show biz

Fans have been discussing who they think might be named one of the three Traitors this evening.

One fan has picked out who they don’t trust, saying: “Miranda Hart is just too nice, so obviously it’s her. Michael Sheen could lie to me for ten episodes and I’d thank him for it. And Hannah Fry looks like she’s already done the maths on all of us.”

Another suggested: “The story about James Acaster having a panic attack or similar leading to the game being paused makes me think he’s probably not one.”

“I am really hoping for at least Bella and either James Acaster of Joe Lycett. Joanne, Miranda and James Blunt would also be cool and could pull it off,” a third wrote.

So who do you think will be given those coveted roles? I’d love to see Miranda Hart be named a Traitor but after last year and Alan’s success, Claudia may choose a different personality this time around…

When Brandon Hurst first decided to sell his plants on TikTok Live in 2023, the 32-year-old Sylmar resident didn’t know what to expect. He said he thought he could sell at least 30 plants, but instead sold 250.

Now, three years later, the internet creator, who goes by Brandon the Plant Guy, sells up to 5,000 plants a week, works out of a 3,000-square-foot greenhouse in Sylmar and has a staff of 13. He credits much of this success to the exposure he’s received on TikTok.

“I’d be out of business if it wasn’t for TikTok,” said Hurst. “I would have ended the business and gone back to working the desk job that I was working prior. I was already on that path, that was where we were headed. And then TikTok really did turn that around.”

Hurst is one of the 920,000 California-based businesses using the social media platform to reach new customers and grow their brands, according to new data from consulting firm PF Global.

In 2025, TikTok helped generate $12 billion in advertising and merchandise sales for those businesses and supported 52,000 jobs in the state, said the PF Global report, which was commissioned by TikTok.

Nationwide, economic activity on TikTok last year helped contribute $81 billion to some 8.5 million U.S. businesses, the report said.

The surge in activity reflects a growing trend toward online commerce, as more small businesses and consumers turn to social media platforms like TikTok to buy and sell goods.

“We enable American culture, American creators, American businesses, to reach an audience around the world,” said Nicole Mason, TikTok’s head of U.S. public policy, said during a presentation on Wednesday morning.

The new report comes as TikTok is increasingly eager to tout its economic impact as a newly formed U.S. joint venture. In January, the company was taken over by three managing investors: Silver Lake, Oracle and Emirati investment firm MGX, each holding 15%, with ByteDance retaining 19.9% of investments. This transition came after TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, was under pressure to divest its ownership in the app’s U.S. operations or face a nationwide ban, due to security concerns.

Last month, TikTok also settled a $400-million lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice, ending a 2024 lawsuit alleging the company violated federal children’s privacy laws.

TikTok, which operates its U.S. headquarters in Culver City, where it employs several hundred workers, is mostly known for its viral, short-form vertical videos. But, over the years, the platform has become a hub of curated viral content and a central part of many businesses’ marketing strategies.

The app also has features like TikTok Live, where businesses can host live shopping events, and TikTok Shop, which serves as a direct-to-consumer online marketplace.

For its study, PF Global surveyed more than 11,000 adults in the U.S. and 5,000 businesses. The firm also conducted five case studies with U.S. small businesses and TikTok creators and interviewed over 600 people around the country. The data set combined that survey data with government statistics, industry research and TikTok’s own internal data.

PF Global recently published a similar economic report for the U.K. and is working on reports for 10 other European countries with TikTok.

Neil Ross, a partner at PF Global, said a common global theme is that TikTok users are more likely to see something on the platform and go out and do it.

“People around the world are using it as a kind of digital front door to work out where to go, what to shop, what experiences to have,” Ross said.

The U.S. report states that 27 million Americans “visited an independent shop, cafe or restaurant for the first time after seeing it on the platform.”

The app’s roots date to 2014, when an app called Musical.ly was launched in Shanghai. In 2016, Chinese tech company ByteDance launched a similar platform in China called Douyin.

As the apps grew in popularity, ByteDance picked up on their potential. It purchased Musical.ly in 2017 and combined all these platforms into one, named TikTok. Over the next few years, the app began its rapid ascent, hooking in users with a curated algorithm and viral trends. Today, 200 million Americans use TikTok every month, according to PF Global.

“On a daily basis, TikTok powers real economic impact across the United States, helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses, reach new customers, and create jobs across the country,” said Adam Presser, TikTok’s chief executive in a statement.

Hollywood is filled with book-to-screen adaptations that have ignited grumbling and spirited debates. Even before its release, Zoe Kazan’s interpretation of John Steinbeck’s sprawling 1952 masterwork, “East of Eden,” roused passionate opinions from loyalists of the text on social media.

Much of the discourse surrounds Kazan’s creative choice in how to portray the book’s infamous antagonist, Cathy Ames, in Netflix’s seven-episode limited series out Thursday.

Steinbeck’s multigenerational saga ruminates on family, the power of choice and the nature of good and evil — deeply exploring the biblical stories of Cain and Abel and the fall of Adam and Eve — through the intertwined destinies of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons. Cathy (later known as Kate) functions as a chilling, destructive force in the saga.

Kazan pared down much of the Hamilton family’s story for the show and centered Cathy (Florence Pugh), whose arrival alters the lives of the Trask brothers, Adam (Christopher Abbott) and Charles (Mike Faist). In doing so, Kazan dared to humanize the character who has been considered one of literature’s most definitive symbols of pure evil, described by Steinbeck to be a “psychic monster” born without a conscience or kindness.

“I’m trying to protect my mental health by not being too much online,” Kazan said in a video call from London on a recent weekday. “I do think it is not surprising to me that this character brings up a lot of strong feelings for people … I’m excited to see what people think once they actually see what we have made and aren’t just anticipating something.”

Mike Faist as Charles Trask, Christopher Abbott as Adam Trask and Florence Pugh as Cathy Ames in Netflix’s “East of Eden.”

(Netflix)

When Kazan, an actor who has expanded her creative footprint behind the camera, first pitched the series in 2019 and was asked about which actor she envisioned as Cathy, she replied: “I have one.” She had seen Pugh in “Midsommar,” “Lady Macbeth” and “Little Women,” marveling at how the actor’s ultra femininity lived alongside her masculine energy.

“The range on that girl … I was like, if anybody can do that, they can play Cathy,” Kazan says. “It allowed me to write Cathy as complicated and mysterious [as I wanted] and with so much shadow and light.”

When it came to Adam and Charles, Kazan knew Abbott and Faist could depict the psychological nuance beyond the binaries of the nature versus nurture debate: “I wanted an Adam where you felt what his true nature was and the nature that his father had pushed him into … and I knew we needed that in Charles as well.”

Adapting a classic is hardly a simple endeavor, particularly one that has been done before. That Kazan would choose “East of Eden,” which unpacks legacy and generational shadows is apt: Her grandfather, Elia Kazan, famously directed the 1955 film version starring James Dean. The actors of the Netflix series are eager for viewers to see her vision come to life.

“When you do an adaptation of a book, especially a seminal American novel, no matter what, you’re always going to be up against it because … whenever somebody reads a book, the budget in their heads is unlimited,” Abbott says. “I think this is such a great adaption in its own right.”

Pugh adds: “I’m excited for people to do the stuff that I’m doing now, which is [to say], ‘Oh my God, let’s read this and see how it fits against what I’ve got in my head.’”

Over a video call together, Pugh, Abbott and Faist reflected on their journey to adapting Steinbeck’s epic story, including their first experiences with it and filling in the shades of these characters who remain timeless allegories of the human condition. This conversation, which contains spoilers, has been edited for clarity and length.

Florence Pugh, left, Christopher Abbott and Mike Faist take on some of literature’s most indelible characters — Cathy Ames, Adam Trask and Charles Trask — made famous in John Steinbeck’s classic “East of Eden.” (Photographs by Sophia Spring / For The Times)

When did you first encounter the book?

Faist: My first encounter with the story was the James Dean, Elia Kazan film. That was a movie that I watched, especially when I first moved to New York and wanted to be an actor. It wasn’t until Zoe and Florence asked if I’d be interested in doing this, that I picked up the book.

Pugh: I want to say maybe my early 20s, I read the book. I only watched the movie recently to prepare myself for these kind of conversations. I’m rereading the book now while we’re heading into press, just so I can like fine-tune what I thought I knew … there’s so much love that’s being breathed into every single sentence of every chapter [in this adaptation], and that is solely down to Zoe’s fantastic brain and her ability to want to dig deeper.

Abbott: A lot of my favorite books I’ve picked up and put down numerous times before actually plowing through it — that was the case here until Zoe approached me about doing it. I was like, “Well, this is a perfect excuse to finally [finish].”

This adaptation lit up social media early on for centering Cathy. She is such a polarizing figure. Some see her solely as an evil monster. Some argue there is more nuance to what’s driving her actions. Florence, how do you see her?

Pugh: It’s tricky because I know I’m gonna get asked this again and again, and I guess I’m still trying to figure out how to word it without totally pissing people off. I love finding characters that people automatically think are villains and trying to find a way for you to love them — it’s my favorite thing to do.

I read these episodes, and I was listening to Zoe and how she was wanting this to come from Cathy’s perspective, how Cathy was her hero and how she’s just been championing Cathy ever since she first read the book — that was so f— exciting to know that we’re not gonna just point the finger and say that she’s evil. It is my job to do my skills as good as possible so that I can argue in defense of them. I believe that I can argue for her, which is terrifying but also really cool. I care for her deeply. I understand where she went and why. Does she do some terrible things? Absolutely. Is she a product of the situation that she grew up in? Totally. You can’t get raped as a child and and you be totally fine for the rest of your life.

