Alan Carr won The Celebrity Traitors in a tense series finale on Thursday and, overcome with emotion, the comedian told viewers: “I am and have always been a traitor”
But his own career is now set to change, with The Celebrity Traitors thought to act as a springboard for more success. An insider has even said Alan is being considered for Strictly, as Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman are set to leave. They added: “He has got to be up there with the BBC to get a huge new role… Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, Strictly.”
And a BBC source said: “Alan has always been a star – but it’s amazing what a month in a Scottish castle can do to elevate your career. He’s ours now.”
The Mirror had reported how chatter linked Alan to one of the Strictly vacancies, but now his triumph in the Scottish castle is said to have firmed his bid to take the Saturday night gig. The presenter had been praised for “super competitive streak” and charisma during his time on The Celebrity Traitors, which began at the start of October.
A source on The Celebrity Traitors said “people just love Alan”. The BBC believes viewers “loved him and [think] he has been the star of the Traitors,” one insider told the Daily Mail.
Alan, snubbed for a potential role as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent in 2023, was hoping for nothing more than a bit of a giggle when he signed up for the BBC show. He got off to a difficult start as fellow traitor Jonathan Ross worried Alan, born in Weymouth, Dorset, might give himself away.
But Alan showed the resilience and courage to thrive and eventually beat former England rugby star Joe Marler and his fellow Traitor Cat Burns. Bursting into tears when he was declared the winner, the comedian said: “I am and have always been a traitor… I’m so sorry, it’s been tearing me apart.” He told host Claudia Winkleman: “All that lying, all that treachery was worth it, wasn’t it?”
Nick Mohammed covered his mouth in shock when Alan revealed the other traitors. The Ted Lasso star said: “Not Joe!” He added: “Alan Carr. He played an absolute blinder.” Alan said: “What a rollercoaster, how did this happen? I was awful at lying and had a terrible poker face and here I am, the winner.”
ATHENS, Greece — Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former California prosecutor, television personality and close ally of President Trump, officially took office Tuesday as the first U.S. female ambassador to Greece.
Guilfoyle, 56, who was once engaged to Donald Trump Jr., presented her diplomatic credentials to Greek President Constantine Tassoulas after being sworn in Sept. 29 in Washington.
The former Fox News host’s arrival comes as the United States works to boost liquefied natural gas exports to eastern Europe through Greek port facilities.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are expected in Athens this week for talks focused on expanding Western gas exports to war-torn Ukraine through a modified multinational pipeline network.
Guilfoyle and the visiting officials are scheduled to meet with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and attend ministerial meetings organized by the Washington-based Atlantic Council.
Since 2018, Greece and the United States have strengthened military ties, including expanding U.S. access to Greek bases and increased involvement of American defense contractors in Greece’s multibillion-dollar armed forces modernization program.
Guilfoyle attended a black-tie welcome reception over the weekend in Athens. Joined by local business leaders and several Cabinet members, she took part in a lively Greek dance — linking arms with other guests and keeping pace as the music sped up.
“I know we will do amazing things for these two exceptional countries,” she told attendees. “I will not disappoint the United States of America. I shall not disappoint Greece.”
At Tuesday’s ceremony, Guilfoyle presented her credentials after the new ambassadors from Norway, Harriet Berg, and Canada, Sonya Thissen.
Jon Stewart’s biting satire may have made his new bosses squirm, but they went ahead and extended the comedian’s run on Comedy Central through December 2026.
The channel’s parent company, Paramount, announced Monday that Stewart will continue to host “The Daily Show” on Monday nights and serve as an executive producer through the end of next year.
Members of the show’s news team will continue to share Tuesday through Thursday hosting duties. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.
“Jon Stewart continues to elevate the genre he created. His return is an ongoing commitment to the incisive comedy and sharp commentary that define The Daily Show,” Ari Pearce, Comedy Central’s manager said in a prepared statement. “We’re proud to support Jon and the extraordinary news team.”
Stewart’s contract was re-upped nearly four months after Paramount-owned sister network CBS notified Stephen Colbert, who rose to fame on “The Daily Show,” that it was dumping his late night show at the end of the season. The cancelation was revealed days after Colbert lambasted a $16 million settlement Paramount agreed to pay President Trump to end a lawsuit over edits to “60 Minutes.” Colbert called the arrangement “a big fat bribe.”
Paramount settled the Trump suit to win approval from the Trump administration of its sale to David Ellison’s Skydance Media and RedBird Capital Partners. CBS has said the reason for Colbert’s cancellation was financial, not political, although many people have expressed doubts.
Ellison took ownership of Paramount in August. Stewart has joked that he, too, might be tossed as the company tries to reposition itself to the political center.
Last week, the company began a deep round of layoffs, cutting 1,000 employees with plans to terminate another 1,000 in the coming weeks, in an effort to trim its workforce by 10%.
After a nine-year absence, Stewart returned as a host in February 2024. He had helmed the show for 16 years before taking a break in 2015. His current contract was expiring.
The show was hosted by Trevor Noah until 2022, when he stepped down. That prompted a rotation of guest hosts, including Kal Penn, Charlamagne tha God, Sarah Silverman and Michelle Wolf.
Last month, during a conversation with the New Yorker at a cultural festival, Stewart was asked whether he might stick around longer. “We’re working on staying,” Stewart told the New Yorker’s David Remnick.
The rotation of “The Daily Show” hosts also will include Ronny Chieng, Josh Johnson, Jordan Klepper, Michael Kosta, and Desi Lydic with Troy Iwata and Grace Kuhlenschmidt.
He may not have done double duty as host and musical guest the way Carpenter did, but Miles Teller appeared to fully embrace the challenge of returning to host for a second time (the first was in 2022). The “Top Gun 2: Maverick” star, who’ll next be appearing in the movie “Eternity,” gave a solid performance, appearing in nearly every sketch, including the cold open and two pre-recorded videos.
He first appeared as former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a candidate for New York mayor, in the cold open with help from Ramy Youssef and Shane Gillis as opponents Zohran Mamdani and Curtis Sliwa.
Teller handled it all well; he’s good with accents and earned strong laughs, especially playing two characters at the same time in the “Property Brothers” sketch and as Cuomo in the cold open.
This week’s cold open was one of the stronger (or at least funnier) political sketches of the season so far, tackling the New York mayoral race. As hosted by Errol Louis (Kenan Thompson), “the least famous person to be impersonated on ‘SNL,’ ” the debate sketch portrayed Cuomo (Teller) as a sexually harassing (“Yadda yadda yadda, honk honk, squeeze squeeze) panderer to Jewish voters; Mamdani (Youssef) as a force-smiling, TikTok-flirting candidate who’s pretty sure he won’t be able to implement his promises; and long-shot candidate Sliwa (Gillis) as an “old-fashioned New York nut” with one traumatic story after another to recount. The biggest surprise may have been Gillis, who as Sliwa recounted stories about being hung by his testicles and getting assaulted by a Times Square Spider-Man. Where was this energy when Gillis hosted “SNL”? As has been the habit on many a cold open, President Trump (James Austin Johnson) interrupts the proceedings to mock the candidates and insert his own commentary. This time, that included singing a song from “Phantom of the Opera” to conclude the sketch.
