Gene Maddaus-Senior: Last News

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterJohnny Depp took the stand on Tuesday afternoon in his defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard, saying he was focused on “clearing the record” regarding allegations that he engaged in domestic violence.“Truth is the only thing i’m interested in. Lies will get you nowhere, but lies build upon lies and build upon lies,” Depp said.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis raised the stakes in his fight with Disney on Tuesday, announcing that he would call on the Legislature to terminate the company’s self-governing district in Orlando.DeSantis has been fighting with Disney over the company’s opposition to the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which forbids classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA doctor and a nurse recounted the hunt for Johnny Depp’s severed fingertip, as testimony continued on Monday in his $50 million defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.Depp suffered the injury in March 2015, while he was in Australia for the filming of the fifth installment of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. Depp has accused Heard of throwing a bottle at him, severing the top of his middle finger.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA therapist who worked with Johnny Depp and Amber Heard in 2015 testified that the couple engaged in “mutual abuse,” and that Depp could be “triggered” by Heard.Laurel Avis Anderson’s testimony was played for jurors on the third day of the $50 million defamation trial underway in Fairfax, Va. Depp has sued Heard for publishing an op-ed in 2018 in which she alluded to domestic violence claims that she first made in the context of their 2016 divorce.Anderson testified via video deposition in February, and the video was played for the jury on Thursday morning. Anderson said she saw the couple several times between October and December 2015, and that the sessions could be stormy — with both of them threatening to walk out at times.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterJohnny Depp’s lawyers accused his ex-wife, Amber Heard, of fabricating domestic violence claims against him in order to advance her own career, as a defamation trial got underway in Virginia.Depp has sued Heard for $50 million, alleging that she devastated his career when she revived her allegations against him in a 2018 op-ed in the Washington Post. Depp’s attorneys — Ben Chew and Camille Vasquez — noted that the piece was published just before the release of “Aquaman,” in which Heard starred, and helped her portray herself as a sympathetic advocate for women.“She presented herself as the face of the #MeToo movement — the virtuous representative of innocent women across the country and the world who have truly suffered abuse,” Vasquez said.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterAfter losing in a U.K. court in 2020, Johnny Depp will get a second chance to try to refute allegations that he abused ex-wife Amber Heard at a trial opening today in Virginia.Depp sued Heard in 2019 over an op-ed she published in the Washington Post in which she alluded to prior allegations against Depp, saying she had become “a public figure representing domestic abuse.”She did not identify Depp by name in the op-ed or go into any details of the abuse, instead focusing on the backlash she had endured since making the claims in 2016 and the work still remaining for the #MeToo movement.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterThe members of the Directors Guild of Canada in British Columbia have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, after a year of negotiations on a new contract reached an impasse.The union announced that the vote passed with 92.2% support, with 86.2% of eligible members casting a vote. Union officials hope the vote gives negotiators the leverage to seek greater concessions in talks with film and TV producers.“We thank our members for the solidarity they have shown with this overwhelming mandate,” said Allan Harmon, the chairman of the union’s British Columbia council.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA judge on Wednesday ruled that several producers of “The Walking Dead” were not cheated out of profits by AMC Networks, bringing the long-running litigation over the hit show closer to a finale.Judge Daniel J. Buckley rejected the producers’ claim that AMC Networks had reverse-engineered the definition of “profits” in their contracts in order to keep the vast majority of the show’s profits for itself.The producers — Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Charles Eglee and Glen Mazzara — first filed suit in 2017, four years after the show’s creator Frank Darabont — who was fired after the first season — filed a similar claim against AMC.Darabont and CAA, his agency, won a $200 million settlement in their case last July.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterDisney’s mishandling of the “Don’t Say Gay” controversy has turned into an ongoing problem in Florida, as its unique role in state politics now faces scrutiny from critics on both the left and right.Gov. Ron DeSantis has led the attacks, saying it was time to reevaluate the “special privileges” the company has received over the decades, including its wholly controlled fief, known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterFive candidates took the stage for an L.A. mayoral debate last week, but as far as Hollywood is concerned, there might as well be only two.Karen Bass, the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, is the favorite among the industry’s Democratic donor community, led by Jeffrey Katzenberg and J.J. Abrams.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA Chinese visual effects and animation studio filed a lawsuit Thursday alleging that it is the victim of two American swindlers who forged documents, impersonated the CEO, and conned investors out of $234 million.Base FX, headquartered in Beijing, states that it was duped into trusting the two men — Remington Chase and Kevin Robl — over the course of several years, in which they engaged in several financing arrangements and a joint venture in Malaysia.However, over the last year and a half, the company has discovered that the men were using the relationship as a lure for investors, who were deceived into signing over $234 million, in what they thought were loans and investments in the company and its projects. Base FX alleges that Chase and Robl forged the signature of the company’s CEO on investment documents, created fake entities and bank accounts, had someone pretend to be the CEO in calls with investors, and set up a fake office for the company in Pasadena, Calif.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterAn Italian TV host was slated to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom this week to give testimony in the rape and sexual assault case against Harvey Weinstein.But the host, Pascal Vicedomini, did not show up, after his attorney informed prosecutors last week that he would remain in Italy.Vicedomini is the founder of several film festivals, including the L.A. Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest, which is being held this week at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.Before his downfall in 2017, Weinstein was a regular guest at Vicedomini’s festivals, and according to court records the two were close friends.In 2013, Weinstein flew to Los Angeles to attend the L.A.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterIn “The War of the Worlds,” Tom Cruise flees an alien invasion in a Plymouth minivan. The camera swoops around and around, capturing the drama inside the van as it swerves through traffic, and rising from a point below the bumper to look down on the chaos from high above.That shot was made possible by the Russian Arm, a gyro-stabilized crane mounted on the roof of a car. The technology was introduced in the late 1990s, and has become a mainstay of the “Fast and Furious” and “Mission: Impossible” franchises as well as Marvel and DC superhero films such as “Black Widow” and “Wonder Woman.” Whenever there’s a car chase or a cavalry charge or a stampede of giant robots, the director calls for the Russian Arm.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterAlec Baldwin tried to arrange a settlement with the widower of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins which would have allowed filmmakers to complete “Rust,” the production on which Hutchins was killed last October.Baldwin revealed the efforts in an arbitration filing on Friday. The settlement discussions ended when Matthew Hutchins filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Baldwin and others in the film last month.Baldwin filed an arbitration demand Friday against Ryan Smith, the lead producer on on the film, and against Rust Move Productions LLC, the production entity.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterFormer “Empire” star Jussie Smollett was sentenced to five months in jail on Thursday for concocting a hate crime hoax, in which he lied to police about being jumped by two men who yelled racist and homophobic slurs.Judge James Linn also ordered Smollett to pay $120,000 restitution to the city of Chicago, plus a $25,000 fine, and to serve 30 months of probation. After the sentence was announced, Smollett stood up and said, “I am innocent and I am not suicidal.” Smollett continued to shout as he was led out of the courtroom and remanded to custody.Linn delivered a scathing rebuke before rendering the sentence, saying Smollett had taken some “scabs off some healing wounds” because he wanted to make himself more famous.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterThe NAACP called on Hollywood to increase Black representation in its high-level executive ranks, issuing a report Wednesday arguing that Black executives need to have more influence in development and greenlighting of film and TV projects.The report, prepared by UCLA sociologist Darnell Hunt, comes nearly two years after corporate America — including the major Hollywood studios — made commitments to act on diversity and inclusion following the murder of George Floyd. The report includes survey responses and anonymous interviews with Black Hollywood executives, capturing a mix of both optimism and skepticism about the progress of those initiatives.“The intent is always good — the recognition that there is this big representation issue raised,” said one executive.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterHBO was hit with a class action lawsuit on Tuesday alleging that it shares subscribers’ viewing history with Facebook, in violation of a federal privacy law.A class action law firm, Bursor & Fisher, filed the suit in federal court in New York on behalf of two HBO Max subscribers, Angel McDaniel and Constance Simon. The suit alleges that HBO provides Facebook with customer lists, which allows Facebook to match customers’ viewing habits with their Facebook profiles.The suit alleges that HBO never receives consent from subscribers to do this, thereby violating the Video Privacy Protection Act.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterA media consultant claims in a new lawsuit that Endeavor stole his unsolicited ideas on how to pitch itself to Wall Street, and that his concepts are single-handedly responsible for saving the company from ruin.David Carde, who describes himself as a consultant in the media and technology sectors, alleges that in September 2019 his attorney emailed an 11-page analysis to Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and to Ari Greenburg, the president of WME. He apparently never received a response.At the time, Endeavor was making its first effort to launch an IPO.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterNetflix asked a federal court on Thursday to block a Texas prosecutor from pursuing child pornography charges against the streaming service for distributing the 2020 French film “Cuties.”Lucas Babin, the elected district attorney in Tyler County, Texas, indicted Netflix in September 2020, alleging that the film violates a state law against the “lewd exhibition” of children. The film portrays a children’s dance troupe, and sparked controversy in the U.S.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterAariel Maynor, the man accused in the fatal shooting of philanthropist Jacqueline Avant at her home in December, pleaded guilty on Thursday to a charge of murder.Maynor, 30, also pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Avant’s security guard and to carrying a firearm as a felon. Maynor is scheduled to be sentenced on March 30.Avant, 81, was the wife of music industry legend Clarence Avant and the mother of Nicole Avant, a former ambassador and prominent political fundraiser who is married to Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos.The Avants were at their home in the Trousdale Estates neighborhood of Beverly Hills when Jacqueline was shot after 2 a.m.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterJack Hanick, a onetime producer at Fox News, has been indicted on charges of working for a sanctioned Russian oligarch to establish TV networks in Russia and in other European countries.Hanick, 71, is accused of working for Konstantin Malofeyev, who since 2014 has been under U.S. sanctions that were imposed in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.