Florence Pugh as Cathy Ames. She hopes the adaptation prompts curiosity: “I’m excited for people to do the stuff that I’m doing now, which is [to say], ‘Oh my God, let’s read this and see how it fits against what I’ve got in my head.’”

(Netflix)

That detail was not explicitly stated in the book. What were your conversations with Zoe about it?

Pugh: That’s why we ended up choosing the way that we explained it and the way that we showed it — that little girl is so tiny you can’t even imagine anything bad happening to her, and the fact that she’s holding “Alice in Wonderland,” [in her mind], there’s so many through lines through Cathy and Kate’s life that all come back to that moment. You don’t need to do much. Everybody has the sinking feeling of what might happen to a vulnerable child in that situation. In the book, I think it’s constantly playing with the themes of can we trust her? Is she already a monster as a child?

What Zoe has done is made her a real human, and has given her cause and has given her time to understand. That moment that is alluded [to in the book ] — if Cathy asked the boys to tie her down, and whatever it is that they were doing to her — it’s no longer alluded [in the series]. That [assault] happened, but maybe people didn’t believe her.

Mike, what were you interested in excavating with Charles, this Cain archetype who’s tormented by rejection and jealousy?

Faist: What is amazing about this story is — and it’s the entire through line of the entire novel — is this idea of timshel. What happens in a person’s life, and the burdens that they carry, then the choices they make, and every single moment as they continue to live it. Charles jumped out at me. There was just something about him that I was very drawn to — and along with that pull, there’s this feeling of dread, where you say, “Oh God, I can’t believe that I’m about to jump in and do this thing.” You end up surrendering yourself to it. It is scary and deeply exciting.

Abbott: I don’t have a brother. You forget too that they’re half brothers and what that dynamic is like, what kind of Freudian s— pops up. I think the through line for Mike and I, because there’s a lot of conflict there, that it always comes from a place from love. The letters, as they [Charles and Adam] get older, that are written or the letters that he starts to write and doesn’t send, when there is hate between them, it’s because they love each other so much. Otherwise, it would just be indifference. A lot of that happens in the things that are unsaid.

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1. Mike Faist as Charles Trask. (Netflix) 2. Christopher Abbott as Adam Trask. He found the sibling relationship intriguing: “I don’t have a brother. You forget too that they’re half brothers and what that dynamic is like, what kind of Freudian s— pops up.” (Kirsty Griffin / Netflix)

When Zoe approached you, Chris, to play Adam, you questioned whether she actually meant for you to be Charles?

Abbott: I’m just used to being typecast, so I thought she made a mistake. Zoe’s mentioned this idea of masculine and feminine energy — what one presents and what one actually holds, and the old switcheroos of that. The very first email, I was like, “Oh, are you sure?” But I was excited to play with all the nuance of and the layers of what this is. I had seen the movie before, and it [covers] only the last 100 or so pages. It’s really gratifying to play a part where you get to see someone’s whole life and how this guy goes from being this wanderer, drifter to this to stoic, depressed, rigid older man.

What moment between these characters were you most eager or nervous to depict?

Faist: The scene that I reflect back on the most, that actively had the biggest impact on me, is the scene between Cathy and Charles, where she comes into his room and the two of them share this intimacy together. We had talked about what we were wanting to do, then on the day, none of it was really working. I remember Florence had this really specific thing she wanted to bring to the scene. And it was really powerful — there’s these very rare moments when you genuinely feel someone’s objective actively working against your own. [Pugh makes a quizzical face.] No, it’s good! It creates this friction and this tension that does exist and does live.

Abbott: That was your favorite, huh?

Faist: I’m sorry, Chris! That one was just such a visceral feeling of, I know what my character wants in this thing, and her character is very much wanting the exact opposite and the literal clash of that that moment and the feeling of that — I’ll never forget that.

Pugh: It’s such an important scene to get right because it literally is the ending moment of those two; it added so much pressure on the day of shooting. It’s actually really hard when you’re trying to do a sex scene that’s consensual, but it’s definitely not at the right time. The coolest thing about it is it wasn’t working and we had to push everyone out. Everyone was whispering and everyone was trying to figure out what they were comfortable with us doing and, eventually, Mike and I were just like: Right. Done.

Florence Pugh, with Christopher Abbott, left, and Mike Faist, says “East of Eden” endures because “every single one of these characters is struggling to survive realistically.”

(Sophia Spring / For The Times)

Chris, you have the daunting task of, in the closing moments of the series, delivering the word that’s the thrust of the whole story —timshel.

Abbott: I think that was the last scene I shot. I can’t say I was being lazy, but the character had a stroke so he was laying there. You just gotta listen [in a moment like that]. Hoon [Lee, who plays Lee] is reading from the Bible. You take in the room. I nailed it in one. [Pugh and Faist laugh.]

People have deep feelings about “East of Eden.” And it seems to have had a real resurgence recently, even outside of curiosity about this adaptation. Why do you think that is?

Abbott: That’s a big, existential [thing to think about]. There’s a ton of themes in the book that are relevant: displacement, family, love. The themes in the book aren’t specific to the time period. All great works are that.

Pugh: It’s also about generational trauma and change in healing. One of the things I recognized immediately when I started rereading the book months ago, the first few pages about the Salinas Valley describe very quickly that this place is about growth, change and moving on. What I’ve taken from our adaption of Cathy and her generational trauma and what she’s doing to her kids is that not everybody is going to get it right. The reason I think why people keep picking it back up is every single one of these characters is struggling to survive realistically, and they are all making decisions that affect and domino-effect other people around them. Us learning about how we could have done better will always be relevant. And especially with America, and what we’re watching in terms of its constant battle against racism and immigration. It’s relevant to life and to our lives.

Tensions reach boiling point as the Big Brother housemates clash yet again in a fresh episode of the ITV series

The Big Brother house is once again thrown into chaos tonight as one housemate takes aim at two co-stars.

It is currently the House of Nothing week, which means the contestants were stripped of basic luxuries like their beds and access to hot water. Viewers have already witnessed a string of arguments as housemates have become frustrated by living with the bare minimum. And it seems there are more clashes set to unfold in Thursday night’s (October 1) episode.

Most of the drama this season has centred on Johanne and Rochelle, who previously argued over “undercooked” chicken and more recently had a row about microaggressions in the house. But this time it’s Omar, Rob and Yasmin who are set to butt heads.

It begins when Rob climbs onto the communal table and starts dancing, with other housemates joining in around him. Omar isn’t happy with his co-star, though, as he repeats: “Get off the table – we eat on it. Get off the table, please.”

Omar then says to Rochelle: “This is mad – I put my bread on that table yesterday. And he’s got his feet on it. It’s horrible.” Rob listens to his housemate’s concerns and starts cleaning the table.

Rob then playfully says: “For the germophobes in the room.” But Omar defends his complaint, arguing: “It’s not germophobia,” before adding: “Yesterday I put my toast on that table and ate it off the table.

Omar quickly replies: “Yeah – I’m the fun police.”

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“That means if I didn’t see you do that, today I would have put toast on top of your feet.” But Omar’s frustration doesn’t stop there. The jewellery seller later heads to the garden and reports the incident to some of his fellow housemates.

He then turns his attention to Yasmin and tells her: “You need to stop with the obnoxiously loud songs.” This sparks another argument as Yasmin hits back with: “Are you just against having any fun?”.

Tensions reach boiling point when Yasmin shuts down Omar’s comments, saying: “Let your hair down. Have a laugh. It’s alright. F****** hell. I’m going to do what the f*** I please. Stop telling me what to do. You keep telling me what to do and I don’t like it.”

Rob also appears taken aback by Omar’s comments but fans will have to tune in to find out if the clash causes another rift in the house.

Big Brother continues on ITV2 and ITVX tonight at 9pm

A woman who appeared on ITV’s Long Lost Family shared the heartbreak she recently endured following her sister’s death

Long Lost Family took an emotional turn as two adopted sisters met after spending decades apart.

The moving ITV show, presented by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell, returns to screens tonight with another tearjerking episode. In the show, Nicky meets Naomi, who is longing to find her biological twin sisters and mother.

Naomi has spent much of her life wondering about the family she never knew. Now living in Gloucestershire with her husband of 30 years, she is finally retracing the events surrounding her adoption and searching for answers about her birth family.

Adopted as a baby, Naomi grew up in a loving home with her adoptive parents in Plymouth. She always knew she had been adopted, but as she got older, questions about her biological family became increasingly difficult to ignore

When Naomi was a teenager, her parents showed her a letter they had kept since her adoption. What she discovered inside came as a major shock.

The letter revealed that Naomi’s birth mother had been just 19 when she gave birth. It also contained a revelation Naomi had never expected: her birth mother had given birth to twin girls, who had subsequently been adopted by other families.

Naomi recalled: “I was obviously very surprised when I found out that I had sisters. It was shocking.”

Both of Naomi’s adoptive parents died while she was in her 20s. In the years that followed, her desire to uncover more about her origins and find her birth family only grew stronger.

With Naomi’s birth mother now identified, the search turns to the two sisters she never knew she had. The team manages to uncover their names, Gail and Elaine, but the discovery brings both hope and heartbreak. They learn that Gail has sadly died, leaving Elaine as the only surviving twin.

Elaine tells presenter Nicky that she and Gail grew up together in a happy, loving home with their adoptive parents. Despite being separated from their birth mother as babies, the sisters shared a close childhood and had a positive upbringing.

But in the 1990s, Gail was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND). The illness gradually progressed over the following years, profoundly affecting her life before she sadly died in 2020.

