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CNN
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Clarksdale, Mississippi mayor ‘excited' at prospect of a screening of ‘Sinners,' which is set there but lacks a movie theater
Clarksdale, Mississippi – which serves as inspiration for the setting of the Michael B. Jordan-starring film 'Sinners' – does not have a local cineplex, which led community organizer Tyler Yarbrough to ask the filmmakers and studio behind the project to host a screening in the city. Yarbrough, along with Clarksdale mayor Chuck Espy, spoke to CNN's Victor Blackwell, and shared their hopes that the screening will become a reality. 'Clarksdale is a ways away from a movie theater,' Yarbrough said in an interview, later adding that it took him about an hour and a half to drive to a theater that was showing the film. Espy pointed to depopulation and lack of funds as contributing factors to the loss of Clarkdale's two movie theaters, also detailing that most community-and family-centered venues started gravitating toward Memphis, Tennessee, some 80 miles away. 'I'm really excited for the opportunity to have potentially cast members to come and to give people an opportunity to have a real feeling and a real dialogue, so they can immerse themselves in something that the country has not seen,' he shared, referencing the heritage of his city. 'A lot of people are at the table to try to bring this to fruition,' he also said. 'People from over a 2-hour radius are talking about coming to Clarksdale to see this event.' Neither Espy nor Yarbrough said any plans for the screening have been finalized, but Yarbrough mentioned 'several conversations' he has been a part of with 'Warner Bros. executives.' He said the screening is 'looking very promising' to happen sometime between now and Juneteenth, but no details have been confirmed. 'We are asking Michael B. Jordan the rest of the cast. We're talking about studio execs,' Espy said. 'Every single person that has touched this wonderful film launched a great release. We're asking them to come to Clarksdale.' CNN has reached out to Warner Bros. Pictures for comment about the potential screening. 'Sinners,' a period piece/crime thriller/vampire horror hybrid from 'Black Panther' director Ryan Coogler, has dominated the box office and garnered positive reviews. The film is produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, which is owned by CNN's parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. In it, 1930s Mississippi is seen as a burgeoning and fertile place where blues music is created, as characters perform in moving cars and a juke joint is thrown together for the community to enjoy. 'Clarksdale is a melting pot. It has so many people that come from New Zealand, Australia, all around the world for the authentic feel of the blues,' Espy shared, later adding that the city's legacy 'has been going on for over a hundred years about the heritage of the Mississippi delta and the rich legacy of the blues.' 'So people come from all around the world just to touch the sacred soil of this city, to say 'I was there, where the blues was born.'' Yarbrough also mentioned how in a perfect world, he would be able to convince the 'Sinners' production team and cast to not only come for a screening and conversation, but also to explore some of what contemporary Clarksdale has to offer. 'We also wanted the cast to come down and experience our juke joints, to experience our museums like the Blues Museum,' among other things, he said. 'I really love a part of the movie that Coogler captured very well was just showing how the blues is the foundation. And you saw one scene where he intertwined all the different genres, from from hip-hop to pop to rock into this one scene, and there's a lot of power in that that locals need to see,' Yarbrough said. 'And so I think when it comes to this screening and everything, too, we're really trying to connect local folks, Deltans, to that power. So we can remember that we're powerful.' CNN's Hyan de Freitas contributed to this story.
