Lifestyle
The Oscars Co-Host Regina Hall Commented On Will Smith’s Public Apology To Chris Rock, Stating, I Understand It Wasn’t Easy
Regina Corridor is commenting on Will Smith ‘s public apology for the Oscars slap that was seen all around the world.
On the purple carpet for her upcoming movie Honk for Jesus on Monday, Corridor, 51, stated to Selection, “I feel it is a difficult factor, and I do know it is a tough journey. Defend Your Soul.
“He apologized as step one. It is as much as them how they select to see it. I understand it wasn’t easy, “She then went on to match the expertise to the ethical of her satire comedy’s takeaway scene, by which she portrays the spouse of Sterling Okay. Brown’s preacher. Making a comeback is central to the storyline when an argument briefly closes their church.
In her chat with Selection, Corridor added, “Redemption.” We could change from maybe the place we’re, which is the entire function.
In March, Corridor joined comedians Wanda Sykes and Amy Schumer to co-host the Oscars. Corridor co-starred within the 2017 comedy Ladies Journey with Smith’s spouse, Jada Pinkett-Smith.
After Chris Rock made a joke about Jada’s shaved head throughout the occasion, Smith, 53, stormed onto the stage and struck him. The actress, who’s 50, has alopecia.
The Greatest Actor winner endured months of backlash on account of the slap; he withdrew from the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences and acquired a 10-year membership ban.
The King Richard actor clarified what occurred that night and expressed his remorse to Rock, 57, and his household in a video apology that was later posted on his social media platforms on July 29.
Smith said, “I went out to Chris, and the response I acquired was that he isn’t prepared to debate, and when he’s, he’ll name out. “I’ll thus apologize to you, Chris. I apologize for my conduct, and I am accessible everytime you need to discuss.”
Lifestyle
FBI looks into thrill-seeking teachers alleged to have been international art thieves
Lifestyle
The original 'Harry Potter' book cover art is expected to break records at auction
Sotheby’s
The book cover art that introduced readers across the world to Harry Potter is expected to break auction records next month.
This past week, Sotheby’s announced the auction scheduled for June 26 in New York of Thomas Taylor’s original watercolor illustration for the first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Published by Bloomsbury in 1997, the title kicked off the famous seven-book series.
In a statement shared with NPR, the auction house said the artwork is expected to sell for $400,000 to $600,000 — a record estimate for any Harry Potter-related material ever offered at auction.
With over 500 million copies sold worldwide across 80 languages, the Harry Potter series has become a global phenomenon.
Taylor’s illustration — which depicts the boy magician with his trademark round spectacles and lightning bolt-shaped forehead scar boarding the train to Hogwarts from King’s Cross Station’s platform 9 3/4 — was first offered at auction at Sotheby’s in London in 2001, according to the statement. At that point, there were only four published Harry Potter books, yet Pottermania was already taking hold: the artwork sold for a then-record-breaking 85,750 pounds.
Sotheby’s said it expects the return of the artifact to the auction block to do exponentially better this time around, as the appetite for Potter-related fare has only increased over the past couple of decades with the release of the blockbuster films and various spinoffs. In 2021, an unsigned first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone sold for $421,000 at Heritage Auctions in Dallas — the current record for a Harry Potter-related item.
Richard Austin, Sotheby’s global head of books & manuscripts, said in a statement that Taylor’s work “serves as the visual blueprint for the boy wizard who has since inspired millions worldwide.”
A rookie assignment
Getty Images
Illustrator Taylor was a 23-year-old recent art school graduate when he received the commission from Bloomsbury to create a cover illustration for a fantasy children’s book by the then-unknown author J.K. Rowling.
It was the artist’s first professional assignment. According to Taylor, he wasn’t given much in the way of creative license.
“I was actually asked to paint this scene by the editor at Bloomsbury who said, ‘could you please paint Hogwarts at King’s Cross Station and Harry approaching the Hogwarts Express?’ ” said Taylor in a 2022 video interview for the J.K. Rowling online fan community, The Rowling Library. “I was very new and just starting out, so I didn’t feel I could say ‘No, I think it should be something different.’ So I was just doing what I was told, really.”
He read Rowling’s manuscript on the train after that meeting — one of the very first people to do so.
“It was a stack of paper. It was only printed on one side. Chapter 11 wasn’t there, because the author was changing something, so it was missing Chapter 11. And it had a few notes and things in it as well. So it was a very, very early printout,” Taylor told The Rowling Library.
After delivering his painting to the publisher, Taylor said for a few months he used the blank underside of each manuscript page for sketching. “And then I think I put the rest of it in the recycling bin,” he said. “Of course now I really regret that.”
Mixed feelings
Taylor has gone on to become an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator. His titles include the series Eerie-on-Sea. Bloomsbury reissued Philosopher’s Stone as part of its 25th anniversary commemorative reprint of the Harry Potter books in 2022.
But Taylor said he long had mixed feelings about this early, giant success.
“Normally when you start out as an illustrator, you kind of hope that your first work will be a bit forgotten and then you’ll develop and get better and better,” Taylor told The Rowling Library. “But of course, in this case, this first piece of work has sort of followed me my entire career. So I look at it and I think, ‘Why did I paint that? Why didn’t I paint something more exciting?’ “
But he said he’s finally made peace with it — in part because of how prized his Harry Potter book cover painting has become at auction.
“It is quite striking when I see an auction catalog, and then there’s a first edition Charles Dickens, and then Beatrix Potter or something, and then there’s my picture,” he said. “It is fun to see it appear in places like that.”
Indeed, Taylor’s artwork will be go under the hammer in June as part of a sale that includes works by such literary greats as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edgar Allan Poe — and a handwritten manuscript by none other than J.K. Rowling.
Lifestyle
Tom Brady Shuts Down Jeff Ross Over Robert Kraft Massage Joke
Netflix
Divorce talk was fair game, but Tom Brady was not having it when folks brought up Patriots owner Robert Kraft‘s massage scandal … with the former MVP calling on Jeff Ross to “don’t say that s*** again” amid his roast on Sunday.
TB12 was a good sport for the majority of the Netflix event … laughing it up as he was on the receiving end of incessant blows throughout the night.
But there was one topic the dude did not want to be mentioned — the Pats owner’s 2019 incident.
Brady approached Ross mid-speech … telling him on a hot mic the matter was out of bounds.
Many compared it to Will Smith’s Oscars moment with Chris Rock … although the future Hall of Famer never got physical.
Netflix
As we previously reported, Brady has been a good sport for the majority of the event … even letting his former coach, Bill Belichick, rip into him for some good-hearted fun.
Kim Kardashian, Ross, Julian Edelman and more ripped into Brady … but the show is still going on, so we’ll keep you updated.
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