Showing posts with label Mario Batali. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mario Batali. Show all posts

Saturday, December 23, 2017

It's Snarkurday!

Recently Jessica Chastain revealed that a big named actor told her to stop Tweeting about the sex scandals in Hollywood and the #MeToo movement. People speculated that it was everyone from Matthew McConaughey to Idris Elba to Matt Damon.

I thought, Damon? No way, but now … Minnie Driver, who dated Damon during and shortly after appearing together in Good Will Hunting—note: Damon broke up with her when he told Oprah on her show that he didn’t have a girlfriend which was news to his girlfriend, Minnie—read Damon’s latest mansplaining of how the world works and had a few choice words for her him.

It seems during an upcoming interview for ABC with film critic Peter Travers, Matt thought it best to explain that some kinds of sexual harassment aren’t as bad as others:
“I think it’s wonderful that women are feeling empowered to tell their stories and it’s totally necessary. I do believe there’s a spectrum of behavior… There’s a difference between patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right? Both of those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn’t be conflated.”
Well, Minnie read Matt’s interview and took to The Twitter, with a link to Damon’s interview:
“Good God, SERIOUSLY?”
And then she added:
Gosh it’s so *interesting how men with all these opinions about women’s differentiation between sexual misconduct, assault and rape reveal themselves to be utterly tone deaf and as a result, systemically part of the problem (*profoundly unsurprising)”
Good for Minnie, because, um, Matt? I like you, I do—though you aren’t Husband In My Head material—but any form of sexual harassment, from verbal to a pat on the ass to groping to rape is unacceptable, m’kay?

I believe you have daughters, so I’m sure if they told you about a man in a powerful position, their boss, or co-workers, grabbing their ass, you wouldn’t tell them it’s all relative. Would you?

Sit down, please, and don’t speak for women again.
Well, y’all remember that Omarosa Manigault Newman resigned was dragged from the White House last week and she instantly ran to the media to tell sell her story.

And the media wasn’t having it, as when Robin Roberts listened to Omarosa and then said, “Well, she has a story to sell. Bye Felicia.”
And that also set Omarosa off, and so she went back to the media to whine about it, and told Inside Edition what she thought of Robin’s farewell bid:
“That was petty. It’s a black woman civil war.”
Petty; from the woman who made a career of petty during her career on reality TV.
With the #MeToo movement having a seemingly endless supply of sexual predators to out, it’s not going anywhere. But one ALLEGED sexual harasser, Russell Simmons, started his own hashtag movement in an effort to deflect from the allegations leveled at him.

Hence the #NotMe movement, and this statement from Simmons:
Today, I begin to properly defend myself. I will prove without any doubt that I am innocent of all rape charges. Today, I will focus on “The Original Sin” (Keri Claussen), the claim that created this insane pile on of my #MeToo. Stay tuned! We’ll share information today… And tomorrow the case of Jenny Lumet. My intention is not to diminish the #MeToo movement in anyway, but instead hold my accusers accountable. #NotMe Again, this is not a movement against or even in conjunction with #Metoo . It’s just a statement about my innocence.
Trouble is, some women saw the emerging #NotMe mess and decided that they’d stayed silent long enough. And so that’s when former America’s Next Top Model judge Kelly Cutrone revealed her story about the time Russell tried to rape her in 1991, saying:
“The #NotMe thing? I’m going to do a #YeahYou. F**k you.”
Kelly says she and Simmons were walking to a party together; he’d asked her to stop by his apartment earlier in the evening, but she declined. As they walked, he said he needed to stop in at a friend’s place and when they got in the door—of an apartment she now thinks was his—he pushed her to the ground and tried to take her clothes off. She kicked and screamed and threatened to have him murdered and finally escaped, but stayed silent for reasons which are her own until Simmons started #NotMe.

Today she says of Simmons, an avid yogi:
“I hope he chokes on his om pendant.”
Brava! #YeahYou
Last summer Beyoncé had to pull out of Coachella because she was “pregnant” and with no such excuse this year the show will go on.

But for anyone who wants a Destiny’s Child reunion, child please. Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams won’t be on the guest list, nor will any of Destiny’s former children, like LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett, because Beyoncé is about Beyoncé, and nothing more.

Still, the Beyhive is saying there are all kinds of clues on social media that there will be some massive reunion and they will not let it go.

Until it happens and then they act like they knew all along, lest they piss off Bey.

