Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's $100 million Netflix deal reportedly won't be renewed. Now what?
The Sun broke the story yesterday that the contract, worth $100 million when it was signed shortly after the two exited the Royal Family business in 2020, would end with the second season of ' With Love, Meghan ' when it airs this September. A 'Hollywood insider' also confirmed the story to People magazine.
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Toronto Sun
3 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
Former WWE champ leaves social media after 'death threats' over Hulk Hogan comments
Chelsea Green pointed out the late pro wrestling icon's 'polarizing political views' during an interview after his death last week. WWE star Chelsea Green salutes the crowd in the ring. WWE/Netflix This isn't the first time that a professional wrestler's words got them in hot water, but Chelsea Green certainly is feeling the heat. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The WWE superstar announced that she is taking a break from social media after her recent comments about late pro wrestling icon Hulk Hogan went viral. Green, who is a former WWE U.S. women's champion, says that she received death threats over her remarks during a live appearance on CBS News' 24/7 after the death of Hogan, real name Terry Bollea, last week. When offering her condolences after Hogan's on Thursday, Green called him an 'absolute icon' despite his 'polarizing political views.' Hogan had been a staunch supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump during the 2024 election and previously had been heard making racist comments on a leaked video. Hogan became so controversial that in his final appearance for WWE, he was loudly booed during the Netflix premiere of Monday Night Raw earlier this year. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Green apologized for her remarks in a since-deleted post while reasserting her stance on racism. 'A significant part of my role at @WWE involves engaging w the public & responding to questions, often on live platforms,' Green wrote on X. 'Yesterday, I was asked to comment on Hulk Hogan on live tv. Let me be clear: my stance on racism is unwavering. I do not condone it—period. 'If my response (or tweet) seemed dismissive of real concerns, I sincerely apologize. That was never my intention. I tried to acknowledge a death respectfully, even when the legacy is complicated. I am learning one day at a time and will continue to learn.' Green later followed up that post with another, stating that she would be taking an indefinite break from posting on social media. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I've tried to keep my page positive and comedic, but today, a lot changed… and it hit harder than I expected. The name calling, the death threats, the faceless accounts,' she added. I've tried to keep my page positive and comedic, but today, a lot changed… and it hit harder than I expected. The name calling, the death threats, the faceless accounts. Social media was supposed to be a fun place and it hasn't been for a while. It's been overwhelming and I… — CHELSEA GREEN (@ImChelseaGreen) July 26, 2025 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Social media was supposed to be a fun place and it hasn't been for a while. It's been overwhelming and I need to step away for a little bit.' Hogan, arguably the most famous wrestler ever, has died at age 71 at his Florida home due to cardiac arrest last Thursday. 'WWE is saddened to learn WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has passed away,' the organization said in a post on X. Read More 'One of pop culture's most recognizable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s. WWE extends its condolences to Hogan's family, friends and fans.' WWE is saddened to learn WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has passed away. One of pop culture's most recognizable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s. WWE extends its condolences to Hogan's family, friends, and fans. — WWE (@WWE) July 24, 2025 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. According to TMZ, 'Medics were dispatched to the WWE legend's Clearwater, Florida home early Thursday morning … with operators stating it was regarding a 'cardiac arrest.' The outlet also said: 'We're told a slew of police cars and EMTs were parked outside Hogan's home … and the icon was carried on a stretcher and into an ambulance.' WWE paid tribute to the hall of famer on Friday Night SmackDown with a video package and a 10-bell salute. Canada Editorial Cartoons NHL Editorial Cartoons Sunshine Girls
CBC
a day ago
- CBC
Staff for King Charles and Prince Harry met. Is a royal reconciliation in the air?