Teller’s monologue was short and simple, relaying how as a kid who moved around most of his childhood, “SNL” was a constant. He shared a photo of himself and his sisters dressed up as the “Night at the Roxbury” characters from the show and then made up a list of memories from the show, like having his first beer in the audience and falling over after having a few beers. Teller mentioned that he and his wife lost their Palisades home in January’s Los Angeles fires. As such, he made sure to point out the fire exits for the audience.
Best sketch of the night: An extreme White House makeover
The Property Brothers Jonathan and Drew Scott (Teller times two) meet their toughest clients yet: Trump and First Lady Melania Trump (Chloe Fineman) who need help with their current renovation of the White House to make room for a new ballroom. Melania shared her skeleton and withered tree decorations (“They are for Christmas,” she said), and the couple complained that 55,000 square feet and 132 rooms just isn’t enough space. With a budget of “$350 million to infinity” the brothers get to work with the help of park rangers and astronauts working through the government shutdown. But when it comes to getting paid for their work, there’s a problem. “Aren’t you guys from Canada?” the president asks. Then he calls ICE on them.
Also good: Nobody asked for this much transparency in news
On a show called Newspoint, the host (Fineman) and her guest (Thompson) are trying to have a serious news discussion, but because the show has opened up its full newsroom to viewers, all the workers in the background draw attention. Among them are Mikey Day, who awkwardly notices the cameras are on him before spilling a carrier of drinks, Bowen Yang as a worker who gets electrocuted by a copy machine and Teller, who has manga erotica up on his work screen. It’s nice to see some physical comedy from Day in particular and the sketch’s visual gags work nicely.
‘Weekend Update’ winner: George Santos is back, untruthful as ever!
Andrew Dismukes and Ashley Padilla (who should be a full cast member at this point instead of a featured player) played a couple who just made out but are trying to discuss the government shutdown. But it was Yang as chronic liar George Santos who stole “Update” (and some jewels) after Yang missed an opportunity on the last “SNL” episode to play the former representative, whose prison term was commuted by Trump. Santos claimed he finished the New York marathon, which hadn’t happened yet, and kept interrupting his chat with “Update” co-host Colin Jost to take calls with prisoners with a jail window and phone he brought with him. He purported to speak with Ghislaine Maxwell, Luigi Mangione and Sean “Diddy” Combs before revealing that the key to making prison rice pudding is preheating the toilet to 350 degrees. Santos ended the segment by revealing the necklace he stole from the Louvre and insisting that he’d just won the World Series.
Al-Sharaa’s trip, planned for November 10, will be first-ever visit by a Syrian president to the White House.
United States President Donald Trump will host Syria’s interim leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, for talks on November 10, according to Washington’s envoy to Damascus, in what would mark the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to the US capital.
Tom Barrack, the US envoy to Syria, told the Axios newspaper on Saturday that al-Sharaa is expected to sign an agreement to join an international US-led alliance against the ISIL (ISIS) group during his visit.
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The Reuters news agency also cited a Syrian source familiar with the matter as saying that the trip was expected to take place within the next two weeks.
According to the US State Department’s historical list of foreign leader visits, no previous Syrian president has paid an official visit to Washington.
Al-Sharaa, who seized power from Bashar al-Assad last December, has been seeking to re-establish Syria’s ties with world powers that had shunned Damascus during al-Assad’s rule.
He met with Trump in Saudi Arabia in May, in what was the first encounter between the two nations’ leaders in 25 years.
The meeting, on the sidelines of Trump’s get-together with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, was seen as a major turn of events for a Syria that is still adjusting to life after the more than 50-year rule of the Assad family.
Al-Sharaa also addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.
Barrack, the US envoy to Syria, told reporters on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain that Washington was aiming to recruit Damascus to join the coalition the US has led since 2014 to fight against ISIL, the armed group that controlled about a third of Syria and Iraq at its peak, between 2014 and 2017.
“We are trying to get everybody to be a partner in this alliance, which is huge for them,” Barrack said.
Al-Sharaa once led Syria’s offshoot of al-Qaeda, but a decade ago, his anti-Assad rebel group broke away from the network founded by Osama bin Laden, and later clashed with ISIL.
Al-Sharaa once had a $10m US reward on his head.
Al-Sharaa, also referred to as Abu Mohammed al-Julani, had joined fighters battling US forces in Iraq before entering the Syrian war. He was even imprisoned by US troops there for several years.
The US-led coalition and its local partners drove ISIL from its last stronghold in Syria in 2019.
Al-Sharaa’s planned visit to Washington comes as Trump is urging Middle East allies to seize the moment to build a durable peace in the volatile region after Israel and Hamas earlier this month began implementing a ceasefire and captives’ deal. That agreement aims to bring about a permanent end to Israel’s brutal two-year war in Gaza.
The fragile ceasefire and captive release deal continues to hold, but the situation remains precarious.
Israeli strikes in Gaza earlier this week killed 104 people, including dozens of women and children, the enclave’s health authorities said. The strikes, the deadliest since the ceasefire began on October 10, marked the most serious challenge to the tenuous truce to date.
Meanwhile, Syria and Israel are in talks to reach an agreement that Damascus hopes will secure a halt to Israeli air strikes and the withdrawal of Israeli troops who have pushed into southern Syria.
Barrack told the Manama Dialogue earlier that Syria and Israel continued to hold de-escalation talks, which the US has been mediating.
He told reporters that Syria and Israel were close to reaching an agreement, but declined to say when exactly a deal could be reached.
Israel and Syria have been Middle East adversaries for decades.
Despite the overthrow of al-Assad last December, territorial disputes and deep-seated political mistrust between the two countries remain.
BBC Breakfast returned once again on Saturday 1 November
BBC Breakfast host Naga Munchetty quipped ‘what’s going on this weekend’ during Saturday’s show(Image: BBC)
BBC Breakfast host Naga Munchetty quipped ‘what’s going on this weekend’ during Saturday’s show.
During the latest instalment, Naga, 50, and co-host Charlie Stayt reported on the world’s largest cake decorating show in Birmingham called Cake International.
Naga and Charlie, 63, were shown a series of creations from the event, which included a Jim Carrey inspired cake, a troll cake and some Halloween inspired creations.
However, Naga didn’t find the Halloween creations too appetising as she admitted: “I don’t want to eat that character’s teeth!”
To which Charlie responded: “It would be so wrong to slice into something created… they’re basically works of art, aren’t they? I do not know how they make those cakes like that!”
Naga then asked Charlie of the Halloween cake creation: “Would you eat the teeth or the eyeballs of that cake?”
To which Charlie admitted: “I think I’d choose to just leave it there and not touch it. I’d make a separate cake for eating and just have that one to look at.”
Yet weather presenter Louise Lear was quick to join in as she admitted over the creation: “I’d eat anything at the moment, I’m starving!”
To which a horrified Naga asked: “Would you eat the teeth on that one?” with Louise joking: “I haven’t had breakfast, anything, Naga, particularly if the icing is good!
“I mean, I’m one of those people. I’m a bit of a grazer, so I might just kind of, you know, have a little bit and then keep going back to it, yeah.
“But I’d have gone for the troll’s head straight away. Chopped it off. What does that say about me?”
To which an animated Naga joked: “Even more brutal. There’s no messing with you two. What’s going on this weekend?”
