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As the 2022 Oscars approach, Jay-Z stays mum about Bar Marmont after-party plans

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Jay-Z, whose spouse Beyoncé is performing Sunday on the Academy Awards, is staying mum about plans to carry his Oscars after-party at Bar Marmont regardless of pushback from the hospitality staff union that has facilitated a boycott of Chateau Marmont for greater than a yr over alleged mistreatment of lodge staff.

The rapper’s group had no remark Friday concerning the scenario, which surfaced earlier this week.

The occasion has been identified for its tightly held visitor checklist and low-key presence, with no crimson carpet arrivals or photographers, very like Madonna and supervisor Man Oseary’s elite post-Oscars bash.

The so-called Gold Occasion debuted at Chateau Marmont after the 2018 Oscars and has repeated there annually since, aside from 2021, when it was nixed because of the pandemic. Bar Marmont is a separate lease-out property adjoining to the lodge that was present process renovations when the pandemic began. Hotelier André Balazs’ Chateau Holdings owns each properties.

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Chateau Marmont, which opened as an condominium constructing within the late Twenties, has been a non-union lodge because it was transformed to that function in 1931. It maintains that it pays its staff higher than union contracts require, with advantages together with free medical health insurance.

However two former lodge staff and the union Unite Right here Native 11 have been in a standoff with Chateau Marmont because the peak of the pandemic. The lodge abruptly fired its practically 250-person employees in 2020 with no severance pay and solely a quick extension of well being advantages.

A supply near the scenario mentioned the rapper is bringing in his personal group to employees the after-party, with no staff being supplied by Chateau Marmont.

The boycott, which began in February 2021, got here within the wake of a September 2020 investigation by the Hollywood Reporter that relied on accounts from 30 former Chateau staffers. Partly, they described company’ alleged debauchery and inappropriate habits towards staff, difficult by what it known as “neglectful” administration and the dearth of a proper human sources division.

“Individuals suppose, ‘It’s the Chateau!’ and so they can get away with something,” former visitor relations staffer Jimmy Cahue, who began on the lodge in 1995, instructed THR in 2020. “And the reality is, we don’t even trouble telling anyone something anymore as a result of we don’t suppose something will ever get finished as a result of administration won’t ever deal with the scenario.”

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On the time the investigation was finished, Chateau Marmont and Balazs strongly denied all allegations.

The lodge didn’t shut in the course of the pandemic, however as an alternative instantly rehired greater than two dozen of its fired staff to maintain restricted providers operating for its long-term company. Just a few months later, Balazs introduced plans to transform the Chateau to a members-only non-public lodge, however to date that plan has not come to fruition. It’s unclear whether or not it’s nonetheless a aim.

The lodge is now working with restricted capability because it has managed to rent again solely about 50 of its former staff, a spokesman mentioned, in keeping with Los Angeles’ 2021 ordinance defending longer-tenured staff who had been displaced by the pandemic from being changed by lower-paid new hires. Different former staff had moved out of the realm, didn’t need to work on the lodge in the course of the pandemic or declined to return for private causes, the spokesman mentioned.

Whereas the spokesman for Chateau Marmont characterised the lodge and Bar Marmont as separate entities — the occasion area is down the hill from the lodge and has a separate entrance — a union official known as it “all one massive hospitality operation.” Unite Right here Native 11 represents hospitality staff in California and Arizona, although it doesn’t characterize any Chateau Marmont staff.

Lawsuits had been filed towards the lodge in early 2021 by two former staff, each Black ladies, who alleged amongst different issues that the lodge had allowed a hostile work surroundings the place rich company may do no matter they needed, together with berating and inappropriately touching staff, and had engaged in racial discrimination and retaliation. Each instances had been dismissed months after being filed, in keeping with necessary arbitration agreements.

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The lodge has denied the allegations within the lawsuits.

