Harvey Weinstein Inserts Himself Into Blake Lively Drama From Behind Bars
From behind bars, Harvey Weinstein is offering his support to the embattled actor-director while likening Baldoni's situation to his own.
The convicted rapist, currently serving over a decade in prison for multiple sex crimes, told TMZ on Wednesday that he believes Baldoni has been unfairly targeted by The New York Times.
The outlet's December 2024 exposé, ''We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine,' included partial messages from Baldoni's PR team that appeared to suggest they could 'bury anyone," including Lively, in what was portrayed as a calculated smear campaign.
Baldoni and his team fired back with a $250 million libel lawsuit against the Times, accusing the publication of misrepresenting private messages, which they allege were 'cherry-picked' and manipulated to fit a false narrative.
'Watching Justin Baldoni take legal action against the New York Times and its reporters, accusing them of manipulating communications and ignoring evidence that countered Ms. Lively's claims, hit me hard,' Weinstein said. 'It brought back everything I experienced when the Times reported on me in 2017. They did the same thing: cherry-picked what fit their story and ignored critical context and facts that could have challenged the narrative.'
Weinstein's reference points directly to the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation that exposed decades of sexual abuse allegations against him, reporting that helped ignite the #MeToo movement.
In response to Weinstein's latest statements, The New York Times defended the integrity of its reporting.
'Our comprehensive investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment and abuse against Mr. Weinstein was rigorously reported over many months and based on on-the-record interviews, legal settlements paid to accusers and other documents,' spokesperson Danielle Rhoades said.
'None of the facts in our coverage are in dispute. Mr. Weinstein acknowledged his misconduct in a statement that was published in full in The Times," Rhoades added. "He's since been criminally convicted of rape and sexual assault.'
Weinstein's 2020 New York conviction was overturned in 2024, but a retrial is set for April 15.
He is also appealing a separate 16-year sentence from his 2023 California conviction for forcible rape and other charges.
'I should have stood up and fought back then. I should have had the courage to speak out against the way the truth was twisted. That failure still haunts me,' Weinstein said on Wednesday.
He also added that he will be 'watching Baldoni and Lively's case closely,' suggesting that the outcome 'matters to anyone who's ever been on the receiving end of a media takedown.'
Weinstein's public endorsement of Baldoni comes as a surprise to many, considering his past connection to both Lively and her inner circle. The two were once photographed together at public events, and in 2014, Page Six reported that Weinstein shared the same publicist as Lively, Leslie Sloane.
Sources at the time claimed Weinstein and MSG executive Jim Dolan financially backed Sloane's transition into founding her own publicity firm, Vision PR. Weinstein was even quoted saying, 'Leslie's next move is going to rock the industry.'
But a rep for Sloane now disputes any suggestion of a working relationship with the disgraced producer. 'Leslie Sloane never represented Harvey Weinstein,' the spokesperson told Page Six. 'In 2014, after Sloane left BWR, she and Weinstein engaged in preliminary discussions concerning a potential working relationship with their companies but that never came to fruition.'
The rep also dismissed ongoing online speculation, stating, 'Contrary to false rumors being spread online, Sloane has never worked to silence victims of sexual abuse in any way and indeed has actively supported victims of sexual abuse.'
Sloane, along with clients Lively and , is currently named as a co-defendant in Baldoni's $400 million defamation and extortion lawsuit, which stems from accusations that the "Gossip Girl" actress made against Baldoni. The publicist has filed a motion to be dismissed from the suit, calling it a retaliatory attempt 'to discredit and blame his victims and punish anyone who speaks out against him.'
Lively has remained firm in her stance, asserting that her statements about Baldoni's conduct both on and off set are truthful, including claims that he frequently made women feel uncomfortable and discussed inappropriate topics of a sexual nature in front of colleagues.
Baldoni has denied all wrongdoing. The case is expected to go to trial in March 2026.
