The second when an precise reside human walked out in entrance of the film display to pose Adam Driver’s Cesar Catilina a query (which Cesar, within the movie, proceeded to reply) would possibly, looking back, be one of many much less weird moments in Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis. The director’s supreme dream undertaking, which he’s been attempting to get off the bottom for 4 many years, arrives at Cannes trailing clouds of hypothesis, skepticism, and controversy. It bears the marks of all of the years Coppola has spent attempting to make it, with components that really feel like they’ve been patched in from completely different intervals in his filmography: a little bit of The Godfather right here, a little bit of Tucker: the Man and His Dream there. However the film additionally feels older than that. Watching it, you sense the creativeness of somebody who got here of age within the Nineteen Fifties, with its visions of scientific progress, progressive design, and space-age marvel. How odd and curiously apropos that once we do see glimpses of Coppola’s metropolis of the long run on this 2024 movie, it doesn’t appear too removed from one thing we’d have seen on The Jetsons. Megalopolis involves us because the (maybe ultimate) testomony of an artist now in his 80s, however typically it feels just like the fevered ideas of a precocious baby, pushed and dazzled and perhaps somewhat misplaced in all the probabilities of the world earlier than him.

There’s nothing in Megalopolis that appears like one thing out of a “regular” film. It has its personal logic and cadence and vernacular. The characters communicate in archaic phrases and phrases, mixing shards of Shakespeare, Ovid, and at one level straight-up Latin. Some characters communicate in rhyme, others simply in high-minded prose that appears like perhaps it must be in verse. At one level, Adam Driver does your entire “To be or to not be” soliloquy from Hamlet. Why? I’m not precisely positive. Nevertheless it positive sounds good.

The plot, for all its love of science and motive, is a miasma of magic, melodrama, corny emotionality, and gangster-movie politics. It lands us proper in the midst of a debate between visionary architect Cesar and this alternate-universe New York’s Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) over the best way to use their restricted assets once they’re already racked by debt. Cesar, inventor of a residing constructing substance known as Megalon, goals of a self-sustaining metropolis of the long run that may organically develop with its inhabitants. Cicero, already affected by scandal and booed wherever he goes, needs to assist his indignant and anxious residents now. “Don’t let the now destroy the without end,” Cesar insists to the mayor.

Coppola, who as soon as deliberate on adapting Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, clearly sides with the dreamer, however Cesar is an imperfect vessel. He possesses large powers — within the movie’s bravura opening sequence, we see him cease time as he leans precariously off the Chrysler Constructing — however he’s additionally an egomaniac, absorbed in his personal brilliance and unable to compromise or take care of these under him. It’s a great function for Driver, who combines haughtiness and neurosis higher than some other actor of his technology. Cesar’s life begins to alter with the arrival of Cicero’s party-girl daughter, Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel), the one different one who sees his potential to pause time, and who appears to have the identical energy herself. She is drawn to his brilliance, however in fact, a romance additionally blossoms between them. There’s little chemistry between the actors, however their love feels extra like a metaphoric one than an precise one.

There are echoes right here of the central battle in Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, the granddaddy of all Metropolis of the Future motion pictures, with its personal conflict between an aloof, opportunistic chief and an excellent, probably mad scientist, in the end introduced collectively by love. There, as in Megalopolis, the residents had been on the mercy of the elites’ hedonism and warfare. However Coppola spends extra time among the many elites than Lang, who despatched his protagonist into the caves beneath Metropolis to witness the bodily and religious toll of the economic utopia above. After all, prolonged visions of squalor and despair would have labored towards this cinematic ode to those that dream of the long run. However it is a film about concepts greater than individuals; the whole lot in it feels purposefully unreal and fanciful, as if the entire thing had been going down inside its creator’s head. It mainly is: Coppola is extra within the debate over the long run than he’s in presenting any solutions.

On the similar time, it’s no shock that the director of The Godfather movies is drawn to the court docket intrigues of the rich. It’s on this world that we discover Wow Platinum (Aubrey Plaza), an attractive monetary journalist intent on accruing wealth and energy for herself. She begins off as Cesar’s mistress, however quickly marries his uncle, Hamilton Crassus (Jon Voight), the richest man within the metropolis. In the meantime, Crassus’s consistently shape-shifting grandson, Clodio (Shia LaBeouf, in ever-rotating costumes), schemes to inherit all of the household cash for himself, ingratiating himself into town’s subcultures in an effort to achieve affect. A lot of this scheming occurs throughout sequences of unchecked bacchanalia, with scantily clad partygoers clearly meant to evoke Roman-style decadence and decline. At their greatest, these scenes have an otherworldly inventiveness that will get at their intoxicating, anything-goes attraction. At their worst, they arrive throughout as uneven pictures of awkward extras gyrating listlessly.

