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Watching HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones over four seasons, nobody can argue that many characters —each of them members of a self-serving family of megachurch moguls — have experienced a great deal of personal growth. Creator and star Danny McBride is the first to admit that they’re all devious scoundrels. But amidst all of that moral bankruptcy, at least one of the lot has emerged with their integrity intact.

Tim Baltz’s tenure playing Bj has seen him brawl with a naked man, suffer a catastrophic spill during a pole dance and in these final episodes, apparently french kiss a monkey. But all that has only fortified a character who went from hapless brother-in-law to inarguably the most evolved one of the bunch. “They see him as pathetic, yet he’s the person who retains his values throughout,” says Baltz. “The tension in his life is that he’s behaving...

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Christmas is just around the corner, and it’s time to see brilliant classic movies, but if you are not in the mood to see Home Alone or Jingle All the Way for a millionth and want to see some adult movies. We at CinemaBlind have prepared a list of 11 best R-rated Christmas movies you can check out.

Violent Night (Starz & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Universal Pictures

Violent Night is a Christmas action comedy film directed by Tommy Wirkola from a screenplay co-written by Pat Casey and Josh Miller. The 2022 film follows Santa Claus as he comes across a wealthy family’s compound, where an elite team of mercenaries has kidnapped the family on Christmas Eve. Violent Night stars David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, and Beverly D’Angelo.

Die Hard Credit – 20th Century Fox

Die Hard...

One of the most popular Christmas horror movies among genre fans is the 1974 classic Black Christmas (watch it Here) – and this December, some of the movie’s fans are going to have the chance to catch it on the big screen! Variety reports that the American Genre Film Archive is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Black Christmas by bringing a 4K restoration to theatres across North America from December 7th through 22nd!

Directed by Bob Clark, the same filmmaker who brought us the family friendly classic A Christmas Story, from a screenplay by A. Roy Moore, Black Christmas has the following synopsis: As winter break begins, a group of sorority sisters, including Jess and the often inebriated Barb, begin to receive anonymous, lascivious phone calls. Initially, Barb eggs the caller on, but stops when he responds threateningly. Soon, Barb’s friend Claire goes missing from the sorority house, and a local adolescent girl is murdered,...

Director Bob Clark’s seminal slasher Black Christmas is now 50 years old – and its conversation about reproductive rights is as relevant today as ever.

A bold slasher that has carved its path to become a festive favourite, Black Christmas – released 50 years ago today – is also an unwitting pro-choice manifesto.

Five decades after the Canadian movie first graced the big screen, and as we witness reproductive rights being eroded, its abortion storyline rings as a chilling, powerful reminder of what’s at stake in the 21st century.

Premiered on the 11th October 1974, Canadian director Bob Clark’s holiday-themed film is perhaps best known as one of the original slasher horrors, inspired by a real-life murder spree in Montreal. Following in the footsteps of cult thrillers such as Peeping Tom and Psycho, the film lays the groundwork for future mainstream blood-fests – most obviously John Carpenter’s seminal Halloween in 1978.

Received with mixed reviews at the time,...

Rebel Wilson accused Sacha Baron Cohen of being a “massive a——” for allegedly threatening her over her new memoir.

Wilson’s memoir, Rebel Rising, mentions an unnamed A-list star who hired “a crisis PR manager and lawyers” to stop Wilson from writing about them. The unnamed star was only mentioned in one chapter as an “a——” during a film they starred in.

Wilson posted a video on Instagram talking about the unnamed star.

“When I first came to Hollywood, people were like, yeah, ‘I have a no-asshole policy, it means like, yeah, I don’t work with assholes.’ I was like, ‘Oh yeah. I mean, that sounds sensible or logical,'” Wilson said. “But then it really sunk in [what older people in the industry meant] because I worked with a massive a—— and yeah, now I definitely have a no a—– policy.”

In a deleted Instagram Story, Wilson revealed the star as Baron Cohen after the video went live.

Thanksgiving is a horror slasher film directed by Eli Roth, from a screenplay by Jeff Rendell. The film is based on Roth’s mock trailer of the same name from the 2007’s Grindhouse, after many years of discussions and nearly going into production, the much-awaited Thanksgiving film is finally here and it is set during the Black Friday 2022 in Plymouth, Massachusetts as many people are crushed to death during the riot, despite the intervention of police and town sheriff Eric Newlon. Thanksgiving stars Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae, Gina Gerson, Rick Hoffman, Nell Verlaque, Tim Dillon, Jenna Warren, and Milo Manheim. So, if you loved Thanksgiving here are some similar movies you could watch next.

