life

While Elizabeth Alexander ‘s career trajectory has taken her from scholar and author to educator, cultural advocate and most recently philanthropy, she considers herself first and foremost a poet. “Day job by day, writer by night,” she quips about her two very different and separate identities.

On the creative side, Alexander’s bona fides as a writer of poetry and prose are impressive: six volumes of poetry, including the 2009 poem for Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration, “Praise Song for the Day,” three essay collections and, most recently, “The Light of the World,” a moving memoir of love, grief and meaning in the wake of loss. On the business front, she’s the president of the Mellon Foundation, the largest private funder of the arts culture and the humanities in the United States. How does she bring such seemingly disparate parts of her life together in service of her work?

It starts with presence.

Over our Zoom call, Alexander is engaging, calm but focused on the things that matter in her life: poetry, family, community, justice and connection. She quotes freely from poetry in conversation, and says she keeps the poems that inspire her in an “internal Rolodex,” as offerings to colleagues and students. And now, readers in “Signals Across Vast Distances,” a collection of transformational essays and stories, 10 years in the making, about life’s challenges and how poetry, art and the humanities can connect and sustain us through difficult times.

A Rolodex of poetic resistance

The book’s title is taken from a 1967 Muriel Rukeyser poem in which she writes of “news pouring out of various devices/Interrupted by attempts to sell products to the unseen” and of people trying to connect to each other through the confusion “to construct peace, to make love, to reconcile…ourselves with each other,/Ourselves with ourselves.”Rukeyser’s poem had been in Alexander’s Rolodex for some time. Its resonance is more profound in a period that she describes as beginning “with the global pandemic and moving into the protests in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, the increased nihilistic despair over climate change, and the second coming of authoritarianism.”

Her succinct conclusion: “We are navigating through some very challenging times.”

Poetry like Rukeyser’s and others by Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Hayden or the essays by James Baldwin that Alexander parses in the book, provide sustenance for the journey. Prescient in its reference to the news reaching people through various “devices,” Rukeyser’s poem also resonates for Alexander, “because as I consider being from a generation that lived through the civil rights movement, women’s movement and gay liberation movements, I felt we were always moving forward. But Rukeyser’s poem reminded me in 1967 the United States [which brought escalation of the Vietnam War, war protests and race riots] had not come to an agreement about what it believed, or how it would move forward. So, I kept hearing that poem in my head, which became not only instructive to me but an offering I could give to others… as encouragement that, even when we are separated from each other, we are still connected.”

Alexander knows that need for connection and a sense of being able to reconcile ourselves with our most essential human values is more urgent that ever. What encourages her, and she offers to readers, is poetry and other literature, which “gives us the encouragement to stay grounded.”

In addition to writing about Gwendolyn Brooks’ “The Second Sermon on the Warpland,” whose line “Conduct your blooming in the noise and the whip of the whirlwind” serves as a Alexander’s mantra to stand and fight for justice, she includes stories from her own life, including anecdotes about her late husband, the artist Ficre Ghebreyesus, and others whose journeys to and lives in America as refugees and citizens spark an essential question: “Will we build homes with open sides that welcome wayfarers into our lives?”

As evidence of Alexander’s deep connection to the humanities, the book includes a dozen beautiful color reproductions of fine art by Rashid Johnson, Elizabeth Catlett, Lorna Simpson and Amy Sherald, among others, including a self-portrait by Ghebreyesus. The art was selected as counterpoint to the essays, another means to draw the reader into reflection and contemplation.

Reshaping who — and what — we choose to remember

Alexander’s expansive consideration of the importance of the art to expand our understanding of ourselves and inspire connection includes “Notes on the Nation,” an essay that reflects on Simon Rodia’s Watts Tower— which Alexander admires for their “inspirational power and seeming impossibility” — and the monuments she’d like to see “that do not teach us to memorialize war or to commemorate fighting against others because their beliefs are different….I’d like to see those monuments.”

Alexander’s sentiment was shared by the Mellon Foundation’s leaders, who commissioned a study on the nation’s commemorative works that found, among other things, that 50% of monuments were in honor of people who owned other people. That inspired the funding of the Monuments Project, a $500-million, multiyear commitment (the largest in the foundation’s history), which seeks to answer a fundamental question posed on the foundation’s website: “How can we transform our commemorative landscape so that it accurately conveys complexity of our history and the inspiration that is possible in public spaces?”

While perhaps its best known project has been the MONUMENTS exhibit, co-sponsored by the Brick and the Museum of Contemporary Art, which explores the removal and reinterpretation of decommissioned Confederate statues, Alexander also expressed enthusiasm for Kootéeyaa Deiyí, a totem trail on Juneau, Alaska’s waterfront that commemorates the region’s Indigenous communities and Lauren Halsey’s sister dreamer, an ode to the history and vibrancy of South Los Angeles. “I’ve visited that monument several times,” Alexander admits of the monument that sits at the corner of 76th Street and Western Avenue, “and I am awed by the way people have taken to it and claim it as their own.”

The purpose of the project, as is Alexander’s work as a poet and scholar, is to create a more complete picture of our country. “We limit our greatness as a nation,” she argues, “if we think a sanitized history is of any use to anyone!”

Weaving poetry into the margins of everyday life

As important as discussions of language and art can be in connecting us to each other and providing inspiration to seek justice, Alexander is acutely aware that readers live in the real world, where exhortations to speak truth to power are noted side-by-side with reminders to pick up the dry cleaning. So she closes “Signals” with her personal “To Do List,” an idea which came from another notable poet and friend, Rita Dove, who Alexander reveals includes lines of poetry amid her personal to-do list as a way to remind herself of what’s most important.

Alexander’s list reflects her own particularly hard-won wisdom, like “There should always be salad with dinner.” “Speak up, even when you are afraid.” Or “Give something away every day. Pass along a book when you have finished it. Think about the ecosystem of your actions—what you take in, send out,” the latter of which she includes in a more expansive concept of tithing, of contributing to a common pot for greater good.

There are other thoughts in this essential collection that readers may use to construct their own “to do” lists, which Alexander jokingly says could be “the next great literary genre.” It may be lines of poetry or prose she quotes in the book, or passages from others’ or her own essays that will resonate with readers seeking reconnection with what’s most important in their lives. “As a poet, I know that language is what connects us as human beings,” she asserts. “And I still believe that books are powerful tools to bring us together in a common experience. I want the signals this book sends out across the vast distances of this country to be a conversation starter… and a journey.”

See the author live Nov. 9, 7 p.m. at ALOUD Presents: Elizabeth Alexander in conversation with Jacqueline Stewart at the Mark Taper Auditorium in Central Library. 630 W. Fifth St., L.A.

Woods is a regular contributor to The Times, a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the editor of several anthologies and four novels in the “Charlotte Justice” mystery series.

ANDREW Sachs’ granddaughter has branded Russell Brand a “a seriously unwell sex addict” after the fiend was found guilty of rape and sexual assault.

Brand and Jonathan Ross left vulgar voicemails on the Fawlty Towers legend’s phone after sleeping with his granddaughter Georgina Baillie, who was 21 at the time.

The jibes were made during a series of prank calls broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 2008.

In a series of three voicemails left on Sachs’ phone, Brand and Ross made repeated graphic claims about Brand’s sex life with Georgina.

Later in the show, Ross said if people were offended by the prank calls they were “crazy”.

The scandal, which became known as Sachsgate, saw Brand resign from the BBC and Ross suspended from his TV show for three months.

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On Thursday, Brand was found guilty of rape and sex attacks on a string of victims as part of a depraved campaign to sleep with 5,000 women.

Georgina, now 41, told the Daily Mail it’s now “obvious” to her that Brand is a sex addict, adding “that boy is seriously unwell”.

She said she’s “disappointed” with Brand and wants him to “own up and make the amends” after being found guilty.

“I want those victims to get some help. I really do. It’s possible to recover from this, it’s hard having experienced sexual assault myself- though not at the hands of Russell,” she continued.

The 41-year-old provided a statement to be used in mitigation for Brand’s trial, but it was never used.

Speaking about their fling, she said: “He was seeing loads of women, and I knew that. I was never in any doubt whatsoever that I was one of many but I didn’t really care at the time. He had his drug of choice on tap all day. I was just a piece of that, I was only one line out of many.”

Georgina said she was “completely dazzled by celebrity” when she first met Brand, now 51.

Their consensual fling came at a time when she was in the throes of addiction. He was 10 years older than her at the time.

Both Brand and Ross apologised for their actions later in 2008. The corporation was fined £150,000 by the regulator Ofcom over the lewd jokes.

Georgina said previously: “I was really lost back then. After Sachsgate, Russell made millions of pounds doing a stand-up routine about it and that was very hard and painful for me – I was the butt of the joke, I was young and didn’t know how to process it and I turned to drink and drugs.”

“It was a very unnerving time. Not only had my grandparents heard what I had been up to sexually, which anybody would recoil at, but then it was all the ‘boys will be boys’ attitude.

Brand went on to apologise to Georgina in person 11 years after the stunt, and paid for her rehab.

But she lost out on eight years with her granddad as the pair stopped speaking.

Former burlesque performer Georgina made up with her grandfather before he died aged 86 in November 2016.

In a 2015 interview, Georgina said her grandparents had a lot to forgive her for.

She told the Daily Mirror: “I love and miss them so much. I admit I was a nightmare in my early 20s. I’ve tried to repair my relationship with my grandparents. They were understandably angry.”

A BBC spokesman said at the time: “Russell Brand worked for a number of different organisations, of which the BBC was one. As is well known, Russell Brand left the BBC after a serious editorial breach in 2008 – as did the then-controller of Radio 2. 

“The circumstances of the breach were reviewed in detail at the time.

“We hope that demonstrates that the BBC takes issues seriously and is prepared to act. 

“Indeed, the BBC has, over successive years, evolved its approach to how it manages talent and how it deals with complaints or issues raised.

“We have clear expectations around conduct at work, these are set out in employment contracts, the BBC Values, the BBC Code of Conduct and the Anti-Bullying and Harassment Policy.

“We will always listen to people if they come forward with any concerns, on any issue related to any individual working at the BBC, past or present.”

Brand preyed on women between 1999 and 2009 and used his growing fame – from presenting Big Brother’s Big Mouth and Hollywood movies – to target the victims in a range of locations.

On Thursday,  a jury found Brand guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault after deliberating for eight and a half hours.

The 51-year-old is facing years in jail after the court heard he became a “ruthless, calculated and manipulative” predator as he sought to satisfy his “voracious” sexual appetite.

Brand has been accused of raping two more women and could now face further criminal charges, it was revealed after the verdicts.

The court heard that one of the complaints comes from a woman who dated Brand when he was 30 years old and another was a 16-year-old schoolgirl.

Brand, who told his wife Laura Gallacher “I love you” after entering the dock, displayed no emotion as the jury delivered its verdicts, at the end of a trial that lasted nearly four weeks.

He was remanded into custody and will be sentenced on Monday. The judge told Brand he should expect a “significant custodial term”.

While real-world tech mogul Elon Musk suffered a major setback this week after pouring more than $200 million into Texas Republican campaigns that lost to protect his business empire, over on HBO’s “The Gilded Age,” robber baron George Russell is fighting tooth and nail against looming federal regulations to save his.

The period drama returned Sunday with its fourth season. After leaving George (Morgan Spector) at a major turning point in Season 3 — seemingly done with his marriage following Bertha‘s (Carrie Coon) forced engineering of their daughter‘s marriage, as well as his own survival of a near-fatal shooting — the couple is still at odds. As the new season picks up, George unravels under the looming threat of anti-monopoly laws targeting his industrial empire. And that’s just part of all the drama and fun that made the episode the show’s most-watched premiere yet, averaging nearly 4 million viewers across platforms, according to the cabler/streamer. Season 4 promises more tension as the Russells try to maintain their wealth and status while Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) tries to regain her position, all while the show’s various relationships face challenges, ultimatums or bittersweet developments. Ahead of this week’s second episode, I spoke with Sonja Warfield, who is co-showrunner of the series alongside creator Julian Fellowes, about how Season 4 kicks off — including that unexpected cameo from David Letterman and Matt Damon.

Also in this week’s Screen Gab, our writers recommend a new stand-up special from everyone’s favorite sitcom principal and a sports drama chronicling the life of Muhammad Ali. — Yvonne Villarreal

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Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

Janelle James at the Vic Theatre in Chicago, where her Netflix comedy special was filmed.

(Elizabeth Sisson / Netflix )

“Janelle James: How Romantic” (Netflix)

Among the many gifts “Abbott Elementary” showered upon the culture was bringing Janelle James to national prominence. As work-averse principal Ava Coleman — a selfish, insulting character one is always delighted to see — she is as attractive as she is difficult. And as the show has gone on, the actor has found layers to play, including hints of a kind of existential melancholy. James began in stand-up — her biggest brush with fame was touring with Chris Rock in 2017 — and now she’s headlining her own, first hourlong special, which debuts Tuesday on the streamer and was filmed at Chicago’s Vic Theatre. Hang on through an opening salvo of political jokes that elapsed time and Tuesday’s election results have rendered stale (Rudy Giuliani, anybody? Joe Biden?) as James, laughing and dancing, unwinds into her real material — spending 24 hours in labor, the problems and perks of being suddenly famous, men and how they are, having money with a poor person’s mind. Of the power of comedy (and being on a hit sitcom) to unite a diverse audience, she says, “There’s one of everything in here. … We can all be in here and share a laugh, then everyone goes back to their respective neighborhoods, never to speak again. But for a small moment in time we were all friends. Because of me. So that’s nice.” — Robert Lloyd

Jaalen Best as Muhammad Ali in Prime Video’s “The Greatest.”