Elaine also revealed that she recently lost her mum and her adoptive mother. Given her circumstances, she was elated to meet her sister.

Sobbing, Elaine said, “The fact that she’s gone to so much effort to find us, she must really want to meet us.”

When the sisters finally met, the pair couldn’t let each other go. Elaine said, “I’m so glad you found me. You’ve looked for so long, long, and I didn’t even know you existed.”

Naomi later said, “She was as warm and welcoming as her photo looked. Um, all I could have hoped for.”

Long Lost Family continues on Thursday 1st October at 9pm on ITV and ITVX.

The full lineup for the new series of Celebrity Race Across the World has been revealed, and Princess and Junior Andre will be seen competing on the hit BBC show

Princess and Junior Andre have joined the star-studded lineup of Celebrity Race Across the World. The children of Katie Price and Peter Andre have begun to carve out their own careers in showbiz in recent years, with Princess, 19, heading up her own ITV2 reality show and Junior, 21, working as a musician.

Now, the brother-and-sister duo have been confirmed as one of the pairs on the upcoming edition of the BBC show, in which individual teams try to travel the globe without access to planes, credit cards or smartphones.

Alongside Princess and Junior, the other pairs confirmed to be taking part are Eurovision star Sam Ryder alongside his best friend and tour manage Kaz. BRIT Award-winning singer-songwriter Ella Eyre will be competing alongside her childhood friend Nana, and veteran sports broadcaster Jeff Stelling with his son Matt.

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The BBC confirmed the news with a series of photos of the pairs, and said: “Say hello to the lineup of Celebrity Race Across the World, coming soon to BBC iPlayer.

“Celebrity Race Across The World: Familiar faces, numerous countries, zero VIP treatment. Famous family & friends pairs take on a race across the world – by any means necessary.”

Princess then broke her silence about the news and wrote on Instgaram: “Finally….we are excited to announce that we are part of @raceacrosstheworld!!” Meanwhile, Space Man singer Sam also addressed the news as he wrote on social media: “see you soon bbc1“

When it comes to Princess and Junior, insiders previously claimed that that the pair had signed up. A source told The Sun of the show’s new signing: “Princess and Junior have proven themselves to be well-mannered, hardworking kids and opportunities continue to come their way. Execs were impressed with the ratings for The Princess Diaries but also how they came across.

“They’re brilliant signings for Celeb Race as they bring with them a younger audience. But bosses are also looking forward to seeing how they cope with the stripped-back style of travelling as they’re more at home in five-star hotels than a hostel.”

Last year, it was The One Show star Roman Kemp and his sister Harley Moon, the children of Martin and Shirlie Kemp, who emerged victorious from the series.

Following his win, Roman told The Mirror: “It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, by far.” Bravely, Roman continued: “And doing it with no antidepressants is the hardest thing ever.

I was on the verge of a panic attack constantly.” Roman started taking sertraline, an antidepressant known as an SSRI, as a teenager, as well as dealing with suicidal thoughts from the age of 15. But it was, it’s the best thing. I think retrospectively [it’s] the best thing I have ever done because I spent ridiculous time with my sister and that’s something we never. Never did.”

Celebrity Race Across The World will air on BBC One and iPlayer soon

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The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art’s central plaza, which spreads out beneath the building’s curved, hovering form, was always meant to be a generous civic space. Ma Yansong, the museum’s architect, has called it the “Gateway” between the museum and Los Angeles, opening to both Expo Park and the surrounding South L.A. neighborhood.

But that gateway, it turns out, is more like a gate.

This weekend — the first that the museum was open to the public — fences covered in plastic greenery blocked entry to the plaza from both sides. Standing sentry, bizarrely, were tall, cartoonish statues — half storm troopers, half USC Trojans. Visitors were directed to enter through the museum’s two enclosed security booths off the plaza.

In the coming weeks, permanent plaza fences will be erected here — curvy stainless-steel structures that MAD Architects principal Dixon Junliang Lu compared to the lacy filigree of Art Nouveau architecture. Lu added that they would eventually be draped in real greenery, not the plastic version.

While certainly an improvement on the current barriers (which are a shockingly makeshift solution for a museum that cost over $1 billion), the plaza’s main entryways will remain gated off, confirmed both Lu and Lucas Museum spokesperson Seth Fowler.

Gates have been erected around the main courtyard of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

“It’s about creating the best possible visitor experience when you’re there, with an eye on safety,” said Fowler, who cited a need to protect the plaza from car traffic on both sides and the ability to control visitor flow among the reasons for the enclosure.

Visitors without tickets, Fowler added, are still able to enter the plaza, as well as the museum’s cafe and gift shop, after passing through security, “pending capacity limits.” They can enter the museum’s adjacent park without security screening.

Museums of course have legitimate security concerns, especially in and around such a high-traffic location. A growing list of threats, from violence to vandalism, has changed the calculus for what’s acceptable in public life. But surely the building’s talented design team could have developed a security plan that better preserved the plaza’s open arms? Lu acknowledged that the fence design had “evolved as the project developed and the operational and security requirements became more defined.”

When I visited the Lucas earlier this month for its press preview, I assumed the plaza’s (then chain-link) fences were temporary — a byproduct of construction still underway. I had no idea that its primary entryways would remain closed off to the public.

The plaza is one of the museum’s most powerful gestures, creating much-needed civic room for Expo Park, and the city. The gates blocking it, and the security checkpoints along its flanks, will dramatically limit the public’s desire to enter, and change the tenor and experience of a space that should feel porous and inclusive. What could have been a grand welcome has become a gated off, highly controlled space that now feels separate from the park and the neighborhood. Sure, anyone can come, but they are no longer invited.

Art Nouveau style fencing will eventually replace the temporary green fencing, but guests will still be directed through security in order to enter the museum’s main courtyard.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

Just a few miles away at LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries, visitors can enter the plazas beneath that building without first passing through security. In fact, I don’t know of a single civic plaza (and there are not enough!) in Los Angeles that requires passing through security checkpoints to enter. Think about this scenario in other cities. In New York, can you imagine having to go through metal detectors to sit at the Met steps? Or to enter Central Park?

Speaking of parks, it’s inconsistent and puzzling that the museum’s beautiful park, which edges right up to the building, can be entered without having to also pass through security. I, for one, am thankful. Access to this area is already being limited to some degree. Its long fences, with relatively small openings, are not exactly screaming “come in.” The green space, as it was this Saturday, will be closed to nonticket holders on USC game days. And if locals who live to the west of the museum want to reach Expo Park outside of the Lucas park’s hours — 8 a.m. to sunset — they need to make their way around the entire complex; which a few are already grumbling about.

It’s hard not to wonder whether these barriers represent something more than security: the extension into public space of the gated, closely guarded world inhabited by co-founders George Lucas, Mellody Hobson and those in their orbit. Is this truly what museum security requires, or has the logic of a private compound shaped an institution that was supposed to welcome the city? That is the uneasy promise of privately controlled public space: It looks open to everyone, but access ultimately depends on the owner’s discretion.

It is an especially peculiar contradiction for a museum whose site is being leased from the state at just $30 a year and was founded to celebrate the “people’s art” — comics, illustrations, movie imagery — and to bring that art to the broadest possible public. Renderings introducing the project never showed the walls and fences that now cover the plaza’s perimeter. (A model produced later, now in the museum, does.)

Temporary fencing around the Lucas Museum, alongside the Art Nouveau style fencing that will eventually replace it.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

I last encountered this type of scenario when visiting the Eiffel Tower, whose base has been closed since Paris’s 2015 terrorist attacks. (The attacks did not occur at the tower itself.) Its sealed perimeter, only accessible via lines and screening, now makes one of the world’s wonders feel less like a wondrous part of the city than an attraction held behind glass.

I’m not suggesting we leave major public spaces vulnerable. But security can be built into buildings’ plazas in myriad ways without sealing them off: reinforced planters and seating can stop vehicles; grade changes, landscapes and water features can establish protective distance; clear sight lines, lighting, cameras and visible staff can improve oversight; and retractable barriers can be deployed during large events or credible threats. Screening can remain at the museum doors, leaving outdoor space free.

At the end of the day, civic space depends on a willingness to share some level of uncertainty. A public plaza brings all kinds of people together, including those we don’t know and can’t entirely predict. If every risk leads us to add another checkpoint, fence or barrier, we may gain a sense of control but lose the ability to create the kind of public togetherness that forms a bonded city.

If this plaza, and this museum, are truly meant to serve the public it should be clear that all are welcome once they arrive. Openness is more than an architectural effect: It depends on having the freedom to enter without having to justify our presence.

MIS-TEEQ’S Sabrina Washington has made a huge U-turn as she AXES her own solo tour and issues a grovelling apology to fans after sparking mass confusion.

The singer has cancelled her upcoming tour just mere days after seemingly parting ways from the hit band and announcing her solo career plans.

Just days after Mis-teeq’s sold-out 25th anniversary reunion concert in London, Sabrina declared that there would be no further Mis-Teeq dates or new music – which left fans completely baffled.

But now she has sensationally backtracked on all of that.

In a statement shared on social media, Sabrina said: “I have been paying close attention to what people have been saying, reading the comments and trying to understand what you genuinely want to see from me.

“And one thing has come through very clearly: there is a strong desire to see the three of us perform Mis-Teeq’s greatest hits together again.”

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She went on: “Ultimately, I don’t want to push ahead with a solo tour when I know there is such a strong feeling among fans about seeing Mis-Teeq together again.

“So, with a heavy heart, I have decided that the right thing for me is to cancel the tour.”