Cake International is the biggest cake decorating and baking event in the world.
It runs for three full days at National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham. It opened on Friday the 31st of October and ends on Sunday the 2nd of November.
BBC Breakfast continues every day at 6am on both BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Comedian Alan Carr has quickly become an unlikely favourite to win Celebrity Traitors, which draws to a close BBC One on Thursday, and his popularity has rocketed
Alan Carr is pictured on Celebrity Traitors alongside Joe Wilkinson, Celia Imrie and Stephen Fry(Image: BBC)
The comedian, 49, is vying to win the reality TV series, which draws to a close on Thursday night on BBC One. PR experts say his stint on the programme, a spin-off from the civilians’ version, has helped further boost Alan’s popularity, following previous success with his own titular show on Channel 4.
And now the broadcaster is being touted to step in to host Strictly Come Dancing next year, following the departures of Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly. One insider said: “More people are watching Alan than are watching Strictly right now. He’s been catapulted to the A-list. The star dust is practically dripping off him.”
It is said Alan, the son of a former professional footballer, thought he would have been the first kicked off The Celebrity Traitors, but he has survived to reach the final five contestants. His antics alongside the likes of Sir Stephen Fry, Kate Garraway, Clare Balding and Celia Imrie have had millions of Brits hooked since October 8.
Alan, who won a BAFTA for Alan Carr: Chatty Man in 2013, was praised for displaying his “super competitive streak” and charisma, traits insiders believe make him an ideal match for Strictly. A source told the Daily Mail: “He’s an old-fashioned showbiz pro who would be just perfect hosting Strictly. If he does manage to win Traitors it will be a sign to the BBC that he has the star quality to present its flagship show.”
He said: “It’s hard to predict. I think the BBC should go for people who are already well-known and experienced – not newcomers. Familiar faces that the audience already trusts, like Paddy McGuinness or even Noel Edmonds. If you bring in big names the public already loves, they’ll go along with the change more easily.”
Alan, a comedian for nearly three decades, has been ruthless throughout his time on The Celebrity Traitors, dispatching his close friend Paloma Faith, and similarly, actress Celia Imrie on Thursday night. The source continued: “His public persona is one of being a bit of a giggle, a bit of a pushover, but that is definitely not the case at all.”
After graduating from university, Alan moved to Manchester, with his sights on a career in comedy. He worked in a call centre for five years, while treading the boards in his spare time on the stand-up comedy circuit, winning awards and a huge following along the way.
Looking for things to do in L.A.? Ask us your questions and our expert guides will share highly specific recommendations in our new series, L.A. Times Concierge.
Where can I host a big birthday party on a restaurant patio or rent out a bar during the day? That’s not outrageously expensive? — Kristen Silva
Here’s what we suggest:
First and foremost, I respect — and deeply relate to — your desire to celebrate your birthday on a budget. It’s tough right now. The good news, though, is that L.A. is brimming with delicious restaurants and aesthetic bars that go easy on the pockets — both for you and your guests. And some even allow you to bring your own birthday cake.
For a laid-back spot where you and your friends can sit at picnic tables and enjoy juicy pastrami sandwiches, loaded French fries and refreshing cocktails, check out Johnny’s in West Adams. Senior food editor Danielle Dorsey recommends the spot in a guide to West Adams, calling the umbrella-dotted parking lot patio “the perfect al fresco setting.” Because Johnny’s has a walk-up service counter, its easy for your guests to come and go as they please. Plus, you won’t have to worry about the headache of trying to split the bill at the end of the night. Reservations are only necessary if you’re looking to rent out the space, but there is a $35 cake fee.
If you don’t mind being indoors, my colleague Deborah Vankin suggests Far Bar in Little Tokyo, where she celebrated her birthday on the mezzanine with about 50 friends. “It was a cozy, but still roomy space that felt festive and provided the best people watching below,” she says. “The price was beyond reasonable and, afterwards, a group of us walked down the street for dessert and karaoke.” If you’re open to hosting your party on a slower night (not Friday or Saturday), a manager told me you can avoid rental fees. (FYI: There’s also a narrow outdoor seating area here, but Vankin says it’s not great for parties.)
Music lovers will appreciate Zizou, a vibey French-Moroccan restaurant nestled in Lincoln Heights. Owned by two lifelong friends from France, Zizou features a stunning vintage sound system, where DJs can be found spinning jazz, French hip-hop, South African rhythms and other global sounds on the weekends. My friend Tori Johnson hosted her birthday party on the starlit patio earlier this year. “We were able to invite friends post-dinner to come and have wine with us until the restaurant closed,” she tells me. “It felt intimate and just what I was looking for for my 31st birthday.” For parties of eight or more, there’s a $75 minimum per person for seated dining, but no minimum if you’re planning to just chill at the bar or near the sound system. You can either bring your own cake at no additional cost or order Zizou’s house-made French apple tart for dessert. And don’t worry, the servers won’t look at you with disdain if you ask for separate checks — at least from my experience.
Another worthy option is Everson Royce, which deputy food editor Betty Hallock calls “one of the best bars in the city (with great food),” and I can’t agree more. This spot is popular because of its happy hour and its breezy outdoor patio. “It’s like being in a friend’s backyard, with picnic tables, string lights and a vine-wrapped tree, except you’re in the middle of downtown,” Hallock reports in a guide to the most picturesque restaurant patios in L.A. An Everson Royce staffer told me that you can book a normal reservation for up to 100 people — yes, you read that correctly — and that the restaurant doesn’t charge extra fees or require any deposits. Staff will even split the checks for each of your guests.
In the mood for dancing? Start your night with focaccia-style pan pizzas at De La Nonna, then head next door to the Let’s Go! Disco & Cocktail Club. I DJed a wedding here last year and it was a seamless transition, sweating out the delectable pizza at the Italian-inspired nightclub where 1970s disco hits (and related genres) are the soundscape. Reservations are highly recommended. For 20 guests, De La Nonna requires its prix fixe menu with optional drink packages, but 30 or more guests are considered a “partial buyout,” so both are required. There’s also a room fee. If you’re still in the mood for partying once the cocktail den closes at 1 a.m., then walk across the street to EightyTwo, an arcade bar with dozens of pinball machines and classic video games. (Note: De La Nonna charges a $20 cake fee.)
If these spots don’t satisfy your needs, some of my food colleagues also suggested Le Great Outdoor in Santa Monica, Mr. T in Hollywood, Good Neighbor Bar in Altadena and Benny Boy Brewing in Lincoln Heights — all of which have a patio.
As you can see, there are loads of options depending on what type of food, vibe and part of L.A. you prefer. Wherever you end up, I hope you have a wonderful time and, most importantly, that you have a great birthday and year ahead.
Food Network announced Monday that its long-running weekend culinary talk show “The Kitchen” is coming to an end. The final episode of the series, co-hosted by network favorites Sunny Anderson, Katie Lee Biegel, Jeff Mauro, Geoffrey Zakarian and recurring guest Alex Guarnaschelli, will air Dec. 13.
“It’s the end of an era,” Biegel said in her Instagram story sharing the news. “Thank you so much to all of our fans. The Kitchen was the greatest professional honor of my life and I will be forever grateful.” Biegel has served as one of the show’s co-hosts since its 2014 premiere.
