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If you remember Frédéric Auburtin's 2015 sports drama "United Passions," then you are a rare individual indeed. The $30 million prestige picture -- mostly funded by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, aka FIFA -- starred Tim Roth, "Jurassic Park" veteran Sam Neill, Gérard Depardieu, and Fisher Stevens, and it told the history of FIFA, from its formation in 1904 through the 2010 World Cup. It was a multigenerational story that traced the dramas and scandals the organization faced through the decades. Stevens played Cornelis August Wilhelm Hirschman, the president of FIFA from 1918 to 1920. Depardieu played Jules Rimet (president from 1921 to 1954), Neill played João de Havelange (1974 to 1998), and Roth played Sepp Blatter (1998 to 2015).

"United Passions" opened in 10 theaters in the United States in February of 2015 and made an embarrassing $918 on its opening weekend. Reports from Phoenix, Arizona, stated that the film made a whopping $9 opening weekend, meaning only one person bought a ticket.

In a back room of a Luxembourg Hotel, Tim Roth sips a coffee, leans back, and asks me what else I’ve got. We’ve only been talking for ten minutes, but something about the actor’s quick-fire London gab has caught me off guard. I quickly scour my notes, eyes landing on “Sepp Blatter,” the disgraced former FIFA president who Roth played in United Passions, a much-derided puff piece from 2014. “Oh, my God,” the actor responds. “Oh, that was terrible. But that meant getting the kids through college with no student loans. And it worked!”

When the time comes to take stock of Tim Roth’s remarkable career, Blatter’s name won’t trouble the opening paragraphs. Yet there is something strangely fitting about its place in the Roth oeuvre: as emblematic of the actor’s wild variety of choices as the willingness to take a check or two...

Football podcast Heroes & Humans, hosted by journalists Simon Kuper and Mehreen Khan, has unveiled explosive new insights directly from former FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, 88.

Swiss-born Blatter was the 8th President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015, a time that saw rapid growth for football and the controversial decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. Blatter was banned from FIFA in 2015 following a major corruption scandal.

This candid interview is one of Blatter's rarest appearances in English-language media since his FIFA exit nine years ago, offering unfiltered insight into some of the most significant moments in football and global politics.

As reported this week, Blatter and ex-UEFA chief Michel Platini are set to face a retrial in Switzerland in March 2025, after being cleared of fraud charges in 2022. The charges stem from a £1.6 million payment from FIFA to Platini in 2011. This development brings renewed attention to Blatter. In a new interview with...

Kigali (Rwanda), March 16 (Ians) Gianni Infantino was re-elected as the President of the International Federation of Football Association (FIFA) for another four years at the 73rd FIFA Congress, held here on Thursday.

The 52-year-old Swiss, who succeeded Sepp Blatter in 2016, was elected unopposed in presence of delegates from the 211 member federations.

“It is an incredible honour and privilege, and a great responsibility. I promise to continue serving FIFA and football around the world,” Infantino said.

“To those that love me, and I know there are many, and those who hate me … I love you all,” he added.

–Ians

ak/...

A former 21st Century Fox executive was convicted of paying millions of dollars in bribes to secure broadcasting rights to the World Cup and other soccer tournaments, Reuters reports, while a second ex-executive was acquitted on Thursday.

A Brooklyn federal jury found Hernan Lopez, the former CEO of Fox International Channels, guilty, but acquitted Carlos Martinez, who spearheaded the Latin America affiliate.

The prosecution’s star witness, former business associate Alejandro Burzaco, took the stand for 11 days. Burzaco testified that he paid the former Fox executives millions of dollars in...

Netflix has given the go-ahead to a brand new documentary exploring the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and they will join forces with FIFA in the process.

The TV streaming giant commissioned a documentary examining the internal structure of FIFA last year, and it detailed examples of corruption and mishandling in the upper echelons of football’s governing body while Sepp Blatter was at the helm.

