, from 24/7 access on Comedy Central Radio and the Comedy Central App to home assistants, fans of Comedy Central stand-up consumed over 166 million hours of the best stand-up content this year.
Pete Davidson Tears Apart Kanye West For Post ‘SNL’ Speech Supporting Donald Trump
The highlight of tonight’s Saturday Night Live Weekend Update came when cast member Pete Davidson evaluated last week’s musical guest Kanye West and his impromptu off-air speech given in support of President Donald Trump. Davidson said that many felt Weekend Update host Michael Che should have commented on Kanye, but that “even though Che is black and I’m crazy, we both know which side of Kanye is at the wheel right now.”
Davidson said “what Kanye said after we went off the air last week was one of the worst, most awkward things I’ve ever seen here. And I’ve seen Chevy Chase speak to an intern.” Davidson recently took on Chase for saying the current SNL isn’t funny anymore.
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Back to Kanye: Davidson said they all had to stand behind West as he wore his MAGA hat, the red number that reads Make America Great Again. Davidson can be seen with his head bowed, but said he decided “I want a career, so I leave.” He can be seen exiting.
The highlight of tonight’s Saturday Night Live Weekend Update came when cast member Pete Davidson evaluated last week’s musical guest Kanye West and his impromptu off-air speech given in support of President Donald Trump. Davidson said that many felt Weekend Update host Michael Che should have commented on Kanye, but that “even though Che is black and I’m crazy, we both know which side of Kanye is at the wheel right now.”
Davidson said “what Kanye said after we went off the air last week was one of the worst, most awkward things I’ve ever seen here. And I’ve seen Chevy Chase speak to an intern.” Davidson recently took on Chase for saying the current SNL isn’t funny anymore.
He said West said he was told not to wear the MAGA lid, but Davidson said the rapper wore it all week. “He wore it all week. Nobody told him not to wear it. I wish I told him not to wear it, suggested that it might upset some people. Like your wife, or every black person ever.”
Davidson said West said Democrats broke up black families with welfare and that slavery is not real. Asked Davidson: “You know how wrong you have to be about politics for me to notice?”
He said “Kanye is a genius, but like a musical genius. Like Joey Chestnut is a hot dog eating genius. But I don’t want to hear Joey Chestnut’s opinion on things that are not hot dog related. I know Kanye is saying, this is the real me. I’m off the meds. Take them! There’s no shame in the medicine game. I’m on them. There’s nothing wrong with taking them. If I ever got on a plane and the pilot said, I just want all you to know, this is the REAL ME FLYING!, I’d jump out. Being mentally ill is not an excuse to act like a jackass.”
Davidson finished by donning his own red baseball hat that read “Make Kanye 2006 Again.”
That ought to be an awkward encounter, when Davidson accompanies his fiance Ariana Grande and they bump into West. But it was the best moment of SNL tonight.
Source: Deadline
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Bill Cosby Seeks Prison Release And Trying To Get His Former Judge Tossed
Just under two weeks after Bill Cosby went behind bars for three to ten years for the 2004 rape of Andrea Constand, the disgraced comedian’s lawyers are now trying to not only get him out of the big house but have the case and the judge tossed too.
“The defendant, William H. Cosby, Jr., moves this Court for a new trial in the interest of justice, or at least for reconsideration and modification of the sentence imposed on September 25, 2018,” a defense motion filed in Pennsylvania state court on Oct. 5 and made public this weekend declares.
Found guilty in an April retrial of three counts of aggravated indecent assault, and facing up to 30 years, the much accused Cosby saw the charges collapsed into one with a maximum of a decade in state prison. Formally labeled a sexually violent predator as well by Judge Steven O’Neil at the Sept. 24-25 sentencing hearing in Norristown, PA. the man once known as “America’s Dad” was taken away in cuffs and chains to begin to serve his time.
Denied home arrest or bail Cosby already had an appeal attorney in the courtroom with him and promises of filing a motion on the matter — as he now has.
Having gained zero traction at the Supreme Court with his duo of petitions, this new-ish document cites a litany of supposed errors on the part of Judge O’Neil in both the initial mistrial of 2017, the retrial of this spring and the sentencing hearing late last month. Among those and other arguments that have floundered in previous motions and incarnations, Cosby’s latest set of attorneys Joseph Green, Jr. and Peter Goldberger additionally claim that a vital taped piece of evidence was “not authentic,” the statute of limitations on the crime may have expired and that testimony from five other accusers at the criminal retrial “violated the defendant’s right at sentencing.”