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Los Angeles Times
2 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
A Black female Jesus and a gay Judas will shake up the Hollywood Bowl
Adam Lambert sits on a rickety wooden chair just outside the main chapel at the Hollywood United Methodist Church on a break from rehearsing the musical 'Jesus Christ Superstar.' Dressed in beige shorts and a vest with matching mid-calf boots, Lambert wears his trademark glitter eye makeup with thick black liner. He's calm and collected, content to spend his lunch break chatting, even though the rehearsal schedule is a breakneck nine days total. He chalks up his easygoing demeanor to the high-wattage professionalism of the cast, and his familiarity with the music. Lambert first heard the soundtrack on one of his dad's vinyl records when he was about 10 years old. 'I've always wanted to do that musical. I've always wanted to play Judas,' he says with a smile. 'And when they told me Cynthia [Erivo] was interested, I was like, 'Wow, this is gonna be crazy.'' Lambert, a fan-favorite 'American Idol' runner-up who began performing with Queen in 2011, plays Judas to Erivo's Jesus in the Hollywood Bowl production directed by Tony-winning choreographer Sergio Trujillo. Josh Gad, who portrays King Herod, calls the cast 'the musical theater version of the Avengers.' He's referring to Erivo and Lambert, in addition to Phillipa Soo as Mary Magdalene, Milo Manheim as Peter, Raúl Esparza as Pontius Pilate, Tyrone Huntley as Simon and Brian Justin Crum as Annas. The sold-out show runs from Friday to Sunday. Judging from the ongoing commentary and controversy over the casting on social media, a queer, Black, female actor playing Jesus and a gay actor portraying Judas feel like a revelation to fans grappling with mounting concerns about civil rights in America. Over the last six months, the Trump administration has curtailed diversity, equity and inclusion programs and attempted to roll back key legal protections for certain members of the LGBTQ+ community. 'The challenge for the audience of seeing a female Black Jesus is so exciting. And we all feel the excitement,' says Lambert, adding that the show doesn't change lyrics or pronouns. 'Maybe it doesn't have to do with male or female. I don't really know if it matters what gender Jesus was, because it was about the teachings and the love and the connection to faith. So shouldn't it transcend gender?' Power — who has it and who doesn't — has emerged as a defining narrative in 2025. That was also the case 2,000 years ago when Pontius Pilate ordered the crucifixion of Jesus, who posed a serious threat to the religious and political primacy of the Pharisees, the Herodians and the Romans. The 1971 musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice imagines the final days of Jesus' life, including his agony, before he ultimately accepts his fate. Gad is keenly aware of the notion of power as historic through-line as he approaches his titular number, 'Herod's Song,' in which the King of Judea coyly mocks Jesus before taking a frightening turn into true menace. 'This is a man who's so insecure he can't afford to let Jesus out of his chains in order to actually face him without the help of soldiers around him,' Gad says. 'My hope is that I'm getting to bring one of the greatest hypocrites to life in a way that will both make people laugh and also make them recognize that archetype.' The musical was first released as a concept album in 1970 and played at the Hollywood Bowl in 1971, before debuting on Broadway later that year. During its run, protests outside the stage door were commonplace, and although the musical has reached the pinnacle of success over the years, it has remained controversial. Big summer musicals have been a staple of the Hollywood Bowl since 2000, but the shows went dark due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. With the exception of 'Kinky Boots' in 2022, 'Jesus Christ Superstar' is the first of what Bowl leaders hope will be an annual resumption of the beloved programming. 'We wanted to make sure that when we came back, it was the most spectacular thing we could do,' says Meghan Umber, president of the Hollywood Bowl and chief programming officer at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. 'Jesus Christ Superstar,' was always at the top of the Bowl's musical wishlist but wasn't available until now, adds Brian Grohl, associate director of programming for the L.A. Phil. 