Megalopolis is commonly caught between its personal goals and what’s merely attainable. It actually has moments of dazzling invention. When Cesar travels by evening into the darker, much less glitzy corners of town, he passes by large animated statues: Blind Justice leans exasperatedly towards a wall, her scales tipping wildly off stability; a determine of a person in chains holding a pill totters, the pill breaking into items. A person gently braids the hair of a lady surrounded by angelic nurses, and we then see that she was by no means there, that he’s alone in a dingy room misplaced in his recollections. By the point the aforementioned live-audience component arrives (and who is aware of if that will likely be replicated when the film will get launched in precise theaters), it’s actually notable, nevertheless it’s so consistent with the movie’s incessant, go-for-broke high quality that the viewers accepts it matter-of-factly: Oh, in order that occurred. The occasional dissolves that made the fever goals of Apocalypse Now and Bram Stoker’s Dracula so gorgeously disorienting right here take over complete sequences. In these photos, these had been stylistic thrives. Right here, it’s all flourish, on a regular basis.

However then there come scenes that really feel rushed, undernourished, and underpopulated. What made Coppola’s earlier epics of household energy and backstabbing so compelling was his potential to compose his narratives in depth: We all the time felt that there was an entire world thrumming with murderous vitality behind the important thing characters. The director’s difficulties in getting Megalopolis made — not simply the various many years it took to get the undertaking off the bottom, however the very actual challenges of this specific shoot — have been documented elsewhere. He’s talked overtly of getting to chop corners and work with a smaller crew after what began off as a extra formidable manufacturing. At occasions, we will inform. Crowd scenes could be sparse. Seemingly main characters drop out of the story. For all of the visible grandiosity, the digital cinematography is usually flat and overly brilliant, which in flip reduces depth and element and makes issues really feel one-dimensional. We all know Coppola has an eye fixed, and he and cinematographer Mihai Malaimare have achieved advantageous work collectively up to now. Perhaps there are future cuts of this movie that may flesh issues out extra. Or perhaps typically the fact of the now simply defeats the probabilities of the without end.

Megalopolis is crammed with quotations and features that really feel like quotations. Among the many aphorisms that drift in is one attributed to Marcus Aurelius: “The article of life is to not be on the facet of the bulk, however to flee discovering oneself within the ranks of the insane.” Curiously, the quote doesn’t seem wherever in Marcus Aurelius; apparently, Leo Tolstoy as soon as cited it as coming from the Stoic Roman Emperor, and all people simply accepted that as truth. So, it’s a pretend quote! However an attractive one nonetheless, presumably warning towards the risks of going with the gang but additionally of the risks of going mad in a single’s opposition to the gang. However listening to it on this movie, I imagined an additional comma in there, between escape and discovering: “The article of life is to not be on the facet of the bulk, however to flee, discovering oneself within the ranks of the insane.”

It completely reverses the that means, however it will be in maintaining not simply with this film however Coppola’s profession on the whole. Time and again, he very consciously leaps over the sting with every new undertaking. He admitted to going insane making Apocalypse Now. I’ve written elsewhere that I assumed he’d misplaced his thoughts with Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a film I now contemplate a masterpiece. Absolutely the person who staked his complete studio on One From the Coronary heart — the attractive, woozy, unforgettable, financially dead-on-arrival One From the Coronary heart — wasn’t pondering clearly. And so, he’s achieved it once more, and maybe exceeded himself. Megalopolis could be the craziest factor I’ve ever seen. And I’d be mendacity if I stated I didn’t take pleasure in each single batshit second of it.

C’est le movie le plus attendu du Competition de Cannes : 45 ans après sa Palme d’or pour Apocalypse Now (1979), Francis Ford Coppola brigue un troisième trophée avec Megalopolis, movie hors normes au parfum testamentaire dans lequel il a englouti une partie de sa fortune.

D’un price range de 120 thousands and thousands de {dollars} américains (163 thousands and thousands de {dollars} canadiens), ce movie sur la destruction d’une ville évoquant New York couve dans son esprit depuis plus de quarante ans. Le réalisateur de la trilogie Le Parrain, qui avait remporté une première Palme d’or pour Dialog secrète (1974), avait abandonné le projet à la suite des attentats du 11 septembre 2001 aux États-Unis, avant de le reprendre.

