brothers

Chadwick Boseman’s brothers, Derrick Boseman and Kevin Boseman, are taking the actor’s widow to court over her handling of his multimillion-dollar estate.

The pair filed a petition with a Los Angeles court to remove control of the “Black Panther” actor’s estate from his widow, Taylor Simone Ledward. They claim Ledward has mishandled distribution of the funds and “cannot be trusted with the continued administration of the estate.”

According to court documents reviewed by The Times, the brothers filed the petition last week on behalf of their parents, Leroy and Carolyn Boseman, whom they say each inherited 25% of their son’s “sizeable” estate while Ledward inherited 50%. The petition states that the estate included residuals and royalties, rights to his image and intellectual property, investments, insurance policies, personal property and multiple bank accounts. Because the actor did not leave a will, the estate was passed to his parents and Ledward.

Ledward, the petition claims, “was also appointed as administrator” but never “fully distributed [Boseman’s] estate. … Instead, she continues to exercise complete control over his estate without input from Leroy and Carolyn.” The filing asks the court to have Ledward distribute the remaining estate assets, make a case for why she shouldn’t be “held in contempt for disobeying the court’s order,” and provide a “full accounting with receipts for her time as administrator.” It also asks that the court remove her as administrator.

The brothers asked the court to pass Ledward’s role as administrator to a private fiduciary and forensic accountant, who they claim will be essential in investigating Ledward’s alleged “mismanagement of the estate and marshaling any unaccounted-for assets.”

Reps for Ledward did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.

The actor’s brothers allege that, because of their lack of access to Boseman’s estate, they are “blocked from pursuing lucrative business opportunities” that might benefit their “elderly parents.”

“For years, our parents have sought clarity regarding matters connected to the estate of our brother, Chadwick Boseman, including his intellectual property and legacy,” the brothers said in an emailed statement shared by their representative. “On behalf of our parents, we are committed to ensuring that transparency, accountability, and respect guide the resolution of these matters. Our hope is that this process brings clarity, honors the Court’s orders, and ensures the responsible stewardship of Chadwick’s legacy.

“We love our brother, and we remain committed to preserving his legacy with dignity, integrity, and respect.”

The Oscar nominee died in 2020 at 43 years old after privately battling colon cancer for four years. He was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in 2016, the same year he made his debut as comics superhero T’Challa, a.k.a. the Black Panther, in “Captain America: Civil War.” The acclaimed actor also portrayed real-life icons Jackie Robinson in “42,” James Brown in “Get on Up” and Thurgood Marshall in “Marshall.”

Boseman and Ledward, an R&B artist who uses the stage name sahn, started dating in 2015 and quietly wed in 2020 before the actor’s death. In a December 2020 interview with “CBS Sunday Morning,” Boseman’s friend and the producer of the Netflix movie “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Denzel Washington, said that while on the set of the film he watched Ledward care for the actor in the midst of his cancer battle and told him to “put a ring on that finger.”

In recent years, Ledward has advocated for colon cancer awareness and spoken at multiple events. In 2024, she spoke at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, saying, “Colorectal cancer is killing young people across the country, and most are vastly underestimating their risk. I’ve seen how this disease moves, and I know now how treatable it is when it’s detected early,” she said, per NBC Boston.

“My personal advocacy stems from this understanding, and from the disappointment I feel in the lack of awareness in my community,” she said. “We who have this knowledge have an obligation to inform our fellow man. Spreading awareness will save lives.”

Controversial influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have been arrested in the US after British authorities issued 38 new charges against the pair.

The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Andrew was being charged with seven further counts of rape, as well as charges relating to sex trafficking and indecent images of a child.

Tristan’s charges include two counts of rape and three counts of arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation.

The total number of charges against the brothers is now 59, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire police said.

The alleged offending is said to have taken place between July 2010 and August 2017. The Tates have previously denied any wrongdoing.

Following their arrest, prosecutors will begin legal proceeding to extradite the brothers, who are dual British-US citizens, to the UK, the CPS said.

