The BET “HIP HOP AWARDS” has remained the biggest night in hip hop on television for over a decade with its powerful performances, iconic hip hop honorees and much-anticipated cyphers. Comedian, actor and host of VH1’s “Hip Hop Squares,” Deray Davis – a bonafide fan favorite will rock the mic as host of the BET “HIP HOP AWARDS” 2018 in Miami, FL.
The “I Am Hip Hop” Award returns to honor self-proclaimed “greatest rapper alive,” and New Orleans’ own Lil Wayne. Having sold over 100 million records worldwide and garnered five Grammy awards, Lil Wayne is one of the most successful and critically lauded artists in hip hop. Touted rap’s first rock star, he released his platinum solo debut, Tha Block Is Hot, in 1999 at the age of 17. He released the first installment of his legendary Tha Carter series in 2004 before releasing three others, including the landmark Tha Carter III in 2008, which is the last rap album to have sold one million physical copies in the first week. Lil Wayne was the first male solo artist to surpass Elvis Presley’s record for most entries on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and his 138 Billboard Hot 100 appearances, currently ranks as the third most of any artist. His most recent studio album, I Am Not A Human Being II, was released in 2013 and debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 Charts. Last year, Wayne released FWA (Free Weezy Album) exclusively on Tidal, where it was streamed a staggering ten million times within the first seven days alone. Lil Wayne is also a celebrated author who released his memoir “Gone Till November” in October of 2016 chronicling his experience in Rikers Island. Outside of his iconic music career, Lil Wayne has continued on as the CEO of his own Young Money Entertainment label (Drake, Nicki Minaj) which will release the much anticipated Tha Carter V later this year (in conjunction with Republic Records). Additionally, Lil Wayne is the CEO of Young Money APAA, a premiere full service sports agency.
From the Hood to Hollywood – nothing is off limits and no one is safe from the 2018 BET Hip Hop Awards host, DeRay Davis’ hilarious, sidesplitting anecdotes. He has continuously sold out venues both domestically and internationally. His highly anticipated 1st ever Netflix special “DeRay Davis: How to Act Black” smashed the cultural landscape on November 14, 2017 and was so popular it shut down the Netflix server. He can currently be seen on the FX series, Snowfall.
BET “Hip Hop Awards 2018” heads to Miami on Saturday, October 6, 2018 for the second consecutive year at, The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater and will premiere on Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 8:00PM ET/PT.
Join the conversation on social media by logging on to BET’s multiple social media platforms:
On BET.com: http://www.bet.com/shows/hip-hop-awards.html
On Twitter by using hashtag: #HipHopAwards; follow us @HipHopAwards and @BET
On Facebook by liking the fan page at facebook.com/HipHopAwards
She’s ready and available at any time, even if it’s just helping out with one simple favor. Which is why when best friend Emily asks her to pick up her son, Nicky, she does so without hesitation.
But when dinnertime rolls around and Emily hasn’t shown up yet, Stephanie starts to get worried. It’s so unlike Emily to be late. And not to respond to her texts. The next morning, Stephanie takes the boys to school; still no word from Emily.
Now she’s worried.
Stephanie calls Emily’s husband, Sean. A few hours later, the police launch a full-fledged investigation into Emily’s absence.
Where is Emily?
As the police interrogate family members about Emily’s mysterious disappearance, Stephanie begins to question her knowledge of her best friend.
You can get close to her but you can never quite reach her.
After all, how much can you really know someone?
She’s like an enigma. Like a beautiful ghost.
And what if the person you thought you knew doesn’t even exist?
Emily doesn’t have many positive characteristics. But she does genuinely want to be a good mother and to have people in her life whom she can trust. She also encourages Stephanie to stick up for herself, to be assertive and not to constantly apologize to others.
Stephanie, for her part, is about as different from Emily as she could be. She’s a hardworking single mom who is actively present in her son’s life (school activities, healthy meals, discipline, etc.). She lovingly looks out for his best interests. She wants to make friends (though it’s hard for her), and she’s kind to others. When Emily goes missing, Stephanie is quick to help needy family members and to care for Emily’s son, Nicky.
Abusive parents send two young sisters to a Bible camp every year, in the hope that their behavior and personalities will be improved (in the eyes of the parents). The mother refers to her daughters as “evil” girls who need to be “exorcised.” Two camp counselors joke about a lake filled with “holy water” and Jesus’ miracle of feeding the 5,000.