Remark un empire meurt-il? S’effondre-t-il en un seul et tragique prompt?, se questionne une voix hors champ dans la bande-annonce.

Movie de science-fiction de 2 h 18, tourné pour les écrans IMAX, Megalopolis tourne autour de la destruction d’une mégalopole et sa reconstruction qui se joue entre un architecte (Adam Driver) et le maire de la ville (Giancarlo Esposito).

C’est un movie sur un homme qui a une imaginative and prescient du futur et parle du conflit entre cette imaginative and prescient et les traditions du passé, confiait Coppola en 2019, au Competition Lumière où il avait été distingué.

Je dirais que c’est mon movie le plus ambitieux, même plus ambitieux qu’Apocalypse Now.

De quoi faire saliver les cinéphiles du monde entier qui se passionnent pour ses movies autant que ses tournages épiques, à commencer par celui d’Apocalypse Now, prévu pour durer quelques semaines et qui a finalement duré 238 jours. À cela se sont ajoutés les accès de paranoïa de Coppola, drogué, qui a perdu une quarantaine de kilos et a dû hypothéquer ses biens pour financer le movie. Le price range, de 13 thousands and thousands de {dollars} américains (16 thousands and thousands de {dollars} canadiens) à l’origine, passera à 30 thousands and thousands (41 thousands and thousands de {dollars} canadiens), le conduisant au bord de la ruine.

Une carrière qui défie la logique

Tim Grey, vétéran du journalisme cinéma aux États-Unis, qui travaille désormais pour l’organisation des Golden Globes, rappelle que Coppola a toujours pris d’énormes risques. Et sa carrière a défié la logique, confiait-il récemment à l’AFP.

Le géant du cinéma avait aussi évoqué le souhait de tourner une histoire d’amour avant de partir. C’est selected faite dans Megalopolis avec le couple formé par Adam Driver et Nathalie Emmanuel.

Autour d’eux gravitent de multiples personnages interprétés par des acteurs de légende des années 1970, comme Jon Voight et Dustin Hoffman.

Tout le monde espérait que Francis Ford Coppola continuerait à faire des movies. On savait qu’il avait décidé de faire ce movie et de le financer avec son propre argent, a raconté lundi Thierry Frémaux, le délégué général cannois, avant le coup d’envoi du Competition.

ans se comporte comme un cinéaste indépendant, comme un artiste qui veut venir montrer son travail. Cannes est vital pour lui et lui est vital pour Cannes.”,”textual content”:”Je trouve admirable que cet homme de 85ans se comporte comme un cinéaste indépendant, comme un artiste qui veut venir montrer son travail. Cannes est vital pour lui et lui est vital pour Cannes.”}}”>Je trouve admirable que cet homme de 85 ans se comporte comme un cinéaste indépendant, comme un artiste qui veut venir montrer son travail. Cannes est vital pour lui et lui est vital pour Cannes.

Movie-testament génial ou œuvre poussive et démesurée? La presse y va de ses pronostics et le quotidien britannique The Guardian vient de publier des témoignages de membres de la manufacturing évoquant un tournage chaotique.

Le réalisateur n’avait pas dirigé de lengthy métrage depuis Twixt, movie d’horreur aux critiques plutôt désastreuses sorti en 2011, et semblait s’adonner à son autre ardour, le vin, lui qui possède de nombreuses vignes.

Il dédie Megalopolis à son épouse Eleanor, à qui il a été marié soixante ans, décédée le 12 avril.

Jimmy Carter’s grandson mentioned Tuesday that the 99-year-old thirty ninth president of the US “is coming to the tip” however that he joked throughout a latest go to and “he’s nonetheless there.”

Jason Carter gave the replace on his grandfather’s well being at a psychological well being discussion board on the Carter Middle in Atlanta.

“My grandfather is doing OK. He has been in hospice, as you understand, for some — virtually a 12 months and a half now,” mentioned Jason Carter, chair of the board of trustees for the Carter Middle.

“And he actually is, I feel, coming to the tip that, that — as I’ve mentioned earlier than, there’s part of this religion journey that’s so necessary to him. And there’s part of that religion journey that you just solely can reside on the very finish, and I feel he has been there in that house,” Jason Carter mentioned.

Jimmy Carter determined in February 2023 to enter hospice care and to spend his remaining time at residence in Plains, Georgia, after a collection of hospital stays. He’s America’s oldest residing president.

His spouse of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter, for whom Tuesday’s psychological well being discussion board, in its twenty eighth 12 months, is called, died in November.

Tuesday was the primary Rosalynn Carter Georgia Psychological Well being Discussion board since her loss of life.