“These charging decisions followed receipt of a further file of evidence from Bedfordshire Police and bring the total number of alleged victims in this case to seven,” Malcolm McHaffie, Head of the Special Crime Division at the CPS, said.

Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire police have been investigating a number of offences in what it called a “complex investigation”.

As a result, 38 new charges were authorised against the brothers, meaning Andrew, 39, faces a total of 42 charges in the UK and Tristan, 37, faces 17.

July 18 (UPI) — Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate were arrested in Miami Saturday on dozens of new charges stemming from alleged sex crimes in the U.K., including child pornography, British prosecutors said.

Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said the brothers are awaiting extradition to the U.K. to face 21 original charges — as well as a slew of new accusations.

“We have decided to prosecute Andrew and Tristan Tate for further offences including rape, arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation and offences relating to indecent images of a child,” said Malcolm McHaffie, head of the Special Crime Division at CPS, in a statement.

Andrew Tate, 39, was charged with 19 counts related to indecent images of a child and extreme pornography. He is also accused of rape, arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Tristan Tate, 38, was charged with sexual assault, rape and arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation.

“These charging decisions followed receipt of a further file of evidence from Bedfordshire Police and bring the total number of alleged victims in this case to seven,” McHaffie said.

CPS said the new charges stem from offenses taking place between July 2010 and August 2017.

The Tate brothers, who hold dual British-American citizenship, were first charged in the U.K. last year for alleged rape and human trafficking.

They are former kickboxers with millions of followers on social media.

The brothers have denied all charges against them.

An HBO miniseries has been hailed as the ‘best of the best’ by fans, who say no show or film compares – and it’s streaming on Amazon Prime and NOW

TV fans have lauded a gripping war drama, calling it “the best of the best” and insisting no other show or film matches it. The series proves perfect for admirers of the popular 2001 American war drama miniseries, Band of Brothers.

So, what’s the show? It’s the seven-part television miniseries Generation Kill, which was produced by HBO and originally broadcast from July 13 to August 24 2008.

It was adapted from Evan Wright’s 2004 book sharing of the same name, which documented his experiences as an embedded reporter accompanying the US Marine Corps’ 1st Reconnaissance Battalion throughout the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The extensive ensemble cast includes Alexander Skarsgård, Jon Huertas, James Ransone, Lee Tergesen – playing Wright, though characters only address him using nicknames – alongside many others.

The series earned recognition for its authenticity and emphasis on the bizarre circumstances facing Marines navigating prolonged boredom and volatile combat while dealing with questionable administrative decisions from senior command.

These often incompetent decisions – coupled with inadequate communication – result in troops experiencing frustration and confusion, while simultaneously managing constant equipment shortages.

The miniseries additionally captures the camaraderie among Marines and the gallows humour they employed as a survival strategy during such challenging, intense and unpredictable circumstances.

Generation Kill was created by The Wire’s David Simon and Ed Burns and is renowned for its unflinching use of authentic military terminology, while depicting the Marines as genuine, imperfect people rather than the steadfastly patriotic heroes typically portrayed in war films.

Though it originally broadcast on HBO in 2008, the miniseries is now accessible to stream on platforms such as NOW and Amazon Prime, although subscription add-ons are necessary to view through Prime.

Generation Kill continues to receive regular praise from TV fans and holds an impressive 86% rating on popular review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.

One viewer said: “Right up there with Band of Brothers, Peaky Blinders, and The Pacific. The best of the best. First watched this over 12 years ago when it was new, and it’s still the greatest to this day.”

Another agreed: “It’s Band of Brothers during the 2003 Iraq invasion. Great writing and remarkable acting make this one a must watch TV show.”

A third wrote: “The action is a little over-the-top, but the characters, the dialogue and the attitudes all pretty perfectly capture 21st century military life. This is one of HBO’s truly great pieces of art.”

While a fourth said: “The more you watch it, the better it gets. It’s difficult for me to put into words, but to this day I still have not watched any show or even movie as good as this.”