Sabrina added: “This is not a decision I have taken lightly. But for me, the fans have to come first.”

She noted that although she is cancelling the tour, she is not putting her own music to one side.

“I have been working on new solo material,” she revealed in the statement.

She then addressed her comments about going solo and Mis-teeq having no new plans in the pipeline.

“I now understand that my plans may not have been fully communicated to Alesha and Su-Elise before the announcement.

“Looking back, I could have shared more detail with management and spoken to the girls directly beforehand, and for that I am sorry.”

Sabrina added: “I have never closed the door on Mis-Teeq. I said on GMB, and I want to say again: I would never say no to another Mis-Teeq show.

“If the right opportunity came along and the three of us all wanted to do it, I would absolutely be open to that.”

Fans were quick to brand her “courageous” and “brave” for speaking out, though some were annoyed as they had already booked tickets to her now-axed solo tour.

The Sun exclusively revealed last week that the Scandalous hitmakers would be going their separate ways following their recent sold-out reunion gig.

Sabrina, Alesha Dixon, 47, and Su-Elise Nash, 45, brought the house down as they took to the stage to mark 25 years since their debut album Lickin’ on Both Sides.

But soon after the performance, Sabrina revealed she planned to go solo.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun last month, she said: “We have had such a massive year together and I’m really proud of what we achieved. 

“We got to come back 25 years later, perform together again and finish with a sold-out Wembley show.

“It was a really special way to celebrate everything the three of us created together.

“But there aren’t any further Mis-Teeq dates or new music planned and we’ve all gone back to doing our own things now.

“For me, though, I wasn’t ready for the celebration to end there.”

John Steinbeck’s 1952 novel “East of Eden,” an Oprah’s Book Club Selection in 2003, is a retelling, or actually two retellings, of the Cain and Abel story, first in Connecticut with half-brothers Charles and Adam Trask, and then in the author’s native Salinas Valley with Adam’s fraternal twin sons, Cal and Aron, in each case competing with one another for their father’s love. Not wanting you to miss his meaning, if you haven’t already guessed by the title, Steinbeck has a character read the entire passage from Genesis.

The stories, which together run from the late 19th century through World War I, are connected by a woman named Cathy Ames, whom Adam marries and who gives birth to Cal and Aron — which I suppose makes her the Eve in this household, though that’s not a theological road Steinbeck chose to really explore.

In 1955, Elia Kazan directed a film version, a color-mad Cinemascope melodrama that told only the Cal and Aron part of the story; significantly, it was the film debut of James Dean and so will live forever. Writing in The Times in 2005, Kenneth Turan called it “not only one of Kazan’s richest films and Dean’s first significant role” but “arguably the actor’s best performance.”

Kazan’s granddaughter Zoe Kazan has written the screenplay and worked with Jeb Stuart as co-showrunners for a new “East of Eden” adaptation, a seven-episode miniseries debuting Thursday on Netflix. Though it omits a sizable chunk of what is after all a very long book, it takes its chronology whole, putting Cathy front and center in the publicity and in the show, owing largely to Florence Pugh‘s performance as its most dynamic character.

Kazan begins her telling with a badly beaten woman dragging herself through the night as a female voice delivers an edited, elaborated version of the author’s thoughts on difference. (It is a book brimming with thoughts.) “I believe there are monsters born in this world to human parents … A child may be born perfect of body but without kindness or the potential of conscience. Still, you must not forget, everyone is normal to himself. And to a monster, the norm must seem monstrous.” Given that the novel’s narrator is Steinbeck, it’s hard to say just who the “I” is here, but I assume the gender swap has something to do with wanting to literally give this version a female voice.

The monster is Cathy, crawling to the porch of the farmhouse occupied by Charles (Mike Faist), who thinks they should call the sheriff, and Adam (Christopher Abbott), who is compelled to care for her. Close your eyes if you don’t want to know anything more about this 73-year-old bestseller, but Cathy has already possibly driven a man to suicide and definitely burned down her house with her parents locked inside. She was beaten up by her former pimp, whose mistress she’d become and from whom she was stealing. You may be thinking “sociopath.”

The series backs up 25 years to a Connecticut farm where father Cyrus Trask (Tracy Letts), a peg-legged Civil War veteran, rejects Charles’ gift of a new knife in favor of Adam’s present of a stray puppy, creating a long trail of jealousy. He’ll later pack pacifistic Adam off to the army (because, he says, he loves him better), with Charles unhappily constrained to stay and work the farm (though he proves good at it). After years in service and living in hobo jungles, Adam returns home.

Standout performers include Hoon Lee as Lee, left, and Ciarán Hinds as Samuel Hamilton.

(Kirsty Griffin / Netflix)

Cathy crawls to their doorstep; Charles sees through her, which will earn him her respect, but Adam falls for her, marries her and drags her west to California, where she doesn’t want to go and doesn’t plan to stay. (She’s quite upfront about this, but Adam is a poor listener.) She gives birth to Cal (younger, Bodhi Aisher; older, Joseph Zada), who will grow up to wonder if he’s bad, and Aron (younger, Jonah Wren Phillips; older, Joe Anders), whom everyone thinks is good, and returns to the life of a prostitute, which suits her fine. And that is probably enough plot for me to relate.

Pugh impressively represents Cathy’s outward self through successive stages; she’s not a character born to develop, though she will have various crises to navigate, and the actor imbues her with as much nuance as the part allows. She’s the main reason to watch, though there are standout performances from Hoon Lee as Lee, a philosophical, intellectual, American-born Chinese man who works for Adam and becomes a kind of surrogate mother to Cal and Aron; and from Ciarán Hinds as Samuel Hamilton, a jovial Irishman, virtually the only remnant of the novel’s Hamiltons, who stand in for Steinbeck’s own family. Faist does a lot with the taciturn, perceptive Charles. Martha Plimpton, never not great, plays Faye, a madam for whom Cathy works; and Zoe Phillips makes an impression in her scattered scenes as Abra Bacon, who’ll date Aron but feels connected to Cal.

Kazan and Stuart do cover all the main plot points and themes — good and evil, love and jealousy, inherited character and (the big one) the possibility of change. Unavoidably the text has been chopped and channeled, with some swapping of parts, bits of narration screwed into dialogue and events described in a paragraph blown out into scenes. Certain thoughts inside Cathy’s head have been made concrete.

The adapters don’t add too much material of their own, Steinbeck having provided a wealth of character descriptions, backstory, philosophical rumination and social criticism for every occasion, but here and there they’ll stress a point or provide something new in order to make sense of Cathy. But they don’t overdo it. (Steinbeck, declaring her unknowable, cuts her a lot of slack, walking back his earlier “monster” comments: “Who knows but that she tried to tell someone or everyone what she was like and could not, for lack of a common language. It is easy to say she was bad, but there is little meaning unless we know why.”) Oddly, the Cain and Abel elements in the Cal and Aron story, which launched Dean’s career, don’t really register.

If nothing else, the miniseries reminds us that adaptation is a difficult job that grows harder the more complex and celebrated the original text, and the more necessary it is to honor it. (This is why pulp fiction has produced so many memorable movies.) Things will always be lost in translation, not least from the pictures in your head to the pictures on the screen. If you’re going to film a literary monument, and a period piece to boot, you’re going to have to spend some money.

But the production here betrays its economy, and the direction, by Garth Davis and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, remains earthbound, held down by mournful strings and devoid of color. The New Zealand landscape does echo the rolling hills of Central California, in a dry season, but it’s a dreary vision, hardly the paradise of Steinbeck’s memory, book or metaphor.

Childline founder and legendary broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen has died at the age of 86 after battling cancer, as her children announced in a joint statement.

BBC presenters Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty reflected on Dame Esther Rantzen’s life.

The 86-year-old is best known for presenting shows such as That’s Life! and for founding Childline, as well as campaigning to legalise assisted dying in the UK. In 2023, she revealed she had joined Dignitas, the Swiss assisted dying clinic, after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

Sadly, her children confirmed in a joint statement that their mother had died on September 30, stating they will ‘miss her immeasurably.’ During Thursday’s (October 1) instalment of BBC Breakfast, presenters Naga Munchetty and Charlie Stayt took a moment to pay tribute to the broadcaster and reflect on her career.

Naga said: “Many tributes have been made for the broadcaster and campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen, who has died at the age of 86.”

Charlie added: “She became a household name presenting and producing the BBC programme That’s Life for more than 20 years. Our culture editor Katie Razzell looks back at her extraordinary life.”

BBC viewers were then shown a compilation of clips of Esther’s broadcasting career, including some hilarious snippets from her time on That’s Life, alongside her investigating other serious issues.

One segment saw a clip from her former co-star Adrian Mills, who said: “At the time, the three most powerful people in the country were probably, The Queen, Margaret Thatcher and Esther Rantzen, not necessarily in that order.”

Actress and comedian Miriam Margolyes added, “She just wouldn’t let anything get in the way of work. She was determined, very ambitious and somehow generous.”

A poignant moment in the tribute was a past interview with Esther herself as she commented, “I don’t expect to be remembered.

When you stop appearing on television, people assume you’ve died. My physical death, no doubt, will happen long after people have said, ‘Wasn’t she Esther Rantzen?’

One of the last campaigns Esther was fighting for was the assisted dying bill, which was rejected in Parliament on September 11.

The BBC played a clip of Esther speaking with her daughter, Rebecca Wilcox, on the phone to share her thoughts on the MP’s decision.

She said: “I am sure a change in the law will come, I am deeply sad that it won’t come soon enough for many of the people who need it.”

