World
Ralph Macchio on Why Now Was the Right Time to End ‘Cobra Kai,’ the Future of Daniel LaRusso and That Coldplay Music Video
Serendipity seems to follow Ralph Macchio — and it most recently took him to Australia.
In October, Coldplay released the song “The Karate Kid,” and it’s exactly what you think it’s about, down to the lyrics about “Daniel.” That, of course, is the name of the lead character played by Macchio in three “The Karate Kid” movies and six seasons of Netflix’s “Cobra Kai.” After Macchio heard the tune, he shared it on social media — and that’s when Coldplay concocted a plan. Frontman Chris Martin asked Macchio to come to Australia, where they were playing a series of dates, and film the music video. The ruse included bringing the actor on stage to help perform “The Karate Kid.”
“It was just one of those whirlwind things,” says Macchio, who just returned from Down Under. “It’s just a beautiful track. It blew my mind that he wrote the song, just from the film, which meant so much to him. We certainly had an impact 41 years ago, at least for a young Chris Martin and Coldplay. It never ceases to amaze me, the emotions and feelings that the original film still carries through the decades.”
Macchio is about to experience another one of those moments. As the final season of “Cobra Kai” posts its next five episodes (there are still five to go) this month, Macchio is set to receive his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And his honor will be fittingly placed near the plaque for his late co-star Pat Morita, aka Mr. Miyagi.
“That’s just perfectly wonderful at this point in my life,” Macchio says. The actor, at a youthful 63, is somehow a decade older than Morita was in the original 1984 film. “It’s only fitting I will be Miyagi-adjacent till the end of time, and I couldn’t be prouder and more honored to have that kind of placement. I remember him saying having a star on the Walk of Fame was probably the biggest highlight of his career, coming from humble beginnings. So I’ll get to channel a little bit of the love that he still sprinkles on this ‘Karate Kid’ universe.”
It’s also a complete career full circle moment for Macchio, who remembers visiting the Walk of Fame as a teen in the late 1970s when he moved to Hollywood from his native Long Island, N.Y. to give acting a shot.
“It was the land of hopes and dreams, and I remember I would walk on Hollywood Boulevard looking for Gene Kelly’s star,” Macchio says. “I wanted to be Gene Kelly, ever since my youngest memory. I used to watch the old movie musicals with my mom. And so seeing all those names like Clark Gable, which come from a lot of the films and television shows that I grew up with, it never seemed obtainable.”
Before long, he had a regular role on “Eight Is Enough.” Then came his breakout role in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 feature “The Outsiders,” followed a year later by that life-changing moment in “The Karate Kid.” That crane kick. Wax on, wax off. Daniel-san. All iconic pop culture moments that are forever attached to Macchio. “People still remember where they saw ‘The Karate Kid,’” he says. “I’m incredibly grateful, and feel privileged to be blessed enough to bring joy to people through a character.”
He also starred in the first two “Karate Kid” sequels and held a major role in 1992’s “My Cousin Vinny,” the Joe Pesci starrer that is in endless heavy rotation on basic cable. “I always call it the late-for-dinner movie,” he says. “If it’s on, you’re going to be late for dinner because you have another setup that’s going to pay off and you have to stick to the next one.”
But then came the lean years, which Macchio chronicled in his recent memoir, “Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me.” Macchio was inspired by the philosophy of one of his idols, Michael Caine, who talked about capitalizing on the difficulties you might face in acting and in life.
“I’ve learned to do that,” he says. “There were some difficult times as far as career goes and where I’d wanted it to be. But those are also the years that I was here for my kids at a very young age. It was perfect, especially with this great resurgence and groundswell act that I’m going through right now. I almost couldn’t have written it better, because I get to enjoy it, and it just keeps giving. I mean, the fans never let it disappear.”
Indeed, Macchio never stopped working. In the 2000s, he held a recurring role on “Ugly Betty” and was given several opportunities to play versions of himself — most of which he turned down. But he embraced a few, including on HBO’s “Entourage.”
“If I could tell you the amount of times it was pitched — I said no 90% of the time,” he says. “I went through a phase where I would joke that my name was more famous than I was. ‘Entourage’ was the first time I played myself, and so I was proud because it was a cool industry choice, and a pretty darn good episode as well.”
Then there was the Funny or Die parody “Wax On, F*ck Off,” from filmmaker Todd Holland, which toyed with Macchio’s nice guy persona by trying to turn him into a Hollywood bad boy. “It was the perfect time when people with bad behavior were being rewarded, and I considered myself a good guy,” he says. “So how could I try to make myself more relevant with what works in in Hollywood?