You’re Next (Prime Video Add-On) Credit – Lionsgate

You’re Next is nothing if not a brilliant slasher horror for the genre fans. Directed by Adam Wingard, the 2013 film follows the story of the Davison family,...

50 years after its release, Bob Clark's "Black Christmas" remains one of the most chilling scary stories put to celluloid. The 1974 proto-slasher pits a group of sorority members against "Billy," an almost preternatural stranger who sputters incoherent yet disturbing sentiments at them over phone calls before hunting them down, all the while discreetly stowed away in their attic. Yet, the real horror of the film is as much the entitled men and patriarchy these young women have to deal with as the mysterious individual actively trying to murder them.

"Black Christmas" may have been released decades before "Acab" came back into the vernacular, but it embraces the same idea. The police are enragingly slow to respond to these women and their harassment complaints, with John Saxon's Lieutenant Fuller the rare competent officer who actually listens to them and soon realizes just how much immediate danger they're in. Saxon himself...

Merry Creepmas, you filthy animals. The final day of Bloody Disgusting’s 12 Days of Creepmas is here, and it feels only fitting to celebrate with the reigning champion of holiday horror: Bob Clark’s Black Christmas.

In case you missed any of the holiday festivities, you can keep track of the 12 Days of Creepmas here.

Released in 1974, Black Christmas has a simple setup on paper; over Christmas break, the residents of a sorority house are stalked and preyed upon by an unseen foe. Thanks to director Bob Clark and screenwriter Roy Moore, the plot isn’t quite so simple as it sounds thanks to a wonderfully complex cast of characters and character-driven moments that enhance the horror.

Scene-stealer Barb (Margot Kidder) is foul-mouthed and unapologetic, and her pranks or drunken quips ensure this sorority house is full of life. Barb is the precise type of handful that likely wears on housemother Mrs.

Have you heard of the urban legend "The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs?" Dating back to the 1960s, the urban legend talks about a female babysitter watching television -- having put the children to bed upstairs -- when she receives a call from a man asking her to check on the kids. While the babysitter ignores the man's instructions many times, the frequency of the calls unsettles her, prompting her to call the cops. Once the cops arrive, they inform her that the call was coming from inside the house all along — upstairs, to be precise, where the unidentified man had already killed the children.

This grisly myth was the basis for director Bob Clark's 1974 slasher "Black Christmas," where residents of a sorority house have to contend with repeated calls from an unknown man amid an unsettling disappearance among their group. The genre trope of a sinister killer calling...

Black Christmas, released in 1974, is now recognized as a defining film of the horror genre, alongside Halloween. The film pioneered many slasher movie tropes, including the use of a killer without an identity and the calls coming from inside the house. Both Black Christmas and Halloween are atmospheric and use their respective holidays to add to the terror, making them highly influential in the genre.

With each passing year, 1974's Black Christmas gets more and more recognition as a true defining film of the horror genre. This hasn't always been the case as the film spent years underneath the radar, usually lost in the shadow of 1978's Halloween. John Carpenter's classic is also a pioneering film of the genre. However, even Carpenter has admitted to being influenced by Bob Clark's tale of terror on a dreary Christmas night. That's not to say that both films weren't influential; just...

“Get woke, go broke,” has become a rallying cry of the political right whenever they see a brand make the slightest effort to align itself with liberal or progressive values. It’s a meme that allows Maga country to believe that there is ongoing, massive backlash to products that acknowledge and celebrate marginalized communities. But the supposed boycotts never seem to be reflected in the bottom line.

Besides, by the time we would expect to notice any effect, conservatives have already moved on to the next outrage. Kid Rock and...

James O’Keefe, the political activist who founded the right-wing action group Project Veritas, has been forced out of leadership by the organization’s board, he said on Monday.

“I think it’s fitting that we’re here on Presidents Day,” O’Keefe remarked at the outset of an emotional 45-minute farewell speech he delivered to Project Veritas staff. He said the remarks, although being filmed, were intended only for them. “I’m going to try my best to speak from the heart.”

“Currently, I have no job at Project Veritas,...