And the latest docuseries will provide behind-the-scenes footage of all 32 teams that competed at the 2022 World Cup, which is expected to premiere this summer. It follows on from the documentary Captains, which explored the skippers of teams as they went through the process of qualifying for the World Cup.

While the run-up to Qatar was shrouded in controversy and incurred the wrath of some members of the footballing community, there were some outstanding moments, and the untitled World Cup documentary will pay homage to that.

Soccer’s governing body FIFA estimates that five billion people will tune in to watch the Qatar World Cup, marking a new record for a global sporting event. This will be a spectacle like no other.

The World Cup tends to put a country’s social order under the microscope. Spain, Argentina and Russia are among previous hosts whose politics has drawn opprobrium. No country has been as scrutinized as Qatar, however. Ever since FIFA made the contentious decision to award the tournament to the Gulf state, controversy has followed, posing questions for participating nations, broadcasters and sponsors.

The country was awarded the tournament 12 years ago amid allegations of corruption within the highest echelons of FIFA. Since then, that FIFA regime has fallen, and Qatar’s record around gender and LGBT+ equality has been in the spotlight. Critics have questioned not only the country’s human rights record but also...

Lausanne, Nov 8 (Ians) Just a few days before the start of the 2022 football World Cup, former FIFA president Sepp Blatter says the decision to award the event to Qatar was a mistake. The FIFA World Cup will be played in various venues in Qatar from November 20 to December 18 with 32 teams in the fray.

Qatar is facing a lot of criticism over its stance on same-sex relationships, human rights records and the treatment of migrant workers. Qatar World Cup ambassador Khalid Salman has recently said that homosexuality is “damage in the mind”.

The former Qatar international told German broadcaster Zdf that LGBTQ+ people attending the tournament should “accept our rules”.

His utterances have raised concerns about how the country treats LGBTQ+ people as same-sex relationships and promotion of such relationships is a criminal offense and punishable with punishment ranging from fines to death sentence, the BBC reported on Tuesday.

Human rights...

Zurich (Switzerland), July 8 (Ians) Former presidents of FIFA and UEFA Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were cleared of corruption charges by a Swiss court on Friday. The two men, Platini, former UEFA president, and Blatter, who led FIFA for 17 years, were cleared of fraud by the Federal Criminal Court in the southern city […]...

Exclusive: 101 Studios (Yellowstone), Above the Line Productions (Official Secrets), Campfire Studios (WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn) and Pzaj (Camp Hideout) are teaming on a feature documentary about the corruption within global soccer organization FIFA.

The feature documentary will follow late journalist Andrew Jennings’ investigation into the misconduct and corruption of FIFA’s executive team and members. Jennings’ background in investigative journalism and knowledge of criminology led him to unravel the organization from within. When his research captured the attention of the FBI and U.S. attorney Loretta Lynch, they teamed to reveal further layers of crime which led to multiple arrests and ultimately, the resignation of FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

Co-directed by Clay Tweel and Maura Anderson, the film will tell the story through the eyes of the investigative reporter who went head-to-head with the world’s most powerful sports organization.

The project was...

Dazn , the world’s leading dedicated sports streaming platform, has amped up its 2022 global original content slate launch with the news that the U.K.-based outfit is launching a new, bespoke production wing dedicated to original content. Accompanying the news, Dazn has also given Variety exclusive access to the international trailer for the streamer’s most ambitious original play yet, Eva Longoria Bastón’s directorial debut “La Guerra Civil,” playing at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

“La Guerra Civil” documents the epic rivalry between all-time great boxers Oscar De La Hoya and Julio César Chávez in the 1990s, which ignited a cultural divide between Mexican nationals and Mexican-Americans on both sides of the border. That the documentary is about far more than boxing is clear from the first words spoken in the trailer. Archival footage is interspersed with first-person insights offered By both men in interviews recorded for the documentary,...

Zurich, Dec 22 (Ians) FIFA on Tuesday announced that it has lodged a criminal complaint against former president Sepp Blatter over a loss-making museum in Zurich, Switzerland. According to FIFA, the museum enerated a bill of 500 million Swiss francs (462 million euros) that instead "could and should have been channelled into the development of global football".