Mauro, who has also been with the show since the beginning, echoed her sentiments on his own Instagram post.
“I always knew what we had was special — rare, a unicorn, an anomaly,” Mauro said in a lengthy caption thanking fans and colleagues. “I got to spend a dozen years with my best friends — cooking, laughing, and eating life-changing bites from some of the world’s greatest chefs and cooks.”
Currently in its 40th season, the Daytime Emmy-nominated cooking-themed talk show featured its hosts and guests sharing recipes, discussing food trends and offering other food tips. In addition to celebrated chefs and culinary personalities, “The Kitchen” opened its doors to various actors, musicians and celebrities.
“For over a decade Sunny, Katie, Jeff, Geoffrey and more recently Alex have engaged audiences with their individual and distinct food sensibilities and sense of humor that together make ‘The Kitchen’ a delicious way to spend an hour,” Warner Bros. Discovery head of food content Betsy Ayala said in a statement.
“Everyone knows all good parties end up in ‘The Kitchen,’ where the conversation, laughs and food flow; the best parties probably end a little bit earlier than some guests would like, but we’ve got twelve years of memories and wanted to celebrate this team’s hard work during one final holiday season.”
Food Network titan Bobby Flay congratulated the show’s team for “an iconic run” in the comments on Food Network’s Instagram post sharing the news.
“Thank you to the Kitchen and its fabulous chefs and hosts for holding it down in daytime on [Food Network] for the last decade,” Flay wrote.
Other Food Network stars also chimed in with tributes in the comments responding to the announcement.
“I loved this show because it reminded me of why I fell in love with cooking in the first place,” wrote Aarti Sequeira, Season 6 winner of “The Next Food Network Star,” “lots of voices and hands working together in a kitchen with equal servings of love and sass!!!!”
“[C]ongrats on an incredible show — one of my favorites to watch and to be part of,” “Chopped” judge Marc Murphy wrote. “You’re all legends.”
Fellow “Chopped” judge Tiffani Faison also congratulated the show’s staff for “a run worthy only of this team.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and congressional Democrats have announced a sweeping investigation into potential misconduct in the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown that has ensnared citizens, made use of racial profiling and terrified communities for months.
Bass and the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), announced that Congress will open up “a broad investigation” into arrests of U.S. citizens by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, as well as another investigation into immigration raids overall. The announcement was made Monday at a news conference at L.A. City Hall.
“Donald Trump and [Department of Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem are terrorizing immigrants, working people, the people of Los Angeles and of our state every single day,” Garcia said. “They violate the law and they violate the constitution.”
Garcia said that his House committee would investigate “every single brutal misconduct” that immigration authorities have committed in Los Angeles as well as across the country.
Simultaneously, the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will conduct an investigation into reports of the detention of at least 170 U.S. citizens by immigration authorities, which was reported by ProPublica last week.
“Troublingly, the pattern of U.S. Citizen arrests coincides with an alarming increase in racial profiling — particularly of Latinos — which has been well documented in Los Angeles,” Garcia and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote in a letter to Noem. “In a pattern symptomatic of a disregard for civil rights by DHS, U.S. citizens have faced extended periods of detention.”
For months, agents have roamed the streets of Los Angeles toting guns and chasing down immigrants. The scenes that have played out on the streets — protesters being arrested, immigrants dragged out of their cars — have been repeated in Chicago and other cities with largely Democratic leadership.
Mayor Bass said the arrests of American citizens means that no one in the country is safe.
“This can happen to anyone, to all of us, at any period of time,” she said.
Garcia said that the first hearing of the House committee will be held in Los Angeles and that Angelenos should attend and be heard on immigration enforcement issues.
The congressman did not give a date for the hearing, but said he hoped it would be soon.
In the letter that Garcia and Blumenthal sent to Noem on Monday, the legislators called on the Department of Homeland Security to report the total number of U.S. citizens who have been detained by immigration authorities, as well as how long each individual was detained. They also asked for information regarding the training that CE and Customs and Border Protection agents receive on use of force, among other things.
The White House and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
India is set to host the centenary Commonwealth Games in 2030 – the second time in 20 years that the event will have been held in the world’s most populous nation.
The city of Ahmedabad in the west of the country has been chosen ahead of Abuja in Nigeria by an evaluation commission from governing body Commonwealth Sport.
And the decision to hold the Games there in five years time is now expected to be ratified at the organisation’s general assembly in Glasgow on 26 November.
Ahmedabad can boast the Narendra Modi Stadium – the largest in the world, with a capacity of 132,000 – which hosted the Cricket World Cup final in 2023.
The city has a population in excess of five million people, and has even been suggested as a potential bidder to host a future Olympic Games.
“We see the 2030 Games as a powerful opportunity to inspire our youth, strengthen international partnerships and contribute to a shared future across the Commonwealth,” said Dr. P T Usha, president of Commonwealth Games Association India.
The Games first visited India in 2010 when Delhi hosted.
It is the second time Abuja has missed out on staging the Commonwealths, having been overlooked for the 2014 edition in favour of Glasgow.
And it also means Africa’s wait to hold the event for a first time will continue.
The news looks set to end fears that Glasgow 2026 might be the last-ever Games, with Scotland’s largest city having stepped in after the Australian state of Victoria withdrew for financial reasons.
That came after Birmingham took on the 2022 event after the South African city of Durban pulled out.
However, a reimagined format – with fewer sports, athletes and venues – has lessened the cost and enticed India, Nigeria and a handful of other countries to make their pitch to welcome the 74 Commonwealth Sport nations and territories.
A Commonwealth Sport statement said they “assessed candidate cities against a wide range of criteria including technical delivery, athlete experience, infrastructure, governance, and alignment with Commonwealth Sport values”.
It added: “The Commonwealth Sport Executive Board has agreed to develop a strategy for supporting and accelerating Nigeria’s hosting ambitions for future Games, including consideration for 2034.”
The 2030 Games will mark the centenary of the inaugural event held in Hamilton, Canada, in 1930.
Comedian and TV star Paul O’Grady was set to be the host of Britain’s Got Talent and even have the show named after him until things got very heated behind the scenes
13:47, 07 Oct 2025Updated 13:47, 07 Oct 2025
Paul O’Grady was set to be the host of Britain’s Got Talent before Ant and Dec(Image: TV Times via Getty Images)
Former Britain’s Got Talent judge Piers Morgan has revealed Paul O’Grady was meant to be the host for the hit talent show, until things went very wrong. The controversial broadcaster was part of the original line up on Simon Cowell’s talent show back in 2007.
Music mogul Simon was inspired by former talent shows including Opportunity Knocks and New Faces as he wanted to create a competition for people of any age and location to enter. He wanted a range of personalities on the judging panel with him, and first settled on Piers and Fern Britton.
Piers admitted: “I owe him a lot actually because I would not have had any career in America without him. He has been great for me. He said ‘I am going to bring back an old all-round talent show like New Faces, Opportunity Knocks and The Gong Show in America. It can be any talent’.”
The broadcaster explained: “We did a pilot at ITV. Paul O’Grady was the host. The judging panel was Simon Cowell, me, and Fern Britton. It was about to be greenlit as a prime-time ITV show.”