Another shared: “One of my favourite HBO offerings!”

Generation Kill is streaming on Amazon Prime and NOW.

Very few have heard of the ‘phenomenal’ World War II drama on Netflix, as viewers call the powerful and engrossing series an ‘exceptional masterpiece’ that’s a ‘must watch’.

For years, the television drama Band of Brothers has been establishing the standard for war-themed dramas.

Crafted by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, the series is widely regarded as the gold standard of its genre, having elevated expectations considerably when it comes to war epics.

Now, another war drama is being lauded as a ‘phenomenal masterpiece’ – and it might well eclipse Band of Brothers.

Available on Netflix, the relatively obscure war drama limited series comprises three episodes running approximately an hour each, and acclaim for the programme has been widespread.

War Sailor, originally titled Krigsseileren, is a Norwegian war drama that was selected as Norway’s official submission for Best International Feature at the 95th Academy Awards – and audiences cannot stop praising it, reports Wales Online.

It first premiered as a film in late 2022, and when it eventually arrived on Netflix in April 2023, it emerged as a three-part miniseries with 30 minutes incorporated into its original running time.

Written and helmed by Gunnar Vikene, it happens to be the most costly Norwegian film ever produced, created on a budget of $11.1m.

The drama features Kristoffer Joner and Pål Sverre Hagen in leading roles, alongside Ine Marie Wilmann, Henrikke Lund Olsen, Armand Hannestad, and Leon Tobias Slettbakk.

The war drama draws from the genuine, real-life experiences of 30,000 Norwegian civilian sailors who participated in Allied convoys during the Second World War.

The war drama’s official synopsis reads: “Merchant sailors are caught in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean during Germany’s invasion of Norway and hijacked into working for the Allied war effort.”

Boasting an impressive 92% audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, War Sailor has been hailed as “heart-in-your-throat moving” by viewers.

An IMDB user review of the war drama says: “One of the best war movies I’ve seen. I thought I’d seen so many war and catastrophe movies I’d become numb to the emotional drama and could only be stimulated by history lessons and battlefield action but this one gripped me.”

While another viewer said of the series: “Intense but phenomenal. It’s difficult to sum up the experience of watching this film. It weaves suspense, devastation, love, hope, and the horrors of war together into a picture that will stay with me for a long time to come.”

Another audience review added: “Brilliantly written, directed and acted, this is a gripping, at times excruciating, film. The characters are beautifully, painfully individual, the story unexpected and painfully convincing. It takes us inside the actions of war but the unforgettable moments are the still ones in which nothing happens but meaning.”

While one viewer crowned it “a masterpiece”: “Wow – what an intense film. Excellent acting and period sets. A masterpiece.”

Yet another audience review said: “A sweeping epic. Structured like a sweeping epic, Krigsseileren tells about the efforts of Norwegian commercial sailors in the Atlantic theatre during WWII. A combination of authenticity, technical brilliance, and a clear artistic framework makes this into an all-encompassing viewing experience.”

While one fan described the drama as something that “transcends the ordinary”: “Something Extraordinary Finds its Way to Our Screens. Just when we thought nothing of quality is left, nothing worth our time, what we have left of it, War Sailor shows up on Netflix.

“As real a depiction of events which shaped our world as you are likely to see. Transportation to another place and time at a historic moment in history, for the price of your Netflix subscription. Empowering performances that transcend the ordinary. Highly recommended.”

Critics have branded the war drama “powerful and engrossing”, with one reviewer writing: “War Sailor is the best kind of war movie: a character drama that happens amidst war, focusing most on how the characters are changed by the atrocities over the years.”

Another critic said: “War Sailor offers some of the best ensemble acting seen in recent years. It’s been perfectly cast down to the smallest role.”

War Sailor is available to stream on Netflix.

Three Clausen brothers who were quarterbacks — Casey, Rick and Jimmy — have created a fall flag football league for boys and girls in an effort to help youth players learn the game. There also will be six Clausen children playing in the league.

Flag football continues to grow, with the Clausen brothers behind a fall league.