In one of her blogs, Stephanie says that she avoids the topic of religion because she doesn’t want to “offend any non-denominational moms.” A woman feels guilty after looking at a statue of Jesus on the cross.
[Spoiler Warning] A reverend prays the Lord’s Prayer and says “God rest her soul” at a funeral. A child comforts his friend by telling him, “At least your mom’s in heaven now.”
Three sex scenes strategically avoid nudity, but still depict explicit movements and sounds. One scene involves a married woman and her half-brother. Another pictures a married couple having sex in a bathroom stall. The third implies oral sex.
Emily and her husband, Sean, have “as much chemistry as a science fair” as they make out and get physical. Emily uses her sexual prowess as a weapon against Sean and those around her. In one scene, she wears a suit jacket that is completely open in the front (partially revelaing her breasts). Emily has a graphic, naked self-portrait hanging in her home (as well as a sex toy in her closet).
A woman is seen completely unclothed from behind. Men are seen shirtless, and women wear revealing outfits. Emily smacks Stephanie’s backside suggestively. Two women kiss.
A female character (who’s called a “dyke”) talks about a past love affair with another woman. A man is called a “perv.” Someone says, “Prudes are people too.” Emily tells Stephanie about a threesome that she and her husband had with another person. Sean asks about a possible affair. We hear several graphic conversations about both the male and female anatomy (two of which are related to childbirth). A song refers to women as “hoes.”
Two young sisters are physically abused by their father; we hear him beating one of the girls. Later, they kill their father by setting their home on fire. It’s also insinuated that the girls are verbally abused by both parents. Someone drowns a family member. A woman isn’t afraid to physically harm herself for her own gain. (She throws a wrench at her own face.) A man is shot in the chest twice. A woman wields (and hides) a gun on multiple occasions. Someone is hit by a car.
Stephanie tells a story about a mom whose head was found “in a trash can.” Emily mentions that the best thing she could do for her child would be to “blow my brains out” and tells someone else to hang himself. We hear another sarcastic reference to a murder and a suicide. Kids joke about their dolls killing each other, then coming back to life.
Sean’s mother lies in a hospital bed after a head injury; Emily cruelly comments that she “broke her head.” The body of a dead woman is pulled from a lake. We hear that a baby is stillborn. Someone narrowly avoids an accident that would have been fatal. Two men exhibit aggressive behavior in conversation and then later die in a car crash. A little boy repeatedly punches his friend.
God’s name is misused nearly 10 times (occassionally with with “d–n”), and Jesus’ name is misused five times (once with the f-word). The f-word is used more 50 times, and the s-word about a dozen times. Other profanities include “a–,” “a–hole,” h—” and d–n.” There are a few crude references to genitals.
Jokes are made about the consumption of crystal meth, Xanax, antidepressants and “some pills.” It’s assumed that a woman is using heroin and we see another woman shoot up with that drug using a needle.. Friends pass around a bong, and a song mentions the use of marijuana. Emily wonders (jokingly) if Stephanie’s son drinks alcohol. Emily is a borderline alcoholic who (among other characters) imbibes various mixed drinks. Stephanie gets drunk.
Emily doesn’t make the greatest decisions, and she says so herself. She tells Stephanie that some of her tattoos indicate “another one of my bad decisions.” And she even lets Stephanie in on her marital and financial problems.
Emily and Stephanie trade confessions about the “wildest” things they’re ever done (most of which are dark secrets). Emily’s husband, Sean, reveals that his wife is fiercely private. She doesn’t want her picture taken, going so far as shutting down his Facebook profile, lest it reveal personal information about her.
A woman steals a large sum of money from a former lover and tries to obtain an even larger sum illegally. Someone is described as a pathological liar and a thief. Deception plays a big role in the film.
People make fun of Stephanie and her “mommy vlog” and wonder if she can survive Emily’s abrasive personality. Stephanie believes that loneliness “probably kills more people than cancer.” Causal, harsh comments are made about bad parenting and children viewing their own parents as “losers.” A fashion mogul tries to make light of child labor.
You think you know someone. But people aren’t always who they seem.
