After more than two decades of being a monster, R. Kelly finally gets the justice he so richly deserves

by Therese Odell, posted in Uncategorized


Another plot twist!:

#MeToo

The big news of the week is that after decades of abusing women and children, R. Kelly was found guilty in federal court of one count of racketeering and eight counts of violating an anti-sex trafficking law. He now potentially faces spending the rest of his life in prison.

He won’t actually be sentenced until May — which seems ridiculous — but in the meantime, he faces similar charges in at least two other states.

Chris Cuomo is an admittedly gropey creep just like his big brother. Why am I not surprised?

Tomorrow, Britney Spears returns to court to demand that her father be removed from her conservatorship once and for fucking all. Ahead of this, FX on Hulu and The New York Times released another chapter in their documentary series about the Spears saga, Controlling Britney Spears, in which they reveal that Jamie Spears was recording Britney’s private conversations both on her phone and in her bedroom. 

Mr. Vlasov said that Ms. Spears’s phone had been monitored using a clever tech setup: The iCloud account on her phone was mirrored on an iPad and later on an iPod. Mr. Yemini would have Mr. Vlasov encrypt Ms. Spears’s digital communications captured on the iPad and the iPod to send to Mr. Spears and Robin Greenhill, an employee of Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group, the former business manager for the singer’s estate.

This arrangement allowed them to monitor all text messages, FaceTime calls, notes, browser history and photographs.

“Her own phone and her own private conversations were used so often to control her,” Mr. Vlasov said.

In response to questions about the surveillance operation, a lawyer for Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group said: “These allegations are not true. Ms. Greenhill was only involved in Ms. Spears’ security to the extent Ms. Spears requested her involvement, as well as Tri Star’s role of issuing the payments to the security company.” The lawyer did not respond to follow-up questions specifically asking whether Ms. Greenhill had ever received copies of or reports on the contents of Ms. Spears’s text communications.

Mr. Vlasov said the reason Mr. Yemini had given for monitoring Ms. Spears’s phone was to protect her from harm and bad influences. But Mr. Spears monitored his daughter’s text-message conversations with her mother, her boyfriend, her close friends and even her court-appointed lawyer, according to screenshots of messages provided to The Times.

And one of the most appalling parts of all of this is that Britney herself was paying for all this surveillance under this conservatorship. According to Deadline, the federal authorities are investigating Mr. Spears.

Oh, and Britney and her boyfriend are not fond of all these documentaries about her life.

Stephanie Grisham, former White House press secretary and Melania’s chief of staff, has written a tell-all. She reveals a lot about President Kompromat’s sucking up to Putin, the culture of lying in the White House, the “I Don’t Care, Do U?” jacket, and more. But here’s a bit that is relevant to this section:

“Grisham alleges that Trump became obsessed with a young, female press aide who isn’t named in the book. The president constantly asked where the aide was during press events, Grisham wrote, and allegedly once requested that she be brought to his cabin on Air Force One so he could “look at her [behind].”

Trump behaved inappropriately with Grisham, too, she wrote — once calling her from Air Force One to assure her that his penis was not small or toadstool-shaped, as the porn star Stormy Daniels had alleged in an interview.

Grisham wrote that Trump once asked her then-boyfriend, a fellow Trump aide, if she was good in bed.”

This, of course, is not surprising, and it will change nothing in his cult member’s eyes.

There’s also this bit of news from the book:

Matt Gaetz seems to think he’s about to need some legal representation soon and has hired a team of lawyers who have represented quite the Who’s Who of sexual predators, including Jeffrey Epstein, Keith Raniere, Robert Hadden who was a gynecologist who was accused by 200 patients of sexual assault, and, of course, the Trump Organization. Wonder what Matt’s worried about? OH RIGHT, THE WHOLE SEX-TRAFFICKING MINORS THING.

Walt Disney has declined to bring in an independent investigation on how ABC News handled the sexual harassment allegations against Michael Corn. Cool.

Activision Blizzard has settled with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and will create an $18 million fund to compensate employees and former employees who suffered harassment at the game company.

Simone Biles is opening up about how she did not give herself time to process and heal from the Larry Nassar abuse, and pushed on to Tokyo before she was ready.

Uma Thurman has written a beautiful, thoughtful essay about having an abortion when she was 15 in response to the terrible law here in my state. It’s not a long read, it is worth your time.