(Los Angeles Times)

Casey is a former head coach at Bishop Alemany. Rick is head coach at Westlake. And Jimmy is a former NFL quarterback.

Casey said the Rising Stars is a 7×7 league that will take place in the fall with focus on rising participation of girls playing. The breakdown of divisions for boys and girls ranges from third grade to eighth grade and will be played on Sundays beginning Aug. 16 at Agoura, Oak Park and Westlake.

Get ready for lots of Clausen cousins, brothers and sisters playing football in the coming years. The oldest is a sixth grader.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

Candles flickered on long wooden tables beneath a sprawling mulberry tree as Matt French stepped in front of the doorway of his sleek Pioneertown home, holding a drink aloft. Dressed in fitted jeans and a dark western shirt, he welcomed the roughly 60 guests who had assembled in his front yard for the kickoff event of the High Desert Art Fair that would take over the 19-room Pioneertown Motel he owns with his brother Mike.

“We’re super honored to be hosting this event and hosting tonight,” said Matt, addressing a crowd that included local artists, musicians and well-heeled art world types from L.A. “This is the exact kind of event that we want to have in the desert.”

Although the French brothers were not directly involved in the art fair itself, the evening’s itinerary had their fingerprints all over it. Dinner was held in front of the expansive compound they share, and the food — perfectly grilled tri-tip with chimichurri, sourdough bread with cultured butter, flatbread pizzas — was prepared by the owners of the Old Town Public Market, a yet-to-open organic deli and wine bar that would soon occupy another building the brothers own in nearby Yucca Valley. After dessert, the ringing of an old-fashioned triangle bell alerted guests that it was time to cross the road to the Red Dog Saloon, another French brothers business, where Shepard Fairey was already DJing to a packed crowd that spilled onto the rustic porch, the cacophony of laughter, bass and cigarette smoke wafting down the town’s main drag.

It was just another dreamy, highly curated night in the high desert of Matt and Mike French’s making.

Vintage design details abound at the French brothers’ properties, including the Pioneertown Motel.

Few people have had more influence on the modern aesthetic of the sun-drenched desert near Joshua Tree National Park than the two brothers from Portland whose properties regularly pop up in travel publications, Instagram reels and “best of the desert” lists. Since buying the Pioneertown Motel in 2014, Matt, 42, and Mike, 37, have built a portfolio of businesses that tap into the mythology of the California desert — part cowboy, part Rat Pack, part cosmic traveler. Across historic restoration projects like the motel where Gene Autry once played cards all night, the Red Dog Saloon where 1940s film crews unwound after long days of shooting and the Copper Room, a restaurant and bar at the Yucca Valley airport that was a favorite of Gram Parsons, their properties give tourists and locals alike a taste of the desert’s history and glamour all while making it feel like patrons have just stumbled upon these magical spots themselves.

Now, the brothers, along with Eric Cheong, a designer and the third partner in their company Life & Times, are expanding their unique vision to other parts of the desert with two new projects. In late 2026, they will open Lord Fletcher Inn, a 1960s-era steak house in Rancho Mirage where Frank Sinatra occasionally stepped behind the bar. Miracle Hill, the brothers’ colorful take on a geothermal bath house in Desert Hot Springs, is slated to open at the end of 2027.

The French brothers purchased the 1960s-era restaurant Lord Fletcher’s in Rancho Mirage, where Frank Sinatra occasionally tended bar.

Designer Eric Cheong, left, on the porch of the Red Dog Saloon, with Matt and Mike French.

With these two new businesses, as well as an ambitious expansion of the Pioneertown Motel, including an extension of the Western facade of Mane Street that was approved in December, the brothers say they feel a renewed commitment to the desert community where they have lived and worked for more than a decade. Although they toyed with the idea of doing projects in other parts of the country, they ultimately decided that the world they have created in this dry desert landscape is too valuable to leave.

“The lady at the post office has treats for my dog and knows my dog’s name,” Mike said. “You can’t buy your way into community like that. You have to earn it.”

