Tag Archives: Entertainment news

Behind the Weinstein story coverage

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By ANAEL GAVIZON

This week, one of the most popular news reports is about Harvey Weinstein. One of the richest, most famous and influential film producers of the 20th century has been accused of sexual assault for more than 30 years.

The Weinstein Company fired Weinstein, its co-founder, on Sunday after The New York Times released an investigation uncovering multiple allegations confirming he had engaged in sexual harassment. For decades, the producer was paying off sexual harassment accusers.

There is extensive coverage of the whole topic by The New York Times. The allegations uncovered by the newspaper came from actresses as well as former employees of the Weinstein Company and Miramax, the previous company that Weinstein and his brother founded. This list includes Angelina Jolie, Rosanna Arquette (Pulp Fiction) and Gwyneth Paltrow (Emma.)

What is most interesting from the article to me, aside from the stories of these brave women and the amazing portraits that illustrate them, is the fact that the newspaper was dealing with a stunning blow to a huge producer. A personality who is known for defining American film and supporting liberal causes. The dilemma: Should we be the first ones to speak up and tell the story? To publish or not to publish.

Even though his alleged behavior became something like a Hollywood open secret and a public rumor, do we think that some of these women would have spoken up if The Times didn’t publish the story? I think that once again, as many of the decisions journalists need to make every day, the issue lies in a matter of principles. So what is our duty as communicators?

A journalist needs to make moral decisions day by day. If we take a look at the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics we realize there are some principles every professional communication needs to practice.

As the SPJ mentions in its statement, that “ethical journalism strives to ensure the free exchange of information that is accurate, fair and thorough. An ethical journalist acts with integrity.” However, what is its limitations of the code and who states them?

Certainly, the story on Harvey Weinstein was a tremendous “risk” worth taken. Although it is difficult to release a shocking article on someone that famous and influential, the duty of a journalist is to report the truth to the public.

Eminem speaks out against Trump

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By KAYLA FOSTER

Rapper Eminem expressed his distaste for Donald Trump, during a four and a half-minute cypher Tuesday night at the BET Hip Hop Awards.

As part of the BET Hip Hop Awards, every year an array of rappers are selected to perform a freestyle cypher. Usually the selected rappers are those who are up and coming, but this year veteran rapper Eminem used the platform as a way to address the recent actions of Trump.

Titled “The Storm,” Eminem covered a range of topics from racism, hypocrisy and the disrespect of military veterans. Eminem also name drops Colin Kaepernick, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. He also calls out his own fans and supporters of Trump, asking which one do fans like more: Eminem or Trump.

Since the release of “The Storm,” the rap has been streamed more than 2.1 million times, and flooded by critics on Twitter. Colin Kaepernick also responded on twitter in support of the rap, along with LeBron James and fellow rapper J. Cole.

Late-night hosts Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and James Corden all opened their Wednesday night monologues with the same statement for viewers: it’s time to choose.

However there has been minor back-lashed as many fans have commented that if this was a black rapper speaking out, there would not be this much momentum.

Either way multiple news media outlets have picked up the story, including The New York Times and CNN. Many outlets praised Eminem for speaking out and encouraged others to do the same.

Power comes from many voices

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By NATE DERRENBACHER

Hollywood scandals are nothing new. In today’s society, the attitude of people quickly calling anything “corrupt” is on the rise, and Hollywood has been the subject for conversation about corruption for years.

It seems that every few weeks, a new case of an alleged sexual harassment by news media executives seems to surface. As these stories develop, more people come forward to speak out about their alleged abusers – sometimes exposing misconduct from years in the past.

This has never been more relevant than recently. As seen through the Harvey Weinstein allegations, new platforms allow people to come forward without fear.

The news media have been following the Harvey Weinstein story almost nonstop since the initial announcement. Since the original claim of misconduct by the Hollywood film mogul, many people have come forward describing how they were abused by Weinstein, and many have condemned his actions.

But the media has done something else that wasn’t possible in the past that helps victims expose their abusers and hold them accountable – everyone is able to join the conversation. This open coverage gives people from all backgrounds, everyone from Hollywood A-listers to interns, the ability to enter a “safe-space” online and on-air to share their experiences and have a community to help them through their situation.

The news media have helped victims tell their stories and connect appropriate people to condemn abusers’ actions. A few major actions have influenced this change: social media, more focus on entertainment and opinion TV and the openness of society to engage with strangers.