(Brooke Palmer / Prime)

“The Greatest” (Prime Video)

The multitude of projects about Muhammad Ali just received a new entry with Prime Video’s limited series “The Greatest,” starring newcomer Jaalen Best as the legendary boxer. The project traces Ali’s breakthrough as a gold medal boxer through his brutal battle with Sonny Liston. Viewers looking for a companion piece to the drama can check out Ken Burns’ 2021 epic documentary “Muhammad Ali.” Burns called the four-part miniseries an extensive look at a “man who may be the most iconic figure of the 20th century.” The filmmaker added that Ali was also a “very complex, dynamic man” who had an immeasurable impact stretched into politics, culture and religion.” — Greg Braxton

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Morgan Spector and Carrie Coon in Season 4 of “The Gilded Age.”

(Karolina Wojtasik / HBO)

Clocks have rolled back and “The Gilded Age” Sundays have returned — the perfect couch rotting combo for fall. Lingering crises and fresh new scandals collide in Season 4 as our favorite New York elite navigate a fracturing power marriage, perilous childbirth, a horse-carriage breakdown that ignites a night of forbidden passion, and a titan‘s struggle to maintain his empire. Even Jack’s new invention, the electric mixer, couldn’t whip up a more delicious start. Episode 2 airs Sunday on HBO and will stream on HBO Max. I spoke with Sonja Warfield, the co-showrunner of the drama, about the premiere, that David Letterman and Matt Damon cameo and what’s ahead this season. — Y.V.

You said you were looking at social media a bit after the premiere. What stood out to you about what fans were responding to?

Marian. Someone had a lot of thoughts about some of Marian’s costumes. But then I read something about Marian and Larry having sex, and they don’t want to hear about her complaining about him this season — something like, “She just needs to go over there to his house and get her ring back.”

It’s been interesting to see the conversation around Marian’s freak-out the morning after she had sex with Larry — and the ramifications of premarital sex at that time.

Louisa [Jacobson, who plays Marian] did an amazing job conveying the gravity of the transgression; it just was all over her face. And Harry’s reaction, because he’s kind of surprised. They just had this roll in the hay, but it transmits to him as well. So really, kudos to Louisa for selling that. Wonderful actors like Louisa Jacobson help the viewer along in their understanding that this is about the worst thing that you can do, and then we have the scene afterwards. That walk of shame back and the aunts even say, “Oh, it was better that you took a cab because the impropriety of that.”

We also see Gladys survive this traumatic, life-threatening breach birth, ultimately welcoming a baby boy. Some of us have PTSD from Lady Sybil’s death in “Downton Abbey” and were very nervous about where it was going.

One of the first things I said to Julian when we first started working together was, “I might never forgive you for what you did to Lady Sybil.” I remember every frame of what Lady Sybil went through. … We wanted to make sure that [“The Gilded Age”] was different, so we worked closely with a doctor who specializes in Victorian medicine to figure out how we can make it traumatic, her life is salvaged, but she’s forever changed. It’s women’s health. There’s still more questions than answers, and especially back then when they had not even surfaced. Maternal mortality rate has been lowered in recent years in America. It’s real jeopardy, and it happens all the time and every day.

Women’s health and decisions surrounding it are not the only timely modern parallel. Something that looms large is wealthy business titans trying to exert profound, direct influence over American politics and policies. How was it to dig into that history this season, given the current real-world backdrop?

As we got the research in, and we started having conversations with Dr. Dunbar [Erica Armstong Dunbar is a co-executive producer and lead historical consultant on the series], it became abundantly clear that the reason why there have been so many regulations in business is because of the Gilded Age. We’re just right back where we started. I love this argument that is being used today that was being used back then, which is “let us regulate our ourselves.” That’s ridiculous. They changed America, and brought in wealth and industry and the railroad and all of that; at the same time, it has to be regulated. They cannot regulate themselves. Greed is one of the seven deadly sins.

Audra McDonald, left, and Denée Benton in “The Gilded Age.”

(Karolina Wojtasik / HBO)

Were you nervous about having this plot about anti-monopoly legislation or how it would be received by studio brass, given the Paramount and Warner Bros. merger?

It was not in my mind because it is the real history. We are being historically accurate.

There is a moment eight minutes into the premiere episode that, if you blinked, you missed it: David Letterman and Matt Damon made cameos as background actors. Apparently, David has long wanted to be a background actor, and this stunt was filmed as a field segment for the new season of his Netflix interview show; Damon got his start as a background actor. Were you in disbelief when you heard about this request?

I am a huge David Letterman fan. When I heard that there was a possibility that I could meet David Letterman, I was ecstatic and really kind of selfish. We shoot tandem sets, so there are two sets going at a time. My mandate was, “I’m on the David Letterman set that day. Take me there.” All the way in Long Island. I had an event that night. I didn’t care. I waited for David.

Forget Matt Damon.

What was so funny was that my dad is a huge Matt Damon fan, and whilst I was awaiting David Letterman, I had an audience with Matt Damon, who is the most lovely, kind person ever. So empathetic and gracious and wonderful, and game whatever they had cooking on Letterman’s show. Then I met David Letterman. It was an absolute blast. I was like, “This is a the best day at work in a long time.” It all started because someone on our staff was friends with someone on David Letterman’s show.

We see them casually crossing the street. Was it hard to decide what scene to plop them into?

It was really about scheduling. And what would be the least conspicuous because David Letterman does have that long beard. We held on to it for so long. We shot that back in May.

I want all good things for Peggy, in life, love and career. Her wedding to William is on the horizon. What did you want out of that moment for her?

Well, once I knew we had a bigger budget, I wanted all of it too. I really do think we deliver. I want to be mindful here. The location of where she gets married is exquisitely beautiful. We enter the wedding and the marriage with trepidation because there is real conflict, inherent conflict with this family in the form of Elizabeth Kirkland, played by the incredible Felicia Rashad. I think all weddings are fraught because you’re bringing together these different factions, and people want different things and have ideas and dreams. I think Peggy’s wedding delivers on all fronts. I think it delivers in terms of dramatic tension. I think it delivers in terms of set decoration. It delivers in terms of costume and, of course, performances and direction. I can’t wait for the audience to watch it and then watch it again. Accompanying the wedding will be some beautiful photography done by the Tyler Twins. Their work is really just exquisite, and I’m excited for the world to see all this. We’ve been holding all of this in.

Peggy and William are at the dawn of their relationship, just as Bertha and George are navigating a major stress point in their union.

Marriage is a journey. I’ve been married and divorced, and I just remember my dad’s advice early on was that there are always going to be these trials, and if you can make your way through them and end up together, you will be stronger for it. For Bertha and George, who’ve been married for many years now — he didn’t make a lot of money when they were first together, and now they they’re in this place of extreme wealth, and their lives have changed. And now he is going through something that couldn’t have been predicted. And Bertha rides for her husband. There are times when couples can go their separate ways, and, like my dad said, if you can find your way back together through the storm, and you’ve weathered it together, you’re stronger. I want that for Peggy and William. They want a Bertha-George marriage — if Bertha and George make it through.

I really worry about Agnes’ stress levels this season. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that. Later in the season, she delivers one line — “That article was poppycock!” — in a way that will live in my head as a GIF forever.

I even said something to Christine during the season — “We’re really putting you through it this season.” I love it, and she loved it too. She had a ball, and especially in Episode 3, which I got to write with Julian. I loved writing some of that dialogue because she just has so many highs and lows throughout the season, and it was like a masterclass for me to watch Christine go from the highest high to the lowest low. She wants revenge; she is out for blood because someone is attempting to take away her opportunities. It was delicious, and I’m glad that you liked it, and I hope the greater audience enjoyed it.

Is there a moment coming up from Episode 2 that you’re excited for people to see?

I’m excited for people to see more of the Black elite in Newport.

What’s the film or TV show that you’re recommending to everyone right now?

Well, I’m behind, but I love “Nobody Wants This” [Netflix]. I have not been able to watch all of it; we had a premiere for “The Gilded Age” and lots of things going on. But I love that show. I got to meet the whole cast at the Emmys. I’m a free advertisement for that show.

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With an hour gone at Parkhead on Thursday, hope in the stands was in short supply.

Celtic were 1-0 down against Besiktas and heading towards a fourth straight defeat in this season’s Europa League.

Manager Martin O’Neill turned to his bench for a spark, bringing on Callum Osmand and Camilo Duran to replace Sebastian Tounekti and James Forrest out wide.

The impact was almost instantaneous.

Osmand’s first touch nestled in the bottom corner of Alexander Nubel’s goal, just 43 seconds after the 20-year-old attacker came on.

All of a sudden, Celtic had a threat in behind and Besiktas looked rattled.

Then, on 77 minutes, O’Neill withdrew Kasper Hogh after another underwhelming display from the club record signing and moved Duran through the middle.

Again it had the desired effect.

Osmand played Duran through with a delightful pass and the Colombian rounded Nubel before slotting Celtic into the lead.

Orkun Kokcu levelled for Besiktas with a fine strike, but Duran had the final say two minutes later, controlling Kieran Tierney’s scuffed shot and beating Nubel from close range to send the home support into ecstasy.

Gov. Gavin Newsom told the California Supreme Court Thursday that he will commute the death sentences of all 548 state prisoners awaiting execution, reducing their punishments to life in prison without parole.

Newsom can commute about 40% of the death sentences with the stroke of a pen, but the rest will require the high court’s approval in order to be finalized.

The mass commutation would apply to inmates convicted of some of the most heinous acts in the state’s history. Newsom and other opponents of capital punishment have long argued that the process is costly, cruel and discriminatory, with death sentences disproportionately handed down to defendants of color.

“I take this action because I firmly believe that state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California’s values, undermines the foundation of our legal system, and diminishes each of us,” Newsom wrote in a letter to Californians explaining his decision. “I know we cannot execute people in our imperfect legal system and remain true to our core values, first among them justice and human decency.”

The move comes in Newsom’s final months as governor and as he considers a run for president. Reducing the death sentences could help him in a primary with a Democratic base of like-minded liberal voters, but potentially hurt him in a general election with a national electorate that supports capital punishment.

The decision to officially spare the condemned inmates is largely symbolic in a state that has not executed a prisoner since 2006, though experts say it could save millions of dollars in court costs every year. Only 13 inmates have been killed since voters reinstated the death penalty in 1978. The state’s electorate reaffirmed its support a decade ago, voting down a ballot initiative that would have abolished capital punishment. Polls show its popularity has waned in the years since.

Despite his outspoken opposition to state-sanctioned executions, the governor has declined to use his political influence with voters to pursue a ballot measure that would amend the state Constitution to align with his position and officially end the death penalty. Without changing state law, criminals can continue to be sentenced to death in California.

“California voters have voted to keep the death penalty on the books and I respect that,” Newsom wrote in the letter to Californians. “But the constitution also gave every governor clemency authority, and that power exists for moments when law as applied cannot be squared with justice. For me, this is that moment.”

Newsom made national headlines two months after his inauguration in 2019 when he issued a temporary moratorium on executions and vowed to dismantle the death chamber at San Quentin State Prison, now called San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.

Calling the death penalty system a “failure,” Newsom said the punishment is also often reserved for poor people who cannot afford expensive legal representation, fails to deter crime and wastes taxpayer money.

Careful to avoid elevating a death penalty debate in the midterm elections, Newsom intentionally waited until after the general election on Tuesday to go a step further and launch the process of commuting all California death penalty sentences.

The decision is another bold signature Newsom move that sits well with his base of support in California and wealthy, white and college-educated national voters who would be crucial to his success in a Democratic presidential primary, said Mike Madrid, a Republican political consultant.

However, his liberal stance on government executions could also create a vulnerability for him if he advances in the 2028 presidential election as the party’s nominee.

“Gavin’s exactly right with that base Democratic voter on that position,” Madrid said. “One hundred percent. It makes him a champion.”

But more moderate blue-collar voters who helped the party flip Congress in the midterms, Madrid added, are “not in line with him on this.”

A poll conducted in August by the Pew Research Center found that about two-thirds of voters nationally favor the death penalty for people convicted or murder.

Those numbers could shift following the botched lethal injection of Christa Pike in Tennessee in September and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s now-scuttled plan to livestream the execution of Ft. Hood shooter Nidal Hasan by firing squad.

“Those events have really ripped the veneer off the death penalty in this country,” said attorney Natasha Minsker of the California Anti-Death Penalty Coalition. “The death penalty is an act of violence. It’s taking another life. I think that’s become clear to the entire country.”

The state spends more than $200 million a year to adjudicate automatic death penalty appeals and habeas corpus petitions for inmates who, in all likelihood, will never be executed, according to a 2025 report by the Habeas Corpus Resource Center.