“That is, after all, the primary of those boards since that day,” Jason Carter mentioned. “However the outpouring of affection and help that we as a household obtained from the folks on this room, and from the remainder of the world, was simply so outstanding and significant to us.

“And it actually turned that complete course of right into a celebration,” he mentioned.

Jason Carter recalled a latest go to with Jimmy Carter in Plains, throughout which they watched an Atlanta Braves sport.

“However I mentioned, Paw Paw, you understand, I can’t — folks ask me the way you’re doing. And I say, ‘I don’t know,'” Jason Carter mentioned.

“And he mentioned, ‘Nicely, I don’t know myself,'” the youthful Carter mentioned because the members within the viewers chuckled. “So he’s nonetheless there.”

Jason Carter mentioned the loss of life of Rosalynn Carter was arduous on the household. She was a humanitarian who championed psychological well being care. She additionally devoted herself to packages that supported human rights, social justice and the wants of aged folks.

“These moments for him on this final 12 months have reminded us, I feel, of one other of the actually necessary points of my grandmother’s legacy, which is that of caregiving,” Jason Carter mentioned at Tuesday’s occasion.

The Rosalynn Carter Georgia Psychological Well being Discussion board, established in 1995, is held each Might, bringing professionals from throughout Georgia to debate psychological well being points within the state, in line with its web site.

With a violent 2016 surveillance video made public on Friday showing to point out rapper-mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs kicking, dragging, and throwing an object at his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura within the hallways of a luxurious lodge, the general public reckoning going through Diddy is reaching a brand new boiling level.

The graphic video, obtained and revealed by CNN, appears to substantiate some particulars alleged in Ventura’s November lawsuit towards Combs. In line with CNN, the footage was filmed on March 5, 2016, at a now-shuttered InterContinental lodge in Los Angeles.

The tape seems to point out Ventura, a singer who performs beneath the identify Cassie, strolling down a hallway towards elevators, and Combs operating after her in a towel. He throws her to the bottom and repeatedly kicks her, after which makes an attempt to pull her down the hallway, presumably again to their room, although she frees herself. Later, he seems to throw a vase at Ventura.

In her lawsuit, Ventura, who dated Combs and was signed to his label, alleged that he abused her, urged her to have intercourse with male intercourse staff whereas he filmed, and that he later raped her. That lawsuit included allegations of a 2016 incident on the InterContinental lodge.

In an announcement on the time of the swimsuit, Combs’s legal professional responded that, “Ms. Ventura has now resorted to submitting a lawsuit riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’s popularity and in search of a payday.” However the publication of the video this week provides a layer of seeming corroboration to at the least a few of the accusations made towards the rapper.

Ventura’s case, settled at some point after it was filed, set off a torrent of comparable lawsuits, a number of of which embrace brutal and disturbing particulars. Plaintiffs state that Diddy — whose beginning identify is Sean Combs and who has additionally publicly passed by Puff Daddy, Puffy, and Love — raped them and, in some instances, trafficked them by coercing them to have interaction in intercourse with different males. Collectively, the instances have redirected public consideration towards longstanding allegations of violence towards Combs, main some manufacturers to chop ties with him and Hulu to scrap his upcoming actuality present.

Hypothesis across the accusations escalated as houses in Los Angeles and Miami Seashore linked to Diddy have been raided by federal authorities, who revealed that the raids have been linked to an ongoing investigation into intercourse trafficking allegations.

Combs has denied the allegations, saying in a December statement, “I didn’t do any of the terrible issues being alleged. I’ll struggle for my identify, my household and for the reality.”

Particularly within the Nineteen Nineties and 2000s, Diddy was a determine of monumental energy, not simply in hip-hop however within the enterprise and leisure worlds writ giant. In latest months, nonetheless, a number of individuals have sued him, saying he used that affect and wealth to sexually victimize and, in some instances, site visitors them, whereas avoiding penalties for many years.

The instances have captured the general public’s consideration partly as a result of Combs was such an influential govt and gatekeeper in music and style, but one who had lengthy been the topic of allegations of violence, together with arrests. They’re among the many first main allegations in years towards a significant determine within the music business, which many really feel has did not reckon with abuses of energy, even on the top of the Me Too motion. Combs is only one of many highly effective males who’ve evaded scrutiny however whose alleged previous conduct is being revisited with contemporary and extra important eyes — in some instances due to the landmark New York legal guidelines which have allowed individuals alleging sexual abuse to file civil lawsuits previous the time interval specified by the statute of limitations.