This engagement can range anywhere from random arguments to a complete support system by a set of strangers. Because of this type of new media and focuses within the media, there are more opportunities to share and expose stories that may have traditionally been kept “behind closed doors.”

Weinstein: Big time violation of our idols

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By VIVIANA ONORATO

In recent times, it’s become apparent that there are more than one way to hurt a person. Usually, we understand that a punch to the face or a kick to the chest will hurt badly; however, we will recover from this. The soreness will be gone in a few days and we will forget that it happened.

However, there are sometimes when the physical pain will pale in comparison to the scars in our minds. What we feel in our bodies will never be as bad or as hurtful as what we feel in our spirits; this is why recent revelations have made it so hard to feel human.

It’s in no way possible to see that a single person could be this malicious towards so many peers. Harvey Weinstein, a man in a position of power and influence, used his connections to hurt women, to degrade them, to make them feel like they were less, all while reaping the benefits of his actions.

What makes this matter even worse is the fact that so many people knew about it and no one said anything. Weinstein’s own team has stated that “any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.” And yet, more than 20 women have come out to attack Weinstein, including actresses Kate Beckinsale, Heather Graham and Cara Delenvigne.

What this story does is show not just the horrors that some women have experienced in their working lives, but also the way in which some people are willfully ignorant to the problems that they observe in their work habits. The fact that 27 women have come out to attack Weinstein means that this was not something that was unknown to the world; people knew that something was going on. They just chose not to act on it; silence, in this case, was not golden.

58 killed in Las Vegas shooting

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By NINA GARZA

A gunman opened fire on a country music festival in Las Vegas, killing 58 people and injuring more than 500. This occurred late on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017.

The shooter has been identified as Stephen Paddock, who was found dead by self inflicted injury in his hotel room. Paddock was staying in the Mandalay Bay Resort. Just past 10 p.m., on Sunday is when Paddock began shooting at people attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival from his hotel room.

Videos of the shooting have been posted on Twitter, showing people running and screaming as the gunfire began. Country singer Jason Aldean had just started singing his last song of the night when the shooting started. He quickly ran off stage to take cover.

Country singer Jake Owen had performed before Aldean but was still at the festival watching Aldean perform before the start of the shooting, He spoke to CNN on the phone and said, “it was ringing off the top of the stage, you can hear it hitting trailers, people scattering, here and there, it was chaos.”

Being that this incident has been the largest shooting in modern United States history, the news media have been very sensitive and respectful. I saw several videos on reporters talking to people who were there and the police officers who were on the scene and they were very considerate towards them. The news media did a great job handling and covering this tragedy, being that it is a very serious and devastating event that occurred.

Pandora CEO and co-founder out

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By GABRIELA SANTOS

After a rough weekend, it has been confirmed that Pandora’s CEO and co-founder Tim Westergren will be stepping down as CEO.

Techcrunch reported that Westergren became CEO of Pandora shortly after its founding for two years and stepped back into the role in 2016, stating that Pandora was “on the cusp of realizing an extraordinary vision.”

Due to the recent tumultuousness of the music industry, licensing costs have continued to be a problem for the company, which has struggled to expand outside of the U.S. companies like Spotify and Apple Music have also been putting more pressure on Pandora.

Naveen Chopra, the company’s CFO as of February, will be filling in as interim CFO while the board of directors searches for a replacement.

President Mike Herring and CMO Nick Bartle will also be leaving the company. Westergren’s will also be leaving the board of directors. He will be replaced by Jason Hirschhorn, the CEO of “digital content curation” company ReDEF Group, who worked at Myspace, Sling, and served as MTV’s Chief Digital Officer.

This has been a widely covered topic, especially considering the recent shakeup that happened at Uber. The tech industry is seeing a shift in the kinds of people they need in positions of power, perhaps in an attempt to focus on the newer generations of users.

There is a consensus among people of all levels that the future ahead is wildly unpredictable. Whoever takes over for Pandora will certainly feel that.

UFC fighter Tim Hague dies at 34

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By NEYDJA PETITHOMME

Dan Grummett of CTV confirmed the news that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter Tim Hague died on June 18, while also passing along a statement from the family:

“It is with incredible sadness, sorrow and heartbreak to report that Tim has passed away today. He was surrounded by family, listening to his favorite songs. We will miss him so greatly. We ask for privacy during this difficult time.”

Hague was only 34 years old when he died.

This is certainly a tragic incident. Logistically, 34 years of age, is still a baby in a world of life. Seeing a young man lose his life prematurely, makes one question UFC fighting and if it is worth a life taken away early.