BBC Breakfast is available to watch weekdays on BBC One from 6am

Country western star Wynonna Judd is confirming that she and her sister, Emmy Award-nominated actor Ashley Judd, do not have a relationship.

She spoke with People ahead of the release of her 10th solo studio album, “The Hard Truth,” which drops Friday, and revealed that the rift between the sisters is still there after years of on and off disharmony.

Wynonna told the outlet that Ashley hadn’t heard the album, as the sisters are not “connected.”

“We’re taking a break, which all families can relate to,” she said. “She’s doing her thing, and I’m doing mine.”

In April 2022, Wynonna and Ashley’s mother, Naomi Judd, died by suicide at 76 after a lifelong battle with depression. Naomi and Wynonna made up the Grammy-winning duo the Judds.

At the time, the sisters released a statement together, writing, “Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness. … We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory.”

The following month, the two appeared at the annual Medallion Ceremony, where the Judds were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the sisters spoke on behalf of their mother.

“While this is so much about the Judds as a duo, I want to take a moment to recognize my sister, a GOAT,” Ashley said at the ceremony. “Do you know what that means? I don’t think she knows I’m calling her the greatest of all time. She lives on a farm. She’s being a little literal.”

Ashley told the crowd that growing up as the younger sister of Wynonna, she got to “bask in this voice that was around the house, and I’ve always been so proud of the music and so proud of you. … So I know that we’re talking a lot about Mom tonight, as we should be. Our beautiful mother, and I want you to know that you also are being inducted to the Hall of Fame tonight. And newspapers don’t get much right these days, but when the Los Angeles Times said you were Elvis-like, they got it right. And I love you, and I’m proud of you. And Mom is proud of you, and she always was.”

By October 2022, rumors were flying that the sisters were fighting over their mother’s will, a claim that Wynonna shot down while speaking with People.

“Someone told me while I was at Ashley’s house, ‘Hey, did you know that they’re saying this about you?’ I went, ‘Huh? I’m fighting with Ashley?’” Wynonna said. “Fighting over what? I have such a great life. Ashley has a great life. Why would we be fighting over the will?”

This wasn’t the first time a feud was reported between the two. Back in January 2015, Wynonna gave a teary-eyed account of the disconnect during an appearance on AXS TV’s “The Big Interview With Dan Rather.”

“The only thing I have in common with my sister is a father missing and a mother that’s both of ours. She and I are very different. We don’t communicate, nor do we spend time together, and that’s a long history of being apart,” Wynonna told Rather.

Wynonna said that she and Ashley were dysfunctional, didn’t agree on anything and developed separate lives, but she cared for her younger sister growing up.

“I raised Ashley, so I think there’s a lot of work we still have to do about where do we find the ‘sister’ in all of this,” she said. “She called me sister mommy, and I really had a hard time with that, because I was like, I don’t want to be your mommy. I want to be your sister.”

MOLLY-MAE Hague has opened up about her “horrendous” nursery drop-offs with daughter Bambi, three, revealing the struggle has lasted six months.

The mum-of-two shared a snap of their hands with matching hearts drawn on them as she tried to make saying goodbye easier.

Posting on Instagram, Molly-Mae, 27, admitted the change had come after a year and a half of Bambi happily heading into nursery.

The former Love Island star wrote: “Anything to try and make the nursery drop offs less traumatic. 1.5 years of her hop, skipping and jumping into nursery and suddenly it completely changed, 6 months deep of horrendous drop offs!”

The sweet accompanying picture showed the pair holding hands, with a little red heart drawn on each.

Molly-Mae admitted she was struggling to imagine Bambi starting school next year with their current progress having stalled.

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She added: “Feels like there’s no end in sight. The idea of this time next year being school… I don’t see in any world that happening!”

It comes after Molly-Mae revealed Bambi had a “full blown tantrum” during a trip to the hairdressers, leaving her considering abandoning the haircut.

She described the visit as “a really traumatic experience”, acknowledging that unfamiliar people and surroundings can feel overwhelming for children.

The TV star and entrepreneur previously revealed that three-year-old Bambi had entered “her aggressive era”, which famously included putting someone in a headlock.

The incident happened during lunch at Pizza Express with friends, with Molly-Mae admitting she had been “very wrong” to think the phase was over.

Molly-Mae is mum to Bambi and three-month-old Midas, whom she shares with fiancé Tommy Fury.

The pair met on Love Island in 2019 and have been together on and off for seven years.

SYDNEY Sweeney looked utterly incredible posing up a storm in a red Baywatch-style swimsuit.

The sexy star modeled the skin-tight iconic outfit while standing in front of a stunning lake.

In the snaps Sydney placed a hand on either of her hips and posed in front of the camera.

Her waist looked teeny while being hugged by the red fabric, which emphasized her enviable curves.

The swimsuit featured a low cut neckline, highlighting Sydney‘s chest.

She finished the outfit off by simply adding a pair of dark shades and a smile for the camera.

Another snap shows Sydney‘s beau Scooter lifting her up while laughing.

The thong bottom of Sydney’s swimsuit is visible from behind, showing how she looks sexy from every angle.

She donned Scooter’s baseball cap in the outfit in these snaps, making for an adorable couple moment.

The sweet couple snap and sexy outfit come shortly after Sydney was reportedly ordered to dump Scooter by a top Hollywood agent.

The actress signed with CAA earlier this month after leaving Paradigm Talent Agency and becoming a free agent.

This reportedly followed an awkward exchange in January between the Euphoria star and Ari Emanuel, executive chairman of WME Group, an entertainment and media agency, about her future.

According to Page Six, multiple sources claimed that Ari ordered Sydney, 29, to split from Scooter, 45, to “better serve” her career.

“Ari was telling her that if she wanted to be taken seriously as an actress and businesswoman, she needed to break up with Scooter,” an insider told the outlet.

The source said Scooter learned of Ari’s remarks and was very upset, especially since he convinced Sydney to take the meeting.

A rep for Ari denied that the meeting ever happened and that he told Sydney to dump the former talent manager, Page Six reported.

Claudia Winkleman says the new series of Celebrity Traitors is so good she didn’t want to leave

Claudia Winkleman has insisted she is “too thick” to take part in the Celebrity Traitors. The TV presenter will return to screens tonight hosting the hit BBC series when a new batch of famous faces enter the Scottish castle.

Actors Michael Sheen and Richard E Grant, supermodel Jerry Hall, presenter Maya Jama and comedians Rob Beckett, Romesh Ranganathan and James Acaster are among the line-up, alongside Little Mix singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock, musician James Blunt and The Last Of Us star Bella Ramsey.

However, 54-year-old Claudia said she would never want to be among their number. She said: “I’m too thick. I mustn’t play it in public. I must not, thank you so much. I’m just being honest. I could have come up with a schmoozier (answer) but no.

“It’s a privilege to play that game and to be at the round table, but I think I would just be too awful at it.”

The game follows the celebrity contestants – the majority of whom are known as faithfuls – as they try to seek out the murderous traitors among them, who kill off players in the middle of the night. Asked who were her favourite players this time, Claudia refused to name names but said as a collective they kept her gripped.

She explained: “I can’t. Genuinely, all of them were tremendous. And when we do any series, I have this room with the monitors. I’m like a weirdo just applying fake tan watching. And they’re like, ‘You can go now. You can go home. You’re free.’ I’m not leaving. This one, I never left. And I slept with just my eyes on it because they are all, you love them anyway, but they are tremendous.”

In fact, Claudia has fallen in love with the Scottish castle and its surroundings so much that she is taking her family there on holiday in the Highlands this year.

Speaking at the show launch earlier this month, she said: “That’s where we’re going this Summer, me and my family. And my husband’s like, ‘You’re already there quite a lot. What’s the matter with you?’.

“It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been in the world, is the truth. It is breathtaking. And we just went (for filming on civilian version) We went west and we went west – I can’t say anything else – for a mission and there was a sign that said, ‘Do beware, there are extra otters this year.’

“I was like, ‘Well, full stop’. There’s always a double rainbow, just the colours of it. And everybody is so kind and lovely to us when we’re there. So yeah, that’s where we’re going.”

Executive producer Sarah Fay added that the new line up of celebrities were cheekier than in the first series. She explained: “I can say its a very twisty turny series. I think what I would say is that the celebrities had the chance to see series one – obviously last tine they hadn’t had Celebrity before. It was new territory, but I think this time they’ve seen it. They know that they can be naughty. No one’s going to get canceled in the Traitors Castle for being naughty, so they had fun.”

The first celebrity spin-off was won by traitor Alan Carr, was a ratings hit and won a slew of awards.

Exec Sarah also said she was “chuffed” it was such a hit and hopes the second outing lives up to the past success and even ups the ante. She said: “We never take for granted that the audience is always going to come to it. So (the first series) felt a little bit like Monopoly money, it just didn’t seem real, but obviously we’re so, so chuffed.”

She continued: “But going into the series, we wanted to make sure it felt it wasn’t comparable and we could bring a new freshness to it. A new cast could bring something to it, whether that’s the dynamics of Rob and Romesh, with a celebrity duo with new twists, new turns. We’re always looking at ways to up the ante and make it feel like compelling viewing.”

She insisted fans were also likely to be left shouting at their screens with lots of cliffhanger endings to episodes.

Sarah explained: “We always have an idea before going into production what might be cliffhangers, but as I said before, we have to be so reactive because who knows what the story’s going to be. We’ve had to end before when we’ve done deadlocks last year when it was down to David[Olusoga] and Mark[Bonnar] where it was a tie.