But the real groundwork for “Cobra Kai” came when he and William Zabka guest starred on “How I Met Your Mother” — in which Neil Patrick Harris’ character Barney wanted the hero of the “The Karate Kid” at his party. When Macchio showed up, he was disappointed as he’d considered Johnny Lawrence (Zabka) the good guy.
That dynamic, of course, became the heart of “Cobra Kai,” a new take on the “Karate Kid” characters from Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg. Around the time that show began development (originally at YouTube Originals), Macchio had landed a very different kind of role as a vice cop in HBO’s gritty drama “The Deuce.”
“He’s everything that you dream of when you’re think about meeting your heroes,” Hurwitz says. “He’s a kind person. He’s a family man. It extends to how he carries himself on set as the No. 1 on the call sheet. He’s a role model to a whole group of young actors on our show.”
Heald interjects: “It’s easy to see, upon meeting him for the very first time, that he’s one of the most authentic people you’ll ever meet. He is thoughtful as a performer and a producer and now a director, and in the way that you want as a collaborator.”
Now, as “Cobra Kai” ends, Macchio says the timing “just feels right” to “land it but in a great way.” But this isn’t the end for Macchio as Daniel LaRusso. He will revive the character again opposite Jackie Chan in “The Karate Kid: Legends,” which takes place three years after the events of “Cobra Kai.”
“It was not a quick decision, because it was about protecting the Daniel LaRusso character, and finding where he would be at that point, and then protecting the whole legacy in the Miyagi-verse,” says Macchio. “Once we were able to line that up, for the ‘Cobra Kai’ story to lead into the new film — even though they’re separate ecosystems — it all made sense for me. Then, working with Jackie was just super exciting. I started this on the big screen. How cool is it to get it back to the big screen?”
As for what’s next, Macchio is keen on pursuing more directing and hopes to help Heald, Hurwitz and Schlossberg turn a Mr. Miyagi origins series into fruition. Plus, he wants to explore other characters beyond the “Karate Kid” universe.
Will “The Karate Kid: Legends” mark his final bow as Daniel? “I don’t want to overstay the welcome of a character that’s so beloved,” he says. “But he’s aging like I am, so there could be other areas to explore as well. Never say never.”
World
Miley Cyrus, Jisoo, Sabrina Carpenter, Al Pacino and More Photos from the Dior Cruise Show in Los Angeles
Jonathan Anderson gathered some of Hollywood’s most famous faces for the front row at his Dior Cruise Collection 2027 fashion show at Los Angeles’ LACMA on Wednesday night.
Spotted taking their seats underneath the new David Geffen Galleries were Miley Cyrus, Sabrina Carpenter, Al Pacino, Jisoo of Blackpink, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jeff Goldblum, Tracee Ellis Ross, Role Model, Grace Gummer, Dominic Fike, Miranda Kerr, Mikey Madison, Paul W. Downs, Leslie Mann, Miles Teller, Macaulay Culkin and Bill Pullman.
Guests entered LACMA through a simple entrance on Wilshire Boulevard lined on both sides by gaggles of photographers (some were apparently extras hired to act like shutterbugs). Inside, there were large stone-like step-and-repeats for more photos. Attendees were gifted Dior blankets at their seats as well as a mock script titled “Wilshire Boulevard” starring Anderson explaining the show’s noir theme and looks.
An after-party took place at Chateau Marmont.
Miley Cyrus told me she was grateful Anderson chose her hometown for the event. “I love that they came to L.A.,” she said. “That’s the best part.”
Of her all-denim look, the Grammy winner said, “What I love about L.A. is that it’s casual, so just stopping by to enjoy. Not overdone.”
Meanwhile, following the success of her “Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special,” I asked Cyrus if a reboot of the Disney Channel sitcom was in the works. “I don’t know about all that,” she said, smiling.
Cyrus cracked, “You always get me in trouble.”
Cyrus has credited my question about her possible plans to mark the two-decade milestone earlier in the year that prompted her and Disney to develop the special.
Tracee Ellis Ross also said she was “so pleased” the show took place in Los Angeles: “I don’t have to get on a plane.”
See all the best celebrity looks at the Dior fashion show below.
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Miley Cyrus and Mikey Madison
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores Miley Cyrus and Mikey Madison at the Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles.