Piers said he was ready “to get back in the game” but things quickly took a turn and the production was halted. He said: “Then Paul O’Grady had a massive falling out with ITV, told them to shove it and went to Channel 4.”
At the time, the Paul O’Grady Show moved over to Channel 4 and ITV stopped him being able to rent their studios. Paul decided to refuse all work with the network following the row.
He explained years later: “I did the pilot for Britain’s Got Talent – which was originally going to be called Paul O’Grady’s Got Talent. But I told the producers they were having a joke if they thought I would front a show with that title.
“The original panel of judges was going to be Simon Cowell, Fern Britton and Piers Morgan. I was the host. Then when I had the row with ITV I was banned from the studios.
“I remember I rang Simon and told him he had a huge hit on his hands, but there was no way I could do it. I said, if I am banned I have to be banned from everything. I can’t be a hypocrite and come in and do this. I had to bow out.”
Paul added: “I don’t regret what I did. Not in the slightest. Good luck to them.” He did also manage to patch things up with ITV and returned years later with Paul O’Grady Live!.
Paul’s decision to boycott ITV meant Britain’s Got Talent was hit with a huge delay and Simon decided to kick off with America’s Got Talent first. Simon enlisted Piers again as he wanted “someone who is judgmental, opinionated, obnoxious and arrogant” as him.
Britain’s Got Talent hit screens a year later with Simon, Piers and Amanda Holden as judges and Ant and Dec as hosts. Piers said on The Overlap and Betfair’s Stick to Cricket show: “He had literally come up with the entire concept of Got Talent on a napkin at the Ivy in Kensington.
“Bring back a talent show. Have a tough mean judge, a mother hen figure, a funny person and any talent goes. Now the Got Talent franchise is in more than 60 countries around the world. It changed my life.”
The “Reading Rainbow” is officially back, with internet-famous librarian Mychal Threets at the helm.
Following the reboot’s premiere last Saturday, the new host responded to the audience’s wishes for a Latino lead in a recent social media post. He wrote, “You’re not going to believe this… I am [Latino]! My dad is Black, my mom is Mexican and white. I’m a mixed kid, homeschool kid, library kid, PBS kid, and @readingrainbow kid!”
Threets, who got his start as a Bay Area librarian, tells The Times that because he was home-schooled, he was able to learn about his heritage mostly through books. He says he was raised to be proud of his heritage and looks up to both his grandfather and mother as examples of what it means to be Latino. Much of his childhood was also marked by the sounds of Selena Quintanilla, whom he recently got memorialized in a tattoo.
“My heritage and being Latino will hopefully be reflected in my appearance on the show,” said Threets in a statement. “I hope people will see me and see a happy, jovial person who has the same heritage as them.”
Threets started to gain online popularity in 2020. He started posting short-form videos of himself reading and sharing stories from working in a library. Many of those videos garnered more than a million views and earned him several hundred thousand followers.
The original “Reading Rainbow,” hosted by LeVar Burton, first launched on PBS in 1983. For over two decades, Burton taught literacy skills and helped instill a love for reading in children across the country. The show ended in 2006, having earned a handful of Emmy and Peabody Awards. It ran for a total of 155 episodes and is recognized as one of the longest-running children’s programs ever.
At the time, the show was funded in part by the Department of Education. The reboot comes at a time when public media, including television, has been subject to sizable budget cuts. The revitalization will instead appear on the kids’ YouTube channel, Kidzuko, which is owned by Sony Pictures Television, as well as the Reading Rainbow’s website.
The reboot, which premiered over the weekend, has mostly stayed true to its roots with a new rerecorded theme song and a trivia segment. Celebrity guests will include “Dancing With the Stars” performers Rylee Arnold and Ezra Sosa, “The Bear’s” actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach, John Legend, Chrissy Teigen and Gabrielle Union. New episodes air every Saturday, until Oct. 24.
“Reading Rainbow seeks to make reading fun for everyone, all races, all backgrounds, all levels of reading! The reactions have been out of this world,” said Threets. “I am overwhelmed in the best of ways.”
President Trump has said many things about “Saturday Night Live” over the years. Few of them are favorable, highlighting his disdain for the late-night sketch comedy show, though his previous stints as host would suggest otherwise.
The president hosted the show in 2004 and in 2015, shortly after announcing his first run for president. The decision to have him host “SNL” in 2015 was controversial at the time, but NBC’s top brass defended the move, citing his front-runner status among Republicans and the high ratings it produced. “At the end of the day, he was on the show for 11 minutes and … it wasn’t like the Earth fell off its axis,” said then-NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt during the Television Critics Assn. press tour in 2016. He would later call Trump “toxic” and “demented.”
Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly said he believes the show is unfunny, lacks talent and is “just a political ad for the Dems” nowadays. The sentiment echoes comments he’s made about late-night talk show hosts Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel and their respective shows, each known for skewering Trump. With Season 51 of “Saturday Night Live” set to begin Saturday, and recent settlements with media outlets and tech companies making headlines — YouTube settled a Trump lawsuit for nearly $25 million Monday over the suspension of his account — a renewed focus will be on the show and how it spoofs the president and his policies.
Colbert’s series was canceled by CBS in July and will conclude its 10-year run next year in May. While CBS cited financial reasons for its decision to end Colbert’s show, the host was a vocal critic of both Trump and CBS’ parent company, Paramount, which had recently settled a lawsuit with Trump just before the Federal Communications Commission approved its merger with Skydance Media (Colbert called the settlement “a big fat bribe”).
Kimmel was benched by ABC in September after the head of the FCC, a Trump appointee, threatened the network over the host’s comments about Charlie Kirk’s suspected killer. Kimmel has since returned to the air, and used his first episode back to defend free speech. Colbert and Kimmel also appeared as guests on each other’s shows Tuesday, expressing mutual support and cracking jokes at Trump’s expense. Trump has also called for NBC to ax its late-night hosts Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon, both of whom are “SNL” alums.
Now, “SNL” could be the next target of the administration’s scrutiny. Trump’s posts on social media have previously aired his disapproval for how the series mocks and satirizes him and his administration, and he has suggested investigating NBC as result.
“Nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on Fake News NBC!,” Trump tweeted in February 2019, during his first term in office. “Question is, how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution? Likewise for many other shows? Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real Collusion!”
Donald Trump in 2015, the year NBC cut ties after he made comments about undocumented Mexican immigrants.
(Andrew H. Walker / Getty Images)
Over the years, Trump has had a contentious relationship with the network that once aired “The Apprentice,” the show that made him a reality TV star, and his Miss Universe pageant. In 2015, NBC cut ties with Trump over comments he made about undocumented Mexican immigrants.
“Saturday Night Live,” which celebrated its 50th anniversary earlier this year with multiple specials, has been churning out political parodies for decades, and its comedy has targeted leaders from all political backgrounds.
The first time Trump was portrayed on “SNL” was in 1988 by then-cast member Phil Hartman. Since then, a host of actors and cast members have cycled through with their Trump impressions, with one of the most memorable being Alec Baldwin, who took over from Darrell Hammond in 2016 ahead of the presidential election.
Trump disliked Baldwin’s portrayal, and wrote in 2018 that Baldwin’s “dying mediocre career was saved by his terrible impersonation.” Baldwin won an Emmy for supporting actor in 2017 for playing the president.