This taut, suspenseful story takes two women who are seemingly opposite and intertwines their growing similarities while contrasting their stark differences. And the result of saying yes to one simple request unlocks a story full of increasing moral murkiness. The film shows how one lie can lead to a lifetime of deception and secrets, and how those secrets can ultimately destroy you.
That said, A Simple Favor isn’t really intended as a cautionary tale as much as it’s designed to keep audiences on the edge of their seats. And it delivers in that respect as it twists and turns around a gripping plot. But despite some compelling cinematic moments, what we end up with here is basically Gone Girl-lite. Whereas that thriller was completely submerged in explicit sexual content and graphic violence, this one doesn’t dive quite so deeply into those problematic waters.
But it wades into them far enough to warrant more than a simple warning from us. Don’t be deceived by the presence of crowd-pleasers Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively in the lead roles here: A Simple Favor definitely earns it R-rating.
By Kristin Smith
Set after the events of Predator and 1990’s Predator 2 (and possibly after 2010’s Predators, although it isn’t directly referenced), The Predator casts Boyd Holbrook (Logan) as an Army sniper who finds himself caught up in the Predators’ latest safari when he accidentally discovers one of their crashed ships. Believed insane by his commanding officers, he recruits a group of fellow military castoffs of questionable sanity to help him stop the alien hunters.
As with all of the films in the series, the story boils down to pitting a group of human protagonists against a seemingly unstoppable alien enemy. The Predator ups the ante by introducing a larger, genetically modified version of the iconic alien hunter, as well as a few other fun (for the audience, not the human characters) surprises in its hunting arsenal.
Black’s efforts to bring something new to the franchise are admirable, and although the new super-sized Predator doesn’t feel all that different from its predecessors, he and co-writer Fred Dekker come up with some clever ways to introduce new elements to the franchise’s lore and twist existing elements — both narrative and physical, when it comes to the aliens’ tech — in unexpected ways. The signature force fields and cloaking technology used by the Predators in previous installments of the franchise, for example, are used in some memorably creative ways in The Predator that make the old feel new again.
As the film’s male lead, Holbrook joins original Predator star Arnold Schwarzenegger, Predator 2‘s Danny Glover, and Predators star Adrien Brody as the latest tough guy to take on the Predator, but never quite carves out his own niche in the series. Where Schwarzenegger’s character was every bit the classic ’80s Hollywood tough guy archetype, Glover was the eternally outclassed, reluctant hero, and Brody played a compelling lone wolf, Holbrook is just a guy with a never-ending supply of guns — only distinct from the rest of the cast due to his screen time.
Holbrook is ostensibly the film’s male lead, but it’s his surrounding cast that saves The Predator from becoming just another montage of human characters being sliced, stabbed, and otherwise turned into red mist.
Playing a pair of veterans whose post-traumatic stress disorders manifest in some ridiculous ways, Thomas Jane and Keegan-Michael Key are the film’s primary scene-stealers and most frequent sources of comedy. The two have a genuinely entertaining chemistry in the film, and the ensemble of quirky veterans around them harkens back to the original 1987 film’s iconic team of tough guys in all the right ways. Their characters do a lot with the screen time they’re given, and make the moments they get in the spotlight memorable amid all of the action.
In the role of a biologist brought in to study the Predators’ genetic modifications, Olivia Munn actually seems more comfortable with the chaotic running and jumping and shooting sequences than the dialogue-heavy, expositional scenes her character is intended to provide. To her credit — and that of the film’s creative team — at no point in The Predator does she fall into a damsel in distress role, and better yet, she holds her own in the gun-toting cast remarkably well.
Still, the film tends to drag a bit when either Munn or Holbrook are the sole focus of a scene.
Black wisely keeps those slower, quieter moments to a minimum, though, and The Predator moves along at a pace that doesn’t let you dwell too long on all of the call-outs to the earlier films that are packed — and occasionally forced — into the story, relying instead on its monster and eccentric ensemble to sweep the audience along. That pace occasionally makes the film feel a little disjointed as it suddenly swings from one extreme to the other with its comedy and gory action, but the ride rarely stops being entertaining.