Contained in those arguments is also a renewed attack on Judge O’Neill after he twice before refuted their desire to see him recuse himself from the case.
“For the reasons detailed in Mr. Cosby’s previously-filed motions for recusal (which are incorporated here by reference, without being repeated and set forth at length), and for all the foregoing reasons, a reasonable observer could question the impartiality of the judge who imposed the September 25, 2018, sentence,” the 10-page wide-ranging filing says. “Accordingly, Judge O’Neill should have recused himself from imposing sentence,” it throws in.
Having charged Cosby in late 2015 to be within the Keystone State’s longer than most statute of limitations, Montogomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele mocked the tape tampering allegation at a post-sentencing press conference on September 25. “If that’s what they’ve got, it’s beyond a Hail Mary,” he said standing next to former Temple University employee Constand. “This is nothing new, maybe its new for these defense attorneys.”
The D.A.’s office is expected to reply to the defense motion and seeking of a hearing in a filing of its own within days. At the same time, Cosby’s wife of 54 years, Camille, is seeking to have O’Neill investigated by the state for “misconduct” in the trials.
Even as Cosby has admitted in depositions more than 10 years ago to giving Constand several Benadryl pills on the night of the alleged assault in his Philadelphia-area mansion back in 2004, the actor has insisted unsuccessfully through various investigations, two trials and the sentencing hearing that the encounter with her was consensual.
Many of the more than 60 women also have claimed that Cosby drugged and assaulted them over the decades with a similar combo of pills and alcohol. Unlike many of those women, some of whom were at the two trials and the sentencing hearing last month, Cosby paid Constand millions in a once-confidential settlement about a decade before the criminal case was opened in late 2015.
Now a new chapter, in this case, has been opened… at least for now.
Source: Deadline
Nick Cannon To Jump Into Late Night With A New Series!
Fox is looking to enter the late-night space.
The network is teaming with Nick Cannon and The Talking Dead executive producer Michael Davies for a weekly topical late-night series. The untitled project, which is in development, would be hosted by Cannon and cover pop culture and feature high-profile celebrity interviews, music performances and stand-up comics.
The late-night talker is part of a larger development deal Cannon has signed with Fox, the soon-to-be independent broadcast network. As an extension of the potential weekly late-night show, Cannon and Davies will join Fox’s digital team to curate online segments to be distributed via social media. The development pact extends Cannon’s relationship with Fox as he next hosts and co-exec produces the network’s upcoming celebrity competition series The Masked Singer. The former America’s Got Talent host recently served in the same capacity on The Teen Choice Awards, which aired on Fox in August.
The deal arrives as Fox is poised to lose 20th Century Fox TV’s roster of top producers as the studio is set to become a Disney property once that multi-billion-dollar deal closes. The so-called New Fox is focusing on broader-skewing programming, including sports (the NFL, wrestling), procedurals and multi-camera comedies.
Fox has tried its hand at a late-night show several times, including with 1993’s The Chevy Chase Show, 1986’s The Late Show (with Joan Rivers and Arsenio Hall) and 2009’s The Wanda Sykes Show. None lasted more than two seasons.
Cannon has hosted MTV2’s Wild ‘N Out as well as multiple other awards shows. He is repped by CAA and Del Shaw.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Katt Williams Arrested In Portland For Alleged Assault
Katt Williams has been arrested for alleged assault in Portland, Oregon.
The comedian was arrested by Port of Portland police and booked for misdemeanor assault Saturday. His bail’s been set at $2,500.
As of now … it’s unclear what Williams did to get arrested, but the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office lists him as a fugitive in another jurisdiction. We’re told he may be sent to Atlanta, which could possibly be related to this fugitive status.
Katt was supposed to be a part of Nick Cannon‘s ‘Wild ‘N Out Live’ concert at the Moda Center Friday night in Portland, but we’re told he never made the show.
Story developing …
Source: TMZ
DC Young Fly Joins MTV’s ‘How High 2’
How High 2, MTV’s sequel to stoner classic How High, has rounded out its cast. DC Young Fly (Almost Christmas) is set to star opposite previously announced Lil Yachty in the non-theatrical movie followup to the 2001 Universal comedy feature, which starred Method Man and Redman.