The “30 Rock” actor’s stint as Trump on “SNL” lasted through 2020, and he made appearances as Trump even when the show was filming remotely during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of his most memorable moments impersonating the president were in cold opens that mocked the debates between Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Alec Baldwin in 2017 as President-elect Donald J. Trump during a “Saturday Night Live” cold open sketch.
(Will Heath / NBC)
In March 2019, Trump wrote that “SNL” continues “knocking the same person (me), over & over, without so much of a mention of ‘the other side.’” The episode that aired the weekend he wrote that tweet was a rerun. “Like an advertisement without consequences,” he went on.
According to reports from the Daily Beast, Trump took a step beyond airing his grievances over Twitter that time. He reportedly asked advisors and lawyers in early 2019 about what the FCC, the court system, and even the Department of Justice could do to look into “SNL” and other late-night comedy figures who had mocked him. That inquiry did not amount to any actions, according to the outlet.
In 2022, Trump said the show’s ratings were “HUUUGE!” when he hosted, but that they’ve since tapered off. The most recent season of “SNL” was the most-watched in three years, with a season average of more than 8 million viewers.
He went on to write that creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels is “angry and exhausted, the show even more so. It was once good, never great, but now, like the Late Night Losers who have lost their audience but have no idea why, it is over for SNL — A great thing for America!”
Michaels, who rarely gives interviews, reflected on the cancellation of Colbert’s show and what it means for late-night television in an August conversation with Puck News. Michaels said he was “stunned” by CBS’ cancellation of “The Late Show,” but added, “I don’t think any of us are going to ever know” if the decision was political.
“Whatever crimes Trump is committing, he’s doing it in broad daylight,” Michaels went on to say. “There is absolutely nothing that the people who vote for him — or me — don’t know.” He also called Trump a “really powerful media figure” who “knows how to hold an audience.”
“His politics are obviously not my politics, but denouncing [him] doesn’t work,” he added.
While many cold opens and “Weekend Update” segments have been dedicated to skewering the president, often making him the butt of jokes, the cold open in the episode immediately following the 2024 election had a different approach. Trump’s opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, had appeared on an episode just days before the election, but after Trump’s victory, the cast promised they had “been with [him] all along,” adding that they all voted for him and supported him.
“If you’re keeping some sort of list of your enemies, then we should not be on that list,” they said before debuting their new Trump impression, “Hot jacked Trump,” which featured impressionist James Austin Johnson in a muscle tee and a headband.
Johnson began portraying the president on the series in 2021, and Michaels said he will continue in the role for Season 51. His portrayal mirror’s Trump’s speech patterns and his tendency to veer into tangents about pop culture. Since Trump’s inauguration in January, the cold opens have zeroed in on Trump, focusing on his relationship with Elon Musk and his policies.
The “Weekend Update” segment, hosted by Colin Jost and Michael Che, tends to take sharper jabs the president’s policies and comments, as well as other administration officials.
In the Puck interview, Michaels implied the show wasn’t going to back down, and when he was asked whether political comedy will be tougher in the current climate, Michaels said no.
“I don’t think anybody knows what Michael Che’s politics are,” he said, “but they do think he’s funny.”
Brendan Carr, the chairman of the FCC who has been in the headlines for his role in Kimmel’s benching, wrote in 2020 that political satire is one of the “oldest and most important forms of free speech.”
“From Internet memes to late-night comedians, from cartoons to the plays and poems as old as organized government itself — Political Satire circumvents traditional gatekeepers & helps hold those in power accountable,” he continued. “Not surprising that it’s long been targeted for censorship.”
The late night circuit got its version of a unique crossover event Tuesday night as Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert appeared as guests on each other’s shows.
It was a fitting stunt considering both talk show hosts have been at the center of noteworthy professional situations shrouded in political and national significance, and both orbit in the same universe of President Trump’s contempt. The two hosts, who have vocally supported each other through the respective ordeals on their shows, were now able to continue the mutual backing in full force, face-to-face.
In the wake of the fallout of Kimmel’s suspension earlier this month over comments he made related to the death of conservative pundit Charlie Kirk, the recently reinstated host charged ahead with moving his L.A.-based show to Brooklyn for a week as planned, with Colbert among the star-studded list of guests. Colbert was effusive in his support of Kimmel after ABC pre-empted his talk show, criticizing the decision as “blatant censorship.”
Kimmel, meanwhile, appeared on “The Late Show,” alongside pop star Sam Smith. Earlier this year, CBS announced it was canceling “The Late Show” and would end after the season wraps in May 2026 — marking not only the end of Colbert’s run at the helm, but also bringing the late night institution to a close after a 30-year run. The decision, the company said, was due to financial reasons and not — as many have speculated — because of Colbert’s criticism of a deal between the Trump administration and Paramount, the parent company of CBS, the network that airs “The Late Show,” over.a 2024 “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Kimmel was one of the many who expressed disdain over the decision, even campaigning for Colbert to win an Emmy though Kimmel was on the same ballot. (Colbert ultimately won.)
Ahead of Kimmel’s appearance on “The Late Show,” Colbert hosted another late-night host, Conan O’Brien, who appeared as a guest Monday, opening the conversation with, “Stephen, how’s late night? What’s going on? I’ve been out of it for a little bit — catch me up on what’s happening.”
“I’ll send you the obituary,” Colbert replied.
Here are five standout moments from the night of shared grievances.
Stephen Colbert, left, and Jimmy Kimmel backstage at “The Late Show.”
(Scott Kowalchyk/CBS)
Colbert says he ‘sweat through his shirt’ the day he told his staff ’The Late Show’ was canceled
In his first sit-down interview since the “The Late Show” was canceled, Colbert walked Kimmel through the timeline of his show’s cancellation. He said he received the news from their mutual manager, James Dixon, after the taping of his show on July 16. He got home to his wife, Evie McGee-Colbert, two and a half hours later. As he walked into the apartment, according to Colbert, his wife said, “What happened? You get canceled?”
Dixon knew for a week but had been hesitant to relay the news to Colbert, who was on vacation. Once he learned the show’s fate, Colbert said he was unsure about when he should break the news to his staff, debating whether to wait until after the summer break or in September. His wife, though, said he would tell them the following day.
“We get into the building,” he said, “I go up the elevator, I walk through the offices. By time I get to my offices, I have sweat through my shirt because I didn’t want to know anything my staff didn’t know. And I said, ‘I’m going to tell my staff today,’ but then we couldn’t do a show if I told them because everybody would be bummed out and I would be bummed out.”
He only told executive producer Tom Purcell at first. He got through the whole show. And then he asked the audience and staff to stick around for one more act so he could record the announcement.
“My stage manager goes, ‘Oh no, we’re done, Steve, we’re done.’ And I said, ‘nope, there’s one more act of the show. Please don’t let the audience leave.’ And he goes, ‘No, boss, no. Boss. I got that. I got the thing here. We’ve done everything.’ And I said, ‘I’m aware of that. And I’m here to tell you there’s one more act of the show,’” he explained. “So I went backstage, I said, ‘Everybody, get on Zoom.’ I told everybody as briefly as I could so they wouldn’t find out about it on air. And then I went back out on stage to tell everybody. And I was so nervous about doing it right — because there was nothing in the prompter, I was just speaking off the cuff — that I f— up twice. And I had to restart and the audience thought it was a bit and they started going, ‘Steve, you can do it.’ Because I always messed up on the sentence that told them what was happening. And then I got to the sentence that actually told them was happening, and they didn’t laugh.”