“We never knew that that was going to happen until obviously it was happening right before our eyes. And so when we did get to the edit, we decided to end the episode there, but that could have been another cliffhanger. But I think the beauty of this game as well, because the format, every episode we’ve probably got about three options for what the cliffhanger could be because it’s so nail biting and there’s lots of tension and things going on throughout.”

* The Celebrity Traitors begins tonight (Thursday October 1) at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

The leader of the world’s biggest band is nervous.

“I think I revised this speech about 10 times, but somehow the more I worked on it, the more confused I became, like always,” said K-pop star and BTS rapper RM on Tuesday at a preview of a show he has co-curated at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art called “RM x SFMOMA: Between You and Me”

Three years ago, RM held an anonymous show in South Korea, but this is the first proper exhibition he has staged. For many of his fans — some of whom wait outside the museum trying to get a glimpse of him — his favorite activities, including museum-hopping, bicycling and being out in nature, come as no surprise. There is even a word for it: “namjooning,” a play on the singer’s first name, Namjoon. But still, the exhibition is the rare chance to view RM as a serious art collector; someone who values Korean identity in art but also loves works from many genres, eras and countries.

Philip Guston, Untitled (Red and Black Book), 1969; from the collection of RM.

(The Estate of Philip Guston / Hauser & Wirth)

Dressed in a gray T-shirt, dark collared shirt and leather pants, RM’s hair is a light burnt sienna color matching the fur of the stylized tiger on the screen behind him. From a 17th century painting by Lee Won-chan, it’s from his personal collection of more than 400 artworks. For this exhibition, 142 pieces owned by RM will be shown alongside 36 works from SFMOMA for a total of 178 works on display.

RM sees “Between You and Me” as an introduction to his inner life and reflection of contrasting aspects of his personality, whether as a public figure interacting with his adoring fans or an erudite intellectual and avid reader with a reputation as a clumsy and lovable goofball.

RM was on a hiatus from BTS and on the cusp of beginning his mandatory military service in South Korea when SFMOMA first approached him for the project two years ago. As it came to fruition, he sought to answer two main questions when contemplating which works of his collection to share with the public.

Does the artwork move him deeply? And, if the work is from a noncontemporary artist, does the piece have something to communicate in 2026?

“In an age where everything is consumed so fast,” RM explained, “I believe the attitudes of some of the past artists can resonate even more deeply today.

“I’ve always dreamed of seeing different places, times, boundaries and backgrounds all mixed together in harmony,” he continued. “It could be a mess because I’ve never formally studied, and I’m not a ‘curator, curator,’ but in any field sometimes an outsider can bring in a new breeze.”

Wonwoo Lee, “Candy,” 2023; from the collection of RM

(Wonwoo Lee / PKM Gallery)

It’s not RM’s first time working with a museum. In 2023, he partnered with Los Angeles County Museum of Modern Art to provide guided audio narration for “The Space Between: The Modern in Korean Art”.

At SFMOMA, RM was joined in his effort by two co-curators: SFMOMA project manager América Castillo and assistant curator of painting and sculpture Hyoeun Kim.

Kim, who has long championed Korean artists internationally, was particularly impressed with the diversity of Korean art that RM has amassed, including its “remarkable range.”

“His collection began with 6th century works, moved through the Joseon Dynasty, and continued to major Korean modern and contemporary art. It spans nearly 1,500 years,” Kim said during the preview.

The show is arranged in eight parts and begins with a large white wall at the entrance with the title of the show scrawled in RM’s handwriting. Handwritten touches are found everywhere — “Plz take it in with your eyes and heart” is scribbled on the floor in both English and Korean. The wall text for each piece, which also includes a QR code for audio narration, is composed by RM in both languages.

An inscription on the floor of an SFMOMA exhibit curated by RM of BTS features RM’s writing as part of the wall (and floor) text.

(Christine Terrisse.)

Guests will also receive a zine-style pamphlet with the same homespun appeal explaining each of the eight sections in RM’s words alongside a diagram of the room.

“Blue Water” centers the work of Kim Whanki, the late globe-trotting abstract artist and the first RM says he “fell for.” In addition to Whanki and works by Vija Celmins and Tony Feher, some RM fans might recognize one of Roni Horn’s glass cylinder sculptures from a now-archived Instagram post where it was casually displayed in RM’s apartment.

There’s even a room filled with especially eclectic pieces called “i don’t know..but i like it.” By way of explanation, RM said, “Sometimes I don’t really know why I collected all these things.”

The last room, “Umber” or “Dasaek” (referring to the color of Korean rice fields) might be the most meaningful to the singer. It features works by the late artist Yun Hyong-keun, for whom RM has a particular personal affinity. The cover for his debut solo studio album, “Indigo,” depicts Hyong-keun’s 1972 painting “Blue,” and the album’s lead track, “Yun,” a collaboration with Erykah Badu, kicks off with recorded dialogue from the artist.

Back in 2018, around the same time RM began his art journey with not much formal training in art history, co-curator Castillo began her career with SFMOMA.

At the time, she was in awe of the power of art to connect with people, but frustrated that more people from unconventional backgrounds weren’t being given opportunities to curate major shows, thereby shaping the stories told. Her work on this exhibition is part of a continuing mission to bridge the art world and the ordinary person.

Chang Ucchin, “Road,” 1986, from RM’s collection.

(Chang Ucchin Foundation / Seoul Auction)

This mission guided her through the process of selecting works by famous artists from SFMOMA’s collection to contextualize RM’s pieces from lesser-known but equally important names.

“The first time we pulled a list on the SFMOMA side, we had like 500 options we then dwindled down,” she said in an interview while standing in the “Umber” room. “There were some artworks and specific artists that we knew from the get-go we wanted to be in the show. We wanted them to have a moment. Mark Rothko was definitely one of them.”

The sole Rothko piece in SFMOMA’s collection, “No. 14,” (1960) is featured in one of the final rooms in the exhibition. Adjacent to it is “untitled” (1986-90) by Hyong-keun. In the exhibit pamphlet, RM notes that Hyong-keun’s paintings are often compared to Rothko’s, but “their darkness is not the same.” “To my eyes, if Rothko’s darkness is one that ‘opens’ then Yun’s is the darkness that remains after he endured everything he possibly could,” he writes.

As RM steps into the spotlight of the art world, he is learning to become comfortable with the uncomfortable in-between spaces he occupies. “I started this with an innocent heart. As I’m standing here talking to you, I still feel like I’m always drifting and floating somewhere, ” he said, adding that the feeling comes when he’s in the U.S. but also when he’s in his hometown of Seoul. “It’s not a very pleasant feeling. I think I’ve leaned on art a lot because of that feeling.”

Before the preview, BTS fans, called the ARMY, passed out small gifts to the press, and afterward donors lined up for a special reception. RM’s mother, father and sister even arrived to celebrate, but he didn’t have much time to hang around. He was scheduled to depart for Bogotá, Colombia, to join his bandmates on the Latin American leg of their ARIRANG stadium world tour.

It is time to leave the quiet of the museum for the roar of the crowd.

“RM SFMOMA: Between You and Me” opens to the public on Oct 3, and runs through Feb.7, 2027. For more information visit sfmoma.org

“Dancing With the Stars” pro Witney Carson on Wednesday shut down rumors that she wants her celebrity pairing to be voted off the new season.

Following Week 3 of the competition — which bid farewell to Taylor Hanson and Britt Stewart on Tuesday — the 32-year-old dancer took to social media to address suggestions that she wished to be voted off with her celebrity partner, Guillermo Rodriguez.

Since Season 35 of DWTS premiered Sept. 15, the two have been in the bottom three couples each week, but avoided elimination. Some online fans have interpreted her facial expressions as disappointment upon learning her pair was safe.

“[Being in the bottom three] doesn’t necessarily mean all those couples have the lowest votes, but it does mean that you don’t get to celebrate that you’re safe. You only get to hear who’s going home,” Carson explained in a TikTok video uploaded Tuesday night. “So my face, what you’re seeing, is genuinely sad for the people going home and then excitement.”

The professional ballroom dancer also slammed rumors that she was at all dissatisfied with her celebrity pairing alongside 55-year-old Rodriguez, the talk show sidekick to Jimmy Kimmel on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

“I am truly so grateful to continue on in this competition week after week with Guillermo because he really deserves it. He is genuinely a kind person, he genuinely wants to get better, he never gives up,” Carson continued on TikTok. “Anytime I’m resting in rehearsals, he’s practicing… What you see on Tuesdays, that is his best…”

Last year, Carson took home the top prize alongside Australian conservationist Robert Irwin; in 2014, she took home her first Mirrorball Trophy alongside actor Alfonso Ribeiro, the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” actor who now co-hosts the show alongside dancer Julianne Hough.

Rodriguez too has become a crowd favorite, with various fans noting his improvement each week — including Kimmel, who last week on his talk show joked that his co-star has won the popular vote “more times than Donald Trump.”

Earlier this week, the pair wowed “DWTS” fans during “Yacht Rock Night” with a foxtrot performed to “Escape (The Piña Colada Song).” Rodriguez finished the routine with a funnyman stunt by revealing himself in a coconut bra and inked-belly with the words: “Dancing 4 the People.”

Guillermo Rodriguez and Witney Carson appear on “Dancing With the Stars” Season 35’s Yacht Rock Night.

(Eric McCandless / Disney)

“I think there’s a lot to say about someone who may not have the skills, but is willing to learn and put in the work. That’s an amazing thing and he deserves it,” Carson added.

Carson also used the social media video to tame buzz that she wants to go home because of her pregnancy, she said, “I’m doing all the things that my doctor has approved of, so you guys can rest easy.”