It’s not quite the complete package that the 1987 original was — or the well-received 2010 installment, for that matter — but The Predator does deliver on what its trailers and preview buzz promised. Easily the most intentionally funny chapter of the franchise (as opposed to the campy, unintentionally funny Alien vs. Predator crossover films), The Predator should also satisfy the series’ more hardcore fans with the way it builds on the series’ lore and puts a fresh coat of paint on classic elements.
Whether The Predator can reinvigorate interest in a franchise more than three decades old remains to be seen, but as long audiences approach it with appropriate expectations, there’s a lot of cheer-worthy action and sincere laughs to be found in Black’s installment of the saga. Sure, it has a fair share of flaws that keep it from being one of the series’ best, but The Predator certainly keeps the hunt interesting.
By Rick Marshall
You wouldn’t think it given the subject, but THE OLD MAN & THE GUN is a playful change-of-pace for director David Lowery, a superb director, whose films are typically mournful and elegiac. While definitely a story about a career criminal on the decline, there’s a sweetness and joy to the film that’s surprisingly upbeat. Robert Redford’s Forrest Tucker, a real-life character, may be an unrepentant criminal, but hey — he sincerely loves his work. He’s robbing banks, but loving every second of it, and that joy informs the tone of the movie.
If Redford’s to be believed and this is in fact his swan song (as an actor), he’s going out on the type of A-level piece of work that few of his contemporaries have had the luck to manage. Redford, despite being in his eighties, is very much at the top of his game. He’s still got his looks and his talent, and his reputation is as good as ever, making him a beloved figure very much like his late old partner in crime, Paul Newman.
In fact, Redford seems to almost be playing this as a tribute to his old pal, trying on a light, flintiness that’s truthfully not something he’s ever really been known for, but it works beautifully here. Director Lowery plays to his strengths, with Tucker, for all of his crimes, staying a likeable rogue, while the romance is amped up to allow for a nice, autumn romance between him and the always excellent Spacek. It’s not overdone — it’s just right.
More than anything he’s done in years, this is Redford’s show all the way, and it seems to have been reverse engineered to give him that acting Oscar that’s always eluded him (he’s only been nominated as an actor once — for THE STING, while he also won an Oscar for directing ORDINARY PEOPLE). He’s well-supported by a loose, likeable Casey Affleck, who always seems to do his best work under Lowery’s direction. Given Redford’s stature, a who’s who of supporting players have been roped in, with the meatiest roles going to Tom Waits and Danny Glover as his over-the-hill gang cronies, while Elisabeth Moss has a single scene as his estranged daughter. Tika Sumpter is excellent and warm as Affleck’s wife, while John David Washington, Keith Carradine and Isiah Whitlock Jr., have walk-ons. Clearly, a lot of folks wanted to be part of Redford’s last movie, and who can blame them.
In keeping with the light tone, THE OLD MAN & THE GUN only runs about ninety minutes, and tells a condensed version of his life story, actually leaving some of the more unbelievable aspects off-screen. It’s one of those stranger-than-fiction stories, but Lowery never takes it too far. It’s a surprisingly fun, seventies-style character piece with a sense of humor, and indeed, Redford’s going out on a high note.
By: Chris Bumbray
New Line has attached Eddie Murphy to star, and Tim Story to direct and produce an untitled comedy inspired by the hit Walter Matthau-Jack Lemmon comedy Grumpy Old Men. John Davis is producing through his Davis Entertainment banner. He produced the original.
In the 1983 comedy, two lifelong neighbors who’ve been feuding since childhood find their dislike for one another exacerbated by the presence of a new neighbor who leaves each of them smitten. Ann-Margret played the neighbor and Donald Petrie directed it. They haven’t gotten as far as figuring out who’ll play opposite Murphy, but I have heard Samuel L. Jackson’s name as an inspired idea. He and Story just wrapped Shaft.
Story will produce through his The Story Company banner, and The Story Company’s Sharla Sumpter Bridgett is also producing. Story has directed eight studio features and he became the first African American director to cross the $1 billion mark in global grosses, this before Ryan Coogler hit that mark with Black Panther. Seven of Story’s films debuted number one at the box office: Ride Along 2, Think Like A Man Too, Ride Along, Think Like A Man, Fantastic Four: Rise of The Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four and Barbershop. Story is currently in post-production on Shaft, the New Line film that stars Jackson, Jessie T. Usher, Alexandra Shipp and Regina Hall. That film bows June 14, 2019.