Hello, royal watchers. This is your regular dose of royal news and analysis. Reading this online? Sign up here to get this delivered to your inbox. After representatives of King Charles and Prince Harry were spotted chatting al fresco the other day, the meeting set off all manner of speculation over whether reconciliation might be in the air for the monarch and his younger son. Despite no official comment from anyone, the U.K. media quickly took to calling the get-together at a private London club that promotes international friendship a "peace summit" or "secret talks." As much as there was intense interest in even a hint of rapprochement between father and son, observers were also quick to note that there was no apparent representation at the meeting from Harry's elder brother and heir to the throne, Prince William. "There's a strong public interest in King Charles III, Prince William and Prince Harry in terms of this being a family saga," Toronto-based royal author and historian Carolyn Harris said in an interview. Many people have felt as though they watched William and Harry grieve the death of their mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, and grow up, Harris said. People have also seen the influence of both parents on some of the charitable causes the brothers championed. "And then when Prince Harry became estranged from his family when he wrote his memoirs, that attracted a great deal of comment," Harris said. "So I think there is interest in whether there is a way back for him on a personal level, whether he can reconcile — particularly with his father." Reconciling with William might prove more difficult. "William also fiercely protects the privacy of his family, and there were private moments that were shared in Prince Harry's memoirs, so it's possible the two brothers will never be able to reconcile," Harris said. Harry, who lives in California with his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and their two children, is expected to be back in the U.K. in September for charitable work and other engagements. Whether Harry and Charles will meet at that time is unknown — while Harry did make a quick trip back and had a short visit with Charles after his cancer diagnosis early in 2024, the father and son didn't meet when Harry was in London a few months later. Harry recently lost his legal challenge to the British government regarding his security arrangements in the U.K. after he stepped down from official royal duties. At the time of that ruling in May, he told the BBC he hoped for reconciliation with members of his family. Harry's return in September would come at a busy time for King Charles, ITV royal correspondent Chris Ship noted. "But most people might agree that the breakdown in the relationship between father and son is very sad, and if they could attempt to patch things up, given the King's ongoing cancer treatment, it would be best for both sides," Ship wrote. That there might be a meeting between senior staff of various members of the Royal Family is nothing new. "There's a long tradition of members of the Royal Family communicating through their offices," Harris said. That, however, has its advantages and disadvantages. "Everything's on record, and there can be a common narrative about what's been discussed and what's taken place," she said. "But we know from Prince Harry's own writing that he has been quite suspicious of some of the officials surrounding members of the Royal Family." Royal rifts — and reconciliations — are nothing new, but there are differences in the current saga. "What's unusual in this case is that it's a younger son in conflict with his reigning father, whereas if we go back in time historically ... often it's between the monarch and the heir to the throne," Harris said. "Often what fuelled these conflicts in the past was the heir to the throne wanting to have more independence and more autonomy, and if anything — in the case of King Charles III and Prince Harry — the conflict between the King and his younger son has brought the King and his heir closer together." There are other differences, too, Harris suggested. "This is a different kind of conflict in the 21st century where we're seeing a combination of official grievances in terms of security and the Royal Family's relationship with the press but also personal grievances in terms of how Prince Harry feels that he has been treated over time." Attempts now at reconciliation would make sense, Harris suggested, because when conflicts within the Royal Family fester, they can cast a long shadow. The abdication crisis surrounding King Edward VIII, who gave up the throne in 1936, is a "prime example" of that, she said. "Efforts at reconciliation between Prince Harry and his father at this time may be an effort to avoid the reign of the eventual King William V being overshadowed by a long-standing estrangement with Prince Harry." A Canadian on Camilla's reading list When the Royal Family posted a picture of Queen Camilla to social media as it thanked those who wished her a happy 78th birthday, a Canadian mystery writer's work was in the frame. The photo posted to Instagram and Facebook the other day shows Camilla — an avid reader — holding a copy of The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny. The royal nod came as a surprise