“These meritless allegations are all unproven for one easy purpose: They had been manufactured in lawsuits purchased and paid for by Unite Right here Native 11 as a part of their focused efforts to unionize Chateau Marmont,” a spokesman for the lodge instructed The Instances on Thursday. “Opposite to the bogus claims in these already-dismissed, union-backed sham filings, Chateau Marmont has a protracted and well-documented historical past of range and inclusion amongst each our staff and our company.”

The spokesman mentioned union representatives had trespassed on Chateau Marmont property and yelled at lodge company throughout actions it mentioned had been in help of the employees.

The boycott has drawn help from the California Democratic Occasion in addition to the actors union SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America. Aaron Sorkin’s Oscar-nominated film “Being the Ricardos” and the Paramount+ miniseries “The Provide” each determined towards filming on the storied lodge upon studying of the hospitality union’s boycott.

Director Adam McKay and David Sirota, who share an Oscar nomination for unique screenplay for 2021’s “Don’t Look Up,” are the latest Hollywood varieties to signal the boycott petition, a union spokeswoman mentioned.

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Different well-known signers embrace Amanda Seyfried, Issa Rae, Alfonso Cuarón, Edie Falco, Jane Fonda, Spike Lee, Samira Wiley, Gabrielle Union, Jonathan Van Ness, Virginia Madsen, Steven Van Zandt, Eliza Dushku, Martin Sheen, Daveed Diggs, Alison Capsule, Thomas Sadoski and writer Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Kurt Peterson, co-president of Unite Right here Native 11, mentioned the union is planning to protest with a “festive dance occasion” and picket indicators on the street outdoors Chateau Marmont beginning at 8 p.m. Sunday and going “as late as mandatory.” He mentioned he hoped a few of Jay-Z’s company would cease to bop with them quite than going contained in the venue for the after-party.

In prior years, these company have included — to call however a number of — Rihanna, Adele, Travis Scott, ASAP Rocky, Drake, Diddy, Adam Driver, Natalie Portman, Leonardo DiCaprio and the couple previously often known as Kimye.

Calling Jay-Z’s determination to make use of Bar Marmont “not morally good,” Petersen mentioned: “They should discover one other area to hire.”

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Movie Reviews

Movie review: “The Watchers”

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Movie review: “The Watchers”
“The Watchers” is a horror/thriller movie that is Isha Night Shyamalan’s directorial debut, released in 2024. It is based on the book The Watchers by A.M. Shine. There is a hint of fantastical elements throughout the movie and lore that would have made for a great overall story, but unfortunately,…
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How did Travis Kelce know he was falling for Taylor Swift? He offers a 'genuine' answer

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How did Travis Kelce know he was falling for Taylor Swift? He offers a 'genuine' answer

Travis Kelce isn’t afraid to share his love story.

It turns out that Taylor Swift’s unexpected behavior during the Kansas City Chiefs game against the Chicago Bears in September tipped the relationship into this-is-the-real-deal territory, he said on the “Bussin’ With the Boys” podcast.

Kelce explained that they had already been seeing each other privately but that her attitude toward taking things public impressed him.

He offered her a security escort into the stadium, but she brushed it off and walked in with the rest of his guests.

“She really won me over with that one,” the tight end said, describing how Swift preferred to “be around family and friends and experience this with everybody” instead of getting celebrity treatment.

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“She’s very self-aware. And I think that’s why I really started to really fall for her, was how genuine she is around friends [and] family. It can get crazy for somebody with that much attention … and she just keeps it so chill and so cool.”

The two have kept the intimate details of their relationship under wraps but are notably more public than Taylor has been with past boyfriends. Their passionate kiss after Kelce’s Super Bowl win in February effectively broke the internet, and he joined her onstage in London over the weekend, spicing up the Eras tour.

Kelce says he wants to “keep things private,” but “at the same time, I’m not here to hide anything … that’s my girl, that’s my lady.”

He did admit there have been a few downsides to entering her spotlight — notably, random fans showing up at his pad in Kansas City, Kan.