There are several Christmas horror movies to turn to throughout the month of December – in fact, you can see a list of 12 of them at This Link. One of the most popular Christmas horror movies among genre fans is the 1974 classic Black Christmas (watch it Here) – and that happens to be the movie we’re covering in the latest episode of the Real Slashers video series! To find out all about Black Christmas, take a look at the video embedded above.

Directed by Bob Clark, the same filmmaker who brought us the family friendly classic A Christmas Story, from a screenplay by A. Roy Moore, Black Christmas has the following synopsis: As winter break begins, a group of sorority sisters, including Jess and the often inebriated Barb, begin to receive anonymous, lascivious phone calls. Initially, Barb eggs the caller on, but stops when he responds threateningly. Soon, Barb’s friend...

Given that 1983's "A Christmas Story" only continues to grow in popularity with each passing year, one of my favorite party tricks to use when a relative or friend is in the throes of TNT's annual 24-hour marathon of the heartwarming holiday comedy is explain how it and 1974's "Black Christmas" — a bitter, bleak, and uncompromising horror classic — were made by the same director, Bob Clark.

It's a fun bit of trivia because both movies are so diametrically opposed in tone, with each exploring very different facets of Christmastime. Yet when examined closely, "A Christmas Story" and "Black Christmas" have a surprising amount in common, with the films containing a streak of knowing cynicism when it comes to the trappings of the holiday.

As it turns out, this isn't by coincidence. While Clark was never really an auteur director, careening as he did between numerous genres and budgets, his...

This article contains spoilers for the Black Christmas movies

Every December, I like to put on a Christmas classic from director Bob Clark. It features a cantankerous father, a grouchy Santa Claus, antics on school grounds, and of course, a memorable voiceover.

I refer, of course, to Black Christmas, the 1974 slasher starring Olivia Hussey (Romeo & Juliet), Margot Kidder (Superman), and Kier Dullea (2001). Considered by many to be the first American slasher movie, Black Christmas predates John Carpenter’s Halloween by three years. Directed by Clark and written by A. Roy Moore, the movie follows members of a sorority house whose members find themselves under attack by a hidden killer, who taunts them with bizarre and obscene phone calls.

While largely met with disgust by audiences in the 70s, Black Christmas eventually became a yuletide staple, at least among us sickos. It became a cult classic and then eventually received wider acceptance,...

The 1984 classic Silent Night, Deadly Night (watch it Here) and the 1974 classic Black Christmas (watch that one Here) are two horror films that many genre fans make sure to watch every holiday season – so the folks at Gutter Garbs have very wisely put imagery promoting both films together for their “Holidays of Horror Double Feature” collection. A T-shirt, a hoodie, and a poster showing Silent Night, Deadly Night and Black Christmas double feature artwork can be purchased at This Link – and you can take a look at those items at the bottom of this article.

Directed by Charles E. Sellier Jr. from a screenplay by Michael Hickey (working from a story by Paul Caimi), Silent Night, Deadly Night has the following synopsis:

Bearing the emotional scars of a young boy who has seen his mother and father brutally murdered by a savage killer in a Santa Claus costume, 18-year-old Billy...

Four years after former Alabama senator Roy Moore sued Sacha Baron Cohen for 95 million over a prank in the actor’s Who Is America? series, an appeals court has rejected the defamation lawsuit.

In the segment, Cohen’s Israeli soldier character, Colonel Erran Morad lured Moore — fresh off facing accusations of sexual misconduct, including one from a woman who was 14 at the time of the alleged incident — under the guise of having a conversation about Israel and their technology.

However, during the interview, “Morad” produced a fictional “pedophile detector test.

On Thursday, an appeals court ruled in favor of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and rejected Roy Moore’s lawsuit against him. Moore sought 95 million and claimed Baron Cohen tricked him into appearing on his Showtime series Who Is America? in a segment that referenced allegations of sexual assault and pedophilia made against the former Senate […]

The post 95 Million Defamation Suit Against Sacha Baron Cohen By Roy Moore Dismissed appeared first on uInterview.

Sacha Baron Cohen has beaten former Senate candidate Roy Moore’s 95 million defamation lawsuit against him.

The Alabama politician sued Cohen after his 2018 “Who Is America?” sketch aired on Showtime. The satirical series included Cohen joking about Moore’s multiple sexual assault allegations from then-underage women that were uncovered during his 2017 Senate campaign to fill the seat vacated when Jeff Sessions became U.S. Attorney General. He lost to Democrat Doug Jones. No criminal charges were brought against Moore, who denied any wrongdoing, but that didn’t stop Cohen from making a crack over it.