Adam Braidwood earned a knockout win over Hague in Alberta, Canada, which resulted in Hague suffering a serious brain injury, according to James Lynch of Sportsnet.

Hague was then immediately transported to an Edmonton hospital, where Hague was treated throughout the weekend with no sign of improvement.

Something may have to give, either the fight inning of itself for the safety of the person, and I say person, not fighter because athletes are people first, or we find a better way to be competitive and still draw the line in safety.

YouTube star accused of child porn

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By NEYDJA PETITHOMME

Alternative pop vocalist from Chicago and youtube star with 543,600 subscribers was arrested.

According to CNN, Austin Jones, 24, had been arrested for child pornography on Friday. Jones is a famous for his acapella cover video. Jones  was accused of encouraging two minors to send him sexually explicit video. As told, Jones asked two 14-year-old girls to film themselves dancing while exposing themselves in a sexual manner.

“I’m just trying to help you!” Jones wrote in a message. “I know you’re trying your hardest to prove you’re my biggest fan. And I don’t want to have to find someone else.”

Authorities found dozens of pornographic videos in Jones’ phone when he was arrested and taken into custody at the Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Jones said he was deeply distraught about his mistake.

“It’s not something that I am proud of,” Jones said.

According to authorities, this was not Jones’ first rodeo.

In 2015, he posted an apology video to his YouTube fans account after being allegedly accused of asking fans to send him videos of themselves twerking in a sexual manner.

The problem with this situation is that authorities needed to nip in the bun since 2015. Due two the fact that authorities needed to wait until another little girl is harmed to take action is absurd. This situation needed to be solved since 2015.

Force him to take down his YouTube channel or fine him a penalty that will cause him to never do it again, but to accept that the fact that he say it is the cause of depression that forced him to to take action in such a way, is illogical.

Jones was charged with two felony counts of production of child pornography.

CNN fires Griffin over gruesome photo

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By NEYDJA PETITHOMME

CNN made a quick decision to remove comedian and New Year’s Eve co-host Kathy Griffin after posting a photo holding a bloody head which resembled that of President Donald Trump.

Following the post, President Trump responded in this, “Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!

According to CNN, Sen Al Franken was deeply disturbed by the footage taken by Griffin, but will still plan to appear with Griffin at an event in July. This was not easily said by New Years Eve Co host Anderson cooper. Cooper said he was “appalled by the photo shoot.” “It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate,” he wrote on Twitter.

Cooper cancels his New Year’s Eve plans with Griffin, which undoubtedly, he should. This act of withdrawal allows viewers to understand the importance of what you say and what you post.

As for Griffin this was no accident. Griffin and her photographer thoroughly planned every ounce of the shoot. Prior to the shoot Griffin mentioned they will have to move to Mexico after exposing the photo. It does not matter if you are a Republican or Democrat, or in this situation a lover or hater of President Donald Trump, this is not acceptable to do.

Griffin lost her endorsement deal with “squatty potty.”

Coachella takes over weekend

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By ISABELLA HALILI

Coachella begins today, April 14, 2017 in Indio, Calif. It’s an annual festival that celebrates music, food, art, and humanity. Coachella celebrates music from multiple genres — rock, indie, hiphop, and electronic dance music. This year it will be featuring artists such as  Kendrick Lamar and Lady Gaga.

This festival originated in 1993, when it was just a concert in protest to venues controlled by Ticketmaster. The actual Coachella festival started in October 1999 by Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen. It has now become an internationally known music and arts festival with celebrities attending this three-day event.

There’s food to be eaten, music to be heard, and art to be admired at Coachella. More than 100 food vendors and well over 100 well-known and emerging music artists attract individuals from all ages to hang out and even sleepover in the Colorado Desert.

Not a lot of coverage from any news media outlets have been given to Coachella. There has been advertising and a few articles from the Los Angeles Times and ABC News to inform readers about this legendary event.

I think most coverage will be done during the festival and after the weekend is finished. There will most likely be articles about who performed, how they performed, and updates on what celebrities attended the music and arts festival.

Tommi Lahren sues The Blaze

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By COURTNEY ADELMAN

Tommi Lahren is an outspoken conserve commentator that formally worked for Glenn Beck and has filed suit against The Blaze for ” wrongful termination.”

“The suit, filed in Texas Friday, alleges that Beck and The Blaze got rid of Lahren and her nightly talk show due to her making pro-choice comments on “The View” last month,” CNN reported.