"FIFA has lodged a criminal complaint with Zurich's cantonal prosecutor as evidence of suspected criminal mismanagement by FIFA's former management and companies appointed by them in relation to the 'Haus zur Enge' has surfaced following an investigation by external experts," football's global governing body said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The complaint identifies the direct involvement of former FIFA president Joseph S. Blatter together with other persons in relation to activities relating to the agreements that were signed in relation to the facility, which is located in downtown Zurich," it said.

FIFA's deputy secretary general...

Hope Solo's adding her name to the mounting list of women alleging sexual assault at the hands of powerful men ... and she points the finger at former FIFA president, Sepp Blatter. The Uswnt star revealed the alleged incident in an interview with the Portuguese newspaper, Expresso, in which she alleges Blatter "grabbed my ass" right before presenting an award to Abby Wambach at the Ballon d'Or awards ceremony in January 2013. Blatter -- forced to...

Louisa Mellor Oct 19, 2017

We chatted to actor Paul Kaye about playing wizards, the musical Matilda, and his move from celebrity satire to serious drama…

Main image credit: Jordan Katz-Kaye

“Bitterness, really” is Paul Kaye’s explanation of what drove his satirical red-carpet interviewer Dennis Pennis in the nineties. “I’d hit thirty, I’d sort of failed as a musician, I’d failed as an artist I felt at the time.” Ambushing Hollywood’s elite in the persona of a brash, punk nuisance wasn’t Kaye’s first choice for stardom, he admits. “It wasn’t how I expected to forge a career. Of all the things I thought I’d end up doing, it wasn’t that.”

See related 26 new UK TV shows to look out for 50 upcoming comic book TV shows, and when to expect them

Trained in theatre design, in his twenties Kaye worked as an illustrator...

It’s now hard to imagine a time when football was without goal line technology (Glt). The last few years have proven many things; the fact Luis Suarez randomly bites opposing players without warning, that England are a million miles away from winning a major tournament, underdogs can win the Premier League, and most importantly, that there is room within the game for technology.

With Glt being a huge success, it must once and for all convince the doubters that video technology will not ruin the game. In July 2010 English hearts were broken when Frank Lampard’s perfectly good goal wasn’t awarded, but without knowing it then, football was to change forever. This incident was the moment that Sepp Blatter re-opened discussions concerning the use of Glt, and how happy are we they decided to do that. Some moments, (Lampard’s goal against Germany not being the case), are impossible to call.

Dan Cooper Aug 30, 2016

Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine and a good chunk of Ipswich Town Football Club? It can only be Escape To Victory...

These are strange days indeed for fans of the beautiful game - never before has unbridled hope been so freely mixed with jaded cynicism in the sport we love. The result? A jarring draught indeed, a football concoction that is dizzyingly exhilarating yet morosely taxing, much like the homemade ‘bathroom cocktails’ that my sister used to dare me to drink as a child, odd-tasting brews made from shaving foam and perfume that put hairs on my seven-year old chest whilst presumably lopping years off my life.

That paradoxical blend of fair and foul will be familiar to anybody that follows football these days. International minnows Wales have been running roughshod over half of Europe, and Leicester’s unstoppable charge to the Premiership title against all five thousand...

Gianni Infantino has been elected president of soccer’s international governing body, FIFA, defeating presumed favorite Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim, the Los Angeles Times reports. Infantino, a lawyer of Swiss and Italian nationality, replaces longtime FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who ran the organization for nearly two decades. In June, Blatter’s resignation was announced, following a massive bribery scandal in the soccer world. Infantino, who was elected to a four-year term as president, won in a second round of voting, after neither candidate received the required 138 votes in the first round. In the second round, which only required a simple majority,...