Kimmel, in turn, shared that he found out about “The Late Show’s” cancellation while attending a No Kings protest march.
Kimmel says he took the call from ABC about his suspension from the bathroom
Jimmy Kimmel on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” Tuesday.
(Scott Kowalchyk/CBS)
Like Colbert, Tuesday marked the first time Kimmel had been interviewed since his suspension earlier this month, and he detailed the day he got the news he was being pulled from the air.
Kimmel’s office is busy — there’s roughly five other people working in there with him at all times, he told Colbert. So when ABC executives wanted to speak with him less than two hours before he was set to tape that night’s episode, Kimmel resorted to the bathroom to take the call in private.
“I’m on the phone with the ABC executives, and they say, ‘Listen, we want to take the temperature down. We’re concerned about what you’re gonna say tonight, and we decided that the best route is to take the show off the air,’” Kimmel said before the audience interjected with boos.
“There was a vote, and I lost the vote, and so I put my pants back on and I walked out to my office,” before telling some of his producing team the news, he said. “My wife said I was whiter than Jim Gaffigan when I came out.”
The decision on Kimmel’s suspension came so late in the day that the audience was already in their seats and had to be sent home, Kimmel told Colbert.
A sign of the times?
While touting the crossover event in his monologue (“We thought it might be a fun way to drive the President nuts so…”), Kimmel took time to stress the groundswell of support Colbert has both in New York, where he does his show, and in Kimmel’s homebase of L.A. To prove it, the camera cut to a photo showing signs that were displayed over the 101 freeway in L.A. when Kimmel went back on the air following his suspension. They read: “Public pressure works — Kimmel is back!”
“And this is the sign that is up now,” Kimmel continued, cutting to video of more recent signage over the freeway. “It says, “Now do Colbert.”
Gavin Newsom traveled to Brooklyn. Or did he?
Seth Meyers, left, Josh Meyers as California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Jimmy Kimmel on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
(Randy Holmes/ABC)
The California governor — who also moonlights (by proxy of his social media team) as the unofficial No. 1 Trump troll — made the cross-country trip to Brooklyn to surprise Kimmel on stage. Or did he? As the host mentioned the politician’s latest jab at Trump during his monologue, Newsom barreled onto the stage on a bike before finding his place next to Kimmel for a roughly six-minute spiel, delivered in his best California bro speak, on his mission to bring people together.
“L.A and N.Y.C., we’re not so different,” Newsom said. “I mean, we both just want to be free to smoke weed while riding our electric scooters to a drag queen brunch.”
As Kimmel pressed how exactly they can succeed in coming together, a blustering Newsom responded: “We already started, dog. These people get it. They have their own great late night hosts here in NYC, but tonight they chose my homie from L.A. They could be partying with my dude, J-Fall and The Roots crew — they’re a rap band … because you did look confused. Anyway, these Brooklyn-istas came to see you instead of checking out the political commentary of John Oliver or J-Stew or pay their respects to Colbert before he shipped off to Guantanamo Gay, or they could have gone and watched whatever that little creep Seth Meyers is doing … dude dresses like a substitute Montessori teacher. I mean, do you know why he sits down for his jokes? Same reason yo’ mama sits down to pee.”
Cue a special appearance from Seth Meyers, Kimmel’s friend and fellow late night host to rein in … his brother? For the non-late night connoisseurs reading this: Meyers’ brother, Josh, played the “Covid bro” version of Newsom during the pandemic in sketches that aired on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” Newsom took the gag further on Tuesday, impersonating Josh impersonating himself on Kimmel’s stage.
“We’re bros, but no, we’re not,” Newsom as Josh said. “Look, I get this all the time, probably because we’re both so hot.”
Meanwhile, keeping the planned awkwardness going, Kimmel took the opportunity to mention to Meyers that he was in town if he wanted to get dinner. Meyers responded: “What happened with your show? I thought this whole thing was, you know … “
“We’re back on the air,” Kimmel said. “We’re back on now.”
It should also be noted that Kimmel, Colbert and Meyers later posed for a photo onstage and uploaded it to their respective social media accounts with the caption, “Hi Donald!”
Guillermo brings the fun (and the tequila)
Guillermo Rodriguez, left, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert taking a round of shots on “The Late Show.”
(Scott Kowalchyk/CBS)
Looking ahead at the remaining months Colbert will be on the air, Kimmel asked the host when he was going to “go nuts,” and suggested he lose his glasses and “maybe do some ayahuasca on set.” Kimmel then gifted him a bong with a Statue of Liberty design, which he called a “chemistry set.”
Colbert started playing along by unbuttoning his blazer and saying “f— that” to a signal that he only had a minute left in the segment. (“What are they gonna do, cancel me?” Colbert asked). Then, as if right on cue, Guillermo Rodriguez, Kimmel’s friend and sidekick on his show, came onto the stage with tequila (and three shot glasses) in hand.
On the first round of Don Julio, Colbert made a toast: “To good friends, great jobs and late-night TV.”
Colbert then poured another round and Kimmel pulled out the bong he had gifted the host. The group then took one more shot together and Kimmel toasted to Colbert.
Guillermo, who got a round of hearty cheers from the crowd, is known for giving out shots and toasting with A-Listers at awards shows and other Hollywood events.
When the 49th Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris called, Scott Evans, the host of the YouTube interview show “House Guest,” answered in disbelief.
“I was literally gobsmacked,” Evans tells The Times. “I wanted to make sure she felt the love and that we were ready to discuss anything she wanted.”
In its short-lived history, the Webby Award-winning, self-funded show has welcomed comedian Leslie Jones, Oscar winner Regina King and actor Keke Palmer. On Thursday, Evans entertained a guest with secret service stature.
During her visit, Harris discusses her book “107 Days,” which entails her experience as a presidential candidate during the 2024 election. She revealed to Evans he was the first person she discussed the book with outside of her team.
The housewarming vibes set the tone for a conversation that allowed Harris to speak with comfort and embrace emojis, a delicacy she had been without during her time in the White House.
Harris and Evans talking on “House Guest.”
(Ryan Handford)
As they discussed her book, Evans and Harris shared a cheese and anchovies pizza. The host made the choice to commemorate the day she found out President Joe Biden was going to drop out of the race for the house on Pennsylvania Avenue.
“The first day you found out that Joe Biden was not going to be running for reelection and that you got the go-ahead,” Evans said, “cheese pizza with anchovies is where you went.”
Harris reveals she found out Biden was going to drop out of the presidential race while playing with her niece’s daughters. She was in her sweatpants, with her hair in a ponytail, when the unexpected call went through.
“This is really happening and the only people staffing me are both under 4 feet tall,” Harris said. “My little baby nieces … firsthand witnesses to history.”
She recalls her team coming together immediately and turning her dining table from a breakfast setting to business. Work for her campaign began and as the day elongated and dinner time passed, they ordered pizza, including one with cheese and anchovies.