UFC star Jon Jones has been arrested for domestic violence.

Chicago radio host Eric Ferguson has been accused of sexually coercing a co-worker.

Bill Gates sure is sorry for having dinner with Jeffrey Epstein.

Johnny Depp needs to sit down.

Rovier Carrington, a man who filed a lawsuit against Viacom and some of its executives for sexually abusing him, has been charged with perjury for falsifying emails in the case (which has been dismissed).

James Marsters recently opened up about his time on Buffy and Angel, and notes that Joss Whedon hated that Spike was so popular, because he was desperate to kill the character off. He also addressed working with John Barrowman who recently had to apologize for exposing himself on the sets of Doctor Who and Torchwood, saying that it didn’t make him personally uncomfortable, but that standards change.

Well, huh, Facebook isn’t going to move forward with Instagram for Kids for some reason. I wonder why.

All Other TV News

According to Netflix’s own numbers — whatever they are actually worth — people loved them some Bridgerton; Lupin; The Witcher; Sex/Life and Stranger Things. And while Extraction is the most-watched film, Bird Box continues to hang in there, which is interesting. All that said, apparently, the brand-new Korean series, Squid Game, has been so popular since its release on September 17, that it could soon overtake Bridgerton. I guess I’ll be binging that next?

Succession has released a series of character portraits for season three, and people have reactions:

See, it’s funny because he’s a Jazz player:

Love is dead, again, and for real this time.

Renewals

In Development

Casting News

Mark Your Calendars

  • The Harder They Fall will debut on Netflix on November 3.
  • The Girl in the Woods will premiere on Peacock on October 21.
  • Axios returns on HBO on October 3.
  • Convergence: Courage in a Crisis will premiere on Netflix on October 12.
  • Welcome to Earth will premiere on Disney+ in December.
  • City Confidential returns to A&E on October 28.
  • Good Timing with Jo Firestone will debut on Peacock on October 15.
  • The Time it Takes will debut on Netflix on October 29.
  • Undercover will return on Netflix on November 21.
  • Family Business will return on Netflix on October 8.
  • Rafa Nadal Academy is coming to Amazon soon.
  • The King’s Affection will premiere on Netflix on October 11.

R.I.P.

Jean Hale Coleman, Actress who appeared in many TV shows, including Batman, Bonanza, Hawaii Five-O, McHale’s Navy, My Favorite Martian, The Perry Mason Show, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, Hogan’s Heroes, Cannon, The Wild Wild West

Jon Gregory, Film editor

Melissa Yandell Smith, Actress and American Conservatory Theatre executive

WATCH THIS

La Brea: A giant sinkhole opens up in the middle of Los Angeles, dropping hundreds of people into some sort of parallel world, and maybe there are dinosaurs? I don’t know. All I know is that you terrorists are making me watch it and write about it. (Still, it looks better than Ordinary Joe, which just … woof.) Series premiere. 8 p.m., NBC

Vanderpump Rules: These shiny ding dongs are back. Season premiere. 8 p.m., Bravo

Britney vs. Spears: If there is some corner of the Britney Spears saga that you think remains unexplored, here’s another documentary about it. Premiere. Netflix

Attack of the Hollywood Clichés!: Rob Lowe hosts this special that looks at well-worn Hollywood tropes. Premiere. Netflix

Bachelor in Paradise: WHY IS THIS ON FOR THREE HOURS. 7 p.m., ABC

Late Night:

  • Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Jake Gyllenhaal; G-Eazy ft. Demi Lovato
  • Late Night with Seth Meyers: Ray Liotta, Natasia Demetriou, Spencer Ackerman, Nick Baglio
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Drew Carey, Phoebe Robinson
  • The Late Late Show with James Corden: Mayim Bialik
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Gabrielle Union, Mark Duplass, Angels & Airwaves
  • The Daily Show: TBD

TUES. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC Bachelor in Paradise

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CBS FBI
(new)		 FBI: International
(new)		 FBI: Most Wanted
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CW Stargirl
(new)		 Supergirl
(new)		 Local
FOX The Resident
(new)		 Our Kind of People
(new)		 News/Local
NBC The Voice
(new)		 La Brea
(new)		 New Amsterdam
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