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Azealia Banks' Emotional Explanation For Her Problem With Iggy Azalea

December 19, 2014, 10:38 am
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During an emotional 47-minute interview with Hot 97, Azealia Banks explained her much-publicized problems with Iggy Azalea and the music industry in general with regard to how it treats black recording artists.

"I feel, just like in this country, whenever it comes to our things, like black issues or black politics or black music or whatever, there's always this undercurrent of kind of like a, 'Fuck you,'" Banks told Ebro in the Morning hosts Ebro Darden and Peter Rosenberg. "There's always like a, 'Fuck y'all, niggas. Y'all don't really own shit. Y'all don't have shit.'"

Banks referenced Macklemore winning Best Rap Album at the 2014 Grammy Awards as an example, before taking on Azalea.

"That Iggy Azalea shit isn't better than any fucking black girl that's rapping today, you know?" Banks said. "When they give those awards out -- because the Grammys are supposed to be accolades of artistic excellence, you know what I mean? Iggy Azalea is not excellent. [...] When they give these Grammys out, all it says to white kids is: 'Oh yeah, you're great, you're amazing, you can do whatever you put your mind to.' And it says to black kids: 'You don't have shit. You don't own shit, not even the shit you created for yourself,' and it makes me upset."

Banks, who called Azalea's attempts to appropriate Nicki Minaj's success over the past two years a "cultural smudging" (Banks cited how Azalea released a reissue album called "Reclassified," which was similar in title to Minaj's album, "Roman Reloaded"), later explained why this is all so important to her.

"Everybody knows that the basis of modern capitalism is slave labor. The selling and trading of these slaves. There are fucking huge corporations that are caking off that slave money and shit like that. So until y'all motherfuckers are ready to talk about what you owe me," she said while breaking down in tears. "At the very fucking least, you owe me the right to my fucking identity. And to not exploit that shit. That's all we're holding on to with hip-hop and rap."

In response to Banks' interview, Azalea blasted the rapper on Twitter for being "poisonous," "miserable" and a "bigot." (Banks has been criticized in the past for her use of the slur "faggot.")



















Banks perhaps knew she was going to get backlash for her words. "In general, whenever I have to say anything about anything, then it's like, 'Oh, here goes this crazy black bitch,'" she said. Watch Banks' full interview -- where she also discusses her issues with T.I. -- with Hot 97 below.

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Jimmy Kimmel Made 'Dora The Explorer' One Of The Dirtiest Shows Of 2014

December 19, 2014, 10:55 am
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With 2014 coming to a close, Jimmy Kimmel looked back at his weekly tribute to the FCC to find the most bleep-worthy moments from TV this year and assemble them into a highlight reel of made-up profanity.

“This Year In Unnecessary Censorship” features clips from "Dora the Explorer," Steve Harvey and, of course, Vice President Joe Biden.

Yes, these are all actually innocent clips, but Dora should still probably keep her monkey away from that horse.

"Jimmy Kimmel Live" airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.
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Petitioners Demand Sony Release 'The Interview,' Stand Up To Terrorist Threats

December 19, 2014, 12:10 pm
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Want to see "The Interview"? So do a lot of other would-be moviegoers, dissatisfied with Sony Pictures' decision this week to scrap the controversial film (which depicts the assassination of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un). And some have whipped up online petitions in an attempt to change studio executives' minds.

Sony's decision -- made following terror threats sent by the hacker group responsible for breaching the corporation's computer systems in November -- was met with plenty of criticism this week. On Friday, President Barack Obama said Sony "did the wrong thing." Writer and producer Aaron Sorkin called the ordeal "an unprecedented attack" on free speech, while celebrities posted reactions on Twitter in various shades of disgust.

The hackers, of course, were pleased with the company's decision. The group, which the FBI has claimed is connected to North Korea, released a statement calling the decision "very wise" and suggested additional leaks would not be made unless the studio "made additional trouble."

For those who would like Sony to do just that, options are limited. The studio, which not even George Clooney could convince industry leaders to defend, has said it has no plans to release the film in any form. But petitioners hope Sony might listen to the voice of the people.