to Penny, CBC Books reported. "I was floored when a friend in the U.K. forwarded me the photo," the author told CBC Books via email. "I knew she'd read the book, since she sent me a lovely note, but to see it in the birthday post was astonishing." Camilla's love of reading — and efforts to promote it — are well-known and came to the fore during the COVID-19 pandemic, when people were unable to leave home. "Camilla was giving radio broadcasts about how she was spending time at home sharing her favourite books, [and] we see the efforts that would eventually develop into the Queen's Reading Room," Harris said. The Queen's Reading Room is a literary charity that undertakes various initiatives and events to support reading and literacy, along with providing reading lists and supporting authors. For Camilla, Harris suggested, reading is more than taking in a story from the written page. "It's not simply people taking the opportunity to read these books themselves but to come together in book clubs to discuss these books so there's a community-building effort here as well as promoting authors and reading." And maybe — just maybe — there was something else going on in the photo, too. Little happens by chance when it comes to photos the Royal Family chooses to post to social media, and this photo includes a Canadian author. Over the past six months or so, in the face of the repeated 51st state rhetoric from U.S. President Donald Trump, there have been subtle signals of support for Canada from the Royal Family. "In itself that Queen Camilla is reading Louise Penny, that's not necessarily a strong signal on its own," Harris said. "But when it's added to all of these other moments like King Charles III planting a maple tree or Michael Bublé being included in the list of Commonwealth songs that King Charles III publicized on Commonwealth Day, there's this emphasis on engaging with Canadian culture." That effort was on display during the whirlwind visit Charles and Camilla made to Ottawa in late May, Harris said. Penny herself was invited to Canada House in London and met the King there just before that visit a few weeks ago. "It was a very fun experience all around," she said in a post on Facebook. The 'honour and privilege' of a royal visit As Lt.-Col. Chris Michaud watched his regiment's colonel-in-chief greet its members, he couldn't help but be impressed. Michaud, the regiment's commanding officer, was at Prince Edward's side as the Duke of Edinburgh met members of the Prince Edward Island Regiment during his recent visit helping the regiment mark its 150th anniversary. "One of the biggest takeaways is how he engages with people. It's fascinating," Michaud said in an interview. He was with Edward as he met members at a royal regimental ball at a Charlottetown hotel. "He must have met 300 people that evening, and he took a moment to speak with each one, exchange a couple of questions with them and ... it was really interesting to see how somebody of such a stature [would] take the time to engage with each person they get an opportunity to meet," Michaud said. "As a leader, that's something you take away." Michaud had been prepared for a few nerves to kick in as he met Edward for the second time — he'd attended a regimental visit about a decade ago — but he found it got easier as the recent visit progressed through engagements with cadets, a stop at Abegweit First Nation, the ball, a regimental breakfast and a freedom of the city parade in Charlottetown. Still, Michaud did forget a couple of things — something that didn't go unnoticed by Edward. "From the dais, he's standing up there with a big smile, he goes: 'You forgot I was going to give remarks, didn't you?'" he recalled Edward saying. "It was just a sign of his sense of humour, too, that I got to see over those two-and-a-half days." The visit was a "huge honour and privilege," Michaud said. "To have a member of the Royal Family who is engaged and interested and is aware of their connections to Canada's military and Canada's military history as well — it's just a huge opportunity." During the visit, Prince Edward presented members of the regiment with custom-made wool blankets woven by MacAusland's Woollen Mills in Bloomfield, P.E.I. The striped blankets incorporate the regimental colours of black and gold and include a commemorative label. The gift was arranged by the Canadian Wool Council and the Campaign for Wool in Canada, a patronage of Edward's elder brother, King Charles. "Wool has always had a deep connection with the military," Matthew Rowe, CEO of both organizations, said in an interview. Planning for the commemorative blankets began several months ago and brought together several focuses for the Campaign for Wool. "Prince Edward Island is home to one of the last blanket mills in Canada that makes product in 100 per cent Canadian wool, and wouldn't it be wonderful to create something special for this anniversary," Rowe said. "We wanted something that was ... meaningful, but that was also tangible.... it's also practical, it's something that can speak to that moment and speak to that affiliation but that will be a treasured and functional heirloom going forward for the men and women of the regiment." Enough custom blankets were woven to ensure one for every serving member of the regiment, plus others. Prince Edward also received one. "It's just such a great way ... of celebrating a great Canadian manufacturer, a great Canadian product and showing how Canadian wool can keep us safe and warm in many different levels of interpretation," Rowe said. Prince Edward praises Canada's achievements in July 1 speech 26 days ago Prince Edward capped off a weeklong visit to Canada with a stop in Ottawa, where he gave a speech to Canada Day revellers at LeBreton Flats Park. 