TV star charged with multiple rapes sports ghastly prison appearance during accuser's terrifying testimony
The 53-year-old, who once cut a dashing figure on the red carpet, was unshaven, pale and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit during the three-hour hearing in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
10 minutes ago
- The Independent
Quentin Tarantino pays tribute to Michael Madsen at LA memorial
Director Quentin Tarantino has paid tribute to actor Michael Madsen, who died in July aged 67, at a memorial in Los Angeles. Tarantino recounted an incident during the filming of his debut movie, Reservoir Dogs, involving actor Lawrence Tierney. Tarantino fired Tierney, who was known for his confrontational behaviour, after one week of shooting due to his difficult conduct on set. The director feared the impact on his career, but recalled receiving a supportive voicemail from Madsen, who expressed respect for Tarantino's decision to stand up for himself. Co-star Harvey Keitel later mediated the conflict, allowing Tierney to complete his scenes for the film, which became a critical success.
The Independent
10 minutes ago
- The Independent
What is the ‘door-kick' social media challenge? Authorities warn TikTok trend can have deadly results
A new social media trend is sweeping across the country - and officials are fearful it will end in tragedy. The 'door-kick challenge' takes the 'ding-dong-ditch' prank —ringing people's doorbells and running away before they answer—to new extremes. Pranksters choose a door at random in the middle of the night and kick it aggressively, sometimes until it comes off the hinges, and upload a video of it online. 'That's a good way to end up dead,' Florida's Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood bluntly put it. 'Especially in Florida. You've got to think you're about to become a victim of a home invasion robbery and, under the Castle doctrine, you're gonna shoot first and ask questions later.' Online safety advocacy groups also warn that kids could lose their lives over the social media trend or end up in jail. 'This trend has the potential to end in absolute tragedy,' Titania Jordan, chief parenting officer at Bark Technologies, a parental control app, told The Independent. 'We're not just talking about property damage — kids are putting themselves at serious risk. If homeowners are armed or on high alert, it's not hard to imagine how a prank like this could escalate into something irreversible.' 'What's at stake is more than just a viral moment gone wrong,' Jordan adds. 'It's a child's life, a family's future, and the potential for criminal charges that could follow them for years.' Authorities are warning parents about the dangerous 'door kick challenge' as recent incidents have cropped up in California, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Wisconsin, Texas and Michigan, to name a few. Marc Berkman, CEO of the Organization for Social Media Safety, said that social media has 'conditioned' American teens to re-enact dangerous challenges and pranks. 'Social media incentivizes users, especially teens, to post content that will generate likes, shares, and views, or 'clout' as some may call it,' Berkman told The Independent. 'Unfortunately, what generates that social media attention is often salacious content: violent, explicit or otherwise extreme. Our teens, spending upwards of five hours a day viewing this content, quickly become desensitized to it, and violence, cruel pranks, and challenges become normalized.' Police in Louisville, Kentucky, said that the prank was 'stupid and dangerous' following an incident in the city over the weekend. A woman caught masked teens kicking down her door at 2:30 a.m. Saturday, Wave reports. 'Anyone participating in this type of behavior is certainly risking their own life,' said Louisville Metro Police Department spokesperson John Bradley. 'A resident could easily assume resorting to deadly force against the person is the next appropriate course of action to protect themselves from what they believe may be an intruder. This type of behavior is stupid and dangerous.' In Las Vegas earlier this month, homeowner Tyler Reggie and his pregnant girlfriend were asleep when pranksters kicked the door in at 3 a.m. on July 8. Reggie told FOX5 that he 'assumed the worst' when the banging started, but saw it was teenagers after reviewing his doorbell camera footage. They caused $5,000 worth of damage to his property, he said. In Florida, two teenagers are facing a charge of felony burglary after taking part in the challenge in the city of DeBary, Volusia County. The teens kicked a homeowner's door in so aggressively that it broke open. 'The so-called 'door kicking challenge' is a surefire way to get locked up with a felony… or even worse, shot and killed by a homeowner,' Sheriff Chitwood said in a social media post on July 7. The teens told deputies they were 'just being stupid.' One of them, a 13-year-old girl, was found hiding in her attic after deputies searched for her inside the house. 'And, let me tell you, mom was furious with her daughter after deputies told her what she had been up to,' Chitwood said. 'Parents, use this as a reminder to TALK with your kids that this challenge is not harmless and is the dumbest way to end up with a felony charge or dead.' Similar social media trends have met a tragic end in recent years. Teenage lacrosse star Michael Bosworth Jr was allegedly shot dead by a homeowner in May during an alleged break-in, but his friend told police it was a TikTok 'ding-dong-ditch' prank gone wrong. Tyler Chase Butler, 27, has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the 18-year-old's death, who was fatally shot in the torso in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Butler is being held in Rappahannock Regional Jail until a preliminary hearing in September. His family said he 'acted out of a genuine fear for his safety and the safety of his mother.' In another devastating case in Riverside County, California, Anurag Chandra killed three teenage boys after they played a doorbell prank on him in 2020. The group of six teenagers pranked Chandra before running back to their vehicle. Chandra then got in his car and intentionally rammed the teenagers' vehicle off the road, killing three of them, authorities said. Parenting expert Jordan noted that similar pranks have been around for decades, but social media has elevated them. 'Pranks like ding dong ditch have always existed, but social media has given them a megaphone,' Jordan said. 'What used to be a local stunt can now go viral in seconds. Even if kids aren't sharing their own videos, just seeing others do it on repeat can make it feel normalized or even encouraged.' Kids may take part in the challenges due to peer pressure, the simple thrill of doing something they shouldn't, or more likely, for social validation, Jordan said. 'Even if they're not filming themselves in the act, just being part of a trend gives them a sense of belonging,' Jordan explained. ' It's easy to forget how impulsive kids can be when they're trying to impress their peers or prove they're not afraid to push boundaries.' Jordan recommends parents have regular conversations with their kids, not just about what they're posting but what they're watching online. 'Ask what trends are showing up in their feeds and how they feel about them,' she said. 'This kind of open dialogue is your best defense,' Jordan added. 'At the same time, it can be helpful to use tech tools that give parents a window into their child's digital world.'