Remember the movie United Passions that came out earlier this year, which starred Tim Roth as noted soccer rapscallion Sepp Blatter? (Speaking of, pretty bad day for the former FIFA president.) Not many people do! The FIFA "origins story" football drama was universally panned — turns out, viewers aren't too keen on propaganda these days — and it currently holds a rousing 0 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. So, what would possibly entice a well-respected thespian such as Roth to star in this futbol flop? That sweet, sweet FIFA money, baby! And his family, definitely his family. As he candidly explained in a recent Reddit "Ama": The film is awful (can’t say that because I haven’t seen it) I hated doing it, it was the wrong film but for the right reasons. I had two kids in college so I had to make a decision and it was probably poorly...

Outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter and UEFA boss Michel Platini- until recently the favorite to succeed Blatter in football’s top job- have both been banned from any football activities for eight years by a FIFA ethics investigation. The lengthy bans come after a $2 million payment in 2011 from Blatter to Platini- described by the investigation as a “disloyal” payment- was uncovered. Both men have strenuously denied any wrongdoing with the payment, claiming it was part…...

FIFA president Sepp Blatter and two other top executives of the world soccer governing body have been hit with a 90-day provisional suspension from their posts. Members of FIFA's independent ethics committee on Thursday announced the expected sanction after Switzerland recently said that its attorney general has opened criminal proceedings against 79-year-old Blatter. He has been accused of signing a contract that was "unfavorable" to FIFA and making a "disloyal payment" to UEFA president Michel Platini. Blatter has denied any wrongdoing. { "nid": 827259, "type": "news", "title": "What the Swiss Investigation Into FIFA Boss Sepp Blatter Means",

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The money men are finally weighing in on the ongoing corruption drama at Soccer’s world governing body. Just over a week after Swiss authorities announced the opening of a criminal investigation against embattled FIFA President Joseph “Sepp” Blatter, four of soccer’s biggest sponsors have called for his immediate resignation, rather than his planned stepping-down next year.

Coca-Cola, Visa, Budweiser and McDonald’s all issued their denunciations within hours of one another, with Coke going first, saying in a statement that “”Every day that passes Fifa’s image and reputation continues to tarnish.” Later Ab InBev, parent company of Budweiser, said it considers Blatter to be an “obstacle” to the reform of the embattled organization, while Visa said Blatter’s resignation would be in “the best interests of Fifa and the sport,” a sentiment echoed by McDonald’s.

Blatter’s term as President of world soccer has seen the organization...

FIFA President Sepp Blatter could lose way more than his job -- Swiss authorities are picking up where the FBI left off ... literally digging into Blatter's office to investigate rampant corruption. Blatter has been accused of criminal mismanagement, misappropriation and making "disloyal payments." Translation: Sepp was allegedly shelling out bribes to other soccer officials, partly to secure TV deals. Swiss officials said they searched Sepp's office in Zurich on Friday and seized data. The new...

Memo to self: Never take FIFA President Sepp Blatter to a strip club as he is obviously not a fan of making it rain.  The outgoing exec held his first press conference in Zurich this morning since he announced last month he would be leaving (or did he?) his post as the top dog in charge of soccer's largest governing body amid a growing corruption scandal, where one of the topics of discussion was setting a date for a new FIFA presidential election.  Tweeting a joke that he was on his way to the FIFA executive meeting to secure the 2026 World Cup for North Korea, comedian Simon Brodkin, also known as Lee Nelson, ran up to the stage where Blatter was sitting and showered him with a big wad of fake...

Looks like Sepp Blatter forgot to check the weather report before holding a press conference on Monday because the outgoing FIFA prez got caught in a freak rainstorm!Check out the photos of the moment Hurricane Simon -- aka, comedian Simon Brodkin -- made landfall and brought the rain to Blatter! Read more...

Even before the current Women.s World Cup kicked off earlier this month, FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, was all over the headlines thanks to the corruption scandal that led to organization head Sepp Blatter stepping down. Because Hollywood loves a good topical story, the kerfuffle is getting its own movie, and it will have a helping hand from Batman himself, Ben Affleck. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Affleck is taking a break from his duties as the Caped Crusader, as well as his other gig, directing award-winning movies like The Town and Argo, to lend his weight as a producer to the big screen version of these events. Warner Bros. just won an escalating marathon eight-day bidding war for the rights to House of Deceit, a book proposal by BuzzFeed reporter Ken Bensinger, that is being heralded as the "definitive" account of Chuck Blazer, an American executive...