The case of Clarence Ray Allen, the last inmate killed by lethal injection in California 20 years ago, is emblematic of how the law has failed, death penalty opponents say.

Allen was 76, making him the second-oldest person ever executed in the United States. He had been on death row for 23 years and his appeals cost the state more than $750,000. Many current condemned inmates are even older — some in their 80s and 90s — and their appeals even more drawn out and expensive.

“It’s just a broken system,” said Michael Hersek, former executive director of Habeas Corpus Resource Center and an ex-state public defender.

Taxpayers foot the bill for both the defense and the prosecution in post-conviction capital cases, as well as the administrative judicial costs associated with years of complicated appeals in state and federal court.

The existing appeal requirements were instituted to counter long-standing racial bias in capital sentencing. Attempts to reform and expedite the appeals process over the years have further gummed up the system.

“There is no indication that the situation has improved, and … [there are] data indicating that it has worsened,” Justice Leondra R. Kruger wrote for the California Supreme Court in 2024.

It’s estimated that death penalty appeals alone constitute about a quarter of the work of the California Supreme Court.

“It’s ludicrous, the amount of time, resources and energy put into these cases,” Hersek said.

Some victims’ families agree.

“The death penalty is this promise to people who are angry and broken that you’re somehow going to make them feel better by executing this person,” said Bethany Webb, whose sister Laura was among eight people killed in a mass shooting in Seal Beach in 2011.

Their mother was also shot and badly injured in the attack.

“It is brutalizing to family members, the whole system,” Webb said.

Others say Newsom’s latest move is a betrayal of the justice they were promised.

“It’s total disrespect for the victims. It’s a slap in the face,” said Sandy Friend, whose 8-year-old son Michael Lyons was abducted, raped and murdered in 1996.

She and other relatives stressed the unique brutality of many capital crimes, saying Newsom did not consider victims’ suffering when commuting their killers’ sentences.

The commutations would go to inmates such as Charles Ng, who was convicted of killing six men, three women and two infant boys in Northern California in 1984 and 1985. Also in line to benefit is Richard Allen Davis, who abducted and murdered 12-year-old Polly Klaas of Petaluma in 1993, sparking a months-long search that gripped the nation. Another condemned inmate, Christopher Cheary, was convicted of murdering, raping and torturing his girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter, Sophia Acosta, in Tulare County.

Gov.-elect Xavier Becerra also opposes the death penalty. If state leaders wanted to resume executions, experts say it would take the better part of a decade and millions of dollars in new spending for the state to design and approve a workable protocol for lethal injections, rebuild a death chamber and secure the gray-market drugs necessary to perform executions.

Legal experts believe the end of the death penalty is likely inevitable in California, with or without Newsom’s involvement.

In 2024, the Office of the State Public Defender sued California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office, arguing “persistent and pervasive racial disparities infect California’s death penalty system.”

This spring, the California Supreme Court ordered Bonta’s California Department of Justice to show cause why it should not declare the death penalty unconstitutional — a move widely read as signaling the justices’ ultimate intent to end it.

“The statistical findings in the studies invoked by petitioners are extraordinarily disturbing,” Bonta wrote in his reply to the order in August. “Evidence of pervasive racial disparities in the administration of the death penalty could show that California’s capital punishment system gives rise to a constitutionally intolerable risk of arbitrariness.”

Around 60% of the inmates in line for commutations would require review and approval by the California Supreme Court before Newsom’s term ends in January. Those cases involve prisoners who had a felony conviction on their record prior to receiving a death sentence, or racked up additional crimes while awaiting execution.

The high court previously rejected 10 clemency cases without much clarification when Gov. Jerry Brown submitted them in 2018 months before he left office.

If approved by the California Supreme Court, the immediate effect could be relatively muted. The death chamber was taken down and all but a handful of the remaining condemned inmates were relocated from segregated housing in San Quentin to other facilities across the state after Newsom’s 2019 moratorium.

The decision to formally pause executions drew support from the late Pope Francis during Newsom’s 2024 trip to the Vatican, according to the governor’s retelling of a brief conversation between the two men.

In a subsequent interview, the governor said his Catholic background and the inequities in the criminal justice system influenced his refusal to sign off on executions. His father, the late William Newsom, also opposed the death penalty.

His father and grandfather were involved in the case of Pete Pianezzi, a friend who was wrongfully convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting and killing of a gambler and busboy in Los Angeles in 1937.

Pianezzi escaped the death penalty by a single vote and served 13 years in prison. He was later exonerated.

Even if it were possible to limit inequity and wrongful convictions in the criminal justice system, Newsom has said he would still be against the death penalty.

“The decision is among the most difficult in my career, not because I doubt its necessity for our state but because I know its announcement may surface excruciating memories for victims’ families,” Newsom wrote in the letter to Californians. “Today I am acting on my long and deeply held conviction that individually and collectively we are stronger as a society when we reject state-sanctioned killing.”

Alan Jones’ time at the very peak of F1 was short – essentially just under three years from mid-1979 to the end of 1981 – but he left a lasting impression.

Jones is synonymous with the Williams team, having become their first world champion in 1980, and he formed a close, almost brotherly bond with co-founders Frank Williams and Patrick Head.

Williams and Head loved Jones’ pugnacious, no-nonsense approach, and between them they were the leading force in F1 for a short time, as the team first emerged at the forefront of the sport.

Future Williams drivers, whoever they were, were almost always measured against Jones, and usually came up wanting in Williams’ and Head’s eyes.

After making his debut, it took a little while for Jones’ abilities to be appreciated. But victory for the unfancied Shadow team in the 1977 Austrian Grand Prix, beating Niki Lauda’s Ferrari fair and square, was an indicator of his potential.

Moving to Williams in 1978, the team showed well with their neat FW06 design, the first led by Head at the start of his iconic career.

But it was 1979 when Jones and Williams really turned it on. When the new FW07 car debuted mid-season, it and Jones soon became the standard setters.

Early reliability problems meant he was unable to challenge Ferrari drivers Jody Scheckter and Gilles Villeneuve for the title under the season’s bizarre split scoring system, but he won four of the final six races to set the tone for the following year.

In 1980, with the upgraded FW07B, Jones and Williams were the team to beat. Pushed hard to the title by Brabham’s Nelson Piquet, for whom Jones had little time, he won five of the 14 races and clinched the title with a race to spare.

He could and arguably should have won again in 1981, but a couple of retirements and some errors restricted his victory tally to the first and last grands prix.

A dominant victory on the unloved new circuit in the Caesars Palace car park in Las Vegas was overshadowed by team-mate Carlos Reutemann’s bizarre capitulation in the championship fight with Piquet.

After it, although at the height of his powers, Jones retired at the age of 34, to return to his beloved Australia.

He thought it was the right move, but he soon got the itch to return. A one-off outing for Arrows in 1983 was followed by a full-time comeback for the new US-based Haas team – no relation to the current one of the same name.

But the project was not a success. The car did not debut until the 12th race of 1985, and in 1986 was unreliable and slow, despite help from a then unknown Adrian Newey.

It collapsed at the end of the season, and Jones left F1 for good. He continued to race intermittently into his 50s, and also spent time as an F1 driver steward.

The study considered six key factors: life expectancy, income per person, income equality, recreational and cultural amenities, internet speed, and housing costs

A picturesque European city has been crowned the “most liveable destination” on the planet by the Global Cities Index, thanks largely to its walkability. The research examined six crucial elements: life expectancy, income per person, income equality, recreational and cultural amenities, internet speed, and housing costs.

While European cities command the rankings, an Australian city also secured a place on the list

10. Nantes

Nantes, a lively city in western France, is celebrated for its rich history, cultural attractions, and bustling urban life. The Château des Ducs de Bretagne, once home to the Dukes of Brittany, now hosts the Nantes History Museum.

It provides a window into the city’s medieval past with its well-preserved architecture and exhibitions, reports the Express.

9. Ghent

Ghent, a charming city in Belgium, is famed for its medieval allure, vibrant cultural scene, and stunning architecture. It’s also the country’s most pedestrian-friendly destination. The town’s scenic canal-side streets are ideal for a leisurely wander. The historical buildings along the canals create beautiful reflections in the water, offering iconic views of the city’s historic architecture.

8. Zurich

Switzerland’s largest city is famous for its high quality of life, stunning surroundings, and rich cultural scene. Residents can enjoy strolls along Lake Zurich’s shores, embark on a boat tour, or unwind in one of the lakeside parks.

7. Reykjavik

Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, is consistently ranked as one of the world’s best places to live. The city centre is home to Tjörnin, a picturesque pond surrounded by charming buildings, offering a tranquil spot for leisurely strolls and bird-watching.

6. Luxembourg

Luxembourg City, the capital of Luxembourg, boasts low crime rates and impeccably clean streets, contributing to a strong sense of safety and well-being among its inhabitants. The city’s public transport network is highly efficient and extensive, with the recent introduction of free public transport further enhancing accessibility and convenience for residents.

5. Basel

Basel, a Swiss city, is lauded for its high standard of living, combining a vibrant cultural scene with practical, top-quality living conditions. The city is home to world-class healthcare facilities such as the University Hospital Basel, renowned for its high standards and innovative treatments.

4. Bergen

Bergen, located in Norway, is famed for its stunning natural landscapes, including fjords, mountains, and coastal vistas. The city offers a plethora of outdoor activities, from hiking in nearby mountains like Mount Fløyen and Mount Ulriken to sailing and kayaking in the fjords.

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3. Bern

Switzerland’s capital city, Bern, is renowned for its well-preserved medieval old town, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Its charming cobblestone streets, historic buildings, and landmarks such as the Zytglogge clock tower and the Bear Park add to its unique charm.

2. Canberra

Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is recognised for its high liveability due to its unique blend of natural beauty, modern amenities, and well-planned urban design. Known for its high standard of living, Canberra boasts clean and safe environments, well-maintained public spaces, and efficient public services. The city’s low crime rate and high levels of personal security significantly contribute to its liveability.

1. Grenoble

Nestled in the French Alps, Grenoble is a gem that combines natural beauty, a vibrant cultural life, and a high quality of life. It’s also a hub for scientific research and technological innovation, particularly in the fields of nanotechnology and biotechnology.

Grenoble is particularly known for its bike-friendly initiatives, including extensive bike lanes and rental services.

WASHINGTON — Control of Congress hangs in the balance as Americans head to the polls Tuesday to vote in a historic set of midterm elections that will determine how power is divided for the rest of President Trump’s time in office.

A robust turnout appeared possible, after months of polls suggesting voters’ frustration with cost-of-living issues may drive them to the polls. More than 59 million Americans had already cast ballots in early voting, according to the University of Florida Election Lab.

The campaign has largely been marked by Democrats’ unexpected traction in red states, resulting in Senate races that have been far more competitive than anticipated. Whether that translates into losses for Republicans could become a nail-biter Tuesday night.

Polling shows Democrats poised to make significant gains in the U.S. House and well-positioned for swing Senate races, but analysts say the Senate majority could go either way. Several gubernatorial seats are also open, and some contests have become unexpectedly close, including in Georgia, Kansas, Texas and Florida.

Eyes will be on a handful of bellwether House races as the polls begin closing, with a Kentucky district expected to be the first to offer clues as to how good a night it may be for Democrats.

For weeks, the midterms have appeared poised to deliver a referendum on Trump’s second term and the state of the economy. Americans’ approval of the president has sunk to historic lows as they have cited concerns about affordability, corruption and immigration as driving factors for their votes.

On Monday and over the weekend, candidates made their final pushes to persuade voters.

Democrats, hoping to clench voter support for a “blue wave,” hammered home their arguments about affordability, corruption and the perceived toll of Trump’s governance, aiming to sway non-Democratic voters.

“This election is a battle between the powers that be and the powers that ought to be,” Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico of Texas said at a Sunday night rally. “We are standing with the powers that ought to be — the teachers and the nurses, the farmers and the ranchers, the grandmother who is facing eviction.”

Republicans, anticipating losses in the House, focused on delivering dire warnings to voters about Democratic candidates, whom they have portrayed throughout the campaign as extreme, dangerous and in some cases a threat to the American way of life.

“This race is about defending our state and our country, but it’s also about safeguarding our way of life,” Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton, the state’s Republican nominee for Senate, said Sunday. “Texas has never been this close to slipping away. We’ve never been this close to losing everything that we hold dear — our jobs, our livelihoods, our way of life.”

As voters cast ballots Tuesday, the Justice Department’s election monitors fanned out at polling sites across the country. Thousands of volunteers nationwide were also mobilized to be poll monitors, a backlash to the idea of potential federal election interference.

Trump sent out a flurry of last-minute social media endorsements for Republican congressional candidates and called in to the “Fox and Friends” show to make a final case. Democratic candidates dropped last-minute ads urging voters to head to the polls.

This article will be updated.

Emily Hewertson was sensationally evicted on her first night in the Big Brother house before making a shocking return

Big Brother’s 2026 winner will be crowned in just a few days, but whatever happened to last year’s memorable finalists?

The race for the ITV2 crown is heating up as the public is set to vote for their winning housemate this Thursday, October 5. Fans will then be treated to a reunion episode on Friday, October 6, which will bring all the housemates back together for one last time.