'The number of titles that can sustain three nights at the Hollywood Bowl is a narrowed-down list already,' Grohl said, so securing the title resulted in a lot of jumping and shouting around the office. And when it came to who would play Jesus, Umber and Grohl both say Erivo topped the list. Her 'yes' made all the others follow. Gad calls Erivo — who was not present at a recent rehearsal because of a previous engagement — a 'generational talent.' And he's far from alone. Talk to anyone on the cast or crew and they will immediately hold forth on her extraordinary gifts. 'I see the hand of God in her,' Trujillo says reverently. 'Even now, me being in the room with her, I hear it and I see it, and it is transcendent.' Trujillo decided to go back to the musical's roots as a concept album and is staging the show as a bare-bones rock concert. Instead of elaborate scenic design, there are black road boxes, microphones and cords. Even the costumes are contemporary with nods to their lineage. A rhythm band will play onstage and a 37-piece orchestra will perform behind a giant LED screen that will create the illusion that the musicians are hovering in the sky above the action. Keeping the show in the present and infusing it with the raw energy of youth culture was crucial to Trujillo's vision, he says, adding that in the spirit of rock 'n' roll, the musical 'reflects the turbulent political times that we're living in.' 'As I set up each one of the characters, they're at a microphone singing and then they take the microphone and they step into the scene. I always want to remind the audience that we are in a concert, but we're also telling the story,' says Trujillo. 'Every single person understands the opportunity that we all have to take this monumental story, this monumental score, and to do it justice. So everyone is coming at it with such goodwill and so much joy.' At a Saturday rehearsal in the church gym, Trujillo's words ring true. The ensemble cast of more than 20 talented dancers and singers, in sweats and hoodies, run through 'What's the Buzz.' Gad watches and cheers from a table on the sidelines next to conductor and musical director Stephen Oremus, who smiles and nods his head with the beat. 'If you need me to stand in for Jesus, I'll do it,' Gad jokes. Lambert mesmerizes the assembled crew and onlookers with a potent rendition of 'Heaven on Their Minds' and Soo brings tears with a heartfelt performance of 'I Don't Know How to Love Him.' 'The more time I spend with this musical, the more brilliant I understand it to be,' says Manheim during a brief break. The 24-year-old, who's gained a tween following after playing Zed in Disney Channel's 'Zombies' franchise, is part of the youth cohort Trujillo wanted to cast. He wasn't as familiar with the score as the older cast members — which is part of the point. 'It's cross-generational,' says Trujillo of the show. 'This is the gift that you give to your children and then it just gets passed on.'
Elle
2 hours ago
- Elle
Trying To Make Sense Of The Convoluted Ending Of ‘Untamed'
Spoilers below. As Untamed makes clear, as often as it can, the wildlife are far from the most violent creatures in Yosemite National Park. Humans are always the most dangerous beasts. The new Netflix limited series shares this thesis with any number of contemporary dramas, post-apocalyptic, crime-focused, or otherwise. (Yellowstone and The Last of Us—the latter of which, like Untamed, also concerns the consequences of grief—spring immediately to mind.) Thus, there's a level to which Untamed is predictable by default. Despite the show's gorgeous visuals, solid performances, and compelling opening, we know the kind of lesson we're in for. Still, Untamed is ultimately less successful than its Hollywood brethren, in part because the threads of its various crimes fail to coalesce in a satisfying manner. The big twists don't land as pulse-pounding revelations. Instead, they manage to be rote, frustrating, and convoluted all at once. By the time National Park Service Investigative Services Branch agent Kyle Turner (Eric Bana) leaves Yosemite behind in the final episode, we're left wondering what, exactly, we're supposed to have learned from his experience. Untamed primarily addresses three main mysteries within the national park, each involving a death or disappearance: the