From Change.org: "Please release 'The Interview' and stop letting terrorists decide which movies Americans get to see."

From the statement:

When Sony and the major theater groups declined to release "The Interview" because hackers threatened us and told them not to, they literally negotiated with terrorists. And, as even a cursory knowledge of modern American cinema would tell you, negotiating with terrorists is bad.


Add your signature here.

From We the People: "Urge Sony pictures to release the film 'The Interview' and protect our 1st Amendment."

From the statement:

We want our government to defend our first amendment by urging Sony to release "The Interview" and offer protection to movie goers as well as those involved in the production of the movie.


The White House is expected to respond to any We the People petition that receives more than 100,000 signatures within 30 days. You can also add your signature here.

Will signatures get anything done? We can't say. Although their exact impact remains unquantified, online petitions have achieved results in the past.

And besides, there's always the (very, very) slim chance Sony lets Gawker screen the film instead.
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Here's What 2014's Biggest News And Entertainment Moments Look Like Inside The Grand Budapest Hotel

December 19, 2014, 12:49 pm
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From Ellen DeGeneres' Oscars selfie to the anticipated release of "Gone Girl" to Kim Kardashian's now infamous Paper magazine photo shoot, 2014 proved to be one of the most memorable years in entertainment.

Accordingly, Beutler Ink compiled the most impactful moments to create an image based off Wes Anderson's "Grand Budapest Hotel" movie poster, creatively depicting the past year in news, media and popular culture. The artwork highlights more serious events as well, including the Ebola outbreak, protests for Michael Brown and Eric Garner and the information hack at Sony Pictures, among others.

2014 one picture


Below, a complete list of references, according to Beutler Ink:

"Guardians of the Galaxy"
"The LEGO Movie"
"Gone Girl"
"The Grand Budapest Hotel"
"Boyhood"
"The Fault in Our Stars"
"Interstellar"
"Godzilla"
"South Park" mocks Lorde
Ellen’s Oscar selfie
Lupita Nyong’o wins Oscar
Taylor Swift has first platinum album of the year
Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX - “Fancy”
Pharrell Williams
New U2 album goes to 500 million iTunes accounts
Meghan Trainor - “All About That Bass”
Sam Smith
Nicki Minaj - “Anaconda”
Radiohead’s Thom Yorke releases $6 album on BitTorrent
Health Goth style
Basic Bitch style
Normcore style
"The Simpsons" turns 25
"True Detective"
"The Walking Dead"
"How I Met Your Mother" series finale
"Pretty Little Liars" 100th episode
"True Blood" series finale
"The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon"
"Last Week Tonight With John Oliver"
Laverne Cox
"Game of Thrones" Season 4
"Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey" with Neil Degrasse Tyson
"Gilmore Girls" released on Netflix
Germany wins World Cup
Seahawks win the Super Bowl
LeBron James goes home to Cleveland
Spurs win the NBA championship
Winter Olympics in Sochi
Derek Jeter retires
Steve Ballmer becomes owner of the Los Angeles Clippers franchise
Roger Goodell is criticized; Bill Simmons is censored
Madison Bumgarner leads the San Francisco Giants to World Series victory
LA Kings win the Stanley Cup
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
Kim Kardashian’s Paper Magazine cover
Jaden and Willow Smith transcend reality
Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin “consciously uncouple”
Hacked celebrity nudes leak on Reddit
Ariana Grande
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie wed in secret ceremony
Jay Z is involved in elevator altercation with Solange
George Clooney marries Amal Alamuddin
Scottish independence referendum
Two Supreme Court rulings bolster marriage equality
GOP owns the midterms
Nik Wallenda’s blindfold tightrope walk
Polar vortex
MH370 goes missing
ISIS / ISIL
Ebola outbreak
Ferguson and Eric Garner protests
Bring Back Our Girls
Hong Kong protests
Putin ferments unrest in Crimea
iPhone 6
#GamerGate
Emojis are everywhere
Verizon vs. FCC
Uber vs. Lyft
Google glass
Apple Watch
Newsweek’s “The Face Behind Bitcoin” story
HBO Go slated to be released to the masses
Alex from Target
Apparently Kid
Slender Man
"Too Many Cooks"
"Big Hero 6"
The "Broad City" girls
"The Interview" film is pulled from theaters
Sarah Koenig from "Serial" Podcast
RIP Robin Williams
RIP Maya Angelou
RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman
RIP Joan Rivers
RIP Shirley Temple
RIP Harold Ramis
RIP Casey Kasem
RIP James Garner
RIP Flappy Bird
Bonus: Bill Beutler, founder of Beutler Ink
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Here's What James Franco Has Been Up To Since Sony Pulled 'The Interview'