Murphy just wrapped the Craig Brewer-directed Dolemite Is My Name, playing self-made iconic blax-ploitation star Rudy Ray Moore. Murphy is repped by WME and Ziffren Brittenham and Story by UTA and the same law firm.
Source: Deadline
Katt Williams told police that Wanda Smith’s husband, Lamorris Sellers, pulled a gun on him and pointed it in his face outside the Atlanta Comedy Theater.
Comedian Katt Williams and Atlanta radio host Wanda Smith allegedly got into a fight outside the Atlanta Comedy Theater in Norcross that ended with Smith’s husband pulling a gun on Williams, according to a report from the Gwinnett County Police Department.
Smith and Williams reportedly started arguing at the club about an interview Smith did with Williams on Saturday, Sept. 15 around 9:30 p.m. According to the police synopsis, Williams told police that Smith’s husband, Lamorris Sellers, pulled a gun on him and pointed it in his face.
Williams and his security guard ran to the Food Depot next door to meet with police.
Sellers told police that Williams had a verbal fight with Smith, and Williams indicated he wanted to fight, according to the report. Sellers approached Williams and chased him into the Food Depot, then turned back to the Atlanta Comedy Club, police said.
Sellers admitted to police he had a gun, and that it fell from his waistband while he was chasing Williams, and he stopped to retrieve it, according to the report. He denied pointing a gun at anyone.
No independent witnesses came forward to talk with officers about what happened, according to police.
Gwinnett Police said surveillance video from the Food Depot surveillance cameras shows Sellers chasing Williams into the store, but does not show Sellers holding a gun.
The officer was told the Atlanta Comedy Theater has surveillance cameras but they could not be accessed at the time. Williams told police he did not wish the press charges.
Police said if the video surveillance shows any crimes, criminal charges could be filed.
Yesterday on Atlanta’s V-103’s Frank and Wanda In The Morning, Emmy-winning actor/comedian Katt Williams lit up the airwaves, sharing nuclear-hot takes on some of today’s top comedians, including Tiffany Haddish, Kevin Hart, Jerrod Carmichael and Hannibal Buress.
Watch as Williams calls some ugly, questions others’ talents, and suggests that race and colorism play roles in who Hollywood hires and why.
Comedy superstar Kevin Hart will share co-hosting duties when he appears on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” on Wednesday, Sept. 19.
Following the opening monologue, Hart will sit down and chat with Fallon about his upcoming comedy “Night School,” which opens in theaters on Sept. 28. The two will also join animal expert Robert Irwin, star of the new Animal Planet series featuring the Irwin family, for an always enjoyable presentation of his animal friends.
This will mark Hart’s eighth appearance on “The Tonight Show.” He has memorably participated in several fan-favorite moments with Fallon, including conquering his fear of rollercoasters at Universal Orlando Resort and visiting one of New York City’s scariest haunted houses.
Earlier this year “The Tonight Show” introduced a series of co-hosting superstars, beginning with Cardi B on April 9.
From Universal Television and Broadway Video, “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” is executive produced by Lorne Michaels and produced by Gerard Bradford, Mike DiCenzo and Katie Hockmeyer. Jamie Granet-Bederman produces. “The Tonight Show” tapes before a live studio audience from Studio 6B in 30 Rockefeller Center.
It is no secret that Hollywood has a soft spot for the casino world. Blockbusters often choose casinos or poker tournaments as the setting for some of their most intense or most humorous scenes. And even though poker and roulette are the usual suspects, there are quite a lot of movie scenes dedicated to the game that by many is considered the king of card games: blackjack.
James Bond films almost inevitably come with a casino scene in them – and one of the latest instalments, Casino Royale, uses a poker game as a central premise for unfolding the plot. In those golden days when online casinos were not yet a thing and 007 could not play online blackjack to hit 21 yet, we regularly see him visit land-based casinos – and quite glamorous ones, to boot. Die-hard fans know that the casino table game that the British spy truly adores is baccarat, even though in most on-screen adaptations of the Ian Fleming novels we see him play poker instead. In Licence to Kill, we see Timothy Dalton switch to blackjack instead, which is a rare occasion for the franchise. He plays against the villain and walks away with £250,000 in winnings – not bad!