“I’ve had fun with just about every aspect of it. It’s just when you’re at home you want privacy, and you don’t always get that,” he said.

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The wild online speculation is another annoyance. The athlete said that his father would come across crazy tabloid stories from time to time and call him to fact-check.

“He’d see something so f— out of the blue, like something about me and Taylor, he’s like, ‘Hey, you guys OK?’”

Kelce always has a reply at the ready: “Get the f— off Facebook, Dad.”

And for those still wondering — KillaTrav’s favorite TSwift songs are “Black Space,” “Cruel Summer” and “So High School.”

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Movie Review: ‘Summer Camp’ is an entertaining disappointment

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Movie Review: ‘Summer Camp’ is an entertaining disappointment

Nothing forges a friendship like treating an arrow wound. For Ginny, Mary and Nora, an ill-fated archery lesson and an injured classmate are just the beginning of the lifetime of trouble they’re about to start.

Ginny is a year above the other two, more experienced in both summer camp and girlhood, and takes it upon herself to somewhat forcefully guide her younger friends. Mary cowers in the bathroom away from her bunkmates, spouting medical facts, while Nora hangs back, out of place. When their camp counselor plucks them out of their cabin groups to place them in the new “Sassafras” cabin, they feel like they fit in somewhere for the first time.

50 years later, “Summer Camp” sees the three girls, now women, reunite for the anniversary reunion of the very same camp at which they met. Although they’ve been in touch on-and-off in the preceding decades, this will be the first time the women have seen each other in 15 years.

Between old camp crushes, childhood nemeses and the newer trials of adulthood, the three learn to understand each other, and themselves, in a way that has eluded them the entirety of their friendship.

I really wanted to like “Summer Camp.”

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The opening scene, a glimpse at the girls’ first year together at Camp Pinnacle, does a good job at establishing Ginny, Mary and Nora’s dynamic. It’s sweet, funny and feels true to the experience of many adolescent girls’ friendships.

On top of that, this movie’s star-studded cast and heartwarming concept endeared me to it the moment I saw the trailer. Unfortunately, an enticing trailer is about the most “Summer Camp” has to offer.

As soon as we meet our trio as adults, things start to fall apart. It really feels like the whole movie was made to be cut into a trailer — the music is generic, shots cut abruptly between poses, places and scenes, and at one point two of the three separate shots of each woman exiting Ginny’s tour bus are repeated.

The main character and sometimes narrator, Ginny Moon, is a self-help writer who uses “therapy speak” liberally and preaches a tough-love approach to self improvement. This sometimes works perfectly for the movie’s themes but is often used to thwop the viewer over the head with a mallet labeled “WHAT THE CHARACTERS ARE THINKING” rather than letting us figure it out for ourselves.

There are glimpses of a better script — like when Mary’s husband asks her whether she was actually having fun or just being bullied, presumably by Ginny. This added some depth to her relationship with him, implying he actually does listen to her sometimes, and acknowledged the nagging feeling I’d been getting in the back of my head: “Hey, isn’t Ginny kind of mean?”

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Despite all my annoyance with “Summer Camp,” there were a few things I really liked about it. I’m a lot younger than the main characters of this movie, but there were multiple points where I found myself thinking, “Hey, my aunt talks like that!” or, “Wow, he sounds just like my dad.”

The dynamic of the three main characters felt very true to life, I’ve known and been each of them at one point or another. It felt especially accurate to the relationships of girls and women, and seeing our protagonists reconcile at the end was, for me, genuinely heartwarming.

“Summer Camp” is not a movie I can recommend for quality, but if you’re looking for a lighthearted, somewhat silly romp to help you get into the summer spirit, this one will do just fine.

Other stories by Caroline

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Caroline Julstrom, intern, may be reached at 218-855-5851 or cjulstrom@brainerddispatch.com.

Caroline Julstrom finished her second year at the University of Minnesota in May 2024, and started working as a summer intern for the Brainerd Dispatch in June.

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