December 19, 2014, 1:06 pm
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Hollywood responded with outrage on Wednesday after Sony canceled the release of "The Interview," scheduled for Dec. 25. But the film's stars, Seth Rogen and James Franco, have remained silent since preemptively nixing all press appearances on Tuesday.

Franco (or "Flacco," if you're Obama telling the nation that Sony made a "mistake") has been a busy boy. The actor/writer/director/poet hasn't let Sony's decision -- which could set a deeply troubling precedent for future films and freedom of expression -- slow him down.

Here's what James Franco has been up to since Sony canceled "The Interview":

1. He saw Emma Stone on Broadway in "Cabaret."





2. He celebrated Hanukkah with Lady Gaga.

Happy Hanukkah ❤️ @ladygaga + me.

A photo posted by James Franco (@jamesfrancotv) on






3. He partied with Marina Abramovic, Courtney Love and MoMA PS1 director Klaus Biesenbach.

Holiday party with klaus and the ladies: #marinaabromavic @ladygaga @klausbiesenbach @courtneylove

A photo posted by James Franco (@jamesfrancotv) on






4. He promoted his other film, "Don Quixote: The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha."





5. He turned the tables on a paparazzo.





6. He made a cameo for the final episode of "The Colbert Report."

Goodbye @thecolbertreport We love you!!!!!

Uma foto publicada por James Franco (@jamesfrancotv) em


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Directors Guild Of America Defends 'The Interview,' Wants To See It Released

December 19, 2014, 1:16 pm
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The Directors Guild of America agrees with President Barack Obama and the rest of the chorus criticizing Sony Pictures' decision to cancel the release of "The Interview" following terrorism threats.

DGA President Paris Barclay released a statement on the group's website Friday. He indicated that he would like to see "The Interview" receive some sort of distribution:

As the events of the past weeks have made painfully clear, we are now living in an age in which the Internet can enable a few remote cyber criminals to hold an entire industry hostage. This unprecedented situation demonstrates that even basic rights such as freedom of expression can quickly fall prey to those who would misuse and abuse the Internet to steal from, intimidate and terrorize our industry and our nation, and stands as an excruciating illustration of the heightened need for the federal government to increase its efforts to protect our society against cyber crimes, terrorism and all of its implications.

We hope that instead of the "chilling effect" on controversial content, this incident becomes a rallying point for all of us who care about freedom of expression to come together and champion this inalienable right. We stand by our director members Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and hope that a way can be found to distribute the film by some means, to demonstrate that our industry is not cowed by extremists of any type.


Earlier on Friday, Obama held a press conference in which he called Sony's decision a "mistake." Obama and Barclay's comments reflect similar sentiments from Judd Apatow and many others within the Hollywood community.
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Emily Blunt Dazzles In A Crop Top For The Edit

December 19, 2014, 1:21 pm
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Dressed in luxe outfits of black and white, Emily Blunt looks gorgeous in the latest issue of Net-a-Porter's digital magazine, The Edit.

The 31-year-old British beauty, who posed in a Herve Leger crop top and Lanvin skirt for the Dec. 18 issue, got frank about two "industries" in her cover story: parenting and Hollywood.

emily

“[Raising children] is such a fear-based industry,” Blunt, who gave birth to daughter Hazel in February, told the magazine. “There used to be one book that everyone read, now there’s How to Raise a Gluten-free Baby, How to Raise a Scientific Baby ... It’s insanity! So I haven’t read anything, I’m just letting her do her own thing.”