Again, if it’s not all about Beyoncé it’s not happening.
Well, Track Palin, the spawn of Mama Grizzly Bore™, has been arrested on domestic violence charges … again.

 Track was arraigned on three counts: felony burglary, misdemeanor reckless assault and misdemeanor criminal mischief for causing up to $500 in property damage; each charge was related to domestic violence.

A source close to the situation—and you know it’s Blister because she’s been out of the news lately—says Track was breaking and entering into his parent’s home where he beat up his daddy, Todd, before Todd and the MGB™ fled the scene in two different cars.

The Palins, America’s white trashiest family.
Oh, if only this applied to her entire life … 

The New York Daily News is reporting that Mariah Carey has contractually agreed to stay “positively silent” about ex-fiancé James Packer after he paid her millions of dollars in settlement when they engagement ended.

Like I said, if only this applied to her entire life.
I am no fan of Mira Sorvino, but even she didn’t deserve this …

 Back in October. Mira told The New Yorker that in 1995 Harvey Weinstein tried pursuing her while promoting Mighty Aphrodite and that because she said ‘No! A thousand times No’ her career instantly stalled. Weinstein responded by saying that there were “never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.”

Well, that might be a lie, because directors Peter Jackson and Terry Zwigoff both claim that Harvey Weinstein actively encouraged them not to work with Mira Sorvino. In fact, Peter Jackson, who calls Harvey and Bob Weinstein “second-rate Mafia bullies”, says the two ALLEGEDLY orchestrated a “smear campaign” against both Sorvino and fellow Weinstein-accuser Ashley Judd.

Jackson says he met with the Weinstein’s in the late 90s to pitch the Lord of  the Rings and The Hobbit films, and expressed interest in casting Mira and Ashley in one or more of the films, but says Harvey and Bob told him that both Mira and Ashley were a “nightmare” to work with, and that he should “avoid them at all costs.”

Jackson was kind of disgusted by the conversation and, instead of dealing with Weinstein and Miramax to release the films, he took the project to New Line Cinema, though he did not hire Sorvino or Judd. Jackson says he then chose to never work with the Weinstein’s again.

Director Terry Zwigoff backs up Jackson’s story with one of his own; he says he considered casting Sorvino in 2003s Bad Santa, which was being made by Dimension, a division of The Weinstein Company, but every time he brought up Mira’s name over the phone the Weinstein’s hung up on him:
“I was interested in casting Mira Sorvino in BAD SANTA, but every time I mentioned her over the phone to the Weinstein’s, I'd hear a CLICK. What type of person just hangs up on you like that?! I guess we all know what type of person now. I'm really sorry Mira.”
The Weinstein Boys, Harvey’s the pig and Bob’s the pig who covered for the pig while it was convenient.
Speaking of pigs… after decades of unchecked sexual harassment stories broke last week, chef Mario Batali has been fired from The Chew, The Food Network has put the kibosh on a planned Malto Mario reboot, and Batali has stepped down from day to day operations at the 26 restaurants he co-owns.

Clearly, folks are done with Batali so what does he do? Mario, who has already publicly apologized for his behavior, decided to apologize again in a newsletter:
“As many of you know, this week there has been some news coverage about some of my past behavior.
I have made many mistakes and I am so very sorry that I have disappointed my friends, my family, my fans and my team. My behavior was wrong and there are no excuses. I take full responsibility.
Sharing the joys of Italian food, tradition and hospitality with all of you, each week, is an honor and privilege. Without the support of all of you — my fans — I would never have a forum in which to expound on this. 
I will work every day to regain your respect and trust.
Ps. in case you’re searching for a holiday-inspired breakfast, these Pizza Dough Cinnamon Rolls are a fan favorite.”
Yes, after apologizing for sexually harassing and assaulting women, he included a recipe.

I think they should call them To Catch A Predator Cinnamon Buns!
Uh oh, blame it on The Biebs?

Selena Gomez's mother, Mandy, was hospitalized after a "heated” conversation with her daughter over Selena’s ALLEGED rekindling of her relationship with Justin Bieber.

Sources—and it’s probably Justin—say Mandy had a shouting match with Selena about the reunion, and when Selena said she and The Biebs were in couple’s therapy, Mandy flipped. A fight ensued, police were called, and Mandy was "voluntarily" transported to a hospital for treatment.

Like I said, blame it on The Biebs when mother’s try to verbally beat their daughters who go back to dating the pipsqueak.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

It's Snarkurday!