The French brothers’ story may sound like a desert fairy tale, but they insist it wasn’t always that way.

Although they’d been traveling to Palm Springs for family vacations since they were kids, it wasn’t until 2009 that Matt first drove up the rocky mountain pass to Pioneertown and fell in love with the funky desert community originally built in the 1940s as a working film set. After learning that the rundown motel across the street from Pioneertown’s iconic roadhouse and concert venue Pappy & Harriet’s was for sale, Matt, who was working for a boutique hotel company at the time, convinced Mike to join forces with him and buy it. It took five years of starts, stops, heartbreak and nearly giving up before the deal finally went through in 2014.

“Matt was really the driving force,” Mike said. “I was like, this is nuts, but I’m in.”

Those early days were challenging. One of their first orders of business was to evict the previous owner’s weed dealer who had been living in one of the rooms rent-free. The manager at the time was known to yell people off the property. Skilled workers were hard to find, and the desert’s popularity as a tourist destination had not yet ballooned.

Mike and Matt French are setting the stage for their next venture, Miracle Hill, a geothermal bath house in Desert Hot Springs.

“In retrospect it can look very obvious and very, like, ‘Oh, of course, the hotel’s cool and it’s right next to Pappy’s,’” said Matt. “But that is not what it felt like back then.”

The brothers also had to contend with a notoriously fierce local community that was deeply suspicious of the lanky millennials from out of town.

“We had our claws out and our guns cocked,” said David Miller, 81, a longtime local and the president of Friends of Pioneertown. “But it turned out that they are model citizens.”

For two years, the brothers ran the motel remotely while continuing to work other jobs — Matt for a real estate company that did large-scale development in Portland and Mike for a ticketing and events start-up in L.A. In 2017, they decided they needed a home base in town and bought a rundown house with an even more rundown barn a 10-minute walk from the motel. They have since renovated it into two homes just yards from each other with a shared backyard that includes a pool, sauna, cold plunge, hot tub and custom-built hammock that can hold up to 20 people. In 2018, they moved in full time.

A Pioneertown Motel pick-up truck, spotted outside the kitchen window of Matt French’s home.

Two years later, in August 2020, they opened the Red Dog Saloon, a full-scale renovation of the historic bar of the same name that originally opened in 1946. The brothers say they weren’t necessarily looking to open a new business — they just really wanted another place to eat and drink in town besides Pappy & Harriet’s. Their original plan was to create a 16-seat whiskey bar in a small building across from Pioneertown’s picturesque Post Office, but their partners, restaurateurs Adam Weisblatt of Last Word Hospitality who operates Hermon’s and Found Oyster and Eric Alperin from the Varnish, suggested they look at the much larger Red Dog Saloon instead.

“They were like, ‘You can actually make money that way,’” Mike said about the restaurant and bar that can serve as many 1,000 people a day. “And we were like, ‘Yes, that’s a great point.’”

The same team came together again to open the Copper Room, a higher-end, full-service restaurant at the Yucca Valley Airport that opened in 2022 on the site of a dive bar they used to frequent called Wine & Roses.

In 2020, the brothers opened the Red Dog Saloon, a full-scale renovation of the historic bar of the same name that originally opened in 1946.

“At the time we really weren’t sure if Yucca Valley could support that kind of dining experience,” Mike said. “Now we have a $200 tomahawk steak served tableside on the menu and they sell out. There is no way we could imagine that happening when we opened.”

As they did with the motel and the Red Dog, the brothers and Cheong leaned into the history of the space when designing the Copper Room. They kept the curved bar where Gram Parsons drank his last margarita intact but went with a 1950s vibe in the main dining room, with heavy brocade banquets and floral wallpaper, nodding to the restaurant’s opening in 1957.

Cheong said that across each project, he and the French brothers leaned heavily on the space’s unique history for design inspiration.

The vintage-style entrance into Red Dog Saloon.

“We really base it around story and lore,” Cheong said. “The spaces merge together because there is a similar strategy, but it’s not a style. It’s not a color palate. It’s like a feeling of respect and honor, but it’s also our twist on it.”