The FIFA scandal that finally unseated organization president Sepp Blatter broke just as FIFA’s own promo movie, United Passions, landed in theaters. The film hit with a flat thud in the Us, but a new project in development now has the potential to fare much better. This one is a FIFA scandal movie with Gavin O’Connor (Warrior) set to […]

The post Gavin O’Connor Directing FIFA Scandal Movie appeared first on /Film.

Last weekend, Jurassic World scored the biggest ever Us opening, while United Passions set a new low. The disparity shows that today’s cinema is no place for those without a sure grip on marketing, the media – and keeping on-message

One is a hubris-laden epic about a terrifying predator of reptilian cunning savaging his way to the top of the food chain; the other was the one that made $500m at the box office. In one of those twists of perfect statistical synchronicity, the week in which Jurassic World broke every opening-weekend record also saw United Passions – the magnificently ill-timed Fifa biopic starring Tim Roth as Sepp Blatter – register one of the lowest opening Us weekends in recent memory, taking just $918.

As part of its historic worldwide haul of $524.4m, Jurassic World played in 4,274 cinemas to claim a new Us debut record of $208.8m. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, whose...

With the Women.s World Cup in full swing, and the recent Sepp Blatter controversy making headlines across the world, FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, has been all over the place lately. All that attention had little to no impact at the box office, however, as the FIFA origins drama United Passions became the lowest-grossing film in U.S. history. Just how bad did United Passions tank? Well, according to The Hollywood Reporter, on ten screens over the course of the June 6 weekend, it managed to earn $918. This puts it ahead of, or behind depending on your perspective, such non-notable movies at I Kissed A Vampire and Last Flight of the Champion, which we haven.t heard of either. Those films, a rock musical based on a web series and a terribly animated space adventure, earned $1380 and $1493 respectively during their theatrical campaigns. FIFA put up 90% of the budget...

Frederic Auburtin’s £17m drama made just $918 from 10 cinemas last weekend and has now been pulled from screens by its distributor

Fifa wanted to call it Men of Legend or The Dream Makers. But even a somewhat more toned down title has not been enough to stop United Passions being named as the lowest-grossing film in Us box office history.

The Hollywood Reporter has now confirmed the self-congratulatory project, starring Tim Roth as controversial outgoing president Sepp Blatter, scored the puniest total of all time in North America. With a final weekend return of just $918 from 10 cinemas, Frederic Auburtin’s £17m drama - Fifa paid most of the costs - lines up ahead of such titans of modern cinema as 2012 vampire rock musical I Kissed a Vampire ($1,380) and 2013 animated adventure Last Flight of the Champion ($1,493).

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Pizza and movies go together like peanut butter and jelly, or peanut butter and jelly pizza and the movies. Not a fan of those toppings? Whatever.

So while Domino’s is working overtime to remind you that they aren’t actually terrible and that they serve things other than pizza, Pizza Hut has come up with a brilliant, Diy way to bring you cheesy goodness, and also some pizza.

Via The Verge, Pizza Hut has developed a box that will transform into a movie projector. All you need is a smart phone. Order a Pizza Hut pizza, get it delivered in one of four different, artistically designed boxes, then pop out the lens that’s included into the front of the box, and finally prop up your phone with the small, three pegged pizza holder to project videos directly through the lens in the box onto a nearby wall.

And there you have it!

FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, is putting 2026 World Cup preparations on hold as it works through a massive corruption scandal that’s seen the arrest of over a dozen officials and the resignation of its longtime president, Sepp Blatter. FIFA had planned to notify its 209 member federations this week to clarify the bidding timetable and rules for what will certainly be a highly scrutinized process for the 2026 games, but now says it will hold off. The host country is expected to be chosen at a meeting in Malaysia in 2017. The United States, Mexico, Canada and several...