In her book, Harris calls the day she certified the election one of the hardest things she’s ever had to do. As vice president and president of the senate, it was her responsibility to confirm the election on Jan. 6, a date in infamy after the insurrection that took place on the same date in 2021. Evans asked her if there was ever a moment in which she didn’t want to take the high road.
“It was nonnegotiable in my mind that I would stand there and give it the process, the dignity that it deserves of showing what leadership should be about, which is a peaceful transfer of power,” Harris said.
“I was not going to let them, in any way, compromise every reason that I ran for president, which is that I do believe in the importance of the rule of law,” she added.
After conceding the election, Harris tells Evans she grieved and experienced emotions that resembled those she felt when her mother died.
“I choose not to allow circumstances or individuals disempower my spirit,” she added as an emotional Evans added: “If you can say that, if you can really believe that, then there are so many others of us who can feel confident in that as well.”
Sinclair Broadcast Group is ending its preemption of ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
The Maryland-based owner of several major ABC network affiliates said Friday the late night program will return to its airwaves immediately. The station group pulled Kimmel off the air Sept. 17 following a backlash over the host’s comments related to the killing of right-wing activist Charile Kirk.
Sinclair’s ABC stations include WJLA in Washington, D.C., and KOMO in Seattle.
Kimmel was pulled off the air by Sinclair and another station group, Nexstar, the same day Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr took aim at the host’s Sept. 15 monologue, in which Kimmel said MAGA Republicans were using Kirk’s death to “score political points” and were trying to categorize shooting suspect Tyler Robinson as “anything other than one of them.”
In a statement, Sinclair did not cite a specific reason for returning the program, which has not aired on its stations since Sept. 17. The company had initially demanded that the host make a personal apology to the family of Kirk and a significant contribution to the his organization Turning Point USA.
A person briefed on the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly said no such concessions were made to get the program back on the air.
Carr, who oversees regulations for broadcast stations, called Kimmel’s remarks “the sickest conduct possible” and called for ABC to act. He threatened to go after TV stations’ licenses if it failed to do so.
ABC pulled the program from the network, but returned it to the air on Tuesday. Kimmel’s first episode back scored 6.26 million viewers — a record for its regular 11:35 p.m. time slot — while his opening monologue was watched by more than 26 million people on YouTube and social media.
Bomb the United Nations headquarters. Or maybe gas it. Fox News host Jesse Watters had plenty of ideas about how to punish the U.N. after President Trump’s humiliating visit to the organization’s New York headquarters Tuesday.
Trump’s arrival at the General Assembly meeting with First Lady Melania Trump began with the pair stranded at the bottom of an escalator that stopped just as the couple stepped on. The hijinks continued when he stepped behind the lectern to speak and the teleprompter was not working. Trump decided to wing it, leaning into his impromptu-diatribe skills with threats, boasts, mentions of assorted global thingamabobs and something about ending seven wars.
The “from the heart” address did not appear to impress the gathering of world leaders, especially the part where he said, “Your countries are going to hell.” Here’s where I imagine Norway leaning over and whispering to Oman, “At least our escalators work.”
But one man’s technical glitch is another man’s conspiracy theory, as Watters showed Tuesday on Fox News’ talk show “The Five.” He asserted that Trump’s troubles were the result of sabotage and that those malfunctions were in fact “an insurrection.”
“What we need to do is either leave the U.N. or we need to bomb it,” Watters joked. Co-hosts Dana Perino and Greg Gutfeld groan-laughed, if there is such a thing.
Watters then said, “[The U.N. headquarters] is in New York, though, right? Could be some fallout there. Maybe gas it?”
“Let’s not do that,” Perino said.
Watters acquiesced, then said, “OK, but we need to destroy it. Maybe can we demolish the building? Have everybody leave and then we’ll demolish the building.”
He continued: “This is absolutely unacceptable, and I hope they get to the bottom of it, and I hope they really injure, emotionally, the people that did it.”
The comments did not come from a liberal late-night host, which probably explains why there were no Mafioso-style threats from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr calling for Fox and Watters to tone it down — or else.
Like Watters, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt smelled escalator sabotage and said as much in an X post: “If someone at the UN intentionally stopped the escalator as the President and First Lady were stepping on, they need to be fired and investigated immediately.” She shared a screenshot of a Sunday article from the Times of London with reporting that said U.N. staff members had “joked that they may turn off the escalators” and “tell him they ran out of money so he has to walk up the stairs.”
Then guess what everyone is now posting about? That would be former VP hopeful and current Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s response to Leavitt’s post: “Not only do they need to be fired, they need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It’s a miracle the President ever made it up the stairs.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who on X has been mocking Trump’s social media approach for months, zeroed in on the 79-year-old president’s careful climb up the stationary set of stairs Tuesday. “DOZY DON WAS DEFEATED BY THE ESCALATOR, POOR GUY! THE ENTIRE WORLD IS LAUGHING AT THE LOW IQ ‘PRESIDENT.’ NEXT STOP: THE BEST ROOM AT MEMORY MEADOWS RETIREMENT RESORT. TYLENOL INCLUDED. ENJOY YOUR STAY, DON! — GCN.”
Leavitt said the U.S. Secret Service is among the agencies deployed to investigate the escalator whodunit.
But the escalator perpetrator may be closer to home than Trump’s inner circle and his supporters in the media imagined. According to a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, Trump’s videographer may have been responsible for jamming the escalator when he ran ahead of the president, potentially triggering a safety mechanism.
As for the teleprompter, the Associated Press reported that the White House was responsible for operating the teleprompter for the president. And a person with knowledge of the situation revealed to the Daily Beast that delegations are allowed to bring their own laptops and teleprompter operators, and the U.N. was not running it for Trump’s speech. The source said that the White House had its own laptop and U.N. technicians were not in the booth for the president’s address. A separate anonymous source also told ABC News that the teleprompter was being operated by someone from the White House, not a member of the U.N. staff.
Watters’ “blow up the U.N.” joke was not funny, especially in our current climate of deadly attacks on political figures by troubled men with guns. But his dangerous strain of humor was soon overshadowed by what another TV personality had to say that evening.
In Jimmy Kimmel’s first opening monologue since his show was pulled last week by ABC, he asked that Americans fight censorship, not each other. The host’s long-running show was indefinitely pulled by the network a week ago after conservative outcry over his remark that “the MAGA gang [was] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
On Tuesday, Kimmel teared up when he spoke of Kirk’s death and said he never meant to make light of a young man’s killing. The host also reiterated that liking him or his show was not the point. “This show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this,” he said, emphasizing the value of free speech.
The ousting of Kimmel, a longtime critic and target of the president, was the most high-profile test yet of protecting the 1st Amendment right to free speech in the face of an administration that has weaponized the FCC against its detractors. Upon his return Tuesday, the host was greeted with a standing ovation by his studio audience. Kimmel’s monologue then amassed 11 million YouTube views in its first 12 hours online and is now poised to set a record for being the host’s most-watched opening monologue ever.
Kimmel’s comeback was yet another unfortunate turn for Trump on the Worst Tuesday Ever, and it can’t be explained away as the act of a teleprompter terrorist. But the MAGA-verse is doing its best to make the case, or when it comes to Watters, joking about blowing up places that offend their leader, proving there’s more broken in America than just a U.N. escalator.