As for life as an actress, Blunt -- who is nominated for a 2015 Golden Globe for her role as the Baker's Wife in Rob Marshall's "Into the Woods" -- admitted it can be an affecting vocation, noting the deaths of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Williams this year.

“This can be an industry that thrills and tortures people at the same time,” she explained. “And it depends on who you are as to what extreme that goes to. It’s such a loss that Phil [Seymour Hoffman] and Robin [Williams] aren’t here anymore. I think it is a job that can be very affecting. For me, my only experience I can speak of was in [the upcoming] 'Sicario,' with Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin. I remember doing one scene and I couldn’t sleep for four days after it. I was very affected by it and I’m a pretty even-keeled person, so I think if you aren’t naturally that way, this job can have a very big impact on you.”

Head over to Net-a-Porter to read more from Blunt's interview with the Edit.

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Sony CEO Says President Obama, Press 'Are Mistaken' About What Happened With 'The Interview'

December 19, 2014, 1:41 pm
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Shortly after President Barack Obama called Sony Pictures' choice to cancel the release of "The Interview" in the wake of terrorism threats a "mistake," the studio's CEO, Michael Lynton, told CNN that critics of the decision don't understand the full story.

"I think actually the unfortunate part is in this instance the president, the press and the public are mistaken as to what actually happened," Michael Lynton said in an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria. "We do not own movie theaters. We cannot determine whether or not a movie will be played in movie theaters. So, to sort of rehearse for a moment the sequence of events, we experienced the worst cyber-attack in American history and persevered for three and a half weeks under enormous stress and enormous difficulty."

Sony's lack of proprietorship became clear when major chains such as AMC Entertainment, Regal Entertainment and Cinemark withdrew plans to screen the film after hackers invoked Sept. 11 to threaten theaters that supported the film. At the time, Sony had no plans to cancel the release, instead urging theaters to make their own decisions. Sony's statement, released Wednesday, said the reversal came "in light of the decision by the majority of our exhibitors not to show the film 'The Interview.'"

"The movie theaters came to us one by one over the course of a very short time. We were very surprised by it," Lynton told CNN. "They announced that they would not carry the movie. At that point in time we had no alternative to not proceed with a theatrical release on the 25th of December. [...] We have not caved. We have not given in. We have persevered."

Lynton noted the requests for a video-on-demand release of "The Interview," but he said no major VOD distributors have stepped forward. "We don’t have that direct interface with the American public, so we need to go through an intermediary to do that," he said.

Lynton's full interview airs tonight on "Anderson Cooper 360."
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Kim Kardashian Emailed Kris Jenner Some Hilariously Harsh Style Advice

December 19, 2014, 2:02 pm
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Every so often Kris Jenner is spotted wearing something that definitely came from one of her daughters' overflowing closets, and it turns out there's a good reason Jenner is sometimes referred to as the fourth Kardashian sister: her children encourage it.

Proof of such encouragement can be found in this hilariously harsh email from Jenner's admittedly "favorite" daughter Kim Kardashian, which the 59-year-old posted to Instagram on Friday:






For reference, here's the outfit that just wasn't up to Kim's standards:

kris jenner

Kim isn't the only one to notice her mother's love of a Peter Pan collar, but no one else will tell you the cold, hard truth like family. And no one besides Kim K will let you know when it's enough with this "omish shit."



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Sean Penn Says Pulling 'The Interview' Gives ISIS 'A Commanding Invitation'

December 19, 2014, 2:34 pm
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Sean Penn has joined George Clooney, Judd Apatow, Aaron Sorkin and Barack Obama in blasting Sony for its decision to pull "The Interview" from release. In a letter sent to Mother Jones, Penn noted that Sony's move -- which happened after the company reportedly put the fate of "The Interview" in the hands of theater owners, who decided against running the film -- had given ISIS "a commanding invitation."

"I believe ISIS will accept the invitation," Penn wrote. "Pandora's box is officially open."