Certainly, Combs is now drawing comparisons to R. Kelly, with frequent critic 50 Cent asserting that he’ll produce a collection about Combs within the fashion of the bombshell docuseries Surviving R. Kelly, with the proceeds going to assault survivors.

Dream Hampton, producer of Surviving R. Kelly, informed the Occasions late final yr that an accounting was arriving for the Dangerous Boy founder. “Puff is completed,” she stated.

The fits towards Combs additionally present that regardless of latest backlash, the Me Too motion and the authorized and cultural adjustments that got here with it have had an everlasting impression. Even when allegations of sexual assault and harassment don’t make every day headlines the best way they did in 2017, the reckoning is ongoing — and no business is more likely to stay immune without end.

Diddy constructed an empire throughout a number of companies

Combs is a producer and rapper who rose to be an influential determine throughout music, media, and style. He began Dangerous Boy Information in New York in 1993, when he was in his early 20s, and shortly signed Infamous B.I.G., whose two albums helped outline New York hip-hop in that period. Dangerous Boy grew right into a multimillion-dollar enterprise, and Combs produced iconic ’90s acts from Jodeci to Mary J. Blige. When Biggie was killed in 1997, Combs launched a Grammy-winning tribute, “I’ll Be Lacking You,” which “helped inaugurate a business growth in hip-hop that lasted till the top of the nineties,” based on Michael Specter of the New Yorker.

Combs was additionally one of many first to mix the worlds of hip-hop, enterprise, and luxurious. His style label, Sean John, based in 1998, turned recognized for high-end menswear. He promoted manufacturers of vodka and tequila and hosted unique white events within the Hamptons with friends like Martha Stewart. Although now not as central a determine as he was within the ’90s, Combs stays a wealthy and well-connected superstar: Inside a span of weeks final fall, he held a joint album launch and celebration attended by stars corresponding to Naomi Campbell and Janet Jackson, carried out for a sold-out crowd in London, and appeared on the homecoming celebration for his alma mater, Howard College, the place he made a shock $1 million donation.

As Combs constructed his empire, nonetheless, he was accused of a number of acts of violence. In 1999, he was arrested for beating one other govt with a chair, a cellphone, and a champagne bottle; he needed to pay a high-quality and take an anger administration class, based on the New Yorker. The identical yr, he was concerned in a taking pictures at a membership in Manhattan, the place he was attending a celebration together with his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez; witnesses stated they noticed him with a gun, however he was finally acquitted after a public, much-watched trial.

He has additionally been accused of threats and violence towards girls. In a 2019 interview, for instance, his ex-girlfriend Gina Huynh stated he had thrown a shoe at her and dragged her by the hair. However these experiences haven’t acquired mainstream public consideration — till now.

Singer Cassie filed swimsuit towards Diddy in November

In November, Cassie, whose actual identify is Casandra Ventura, sued Combs, alleging sexual assault and intercourse trafficking. Within the swimsuit, first reported by the New York Occasions, Ventura stated she had skilled years of abuse from Combs, beginning quickly after she met him in 2005, when she was 19. She stated that he beat her repeatedly, at one level kicking her within the face, and that later, in 2018, he raped her. She additionally stated he trafficked her by coercing her to have intercourse with intercourse staff in several cities whereas he filmed and masturbated. She tried to delete the photographs and movies afterward, however Combs retained entry, she stated within the swimsuit, at one level making her watch a video she thought she had deleted.

Ventura’s swimsuit additionally stated that Combs and his associates used his energy and wealth to intimidate her into silence and compliance, together with his staff threatening to wreck her music profession if she spoke out towards him. In a single notably stunning element, Ventura stated Combs threatened to explode the rapper Child Cudi’s automobile as a result of Cudi and Ventura have been relationship; the automobile later exploded. “That is all true,” a spokesperson for Child Cudi informed the Occasions of the automobile exploding.

Leon Bennett/Getty Photos

By way of his lawyer, Ben Brafman, Combs accused Ventura of blackmail. “For the previous six months, Mr. Combs has been subjected to Ms. Ventura’s persistent demand of $30 million, beneath the specter of writing a harmful guide about their relationship,” Brafman stated within the assertion, which additionally accused Ventura of mendacity in her lawsuit to hunt a “payday.” Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, stated Combs had really provided Ventura cash for her silence, which she had declined.

Ventura’s swimsuit was settled for an undisclosed quantity inside a single day. The singer acknowledged that she had “determined to resolve this matter amicably on phrases that I’ve some degree of management.”

However Ventura’s choice to come back ahead publicly opened the floodgates, and extra experiences of assault and abuse started pouring out.