As well as bagging the title of BB winner, the champion will also take home a huge £100,000 cash prize. But there can only be winner. Emily Hewertson was one of the contestants who narrowly missed out on the crown last year, where she finished in fifth place. But her journey wasn’t exactly smooth-sailing.

Emily first joined the experiment on day one and was evicted just hours later in a brutal twist. But the political events manager made a surprise return to the show on Day 20 in yet another twist. And this time she held onto her place in the house until the final.

Just 25 years old at the time, Emily also became one of the most controversial figures in the series. Viewers often disagreed with her conservative politics and called out her “offensive” remarks on the show. However, the Northampton-based star brushed off the backlash and has opened up about how Big Brother changed her life.

Where is Big Brother star Emily Hewertson now?

Emily currently has over 50,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok, where she often shares behind-the-scenes truths about her time in the famous house. In a recent Instagram video about her life after the show, she said: “I thought I would tell you exactly how my life has changed since being on the show. First of all, one thing that has changed since leaving the house is I have some new friends.”

The ITV star went on to reveal that she has stayed in touch with fellow 2025 housemates Sam Ashby, Nancy Nocerino and Cameron Kinch. She added: “I’m still on good terms with the rest of the cast but they’re the people that I speak to the most.”

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The reality star also revealed that her career as a political commentator has reached new heights since the show. “I think I have been on TV every single month since being on the show, which is literally amazing,” she shared. She is a regular panellist on GB News, as well as Jeremy Vine on 5.

Despite her newfound fame, the 26-year-old says she still juggles her nine-to-five job with attending industry events. Before missing out on the prize money, Emily had hoped to spend the winnings on her close friends.

She told ITV: “If I win the money, I want to go on holiday. First and foremost, treat the girls. But then, I think I’d be a bit sensible and maybe put some aside. But that’s kind of boring, so who knows, I might just end up splashing it all and having a good time!” Now a whole new group of housemates are hoping to bag the life-changing prize.

Big Brother continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX

Missouri officials have determined the official cause of death for “Days of Our Lives” actor Robert Kelker-Kelly, who died this month at age 62.

Kelker-Kelly died of arteriosclerotic heart disease, the St. Charles county regional medical examiner of Missouri confirmed to The Times. The actor’s death was deemed natural. Arteriosclerosis occurs when blood vessels carrying oxygen and nutrients from the heart to the body become thick and stiff, according to the Mayo Clinic. The coroner’s report confirms details previously disclosed by law enforcement and emergency personnel.

The actor, who worked as a pilot later in life, died Oct. 3 after he complained of chest pain and became unresponsive, police confirmed earlier this month. Officers reported with paramedics to the actor’s home for a report of an unconscious man who was not breathing.

“Life-saving measures were administered but were unsuccessful,” police said.

Kelker-Kelly’s wife, Allison Kelly, informed authorities the actor complained of pain in his left arm and chest while on the drive home from Spirit Airport, People reported. The actor asked his wife to pull the car over to vomit and said he did not need to go to the hospital. He reportedly continued experiencing pain at home. Kelly found her husband unresponsive, alerted authorities and administered CPR.

Kelker-Kelly was best known for his work in long-running daytime dramas “Another World” and “Days of Our Lives,” where he portrayed the rebellious heartthrob Beauregard “Bo” Brady from 1992 to 1995. He began his turn as Bo, which lasted for more than 586 episodes, following the departure of original actor Peter Reckell, who would return to the show off and on in the following decades.

He debuted in “Another World” in 1987 and appeared in more than 400 episodes in a handful of roles until 1998, according to the actor’s IMDb page. He was also known for his work as Stavros Cassadine in “General Hospital” and its spinoff series “Port Charles.” Kelker-Kelly’s “General Hospital” tenure lasted from 2001 to 2014 and was his final TV role. His television credits also include “Jack’s Place,” “Touched by an Angel” and “Rescue 77.”

It takes frighteningly little to destroy a happy family. So much love, so much joy, so much shared history can be erased by one terrible act or the discovery of something rotten that had been festering undetected. Austrian filmmaker Marie Kreutzer explores the unimaginable in “Gentle Monster,” in which a celebrated concert pianist learns that her husband and the father of her son might be involved in child pornography. Instantly, her life shatters, the pieces so scattered she may never be able to pick them all up.

Léa Seydoux plays Lucy, a musician who brings an element of social commentary to her avant-garde live performances, delivering ethereal covers of emphatic love songs written by men — such as Bryan Adams’ “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” — to interrogate that gender’s general discomfort with emotions. It’s an important early clue into Kreutzer’s larger aims, but first the writer-director establishes Lucy’s endearing rapport with her sensitive husband Philip (Laurence Rupp) and their pre-tween son Johnny (Malo Blanchet). Having recently moved to the German countryside after living in Munich, they’re adjusting to a quieter existence with fewer neighbors but less-reliable cell service. Lucy and Philip’s sex life remains robust and Johnny enjoys the extra outdoor space. Nothing’s ever perfect, but all seems well enough.

Yet when the police arrive unannounced one morning, Philip isn’t surprised. Led by Elsa (Jella Haase), the authorities inform him they need to confiscate his computers and hard drives. He offers no resistance, quickly getting on the phone to his lawyer. Lucy comes downstairs, baffled by what’s going on as he’s taken away. When she later visits the police station to get more information, she’s directed to the second floor. That’s when Lucy realizes the horrible truth: That’s the floor assigned to the crime unit specializing in stopping sexualized violence against children. Philip, the love of her life, has been accused of storing and sharing child pornography.

As Philip awaits trial at home, Lucy processes the shock, too smart to believe this is all some awful misunderstanding. Hurriedly packing a bag, she drives off with Johnny, the two of them moving in with her regal, chilly mother Eloise (Catherine Deneuve), although Lucy does not tell her why she’s left Philip. (The judgy Eloise, herself a musician, smugly assumes that her daughter figured out that having a family is death for an artist.) Philip repeatedly calls Lucy, hoping to explain himself, but she now cannot trust anything he says. Seydoux keeps her character’s storm of emotions intriguingly opaque. Shame, disgust, anger, sadness and confusion equally course through Lucy, who starts wondering about the extent of Philip’s criminality. Did he ever abuse their son?

Kreutzer, whose 2022 drama “Corsage” starred Vicky Krieps as a rebellious 19th century empress, explores Lucy’s odyssey as she grapples with the dawning fact that she long shared a bed with a pedophile. But “Gentle Monster” eventually introduces a parallel storyline involving Elsa, the investigator. When she’s not cracking down on child pornographers — grim work that she nonetheless takes great pride in — she’s minding her aging father, Hermann (Sylvester Groth), who is experiencing severe cognitive decline. His live-in nurse Natalia (Patrycja Ziółkowska) tells Elsa that he tried to sexually assault her, which upsets Elsa but also puts her in a bind: Natalia is the only care worker Hermann has actually gotten along with. Elsa abhors his behavior but she desperately wants Natalia to stay, frantically assuring her that she’ll get him to stop.

Although both plotlines concern predatory men, “Gentle Monster” expands its thematic scope to more broadly discuss the emotional labor that women are forced to perform. Philip’s rich parents insist their son couldn’t have done anything wrong, while Elsa’s absent brother leaves her to figure out what to do about their ailing father. In their own ways, Lucy and Elsa shoulder a significant burden that has been imposed on them by someone they love, their devotion now being exploited. And in both cases, there is a societal expectation that it’s their duty to be a solo support system — Lucy as a mother and wife, Elsa as a daughter. As accomplished as these two women are, ultimately they’re reduced to being nurturers and caregivers.

Unfortunately, much like Lucy’s stilted deconstruction of male love songs, “Gentle Monster” ends up a little too intellectual for its own good, its ideas more interesting to mull over than to feel deeply. In addition, there’s a nagging narrative tidiness to Lucy’s and Elsa’s stories so conveniently echoing each other. And as formidable as Seydoux can be, the character isn’t so much heartbreakingly conflicted as she is oddly muddled and underdeveloped. Kreutzer does not fully succeed in elucidating how women are imperiled by sexual predators — even when they are not the ones directly affected — but her uneven film ripples with pain. Lucy’s behavior may be frustratingly inconsistent, but many viewers will recognize the immeasurable suffering that drives it.

It’s Halloween weekend and that means it’s time to curl up on the couch to watch a blood-curdling scream erupt — from your television.

In the L.A. area, the forecast is looking pretty grim with showers expected this weekend (I am going to remain cautiously optimistic, however, because I do not want these bags of candy to remain in my house). If it does end up being a rainout, at least there are several very good new series and films to watch. Here are a few suggestions:

• One is Peacock’s “Crystal Lake,” the new “Friday the 13th” prequel series starring Linda Cardellini, who spoke to senior writer Greg Braxton earlier this month about taking on the role of Pamela Voorhees (you’ll see Voorhees in a new light). On the occasion of the show’s release, Greg also wrote this handy guide to all the “Friday the 13th” movies, grading each one on a hockey-mask scale to help you choose which to watch.
• If you prefer your horror to involve teen angst, I highly recommend Prime Video’s “Carrie,” a new adaption of Stephen King’s iconic novel by Mike Flanagan. We spoke to the horror auteur and stars of the series, Samantha Sloyan and Summer H. Howell, about how it modernizes the story’s terror.
• As far as films go, you can’t go wrong with this year’s top two horror hits: Kane Parsons’ ultra-creepy, internet inspired “Backrooms,” which is streaming on HBO Max, and “Obsession,” streaming on Peacock. Fittingly, Inde Navarrette, the star of “Obsession,” will host “Saturday Night Live” on Halloween. And if you want to keep the theme going, Curry Barker, the film’s director, made a surprise release on Thursday of a short called “Mama Bear” on YouTube (be advised, it’s NSFW; watch it in a dark room at night like I did).

Also in this week’s Screen Gab, Susan House, the showrunner of Hulu’s new reality competition series “The Mob,” stopped by Guest Spot to discuss the show, and our writers recommend a documentary about one of the finest comedy sketch series to emerge from Canada and a workplace comedy series that graduated from the web to streaming.

Before I go, I want to take a moment to remember the legendary actor Patrick Stewart, who died on Wednesday. From his stage work with the Royal Shakespeare Company to his iconic roles as Jean-Luc Picard in “Star Trek” and Charles Xavier in “X-Men,” few actors had Stewart’s range and depth, as television critic Robert Lloyd so adeptly writes in his appreciation of him. To use the words of another “Trek” great, may he live long and prosper in the afterlife. — Maira Garcia

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Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

“SCTV: The Greatest Show You’ve Never Heard Of” takes a closer look at the Canadian sketch series. Andrea Martin, left, Catherine O’Hara, Joe Flaherty, John Candy, Dave Thomas, Eugene Levy and Harold Ramis.

(Netflix)

“SCTV: The Greatest Show You’ve Never Hard Of” (Netflix)

Speak for yourself, title. Some of us were there from the beginning. But the show is definitely having a moment, with Netflix streaming the entire series, and the documentary “You Had To Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (In a Canadian Kind of Way),” currently in select theaters, featuring future “SCTV” cast members Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas and Martin Short (along with Gilda Radner). Jason Hehir’s “Greatest Show” film does a fine job of outlining the birth and death of what many consider the hipper cousin to “Saturday Night Live,” with lots of great photos and films of sketch comedians in their long-haired youth. The good times, the less than good times, the confusing times are all here, burnished with a warm glow of friendship. Gathered to reminisce are all surviving cast members (including the now-late Catherine O’Hara). Even the rarely seen Rick Moranis participates. (RIP John Candy and Joe Flaherty.) Creating comedy under less than glamorous circumstances, with no live audience or sense of whether anyone in the world was watching, they made the show for themselves and one another. Their instincts proved correct. — Robert Lloyd

Ryan Micho, left, Tommy Armstrong, Grace Reiter, Hyde Healy and Julia Dicesare play co-workers in “Minimum Wage.”

(Netflix)

“Minimum Wage” (Netflix)

The slip-slide from web series to streaming continues with American High’s workplace comedy that began on YouTube and is now appearing, in a slightly longer and moderately gussied-up adaptation, on Netflix. Shot in the now-standard mockumentary style, “Minimum Wage” chronicles life in a dumpy pizza place known as “The Slice Club,” where Grace (Grace Reiter, who recently joined the cast of “Saturday Night Live”) serves as the nominal manager of a wacky team of teenagers who occasionally make and serve pizza. More often, however, they engage in low-stakes antics: dealing with the local high school drama club, planning an ill-conceived birthday party, taking bets on a restaurant breakup or finding themselves stuck on the roof. Most of the cast, including Reiter, appeared in the original web series; this version adds Randall Park as CEO of the “The Slice Club” franchise, who is in mid-divorce and forced to sleep in the restaurant’s basement, and there is a more obvious attempt to underline various “chosen family” themes. They are an engaging, and occasionally hilarious group, and with episodes ranging from 15 to 22 minutes, “Minimum Wage” is an easy binge, or the perfect show to watch while waiting for that friend who’s always late, even when he’s the one who promised to bring the pizza. — Mary McNamara

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

The cast of “The Mob” in Episode 2, from left: Harry Jowsey, Aida Turturro, Shane Parton, Bruno Tonioli, Romeo Miller, Debi Mazar, Demi Engemann, Maria Georgas, Willam Belli and Chelsea Lazkani.