As with Clooney and Apatow, Penn noted that Sony's decision set a disturbing precedent:

The damage we do to ourselves typically outweighs the harm caused by outside threats or actions. Then by caving to the outside threat, we make our nightmares real. The decision to pull 'The Interview' is historic. It's a case of putting short term interests ahead of the long term. If we don't get the world on board to see that this is a game changer, if this hacking doesn't frighten the Chinese and the Russians, we're in for a very different world, a very different country, community, and a very different culture.


Late Friday, Sony released a statement defending itself against claims that it had made a misstep in its handling of "The Interview."

Sony Pictures Entertainment is and always has been strongly committed to the First Amendment. For more than three weeks, despite brutal intrusions into our company and our employees’ personal lives, we maintained our focus on one goal: getting the film The Interview released. Free expression should never be suppressed by threats and extortion.

The decision not to move forward with the December 25 theatrical release of The Interview was made as a result of the majority of the nation’s theater owners choosing not to screen the film. This was their decision.

Let us be clear – the only decision that we have made with respect to release of the film was not to release it on Christmas Day in theaters, after the theater owners declined to show it. Without theaters, we could not release it in the theaters on Christmas Day. We had no choice.

After that decision, we immediately began actively surveying alternatives to enable us to release the movie on a different platform. It is still our hope that anyone who wants to see this movie will get the opportunity to do so.


Read Penn's letter over at Mother Jones.
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11 Perfect Gifts For The Instagram Addict In Your Life

December 19, 2014, 3:13 pm
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Instagram has already blessed us with five new filters and other updates this holiday season. But if you've got friends who just can't get enough of the photo-sharing network (and we all do), you may need even more Instagram-themed gifts.

And wow, there are a lot of them. People have created all sorts of ways to not only improve your Instagram photos, but to bring them out of your smartphone and into your real life. Instagram calendar, anyone? Here's a sampling.

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HuffPost Live's 'Spoiler Alert' Picks The Best TV Shows Of 2014

December 19, 2014, 4:04 pm
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It's been a wonderful year for television, with shows like "Transparent," "The Comeback" and "Orange Is The New Black" delivering top-tier writing, acting and directing each and every week. But with so many shining series, which shows hit the highest notes this year? HuffPost Live's "Spoiler Alert" tackled that question on Friday, when host Ricky Camilleri, HuffPost Entertainment editor Matthew Jacobs, HuffPost Live news editor Ryan Buxton and Decider.com deputy editor Tyler Coates picked the 10 best shows of 2014.

Sign up here for Live Today, HuffPost Live’s morning email that will let you know the newsmakers, celebrities and politicians joining us that day and give you the best clips from the day before!
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Kristen Bell Welcomes Second Child With Dax Shepard

December 19, 2014, 8:33 pm
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Congrats go out to Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard!

The couple welcomed their second child, a daughter named Delta Bell Shepard, they announced on Twitter Friday. Bell and Shepard's little bundle of joy joins big sister Lincoln, 1.







Bell recently told People that deciding on a baby name was much more difficult the second time around. "We had a little bit of a breakthrough. We’ve settled on one, thankfully," she said. "It’s a lot of pressure, especially because we felt ‘Lincoln’ was so perfect.”

As for her pregnancy, Bell said it was easy, breezy. "I've had a lot of friends who have had rough pregnancies and I'm really, really thankful," she told Us Weekly. "People are affected differently by hormones, we're all different."

Congrats to the happy family!
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Annie Review

December 19, 2014, 8:52 pm
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On the surface, there is absolutely no reason to update the classic Broadway show Annie, which was already adapted for the screen in 1982. But this multicultural cast redux adds a hip swag to the classic kid's story. This Annie is urban, emotional and fun. But far from perfect.

2014-12-19-JamieFoxxandQuvenzhaneWallsinAnnieMED2.jpg
Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhané Wallis co-star in the family musical Annie (photo courtesy of Sony Pictures).


Annie (Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild), a foster child, lives with some other girls in a modern-day tenement apartment in Harlem. The kids are watched over by a cruel and constantly inebriated Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz). Hannigan, when she is not screaming her lungs bloody and can catch her breath, reminds them why they live with her: $157 a head from the Social Services department. Every Friday night Annie goes to a restaurant in Greenwich Village and waits for a couple to arrive. It's the couple who abandoned her there as an infant. Friday nights for Annie are a mix of hope and disappointment.