Different individuals say Diddy harmed them

Three different girls quickly filed swimsuit towards Combs. Within the second swimsuit, Joi Dickerson-Neal says he drugged and raped her in 1991. Within the third, Liza Gardner says that in 1990, he coerced her into intercourse and choked her, inflicting her to lose consciousness. Jonathan Davis, a lawyer for Combs, stated in an announcement to the Occasions that Combs denied these allegations as nicely: “Due to Mr. Combs’s fame and success, he’s a simple goal for accusers who try and smear him.”

Within the fourth swimsuit, the girl recognized as Jane Doe says she was a junior in highschool when she met then-Dangerous Boy president Harve Pierre and one other Combs affiliate in Detroit. They satisfied her to fly on their jet to New York, the swimsuit says, the place they and the rapper gave her medicine and alcohol after which violently raped her.

“Ms. Doe has lived together with her recollections of this fateful night time for 20 years, throughout which period she has suffered excessive emotional misery that has impacted almost each side of her life and private relationships,” the swimsuit says. “Given the courageous girls who’ve come ahead towards Ms. Combs and Mr. Pierre in latest weeks, Ms. Doe is doing the identical.”

In response to that swimsuit, Combs launched an announcement denying all experiences of violence, calling them “sickening allegations” made “by people searching for a fast payday.” Pierre has additionally denied the allegations, saying in an announcement to TMZ, “I’ve by no means participated in, witnessed, nor heard of something like this, ever.”

The ladies got here ahead final yr as a result of two New York legal guidelines — one among which paved the best way for E. Jean Carroll’s profitable lawsuit towards Donald Trump for sexual abuse and defamation — opened restricted home windows of time through which individuals can file civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse, even when the statute of limitations has handed. A type of home windows closed in late November, explaining the flurry of complaints.

Whereas the fits largely describe conduct the plaintiffs say occurred years in the past, a February submitting by Rodney Jones Jr., referred to as Lil Rod, says that Combs subjected him to undesirable touching and tried to “groom” him once they labored collectively on The Love Album: Off the Grid in 2022 and 2023. Jones says that at a celebration in 2023, he was pressured to drink tequila combined with medicine, then awakened “bare with a intercourse employee sleeping subsequent to him.” He says that Combs provided cash and threatened violence to get him to solicit intercourse staff and carry out intercourse acts with them.

Combs has denied Jones’s allegations. In an announcement, Shawn Holley, a lawyer for Combs, stated, “We’ve got overwhelming, indeniable proof that his claims are full lies,” and referred to as Jones “nothing greater than a liar who filed a $30 million lawsuit shamelessly searching for an undeserved payday.”

Within the wake of those civil lawsuits, raids in Los Angeles and Miami Seashore in March have pointed to an obvious felony investigation. In line with the Occasions, the raids on houses linked to the rapper have been a part of an inquiry by federal prosecutors within the Southern District of New York and brokers with the Division of Homeland Safety. Few particulars have been obtainable within the quick aftermath, and legal professionals for Combs haven’t but responded to requests for remark from Vox or the Occasions. Nevertheless, the raids counsel a possible new degree within the Combs case, with regulation enforcement sources additionally telling the Los Angeles Occasions they have been linked to intercourse trafficking allegations.

Combs was rumored to have left the nation on Monday after his non-public aircraft traveled to Antigua, however he was later noticed within the Miami-Opa Locka airport. No matter his whereabouts, the investigations in Los Angeles and Miami Seashore have as soon as once more positioned the rapper beneath intense public scrutiny.

Is that this the music business’s Me Too second?

The rising variety of experiences, and their chilling particulars, have led firms and influential individuals in media and enterprise to distance themselves from the rapper. Diageo, the beverage model with which Combs partnered on vodka and tequila, eliminated his picture from its web site. Capital Preparatory Faculties, a New York constitution college community Combs helped broaden, posted an announcement on the varsity’s web site saying it was chopping ties with him (although the assertion was later eliminated). Combs additionally stepped apart as chair of Revolt, a TV community he helped begin in 2013.

The instances towards Combs are coming to gentle towards a backdrop of different accusations towards main figures in music. In November, a girl sued Neil Portnow, former head of the Grammy Awards, saying he had drugged and raped her in 2018. The identical month, a former worker sued music govt L.A. “Babyface” Reid, saying he sexually assaulted and harassed her, resulting in irrevocable harm to her profession within the music business.