The brothers’ three businesses were thriving, but in 2023, they found themselves in a lull. “We were having trouble figuring out what to do next,” Matt said. “ We have a very specific criteria of what we want to do and we were like, maybe we look outside of the desert. Maybe things here are plateauing.”

The brothers already had one property outside of the desert — Captain Whidbey, a historic lodge and resort on Whidbey Island in Washington that was named one of the best hotels in the world by Travel + Leisure in 2020 — but ultimately they concluded that the price of leaving Pioneertown to start over somewhere new was too high to pay. They had invested years into building relationships with the high desert’s eclectic community. Somewhere along the way they had also come to feel like chosen family.

The French brothers and Eric Cheong leaned into the history of the space when designing the Copper Room.

“So many things were pulling us in different directions, but life is more personal than business,” Mike said. “So we committed to the desert, which was not just committing to doing business in the desert, but was really committing to living in the desert.”

Since then, more opportunities have opened up. The brothers purchased Lord Fletcher’s in 2025 after a real estate agent happened to mention a 1966-era steak house in Rancho Mirage was for sale. Miracle Hill came about in part because the town of Desert Hot Springs is eager to grow its reputation as a destination for geothermal bathing and offered to help them find a suitable location. For the brothers, it represents the first time they are creating a space from the ground up. Construction has yet to begin, but they have already crafted a story for the space that builds off the community’s early 20th century history and mystical geology.

“The core narrative is that it feels like an eccentric, gregarious host’s home that you are going into,” Mike said. “And the mountain alignment, the sun, the wind, the faults and the geothermal water are the five forces that create a vortex-type energetic field deal. So we’re kind of leaning into that.”

At the same time, Mike revived the community’s historic Pioneertown Gazette, which he originally started printing as an in-room publication but has since expanded to a weekly newsletter that enthusiastically highlights the growing calendar of events happening at several venues across the high desert. And in the next few years, the brothers plan to begin construction on the next phase of the Pioneertown Motel, which will include a swimming pool, restaurant and 47 new rooms.

A game of horseshoes at Pioneertown Motel.

Signage pointing to the Red Dog Saloon.

Pioneertown’s history buffs, and there are many of them, will tell you that the picturesque community has a long history of newcomers showing up with dollar signs in their eyes, hoping to make it big in the desert. But few, if any, have been as successful as the French brothers at making those businesses come to life. It helps that they have a good sense of design and an intuitive understanding of what people want. It also helps that they’ve attracted like-minded people like Jeffrey Baker, the warm and personable general manager at the Copper Room and future general manager of Lord Fletcher’s who excels at management (a self-described weak point for Matt and Mike) and makes everyone he meets feel like an instant friend.

But their true secret sauce might be that aside from the motel, their businesses are designed to cater to the local community at least as much as to tourists.

“People here love these restaurants,” Matt said. “They love the Red Dog, they love the Copper Room, they love the Gazette. So we felt that vibe shift of people being supportive and excited about what we’re doing.”

It also helps that over the last few years, some bad actors have demonstrated what the alternative might look like, with new management at Pappy’s that alienated locals from their longtime watering hole and a wannabe developer who floated much-maligned plans to build a concert venue and a massive glamping complex in Pioneertown. (Both parties have since left the area.)

“I think that has given some people some perspective that having locals do it right, and seeing that we are committed, has really made a difference,” Matt said.

Mike and Matt French walk down Pioneertown’s Mane Street.

It’s been a winning business formula, but if you believe the brothers, there’s more to it than that. Creating spaces where everyone from foreign tourists to drunken bachelorettes to crusty locals to families with young kids feels comfortable and welcomed is all part of the desert ideal they’ve been curating for more than a decade.

Mike said that there’s nothing like seeing Pioneertown old-timers drinking with their buddies at the Red Dog.

“It’s so good,” he said. “And then you find other people who get lit up by the same silly thing, and it’s like, maybe it’s not so silly. Maybe it’s the whole point.”