Embattled FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke, who is at the center of claims of corruption and bribery in soccer’s governing body, has confirmed that the bidding process for the 2026 World Cup has been suspended.

“Due to the situation, I think it’s nonsense to start any bidding process for the time being. It will be postponed,” said Valcke. The bidding had been set to begin this month, with a vote in 2017. FIFA is going through arguably its worst crisis since its founding in 1904 following the resignation of longtime President Sepp Blatter, the arrest of several officials, and two investigations by U.S. and Swiss authorities into the organization. To make matters worse, United Passions, a FIFA-backed film which chronicles the group’s emergence, has been excoriated by critics and earned only $607 in its U.S. release last weekend.

In February this year, FIFA announced it had extended Fox and...

Even its own film can’t save FIFA. The self-financed movie “United Passions” failed to score at the box office, generating a pathetic $607 in the U.S. on its opening weekend. The unfortunately-timed movie dramatizing the founding and history of the world governing body of soccer opened Friday in limited release in New York and nine other cities. Even soccer-mad Europeans have avoided the on-screen debacle. The film premiered at last year’s Cannes film festival, but six months after its release in Europe had made just $190,000. Also Read: Espn's Bob Ley Breaks Down FIFA Bribery Scandal, Laughs Off Viral...

Irina Shayk is setting the record straight on one rumored relationship. Just last week, fans were surprised to read in El Mundo that the supermodel "had a relationship" with disgraced FIFA President Sepp Blatter. In fact, the publication assured readers that Shayk was one of "many lovers" the 79-year-old experienced in his life. But if you ask the supermodel's team about this supposed romance, they say the report is completely false. "The rumors regarding an alleged romantic and or personal affair with Sepp Blatter by El Mundo newspaper in Spain is a pathetic attempt at defaming Ms. Shayk and are absolutely not true," her rep said in a statement to E! News. "We have no...

One would think that the controversy swirling around FIFA and its disgraced chief, Sepp Blatter, would attract curious patrons to theaters to see the organization.s funded and sponsored origin drama United Passions. Well, the opposite actually happened, as the French film opened in 10 theaters in the U.S. this weekend and earned $607 on Friday and Saturday. Not per theater. Total. That stench in your nose is coming off of the box-office tally for United Passions, which The Washington Post reports cost somewhere between $25 and $32 million to make. Directed by Frederic Auburtin, the film stars Tim Roth as Sepp Blatter, and traces the founding of FIFA and the rise of its World Cup competition. In addition to Roth, the film stars Sam Neill, Fisher Stevens, Thomas Kretschmann and Gerard Depardieu. To prove that this is a real movie, I.ll share with you the trailer. Now, it.s possible that...

Despite starring Gérard Depardieu, Sam Neill and Tim Roth – as Sepp Blatter – ‘preposterous hagiography’ takes just £397 at box office on Us opening weekend

After perhaps the most ill-timed cinematic release in history, Fifa’s self-funded hagiography, United Passions, took just $607 (£397) on its opening weekend in the Us.

The film opened just days after Us prosecutors charged 14 football officials with racketeering, money laundering and fraud to spark the crisis that forced the resignation of Fifa’s president, Sepp Blatter.

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The FIFA-produced movie United Passions mustered only $607 (£397) during its Us debut over the weekend - as world football's governing body battles a corruption scandal.

United Passions was almost completely funded by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, and tells the story of its history.

The film includes a highly favourable portrayal from Tim Roth of Sepp Blatter, the FIFA boss who announced his resignation last week amid corruption allegations.

United Passions boasted an expensive $30 million budget, but The Hollywood Reporter cites Rentrak in finding that it had little intrigue for Us residents.

United Passions mustered just over $600 in the ten screens it debuted on this past weekend, with Phoenix's FilmBar reporting that just one ticket was sold for the film.

This overall Us debut total does not include video-on-demand revenue for the film, which also stars Gérard Depardieu, Fisher Stevens and Sam Neill.