Charlie Sheen is suing the Enquirer over their story that, on the set of 1986’s Lucasthen-19-year-old Charlie Sheen raped then-13-year-old Corey Haim.

It all broke when former actor Dominick Brascia told the Enquirer that Sheen was the predator hinted at in a Radar story that ran In September. Dominick—who has also been accused of molesting Haim—says Corey claimed Sheen coerced him into smoking weed and having anal sex. The Enquirer also claims that various “sources” told them that Corey wasn’t Charlie’s only alleged victim, and that Sheen inspired Corey’s subsequent drug abuse, which led to his early death at 38.

And so naturally, Charlie Sheen is the Enquirer and releasing this statement:
“In my nearly 35 years as a celebrated entertainer, I have been nothing shy of a forthright, noble and valiant courier of the truth. Consistently admitting and owning a laundry list of shortcomings, wrongdoings and indiscretions this traveler hath traveled — however, every man has a breaking point. … “These radically groundless and unfounded allegations end now. I now take a passionate stand against those who wish to even entertain the sick and twisted lies against me. GAME OVER.”
Sheen is suing the Enquirer, Enquirer executive Dylan Howard, and Dominick Brascia for “defamation and false light” and claiming that Dylan only published the story because the Enquirer couldn’t break the story that Sheen is HIV+.

It’s all icky; Sheen ALLEGEDLY raping Haim; other boys molesting Haim; Sheen’s pronouncement of how honorable a man he is.

Yeah, I think that’s the most insane part of the story.
I wasn’t so surprised to see Dustin Hoffman “outed” as a sexual predator, groper, abuser. I’d read a story about how he treated Meryl Streep on the set of Kramer v Kramer and he’s a pig. But I was surprised, somewhat, at many women he abused physically, verbally and emotionally over the years, and how many women’s careers and lives were nearly ruined because of it.

Cases in point: Anna Graham Hunter was seventeen when she worked with Hoffman in 1985 and says Hoffman harassed her and assaulted her on a daily basis. And, in 1991, he did the same thing with playwright Wendy Riss Gatsiounis.

Last week, when John Oliver simply asked Hoffman for an explanation regarding what these women, and others, have said, Hoffman got pissy, defensive and claimed he’d never met Anna Graham Hunter.  And then he used his role in Tootsie as the reason he could never be a pig because he played the character onscreen and loves women and would never!

And yet now others have come forward, like Kathryn Rossetter, who costarred with Hoffman in Death of a Salesman on Broadway and on TV, who says she auditioned for Death of a Salesman because she admired Hoffman as an actor and was thrilled that he pushed for her to get the part. But, when rehearsals began, Hoffman got her into his hotel room and demanded a back rub; she says she gave him a “lame” back rub that ended when the maid interrupted them. When the play began, however, the harassment and assault intensified:
“Since they loved my laugh, it was decided that I would stand in the wings … and laugh on cue in a memory scene. … That scene led directly into the scene in the second act with Dustin and me in the hotel room and Biff walking in on us. My costume was a vintage slip, no bra, garter belt and stockings. The wing space was limited, so directly behind me was a chair where Dustin would sit … One night in Chicago, I felt his hand up under my slip on the inside of my thighs. I was completely surprised and tried to bat him away while watching the stage for my cues. After the show he was busy with the producer and director so I had no access to him to address it. It then happened almost every show. Six to eight shows a week … One night he actually started to stick his fingers inside me. … I withdrew and got depressed … How could the same man who fought to get me the job, who complimented my work, who essentially launched my career, who gave me the benefit of his wisdom as an actor, how could he also be this sexual power abuser?”
Perhaps because he felt a sense of ownership over a woman because he “helped’ or maybe it’s just because he’s a pig; at any rate …
“The groping continued. After the shows at parties, whenever he had a picture taken with me, he would put his arm around my rib cage and then grab my breast just before they snapped the picture and then remove it. He was very skilled at dropping his hand just as the picture snapped to avoid it being recorded. … Only by luck do I have one such picture — where the camera caught him in the act. A picture I had taken with hopes of sending it to my family. A millisecond in time. There I am — big smile and my arm moving toward his with the intention to push it away. But caught as it is, it seems I’m complicit with the gesture. I was not. Not ever.”
Rossetter says one night Hoffman told crew members he was going to assault her and they all gathered backstage to watch him pull down her slip and reveal her breasts.