Her comment on the view was “I can’t sit here and be a hypocrite and say I’m for limited government, but I think the government should decide what women do with their bodies,” she said on the broadcast.

It was because of this comment that she was let go from her job and was informed that she would have no more shows.

She is not one to do nothing about it so she exclaimed in a tweet that “playing dead,” isn’t her style so she has decided to sue for wrongful termination.

Lahren may not have a lot of people on her side, but she will stop at nothing to get her voice heard.

She is certainly relentless and her strong conservative beliefs will take charge as she tries to win her case on wrongful termination.

Whether or not this is news is debatable, however her comment on the view caused a lot of uproar as it can be considered extremely inappropriate or even incorrect.

Rolling Loud festival in jeopardy

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By ISABELLA HALILI

Miami’s Bayfront Park is planned to be the home of the new hip-hop music festival Rolling Loud. Headliners, such as Kendrick Lamar, Future and Lil Wayne, are planned to perform in early May.

The entertainment agency, Dope Entertainment, that is producing the music festival is continuing to act as if the festival is still on, although there is talk the public agency that manages Bayfront Park is considering cancelling the event.

The initial discussion of cancelling the festival started with Frank Carollo, chairman of the Bayfront Park Management Trust, since the event was approved without his knowing or the consent of the board.

There will be a meeting held on April 11, where the trust will be voting whether to cancel the music festival or not.

As of now, Rolling Loud has not broken any rules of its agreement, so it’s harder for the committee to cancel the event .

Miami residents have always complained about the noise and trash that the electronic dance music festival Ultra brings downtown and don’t want another weekend filled with noisy music festival-goers dirtying up the city.

The Miami Herald has done a sufficient job on reporting about this music festival. It has discussed both parties’ concerns and the logistics behind music festivals. As of right now, this story only pertains to the Miami area, but if the festival is to be cancelled, there is going to need to be more coverage so that the public knows.

Ultra keeps off news radar this year

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By ALISON GOEBEL

One of Miami’s most well known music festival has come and gone once again.

This music festival is the Miami version of Coachella, Lollapalooza and other nationally known music gatherings.

March 23, 24 and 25 were the magical days of Ultra this year.

The festival itself is based around EDM (electronic dance music), making it the ultimate hot spot for shinny body suits, swim suits, very little clothing, very questionable clothing and every color you can possibly imagine.

This year, Ultra held it’s concert at Bayfront park with its multiple-stage layout in the middle of downtown Miami, bringing in more than 165,000 people from 60 different countries.

With a lineup featuring world-class talent, unbelievable production, and fans from around the world, Ultra was set for success. Some headliners were Major Lazer, Alan Walker, DJ Snake and Justice and many more.

The 218 performers drew in sold out tickets ranging from $300 to $1,300 for the three-day VIP ticket.

It is very interesting because the news media didn’t really cover anything on Ultra. If it weren’t for half of the students at my school attending this festival, I wouldn’t know much about it.

Even when I Google stories on it, it’s kind of just reviews on EDM music websites saying what it was about and how well they did.

There was also nothing really to report about. According to one article there were only 35 arrests this year, which was 50 percent lower than previous years and only 50 people had to be transported to the hospital.

I guess reporters decided that Ultra Music Festival wasn’t interesting enough to cover and nothing super exciting or newsworthy happened.

New Marvel superhero is lesbian Latina

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By SHELLIE FRAI

Marvel’s newest comic-series is all about America Chavez, an 18-year-old college student who studies, hangs out with friends and fights evil aliens all in her signature gold hoops.

America is the first lesbian Latina superhero with her own comic series, making Marvel one of the most diverse comic book publishers.

Marvel also features comics of diverse protagonists like Muslim Mr. Marvel, an African-American Iron Man and a female Thor.

What is different about America Chavez’s comic, is that her writer, Gabby Rivera is herself a lesbian Latina.

Rivera, 34, is Puerto Rican and a proud member of the LGBTQ community.

While she did not set-out to be a comic book writer, her novel “Juliet Takes a Breath,” about a lesbian, Puerto Rican teen, was picked up by a Marvel editor and later became the basis for the comic series.

America first appeared fighting in across dimensions in Marvel’s “Vengeance” in 2011, now in 2017, she has her own popular comic series.

With the rise in political tension and threatened Hispanic community, America’s character seems all the more appropriate.

To keep up with her growing audience and popularity of America, Rivera has been learning more and more about comic writing, forming America’s identity as both a Latina and a lesbian.