(Andrea Miconi / Disney)

Being in the mob is serious business, and for us normies, the idea of racketeering and plotting whackings is a no-go. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t entertaining to watch it unfold onscreen in iconic films like “The Godfather” or shows like “The Sopranos.” It’s that fandom that led to “The Mob,” the latest reality competition series from Hulu, co-produced by Primal Media and Studio Lambert, the production company behind “The Traitors.” It premiered earlier this week and drops new episodes on Mondays.

The series features 12 players who come from the reality TV world, including Demi Engemann from “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” Joe Gorga from “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” Bruno Tonioli from “Dancing With the Stars;” and the acting world like Debi Mazar (“Younger,” “Goodfellas”) and Aida Turturro (“The Sopranos”). Each week, they have to compete in games inspired by mob movies and avoid getting “whacked” or eliminated from the competition by the don, the head of the family who doles out cash in exchange for allegiance. It’s hosted by Parker Posey, who is living a very comfortable life in an Italian villa.

Showrunner Susan House, who has led reailty shows like Netflix’s “The Circle,” says “The Mob” is special because it isn’t just about money — though the participants are competing for thousands in cash. “It’s about the power, it’s about family, and it’s about all these human relationships and human dynamics,” she says over video call this week. “Plus, you’re in this beautiful Italian backdrop. You’ve got Parker Posey, there’s some comedy and there’s fun. This sounds cliche, but I do feel like there’s something for everyone.”

She shares what it was like to work with Posey and the rest of the cast and the drama she’s been watching lately. — M.G.

Tell me how the concept for this series came about, and why the mob theme.

The concept was developed by a U.K. company called Primal, and they developed [it] along with Hulu. And I think the mob theme came about because it’s such a lush kind of environment to do a show from, like it’s so cinematic. It has such an amazing place in pop culture. Everyone knows it. It’s about power. It’s about family. It’s about dynamics. All the fun subject matter that makes for a great TV show.

How was it working with Parker Posey as host of the show?

I grew up in the Midwest in Kansas City, and I was a huge fan of independent film. My best friend and I would go to the one art house [theater] that we had growing up, and we loved Parker Posey. I’ve been a huge fan of her since “Dazed and Confused.” And so when she signed on for the show, I called my best friend when I was allowed to talk, and I said to her, “Oh, my God, you’re not going to believe who is hosting the show,” and we both did a little scream. It was just an … incredible moment in my career that I’m doing a show where Parker Posey, she’s iconic to me, was the host. I think that she’s perfect choice, right? She’s unique. She’s artsy. She’s comedy. She’s done drama. She can embrace a character, a setting. It was for me … just like a dream come true.

I’m so excited you said “Dazed and Confused,” because that’s what I associate her with.

When she signed on, I went back and rewatched that movie. I hadn’t seen it in a while. I was just like, oh, my God, she is so good in that.

And “The Mob” is so different. But it seems like she’s trying so many different things in this later stage of her career.

I know, it’s so cool. “The White Lotus,” she was amazing in, and I feel like people sort of rediscovered her in some ways. Maybe younger generations did, and it’s great, it’s amazing. She’s trying all these new things. I just watched “Wild Horse Nine.” She was incredible in that.

The cast of “The Mob” features a mix of actors and reality TV personalities, which I thought was really interesting. How did you land on that combination?

I think the subject matter of the mob is universal, right? It’s about loyalty. It’s about power, it’s about respect, it’s about family, and I think combining all of these personalities, … from acting and reality, is a unique opportunity to get [them] … on one TV show and see how they react. It’s a super-fun dynamic, and it just adds another layer to the show that’s I think unexpected and really fun.

Debi Mazar, who was in “Goodfellas,” and Aida Turturro, who was in “The Sopranos,” add some authenticity to the mob theme. I imagine their casting was purposeful — how did they incorporate that into the show?

I love Debi Mazar so much. I’m also a huge fan of her, not just from “Goodfellas,” but I love the show “Younger.” She’s also just iconic … We joke it’s the summer of Debi Mazar, with all the Madonna and Coachella things [the pair made an appearance during Sabrina Carpenter’s set]. I agree, she does bring some authenticity to the show, and she’s definitely of that world. I can’t speak to whether she was playing a character or not. You’re supposed to be yourself. So she wasn’t necessarily [anything] other than Debi, unless she was doing something that I don’t know about. I think Aida is also incredible. She says in the show, I think … in one of the first episodes, “I’m not in the mob.” It’s kind of fun to see her play against type. Like, she is Janice Soprano. But then now we’re seeing the real Aida Turturro and how she plays the game as herself.

Joe Gorga is the family’s first don on “The Mob.”

(Andrea Miconi / Disney)

And you have Joe Gorga, who was picked as the first don of the house, and it felt really perfect because he is from Jersey and he has that voice that you associate with those characters.

That did work out perfectly. It was good because he has a lot of these kind of qualities and stereotypes, but he also is fun and funny. And the show is a comedy in some ways … it’s an homage to the genre. Having Joe as that first don and playing that up a little bit is was fun. We were we were thrilled.

Something people will identify are the allusions to mobster TV shows and movies, like the horse head from “The Godfather.” They’re also incorporated when someone gets whacked.

We’re all huge fans of of that genre, and so many people just wanted to drop these little breadcrumbs for the audience who also love it. Our set decorator, John Sparano, is a huge movie buff. He did things that were like, I don’t think anyone would ever understand this. There was a picture of some pool table balls that were about “The Godfather.” I have to ask him, or it’s like, “No one is going to know these three numbers, John. But OK, I’m glad you’re doing it.” In terms of the whackings, we just thought … this genre gave us the opportunity to have fun with those, make those cinematic and honor those films and and how they did things.

Is there anything you are watching lately that you are recommending to other people right now?

I like the show “War” on HBO Max, and I guess that’s apropos for being a reality TV producer. There’s so much drama, and it’s about a relationship. I’m really enjoying watching that, and I feel very nervous sometimes before the end of the show. I’m like, “Oh, my God, what’s going to happen?”

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HALLOWEEN was Ozzy Osbourne’s favourite day of the year.

And to celebrate, I’ve got some very exciting news to share with his fans.

My insiders have revealed the Black Sabbath rocker secretly recorded a handful of songs with super-producer Andrew Watt prior to his death last summer.

And now those tracks — which were laid down during his music sessions for his 2022 album Patient Number 9 — could soon be getting green-lit to coincide with the blockbuster film biopic about his life.

One of my American music moles told me: “Ozzy had a practical outlook about his medical issues and life.

“He was very excited to be in the studio for the Patient Number 9 sessions because Andrew managed to bring energy and excitement, even though he was struggling with his ailments.

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“They worked on the album and Ozzy knew that, with the biopic in development, he saw an idea for works about his life and romance with Sharon.

“Those tracks have only been heard by Andrew and his musicians.

“The final mixes have not even been finished. They remain works in progress and to be considered for the movie.

“Sharon doesn’t even know what the final mixes will sound like.

“But the likelihood is that they will come to play some part in the biopic, which would be incredible.

“Unheard songs from Ozzy from beyond the grave is something he would have loved.”

I revealed earlier this year how Ozzy’s wife Sharon and his son Jack had a director in mind for the movie, which would tell the incredible life story of the Prince of Darkness.

“The script is being worked on as a final draft with Sony Studios looking for directors,” a source close to the family told me.

“Sharon has been measuring up who could play her and deliver the intensity of her personality while also holding it together while Ozzy goes through his demons on-screen.”

I have no doubt that with Sharon at the helm this film will more than do Ozzy justice.

And the idea of listening to never-before-heard songs from him excites me even more.

JOSH’S MONSTROUS TERROR OF THE TOILET

WE all have a scarring childhood memory, but I’ve never heard a confession quite like Josh Brolin’s.

The Running Man actor has revealed he was too scared to go to the loo after watching Steve McQueen’s horror classic The Blob when he was four.

He said: “I just remember this substance coming out of the toilet and attacking this person.

“And when you’re a kid, it’s a new relationship with a toilet. It suddenly gets all up and then you don’t know where to do your business.”

I bet his parents loved cleaning up that mess.

THRILLER RACE FOR TOP SPOT

MICHAEL JACKSON’s son Prince hopes to give his late dad a Halloween treat – by backing fans’ efforts to get his 1983 hit Thriller to No1 for the first time.

Despite regularly returning to the charts around Halloween, the six-minute track and video failed to hit the top spot.

Prince said: “Thriller is the biggest-selling album of all time but the single has never made it to No1. And so the goal with this Thriller challenge is to encourage people to buy the album, stream it and request it on radio, because those are the metrics that then push it up the chart.

“But we have to recognise that (the album) Thriller has a lot of bangers on there. So he’s kind of competing with himself. My father has an incredible fan base, and they’re so very sophisticated and orchestrated, and this has been the challenge that has been going on.”

lKEITH RICHARDS says he feels like his late Rolling Stones bandmate, drummer Charlie Watts, came back from the grave to watch over the group recording their new single, Who You Callin’ Crazy.

He told how he forgot Steve Jordan was on the sticks behind him, saying: “I do think it’s Charlie Watts behind me.”

ARABELLA: ME ‘N’ MY ’BLUD BUD

RISING star Arabella Lucia is proving she’s got some rock star mates after handing Bizarre a backstage pass to her pal Yungblud’s new B.R.A.T clothes shop.

The punk-rock wonderland in Soho, central London, hosted a cool music show by Arabella this week.

At the cosy gig, she thanked Yungblud for supporting her career, adding: “He’s so cool and he’s so awesome.

“He has given me some great advice about music.

“The songs I am performing tonight, and it being here of all places, is very serendipitous.”

Lily’s gone dotty

WITH one of the sharpest tongues in the industry, Lily Allen often divides opinions – but no one can argue she doesn’t have a great sense of humour.

Brandishing a thermometer and with the caption “#bluedotfever”, the Smile singer dressed up as a Ticketmaster seating chart, with spots signifying plenty of empty spaces – a nod to the fact she had to downgrade venues on her US tour due to poor sales.

Despite selling out arenas on home soil for her West End Girl tour, excitement for the gigs Stateside was lacklustre.

Meanwhile, Marvin and Rochelle Humes turned back the clock to 2002 as they transformed into Kelly Rowland and Nelly from the music video for their hit Dilemma.

Marvin and Rochelle were just two of many celebrity guests spotted at Olivia Attwood’s Halloween party in central London.

Also going all out for the celebrations was Kim and Kanye’s daughter North West.

The budding singer clearly spent some serious cash perfecting her Edward Scissorhands costume.

But perhaps my favourite costume of all came from influencer Bella James.

She looked genuinely unrecognisable as she transformed into Jeremy Clarkson thanks to some impressive prosthetics.

Clearly I need to up my fancy dress game.

SHED SEVEN are looking forward to being top of the tree after announcing a huge show in Delamere Forest next June.

The band are confirmed as the final headliner for Forest Live, the week-long run of shows in the Cheshire woodlands.

Having just sold out the biggest headliner show of their career at York’s LNER Stadium, the indie rockers will now headline the show on Friday, June 18, with support from The Lathums and The Lilacs.

Frontman Rick Witter told me: “We can’t wait to headline our first Forest Live show.

“They are always an amazing experience in beautiful surroundings with an electric atmosphere.

“We have played a few over the years, but always as bridesmaids, so it’s great that we can now feel like dizzy brides.”

Celebrity Traitors star has a bash at podcasts

JUST in time for Halloween, Celebrity Traitors’ Sebastian Croft has launched his brand new podcast series.

The first episode of The Sunday Scaries With Bash Croft is out tomorrow, with the Heart-stopper actor welcoming guests each week to discuss the highs and lows of the past seven days.

Bash said: “Many people I know find Sundays daunting or lonely and just want to have a laugh and chat about the week before and the week ahead.

“So I want the podcast to feel like you’re sitting on the sofa with us, having honest, unfiltered chats with friends.

“Hopefully, it’ll make everyone’s Sunday feel a little brighter and the week ahead a little less daunting.”

THE UK’s best holiday park has been revealed and it is the ultimate peaceful retreat.

Named Best Holiday Park at the Sykes Gem Awards 2026, Stonerush Lakes in Lanreath, South Cornwall is spread across 28 acres and is home to numerous different lodges.

Lodges vary in size between one and three bedrooms, are all detached and timber clad.

Many also have views of the lake or hillside and you can book one with its own hot tub too.

And if you really want something special, there are lodges with cinema rooms and spa facilities available.

There’s an onsite Old Mill Bar and Restaurant right by the lake, ideal for grabbing a bite to eat with meals made using local produce.

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If the weather is nice and sunny, you can sit on the outside terrace.

The inside is just as nice though, with a roaring fire to cosy up next to on cold winter days.

And what’s better is that your four-legged best friend doesn’t have to miss out as the site is dog-friendly.

For a day out, you can also head to the villages of Looe or Polperro, which are both around eight miles away.