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Alyssa Goss (The Bobby Brown Story), DeRay Davis (21 Jump Street) and Mary Lynn Rajskub (Night School) are also set to co-star. Additional appearances include NeNe Leakes (Glee, The New Normal), Tameka “Tiny” Harris (Meet The Blacks), Cynthia Bailey (The Real Housewives of
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Atlanta), Shekinah Jo (T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle) and hip-hop artist Lil Baby.
How High 2 is co-produced by MTV and Universal 1440 Entertainment, the production entity of Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Production is currently underway in Atlanta for a spring 2019 premiere on MTV.
Written by Family Guy’s Shawn Ries and Artie Johann, Alex Blagg (Workaholics) & Neel Shah (Powerless), How High 2 chronicles two young “potrepreneurs” on a magical hash-fueled journey to fund their on-demand munchies delivery start-up.
Bruce Leddy (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, MADtv) directs. Shauna Garr (How High) returns as executive producer. Kevin “Coach K” Lee, Pierre “Pee” Thomas and Lil Yachty from Quality Control serve as executive producers, along with Brian Sher. Mike Elliott (Halloween II, American Pie: Band Camp) will serve as producer. Morgana Rosenberg, Josh Vodnoy and Jason Goldberg serve as executive producers for MTV.
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The 2001 How High movie, written by Dustin Lee Abraham and directed by Jesse Dylan, starred Redman and Method Man as two underachieving pot smokers who, after smoking a batch of marijuana they had fertilized with the ashes of their deceased friend, ace their college exams and end up at Harvard University.
DC Young Fly was most recently seen in a guest-starring role opposite Lil Rel Howery on Fox comedy series Rel. His other recent TV credits include Dead House, The Quad and The New Edition Story.
Source: Deadline
Jermaine Fowler Returning To CBS With ‘Quinta & Jermaine’
Superior Donuts alum Jermaine Fowler is returning to CBS with a new starring vehicle. The network has given a pilot production commitment to Quinta & Jermaine, a multi-camera comedy starring and executive produced by actor-comedian Fowler and Internet star Quinta Brunson (Broke) and executive produced by Insecure co-creator Larry Wilmore. The high-profile package, which netted one of the biggest comedy sales so far this season, hails from ABC Studios, which will co-produce with CBS TV Studios.
Written by Wilmore, Fowler and Brunson, Quinta & Jermaine stars the title duo as childhood best friends who find themselves expecting a child while navigating adulthood.
Photo credit Peter Yang/Comedy Central.
Wilmore, Fowler and Brunson executive produce with 3 Arts’ Michael Rotenberg and Josh Lieberman.
Fowler, who likely is drawing on his experience as a new father, teamed with his friend Brunson. The two collaborated on the idea of taking on parenting from a fresh perspective and partnered with Wilmore.
Fowler’s first broadcast project, the semi-autobiographical Dolores and Jermaine, which he co-wrote and starred in, also was from ABC Studios. It was set up at ABC, where it went to pilot in 2015 with Whoopi Goldberg as Dolores.
CBS has been very high on Fowler for several years now. In summer 2015, the network signed him in a rich development deal for a multi-camera starring vehicle that also included a comedy special on sibling Showtime. The pact led to Fowler’s casting in the CBS comedy pilot Superior Donuts that went to series. The sitcom also starring Judd Hirsch wrapped its two-season run in May.
Fowler, an alum of the CollegeHumor troupe, also co-created, writes and starred in TruTV’s sketch comedy Friends of the People and was featured on MTV2’s Guy Code. He is repped by WME, 3 Arts and Morris Yorn.
Brunson was one of the discoveries of last pilot season when the digital content creator and star was cast as the co-lead in the CW’s comedic drama pilot The End of the World as We Know It in her first major traditional-medium role.
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Brunson, formerly of BuzzFeed Motion Pictures, got her start with viral Instagram series The Girl Who’s Never Been on a Nice Date. She went on to create and star in the scripted comedy series Broke on YouTube Red. Brunson, who also has a stand-up background, wrote and executive produced workplace comedy Up for Adoption for Verizon’s go90 and Quinta vs. Everything on Facebook Watch. Brunson, who also guest starred on the final season of New Girl, is repped by ICM Partners and Generate.