From its early days to more recent variations like Black Jack Switch, which lets the player switch to a previous hand and is now popular across Las Vegas casinos, blackjack is a true classic. Perhaps that is why it is embraced so much by classic movies. In this critically acclaimed movie that went on to win the Big Five in the Academy Awards, Jack Nicholson plays a man with a criminal past who pleads insanity to get out of jail. Once committed to a mental institution, he begins a rebellion against the oppressive nurse who runs the ward. In one of his rebellious acts, he teaches his fellow inmates the fundamentals of blackjack, using cigarettes as chips.
In another critically acclaimed movie that sees egocentric, spoiled Charlie (Tom Cruise) undertake a cross-country road trip with his autistic savant brother Raymond, portrayed by Dustin Hoffman, blackjack plays a prominent role. As Charlie grapples to understand a brother he never knew he had, he initially gets mad at his brother’s obsession with routine and aims to exploit him for the inheritance their father left him. As the film unfolds, the two grow closer together. But the scene where they visit a Las Vegas casino is the turning point in their relationship, where Raymond saves his brother by exhibiting outstanding skills in card games. This leads to Charlie winning enough to pay back his huge debts and his gratitude for Raymond influences the outcome of their road trip and their relationship.
The list does not end here, as many contemporary movies continue to choose casinos and poker dens as a pivotal place to propel their plot forward. The love affair between Hollywood and the casino world is far from over!
Desperate times often require desperate measures and Bill Cosby, facing decades behind bars and designation as a sexually violent predator, is going for a Hail Mary to at least pause his upcoming sentencing for the 2004 rape of a Temple University employee.
Already trying to thwart the Montgomery County District Attorney’s move to have dozens of alleged victims of the much-accused actor speak at the September 24 starting sentencing hearing, Cosby and his wife Camille today are returning to an old tactic with new terms. The actor and his new-ish legal are making another attempt to have the Pennsylvania judge who oversaw both the 2017 mistrial and this spring’s guilty verdict declaring retrial remove himself from the case.
In April, a jury of seven men and five women returned guilty verdicts on three counts of aggravated indecent assault for the now 81-year old Cosby’s sexual assault of Andrea Constand over 14-years ago. An expected two-day hearing later this month will see sentencing finally handed out by Judge Steven O’Neill in the matter, at least before the now widely disgraced Cosby inevitably appeals.
“Defendant respectfully requests that this Honorable Court disclose, on the record, the true facts of his interactions with Mr. Castor beginning with the 1998 prelude to the 1999 election campaign for District Attorney,” a motion filing from Cosby’s latest defense lawyer Joseph P. Green made public Tuesday says. In a renewed three-pronged attack on Judge O’Neil, Cosby and his team assert that an old personal dispute between former Montgomery County D.A. Bruce Castor taints the Keystone State judge’s ability to “possibly be impartial” in the matter.
Back in March, Judge O’Neill quickly denied a previous motion for his recusal from the case by now canned lawyers of Cosby’s. The Judge told his Norristown, PA courtroom that the actor’s attorneys had failed to present evidence of bias on his part in the case because of his wife’s involvement with an advocacy group for sexual assault victims.
Now, with the new thrust against O’Neill, the whole thing will grind to a halt very soon if Camille Cosby has her way.
“That this judge would hide his bias and decide that his rival, the former D.A., could not be trusted to give truthful testimony, shows that the judge let his own personal feelings override Mr. Cosby’s right to a fair trial,” said the actor’s spouse Tuesday in a very personal and public swing at Judge Steven O’Neill. “If a judge would do this in a case as high-profile as this one, then he cannot be trusted to be a fair judge for anyone else either.” (read Camille Cosby’s full statement below)
A bitter foe of current Montgomery County D.A. Kevin Steele too, the politically ambitious Castor declined to prosecute Cosby years ago when allegations of the alleged assault upon Constand first became known. He has also repeatedly spoken out in court and to the media the past couple of year defending that decision. According to documents put on the Norristown, PA court’s docket today by Cosby’s lawyers, Castor may have leaked to a tabloid the tale of the supposed acrimony between himself and O’Neill, which doesn’t exactly boost his own credibility.
Put together and with the calendar closing into on that sentencing hearing in just a couple of weeks, this is all part of the wide last ditch net Cosby’s team is casting about this week.