On the other side of town, the rich side, Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx), an ambitious, billionaire cellphone honcho, lives in a luxury building. Stacks is running for mayor but not getting much traction. His campaign manager (Bobby Cannavale) and advisor (Rose Byrne) coach him the best they can, but Stacks' knack for charming the press and possible constituents is nonexistent. Then, as if by fate, he saves Annie from being run over by a car. In this day of iPhones and YouTube, his one act of heroism is recorded, uploaded and on the Web in seconds. And thus begins the journey of two lost souls who try to make sense of their disparate lives -- together.

Screenwriters Will Gluck and Aline Brosh McKenna set their story against a slow economic recovery that feels like the ghost of the 1920s Great Depression, the setting for the original Annie. The plotting, with the new algorithm, heads down that same city sidewalks as the original, with Annie and her new, rich surrogate dad learning life lessons from each other. There are mishaps, misunderstandings, photo ops and finally a day of reckoning. The cheeky dialogue is surprisingly funny. When asked how big Stacks' penthouse apartment's living room was, Annie replies, "I think it was Connecticut." There are also sexual innuendos that adults will understand and kids won't, kind of like the dialogue in Shrek, when children couldn't figure out why their parents where howling with laughter.

Gluck's direction is pretty kinetic. Scenes move along at a quick pace, and he seems to have a visual gimmick for each sequence. That said, there is nothing spectacular about his guidance; he lacks style, and the footage looks more fitting for the Family Channel and not what you'd expect from a major theatrical release.

Wallis is solid, but we know from her Oscar-caliber performance in Beasts of the Southern Wild that she is a gifted young actress. Foxx is smooth and is a lot better at crafting his stuffy, wealthy, 40-something character in this comedy than he is at building credible interpretations in dramatic films. His smirk is worth a thousand lines of dialogue. Cameron Diaz's performance is over the top, and she has to play to the cheap seats because she portrays such an unlikable character and is given the worst lines. Cannavale and Byrne are decent but not great. Stephanie Kurtzuba, as a social-services clerk/counselor with a thick Russian accent and a roving eye, steals their thunder easily.

Tech credits -- sets, editing, costumes, art direction -- are OK, but nothing particularly stands out.

Old songs like "Tomorrow" are joined by new tunes like "Who Am I?", which is the best-performed song in the movie. And while we're talking about music, I have to ask: Why cast a musical with people who can't sing? Wallis' soft vocals are forgettable. Acting dynamo? Yes. Singer? No. Diaz is near tone-deaf, and her meek vocals are embarrassing. Only Foxx and Kurtzuba can belt it out, and their voices alone can't carry the entire film. And to top it off, all they are doing is lip-synching. It's not like they're singing live, like Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables.

Even with all these imperfections, as Annie careens towards the final moments, your eyes may get a bit misty. She's just a kid. Life has been brutal. She's looking for love. How can you hate a protagonist like that? How can you hate the movie she's in?

You may grimace at some points, but kids might like it anyway.

Visit NNPA Syndication film critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com.
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Darlene Love Sings 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' For David Letterman One Last Time

December 20, 2014, 6:36 am
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For the last 28 years, Darlene Love's Christmas gift to you was her performance of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on David Letterman's late-night show. "You, the David Letterman show, started this connection," Love told Letterman on Friday, before her final appearance on Letterman's "Late Show." "I didn't sing this song that much. [...] The more we did it on the show, the more people wanted me to do it."

The story of how Love's performance became an annual holiday tradition has been discussed in many interviews, but the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer did say one bit of misinformation was out there: that she'll never sing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" again.

"I would never sing it again on another show," Love clarified on Friday. "This is where it will end. But I will sing the song again." Please do.

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'Dark Knight Rises' Murders Hung Over 'The Interview' Decision

December 20, 2014, 8:01 am
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — When a group claiming credit for the hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment threated violence against theaters showing "The Interview" earlier this week, the fate of the movie's big-screen life was all but sealed.