In August, the dancer made headlines when she revealed on “Good Morning America” that she would participate in this new season while pregnant, a scenario that the mother of two admitted was not on her “bingo card,” but that she would stick with it to see what her body was capable of.

“I know how far to push my body and the baby’s health has always been my number one priority,” Carson reiterated in her TikTok video. “So I have no reserve when it comes to speaking up about physically overdoing it.”

SYDNEY Sweeney fans have been left lost for words after realising that she has also appeared in a late 2000s teen drama.

The actress, 29, is arguably best known for her roles in Euphoria and White Lotus.

But in 2010 she appeared on our screens during the sixth episode of the third season of 90201.

Although it was only a small part, in the scene, her character can be seen approaching a shirtless Liam (Matt Latner) and asks him for help.

Her character tells him: “We’d like to look at those jeans but they are too high up for us to reach.”

As he reaches for the trousers, her character cheekily touches his bum and she starts giggling to her friends.

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The episode is called How Much Is That Liam in the Window.

One fan shared the scene on TikTok and said: “Sydney Sweeney before she was Sydney Sweeney.”

Many rushed to the comments section to share their shock over the fact they never noticed her before on the show.

One said: “I had no idea!”

Another confessed: “I didn’t recognise her so much she’s dressed.”

A third chimed in: “Omg I just watched this episode and didn’t even recognise her.”

90210 aired on The CT between 2008 and 2013.

It starred the likes of Rob Estes, Shenae Grimes, Jessica Stroup, Lori Loughlin, Michael Steger, Jessica Lowndes, Matt Lanter, Trevor Donovan, Gillian Zinser, Tristan Wilds, Tristan Wilds, Dustin Milligan and Ryan Eggold.

Sydney has appeared in a number of films over the years including Anyone but You, Spiders 3D, Clementine, Along Came the Devil, Eden and The Housemaid.

Meanwhile she’s landed telly roles including Grey’s Anatomy, Pretty Little Liars, Robot Chicken, Family Guy, Kickin’ It and Criminal Minds.

As well as acting, Sydney has recently stripped naked as she balanced on a basketball in a steamy sports-themed shoot.

She also regularly models lingerie from her own brand Syrn on social media.

PETE Wicks has seemingly taken a thinly veiled swipe at his exes Maura Higgins and Megan McKenna.

The swipe came as the star chatted to the Daily Mail about how he and Olivia got together, as he seemed to shade his past relationships.

Speaking about how in love he feels, Pete shared that it feels like the first time he’s truly fallen.

He said: “Yeah, I think so. I’ve loved people, of course, but it’s a different feeling to what I’ve had before.

“She’s [Olivia’s] become my best friend. She’s that before anything else.

“I have fallen in love for the first time and I don’t really have anything to compare it to.”

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Pete also revealed that he opened up about his feelings for Olivia before Olivia opened up to him.

Chatting about whether he was nervous, Pete noted: “I’m quite a confident guy in a lot of areas, but not as confident when it comes to feelings.

“It was not a case of just fancying someone. Obviously I do – she’s beautiful, I think she’s incredible – but there was more.

“I didn’t really know what that was, or where it came from. It just happened.”

Pete and Olivia started dating in February of this year, and made their relationship Instagram official during a trip to Ibiza in July.

The romance follows Olivia’s divorce from former flame Bradley Dack.

Their marriage crumbled due to what was described at the time as a “breach of trust” on Bradley’s side.

Olivia had been friends with Pete for years prior to her beginning to date him.

Months of romance rumours swirled before the pair confirmed their romance, and they appear to be super loved up!

Pete and Maura dated for around six months between 2024 and 2025.

They split on Valentines Day of 2025 following a fiery row.

Meanwhile Pete and Megan were together for approximately a year and a half, with their relationship beginning in 2016.

The ups and downs of their romance were documented on The Only Way Is Essex.

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ release date has been moved up once again, just as reports of his alleged pampered federal prison lifestyle have emerged.

The 56-year-old is scheduled to be released on Jan. 21, 2028, from FCI Fort Dix, a low-security federal prison in New Jersey, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate database.

The disgraced music mogul was sentenced to 50 months in prison last October after he was convicted of transporting prostitutes across state lines for drug-fueled sex performances known as “freak-offs.”

The initial release date for Combs was projected for June 2028.

Time in the jailhouse for the “Mo Money Mo Problems” rapper has been shortened several times this year. The last update to his sentence occurred this summer, moving his release to late February 2028.

News of his shortened prison stint comes as reports of Combs’ special lifestyle have emerged in a report by NBC News published Tuesday.

According to four inmates — who were granted anonymity by the outlet to speak freely about life inside the prison — Combs has allegedly been paying men to clean and cook special meals for him, including curry chicken, pizza and empanadas, and that the hip-hop artist receives Chinese-style massages.

One man told NBC, “This is not some normal s— you see in jail. This is some rich s—. It looks crazy, but again, it’s Diddy.”

The news outlet also reviewed footage obtained from inside the correctional facility, where Combs appeared to be using a contraband phone, which multiple inmates claim the artist-producer is using to scroll Instagram and view explicit nude content shared by an old girlfriend.

There are also claims that the “I’ll Be Missing You” singer is purchasing an antidepressant drug known as Remeron, or “rem-roms,” from other inmates and that he keeps a secret stash of liquor that was smuggled into the prison by guards.

“Hell yeah, I drank with him,” one of the men told NBC. He recounted drinking Hennessy with Combs.

Sources also allege that individuals outside the prison are depositing thousands of dollars into the commissary accounts of those performing services for the “Bad Boy for Life” rapper.

A spokesperson for Combs responded to the Los Angeles Times’ request for comment.

“The continued scrutiny of every mundane detail of Sean Combs’s life in prison has reached the point where the media characterizes ordinary prison life as news,” the spokesperson said via email. “The only real news is that Sean continues to serve his sentence within the rules and he patiently awaits the court’s decision on his appeal.”

In an emailed statement to The Times, a FCI Fort Dix spokesperson said they cannot comment on the “conditions of confinement for any incarcerated individual,” nor can they “confirm or deny the existence of a corresponding investigation.”

“Like all correctional agencies, contraband, particularly cell phones, narcotics, and weapons, remains a constant challenge, and we continue to tackle the problem of contraband being introduced into our facilities,” the spokesperson said. “Inmates are not permitted to have access to cell phones, and all incarcerated individuals in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) who are found to violate the ‘Inmate Discipline Program’ policy are subject to sanctions.”

Combs’ legal troubles hit a peak last year after he was involved in a lengthy and public trial involving allegations of sexual assault and other violence. Among the accusers were his former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, who lodged civil complaints against the music tycoon.

In July 2025, Combs was found guilty on two counts of a prostitution-related charge, but the business titan was cleared of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, which carried heavier penalties, including a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.

ALONGSIDE his brother Noel, Oasis rocker Liam Gallagher is believed to have earned around £50million from their Live ‘25 Tour.

But rather than spending it on VIP boxes at Manchester City, or a palatial palace and gold-plated bone for his beloved rescue dog Buttons, Liam appears to have plunged part of his cash into a new house.

Paperwork for his pad in the Cotswolds, which he bought with fiancée Debbie Gwyther, revealed the singer paid the £4million bill in cash.

A source said: “Liam and Noel are both savvy and have ­people advising them when it comes to their earnings.

“The cash they earned from their Live ’25 Tour is just the start of it as, when they finish their second tour next year, they will both be so minted they’d never have to work a day in their lives ever again.”

And as they continue to ride the wave of success — with their 42-date tour next year totally sold out — Noel and Liam are doing everything they can to ­protect their ­legacy.

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Yesterday it was ­confirmed the brothers had taken legal action against an auction house over a proposed sale of old Oasis recordings.

London-based Littleton ­Auctions had announced they had a huge lot of archive ­footage — including audio from soundchecks and 100 hours of rehearsal tapes from Oasis’s Nineties heyday.

The lot was taken to them by Owain Richards, whose father Huw worked with the band from 1994 until 2001.

An injunction has now been taken out by Oasis to stop the ­auction going ahead.

The MD of the company said in a statement: “Littleton Auctions confirms that the Oasis recordings known as The Desk Tapes have been ­withdrawn from our October 3 auction in light of legal ­proceedings.

“We are very ­disappointed that we cannot offer this ­significant archive as planned.”

When asked about the legal row, Owain said: “It is true that Oasis have sued me and my father, to try to prevent the auction of the tapes made by my father many years ago.

“We have agreed to postpone the auction to enable the legal dispute to be resolved, either by litigation or otherwise in an orderly way.”

Some items have been allowed through, including original set lists and itineraries from Oasis’s early tours, as well as an original Kangol parka coat, and will go under the hammer on ­Saturday.

JIMI STILL IN RON’S ART

RONNIE WOOD has put his never-before-seen portraits of Jimi Hendrix on display at the late rocker’s home, which has been turned into a museum in London.

Speaking at Handel Hendrix House, where he was given a giant celebratory bouquet of flowers, Ronnie also spilled the beans about the time when he and Jimi were young housemates in London back in the day.

He revealed they both nearly starved because neither of them had a clue how to cook.

Ronnie said: “Food was never an option.

“We had a few peas to shove around the plate.”

But life was certainly interesting.

Ronnie said of Jimi: “He could play the guitar right and left-handed.

“He used to play over the neck, upside down.

“In the end, he ran out of ideas and used to set his guitar on fire.”

Recalling Jimi’s passing in 1970, Ronnie added: “I was at Ronnie Scott’s the night he died.

“He was walking away with his arm around a girl, he said goodbye – and died that night.

“It was such a shock the next day.”