Live action Lion King in the works

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By ISABELLA HALILI

“The Lion King” is one of Disney’s most beloved storylines. It’s originally an animated musical movie that has been adapted for the theater stage and is now going to be Disney’s newest computer graphics project.

Pre-production for Disney’s live-action remake of “The Lion King” has been in the works for a couple of months now, but the production team has just announced that director Jon Favreau’s top choice to voice the character of Nala is Beyonce.

The film has already cast the voice of Simba to the Golden Globe winner and star of the television series “Atlanta,” Donald Glover and also the voice of Scar to the original voice James Earl Jones.

The original movie premiered in 1994 and, with the inclusion of the Broadway stage adaptation, “The Lion King” is still the top grossed film in the world.

There has been no recent update as to when this remake will arrive in theaters, but it is a much anticipated film for Disney.

Articles from Variety and Time have been written revolving around the casting of the film, but there has been no recent updates as to when production will start or when then the film is expected to hit the theaters.

There needs to be more news media coverage as soon as production does start.

Scary clowns? Go see ‘It’ this fall

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By CHANTAL ALBA

Fun fact about me: I am terrified of clowns. Now half of you are probably thinking something like, “wow, scared of clowns, such a cliché”, while the other half of you are probably thinking something like “wow, me too, girl.”

But I do know you are all thinking, “How bad is the fear and where does it come from?”

Well, first off, it’s not anything crazy, just like “send chills down your spine / can you hold my hand please?” type of fear. Second, it comes from Stephen King’s “It,” the movie, released in 1990.

Those of you have seen the movie know exactly where I’m coming from and know where this post is going. (Side note: if you haven’t watched it, make it a point to, it’s a great movie even though I’m scarred for life from it).

There’s an It remake coming out this fall. Yes, a remake if you haven’t watched the trailer yet here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN8il_zxNWM.

Just from the trailer you get the same creepy vibes and see some iconic scenes from the original which is great. I’m definitely excited to see this movie because (1) I love scary movies and (2) I’m expecting the movie will scare me enough to question why I would even dare put myself through the torture (in a good way) of watching the remake. I’m also glad this first trailer doesn’t give us a very long look at Pennywise the Dancing Clown, because it gives us more to look forward to when It finally premieres in theaters.

The remake will star Bill Skarsgard, who will be playing the clown in addition to “Stranger Things” actor Finn Wolfhard and “Midnight Special” actor Jaeden Lieberher. Directing the film will be Andres Muschetti and it will apparently be the first part in the two-part film series.

In the first part, Muschetti will be showing the audience Pennywise’s intentions he has in store for the Derry and the Loser club (the main kids in the story). So make sure you guys add this movie to your “must watch” list of movies, and don’t worry you have plenty of time to prepare yourself for the terror because it releases on Sept. 8, 2017.

Another heartbreaking Hollywood split

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By CHELSEA LOVELL

Everyone was heartbroken after word got out of the split between one of the most iconic couples in Hollywood. The news of the d word (divorce) between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie took over the media. From social media to entertainment news and even major news networks everyone was talking about it.

According to reports, Jolie decided to end their marriage after 12 years because she was “extremely upset” with the way Pitt has been parenting the kids. She sought out joint legal custody, but not joint physical custody.

“This decision was made for the health of the family,” attorney Robert Offer said in a statement. However, other reports say their split could have been brewing for years.

Despite everything, Angelina has said they will “always be a family”.

Dailymail.com reports that Pitt has been spending around 15 hours a day in a Los Angeles studio, where he is working on an art sculpture. A source has said “he spends all night working on his art and listening to emotional songs. Everybody knows it’s related to what’s going on with him personally, but nobody says anything. He’s a quiet guy, and very humble. He’s learning at a fast pace.”

Ultra takes over downtown Miami

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By ISABELLA HALILI

This weekend Miami will be hosting the annual Ultra Music Festival as it comes back to Miami for the 18th time.

This electronic dance music festival started in Miami in 1999 by two entrepreneurs, Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes. The first festival they ever hosted was only one day, but now the organization has grown to host three full days of music.

Construction for this massive event started on Wednesday and has caused much distraction in downtown Miami since then. There has been many complaints from Miamians asking Ultra to find a better, less distracting venue.

Although there are many who have complained, locals acknowledge the fact that the Ultra Music Festival is economically beneficial to the city. It causes international attention and it’s always a sold out event.

Most locals who don’t attend the event just choose to flee the downtown area for the weekend.