death of Jane Doe/Lucy Cooke, the death of Caleb Turner, and the disappearance of Sean Sanderson. Over the course of the series' six episodes, Kyle digs deeper into the Cooke case, but it isn't until the finale that all the secrets are laid out for the audience. These details are revealed in such a whirlwind (and yet anticlimactic) manner that it's easy to confuse them. If you're left squinting at your screen by the time the credits roll, let's retrace our steps. Here's what we learn by the end of Untamed. At the beginning of the series, a woman tumbles to her death off the edge of El Capitan, an infamous vertical rock formation in Yosemite. (The New York Times accurately referred to this inciting incident as 'a deceptively high-adrenaline start' to the series. What comes next is, generally, much less thrilling.) Slowly, Kyle begins to work with ranger Naya Vasquez (Lily Santiago) to uncover Jane Doe's identity: She is a half-Indigenous woman named Lucy Cooke, formerly known as Grace McCray, and she went missing for the first time many years ago. Back then, Kyle assumed that her father, an abusive man named Rory Cooke, killed her. But when her adult body shows up off El Capitan, Kyle is forced to reexamine the facts of her case. A DNA test soon reveals that Rory Cooke was not, in fact, Lucy's biological father. And when a random boy shows up at the park ranger headquarters with a photograph of 'Grace McCray' (a.k.a. Lucy) as a child, Kyle begins to understand a much more convoluted story is at play. Still, he's initially convinced that wildlife management officer Shane Maguire (Wilson Bethel) had a role in her death. Kyle has good reason to despise (and suspect) Shane, as we later learn, and his theories are all but confirmed when he discovers video footage of Shane on Lucy's phone. The two of them were indeed involved in an illegal drug operation from within Yosemite, but, as it turns out, Shane didn't kill Lucy. Her father did. In the finale, Kyle finally travels to Nevada to locate the abandoned church seen in the boy's photograph of young 'Grace'. Next to the church, he finds a crumbling home occupied by a senile woman named Mrs. Gibbs. Further inspection confirms Kyle's worse suspicions: Mr. and Mrs. Gibbs kept a group of foster children locked in their basement, barely fed, in order to secure continued government funding. When Kyle finds Native American etchings carved into one of the walls, he understands that Grace was one of these children. Kyle then meets with a casino employee named Faith Gibbs, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gibbs, who confirms that Grace is Lucy Cooke, and that Lucy ran away at some point after realizing her 'dad', a cop, was never coming back to get her. So, who's the cop? And did he kill Lucy? Next—though I'll admit it's not clear to me exactly how—Kyle draws the investigation directly back to his own park rangers. Paul Souter (Sam Neill) is Yosemite's chief park ranger, and as such, he's Kyle's boss and close friend. (He was also, once, godfather to Kyle's now-deceased son, Caleb.) After reexamining Lucy's DNA test results, Kyle realizes that Paul's daughter, Kate, was scrubbed from the list (despite being in the park's system thanks to her prior arrest). He thus surmises that Paul is the 'cop' Lucy once claimed would rescue her. Perhaps Kyle puts the pieces together thanks, in part, to Paul's own suspicious behavior. After Naya kills Shane in the penultimate episode (after Shane himself almost kills Kyle), Kyle wants to continue to pursue Lucy Cooke's case. Paul discourages him from doing so, claiming Kyle should move on with his life. In refusing to do just that, Kyle finally turns on wheedles the full story out of him. Paul was indeed the father of Lucy Cooke. After having an affair with Lucy's mother, an Indigenous woman named Maggie who later died of cancer, Paul refused to acknowledge Lucy's existence. (He was afraid it would destroy his marriage and ruin his reputation.) Maggie raised Lucy with her abusive husband, Rory, until she died. Her last wish was for Paul to 'get Lucy away from Rory'. Paul did so by giving Lucy the name 'Grace McCray' and placing her under the Gibbs' foster care in Nevada. ('I thought Lucy would be safe there,' Paul tells Kyle in the finale. I have a hard time buying this coming from a cop, but it doesn't seem Paul is the most thorough investigator on the planet.) Kyle tells Paul