CNN
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Clarksdale, Mississippi mayor ‘excited' at prospect of a screening of ‘Sinners,' which is set there but lacks a movie theater
Clarksdale, Mississippi – which serves as inspiration for the setting of the Michael B. Jordan-starring film 'Sinners' – does not have a local cineplex, which led community organizer Tyler Yarbrough to ask the filmmakers and studio behind the project to host a screening in the city. Yarbrough, along with Clarksdale mayor Chuck Espy, spoke to CNN's Victor Blackwell, and shared their hopes that the screening will become a reality. 'Clarksdale is a ways away from a movie theater,' Yarbrough said in an interview, later adding that it took him about an hour and a half to drive to a theater that was showing the film. Espy pointed to depopulation and lack of funds as contributing factors to the loss of Clarkdale's two movie theaters, also detailing that most community-and family-centered venues started gravitating toward Memphis, Tennessee, some 80 miles away. 'I'm really excited for the opportunity to have potentially cast members to come and to give people an opportunity to have a real feeling and a real dialogue, so they can immerse themselves in something that the country has not seen,' he shared, referencing the heritage of his city. 'A lot of people are at the table to try to bring this to fruition,' he also said. 'People from over a 2-hour radius are talking about coming to Clarksdale to see this event.' Neither Espy nor Yarbrough said any plans for the screening have been finalized, but Yarbrough mentioned 'several conversations' he has been a part of with 'Warner Bros. executives.' He said the screening is 'looking very promising' to happen sometime between now and Juneteenth, but no details have been confirmed. 'We are asking Michael B. Jordan the rest of the cast. We're talking about studio execs,' Espy said. 'Every single person that has touched this wonderful film launched a great release. We're asking them to come to Clarksdale.' CNN has reached out to Warner Bros. Pictures for comment about the potential screening. 'Sinners,' a period piece/crime thriller/vampire horror hybrid from 'Black Panther' director Ryan Coogler, has dominated the box office and garnered positive reviews. The film is produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, which is owned by CNN's parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. In it, 1930s Mississippi is seen as a burgeoning and fertile place where blues music is created, as characters perform in moving cars and a juke joint is thrown together for the community to enjoy. 'Clarksdale is a melting pot. It has so many people that come from New Zealand, Australia, all around the world for the authentic feel of the blues,' Espy shared, later adding that the city's legacy 'has been going on for over a hundred years about the heritage of the Mississippi delta and the rich legacy of the blues.' 'So people come from all around the world just to touch the sacred soil of this city, to say 'I was there, where the blues was born.'' Yarbrough also mentioned how in a perfect world, he would be able to convince the 'Sinners' production team and cast to not only come for a screening and conversation, but also to explore some of what contemporary Clarksdale has to offer. 'We also wanted the cast to come down and experience our juke joints, to experience our museums like the Blues Museum,' among other things, he said. 'I really love a part of the movie that Coogler captured very well was just showing how the blues is the foundation. And you saw one scene where he intertwined all the different genres, from from hip-hop to pop to rock into this one scene, and there's a lot of power in that that locals need to see,' Yarbrough said. 'And so I think when it comes to this screening and everything, too, we're really trying to connect local folks, Deltans, to that power. So we can remember that we're powerful.' CNN's Hyan de Freitas contributed to this story.
Boston Globe
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Mississippi judge vacates order for newspaper to remove editorial criticizing local leaders
The board of commissioners dropped the suit Monday at the request of Mayor Chuck Espy, who cited an offer from the paper's owner to run a clarification. However, Emmerich Newspapers president Wyatt Emmerich said he made that offer before the city filed its lawsuit and that it was no longer on the table. Emmerich had offered to clarify that the council said the lack of notification wasn't a deliberate attempt to hide the meeting, according to a text message Emmerich sent to the city attorney. The text also offered to clarify that a sentence questioning whether there was 'kick-back from the community' should have said 'push back.' Advertisement The city's lawsuit called the editorial libelous and said it 'chilled and hindered' the city's efforts to lobby for the tax with state legislators. The newspaper and other critics of the ruling said the order was a clear example of prior restraint in violation of the First Amendment. The order drew widespread criticism from press groups and free speech advocates around the country, including the National Press Club and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression had agreed to represent the newspaper in court.