There are several hidden beaches nearby as well, such as Lansallos Cove, Lantic Bay and Talland Bay – which are all within a 15 to 25 minute drive.

Silvano Geranio, owner said: “We are absolutely delighted to be named Holiday Park of the Year in the Sykes Gems Awards.

“Personally, I feel incredibly proud to own a park that has received this recognition, but more than anything, I’m delighted for the team.”

Many visitors note how peaceful the park is, with one person commenting: “My idea of paradise.”

Another guest said: “We over looked the lakes which has an abundance of wildlife so quiet and peaceful and relaxing.”

A third person added: “It’s the ultimate relax.”

You could book into a lodge that sleeps up to four people for £477 for seven nights – working out at just £17 per person, per night.

“The Daily Show” writer Kevin Bleyer died in a car crash on Sunday. He was 54.

The death was confirmed via his wife, Nella Vera, who shared the tragic news on her Instagram account on Tuesday. Multiple news outlets report that the Oct. 25 crash occurred in Millrift, Pa., a rural town near Bleyer’s country home.

“The last eleven years have had their ups and downs, as life does, but above all, they have been filled with immense love, laughter, dogs, and travel,” Vera wrote in her Instagram caption. “I was in awe of his intellect, dazzled by his wit, amazed by his fearlessness and spirit of adventure, besotted by his loving heart, and smitten by his beautiful blue eyes.”

The two met in 2010 at a production of “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” at the NYC Public Theater and shared a love for political comedy. Bleyer was an esteemed staff writer on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” for nine years, during which he won four Emmys for writing for a variety, music or comedy program.

The couple began dating in 2015 and married in June 2025.

“I feel incredibly lucky to have shared the past decade with such a brilliant, complicated, funny, stubborn, and wonderful man,” Vera added in her caption. “He had many public accomplishments and awards throughout his long and successful career, but to me, he was my soulmate, my partner in crime, and the one who made life so much more fun.”

Prior to “The Daily Show,” Bleyer also wrote on the satire show “Politically Incorrect” led by comic commentator Bill Maher, the improv comedy show “Significant Others” and late-night talk show “Dennis Miller.”

In 2010, Bleyer co-wrote the book “Earth (The Book): A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race,” a comedic travel guide for aliens that details the history of humanity, alongside Stewart and dozens of other comics. He was also the solo author of 2012‘s “Me the People: One Man’s Selfless Quest to Rewrite the Constitution of the United States of America,” which poked fun at the way in which Americans choose to interpret the historic document.

In 2013, he moved to Kyrgyzstan, where he was the executive producer of “Studio 7,” the first political satire news show in Central Asia, according to his website. When he returned to the States, he co-founded Pilot Media Initiatives, which launched civics-minded media programs in democratically-challenged countries, including North Macedonia, Nigeria, Moldova, Kenya, Jordan and Estonia.

Bleyer also served as a writer and producer for NBC News’ “Today” show, as a supervising producer for MSNBC’s “Ronan Farrow Daily” and as a writer and producer for a CNN talk show pilot starring Kal Penn.

The humorist was also a gifted speechwriter for various NASA astronauts, political diplomats — once serving as deputy chief speechwriter for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio — and Colombian pop star Shakira.

Bleyer also contributed to the funnier speeches made by President Obama, including all of his White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner addresses. In a 2017 TED Talk, Bleyer pointed out Obama’s famous 2011 monologue, which aimed multiple shots at Donald Trump and his ability to lead the country; various political analysts believe the humiliating moment set the groundwork for Trump’s 2016 presidential run.

“Before I go any further, I feel like I should offer an apology. The rumors are true, Donald Trump is president of the United States of America, and there’s a good chance it’s my fault,” joked Bleyer in his 2017 TED Talk. “I’m told he ran for president, in part because he couldn’t take a joke, a few jokes actually.”

In her Instagram tribute, Vera described him as a “private person,” although some of his own political commentary aired as a guest on National Public Radio, “CBS Sunday Morning,” CNN and MSNBC.

Bleyer was born in Maryland but grew up in Washington state. He later attended Stanford University, where he switched his engineering major for communications.

He began his career as a dramaturge and assistant to actor-playwright Anna Deavere Smith at the New York Public Theater and Broadway’s Cort Theater. He later moved to London, where he worked for journalist David Brancaccio at the London bureau of the public radio business affairs program “Marketplace.”

There will be a private gathering in a few months to honor Bleyer’s life, Vera said. Individuals are welcome to donate funds to the Alzheimer’s Assn. New York City Chapter, where he volunteered, or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Bleyer is survived by Vera, his father, brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew.

Reality star Savannah Chrisley on Tuesday announced her pregnancy and engagement to her mystery fiancé, finally revealing that his name is Jason after months of secrecy.

“The past few years have taken me through fires I never imagined I’d have to walk through,” the “Chrisley Knows Best” star captioned an Instagram post with a video announcing the news. “Right in the middle of the heartbreak. Before all the pieces were put back together. And somehow, he began healing parts of me he never broke.

“And just when I thought my heart couldn’t hold any more love,” Chrisley continued, “God gave us our sweetest blessing yet… we’re having a BABY!”

The news comes after years of fighting on behalf of her parents, Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were jailed in 2023 for tax evasion and bank fraud. Savannah’s efforts paid off when President Trump issued pardons for them in 2025, despite their conviction for conspiring to defraud Atlanta-area banks of more than $30 million in loans by submitting false documents.

“I’m finally in my happy era. And it’s taken a lot for me to get here,” Savannah said in her podcast “Unlocked.”

“I have really struggled [with] like, ‘When’s it going to happen for me?’” she continued. “I see so many people getting married and having kids and living this picturesque lifestyle and white picket fence and all of these things. And for so long I thought like, ‘It’s just not going to happen…Mom and Dad aren’t going to be here for these moments and those moments, and maybe I’m just not going to find the right person.”

In the episode, she describes her courtship with Jason and his proposal during their visit to the Cayman Islands.

“In all the silence that I’ve been giving, I’ve been living a lot of life, and I’ve been enjoying it for myself,” she said, acknowledging there is a “huge” age gap. “That’s probably part of the reason I kept a lot of it quiet, because I know how brutal the public can be.

“It’s just such an amazing, fulfilling feeling to finally find your person, and I’m there,” she continued. “So, yes, the age difference. So what? I don’t care. Let me tell you, he does not look his age, nor does he act his age. His body is great. His mind is even sharper. So, I really don’t care. OK? This person is the love of my life, and it made all the heartbreak that I’ve gone through worth it.”

JAMES Bourne’s brother has issued a health update after donating his kidney to save the Busted singer’s life.

We told yesterday how Chris, James’ youngest sibling, helped extend his life by donating a kidney.

Following the revelation, Chris has now shared an old snap of him and James to Instagram and wrote in an update: “When you find out that everything’s going to be ok”.

The picture showed the siblings as children, both beaming with their hands in the air.

The brothers underwent the surgery earlier this month and are now in a six-week recovery period.

Chris said of the op: “I was told that the op was going to happen at some point this year, it was all dependent on James’s wellbeing. Suddenly, we were given a date for early October.”

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James, who has never spoken openly about the illness he is living with, is also said to be recovering well.

James was due to go out and perform on the Busted vs McFly arena tour in Autumn 2025, until he fell ill.

Not only did Chris volunteer to give an organ, but he also stood in for James in the tour.

Chris, who is younger than James, stepped in to play on the 35-date tour without a minute of rehearsals.

While he waited to find out if his kidney was a match to James, Chris started using music as therapy.

With his Call Your Friends bandmates, he started work on a new track, Selfless, which started out as a poem Chris wrote during the hardest moments of his health journey with James.

They have now released the song as a fundraising track, which is helping mental health charity Mind.

LAS VEGAS — The Strip is broiling on a recent afternoon, but it’s cool and dark inside Mary J. Blige’s dressing room at the Park MGM.

As a humidifier moistens the dry desert air, the 55-year-old R&B star sits on a sofa wearing a brown jumpsuit and matching gaucho hat; through the walls we can hear Blige’s band sound-checking for her My Life, My Story residency, which launched in May and will pick up again Friday night for shows through Oct. 31.

In some ways, Las Vegas is a funny fit for the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, who’s been transforming pain into music since her 1992 debut, “What’s the 411?” Yet her stay in this glittering showbiz mecca comes amid a season of flower-getting for Blige: Two years ago, she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; two years before that, she played the Super Bowl halftime show and landed a nomination for album of the year at the Grammy Awards.

“It definitely feels like people are taking notice of the fact that Mary J. Blige is one of the most important performers in R&B history,” she says. “I opened up a lane that hasn’t been closed yet. Female after female after female after female continue to do what Mary J. Blige has done and still does.”

Who opened that lane with you?
Back in the ’90s, when we first came out, it was myself and SWV that were really, really strong. Then there was 702, then Jazmine Sullivan and SZA and Beyoncé, and now right down to Summer Walker, who’s singing her truth.

That’s how you define what you do.
I’m not a great singer because I can sing better than everyone — I’m a great singer because I sing from my heart. Bono gave me that jewel. When Hurricane Katrina happened, we were doing [U2’s] “One,” and Bono was like, “Don’t worry about singing on key — people aren’t moved by you singing on key. What makes you a great singer is how you make them feel.” Not all of us are like the eighth wonders of the world — Aretha Franklin or Chaka Khan or Whitney Houston. They have pitch-perfect and they have emotion.

I saw Chaka Khan the other night and was thinking about how, even now, you never know where her voice is about to go.
She’s Chaka Khan — there’s nothing else you could say, really.

Why’d you cover “Sweet Thing” on “What’s the 411?”
First of all, when I was growing up, my mother played “Sweet Thing” all the time — it was our favorite song. So when I got to Uptown Records, Andre Harrell, the CEO, he was like, “You should do ‘Sweet Thing.’” I was like, “I don’t wanna do ‘Sweet Thing’! Chaka Khan could really sing — I can’t sing like that.” But he said I could do it, so I went and did the song and they all went crazy over it. My fans who didn’t know Chaka Khan, they thought it was my song. Same with Rose Royce’s “I’m Going Down” — to this day, a lot of people don’t know that’s a remake. I was afraid of both those songs. But I wanted to sing “I’m Going Down” all my life because I heard the song when I was 5 years old from the “Car Wash” soundtrack.

Tell me about your routine in Vegas. You stay on the Strip or you have a house somewhere?
I have a house out here. I’m not staying here — this is a lot. So I go home after I finish my performance, and I get ready for my performance tomorrow: I rest, I drink water, I do whatever I need to do. Then it’s the same thing: I come here, go into glam, do my meet and greet.

Get the humidifier going.
I got a steamer that I actually pull on over my mouth. Then I do my warmups, relax, keep my mind clear of any nonsense.

How do you think about doing your thing in a town built on glitz?
Mary is not the slickest Vegas person. But you can let people see that you’ve evolved — that you wear gowns now.

Would 19-year-old Mary be surprised to see her future self in a gown?
Hundred percent. Nineteen-year-old Mary was all tomboy — all baggy everything. Right now, I barely want to wear a gown, this Mary right here. But I’ve actually grown to like some of it when it looks good.

Did you look at anyone else’s residency when you were putting yours together?
I saw two people’s shows, and I said, “That’s not it.”

Shows in Vegas tend to be on the shorter side. The casino wants people back out there gambling.
I got 90 minutes — it’s a lot of time. People are very happy, but they’re standing there like they want more. I’m like, “I did 90 minutes! I don’t know how much more y’all want from me.”

Silk Sonic’s residency here was a no-phones show, which Bruno Mars told me was his attempt to preserve the freedom to make mistakes. Does it bum you out as a performer to know that everything winds up on the internet?
I don’t care about that at all. Social media, it’s bull—. You know what’s gonna happen — you know they’re gonna say, “Oh, her jaw is swollen.” Whatever. As long as you live truthfully, what they’re recording doesn’t matter.

In a recent interview with Fat Joe and Jadakiss, you talked about keeping your romantic partner a “mystery man” to the world. I wondered how you came to the decision not to make everything available to the public.
Because for so many years it has all been available. What you know already is what you know — I’ll elaborate on that. But what you don’t know, you will never know. I think I’ve given a lot, and it’s important to have something for myself. Nowadays, people just take things and ruin it for you. So if you have something beautiful, hold onto it, keep it to yourself. You have to protect the person that you’re with as well, because they don’t deserve to get beat up for something someone else did. I protect the ones I love — I’m not having anybody speaking ill about my family or the man that I love. I’m too old for that. Early in my life, if social media was around in 1991, I’d have been on that s— all day, cursing and going nuts on people.

Mary J. Blige performs during halftime of Super Bowl LVI at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium in 2022.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

We were talking before about your accolades. Did the Rock Hall mean anything in particular to you?
It was important to me because those things don’t happen to us.

To Black women.
Yes. It happens to rock ’n’ roll stars every day, and they’re in their grave — there were people in their grave that they were honoring when I went. So when it happens to Mary J. Blige or Chaka Khan or Aretha Franklin, we have to honor that and raise it up. That’s a big deal.

Did Las Vegas feel like a place open to Black women?
I’m trying to think of what Black females I’ve seen do Vegas.