he'll need to run ballistics on Paul's hunting rifles, and Paul panics. He initially tries to pretend he's lent his rifles to friends, and so one of them might have killed Lucy. But he can't lie to Kyle, and he soon admits that he chased Lucy throughout Yosemite after Lucy started extorting him for money. When that extortion turned into kidnapping—Lucy kidnapped Sadie, Paul's granddaughter, as a bargaining chip—Paul became desperate. He managed to get Sadie back home after she was abandoned on a ridge inside Yosemite, but he continued to pursue Lucy, wanting to 'make her listen somehow'. After firing a warning shot in her direction, Paul accidentally hit Lucy in the leg with a bullet. Believing she was being hunted, Lucy fled—but was soon attacked by coyotes. Tired, injured, and ready to stop her running, she decided to let herself fall off El Capitan. Upon learning this, a horrified Kyle demands that Paul 'make this right' by owning up to his crime. But Paul claims he can't, and when he realizes Kyle will try and 'make it right' for him, he pulls his pistol on his old friend. Kyle calls his bluff and continues walking away. At last, Paul instead turns the gun on himself, pulling the trigger and falling, dead, into the river below. But wait! Lucy and Paul's aren't the only awful, preventable deaths to have taken place in Untamed's Yosemite National Park. Five years before the series' events, Kyle suffered his own loss: the death of Caleb, the young son he shared with his now ex-wife, Jill Bodwin (Rosemarie DeWitt). We learn midway through the show that Kyle discovered Caleb dead in the park after he went missing from camp. But it isn't until the finale that we learn who killed Caleb: a missing person named Sean Sanderson, whose case Kyle never solved. Jill killed him! Or, rather, she had him killed. Alas, here's where Shane finally factors into the story, beyond the red-herring drug operation he ran with Lucy: In one of the finale's more shocking revelations, Jill reveals to her husband, Scott (John Randall), that she hired Shane to kill Sean Sanderson. Who is Sean, exactly? Apparently just some random, horrible man who sought to prey on children. Some important backstory: After Caleb's death, Shane surveyed footage from motion-capture cameras he had placed throughout the park in order to track wildlife migration. It was from one of these cameras that he first spotted Sean stalking Caleb. Shane then brought this footage to Kyle and Jill, telling them they should 'let him kill' Sean in retaliation for his crime. Kyle refused this offer, in part because he wanted 100-percent confirmation that Sean had killed Caleb—and he could only be certain after he'd arrested Sean and brought him to trial. But Jill couldn't live with the unpredictability of a courtroom. So she hired Shane to blackmail and kill Sean behind Kyle's back. Kyle only discovered Jill's secret after Sanderson was reported missing, Jill tells Scott. 'More than anything, more than losing Caleb, it was me betraying Kyle that ended us,' she says of their consequent divorce. Nevertheless, Kyle agreed to lie on Jill's why he never 'solved' Sanderson's missing-persons case. As he later tells the lawyer pursuing a wrongful death suit for the Sanderson family: 'Sometimes things happen that just don't make sense.' Finally, the series ends with Kyle escaping Yosemite National Park. After being placed on suspension thanks to his earlier fight with Shane, Kyle decides to give up his park ranger job together and leave Yosemite in the dust—at last moving on from the place of Caleb's death. In giving up his vigil, Kyle promises the apparition of his son that he'll always take a piece of Caleb wherever he goes. He turns over his horse (and, by extension, his trust) to Naya, who seems eager to take up Kyle's mantle. It's a touching moment, seeing Kyle take ownership of his grief and choose to move forward with his life. But it's unclear how exactly he plans to do so, nor how the destruction wrought within his inner circle—Caleb's death, Jill's betrayal, Paul's corruption, Shane's violence—has shaped him now. Has he decided that the best path forward is to leave it all behind? Or, like Lucy, will he realize that there's no escaping the past? Maybe he's simply driving out of the park to find a good therapist. That, dear reader, should be every viewer's earnest hope. ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE.