Wilmore hosts Larry Wilmore: Black On The Air on The Ringer Podcast Network.He is co-creator and consulting producer of HBO’s Insecure and helped to launch ABC/ABC Studios’ Black-ish as executive producer/showrunner for the first 13 episodes. He also created and executive produced the Bernie Mac Show, which tackled parenthood. Wilmore is repped by UTA, 3 Arts and Tom Hoberman.
Source: Deadline
Janelle Monáe Joins The Cast Of Focus Features’ ‘Harriet’, The Story Of Harriet Tubman
The multi-talented, Grammy Award®-nominated artist Janelle Monáe joins the cast of Focus Features’Harriet, the new feature chronicling the life of heroic abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Monáe joins the previously announced cast including Tony, Emmy and Grammy Award®-winner Cynthia Erivo as Tubman, along with Tony and Grammy Award®-winner Leslie Odom Jr., Joe Alwyn, multiple Grammy Award®-winner Jennifer Nettles, Clarke Peters, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Zackary Momoh, Deborah Ayorinde, and Vondie Curtis-Hall. Awarding winning director Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou) is set to direct a screenplay she co-wrote with Gregory Allen Howard (Ali, Remember the Titans). Debra Martin Chase (The Princess Diaries, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) with Martin Chase Productions, Daniela Taplin Lundberg (Beasts of No Nation, The Kids are All Right) with Stay Gold Featuresand Gregory Allen Howard will produce. The film is set to begin filming this October in Virginia.
Monáe will soon be seen on screen in Robert Zemeckis’ Welcome to Marwen co-starring Academy Award®-nominee Steve Carrell, Emmy Award®-winner Merritt Wever, Leslie Mann, Diane Kruger, Eiza González, and Gwendoline Christie. Her previous acting credits include the Academy Award®-winning Best Picture Moonlight and Best Picture nominee Hidden Figures.
She recently released her critically-acclaimed third solo album, “Dirty Computer” and the accompanying Dirty Computer: An Emotion Picture by Janelle Monáe. Immersed in the performing arts at a young age, Monáe founded her record label the Wondaland Arts Society releasing the EP “Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase).” Monáe previously released critically acclaimed albums “ArchAndroid” and “The Electric Lady.”
In 2016 Monáe launched Fem the Future, an initiative to create more opportunities to advance the awareness, inclusion and opportunities for women and those who identify as women through music, arts, mentorship and education.
Based on the story of iconic freedom fighter Harriet Tubman, Harriet follows Tubman on her escape from slavery and subsequent missions to free dozens of slaves through the Underground Railroad in the face of growing pre-Civil War adversity.
Focus Features and Universal Pictures International will distribute the film worldwide. Monáe is repped by WME, Manager Mikael Moore for Wondaland Management and attorneys Ziffren Brittenham.
New Trailer For ‘All American’ On The CW Starring Taye Diggs Debuts
Spencer James is a rising high school football player and A student at South Crenshaw High. Compton is the place he calls home. But when Beverly High School’s football coach Billy Baker recruits him to join his team in Beverly Hills, Spencer’s mother, Grace, and his best friend, Coop, convince Spencer it’s an opportunity he has to seize. Now Spencer must navigate two worlds, the south side neighborhood that he knows and the affluent Beverly Hills world that has offered him an opportunity for something bigger. When Spencer is forced to move in with Billy and his family to protect his transfer permit to Beverly, Billy’s son, Jordan (the team’s starting quarterback), is less than thrilled to be sharing his father’s attention – or the team spotlight – with Spencer. While Spencer struggles to find his footing, he makes an unlikely friend in Jordan’s sister, Olivia, who is dealing with her own demons. He also quickly develops a crush on his classmate, Layla, something her boyfriend, Asher, quickly realizes – and so, he sets out to drive Spencer off the football team and out of Beverly Hills for good.
Inspired by the life of NFL player Spencer Paysinger. ALLAMERICAN stars Daniel Ezra, Taye Diggs, Samantha Logan, Bre-Z, Greta Onieogou, Monet Mazur, Michael Evans Behling, Cody Christian and Karimah Westbrook. ALLAMERICAN is from Warner Bros. Television and CBS Television Studios in association with Berlanti Productions, with executive producers April Blair (“Reign”), Greg Berlanti (“The Flash,” “Riverdale”), Sarah Schechter (“The Flash,” “Riverdale”) and Rob Hardy(“Power”).