The Miami Herald wrote about Miami’s mixed feelings about the festival. How it’s a real distraction to people who work and live downtown, but how this festival does end up benefiting the city more than distracting it. The Miami New Times came out with an article to help drivers in Miami avoid traffic, but also wrote about the lineup of the festival. Sun Sentinel wrote an article about the addition of trains to transport music festival goers.

I think the news media based in Miami has made a big deal to note that the Ultra Music Festival is in town this week. They are giving free publicity to this music festival, while also giving publicity to their own city, which in the end will only benefit the city as a whole.

Disney has done it again

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By CHELSEA LOVELL

Disney’s live-action remake of “Beauty and the Beast” waltzed in with $170 million in box office sales during its debut this past weekend, leaving the runner up movie “Kong: Skull Island” trailing behind with only $27 million.

There was lots of excitement and talk in all outlets of news media before and after the movie hit theaters.

“Beauty and the Beast” set a new record for March opening which only solidified Disney’s status as a force to be reckoned with in the film business. According to Vanity Fair’s article about the movie, “no other company can match the streak that Disney is currently enjoying, thanks to a series of multi-billion acquisitions that put the likes of Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm in its Magic Kingdom. Last year, the studio accounted for more than a quarter of all domestic ticket sales, and 2017 brings the release of sequels to ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ ‘Cars,’ and ‘Thor,’ in addition to ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ ”

All ages enjoyed the movie and took to the news media to share their responses to the movie. The main talk of the crowd was Emma Watson’s performance of Belle the princess and main character of the movie.

“Beauty and the Beast” is a musical and this was her first time singing professionally. Most of her fans admired her work and used social media platforms, such as Instagram and Twitter, to congratulate her on her performance as well as encouraging others to go out and see the movie.

London protests travel ban at film

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By VERONICA SPAGNA

London decides to show the world that, as a city, it does not just tolerates diversity, it celebrates it.

In Central London last Sunday, on the night of the Oscars, thousands of people attended the screening of the award-winning movie “The Salesman” to show support to its Iranian director, Asghar Farhadi. Farhadi had announced that he would boycott the ceremony in response to Donald Trump’s travel ban.

We should all be at least a little familiar with Donald Trump’s travel ban, which was announced in January. The president signed an executive order temporarily banning the entry of citizens and immigrants from Iran, Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Tahardi.

In response to this travel ban, the Iranian director Asghar Farhadi told The New York Times in January that he would not attend the Oscars even if granted exception to enter the country, and stayed true to his words.

Asghar Farhardi’s movie, “The Salesman,” was nominated for best Foreign-Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards and won the Oscar hours after the screening in London.

To show unity and support for Asghar Fahardi, some well known actors and producers organized a premiere of the movie and collaborated with Sadie Khan, the mayor of London to premiere the nominated film for free in Trafalgar Square, one of London’s most important destinations.

This event was a peaceful protest, that showed that London did not agree with what Donald Trump believed in, how the focus should be on welcoming people and not banning them. I think it is beautiful how people are uniting together to share the message of acceptance, and not in violent protests or holding signs criticizing whats wrong.

Around 10,000 people showed up at the premiere of the “The Salesman,” which was occurring a few hours before the Oscars.

The Iranian director was not present at the screening, but spoke to the crowd through a recorded video of him. In the video, he apologized for not being there and said he was there in spirit. He additionally made a speech about how we are all citizens of the world and that we need to stay united.

Fahardi was not present at the Oscars, so he sent two Iranian-Americans to claim his award. Anousheh Ansari, the first female Iranian to go into space, claimed the award for Fahardi and read a speech written by him. Fahardi criticized the travel ban and called it inhumane. He apologized for not being at the ceremony, but how it was  out of respect for the people of his country.

In his speech he also stated that “Dividing the world into the “us “ and “our enemies” categories creates fear, a deceitful justification for aggression and war.” Which I think is a very eye opening statement and was quoted on numerous articles on the event.

Many Journalists covered this event, highlighting and focusing on the speeches given by at the screening and the Oscars. The focus of these peaceful and powerful words puts into good light the event. Although I do feel like journalists should also focus on covering the reactions of Americans, focus on covering on how America has reacted to this peaceful and powerful protest.

I think that the extent to which London and its citizens have gone to prove a point is very inspirational. By being united together in fighting for their rights and the rights of people in other countries is quite admirable.

This protest gave a stronger message in the simplicity of attending a movie screening than in protests that could lead to disturbance with the use of negativity. I think the world is slowly progressing to stronger unification by the day and protests like these show the importance of respect in humanity.