Additionally they happen at a time when Ye, a music and style mogul whose profession has parallels with Diddy’s, has misplaced lots of his model partnerships after public antisemitic and racist statements in addition to what many say was a years-long sample of verbal abuse and harassment, which can have been saved quiet partly as a result of partnering with him was so profitable for manufacturers.

Whereas the Me Too motion pressured reckonings round sexual assault and harassment in industries from movie to different media to eating places in 2017 and 2018, many within the music enterprise felt that its largest gamers have been comparatively unscathed. R. Kelly, for instance, confronted few penalties till Hampton’s broadly watched 2019 docuseries drew renewed consideration to the accusations — regardless of repeated allegations that he’d had sexual contact with underage ladies, a number of lawsuits, and even a 2008 felony trial over baby sexual abuse materials. Many argued that the explanation Kelly was given a cross for thus lengthy was that the ladies coming ahead to report abuse by him have been Black. In 2021, he was convicted of intercourse trafficking and sentenced to 30 years in jail; a second 20-year sentence was added the next yr, with all however one yr to be served concurrently with the primary sentence.

Three girls acknowledged publicly in 2017 that one other influential music business determine, Def Jam Recordings co-founder Russell Simmons, had raped them. Like Kelly, he was the topic of a documentary specializing in the allegations, although he has not confronted expenses.

Now, Ventura and the opposite individuals submitting swimsuit are reporting violent rape, intimidation, and abuse by one of many largest names in music, somebody who symbolized the motion of hip-hop into each mainstream and high-end tradition. Combs in his heyday was an icon of energy and affect in music, style, and enterprise, and the lawsuits symbolize a brand new willingness to name that energy to account.

Additionally they function a reminder that the Me Too motion has made enduring adjustments, together with influencing regulation and coverage and making a highway map for survivors of assault to come back ahead and share their tales.

Replace, Might 17, 3:05 pm ET: This story, initially revealed on December 20, 2023, has been up to date to replicate latest developments, together with the publication of a video showing to point out Sean “Diddy” Combs kicking and dragging singer Cassie Ventura.

The grandson of former President Jimmy Carter offered an replace on his grandfather’s situation Tuesday on the Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Psychological Well being Coverage, which was the primary held because the former first woman’s dying.

Grandson Jason Carter stated he visited his grandfather at his house in Plains a pair weeks in the past to look at an Atlanta Braves baseball recreation.

“I stated, ‘Pawpaw, individuals ask me the way you’re doing, and I say, I don’t know.’ And he stated, ‘nicely, I don’t know myself,’” Jason Carter stated through the occasion on the Carter Middle in Atlanta. “He’s nonetheless there.” 

Jimmy Carter, who at 99 years previous is the longest lived president, has been in hospice care since early 2023. Rosalynn Carter, his spouse of 77 years, died in November.

Jason Carter stated he believes his grandfather is nearing the tip.

“There’s part of this religion journey that’s so necessary to him, and there’s part of that religion journey that you simply solely can reside on the very finish. And I believe he has been there in that house,” Jason Carter stated. 

His grandfather’s time in hospice care has been a reminder of the work Rosalynn Carter did to advance caregiving and psychological well being, he stated.

“The caregiving related to psychological well being and psychological sickness is so essential and so elementary to the work that all of us do on this room and to her legacy that it’s exceptional and necessary, and we’ve all skilled it very first hand during the last yr so we give thanks for that as nicely,” Jason Carter stated. 

LOS ANGELES –

Warning: This text accommodates graphic content material which may be disturbing to readers. Discretion is suggested.

Safety video aired by CNN seems to indicate Sean “Diddy” Combs bodily assaulting singer Cassie in a Los Angeles resort hallway in 2016.

The video aired Friday seems to indicate Combs, sporting solely a white towel, punching and kicking the R&B singer who was his protege and longtime girlfriend on the time. The footage additionally exhibits the music mogul shoving and dragging Cassie, and throwing a vase in her course.

The video, dated March 5, 2016, carefully resembles the outline of an incident on the now-closed InterContinental Resort in Los Angeles described in a November lawsuit filed by Cassie, whose authorized title is Cassandra Ventura, that alleged years of sexual abuse and different violence from Combs.

The lawsuit was settled the day after it was filed, however spurred intense scrutiny of Combs, with a number of extra lawsuits filed within the following months, together with a federal felony sex-trafficking investigation that led authorities to raid Combs’ mansions in Los Angeles and Miami.

Representatives for Combs didn’t instantly present touch upon the video, however he has beforehand denied the allegations within the lawsuits, and his attorneys have stated he denies any wrongdoing.

CNN didn’t say the way it obtained the video however famous it verified the situation it was shot by evaluating the footage to publicly out there pictures of the InterContinental Resort.