“Defendant offers this Memorandum in support of his request that the Court make certain disclosures regarding prior interactions with Bruce Castor, and thereafter vacate its prior ruling denying defendant’s Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus and recuse from further proceedings thereon,” another filing accompanying today’s motion adds, requesting a hearing on the issues ASAP. “Further, defendant requests that the Court reconsider its prior decision to deny recusal now that the Court is being asked to act as fact-finder prior to and at sentencing.”
Or as Camille Cosby says in her PR statement put out by reps for the family: “Judge O’Neill must provide a full accounting of his bias against the former D.A., and correct the horrible injustice done to Mr. Cosby and to our system of justice.”
Certainly, many have already made their judgement of Cosby as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences booted him out earlier this year and dozens of honors have been stripped from the once beloved actor.
More than 60 women have claimed in recent years that Cosby sexually assaulted or drugged them, with some incidents occurring as far back the late 1960s. He stood trial on criminal charges in Pennsylvania because the STATE has a much longer statute of limitations on sex crimes than most jurisdictions, but several other civil cases around the nation are pending. Cosby was arraigned December 30, 2015 in the criminal case and released on $1 million bail.
Despite admitting in depositions more than a decade ago to giving Constand Benadryl pills on the night of the alleged assault in his Philadelphia-area mansion nearly 13 years ago, Cosby has insisted through various investigations and two trials that the encounter with the ex-Temple University employee was consensual.
Obviously, the jury in April did not agree. We’ll see if Judge O’Neill takes the unique position to agree he should step aside as Mr. and Mrs. Cosby is urging.
Here is Camille Cosby’s full statement of today:
The right to a fair trial is universally regarded as a fundamental one, guaranteed both by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and by Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the United States, that right requires that judges be fair and impartial.
Bill Cosby was not afforded an impartial judge and he did not receive a fair trial. Instead, my husband was forced to go to trial before a judge, Steven T. O’Neill, who had a bitter, longstanding feud with one of the key witnesses in the case, Bruce Castor, the former District Attorney for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Mr. Castor testified under oath that when he was D.A. in 2006, he made a binding decision that because the evidence was weak, Mr. Cosby would never be prosecuted in this case, and that as a result of that decision, Mr. Cosby no longer had the right to remain silent and would be required to give a deposition in a civil lawsuit.
Incredibly, Judge O’Neill refused to believe the sworn testimony of the former DA. What Judge O’Neill failed to disclose but which has now come to light is that Judge O’Neill had a personal feud with Mr. Castor that started before Judge O’Neill became a judge. In 1999, Judge O’Neill and Mr. Castor ran against each other in the 1999 campaign to become D.A. At an important debate during the campaign, Mr. Castor, knowing that Judge O’Neill, while previously separated from his wife, had been in a romantic relationship with a female assistant D.A., ordered the assistant to appear at the debate to visibly show support for Mr. Castor. Embarrassed in this manner, Judge O’Neill performed poorly at the debate and withdrew from the race.
Mr. Castor went on to win the D.A. election and Judge O’Neill became a judge. In 2014, Kevin Steele beat Mr. Castor in an election and became D.A. Mr. Steele decided to prosecute Mr. Cosby, and Judge O’Neill was assigned to the case. Mr. Cosby filed a motion to dismiss because of the binding promise by the then D.A. not to prosecute. At a hearing, Mr. Castor testified under oath that the alleged victim had “ruined her credibility” with her own inconsistent statements and that an investigation had determined that the unproven accusations from other women were unreliable. Mr. Castor testified that as a result, he made a binding statement on behalf of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania not to prosecute Mr. Cosby.
Judge O’Neill refused to believe this sworn testimony by his rival, the former D.A., and denied the motion to dismiss.
The public, and Mr. Cosby, were entitled to know about Judge O’Neill’s bias before the judge made these rulings. That this judge would hide his bias and decide that his rival, the former D.A., could not be trusted to give truthful testimony, shows that the judge let his own personal feelings override Mr. Cosby’s right to a fair trial. If a judge would do this in a case as high-profile as this one, then he cannot be trusted to be a fair judge for anyone else either. Judge O’Neill must provide a full accounting of his bias against the former D.A., and correct the horrible injustice done to Mr. Cosby and to our system of justice.
Source: Deadline