Boston Globe
3 hours ago
- Boston Globe
With ‘Hairspray,' Theatre By The Sea is back to its signature sumptuous self
A ticket to Based on the high-camp, low-budget 1988 nonmusical film by transgressive cult filmmaker John Waters, the musical version for the stage – which opened on Broadway in 2002, came to Providence on tour in 2003, and first appeared on the Theatre By The Sea stage in 2011 – shares its light-weight story of a big girl with big dreams against a backdrop of the civil rights movement. Sixteen-year-old Tracy Turnblad lives to dance and despite her unfashionable girth, awkward parents, and liberal views, lands a spot on a local TV teen dance program, 'The Corny Collins Show,' which she helps integrate with her high school detention buddies and best friend, Penny Pingleton. Get Globe Rhode Island Food Club A weekly newsletter about food and dining in Rhode Island, by Globe Rhode Island reporter Alexa Gagosz. Enter Email Sign Up The film's subversive satire addressing racism, body conformism, big hair, and bullying is dipped in a candy coating for the musical, courtesy of a funny, uplifting script by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, and up-tempo, Tony Award-winning songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman. Advertisement All this is performed by an abundantly talented, high-energy company under Christopher Campbell's direction, and a superb seven-piece band (Nathan Urdangen and Jen Christina on keyboard; Heather Katz-Cote on reed; Shawn Baptista on trumpet; Nick Moreira on guitar; Garrett Campbell on bass; and Mike Sartini on drums) following Urdangen's lightning-quick baton. The musical is chock-full of production numbers overflowing with Campbell's explosive, period-appropriate choreography. Advertisement The show's scenic design (Cassie McKnight) is limited to just a few, hyper-realistic, standalone set pieces wheeled in front of a colorful, projected background and under several illuminated (Paul Jonathan Davis) proscenium arches. This serves to accommodate the small stage and a 28-member ensemble in perpetual motion, and it creates the illusion of greater size and depth. But, mostly, it accommodates all that is delightfully larger than life in this production, including freakishly huge wigs on the girls who populate 'The Corny Collins Show' and the stocky, 6- feet-4-inch tall Marc Christopher, who plays Tracy's mom, Edna. A guy in this central role has long been a nod to Advertisement As goes Edna, so too goes the production as a whole, into which the exceptionally gifted Niki Metcalf, as an accessible and thoroughly lovable Tracy, fits like a glove. With her powerful belt, remarkable dancing skills, and national tour experience in the role, Metcalf is a refreshing spritz of aerosol starting from the show's opening number, 'Good Morning Baltimore,' which introduces her and the world of this musical to the audience. Also triple-threat terrific is Madeline Glave as Penny, Sam Yousuf as Penny's love interest Seaweed, and the featured player in the high-energy, dance break-driven 'Run and Tell That,' Dominic Young as Tracy's love interest Link Larkin, and Olivia Allen as Little Inez, Seaweed's younger sister. Alana Cauthen is remarkable as Motormouth Maybelle, who is the host of the TV program's 'Negro Day' and whose superb and soulful 'I Know Where I've Been' is this production's show-stopping anthem. Unfortunately, there are some talented actors who simply can't escape the woefully over-the-top dialogue assigned to their characters. They include Dylan Lugosi as teen dance show goddess Amber Von Tussle, Ginger Kroll as her mom and snobbish show producer Velma Von Tussle, Melanie Souza as every out-of-touch female authority figure, and Fred Sullivan Jr., as every out-of-touch male authority figure. Out-of-step is Kevin B. McGlynn. His comic timing is superb and his portrayal of Tracy's dad, Wilbur Turnblad, is abundantly endearing. But he and Christopher miss all the loving, tender moments between Wilbur and Edna. Their second-act duet, the charming 'You're Timeless to Me,' is played to the audience rather than to each other, and fails to earn the automatic encore that is built into the song. Advertisement No matter. To quote from this musical's closing number, which serves as the moral to the story: 'You can't stop the motion of the ocean or the rain from above/ You can try to stop the paradise we're dreamin' of/ But you cannot stop the rhythm of two hearts in love to stay/ 'Cause you can't stop the beat!' HAIRSPRAY Book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan. Music by Marc Shaiman. Lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman. Directed by Christopher Campbell. At Theatre By The Sea, 364 Cards Pond Road, Wakefield. Through Aug. 16. Tickets are $74-$100 (including fees). 401-782-8587. Bob Abelman is an award-winning theater critic who formerly wrote for the Austin Chronicle. Connect with him .