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Anya Taylor-Joy
Image Credit: Christopher Polk Anya Taylor-Joy at Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
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Danny Elfman
Image Credit: Christopher Polk Danny Elfman at Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles.
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Role Model
Image Credit: Christopher Polk Role Model at Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles.
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Jake Shane
Image Credit: Christopher Polk Jake Shane at Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles.
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Esther McGregor
Image Credit: Christopher Polk Esther McGregor at Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles.
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Paul W. Downs
Image Credit: Christopher Polk Paul W. Downs at Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles.
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Jay Shetty
Image Credit: Christopher Polk Jay Shetty at Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles.
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Christine Chiu
Image Credit: Christopher Polk Christine Chiu at Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles.
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Terrence O’Connor
Image Credit: Christopher Polk Terrence O’Connor at Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles.
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Tracee Ellis Ross
Image Credit: Christopher Polk Tracee Ellis Ross at Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles.
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LaKeith Stanfield
Image Credit: Christopher Polk LaKeith Stanfield at Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles.
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Sam Kim and Ejae
Image Credit: Christopher Polk Sam Kim and Ejae at Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles.
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Sabrina Carpenter
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores Sabrina Carpenter at the Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
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Jisoo
Image Credit: Variety via Getty Images Jisoo at Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles.
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Chase Sui Wonders
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores Chase Sui Wonders at the Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
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Cookie Johnson and EJ Johnson
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores Cookie Johnson and EJ Johnson at the Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
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Al Pacino
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores Al Pacino at the Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
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Miley Cyrus
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores Miley Cyrus at the Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
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Eileen Gu
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores Eileen Gu at the Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
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Owen Thiele
Image Credit: Variety via Getty Images Owen Thiele at Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
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Ejae
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores Ejae at the Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
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Jisoo and Anya Taylor-Joy
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores Jisoo and Anya Taylor-Joy at the Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
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Miles Teller and Keleigh Sperry
Image Credit: Gilbert Flores Miles Teller and Keleigh Sperry at the Dior 2027 Cruise Collection Show held at LACMA on May 13, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
World
Non-Jewish professor says he was fired for calling out Hamas supporters in online post
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A non-Jewish Canadian professor says he was fired from his university for defending Israel in a social media post as antisemitism exploded across Canada following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.
Paul Finlayson told Fox News Digital that he lost his job at Canada’s University of Guelph-Humber after taking a strong stance online about the massacre and kidnapping of Israelis and foreigners — including Americans and Canadians.
Finlayson responded in November of 2023 to a LinkedIn message from an overseas educator who he said was “calling for the eradication of Israel.” Though the author later deleted his post and all corresponding comments, the National Post quoted from Finlayson’s response in a December 2023 article.
“If you say ‘from the River to the Sea’, you’re a Nazi,” Finlayson wrote. “I’m not neutral. I stand with Israel. I stand against antisemites who want nothing but dead Jews: who take millions from their education and health care budgets and spend it on making war…You stand with Palestine means you stand with Hitler. You don’t want peace, you want dead Jews…They murdered 1,400 innocents and took 250 hostages and the people celebrated rapist monsters as heroes.”
RECORD ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS IN CANADA FUEL CRITICISM OF CARNEY GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
Paul Finlayson says he lost his job after taking a strong stance online against the Hamas terror attacks on Israel. (Paul Finlayson )
Since the post, Finlayson says he has faced a targeted campaign against him which has affected his professional standing and job prospects.
Finlayson said that students at the school found his LinkedIn reply before the post’s author erased the thread, leading to outcry. While meeting with a student in his office on Nov. 27, Finlayson said an administrator waited outside, eventually presenting him with a suspension letter.
A copy of the suspension letter, provided by Finlayson, cites “inappropriate online comments” and places the professor “on leave pending the outcome of the investigation.” It directed Finlayson not to contact “any of your departmental staff or students or broader members of the [university].”
Finlayson said he was “very well-liked” by students, who ranked him among the highest in the business department faculty. He said that rumors about the accusations against him destroyed his academic reputation, which included formulating courses and writing textbooks.
“My trial has been by defamation, and it continues by defamation,” Finlayson said of the “Kafkaesque” situation that ensued.
FEDERAL PROBE CLAIMS UNIVERSITIES ARE ‘LEGITIMIZING AND AMPLIFYING ANTISEMITISM’
Anti-Israel protesters hold antisemitic posters in Edmonton, Alberta, on April 13, 2025. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto)
He says that his union, OPSEU Local 562, refused to represent him. The union did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Finlayson was officially fired by the university in July 2025. He provided a copy of his termination letter, which stated that after a “formal complaint of discrimination and harassment,” an investigator found that his “conduct violated the Ontario Human Rights Code and Humber’s Human Rights and Harassment Policy, and that [he] engaged in reprisal under both of those instruments.”