'Today is truly a celebration of you, your home and your land, strong and free,' he said to cheers from the crowd. Royally quotable "It's the best therapy in the world." — Queen Camilla, referring to gardening, during a visit to an annual flower show. Royal reads King Charles says the world needs to better respect and understand the Muslim faith at a time of fractured global relations. [ITV] A summit at King Charles's Highgrove estate that was a celebration of his philosophy of harmony with nature brought together representatives from Indigenous peoples, including from tribes in the Amazon, along with environmentalists, climate campaigners, organic farmers, herbalists, educators, crafts people and philanthropists. [BBC] Staying at Highgrove, King Charles's passion for gardening and nature is well-known, but it has emerged that his exacting standards may have ruffled more than a few feathers among staff. [Daily Mail] King Charles has invited U.S. President Donald Trump for an unprecedented second state visit in September, scheduling the trip for three days when Parliament is not sitting and removing the possibility of Trump addressing Parliament. [The Guardian] The changing fashions of the late Queen Elizabeth are to go on show in a major exhibition next year at Buckingham Palace. The exhibition, featuring items from her childhood through to the decades of her long reign, will coincide with the centenary of her birth. [BBC] A new photograph of Prince George has been issued by Kensington Palace to mark his 12th birthday. A short video of George, with his sister, Princess Charlotte, and brother, Prince Louis, was also posted to social media. [BBC] Prince Harry visited Angola to back the landmine charity supported by his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. [ITV] Swan numbers have begun to recover on the River Thames after a couple of years of worrying decline, according to an annual royal survey of swans. [BBC] WATCH | Prince Harry follows in the footsteps of his late mother: Prince Harry recreates Diana's landmine walk in Angola 10 days ago Prince Harry retraced his late mother's footsteps on Wednesday as he walked through an active landmine field in Angola to raise awareness for a charity working to clear explosives from old war zones. Princess Diana's advocacy and the images of her landmine walk in 1997 helped to mobilize support for a landmine ban treaty that was ratified later that year.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Fringe at its gut-clutching best when it layers on the cringe
I have just laughed as hard as I have at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival in 20 years. Prodded in the gut until air escaped me in the most embarrassing way. The offending object was a play by Winnipeg performer Donnie Baxter called Shit: The Musical, which has its last show at 8:45 p.m. tonight. Supplied Shit: The Musical possesses a kind of gonzo spirit. My bright, witty peer Jeffrey Vallis gave it a one-star review in the Free Press last week. '(It) feels like a '90s after-school show gone horribly wrong — like if Barney sang about bowel movements instead of friendship,' he writes. 'Set in a university lecture hall, Dr. Eaton Fartmore teaches a class on the semantics of poop through stories and off-key songs that drag on like a bad bout of constipation.' All of this is essentially true — in fact, the play's narrative is perhaps even flimsier than this. But there's little accounting for taste — or for the tasteless things we savour. I will endeavour all the same. Imagine you are at the beautifully modern Theatre Cercle Moliere, named after France's most renowned satirist of its classical theatre. It's 11 p.m. on a Wednesday and there's a senior citizen singing tunelessly, 'Farts, farts, farts, always stink, don't you think? It's a shame, this awful name.' The awful name in question is his own, Dr. Fartmore, and this professor of linguists is riffing on Shakespeare's line about roses smelling as sweet by any other name. Groan? The audience of 30 assembled isn't laughing. Not yet. The fact they are not, only makes me laugh harder. It's as though we've all been ensnared in one of Ionesco's or Artaud's glorious trolls on audiences in their mid-century absurdist experiments. But for this to be funny for a few, seemingly it has to stink for many — including obviously Vallis, who does have a good sense of humour. I'm sure his bad review wasn't happily received by performer-playwright Baxter because at the end of the day, bad reviews are usually bad business. Fringe performers sink thousands of dollars and countless hours — staking not just their savings, but their reputations — on the chance to entertain us and hopefully break even. And they do it at a time when live theatre is said to be more endangered than ever, dulled by the narcotic pull of screen media: TikTok and Instagram memes, Netflix and the ever-churning algorithm. Believe it or not, we reviewers — as much as some may curse our names in the fringe beer tent — try to bear this in mind. But as Orwell's old adage goes, oddly fitting for the high politics of local theatre: 'Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.' All to say: Vallis's pointed, funny reaction to Shit: The Musical is as valid as the myriad bad, middling and good reviews we've issued through this festival. Still, in ultimately relenting to Baxter's routine I felt I was exorcising something. A resistance that reviewers like me can develop to a certain spirit of fringe that stubbornly eludes the star system. A gonzo spirit shared by another DIY artform supposedly destroying live art like theatre: internet memes. I mean especially those associated online humour styles that go by names like post-irony, shitposting, layered cringe. This is absurdist, often lowbrow humour that echoes older comedians such as Andy Kauffman, Tom Green, Eric Andre and Tim Heidecker. But otherwise, it's distinctly Gen Z — mocking those Millennials whose humour is still stuck in the era of YouTube, Vines and Jim Carrey movies when comedy meant straightforward skits, polished punchlines and mugging for the camera. Maybe it also owes something to a certain stubborn set of ideas still circulating in universities. Most liberal arts students, sooner or later, encounter the work of another French oddball who came after Ionesco and Artaud: Jean-François Lyotard, with his theory of postmodernity. This theory (stick with me) says we now live in a postmodern era — an age where 'grand narratives' have collapsed. Big, sweeping explanations such as Marxism or Christianity no longer hold sway. Instead, knowledge loops back on itself: science, ethics and meaning justify themselves by referencing other systems, not some fixed reality. Lyotard knew this would leave us ironic, skeptical, suspicious of truth claims — and he seemed basically fine with that. His critics weren't. They called it nihilism and accused him of corrupting young minds with moral relativism. Right or wrong about knowledge or modernity, Lyotard was strangely ahead of his time when it comes to understanding humour. So much of online youth humour feels postmodern today. It disdains narrative. Conventional storytelling jokes, unless ironically dumb, are old hat. Humour now is 'irony-poisoned,' as the phrase goes — self-referential, looping endlessly through layers of memes. But in being 'poisoned,' it's also frequently amoral, cruel even. This humour delights in mocking 'theatre kids' and older generations — people who crack earnest, dorky jokes and wear their sincerity a little too openly. Their guileless enthusiasm gets labelled 'cringe,' then enjoyed and recreated ironically for laughs. I am, despite these misgivings and my elder Millennial status, addicted to absurd Gen Z humour. Which leads me to wonder: is it possible I enjoyed the plotless Shit: The Musical and other one-star fare this year for unkind reasons? Was I laughing at Baxter, this 'theatre kid' in his 60s with juvenile but sincere humour who can't carry a tune to save his life, instead of with him? Maybe at first. But Baxter was also clearly laughing at us — trolling us like Eric Andre or an online shitposter, figures he may know nothing about, to test our prudish reflexes. Our lack of whimsy. And a certain point, about halfway through the play, it worked. The audience started giggling, going along with Baxter. Then roaring. So many fringe shows reach melodramatically for the universal in the most sublime and tragic things. Heaven and hell. Baxter's awkward, taboo stories about embarrassing trips to the bathroom on first dates and his surprisingly enlightening explanation of healthy stool shapes felt oddly more honest. I've had a lovely fringe festival this year. And reflecting back, I think the shows that have stayed with me weren't always the tight, touring shows I may have felt obligated to award high stars to. They weren't the shows with wham-bam, but ultimately safe, humour delivered with the finesse of new Simpsons or old Johnny Carson episodes. They were the ones that really took chances, lowbrow and highbrow. Shows that had at something at stake creatively, not just financially, even if they were messy. Especially plays such as Debbie Loves Bumblebee, The Apricot Tree, Brainstorm, Parasocial and Baxter's bonkers production. Most of which, for me, point in one way or another to throughlines between the wild theatre of modernism and the fringe and the chaotic DIY culture that proliferates online today. Shows that might also help to bridge the generational gap where live theatre is concerned, drawing in more young people to a festival that, let's be honest, skews towards an older audience. There's a couple of days left of the festival, and I hope more audiences take chances on the fringiest of Fringe shows — especially if me or my colleagues have panned them. — Conrad SweatmanReporter Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Before joining the Free Press full-time in 2024, he worked in the U.K. and Canadian cultural sectors, freelanced for outlets including The Walrus, VICE and Prairie Fire. Read more about Conrad. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