Mariah Carey was here. Toni Braxton had a show.
Yeah, but like me? But you know what I love? It’s time. And how I know it’s time is because my fans went up. When I made the announcement, they was going crazy — they still going crazy. I’m probably the first to open this door, and next it’ll be somebody else. You better believe they on their way. “Oh, Mary doing Vegas? I’m doing Vegas too.” That’s how it goes: “Mary did her hair blonde? I’m dying my hair blonde too.” That’s how my whole life has been, even actually before the music business.

Nosy question, but what’s an aspect of financial comfort that you especially enjoy?
Flying private — that’s the best one for me.

Getting to bypass the grind of travel.
That’s what I love about Vegas, because it’s not like tour. Tour, it’s a lot.

Are you soft now?
Probably a little spoiled.

Last one: Name an artist that meant a lot to you when you were young that might surprise people.
There were so many. I mean, Earth, Wind & Fire —

Everybody loves Earth, Wind & Fire.
But that “Way of the World” song — that really does something to me. We loved George Michael — George Michael was always one of our favorite artists. Duran Duran, come on. Oh, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” — Tears for Fears. And Hall & Oates! [Sings] “Private eyes, they’re watching you.” Ambrosia. The Eagles. I could keep going.

I didn’t expect you to hit me with Ambrosia.
They were so soulful — I just got goosebumps. And Queen. That’s one of my favorite movies — “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

Who should play you in a movie about Mary J. Blige?
She wasn’t born yet.

Raise your hand if your group chat is still talking about “You Can See Everything.”

For anyone who has watched Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s documentary about former Theranos CEO (and convicted felon) Elizabeth Holmes and her partner Billy Evans in the past week, every new think piece, funny meme, discussion thread or video parody about the film has been something to revel in. I’ve personally spent several hours messaging or speaking to friends and colleagues over the phone about the documentary, and it seems like a lot of people similarly can’t stop obsessing about it.

The film has sparked renewed interest not only in Holmes, but also in works previously released about her, including “Bad Blood,” written by John Carreyrou, the journalist who exposed Holmes and Theranos’ fraudulent practices, and Alex Gibney’s 2019 documentary “The Inventor,” which senior writer Greg Braxton rewatched and analyzed in the context of the new documentary. Also notable has been the resurgence of Hulu’s “The Dropout,” the 2022 limited series created by Liz Meriwether (“Furious”) that stars Amanda Seyfried — Variety reported this week that the series has seen a jump in viewership over the past month. And of course, there’s been lots of interest in Fielder; we’ve put together a guide to his work if you’re looking to understand him and his style.

But with all the attention on Holmes, Times culture critic Mary McNamara raises an important question: Why are we still so fascinated by Holmes, despite her track record as a con artist and fraudster? There are many answers to the question, but there’s no denying the public’s renewed fascination with Holmes, and now Evans as well.

However, if you prefer to think about lighter relationships that are less perplexing, NBC’s latest sitcom will do the job and remind you of what it’s like to be immediately swept off your feet. “Newlyweds,” starring Téa Leoni, Tim Daly and Jamie Lee Curtis arrives on NBC today. Curtis, who co-created the series, stopped by Guest Spot to talk about what inspired it and the recent changes behind the scenes.

Also in this week’s Screen Gab, our writers recommend a documentary about a saga surrounding one of the greatest hip-hop groups of all time and a cult-classic horror film that’s perfect for spooky season. — Maira Garcia

Turn on

Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

Tarik Azzougarh, left, and the RZA in Netflix’s “The Disciple.”

(Netflix)

“The Disciple: A Wu-Tang Fable” (Netflix)

In 2015, the only copy of the Wu-Tang Clan’s “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” sold at auction for $2 million. The buyer was revealed to be hedge fund and pharma dirtbag Martin Shkreli, who infamously raised the price of an antiparasitic drug by 5,000% overnight and later went to prison for securities fraud. Joanna Natasegara‘s enchanting documentary “The Disciple” explores the long run-up to this Guinness Book of World Records event, and its aftermath, through the surprising, touching, funny and sometimes sad story of the album’s co-producer, Tarik Azzougarh, a.k.a. Cilvaringz. A Dutch Moroccan superfan whose freestyling and persistence earned him a place in the group’s auxiliary, it was Cilvaringz who first proposed the idea and brought it to fruition with Wu-Tang main man RZA — both a culmination and the beginning of an end. The film raises questions of art and ownership, friendship and business, creativity and capitalism, asking the questions who is music for, and what is it for. — Robert Lloyd

‘Highway to Hell’ (Tubi, Prime Video)

This is the perfect spooky-season flick to pop on when you don’t mind interruptions from trick-or-treaters or your buddy who treats movie night like an audition for “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” Directed by Ate de Jong (“Drop Dead Fred”), this 1992 comedy-horror cult classic stars Chad Lowe and Kristy Swanson as an eloping couple who take the wrong shortcut and wind up in Hades — basically, an even worse version of the drive to Vegas — where a young Ben Stiller works the roadside diner and Gilbert Gottfried plays Hitler. Every shot has a snort-worthy gag: a stop-motion Cerberus, a casino-bar called Hoffa’s, a cop whose handcuffs are literally a pair of severed hands. A flop at the time, “Highway to Hell’s” breakneck mix of smart and stupid was applauded by former L.A. Times film critic Kevin Thomas as “the Greek legend of Orpheus, revved up ‘Mad Max’-style.” Screenwriter Brian Helgeland would eventually win an Oscar for “L.A. Confidential.” Somehow, I never hear him brag about this goofy delight. He should. — Amy Nicholson

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

Jamie Lee Curtis as Claudia in “Newlyweds,” a sitcom she co-created and executive produces.

(Nicole Weingart / NBC)

Jaime Lee Curtis has been in showbiz for a very long time. And when she sets her mind to something, like returning to a sitcom, she’s going to make it happen.

“It’ll be 50 years next January that I have been a professional actress,” she says over a video call earlier this week. “It’ll be 50 years that I’ve been driving on the lot at Universal.”

Over the course of her long career, Curtis, 67, has developed a lengthy résumé in film and television, winning numerous accolades along the way, including an Oscar and an Emmy (she’s been nominated for a Grammy too — there’s still time for an EGOT). But she longed to return to a sitcom ever since wrapping her lead role on ABC’s “Anything but Love,” a series that premiered in 1989 and ran for four seasons.

While she’s had guest appearances and some recurring roles on sitcoms over the years, including on shows like “New Girl” and “The Drew Carey Show,” NBC’s “Newlyweds” was an idea she had gestated for years, and now it’s set to arrive as part of the network’s Friday prime-time lineup. The actor, who executive produces “Newlyweds” and has a recurring role, took some time to discuss how she came up with the idea for the show, her co-creator’s firing and the political thriller series she’s watching with her spouse, filmmaker Christopher Guest. — M.G.

Jamie, you co-created this series and it’s loosely based on your relationship with your husband, Christoper Guest. Tell me how it came about and how you wanted to tell that story in this show.

It was April 25, 2019. I was in New York City … I was in a car being driven by a man in his 60s in a suit with gray hair on his temples. We were chatting, as one does in the back of a car, and I asked him if he was married, and he said he was divorced. I said, “Do you have kids?” And he said, “No.” And I said, “Well, that’s the blessing that you know you’re not dealing with divorce and children, which I’ve dealt with a lot.” And he then said, “But my new wife.” In that second, I went, “Oh, my new wife.” That’s a sitcom about people in their 60s hooking up, similar to the way my husband and I met, which was we met and married very quickly. And in fact, we would have gotten married had we gone out on our first date. We have said we would have gone and gotten married that night. So the idea popped in my head: What happens if two people in their 60s get married on a whim, and decide to just throw caution to the wind and go for it? What happens to the families and the friends and their own lives and the very routinized lives that they had led leading up to that moment? I knew it was a sitcom.

It wasn’t until years later I was put together with Gail Lerner, and we — during COVID actually — started working on the idea. But much of what’s in that script was kind of what happened to me and my husband … it’s something that’s been around for a while, and I’m just really excited finally that it has turned into this version, “Newlyweds” starring Tim and Téa.

Let’s talk about Tim and Téa. They’re the newlyweds, but they’re also married in real life. What was it like playing off their dynamic and vice versa?

When the pilot got picked up, … it was what they call “cast-contingent,” which means they like the idea, but they want to make sure that the right person gets in … so they wanted us to find Jeanie first, and it was a very short list of actresses they would bank a show on. Téa, luckily, was one of those actresses and had been looking for something on the lighter side. … and it so happens she’s married to a guy IRL who happens to have a lot of experience in the comedy space on TV shows, and all of a sudden we were like, oh, wouldn’t that make a kind of fantastic bit of pairing.

What do you think we’re going to learn about Claudia? She seems so liberated, but we’ve only seen the surface. She’s got a soft spot for Jeanie and even James.

I think you’re gonna see, in fact, that she becomes not just a foil but a friend. I feel like her acceptance of Jeanie … we’re going to mine it for its comedy. I mean, I think at the end of the day, she will always shake things up because that’s just her nature. We get to meet Claudia’s mother. I can’t tell you because we haven’t announced it yet, who plays my mother. I can tell you that she’s over 90.

You’re going to have me Googling.

We get to see a little bit of the oak tree and the acorn. We definitely get the snarky oak tree and the snarky acorn.

I want to come back to your co-creator Gail Lerner, who was recently dismissed from her role as showrunner, and has been replaced with Bruce Helford. Regardless of the news, she has called it “the most joyous TV experience of her life.” How are you and the cast moving forward after these changes?

Well, you can imagine it was a bummer. You know, network television has a whole series of requirements, way beyond … my little creative ideas. It has to do with management of scripts and the amount of early drafts of things, and it’s required within a network structure. And to run a show on television, and to consistently run a show, is a different animal than just the creativity that it takes to think of a show or to develop a show. That’s why Bruce has stepped in very quickly because Bruce has proven over and over again that he’s a guy who can make 100 episodes of a show with a much bigger worldview.

It was beautiful that Gail said the very things she said because we all felt that way too. It was joyous, fun, but there were a lot of things that were way beyond my understanding. What I’ve come to learn, I’m 67, is that creativity is a continuum. That it is not rigid and binary. That I had an idea that then Gail took and built on that idea, and now Bruce has come in and taken Gail’s idea … and is building out another version of the show.

Bruce Helford was the second in charge at the TV show “Anything but Love” when I did it back in the day, so I’ve known him.

So y’all are back together.

The only other time I was ever on a sitcom was “The Drew Carey Show” when Bruce Helford wrote me a part of this crazy hairdresser who … goes on a date with Drew Carey and ends up doing bungee jumping with him on the date. It’s a funny continuum for me to be back with Bruce, who weirdly enough was the actual first person I called when I had the idea [for “Newlyweds”]. I called Bruce because I knew him as a showrunner for sitcoms. We talked about it very briefly, and then he went off to something else. I went off to something else, and it kind of fell apart. So it’s slightly weird to me, and beautiful in that way that the person I actually called when I had the idea is now the one running the show.

It’s a full–circle moment.

Completely full-circle moment.

Has Christopher seen the show? What does he think?

I will say this: Christopher Guest is not a sitcom fan. You know, my husband is a very specific person and makes very specific, very funny movies and television shows. [Sitcoms are] not the thing that he is drawn to. But he genuinely understands that I’ve wanted to do a sitcom for a long time.

Because it’s spooky season right now, and you’re one of the OG scream queens, I have to ask you: Do you watch anything in that vein?

So I’m boring because the truth is, I don’t like scary things. I don’t like scary movies. I have zero interest in scary movies, and I think if someone ended up doing some analysis of me as a human once I’m dead, they would understand that actually my natural fear of scary things is what, in fact, made me such a good actress in them, and I don’t pretend to like them. I like the fans of [scary movies] because there’s a passionate group of people that love them. But I don’t have to love the movies, I just have to love what I do.

Is there anything else you’re watching right now?

My husband and I just started watching the [fourth] season of “The Diplomat” [Netflix], which the writing is so great. Last night we watched an episode written … by Peter Noah, who was the guy who took over “Anything but Love” … and was the showrunner. This episode last night [Episode 4, “Pagliacci”] was what Chris and I watched, and I wrote to Peter last night to say, “Bravo, bravo! Oh, the writing is so gripping.” Of course the writing leads the performances, which lead the filmmaker. It’s always the writing.

ICYMI

Must-read stories you might have missed

Ron Duguay, a longtime New York Rangers star who finished his NHL career with the Kings, has died of cancer. He was 69.

The Rangers announced the loss of “one of the most popular players in franchise history” on Thursday morning after being informed by Duguay’s family.

“Ron’s signature skating style — with his hair flowing as he moved down the ice — captivated The Garden Faithful, and his skill, tenacity, and charisma earned him the admiration of all New Yorkers,” the team said in a statement. “We join the hockey community in sending our condolences to Ron’s friends, family, and loved ones during this difficult time.”

Former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican U.S. vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who dated Duguay over the last several years, posted on social media that the one-time NHL All-Star “passed away peacefully” Thursday “after a hard-fought battle with cancer.”

“It’s with a shattered heart, but also deep peace knowing Ron is with Jesus now,” Palin wrote. “He fought so hard. Love never ends.”

