United Talent Agency Cancels Oscar Party, Will Donate $250,000 To ACLU and International Rescue Committee | Crowdrise Campaign Currently At $250,000
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United Talent Agency (UTA) has bagged its annual Oscar party. preferring instead to donate $250,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union and International Rescue Committee.
A major talent agency representing clients like Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Mariah Carey, Toby Keith, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Bettany, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi and many more VIPS, UTA will also hold a rally on behalf of refugees at its offices two days before the Oscars on February 24.
"This is a moment that demands our generosity, awareness and restlessness," wrote UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer to staff. “Our world is a better place for the free exchange of artists, ideas and creative expression. If our nation ceases to be the place where artists the world over can come to express themselves freely, then we cease, in my opinion, to be America.”
Last year, UTA held its exclusive Oscar party at chairman Jim Berkus' residence, joining major studios and agencies holding galas and parties on the biggest awards night of the year, including CAA, WME-IMG, ICM Partners and The Weinstein Co.
The Hollywood Reporter also noted that Ari Emanuel, co-CEO of mega-agency and UTA competitor WME-IMG, sent an email to staff Wednesday notifying them that the company would be forming a political action committee, though it wasn’t immediately clear on what the PAC would focus.
UTA has also launched a campaign on Crowdrise, which has raised another $250,000 to support the ACLU and IRC.
Model Quintet In 'You Want More'? By Sarai Mari For Tatler UK March 2017
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Model Quintet In 'You Want More'? By Sarai Mari For Tatler UK March 2017
Pro Planned Parenthood Counter Protests Dwarf Anti-Forces | New York State Moves To Codify Roe v. Wade In State Constitution
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Abortion rights are front and center on Saturday as pro-life activists launch protests across America. Waiting for them were supporters of Planned Parenthood -- and it seems the pro-Planned Parenthood forces dominated.
In St. Paul, Minnesota, a "dozen feet of empty street separated a police-estimated 6,000 pro-Planned Parenthood protesters from an opposing, defund PP group of 250-500 people.
Please, Please Come Back Melissa McCarthy. The White House Press Corps Needs You -- AND SHE DID!
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Please, Please Come Back Melissa McCarthy. The White House Press Corps Needs You
SNL heard the pleas of millions of Americans, sending back Melissa McCarthy in her role of White House press secretary Sean Spicer or 'Spicey' as she affectionately calls him. Take a listen.
McCarthy's in-drag Spicer chastised the news media for failing to report on terrorist attacks like “the Horror at Six Flags,” “the Slaughter at Fraggle Rock,” and “the Night they Drove Old Dixie Down”; and then plugged some of Ivanka Trump’s merchandise including a bracelet and leopard pumps (“These babies are real head-turners”).
The pumps were great for two reasons: McCarthy was wearing them and word is that Trump goes crazy when women impersonate his male staff. Second, just yesterday afternoon -- as North Korea had successfully launched yet another missile test -- America's president was on Twitter complaining about the media hating his daughter Ivanka. His list of priorities continues to scare the hell out of millions of people. In the case of Ivanka's problems, Trump is like a dog with a bone.
Word is that President is not happy with SNL making a parody of his administration -- even though the show has parodied presidents for years. For a ratings-driven president, it should matter to him that cable news ratings for Sean Spicers Monday-Friday White House briefing are solidly better than any briefing in history. People are turning off the soaps and tuning in. Read on in AOC Women's News
New York Fashion Industry Women Heavyweights Launch Major Campaign For Planned Parenthood
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New York Fashion Industry Women Heavyweights Launch Major Campaign For Planned Parenthood
Vogue US editor Anna Wintour set the pace for the New York Fashion industry's support for Planned Parenthood. Sitting in the front row at the Brock Collection's New York Fashion Week presentation. Thursday February 9. The brand, headed by Laura Vassar and Kristopher Brock, won the CFDA Fashion Fund Award in 2016. The coveted prize was presented to by creative and romantic partners by Vogue and the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
In a spectacular announcement that will benefit countless poor women across America, CFDA -- which organizes New York Fashion Week -- announced a partnership with Planned Parenthood, which is in the crosshairs of the Trump administration anyway they can defund it. With their domination of Congress and the Presidency, President Trump will sign the legislation that President Clinton would have vetoed.
Read on to learn more about the campaign for Planned Parenthood, the significantly increased threats of domestic terrorism against women entering Planned Parenthood clinics and my own history of being hunted for a year by one of this white male terrorists, who threatened to kill me.
