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Animator Jorge R. Gutierrez is facing online backlash following news that his latest series, “Punky Duck,” will use artificial intelligence for its production.

Amazon MGM Studios and Amazon Web Services announced on Wednesday the launch of the GenAI Creators’ Fund, a joint initiative that gives creators access to professional-grade AI tools and funding to produce cinematic entertainment.

Three animation projects have already been greenlighted, including Gutierrez’s “Punky Duck,” which follows a punk duck and his best friend, Smiley Cat, through a wildly exaggerated Los Angeles filled with alien invasions, giant monsters, robot criminal conspiracies, telenovela-style family drama and supernatural mayhem.

BuzzFeed Studios’ “Cupcake & Friends” and Albie Hecht’s “Love, Diana Music Hunters” are also part of the initiative.

Speaking at the AI on the Lot event at Culver Studios, Gutierrez spoke positively of using the controversial new technology, comparing it to “having sex and then they hand you the baby.”

Fans took to social media to critique the “Book of Life” creator, sharing their disappointment. Many pointed out how the tool is actively reshaping traditional Hollywood jobs, from storyboarding to production design, raising concerns over creative control.

As a response to the backlash, Gutierrez uploaded a screenshot to Instagram that same day featuring news articles by Variety and the Hollywood Reporter with a caption addressing the collaboration: “I understand a lot of you are happy for me and a lot of you are really angry at me for experimenting with AI at Amazon. I’m going to leave the comments open so you can get it all out and hopefully feel better.”

Gutierrez also warned that any death threats will be reported, as well as threats to his family. The post has since been deleted.

In a subsequent Instagram post, he shared a screenshot of a post on X, which showed edits to Gutierrez’s Wikipedia page, where he is described as a “sellout.” Gutierrez captioned his Instagram: “Whoever did this I thought it was really funny!”

The Mexican creator is behind Nickelodeon’s “El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera” and Netflix’s “Maya and the Three.” He is also currently developing the long-awaited Speedy Gonzales film with Warner Bros. Pictures Animation.

It took over a decade for Gutierrez to get approval for his 2014 film “The Book of Life,” a beloved storybook animation about the Day of the Dead. After multiple rejections from top animation studios, it was eventually produced by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro — a staunch critic of AI, who described its use as “sharting” at a party to The Times late last year.

By comparison, “Punky Duck,” was greenlighted in two months, according to Cartoon Brew.

In a statement to The Times, Gutierrez said he is “cautiously optimistic” about his collaboration with Amazon MGM Studios: “Artists driving tech, and not the other way around, is my goal.”

“It’s a big experiment for me, and like all experiments it might not work, and I will be as cautious and ethical as possible with AI,” he said.

Gutierrez has been critical of AI in the past, expressing distaste for the tool through a series of cheeky memes shared in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Last year, he referred to the nascent technology as a “mutant AI cockroach.”

Anaheim Ducks forward Troy Terry needs hip surgery that could endanger his availability at the start of next season.

Terry has a chronic hip impingement, the Ducks revealed Thursday in their postseason injury report. Anaheim’s first postseason since 2018 ended last week in the second round with a six-game loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Ducks haven’t finalized a date for Terry’s hip surgery or a definite time frame for his recovery.

Terry has been Anaheim’s most consistent offensive player for the past half-decade, scoring at least 19 goals and 50 points each year. He scored 57 points last season before adding three goals and eight assists in 12 playoff games — the first postseason contests of his career.

The team also confirmed that goal-scoring forward Cutter Gauthier played with two fractured vertebrae in his back during the postseason. Gauthier was hurt in late March, but only missed five games before returning and eventually scoring 12 points in the postseason.

Captain Radko Gudas sprained his ankle in the Ducks’ playoff opener and didn’t return to the lineup, but he would have been available if Anaheim had advanced to another round. So would forward Ryan Poehling, who has been cleared after incurring a concussion from an illegal hit by Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb, who was suspended for a game.

Defenseman Pavel Mintyukov sprained a ligament in his knee, but he will be ready for training camp.

Lainey Wilson and Devlin “Duck” Hodges made a splash last weekend, getting married Sunday at a picturesque waterfall in Tennessee.

And unlike at Wilson’s recent headlining gig at the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, nobody had to evacuate because of dangerously high wind.

“You could hear the water trickling down and birds singing, and we had a nice spring breeze,” the country singer and “Yellowstone” actor told Vogue, which had an exclusive on the event. “I arrived in a white horse-drawn carriage and walked down the aisle with my Deddy to join Duck at the altar.”

Yup, she said “Deddy.” She also said at Stagecoach — once the wind had slowed down and she was performing as promised — that she hoped her fans “sat in your cars and drank some tequila” when they were hastily and temporarily evacuated.

On Sunday, a friend took the couple through their vows as they were standing on a cobblestone ledge at the foot of a waterfall on the 121-year-old Ruskin property about an hour out of Nashville.

The groom wore a bespoke mallard green suit and ornate bolo tie for the ceremony, per Vogue, while the bride rocked some 5-inch Louboutin heels under her Oscar de la Renta gown. She also kept some blinged-out, custom-made high-heeled cowboy boots nearby just in case. Perhaps for the reception?

There was a 12-piece jazz band, Wilson told the fashion publication, and a Cajun meal that reflected her Louisiana roots. The caterer? It was her very own Nashville bar, Bell Bottoms Up, which turns 2 years old at the end of this month.

Wilson and Hodges, an NFL quarterback-turned-entrepreneur, met on a blind date in 2021 that started with a dinner on the water in Hendersonville, Tenn., and ended up at a honky-tonk. “We’ve been pretty inseparable since,” the Grammy winner said.

They got engaged a couple of days before Valentine’s Day in 2025. The retired athlete, who played for the Los Angeles Rams in 2021, is now a Memphis-based real estate agent who specializes in land and recreational properties.