On Sunday, Palin posted photos that appeared to show her holding Duguay’s hand while he was in a hospital bed. “Prayers for Ron Duguay are felt & appreciated,” she wrote.

Born in Sudbury, Ontario, Duguay was selected by the Rangers at No. 13 overall in the 1977 draft. Known for his long, curly hair and flashy lifestyle — “why, he even danced with Cher at one of Manhattan’s best-known discos,” the New York Times wrote in 1983 — Duguay became a star during the six seasons of his initial stint in New York. He helped the Rangers make the 1979 Stanley Cup Final and earned his only All-Star nod in 1982.

Ron Duguay, front left, blocks out New York Rangers’ Carey Wilson as Kings teammate Marty McSorley winds up to shoot Feb. 27, 1989, at Madison Square Garden.

(Ron Frehm / Associated Press)

Duguay was traded to the Detroit Red Wings in the summer of 1983 and had the two best seasons of his career, including career highs of 89 points on 38 goals and 51 assists during the 1984-1985 season. He also played for the Pittsburgh Penguins and a second time for the Rangers before wrapping up his career with the Kings from 1988 to 1989.

Overall, Duguay had 673 points (305 goals, 368 assists) in the NHL regular season and playoffs. He went on to play in the minor leagues, including two seasons with the IHL’s San Diego Gulls, and spent 12 years calling Rangers games as an MSG Network analyst.

“Ron greeted each day with the biggest smile, an incredible zest for life, and a positive outlook that shone through everything he saw, everything he did, and every life he touched,” the NHL Alumni Assn. wrote on X. “He will be remembered not only for the player he was, but for the extraordinary person he was. His warmth, his laughter, his kindness, and his beautiful spirit will forever remain in the hearts of his family, friends, teammates, and the entire NHL Alumni community.”

The Kings reposted the alumni association’s statement and added: “Our hearts are with Ron’s family & loved ones and we join them in mourning his passing.”

In 2024, Duguay was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, which had started in his colon before spreading to his liver and other parts of his body, according to a post on the GoFundMe page set up by his three adult children to help pay for his medical and travel costs. He lived in Florida but had to make regular trips to Orange County for treatment.

“Early this morning, our beloved father took his final breath after fighting a long and courageous battle. He fought with everything he had, right until the very end,” daughter Shay Thomas wrote on Thursday in a separate GoFundMe post. “Our hearts are shattered, and the world feels a little less bright without him in it. He will be missed by so many, but we find peace in knowing that he is finally free from pain and suffering.

“He fought the good fight until his very last breath, and today, Heaven gained a truly special angel.”

Mohammed Annour spent much of his youth living in a flimsy shelter in a dusty, overcrowded refugee camp in east Africa, where the days were long, the food was poor and the future nonexistent.

“Go to the army and fight. That’s one option,” said Annour, who fled war in Sudan for the refugee camp in Chad when he was 9. “The other one is you stay there. But you don’t have a future.”

If he had stayed, Annour, now 33, has little doubt how his story would have ended.

“Probably,” he said, “I’m dead.”

Mohammed Annour, a refugee soccer player who became a coach, and Alan Barker, chairman of the Mighty Cosmos, look across a field in Sweden.

(Courtesy of Darren Hamlin)

Instead, he’s in Sweden, raising two boys, working as a quality control inspector for a textile company and playing amateur soccer for a team in the country’s fifth division. And the only thing that separates his experience from the tens of thousands of desperate people he left behind in the camp is the fact someone believed in him enough to give him a chance.

“Everybody needs a chance,” Annour said. “Don’t throw people out. People just need a chance in life.”

“And we got that chance,” he continued, “because of Katie-Jay and Gabriel.”

That would be Katie-Jay Scott and Gabriel Stauring, a pair of South Bay activists who showed up at Annour’s camp on a blazing hot day in 2011, rolled a battered soccer ball across a barren field and transformed an untold number of lives.

Scott and Stauring founded the humanitarian group iACT largely to respond to the crisis in Darfur, a semi-desert plateau in western Sudan that has known nothing but war this century. But unlike many of the dozens of other similarly minded people and groups working in Africa, Scott and Stauring came not to preach, but to listen. They came with questions, not answers.

And what they were told was that the children in the camps needed more than food and shelter. They needed a routine, they needed recreation, they needed joy and they needed hope.

Founders of iACT Gabriel Stauring, left, and Katie-Jay Scott hold up gifts they received after a training session in the Central African Republic. Stauring and Scott were killed in a car crash in 2021, but their nonprofit continues to support refugees.

(Courtesy of iACT)

In other words, they needed soccer.

“Many organizations came into the camps. They just came around and took some pictures and then they leave,” said Annour, a slight man with a serious countenance. “I think [Scott and Stauring] understood us as humans, not just these kids or these people who need food or shelter.

“They saw another side. They saw these people that can make something in life.”

Stauring and Scott were killed in a car accident in Manhattan Beach five years ago, but their legacy lives on in the unique advocacy and aid program they created, one that uses soccer to teach skills and provide structure to refugees stranded in camps, shelters and intolerable poverty in four countries on two continents.

“They were so kind, careful,” Annour said. “Listening to everyone. It didn’t matter where you came from, which color you are. They were open and gave time to everyone they met.”

“Honestly, I didn’t know they were going to change my life or anything,” added Moubarak Abdallah, another refugee introduced to soccer by Scott and Stauring. “I saw them as other people who just come and go. But they were quite special people.

Grace Tanda, of the Mighty Cosmos, strikes the ball during a match. The soccer team in Sweden is comprised of refugees.

(Courtesy of Darren Hamlin)

“They wanted to help our ideas shine, to [give] other people hope. They were listening to what I needed.”

Today, there are more than 5,000 children participating in iACT soccer academies in Chad, the Central African Republic, Cameroon and Mexico. Another 1,800 children are enrolled in the group’s Little Ripples preschool program, which also served 475,000 meals to students and staff last year.

But the organization, like many similarly focused humanitarian groups, is fighting for its survival amid a global backlash against refugees and migrants.

The hostility has been especially strong in the U.S., where the second Trump administration has sharply restricted immigration and asylum access and drastically cut congressionally approved spending for life-sustaining programs previously funded through USAID. Many European countries have followed that lead, adopting a stauncher approach to border enforcement and deportations and slashing support for development assistance by 13.8% in 2025, the largest cut in a decade.

This summer, violent anti-immigrant protests in South Africa forced more than 178,000 people to flee to Zimbabwe, Malawi, Nigeria and other countries, reversing a trend that has seen the region’s richest country welcome migrants to work on farms, in construction and other low-paid jobs. Public sentiment toward refugees and migrants has also hardened elsewhere, creating a crisis for nonprofit aid groups.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, this month warned the gap between humanitarian needs and donor contributions is widening, leading to deep cuts and forcing aid groups to fight one another for the shrinking dollars that remain — all at a time when conflicts in Syria, Gaza and Ukraine have swelled the number of refugees worldwide to nearly 42 million; another 69 million people are displaced.

That’s more than 1 out of every 70 people on Earth, according to the UNHCR.

Annour and his family were once part of that wave, fleeing their home in Sudan in 2003, stepping around dead bodies and witnessing unimaginable horror, to escape one in a series of continuing civil wars that have given way to genocide. More than 15 million people have been displaced in the 23 years of fighting, with more than 1.3 million still stranded in teeming refugee camps in eastern Chad.

Annour said he would have perished there if not for Stauring and Scott, who introduced soccer to their camp. Three years after the pair arrived, an international tournament for stateless players, the CONIFA World Football Cup, was held and iACT entered a 20-man team comprised of players from 12 camps. Annour, a left back, made the cut as did Abdallah, a physical midfielder with a perpetual smile who would become the team captain.

“No one is thinking this [is] going to be life-changing,” Abdallah remembers thinking. “You know, there was like a small chance but it became big dreams for us.”

The team, Darfur United, was outscored 39-0 in its two games in Ostersund, Sweden, but most of the players chose to stay in Ostersund rather than return to their camps and were welcomed by the Swedish government. They received asylum and eventually formed an integration team, the Mighty Cosmos, that advanced as high as the fifth division of Swedish soccer.

Abdallah is a natural leader, said Alan Barker, chairman of the Mighty Cosmos, and the kind of person who receives total respect from the other players.

Mugenyi Ngabu, left, cheers during the Mighty Cosmos’ match in Sweden. The team is comprised entirely of refugees.

(Courtesy of Darren Hamlin)

“He is a sort of guy you can rely on 100%,” Barker said. “Personally, I would trust him with my life. He is a doer, not a talker. A problem solver not a problem creator. And he always wants the best for everybody.”

Annour, he added, has been troubled by knee injuries on the field but remains “a strong and quiet yet forceful personality of the group.”

“He is a passionate believer in fair play and honesty and has no room for dishonesty or deception in any aspect of life,” Barker continued. “Maybe that’s a reflection of his childhood in the refugee camps and Chad, where there was no time for such things. He’s a sort of guy whose name would be first on the team sheet. The team sheet of football and life.”

More important is the fact that the players, teenagers or young adults when they arrived in Sweden, have married, had children of their own, become citizens and integrated into the local community, where their civic work was this year recognized with one of Sweden’s most prestigious awards.

“I never dreamed to be in this position when I was a kid. I was trying to survive, to live day by day,” said Annour, who is working three jobs to support his sons, aged 1 ½ and 4.

“I’m here. I can provide for my family. Moubarak provides for his family. It’s like saving a generation, not just me and Moubarak.”

“It’s about the chances,” agreed Abdallah, 35, who also lives in Sweden where he coaches the Mighty Cosmos while raising a 5-year-old son.

“The door has to open. That’s all.”

iACT offered a way to open those doors when it first rolled that battered soccer ball onto a dirt lot. Without that, “these guys wouldn’t be here, wouldn‘t have the lives they have,” said Darren Hamlin, a British filmmaker who has started a Kickstarter campaign to fund a documentary on the refugee players.

By focusing on single players and their game and not the vastness of the sprawling global refugee crisis, Hamlin says the film has the power to redefine these former refugees not as obscure numbers but as flesh-and-blood people with dreams and talents and aspirations. That was what inspired Scott and Stauring when they founded iACT.

“Football has this power to transcend sports. It becomes an emotional thing,” said Hamlin, who is behind on his goal of raising $66,000 by the end of the month to expand work on the documentary. “It doesn’t matter how many stats or things we put in front of people; they don’t really pay attention.

“But football kind of goes deeper sometimes. Football is kind of the vehicle that delivers the message.”

Getting that message out, however, is becoming increasingly difficult. As government funding for refugee programs around the world has dried up, groups like iACT have found themselves fighting for the same slice of a much smaller funding pie.

“Fundraising at all levels has become more difficult with the gutting of USAID, especially with the increase in larger NGOs [non-government organizations] applying for foundation grants,” said Merri Weir, a retired teacher and iACT board member since 2016. “It is becoming harder and harder because we’re competing with larger NGOs. The funding stream has become tighter.”

At the same time, the need has swelled.

“The refugee camps in Chad are still very unstable,” said Weir, who has visited the camps multiple times. “The current war has not ended and shows no sign of ending. Refugees are still coming across the border, which has more than doubled the number of Sudanese refugees.

“It is critical that we are able to sustain our current refugee-led programs.”

In response, Weir’s group, which will hold its annual fundraising event in Manhattan Beach next month, has considered everything short of a corner lemonade stand and selling chocolate door to door to make up for the lost financial backing it needs to continue what Scott and Stauring started.

“In the past, it is our uniqueness and our innovation and our refugee-led action [that] set us apart,” said Weir. “It was very appealing.”

The Trump administration complicated things even further in June 2025 when it instituted a travel ban and entry restriction list on Chad, leading the Chadian government to retaliate by revoking visas for American citizens, including aid workers. That means fewer children playing soccer and attending preschool, fewer meals being served — and fewer success stories like the ones told by Abdallah and Annour.

“I spent 12 years in a refugee camp,” Abdallah said. “People just hope to get a meal for the day. [iACT] brought the footballs and then just brought the idea. A chance to change our lives. Opportunity.

“There’s a lot of people in the refugee camps [that] could be pilots, doctors, better football players. Maybe there is the next Lionel Messi, Cristiano [Ronaldo], Lamine Yamal in the camp. But they don’t have any opportunity to get out.”

“The world is crazy. It’s just war everywhere,” added Annour, who is about to begin a college course on sports science. “Those people who don’t like refugees, who don’t want the United Nations to bring more refugees, they need to put themselves in our shoes.

“People are so naive to think they can just ignore what’s going on. It’s getting bigger every day.“

Abdallah and Annour may have left the camps, but the camps have not left them. The work they have done in Sweden includes the construction of a community sports and culture center, addressing crime prevention and mental health, refugee resettlement, and fundraising efforts that support the work of iACT and other groups working with the people they left behind.

“My mom is still in the same camp, so I’ve been back three times now with a lot of footballs, football boots and football equipment,” Abdallah said.

Scott and Stauring, who lived in Redondo Beach before the fatal car crash, thought they were bringing soccer to the camps in Africa, but what they really brought was hope and proof that if someone just opens the door, you might be surprised what you find on the other side.