Ronnie also gave an update on The Rolling Stones after their last two planned tours were canned.

He said: “I take it as it comes.

“I don’t like waiting.

“That is why I get a band together, to keep playing.”

You can get along now to Ronnie’s show at Jimi’s old house in Mayfair, which was also once home to composer George Frideric Handel.

It runs until April 11 next year.

BIG NAMES LINE UP FOR MERCURY SHOW

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE, Olivia Dean, Raye, Suede, Pulp and Jade Thirlwall are all confirmed as performers at this year’s Mercury Prize show.

Dove Ellie, Knats, Kojey Radical and Nia Archvies will also take to the stage at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle on October 22.

Each artist will perform one track from their Album Of The Year entry, while fellow nominees Dave and Sir Paul McCartney will be celebrated with two special, short films showcasing their records.

THE BEATLES’ Apple Corps company made a huge £41.1million profit last year.

That’s up £16million on the year before, with surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr each pocketing millions, as will the estates of John Lennon and George Harrison.

JUST A PERFECT DAZE

DAISY EDGAR-JONES reminds me here of an angelic ornament you’d find in your nan’s garden.

She wore this demure white dress for a garden shoot in Australia to promote her movie Sense And Sensibility, based on the romantic novel by Jane Austen.

As is the trend with actresses now, Daisy has taken a leaf out of Zendaya‘s book and is matching her fashion choices to the film she’s promoting.

And as she steps back in time to play sensible older sister Elinor Dashwood in the new big-screen adaptation of Austen’s 1811 novel, Daisy absolutely nailed the vibe while posing for pictures in Sydney.

But could her stylist have a bit more fun with her fashion? For sure.

BRIT Awards bosses say ­holding the ceremony in ­Manchester for the first time gave the city a major boost ­earlier this year.

A new report says the ceremony contributed £5million in direct spending, with £3.6million coming from visitors and the remaining £1.4million from organisers and ­partners.

On top of this, employment rates got a helping hand, with 3,099 temporary jobs created.

The report also revealed that 92 per cent of attendees rated their Brits experience as excellent or good – which is helpful, given the bash is going to be held at Co-op Live in the city for the next two years.

Stacey Tang, co-president of RCA Records at Sony Music UK and chair of the Brits Committee, said: ­“Moving the Brits to ­Manchester was about more than moving an awards show.

“It’s about shining a light on ­talent and creative communities across the UK, opening up opportunities and widening participation.”

R.E.M. are re- releasing their 12th studio album Reveal to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

The reissue – out November 20 – will be put out alongside The Black Sessions Revealed, a previously unreleased 17-song performance by R.E.M., recorded for Radio France in 2001.

THE house where ­Taylor Swift recorded her 2014 No1 album 1989 has gone up for sale.

The Pillsbury Estate in Beverly Hills, which was her home for seven years until 2018, has become a mecca for fans.

It is now on the market for $7.9million.

GRAND PLANS

FREDDIE Mercury’s grand piano is going under the hammer today – and could fetch up to £400,000.

Before the auction began, the late Queen frontman’s godson, Freddie Mack, opened up about his favourite memories of his namesake.

In an exclusive chat, he said: “He came to my family home in Munich, and there was this big rocking horse.

“It was very fancy and I was kind of scared of it.

“He just waited with me then guided me to befriend this new toy.

“He put me on it and rocked me back on forth and showed me that this is a nice gift, nothing to be scared of.

“He just took his time to be there for me.”

The piano is up for sale at Propstore’s Music Memorabilia auction, alongside other big-ticket collectors’ pieces.

These include Michael Jackson‘s black and gold military-style jacket, which could fetch up to £500,000.

Or if you fancy John Lennon’s tinted glasses, they could cost you £200,000.

The 39th annual Hispanic Heritage Awards — which will honor the contributions and accomplishments of Latinos in the U.S. and Latin America — will air nationwide Friday on PBS.

In a historic decision by the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, which presents the annual awards, the event departed from its home base of Washington. Instead, Latino luminaries gathered at the Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, where the celebratory occasion was taped for broadcast Sept. 10.

The move to the Midwest was a timely decision for members of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit organization established by the White House in 1988. They took into consideration Minnesota’s response to a large-scale immigration enforcement campaign that began in December, known as “Operation Metro Surge.”

“We went to Minneapolis because we wanted to recognize what’s great about our community, [our] courage, resilience, strength, unity and looking out for each other,” said Antonio Tijerino, president and CEO of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, in a phone call with De Los.

The Department of Homeland Security called the undertaking the “largest DHS operation ever” earlier this year on X, with an estimated 2,000 agents deployed to the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area. Thousands of Minnesota residents rallied against the tactical and militant methods used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Civil unrest hit a boiling point following the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti on Jan. 7 and 24, respectively, by federal agents.

“ We actually went with a delegation of national Latino leaders to offer our support of the community during this crisis and we were overwhelmed by the heroism,” said Tijerino, who recalled a group visit to Minneapolis in February. There, he and his colleagues learned more about the rapid response efforts underway in the city.

“It was an American story that we wanted to tell,” he added.

At the 39th ceremony, Los Tigres del Norte presented a bit of that story to the people of Minnesota — who were collectively honored with the Humanitarian Award.

“Peaceful, hard-working communities of immigrants and refugees found themselves in fearful chaos as more than 4,000 parents, grandparents, neighbors, friends and families were taken by force, U.S. citizens among them,” Los Tigres del Norte announced in English while presenting the award. The players closed the show with a rendition of their 1984 song “Jaula de Oro,” which speaks to the plight of the undocumented community.

“I think Minnesota [is] a reflection of all of our Latino communities across the nation,” said Henry Jiménez, president and CEO of Propel Nonprofits, who was one of the individuals on stage representing the people of Minnesota.

“It uplifted the people. I think people felt validated for all of their hard work and effort that they’ve had to endure, not just the last couple months, but really a lifetime of work,” said Jiménez, whose organization helps consult and raise funds for budding nonprofits.

The relocation of the Hispanic Heritage Awards also comes as D.C. deals with the temporary closure of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts — which hosted the Hispanic Heritage Awards in years prior.

The Kennedy Center closed its doors indefinitely on Sept. 15 after an inspection found acute public safety concerns, among them roofing issues. In a letter to Congress, various former employees allege that leadership was aware of the issues but halted plans for repair in April.

The closing also comes after a federal judge blocked the board’s decision to include President Trump’s name on the building in September. Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center began in February 2025, when he dismissed half its board members and installed himself as chairman.

“We were [at the Kennedy Center] for a very long time. It brought a lot of prestige and to fill a historic venue like that with Latinos was wonderful,” said Tijerino. “After many years of being at the Kennedy Center, we decided we wanted to go to another venue.”

In April 2025, the Hispanic Heritage Foundation announced that it would host its 38th annual awards at the Warner Theater instead; previous versions of the ceremony have also taken place at the historic Warner Theater venue, including in 2015 for the 28th Annual Awards and 2017 for the 30th celebration.

Hosted by comedian Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, the other honorees of the 39th Hispanic Heritage Awards included Venezuelan artist Oscar D’León, the salsa singer behind notable hits such as “Llorarás” and “Me Voy Pa’ Cali,” who received the Legend Award for his lifelong contributions to the genre.

Chilean singer-songwriter Mon Laferte, the vocal powerhouse behind power ballads like “Tu Falta de Querer” and “Amárrame (feat. Juanes),” also received the Social Justice Award. The Latin Grammy-winning artist has long championed feminist causes and challenged sexual harassment in the entertainment industry — a topic central to her 2024 Netflix documentary, “Mon Laferte, Te Amo.”

Puerto Rican rapper Eladio Carrión, whose trap flow famously featured in songs like “Coco Chanel” with Bad Bunny and “Sigue Bailandome,” was also honored with the Inspira Award.

Mexican singer-actor Ximena Sariñana, whose early composition appeared on the soundtrack of the 2002 teen film “Amar Te Duele,” received the Music Award as well.

Following the success of their Minneapolis awards show, the Hispanic Heritage Foundation is now toying with the idea that the ceremony can take place anywhere where there is a strong Latino presence.

“Who knows if L.A. is the [next] spot!” said Tijerino, who hails from Long Beach,

Though Jiménez assures that he is not swayed by any particular city at the moment, he offers one idea: “I hope that the community that’s chosen [to host] doesn’t have to go through a difficult time to be chosen.”

COPS have threatened to force arrested criminals to listen to Taylor Swift’s new release on loop.

Greensboro Police in North Carolina, US, jokingly swiped at the superstar’s album after it received mixed reviews.

They posted: “Those who are arrested tonight will be required to listen to Taylor Swift’s new songs on repeat.”

But following a huge online backlash, the force later wrote: “We apologise for stirring up the Taylor bots.

“Please continue to listen to The Life of a Showgirl.”

But the post remains up on X with more than 80,000 likes.

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Cruel Summer singer Swift, 36, re-released her Life of a Showgirl album with four new songs last week, adding “The Encore” to the title.

But critics were not impressed.

Music magazine Pitchfork rated it 4/10, saying: “Taylor Swift has let the quality of her songwriting slide in favour of commercial domination.”

Critic Shaad D’Souza added: “Yes, Taylor Swift will always have one of the greatest songwriting catalogues of all time.

“Not even Taylor Swift could take that away from her — but she sure is trying.”

The album came out in 2025 as the first release since the end of her record-breaking Eras Tour, but failed to win acclaim.

Swift previously said she did not intend to add new tracks, but later admitted she went on a trip with her collaborators and “did what we do when we feel anything: we wrote more songs”.