Pig. But there may be revenge, in a way that would hurt an ego like Tiny Dustin the most; he has a new film coming out and there was … was … talk of an Oscar nomination. Maybe this story will stop that.

Again. Pig.
More pig? Mario Batali.

It seems that Batali is “stepping away” from his empire, as well as ABC’s The Chew, on the heels of several allegations of sexual misconduct.

Four women have accused Batali of sexual harassment and assault spanning nearly 20 years; a female chef ALLEGES that a drunk Batali offered her a job, then groped her breasts; two other his female former employees have accused him of grabbing and groping them,; a third woman says he groped her breasts at a party.

Batali didn’t deny the allegations, but said:
“I apologize to the people I have mistreated and hurt. Although the identities of most of the individuals mentioned in these stories have not been revealed to me, much of the behavior described does, in fact, match up with ways I have acted. That behavior was wrong and there are no excuses. I take full responsibility and am deeply sorry for any pain, humiliation or discomfort I have caused to my peers, employees, customers, friends and family.”
Apparently, he’s desperate to save his “empire,” which may be difficult as more stories come out.
Hannibal Buress made his mark in Miami last week, but not the way he would have liked, I’m guessing.

Buress, ALLEGEDLY red-eyed and booze-scented, was leaving an Art Basel event and asked a police officer to call him an Uber. When the cop refused, Buress ALLEGEDLY got “angry and belligerent”—and, perhaps, a little “Don’t you know who I am?”—but walked back inside the venue with the officer following.

The officer thought Buress too drunk to be inside, so he asked him several times to leave; finally, after Buress stepped outside the officer again told him … five times … to leave the area five times, and he declined, and began shrieking profanities, and was arrested.

A witness filmed his arrest, and Hannibal did not go peacefully; he demanded to know what he was being arrested for… um, smell your breath …and when he was told he was being collared for trespassing, he didn’t take kindly to that reason. So, the officers put his drunk ass in the car and added disorderly intoxication to the trespassing charge.

I really wanted to hear him say “Don’t you know who I am?’ So someone, anyone, might respond, “Tracey Morgan? Kevin Hart? My waiter at Carrabas?”

Then Buress would really go off. Still, he had his mugshot taken at Glamour Shots, or so it seems.
So, Kevin Spacey. Before all the groping of young boys became news to everyone, Spacey was cast in a showy role in All The Money In The World.

But when the sexually assaulted boys began talking, Ridley Scoot, the director of the film, which was finished at the time, decided to spend $10 million reshooting all of Spacey’s scenes with Christopher Plummer taking over. Even other actors in the scenes, like Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg came back to the movie to film with Plummer, and this week … thanks to Karma … Christopher Plummer was nominated for a Golden globe for his part in the film.

Clearly, since the film won’t come out until Christmas Day, who else besides Scott and some editors saw Plummer’s performance? I mean, is he so great that he gets a nod for a film no one has seen, or is it clap-back at Spacey.

Yeah, clap-back.
What’s the newest, bestest, fastest way to improve ratings for a morning show?

Maybe having one of your cohosts fired for being handsy.

Yup, NBC’s Today Show is riding a ratings tidal wave since Matt Lauer was canned for being a pervert an is even outperforming Good Morning America.

How long until ABC gets a scandal of its own? I wonder, because after Charlie Rose’s sexual assault allegations, the rating for CBS This Morning are still in the tank, so maybe it’s not the story but the fact that Matt Lauer’s smug face is off TV.
I loved that they’ve rebooted Will & Grace this year, and I am mildly interested in the upcoming reboot of Roseanne, but there are some shows that, well, should never have appeared on a TV screen in the first place.

Blossom.

Blossom ran for five seasons on NBC and focused on the title character, a flowery hat wearing Blossom Russo, played by Mayim Bialik and her Dad, Ted Wass, and brothers Tony, Michael Stoyanov, and Joey, played by Joey Lawrence. And it’s Lawrence who’s been pushing for a reboot of the show, saying:
“There’s been serious talk about [a revival], believe it or not. Mayim and I have both said we’d be into it. We’ve talked to Don Reo about it, who created it. If there’s a way in, then I think we’re all down for it.”
Sure, Joey wants a Blossom reunion because what else is he doing? I mean, Mayim is appearing on a real hit show, Big Bang Theory and so does anyone think she’d give up that job for a second shot at Blossom?

The long and short answers are both ‘No.’

 Sorry Joey, take a seat.