Even though law enforcement didn't deem the threats of violence credible at the time, theater owners and Sony undoubtedly considered the 2012 massacre of a dozen people in a Colorado movie theater. That attack came without warning, and at the time there was no precedent for such mass violence against a U.S. movie audience. The theater's owner contends it could not have foreseen the bloodshed, but it still faces 20 lawsuits over the mass shootings and survivors and victims' families asserting more should have been done to protect those who went to see a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."

Experts say the defense used by Cinemark Holdings, Inc couldn't be used if violence broke out at a showing of "The Interview."

"It wasn't worth the risk," said Eric Wold, a movie exhibitor analyst with B. Riley & Co.

Despite the legal liability, at least one notable lawyer disagrees with the decision to cancel "The Interview." President Barack Obama said Friday that it was a mistake for Sony to scrap the film, and he wished executives had consulted with him first.

"We cannot have a society in which some dictatorship someplace can start imposing censorship," Obama said.

Some Hollywood notables, including actors Rob Lowe, Steve Carrell and director Michael Moore, have also criticized Sony's decision.

Diplomatic and creative considerations aside, scrapping "The Interview" was not a huge financial consideration for theater owners, who would ultimately be responsible for any lawsuits over violence. The film, starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, was expected to account for less than two percent of fourth quarter earnings for movie theaters, Wold said.

Due to digital projections, theater owners can quickly re-program their screens to show other movies, such as new releases "The Hobbit 3" or "Night at the Museum." ''It's the press of a button," Wold said.

The alternative could have been serious injuries to moviegoers as well as multiple lawsuits if the group calling itself the Guardians of Peace, or a copycat, attacked a cinema, said Jonathan Handel, a lawyer and professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.

"That's a lot of liability hanging over the theater chain," Handel said.

He noted that mall owners and other studios had pressured Sony to cancel the Christmas Day release of "The Interview," which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco. "They don't want the movie-going experience on Christmas Day to resemble check in at LAX," he said.

The film features an assassination plot against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the nation has denounced the movie. The FBI said Friday that it had determined North Korea was responsible for the hacking of Sony's servers, which resulted in the theft of unreleased films, scripts, financial and medical information on employees and other corporate data.

It was only a matter of hours after hackers threatened massive violence against any theater showing "The Interview" that exhibitors started dropping the film. And no wonder.

"If, God forbid, something happened, they're the ones who would be responsible for any lack of security or decisions that were made that led to the incident," said entertainment attorney Uri Fleming of the firm Kleinberg Lange Cuddy & Carlo.

Sony cited the theater owners' decision to drop the film as the reason for its pulling of the movie.

"Without theaters, we could not release it in the theaters on Christmas Day. We had no choice," the company wrote in a statement. Sony said it was looking for alternative distribution channels for the film.

It remains unclear how a jury will perceive the case against Cinemark, which operated the Aurora, Colo., theater that James Holmes attacked in July 2012 during a midnight screening of the final installment of the latest Batman trilogy.

In court filings, lawyers for victims of the shooting have noted that Cinemark deployed extra security at some of its midnight "Dark Knight Rises" screenings and had employed a security firm to assess the risk of a drug cartel attacking a theater along the U.S.-Mexico border.

In an August ruling rejecting a motion by Cinemark to throw out the Aurora victims' suits, U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson wrote that whether the company could have been expected to deploy extra security without a threat against its theaters "is not an easy question to answer."

However, the judge noted that moviegoers are especially vulnerable to attack.

"Although theaters had theretofore been spared a mass shooting incident, the patrons of a movie theater are, perhaps even more than students in a school or shoppers in a mall, 'sitting ducks,'" Jackson wrote.

Fleming, the entertainment attorney, said Sony and the theater chains are unlikely to face any significant repercussions from pulling "The Interview."

"Business relationships are the glue that bind (Hollywood)," he said.

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Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP
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Jimmy Fallon Explains Why Your Favorite Holiday Traditions Are Actually Ridiculous

December 20, 2014, 10:42 am
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Well, there go your holiday memories.

Jimmy Fallon's "Thank You Notes" just revealed the truth behind some of your favorite holiday traditions, and it will totally open your eyes. For instance, have you ever noticed how stockings are basically flammable pieces of fabric hung above a fire? Or have you thought about the real reason why Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was so popular?

After this, all you can really say is, "Thank you, Jimmy Fallon, for completely destroying the holidays in the best way ever."

"The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on NBC.
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Ben Stiller Confronts Chris Rock On Replacing Him As Hashtag The Panda

December 20, 2014, 12:17 pm
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#Awkward.

Earlier this year, Jimmy Fallon revealed that Ben Stiller was Hashtag the Panda, a hilarious "Tonight Show" furry who randomly comes out to dance around. It was all fun and games until Stiller dropped by the show on Friday to promote "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb" and found out he had been replaced by Chris Rock, whose new movie "Top Five" is also in theaters.

Who would've thought a giant fluffy animal costume could make things so uncomfortable? Oh well, let the late night Panda wars begin!

"The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on NBC.
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LL Cool J Squashes Legendary Rap Feud With Canibus

December 20, 2014, 12:29 pm
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LL Cool J and Canibus' rap feud is finally over ... and we got video evidence to prove their on stage bro-down was totally legit.

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BitTorrent Urges Sony To Release 'The Interview' On Its Paid Service

December 20, 2014, 12:38 pm
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Filing-sharing giant BitTorrent is urging Sony Pictures to release "The Interview" on its new, paid service.

The software company, synonymous with illegal music and movie pirating, had several talks this week with the embattled movie studio about debuting the canceled Seth Rogen action-comedy as a "bundle" of links to files that can be controlled and sold to users legally. Sony scrapped plans to debut the picture in theaters next week after suffering a devastating cyberattack by hackers linked to North Korea -- apparently in retaliation for the film's depiction of the fictional assassination of the country's leader, Kim Jong Un.

"A group of hackers stopped an American company from releasing a commercial film -- this should not stand," Matt Mason, the chief content officer at BitTorrent, told The Huffington Post on Saturday. "This is wrong and we can help make it right."

BitTorrent bills its bundle service as the most lucrative means for artists and studios to distribute music, ebooks and films. It has positioned itself as an alternative to streaming services as more artists, such as Taylor Swift, abandon Spotify and Pandora in protest of the meager cut of revenues they receive. In September, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke became arguably the most famous musician to sell an album exclusively through a bundle. It was downloaded more than 1 million times.

The only overhead for the content creator is the 10 percent cut of each purchase that BitTorrent takes and the cost of processing the payments through PayPal or a credit card company. The artist is usually left with, on average, 85 percent of the revenue, Mason said.

That could be the file-sharing network's best pitch.

Sony stands to lose almost $200 million on the movie, according to Bloomberg. Canceling the film stirred public outrage, and calls for the studio to release "The Interview" online have grown louder over the past few days. Some have declared it a "civic duty" to see the film.

During a Friday appearance on CNN, Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton said no major video-on-demand distributors or e-commerce sites had offered to screen the film.

Sony did not respond to a request for comment.

Streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon and platforms like iTunes and Google Play would undoubtedly court a similar cyberattack if they released the movie. And Sony has been reluctant to offer the film at all. The hackers, who the FBI claims are agents of Pyongyang, have threatened to release more of its trove of humiliating internal emails and documents if they reversed plans to drop "The Interview" altogether.

BitTorrent works as a peer-to-peer file-sharing network, with about 170 million users running the software each time their computers share files. It would be nearly impossible for hackers to suppress the movie as the files bounced between viewers' computers.

Plus, BitTorrent is beloved by hackers. The BitTorrent protocol -- a means by which computers communicate with each other -- makes up nearly 3.4 percent of all bandwidth used for file-sharing worldwide, making it by far the most popular software in that category.

"This is a way for Sony to not only deliver the film in a real way, but get out on the side of the hacker community," Mason said. "This is an issue that's bigger than 'The Interview,' bigger than the Sony hack -- it's really about free speech."
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