Daily Mail
11 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Country music icon Jeannie Seely has died
By Published: | Updated: Jeannie Seely, the country music singer best known for her hit song 'Don't Touch Me', has died at 85. Seely died on Friday at Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tennessee, from complications brought on by an intestinal infection, according to People. Her death follows the loss of her husband Eugene Ward from cancer in December. Following news of Seely's death, her longtime friend Dolly Parton posted a tribute to her on Instagram. 'I have known Jeannie Seely since we were early on in Nashville. She was one of my dearest friends,' Parton wrote. 'I think she was one of the greater singers in Nashville and she had a wonderful sense of humor. We had many wonderful laughs together, cried over certain things together and she will be missed,' the country icon added. Seely had been plagued by health problems since last year, and she announced in May that she had undergone multiple surgeries on her back to repair her vertebrae. The performer also said she had two emergency abdominal surgeries and developed pneumonia during an 11-day stay in the intensive care unit. 'Rehab is pretty tough, but each day is looking brighter and last night, I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. And it was neon, so I knew it was mine!' she said at the time. 'The unsinkable Seely is working her way back.' Seely was known for her distinctive soul-inflected vocal delivery, which earned her the nickname 'Miss Country Soul'. Her 1966 single 'Don't Touch Me' became a hit on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart after ascending to number two, and she followed it up with more hits including 'A Wanderin' Man' (1967) and 'I'll Love You More (Than You'll Need)' (1968). All three songs were written by Seely's future husband, Hank Cochran, whom she wed in 1969. The couple separated later in the 1970s, and their divorce was finalized in 1979. Cochran died in 2010 at age 84 from cancer. Seely, who was born in 1940 in Titusville, Pennsylvania, had been singing on the radio for local stations beginning at 11, but she initially pursued work as a stenographer after high school. After setting out west for California's warmer climate, she started working at a bank, only to change course again to get her start in the music industry as a songwriter. Seely collaborated with future stars Randy Newman and Glen Campbell, and songs she wrote were performed by country mainstays including Norma Jean, Dottie West and Connie Smith, among others. She got her chance to record under her own name beginning in 1964. Seely's chart status began to take a dive later in the 1970s, and her injuries from a 1977 car crash — in which she drove her car into a tree, resulting in a fractured jaw, broken ribs and a collapsed lung — kept her off the road and out of the studio for years. During the 1980s, Seely tried her hand at acting with stage roles in the musicals Takin' It Home and The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, as well as the play Everybody Loves Opal. Seely's final song released during her lifetime was a cover of Dottie West's 'Suffertime' from July 2024. The singer holds the distinction of having more Grand Ole Opry appearances than any other musician — with 5,397 — after making her debut in 1966. Seely had been a fan of the Opry's radio show since she was a child, and she became a member of the organization in 1967. 'Actually, I knew at eight years old what I wanted to be,' Seely told People in 2022. 'And I knew I wanted to be at the Opry. I just wanted to know them. I wanted to be a part of that family that I heard every week.' Seely contrasted many of the more conservative outfits worn by female Opry performers by wearing more modern outfits, including jeans and even go-go boots. In 2022, she recalled how her decision to wear a miniskirt on stage caused Opry manager Ott Devine to give her a dressing down. 'I explained that I just moved here from California, and this is what everybody's wearing,' she said. 'I said, "You do know the trend is coming."' Seely recounted telling Devine that she wouldn't wear miniskirts on stage on the condition that he didn't let in any audience members with short skirts, which led him to relent. In 1985, she became the first woman to host the Grand Ole Opry's show, but only because she was on hand as a last-minute fill-in after the scheduled host got caught in a snowstorm. The breakthrough moment was a sign of the Opry's desperation, as the organization had a male-only policy for hosts that wasn't rescinded until 1993. The Grand Ole Opry performance on Saturday, August 2, will be dedicated to Seely.