Washington Post
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Mississippi city stuns newspaper with restraining order over editorial
A Mississippi judge ordered a local newspaper to take down an editorial criticizing its mayor and city council Tuesday, in a move that has alarmed free-speech advocates across the country and aggravated a years-long feud between the paper and the city's mayor. The city of Clarksdale, Mississippi, filed a defamation lawsuit against the Clarksdale Press Register following the publication of a Feb. 8 editorial that criticized the city's Democratic mayor, Chuck Espy, and the city council for holding a meeting about a proposed tax on marijuana, alcohol and tobacco products without alerting the media.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mississippi judge orders local paper to remove editorial critical of city council
A Mississippi judge granted a temporary restraining order Tuesday forcing a local paper to take down an editorial after the city council filed a libel lawsuit. On Feb. 13, the City of Clarksdale's four commissioners voted unanimously to sue the Clarksdale Press Register for what it claimed to be libel. Specifically, the city took issue with a Feb. 8 editorial titled "Secrecy, Deception Erode Public Trust" that claimed the mayor and commissioners did not properly inform the media about a meeting to discuss a new tax. The Press Register editorial said, "[T]he City of Clarksdale fail[ed] to go to the public with details about this idea before it sent a resolution to the Mississippi Legislature seeking a two-percent tax on alcohol, marijuana and tobacco." "The notice was posted at city hall as required by law and said stated the city would 'give appropriate notice thereof to the media,'" the editorial said. However, "This newspaper was never notified. We know of no other media organization that was notified." Former Kansas Reporter Accepts $235K Settlement In Lawsuit Over Police Raid Of Local Newspaper City attorney Melvin Miller II told Fox News Digital, "This meeting was open to the public. It was posted as it should have been, and it was on the mayor's Facebook page as the meetings are usually. Nothing illegal was done by the commissioners or the board as a whole." Read On The Fox News App The city commissioners and Clarksdale Mayor Chuck Espy claimed that the paper's editorial was libelous and filed a lawsuit against the paper, its owner and Press Register editor and publisher, Floyd Ingram. According to the complaint, "Within the context of his title, Mr. Ingram also strongly stated or implied the reason he did not receive notice to the February 4, 2025 meeting was because the Board and its members received 'kick-back,' 'just want a few nights in Jackson to lobby for this idea - at public expense,' give 'away candy at Halloween, toy giveaways at Christmas and hosting events where politicians can hand out goody bags to voters,' and made the community 'suspicious.'" "His statements could be reasonably understood as declaring or implying that the 'deceptive' reason he was not given notice of the meeting is provable through someone in the community willing to reveal promises made by Board members in exchange for votes or in the process of time," it continued. The lawsuit further claimed that efforts to lobby for the legislation have been "chilled and hindered" because of the editorial and if it were allowed to remain accessible, "immediate and irreparable injury, loss or damage will result to Clarksdale, the Board and its members, and the public." On Tuesday, Chancery Court of Hinds County Judge Crystal Wise Martin granted the city's petition for a temporary restraining order to remove the editorial from their website and make it "inaccessible" to the public. As of Wednesday, the article is no longer available. A hearing on the city's request for a preliminary injunction has been set for Feb. 27. "The injury in this case is defamation against public figures through actual malice in reckless disregard of the truth and interferes with their legitimate function to advocate for legislation they believe would help their municipality during this current legislative cycle," the order read. Jury Foreman In Cnn Defamation Trial Speaks Out, Says Network's Staff Did More Harm Than Good On Witness Stand Miller told Fox News Digital that this was not an attack on the press but what the city has argued was a false story. "We are not going after the press in general," Miller said. "We simply filed to remove libelous editorials. Mississippi has no opinion exception for defamation, and there was simply an untruth used to color a piece about legislation. And it was against the members of the board, and it's hurting the city. Any other reporting on the legislation, we did not go after it, only where there was an untruth about what the board members did." In a comment to Fox News Digital, Foundation for Individual Rights attorney Adam Steinbaugh attacked the decision as "unconstitutional." "The city of Clarksdale, Mississippi, thinks it knows better than the Founders," Steinbergh said. "Clarksdale has asked a court to order a local newspaper to remove an editorial asking why the city was not being more transparent about a proposed tax increase. As a result of the city's lawsuit, a court has ordered the Clarksdale Press Register to delete the online editorial." He continued, "That's unconstitutional. In the United States, the government can't determine what opinions may be shared in the public square. A free society does not permit governments to sue newspapers for publishing editorials. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting First Amendment rights, is exploring all options to aid the Press Register in defending these core expressive rights." Fox News Digital reached out to Clarksdale Press Register for article source: Mississippi judge orders local paper to remove editorial critical of city council