The Humber harassment policy states that “anyone who attempts Reprisal or threatens Reprisal against a person who initiates a complaint or participates in proceedings under this Policy may be subject to disciplinary action.”
The same policy says that “Humber upholds and supports the right to equal treatment without Discrimination” based on prohibited grounds, which include antisemitism.
CANADA’S ANTISEMITISM ENVOY RESIGNS, CITING EXHAUSTION AMID HATE SURGE
Temple Emanu-El in Toronto was shot at on March 3, 2026. No injuries were reported. (Nick Lachance/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
The University of Guelph-Humber did not respond to Fox News Digital’s questions about Finlayson’s suspension, investigation and firing, and about whether anti-Israel posts shared by its students and a professor at the University violate the Humber Human Rights and Harassment Policy.
The University of Guelph’s “UofGforPalestine” Instagram page, which presents itself as the account of “students, staff, and faculty who stand in solidarity with Palestine,” has shared posts with the inverted red triangle that Hamas uses to mark targets. Like the U.S., Canada designates Hamas as a terror group.
In November 2024, the group shared photos on its Instagram account of a guillotine that “appeared on a walking path” in Guelph, which featured photos of the heads of Canadian, American and Israeli leaders coated in red paint. Though purported to be an “anonymous submission,” the post notes its “message” as “Death to empire, death to colonialism and imperialism, death to the war machine.”
The University of Guelph Humber in Ontario, Canada. (Google Maps)
A University of Guelph-Humber professor whom Finlayson believes brought the case against him has posted inflammatory rhetoric on his own LinkedIn account, calling Israel a “terrorist state,” and stating that the world “cannot have both” peace and Israel.
The professor did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
While Finlayson lost his position, elsewhere in Canada, activism led to starkly different circumstances for three staffers at York University, who were among 11 individuals charged with “hate-motivated mischief” in Nov 2023 for plastering a bookstore with photos accusing a Jewish CEO of genocide, and splashing the store with red paint, as reported by the National Post.
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Though they were initially suspended from the school, at least two staff members appear to have current profiles on the York University website. One, a professor, most recently taught courses at the school in the Winter 2026 semester. York University did not respond to requests for comment about its restoration of staff members’ roles.
Since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, antisemitism has exploded in Canada. In April, B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights released a report showing that 6,800 antisemitic incidents took place in the country in 2025, representing a 9.4% increase over 2024. On average, this represented 18.6 incidents a day and was the “highest volume” the group has recorded since it began tracking incidents.
World
Russia’s prison population falls by 180,000 since start of Ukraine war
Published on
The number of prisoners in Russia has dropped by more than 180,000 over five years, in part driven by Moscow sending convicts to fight in Ukraine, Russia’s prison chief said on Thursday.
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In four years of war, Russia has offered prisoners army contracts to fight in Ukraine and buy out their sentences, should they survive.
Russia, which has a massive prison network inherited from Soviet labour camps, has one of the world’s largest convict populations, though that number has been decreasing in the last 20 years.
“If at the end of 2021 there were 465,000 (prisoners), then now there are 282,000,” the head of Russia’s penitentiary service, Arkady Gostev, said, according to the TASS state news agency.
That represents a drop of nearly 40%.
Around 85,000 of the current prison population is held in pre-trial detention, he added.
Gostev said the decline was in part driven by the army’s recruitment drive, but also due to more suspended sentences and other forms of punishment handed out.
Prisoners returning from the Ukraine front have led to an increase in crime and social tension in Russia.
Gostev also said thousands of prisoners were working on production sites in support of the army, contributing to the country’s wartime economy.
Russian prisoners are often made to work, in a system inherited from the Soviet Gulag.
“Over the course of the year, we had additionally deployed 16,000 inmates for these (army) purposes, specifically for manufacturing,” TASS quoted Gostev as saying.
“We produce goods for the special military operation (worth) around 5.5 billion rubles (€64 million),” he said, using Moscow’s term for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“The volume of production (at prison sites) in 2025 amounted to 47 billion rubles (€548 million),” he said, without elaborating how much of it was for army needs.
Russia has experienced a shortage of workers during its offensive, with hundreds of thousands of men at the front and a similar amount fleeing the country due to mobilisation.
Additional sources • AFP
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