My crime was saying on TV that I supported the Roe v. Wade decision, an admission that put me in police protection for a year. One cold fall night, my stalker flew across the windshield of my car in an nightmare confrontation in which I truly didn't care if I killed him. ~ Anne
ANNA WINTOUR (C) ATTENDS THE BROCK COLLECTION FASHION SHOW DURING, NEW YORK FASHION WEEK: THE SHOWS AT GALLERY 3, SKYLIGHT CLARKSON SQ ON FEBRUARY 9, 2017 IN NEW YORK CITY. (PHOTO BY NICHOLAS HUNT/GETTY IMAGES FOR IMG)
US Art Shows Celebrate Black History Month
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Mickalene Thomas Sista Sista Lady Blue (2007). Courtesy of the artist, Artists Right Society, SFMOMA and the Museum of the African Diaspora.
February is Black History month, where we celebrate the countless contributions that African Americans have made to defining and creating the United States. ArtNet surveys 11 shows in New York City and around the country, featuring the work of prominent African-American artists.
Mickalene Thomas Sista Sista Lady Blue (2007). Courtesy of the artist, Artists Right Society, SFMOMA and the Museum of the African Diaspora.
Amal & George Clooney Are Pregnant With Twins! | Meet Amal's Client Nadia Murad
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Human rights lawyer Amal and actor George Clooney have twin babies in their future. The well-dressed duo prefers to champion causes they care deeply about, not their glam lifestyle. Most notably, writes Vogue, Amal Clooney appeared at the UN in New York with client Nadia Murad, a Yazidi woman enslaved by ISIS. In an act of feminist poetic justice, Murad is now suing her former captives.
Last week, it was twins for Beyonce and Jay Z. What is going on here!!!
Related: Nadia Murad Is Taking On ISIS With the Help of Amal Clooney Vogue
Motherless, displaced, traumatized, grief-stricken, and the ongoing recipient of ISIS death threats, Murad counts herself among the lucky: Of the 6,000 Yazidi women and children taken during ISIS raids, she estimated that more than 3,200 are still being held in captivity. The activist highlighted one person in particular: Lemya, a neighbor and the little sister of close friends, who was only 14 when she was taken and held in the Iraqi city of Mosul by a 34-year-old man, who both raped her and told her, confusingly, that she remained a virgin. “That always sticks in my mind,” Murad explained. “That this happened to her, and she never knew what had happened to her.”
Lemya, like so many other Yazidis, remains missing. And it’s largely for their sake that Murad has sought the help of London-based human rights lawyer Amal Clooney. Together they’re attempting to remind the world that the organized killing and enslavement of Yazidis constitutes genocide. Their goal is to wrangle the assistance of the U.N. in hopes of holding ISIS accountable in international court.
“It is a genocide, and it needs to be recognized,” Murad told me through her interpreter, Murad Ismael, executive director of the Yazidi-supporting nonprofit Yazda. “That must be acknowledged, not just for Yazidis, but for any community that suffers through this. When genocide is committed, it must be seen. People must look at it with open eyes, not minimize its impact.”
USA Joins Russia, Pakistan, Iran On Top 10 Censoring Artists Countries By Freemuse
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In its annual report titled 'Art Under Threat', Danish free speech advocacy group Freemuse has documented a rise of 119 percent in violations of artistic freedom throughout 78 countries in 2016.
The non-profit divides its findings into categories, including “serious violations,” for killings, attacks, abductions, imprisonments, and threats; and “acts of censorship.” In 2016 the organization counted 840 incidents of censorship and 188 serious violations, writes ArtNet.
Iran, responsible for 30 cases, was once again the worst offender for serious violations of artistic freedom, making it the worst violator of artistic expression since Freemuse began recording data in 2012. Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria, China, Malaysia, Syria, Tanzania, and Uzbekistan also recorded dismal artistic freedom records, collectively making up 67 percent of globally recorded serious violations.
The worst practitioner of censorship in 2016 was Ukraine for its blacklist of 544 Russian films banned in the wake of the ongoing conflict between the two countries.
Notably, the USA in on the top 10 censorship list -- and now that the Trump administration is in power, artistic censorship will surely increase in 2017. Other offenders making up the top 10 for recorded cases of censorship were Kuwait, China, Egypt, India, Russia, Turkey, Pakistan, and Iran. Together these countries accounted for 88 percent of global censorship cases.