During the “Who Is America?” segment, Cohen steps into the role of a faux Israeli anti-terrorism expert named General Erran Morad, who pulls out a metal detector that he claims can also alert to a pedophile’s presence. Despite Moore’s disclosure agreement before appearing in the series, he and wife Kayla Moore sued Cohen...

A U.S. Appeals court has upheld a decision that sided with Sacha Baron Cohen in a lawsuit filed by former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore against the “Borat” star, with Baron Cohen again beating a 95 million defamation lawsuit Moore brought in 2018 after Moore was lampooned in the Showtime series “Who Is America?”

Baron Cohen won the lawsuit back in 2021 after Moore accused Baron Cohen of intentional emotional distress and fraud, claiming he was defamed by the interview. But the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Thursday, in documents obtained by TheWrap, upheld the initial decision by a judge in the Southern District of New York.

The appeals court agreed that it saw “no ambiguity” in Moore’s release of all claims, but also that the “Who Is America?” segment was “clearly comedy and that no reasonable viewer would conclude otherwise.”

Also Read:

Why ‘Wolf Like Me...

Updated, 8:48 Am: A year after a federal judge first found in Sacha Baron Cohen’s favor, the Who Is America? host finally achieved victory in the almost-absurd 95 million defamation battle instigated by Roy Moore.

In a unanimous vote made public Thursday morning, a trio of judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the July 2021 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge John P. Cronan.

“We have considered the Plaintiffs’ remaining arguments and conclude that they are without merit,” said the New York State judges. Siding with the acclaimed satirist against failed Alabama Senate candidate Moore, the appeals court declared that Who Is America? was “clearly comedy and that no reasonable viewer would conclude otherwise” (read it here).

“After nearly four years of litigation, it seems Mr. Moore’s frivolous lawsuit is finally over,” Baron Cohen’s lawyer Russell Smith told Deadline today.

Previous Exclusive, July...

Saturday night, the Human Rights Campaign (Hrc), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization, hosted its Greater New York Dinner.

Jessie J at Hrc Greater New York Dinner

The event featured speeches from Hrc’s interim president Joni Madison, who used her remarks to directly confront the right-wing anti-lgbtq+ misinformation campaign and called the current moment – when a slate of anti-lgbtq+ bills are passing in states across the country and misinformation is rampant— – an “emergency.”

“These lawmakers are simply pouring gasoline on a wildfire,” Human Rights Campaign Interim President Joni Madison said in her remarks of anti-lgbtq+ lawmakers. "They’re going on Fox News and reclaiming vintage hand-me-down hate — calling us predators and groomers. Marjorie Taylor Greene has called our community ‘pro-pedophile.’ But at the exact same time, one of her staunchest allies — Matt Gaetz — is under federal investigation for alleged sex crimes with a minor.

Sacha Baron Cohen says Bernie Sanders’ team threatened to open a congressional hearing over his “Who Is America?” interview.

The “Borat” creator opened up about his experience making the 2018 political satire series in an excerpt from Judd Apatow’s upcoming book “Sicker in the Head: More Conversations About Life and Comedy,” out March 29.

In “Who Is America?,” Cohen interviewed Sanders while disguised as fictional conspiracy theorist Billy Wayne. During the interview, he urged the Senator to stop complaining about the ultra-wealthy and move the rest of America “into the 1%.”

“It’s my first time as this character, so I’m not deep in character; the accent’s not quite there,” Cohen said (via Air Mail). “We sit down, and it’s chaotic. We know we’ve only got an hour with Bernie Sanders. He’s late. And he gets pissed off within five minutes, when he realized that he was with this idiot.

A federal court on July 13 dismissed a defamation lawsuit against Sacha Baron Cohen filed by Roy Moore, Alabama’s former chief justice who ran for a U.S Senate seat from the state. Moore sued Baron Cohen after being interviewed under the claim that he would be given an award for supporting Israel. During the interview, […]

The post Judge Dismisses Roy Moore’s $95 Million Lawsuit Against Sacha Baron Cohen appeared first on uInterview.

A judge has sided with Sacha Baron Cohen in a lawsuit filed by former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore against the “Borat” star, with Baron Cohen beating a $95 million defamation lawsuit Moore brought in 2018.

The lawsuit stemmed from an interview Baron Cohen did with Moore on behalf of his Showtime series “This Is America.” Moore accused Baron Cohen of intentional emotional distress and fraud, claiming he was defamed by the interview.

But on Tuesday, a judge in the Southern District of New York wrote in a ruling obtained by TheWrap that the waiver Moore signed prior to the interview and the First Amendment barred both of Moore’s claims.

Moore and his wife, Kayla Moore, are appealing the ruling.

“Defendants have moved for summary judgment, arguing that Plaintiffs’ claims are barred by both a waiver clause in the agreement that Judge Moore signed prior to the interview and also...

Sacha Baron Cohen continues to prove he’s a legal legend. On Tuesday, the comedian defeated yet another lawsuit from someone he duped.

The newest someone is Roy Moore, the former Alabama Supreme Court justice who infamously lost a U.S. Senate race following allegations of sexual misconduct. Moore appeared on Who Is America?, Cohen’s show for Showtime, and was interviewed by an Israeli “Anti-Terrorism Expert” named “Gen. Erran Morad.” During the interview, this military character, obviously Cohen, introduced a device that could detect certain enzymes that are secreted only by “sex offenders and particularly pedophiles.” And when Cohen ...

Sacha Baron Cohen continues to prove he’s a legal legend. On Tuesday, the comedian defeated yet another lawsuit from someone he duped.

The newest someone is Roy Moore, the former Alabama Supreme Court justice who infamously lost a U.S. Senate race following allegations of sexual misconduct. Moore appeared on Who Is America?, Cohen’s show for Showtime, and was interviewed by an Israeli “Anti-Terrorism Expert” named “Gen. Erran Morad.” During the interview, this military character, obviously Cohen, introduced a device that could detect certain enzymes that are secreted only by “sex offenders and particularly pedophiles.” And when Cohen ...

Exclusive: Unsurprisingly, there is little on which Sacha Baron Cohen and failed GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore see eye to eye. However, it still might raise an eyebrow a bit to discover that the discord literally includes which way The Trial of the Chicago 7 star turns his gaze.

As the defendants seek to dismiss Moore’s almost three-year old $95 million defamation suit against master satirist Baron Cohen over a damning appearance in Showtime’s Who Is America?, the political plaintiff’s lawyer is hoping to take the double Oscar-nominated performer to task for where he was looking during a recent deposition via Zoom. Really.

“The video does clearly show [sic] Cohen looking downward – most likely at his phone or tablet — with virtually every question that I posed, and it is thus obvious that he was being fed answers by someone,” Moore’s lawyer Larry Klayman wrote in an amended letter sent to U.

While Sacha Baron Cohen is racking up award nominations for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, his lawyers are using its predecessor as an example of why a New York federal judge should end the $95 million defamation suit Roy Moore filed against him over a 2018 appearance on Who Is America? — arguing that not only does the suit implicate his free speech rights, but also he’s already shown his contracts are airtight when it comes to claims arising from his satire.

Moore in September 2018 sued Cohen, along with Showtime and CBS, in D.C. federal court over a segment that featured Cohen,...

While Sacha Baron Cohen is racking up award nominations for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, his lawyers are using its predecessor as an example of why a New York federal judge should end the $95 million defamation suit Roy Moore filed against him over a 2018 appearance on Who Is America? — arguing that not only does the suit implicate his free speech rights, but also he’s already shown his contracts are airtight when it comes to claims arising from his satire.

Moore in September 2018 sued Cohen, along with Showtime and CBS, in D.C. federal court over a segment that featured Cohen,...

Doug Jones, the former U.S. senator from Alabama, has joined CNN as commentator.

He debuted on Friday on CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper, telling the anchor, “Happy to be part of the team.”

Jones, appearing from Birmingham, Al, said that Joe Biden’s administration needed to amplify the message that a Covid-19 relief package was important not just for healthcare but the economy.

Jones, a Democrat, was defeated last year by Republican Tommy Tuberville, after serving in the Senate since 2018. That year, he won an upset victory over Roy Moore. Jones is also a former U.S. attorney for the northern district of Alabama. During his tenure, he prosecuted two Ku Klux Klan members for the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church.

In other news on the pundit front, Fox News hired civil rights attorney Leo Terrell as a contributor on Fox News Channel and Fox Business.

The new Borat movie hasn’t even officially come out yet, but it’s already making major waves in the political world due to a scene in which Rudy Giuliani lays down on a bed in a hotel room and appears to put his hand in his pants after interacting with an actress playing Borat’s daughter. The former New York City Mayor calls the video “a complete fabrication” and notes that he was merely adjusting his microphone, an explanation not everyone is buying.

Giuliani is the latest in a...

Sacha Baron Cohen is good. Damn good. He's spent this entire century fooling people into giving interviews, and his subjects hardly know they are targets of the man's unique brand of satirical comedy. And while he's been repeatedly sued, he's got an excellent track record in court. That's due to the First Amendment, of course, but it starts with the consent agreements that interviewees sign.

But for Showtime's Who Is America?, Cohen has run into a bit of a hiccup named "Yerushalayim TV."

Roy Moore, the former Alabama Supreme Court justice who infamously lost ...

Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest stunt over the weekend at a far-right militia group’s rally was not done for any potential second season of “Who Is America?”

A person familiar with “Who Is America?” production told TheWrap there are still no plans for a second season of the series, which aired in 2018. Baron Cohen has previously said he was not going to do another season of the satirical series, though Showtime had previously said it would more than a welcome one if he ever changed his mind.

Baron Cohen on Saturday infiltrated the rally of a far-right militia group called 3% of Washington in Olympia, Washington, and told a series of “racist and anti-Semitic” jokes while encouraging the crowd to participate, organizers of the event said.

Also Read: 'The Comey Rule' Gets New Pre-Election Premiere Date at Showtime

Video of the incident spread rapidly, including lengthy footage of...

Sacha Baron Cohen has pulled off his latest prank.

Variety can confirm the comedian and star of the political satire show “Who Is America?” infiltrated a conservative rally in Washington on Saturday, making his way on stage and getting some people in the crowd to sing racist lyrics about President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Dr. Anthony Fauci and the “Wuhan flu.”

The rally, titled “March for Our Rights 3,” was organized by the Washington Three Percenters, a right-wing militia organization, on Saturday. According to social media posts from the event’s organizers, Baron Cohen disguised himself as the leader of a political action committee who wanted to sponsor the rally. He brought his own security team who prevented organizers from kicking him off stage once he began singing and turning off the power to his microphone.

Holy shit...

A film about fake news might seem like a tough sell given the nonstop political discourse of the last few years, but HBO’s latest documentary offers a new take on the issue.

“After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News,” which premieres on HBO March 19, takes a more personal look at the subject by examining the human cost of malicious disinformation, rather than relitigating the actual conspiracy theories. Yes, Pizzagate, conspiracies about the 2016 murder of Democratic National Committee employee Seth Rich, and several other recent well-known conspiracies are extensively covered in the documentary, but “After Truth” is primarily focused on the victims of those intentional falsehoods.

More from IndieWire'Run' Trailer: Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Vicky Jones' New HBO Show Blends 'Killing Eve' and 'Fleabag''i Know This Much Is True' Trailer: Mark Ruffalo Takes Aim at the Emmys in HBO's Limited Series

While the documentary prioritizes victims over conspiracies,...

Chuy Bravo, who served as Chelsea Handler’s sidekick on her E! talk show Chelsea Lately, died suddenly Saturday night in Mexico City. He was 63. Bravo’s exact cause of death is unknown.

Born Jesus Melgoza in Mexico in 1956, Bravo was the youngest of seven children. The actor/entertainer immigrated to the U.S. at 15, moving to the San Fernando Valley in California before embarking on an acting career in the ’90s. Bravo’s credits included films like The Honeymooners (2005) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007).

More from TVLineTVLine Items: Will & Grace Adds Chelsea, The Crown Casting...

The fight to dislodge Donald Trump from the presidency has sparked unprecedented interest in the 2020 Democratic primary, drawing dozens of candidates, including no fewer than seven sitting senators. But the fight to wrest the Senate from Republican control — and oust Mitch McConnell as majority leader — is arguably just as important. Take it from Amy McGrath, the former Marine fighter pilot aiming to win McConnell’s Kentucky Senate seat, who sees curbing McConnell’s power as essential to healing our republic. “He’s the epitome of Washington dysfunction, everything we hate about politics,...

Sacha Baron Cohen has courted controversy his entire career, portraying characters, from Ali G and Borat to Bruno, that have pissed off all groups from left to right. He’s an equal-opportunity offender, but his alter-egos have long served to expose the hypocrisies of society by mocking humanity’s worst tendencies. His 2018 Showtime series “Who Is America?” tackles humankind’s dark side head-on by bait-and-switching real-life figures to catch them in their blind spots. In the show, he got Dick Cheney to sign a waterboarding kit, former chief justice Roy Moore to take a pedophile lie-detector test, and “The Bachelor” star Corinne Olympios to endorse the training of child soldiers on camera.

But at the Anti-Defamation League’s Never Is Now Summit on Anti-Semitism and Hate, Baron Cohen took off his comedy hat when honored with the Adl’s International Leadership Award. He used the platform to deliver...

Staffers at CNN aren’t worried about the latest leaks from Project Veritas’ “Expose CNN” campaign, though the passcode to the network-wide 9:00 a.m. editorial call was changed ahead of Tuesday’s meeting. If anything, they’re annoyed at the “gross” tactics used to obtain undercover videos of junior staffers discussing network operations.

“I don’t even know what [it] is,” said one staffer when asked about Project Veritas’ latest campaign against the network.

“No one is talking about it,” said another.

Also Read: CNN Says No One in Project Veritas's #ExposeCNN 'Sting' Is a CNN Journalist

Monday, Project Veritas, a right-wing activist group that has tried to conduct previous sting operations to expose journalistic bias, released its latest video targeting CNN. The “Expose CNN” operation relies on video footage taken by Cary Poarch, who listened in on the morning editorial call and is promoted by Project Veritas and...

Showtime and Sacha Baron Cohen are asking a New York federal judge to toss the lawsuit Roy Moore filed following a segment featuring him on Who Is America? — in part, because he should have known the potential consequences of contractually waiving his right to sue.

The former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice, who earlier this summer announced he's again running for U.S. Senate, in September 2018 filed a $95 million lawsuit against the premium cable network and the comedian. Moore claims he was tricked into flying to Washington under the guise of receiving an award and the July ...

Mark Kelly, the fighter pilot-turned-astronaut and husband of retired congresswoman Gabby Giffords, announced in February that he is running to unseat Sen. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) in 2020. His campaign has been doing quite well. In July, it announced that Kelly had raised $4.2 million in the second quarter, more than all but six presidential candidates. Kelly’s campaign manager called the haul a “sonic boom.” Get it?

On Tuesday, an Arizona poll showed Kelly leading McSally — who lost her 2018 race against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) but was appointed by the state’s...

Sacha Baron Cohen’s groundbreaking Showtime series Who is America got three big Emmy nominations this morning, and while he was busy writing, Baron Cohen took a moment on twitter to issue a lot of thank you missives. That included Sarah Palin — who took part in a segment and got cut out — and Dick Cheney, whose testimonial was one of the most unbelievable segments in the limited series. There was also an aside but not really a thank you to President Donald Trump, whose election victory, Baron Cohen told Deadline, drove him to do the entire series. The scrappy show got nominated for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series, along with directing and editing. Though Baron Cohen didn’t get nominated for his multi-character appearances, this was a strong showing. He’ll have to save thank yous to O.J. Simpson, Roy Moore and other duped subjects for another time.

Thank you to...

The award-winning documentarist on getting far-right strategist Steve Bannon to reveal himself in her new film, The Brink

Alison Klayman’s documentary Never Sorry about the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei received a special jury prize at the 2012 Sundance festival. Her new film, The Brink, follows Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, in the 13 months following his acrimonious departure from the White House in 2017. It covers a period during which Bannon campaigned for Republicans such as Roy Moore, the far-right Alabama politician who was accused of sexual misconduct, and established a new pan-European populist organisation, the Movement.

Why did Bannon give you so much access? Is it because, as he says in the film, he learned from Trump that there is no such thing as “bad media”?

Only he knows the answer to that. When my producer approached him, she appealed to his ego and his vanity. He’s...

Christmas came a bit early this year, as it's been revealed that Blumhouse Productions is bringing us a remake of the cult horror classic Black Christmas this December. This comes as something of a surprise, but this is right in Blumhouse's wheelhouse, as this is the studio behind hits such as Get Out, The Purge and last year's Halloween, amongst many others. The studio has already shared a first poster for the remake, which will, appropriately, hit theaters on Friday, December 13.

The studio also revealed the creative team tackling the Black Christmas remake both in front of and behind the camera. Sophia Takal (Always Shine) is in the director's chair, working from a script she wrote alongside April Wolfe (Widower). The cast includes Imogen Poots (Green Room), Aleyse Shannon (Charmed), Brittany O'Grady (Star), Lily Donoghue (The Goldbergs) and Caleb Eberhardt (Choir Boy). Blumhouse head Jason Blum is producing, alongside Ben Cosgrove...

Imogen Poots will star in the remake of “Black Christmas” for Blumhouse Productions and Universal Pictures, with the film set for release on Dec. 13.

Aleyse Shannon, Brittany O’Grady, Lily Donoghue and Caleb Eberhardt will also star in the horror film that takes the release date of a previously untitled Blumhouse movie.

Sophia Takal is directing the remake of the 1974 film. Takal and April Wolfe wrote the script, and the film will shoot in New Zealand.

Also Read: Blumhouse's 'The Invisible Man' Sets March 2020 Release Date

Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions, and Ben Cosgrove and Adam Hendricks of Divide/Conquer are producing. Greg Gilreath and Zac Locke of Divide/Conquer will executive produce.

Takal worked with Blumhouse’s television arm earlier this year on the film “New Year, New You,” which starred Suki Waterhouse and Carly Chaikin for Hulu’s “Into the Dark” anthology series. There’s synergy...

Neil Young had already decided to release Tuscaloosa — a primo live set documenting a hot February, 1973 gig with his then-current band the Stray Gators — when Alabama’s current governor signed a new anti-abortion law on May 15, and when Gop sleazebag Roy Moore threatened to re-up his Senate bid soon thereafter. The LP’s timing, it turns out, was serendipitous.

Unlike the boozy, unhinged performance on last year’s vault release Roxy: Tonight’s The Night Live, recorded seven months later with a different group, this is laser-focused Young, roughing up songs from his 1972 set Harvest,...

Sacha Baron Cohen and Don Cheadle sat down for a chat for Variety‘s Actors on Actors. For more, click here.

On Showtime’s “Who Is America?,” Sacha Baron Cohen multiplies his familiar gonzo comedy by four, using a quartet of absurd aliases to dupe politicians like Dick Cheney and Roy Moore into embarrassing interviews. Elsewhere on the network, Don Cheadle may not go that far on “Black Monday,” but he’s still knee-deep in character as a stockbroker at a Wall Street firm during the 1987 crash.

Don Cheadle: You are very popular and famous, and I would recognize you anywhere, if for no other reason than you’re a giant. I mean, literally, height-wise. And your eyebrows are iconic.

Sacha Baron Cohen: They are.

DC: On “Who Is America?,” have you ever been busted? Has anyone ever gone, “You’re Ali G or Borat”?

Sbc:...

The namesake host of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher has some rules for the Democratic Party to memorize as they ramp up for a 2020 rematch with President Donald J. Trump. “I want all Democrats to memorize these two words: Message Discipline,” Maher said with the tones of a weary teacher addressing a remedial class. “Republicans win for two reasons: teamwork and cheating. And they’re really good at both.”

The 2020 presidential race, the Mueller Report, and the ongoing Trumpifcation of the national conversation were meaty topics for the night’s episode although the most memorable gag was directed at Roy Moore of Alabama and the legal limits that affect his viability as a elected public servant. “It looks like even if Roy Moore won, he would not be able to serve his term,” Maher said, “because the Senate is within one mile of a school.”

Maher’s description...

Over the course of history, comedians have shared their take on current events with biting commentary on everything from class and gender to fashion and politics, and the current presidential administration is definitely no exception — with President Donald Trump regularly lampooned on shows like “Saturday Night Live” and by late-night TV hosts. But when does the current political climate in the United States become no laughing matter? On the red carpet at an Emmys For Your Consideration event, Variety asked “Who Is America?” star and creator Sacha Baron Cohen if there is a point when politics stops being funny.

“Yes. I think in many ways we are past that point. I think there is a danger [in not taking things seriously],” Baron Cohen replied. Though, he added, comedy “can release the pressure.”

“I think you need people to remain repulsed,” he continued. “Obviously, there are a lot of people who are supportive — but those who...