The film's best cinema total came from the Laemmle in North Hollywood,...

John Oliver is a man of his word! The Last Week Tonight host vowed to chug Bud Light Lime, eat McDonalds and wear a pair of Adidas "that make me look like the Greek god of aspiring DJ"—if and only if these FIFA-sponsoring companies could force Sepp Blatter to resign. "Please, make Sepp Blatter go away," he begged. "I will do anything..." Well, much to Oliver's surprise, Blatter did resign in the wake of FIFA's bribery scandal. And on Sunday's Last Week Tonight, he had to make good on his grandiose promise from a few weeks before. "I cannot avoid this any longer," he said. "We have some unfinished business..." He began by "put(ting) my mouth where...

A man of his word, “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver aggressively chugged a Bud Light Lime during the HBO show on Sunday in response to FIFA president Sepp Blatter resigning last week. Budweiser is a sponsor of FIFA, the soccer group that has been an object of Oliver’s furious derision for months. “I will personally put my mouth where my mouth is and drink one of your disgusting items,” Oliver promised last week if sponsors helped pressure FIFA to eject Blatter. Blatter resigned June 3. Oliver noted that it’s not clear whether sponsors had any thing to do with the.

“Bail has become a way to lock up the poor, regardless of guilt,” Oliver said before explaining the options when arrested are to “Go to jail, plead guilty to avoid waiting in jail for a trial, or pay a bail bondsman to front the bail costs.”TV Rewind: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: The Business of Bail This week’s show included updates on FIFA news with a possible motive behind Sepp Blatter’s resignation, John Oliver’s promise made last week if Blatter resigned, and a special message, “John Oliver: The Mittens of Disapproval Are On,” to be presented on Trinidadian television […]...

When Sepp Blatter first appears, played by Tim Roth, in United Passions, a new Fifa-commissioned movie history of the deeply troubled organisaton, another character describes him simply as “good at finding money”. And perhaps it was Blatter himself who found sufficient cash behind the sofa cushions at Fifa’s Zurich HQ to cover most of the $30m budget for this laughable, 110-minute hagiography, which has high production values, low motives and excellent comic timing – if only in its release date.

If North Korea’s Kim Jong-un had rewritten “The Interview” as a paean to his brilliant, saintly reign, it could not possibly be funnier than “United Passions,” the mostly FIFA-funded $29 million historical drama about the soccer group. Since FIFA stands accused of over $150 million in bribes and reportedly has $1.5 billion in the bank, “United Passions” must have seemed like a good deal. Bothered by pesky journalists and prosecutors who indicted 14 FIFA folks? Pay for a nicer story! It probably cost a couple of years’ worth of FIFA ex-president Sepp Blatter’s salary. Also Read: Sepp Blatter to Resign as...

Real comedy still happens on late night, we can prove it. If you like Conan comedy gold, Fallon friendliness, cutesy Corden, list-making Letterman, kneedy Kimmel, and all the rest, I hope you’ll enjoy this column too.

A lot has happened. This is a brief overview of the best and funniest parts from last week.

Over the weekend, John Oliver begged big international brands and sponsors like Coca-Cola, McDonalds, and Visa to force Sepp Blatter to resign. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert announced the band leader, New Orleans legend Jon Batiste. Plus, Jen Kirkman got raw on life and face-eating with Conan, Seth Meyers had some good Jeb Bush jokes and talked well with Alan Cumming, and lots more.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

John Oliver again skewers FIFA amid a new international football corruption scandal.

Of the many FIFA officials indicted this week on corruption, bribery, racketeering,...

Fraud. Corruption. Bribery. Money laundering. Racketeering. These are just a few of the accusations being levelled at FIFA as the FBI investigates football's governing body.

The arrests and accusations are stacking up, and with president Sepp Blatter resigning just days after his re-election, now seems like curious timing to release a feature film painting FIFA as squeaky-clean saints of football.