“The gut-wrenching video has solely additional confirmed the disturbing and predatory conduct of Mr. Combs,” stated Douglas Wigdor, an lawyer for Cassie who has filed different lawsuits towards Combs. “Phrases can’t categorical the braveness and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has proven in coming ahead to carry this to mild.”

The Related Press doesn’t sometimes title individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused except they arrive ahead publicly as Ventura has.

Related Press Leisure Author Jonathan Landrum, Jr. contributed to this report.  

Speaking Level – Courtois seems prepared for remaining

Participant of the Match – Jude Bellingham (Actual Madrid)

Participant Rankings

Match Highlights

Key Stat

DENVER (KDVR) — Whereas the Denver Nuggets solely wanted yet another win to complete the collection in opposition to the Minnesota Timberwolves and head to the Western Convention finals, they couldn’t pull it off they usually weren’t even shut.

The crew misplaced by nearly a record-breaking quantity.

From the Minnesota Timberwolves main 2-0 initially of the collection to the Nuggets destroying the Timberwolves with a 55-foot lengthy shot. Between a warmth pack thrown on the courtroom and a six-figure fantastic, it’s secure to say the semifinals for the Western Convention have been something however boring.

Whereas the Nuggets walked into Recreation 6 in opposition to the Timberwolves one recreation forward within the collection, the final win they wanted was blown away when the Timberwolves scored 115 factors.

Worst NBA playoff losses in historical past

The Nuggets didn’t break the report for the worst loss in playoff historical past, however they got here near a report the crew truly helped set in 2009. On Thursday, the Nuggets misplaced by 45 factors, which fits down because the eighth-worst playoff rating in NBA historical past.

The Nuggets made the listing for the highest losses in playoff historical past twice. In 2009, the Nuggets scored 58 extra factors than the Hornets, setting the report solely 13 factors greater than the crew’s deficit on Thursday.

Whereas the Thursday evening loss was ugly, there’s yet another recreation for the Nuggets to earn their spot within the Western finals.

MADRID (AP) — Actual Madrid introduced its thirty sixth Spanish league trophy to its followers on the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Tuesday, then adopted up the celebrations with a 5-0 rout of Alaves that featured a pair of objectives by Vinícius Júnior and one other by Jude Bellingham.

Federico Valverde and Arda Guler additionally scored for Madrid, which was but to play on the Bernabeu since clinching the league two rounds in the past. The membership celebrated the title on Sunday by means of the streets of Madrid, but it surely couldn’t undergo its conventional celebration on the Bernabeu due to a live performance on the stadium.

It couldn’t rejoice when it clinched the title prematurely with a win in opposition to Cadiz on Could 4 as a result of it needed to play Bayern Munich a couple of days later within the semifinals of the Champions League, a sport it received 2-1 to make it to the June 1 remaining in opposition to Borussia Dortmund in London.

“I’m actually happy with the crew’s efficiency, we have to get into an excellent rhythm. We now have a vital sport left to crown our season,” Vinícius mentioned. “We all the time get pleasure from carrying this shirt and taking part in for these followers at this stadium. My dream since I used to be a toddler was to play right here and now we have now the chance to ship this victory for a lot of children who wish to be right here however can’t.”

Alaves’ gamers gave Madrid a guard of honor earlier than the match, lining up close to the sideline and applauding Madrid gamers as they entered the sphere. Madrid captain Nacho Fernández stepped onto the sphere carrying the league trophy.

The opposite 35 league trophies have been represented in pictures positioned across the midfield circle.

Coach Carlo Ancelotti used the common starters once more after giving them some relaxation in a 4-0 win at Granada on Saturday.

Bellingham opened the scoring within the tenth minute, Vinícius scored his first purpose within the twenty seventh and Valverde discovered the online in first-half stoppage time. Vinícius acquired his second within the seventieth and Guler sealed the end result within the 81st.

It was the ninth straight league win for Madrid and sixth in its final seven matches in all competitions. It reached 93 factors from 36 matches, 17 factors greater than second-place Barcelona.

Earlier, relegation-threatened Mallorca drew 1-1 at Osasuna, shifting to fifteenth place and staying seven factors from the demotion zone.

Girona missed an opportunity to beat Barcelona for second place after a 1-0 loss to mid-table Villarreal at dwelling. Girona stayed in third place after the loss, one level from Barcelona and 5 forward of fourth-place Atletico Madrid.

Atletico visits mid-table Getafe on Wednesday, whereas Barcelona is at last-place Almeria on Thursday.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer