Sarah Snook wins Tony award
Sarah Snook accepts the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play award for "The Picture of Dorian Gray" at the the 78th Annual Tony Awards in New York City, U.S., June 8, 2025. ( REUTERS/Brendan Mcdermid )
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News.com.au
31 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Harvey Weinstein found guilty of sexual assault
Disgraced Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of one sexual assault at his retrial Wednesday and not guilty of another, with jurors still considering a rape charge after hearing graphic testimony from his alleged victims. Weinstein was retried for offenses against two women, Jessica Mann whom he is alleged to have raped, and Miriam Haley whom he was found to have sexually assaulted, alongside new charges of assaulting ex-model Kaja Sokola. He was found not guilty of those new charges at the tense proceeding in a Manhattan court on Wednesday. Delivering the verdict of the seven women and five men of the jury on the Haley count, the foreman said: "Guilty." He shook his head when he was asked for a verdict on the rape of Mann, and said "not guilty" on the Sokola count. Weinstein looked on impassively, seated in a wheelchair and wearing a dark suit as he has done throughout the six weeks of hearings. But later, the 73-year-old appeared to mutter "Not true" as he was wheeled out of court. Following the verdict, Haley told reporters that the defense's "victim shaming and deliberate attempts to distort the truth was exhausting and at times dehumanizing." "But today's verdict gives me hope, hope that there is new awareness around sexual violence and that the myth of the 'perfect victim' is fading." - Threats - The verdicts came after a dramatic morning in which tensions in the jury deliberation room spilled into the open. The foreman had told the judge Curtis Farber he could not continue after facing threats. "One other juror made comments to the effect 'I'll meet you outside one day'," the judge said quoting the foreman, adding there was yelling between jurors. After Weinstein's lawyer Arthur Aidala heatedly demanded a mistrial over the jury rupture, Weinstein himself addressed the court, deploying a commanding voice reminiscent of the heyday of his Hollywood power. "We've heard threats, violence, intimidation -- this is not right for me... the person who is on trial here," he said. "My lawyers, the District Attorney's lawyers can fight all they want, (but) this is my life that's on the line and it's not fair." "It's time, it's time, it's time your honor, to say this trial is over," Weinstein added. The judge responded that while unusual, disputes between jurors were not unheard of, before pressing on to hear the jury's partial verdict. - Genesis of 'MeToo' - The Oscar-winner's conviction is a vindication for Haley, whose complaint in part led to the initial guilty verdict in 2020, and helped spur the "MeToo" movement that saw an outpouring of allegations from prominent women who were abused by men. Weinstein underwent a spectacular fall from his position astride the world of Hollywood and show business in 2017 when the first allegations against him exploded into public view. The movement upended the film industry, exposing the systemic exploitation of young women seeking to work in entertainment, and provoking a reckoning on how to end the toxic culture. More than 80 women accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct in the wake of the global backlash against men abusing positions of power. Weinstein's original 2020 conviction, and the resulting 23-year prison term, was thrown out last year after an appeals court found irregularities in the way witnesses were presented. Throughout the trial that began on April 15, Weinstein's sharp-suited attorney argued that the context had shifted since the first proceedings. While the "MeToo" movement was "the most important thing in society" back them, "I think people's heads are in a different place right now," Aidala said. Any sentence will be in addition to the 16-year term Winstein is already serving after being convicted in California of raping a European actress over a decade ago. Weinstein, the producer of box office hits like "Pulp Fiction" and "Shakespeare in Love," did not take the stand during his retrial, but did acknowledge in an interview he acted "immorally." The retrial played out with far less public attention than the initial proceedings, when daily protests against sexual violence were staged outside the court. This time, the case was eclipsed by the blockbuster trial of hip-hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs taking place at an adjacent courthouse.
News.com.au
31 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Beach Boy Brian Wilson, surf rock poet, dies at 82
Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys co-founder who masterminded the group's wild popularity and soundtracked the California dream, has died, his family announced Wednesday. He was 82. The statement on Instagram did not give a cause. Wilson was placed under a legal conservatorship last year due to a "major neurocognitive disorder." "We are at a loss for words right now," said his family. "We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world." The pop visionary crafted hits whose success rivaled The Beatles throughout the 1960s, a seemingly inexhaustible string of feel-good tracks including "Surfin' USA," "I Get Around," "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Surfer Girl" that made the Beach Boys into America's biggest selling band. Wilson didn't surf but his prodigious pen and genius ear allowed him to fashion the boundary-pushing soundscape of beachside paradise. His lush productions were revered among his peers, with even Bob Dylan once telling Newsweek: "That ear -- I mean, Jesus, he's got to will that to the Smithsonian!" But after five years of extraordinary songwriting, in which he produced 200 odes to sun, surfing and suntanned girls, Wilson sank into a deep, drug-fueled depression for decades. He would emerge 35 years later to complete the Beach Boys' unfinished album, "Smile" -- widely regarded as his masterpiece. - 'Surfin' USA' - John Lennon said he considered "Pet Sounds" (1966) to be one of the best albums of all time, while Paul McCartney said Wilson was a "genius" -- who reduced him to tears with one song from the album, "God Only Knows," which Wilson wrote in 45 minutes. Its melancholic depths hinted at Wilson's own painful secret. Born on June 20, 1942 in a Los Angeles suburb, Wilson found music as a haven of safety and joy after an upbringing in which he suffered abuse from his domineering father, who would go on to manage the group. Music was his protection, and The Beach Boys was a family affair: he formed the band with his two brothers Dennis and Carl, his cousin Mike Love and neighbor Al Jardine. Wilson did all the songwriting, arranging and sang and played bass guitar; his bandmates just had to sing in harmony. Their first song "Surfin," in 1961, was a loose prototype for the unique sound that would become their signature, a fusion of the rock styles of Chuck Berry and Little Richard with the preppy vocal harmonies of "The Four Freshmen." By late 1962, there was hardly a teen who did not know them thanks to the eternal ode to youthful nonchalance, "Surfin' USA." - Lost youth - But Wilson was ill at ease on stage and did not like recording studios. In 1964 he had a panic attack on a plane to France, after which he stopped touring. He was deaf in his right ear and his mouth sagged when he sang -- the result of the many beatings he received from his father. "It was tough. My dad was quite the slave driver," Wilson told Rolling Stone magazine in 2018. "He made us mow the lawn and when we were done, he'd say, 'Mow it again.' The Beach Boys' early songs spoke of simple joys and innocence. But Wilson's writing became darker as he began to eulogize lost youth. He channeled the group towards the more psychedelic rock central to the hippie culture taking hold in California. In 1966 he brought out "Good Vibrations," a song recorded in four different studios that consumed over 90 hours of tape and included multiple keys, textures, moods and instrumentations. The single topped the charts and sold one million copies in the United States, but Wilson was at the brink. In 1967, his mental health deteriorated, worn down by his enormous workload and his wild consumption of drugs. He abandoned "Smile," planted his grand piano in a sandbox, and took vast quantities of LSD and acid. Eventually diagnosed as schizophrenic, Wilson began hearing voices and thought the famed "Wall of Sound" producer Phil Spector was spying on him and stealing his work. The group eventually parted ways. - 'Gentlest revolutionary' - The troubled artist had long stints of rehab and relapses as well as legal issues including a lengthy, eyebrow-raising relationship with a controlling psychotherapist who was eventually blocked by a court order from contact with Wilson. The artist credits his marriage to former model Melinda Ledbetter as helping him to rebuild his life. He revived and finished "Smile," releasing it in 2004. His brother Dennis drowned in 1983, while Carl died of cancer in 1998. Last year Wilson's family successfully pursued a legal conservatorship following the death of Melinda, with his longtime manager and publicist being put in charge of his affairs. Wilson's seven children were consulted by the conservators regarding major health decisions as a stipulation of the agreement. The musician's many accolades included a Kennedy Center Honor in 2007, when that committee dubbed him "rock and roll's gentlest revolutionary." "There is real humanity in his body of work," they said, "vulnerable and sincere, authentic and unmistakably American."
SBS Australia
38 minutes ago
- SBS Australia
Brian Wilson, Beach Boys co-founder, dies aged 82
Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson, who created some of rock's most enduring songs such as Good Vibrations and God Only Knows has died at the age of 82. Wilson's family announced his death in a statement on the singer's website. "We are at a loss for words right now," the statement said. "We realise that we are sharing our grief with the world." The statement did not disclose a cause of death. Wilson had suffered from dementia and was unable to care for himself after his wife Melinda Wilson died in early 2024, prompting his family to put him under conservatorship. Wilson was the eldest and last surviving of the three musical brothers who formed the United States rock band in 1961, alongside their cousin Mike Love and school friend Al Jardine. The band, known for their vocal harmonies, signed with Capitol Records in 1962 and released their first album, Surfin' Safari, that same year. Wilson was born on June 20 1942, and began to play the piano and teach his brothers to sing harmony as a young boy. Music was a haven of safety and joy for Wilson after an upbringing in which he suffered abuse from his domineering father, who would go on to manage the group. The Beach Boys started as a neighbourhood act, rehearsing in Wilson's bedroom and in the garage of their house in suburban Hawthorne, California. Wilson played bass while his brother Dennis drummed and Carl played lead guitar. The band's work centred on Wilson's songwriting and arrangements. Their debut single, Surfin', became a minor hit on its release in 1961 but was nothing compared with the success that followed from their second studio album, Surfin' USA, released in 1963. The band's 1966 album Pet Sounds is considered by many their defining work — and is often cited as one of the greatest albums of all time. Wilson's career would be derailed, though, as his drug use became untenable and his mental state, which would eventually be diagnosed as schizoaffective disorder with auditory hallucinations, grew shakier. Splitting from the band in the late 1990s, Wilson released several solo albums, including 2004's critically acclaimed Smile. Wilson's brothers had both died by the time of the Beach Boys' 50th reunion tour in 2012, but he joined Love, who became the band's controlling force in its later years, for several shows They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 2001.