United Passions, starring Tim Roth as Sepp Blatter, Gérard Depardieu as Jules Rimet and Sam Neill as João Havelange, has opened in Us cinemas today (June 5) to the kind of critical drubbing that makes Adam Sandler look like Martin Scorsese. What did FIFA expect from a film they funded 90% themselves?

We round up five of the most scathing critical appraisals below:

The Guardian (Jordan Hoffman)

"Even without the current headlines, United Passions is a disgrace. It's less a movie than preposterous self-hagiography, more appropriate for Scientology or the Rev Sun Myung Moon.

Produced and largely financed by FIFA, no one should've been surprised that "United Passions" would largely act as an electronic press kit for the very wealthy non-profit soccer organization. Certainly, Sepp Blatter's resignation, the ongoing investigations into fraud and various other criminal activities, and the increasing spotlight on the human rights violations in Qatar, where workers are literally being worked to death in slave labor conditions to build stadiums in time for the 2022 World Cup, put a much more pointed contrast between the fictions of the film, and the actual reality of FIFA's operations. But the real surprise of "United Passions" is that had these recent scandals never come to light, FIFA's hubris would've been just as gallingly obvious in this dramatically inert picture. After all, what else could one call a defensive, hagiographic, self-idolizing movie about the global rise of soccer told from the point of view of executives who never put one.

Two hours of wretched, self-congratulatury Fifa history is disastrous cinema, but valuable proof of corporate insanity. And Tim Roth as Sepp Blatter – why?

Related: Own goal: Is Fifa's glory tale the most embarrassing film imaginable?

So where did Fifa’s money go ? Considering that the film United Passions was principally bankrolled by the now-shamed sports organisation, it isn’t unfair to say some of the dough must have ended up in the pockets of Tim Roth, Gérard Depardieu, Sam Neill and Fischer Stevens.

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TV Picks: FIFA: A Sovereign State; 60 Minutes Sports June Preview VIDEOOn the Next Edition of “60 Minutes Sports”Sepp Blatter sounds like a horrific disease that could kill you. But it’s the “mafia don” of soccer who will be the center focus of the next Showtime “60 Minutes Sports” airing tonight. “If he’s comparing himself to a sovereign state instead of the non-profit that FIFA is we’ve got real obstacles here.” – Alexandra Wrage.Blatter Refused Ideas For Transparency, Including Likening FIFA To A Sovereign State When Rejecting A Call For Independent Executive Committee MembersFrom ShowtimeFIFA President Sepp Blatter has been […]...

Update: On June 2, 2015, news broke that Sepp Blatter would resign as president of FIFA, as he became the target of a federal investigation. He said in a speech, "Although the members of FIFA have given me the new mandate, this mandate does not seem to be supported by everybody in the world of football."

Frédéric Auburtin’s absurdly hagiographic drama United Passions purports to tell the history of FIFA — the world’s governing institution for soccer — from its 1904 founding up until its announcement of South Africa as the host country for the 2010 World Cup. Auburtin takes pains to paint FIFA in the most glowing possible light, eliding entirely controversies that have dogged it for decades, including numerous accusations of...

Some press this afternoon expressed their belief that if HBO’s late-night show host John Oliver is a man of his word — and they have no reason to think otherwise — he will drink a Bud Light Lime on his show this weekend. On Sunday’s show, Oliver made promises that included drinking a Bud Light Lime — even though he has described that adult beverage as tasting like standing water under a trash receptacle — if FIFA sponsors forced its chief Sepp Blatter to resign. Blatter…...

The debate over FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s announcement that he plans to resign took an unusual turn Tuesday on Espn. During a discussion on “SportsCenter” about the corruption scandal surrounding soccer’s governing body, veteran sportscaster Bob Ley caught fans off guard by quoting Omar Little of HBO’s “The Wire.” “Come at the king, you best not miss,” Ley said in reference to Blatter’s shocking announcement that he will step down just four days after he was re-elected. Also Read: Bob Ley Signs Long-Term Contract Extension With Espn Ley’s homage to Omar, a notorious Baltimore stick-up man,...