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Buzz Feed
10-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
15 Celeb Scandals That Should've Been WAY Bigger
I honestly can't believe more people don't talk about the Katy Perry vs. nuns debacle. Essentially, Perry bought a former convent in 2015 — only the nuns of Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary had already sold it to restaurateur Dana Hollister, who had moved in. The archdiocese, who sold the property to Perry, claimed the nuns hadn't had the right to sell the property, and a messy legal battle began. In one post-judgement hearing (after the judge ruled against the nuns), one of the nuns, 89-year-old Catherine Rose Holzman, collapsed and died. The nuns preferred Dana as an owner because she would keep the convent open to the public, converting it into a hotel. Also, they would not get any money from the sale to Perry, despite the fact that they had originally purchased the convent in the first place. Holzman also said, "Katy Perry represents everything we don't believe in. It would be a sin to sell to her." Hours before her death, Holzman spoke to the press, saying she and the other nuns had asked the Vatican for help. Holzman pleaded with Perry "to please stop" pursuing the purchase, saying, "It's not doing anyone any good except hurting a lot of people." The last surviving nun, Sister Mary Callinan, told the New York Post in 2019 that Perry has 'blood on her hands." It's unclear if the sale even ever actually went through, and it doesn't look like Perry has ever lived there. It doesn't appear Perry has addressed the case publicly. Speaking of Perry — I feel like most people aren't aware of her sexual misconduct allegations, beyond the viral uncomfortable video of her kissing an American Idol contestant. She's additionally been accused of touching and kissing a Russian TV host without consent and exposing model Josh Kloss's genitals to others at a party. Oh, and remember the time she squeezed 18-year-old Shawn Mendes's butt? Katy issued a response stating, 'I don't want to say 'guilty until proven innocent,' but there's no checks and balances: A headline just flies, right? And there's no investigation of what it is. I don't want to add to the noise. I want to add to the truth, basically.' However, she did not explicitly deny the allegations, saying, 'I don't comment on all the things that are said about me because if I chase that dragon, it would be about true and false-ing my whole life. It's distracting from the real movement.' I also feel like Jenny McCarthy didn't get quite enough flack for forcibly grabbing and kissing Justin Bieber onstage at the 2012 American Music Awards. Justin, who was 18 at the time, even said directly after the incident that he felt "violated." McCarthy later said, 'I couldn't help it, he was just so delicious, so little, and just, ahhhk, I wanted to tear his head off and eat it," and that she "kind of molested him." She added, 'I want some Bieber fever — and I want a Bieber rash. It'd be like cougar rape.' It doesn't appear Bieber or McCarthy ever addressed this incident beyond McCarthy's above comments directly afterwards. I feel like the controversy people talk about surrounding Nicki Minaj is usually related to her vaccine-related tweets, but the one they should be talking about is far worse. Back in 2021, Minaj and her husband Kenneth Petty were sued for intimidating a woman (Jennifer Hough) who had previously accused Petty of raping her at gunpoint. In fact, Petty had been convicted of attempted rape back in 1994 and served four and a half years in prison. In the lawsuit, Hough alleged Minaj had "directly and indirectly intimidated, harassed, and threatened [Jennifer Hough] to recant her legitimate claim that Defendant Petty raped her.' Hough later dropped the lawsuit against Minaj, who called it "an entirely frivolous case which plaintiff's counsel has brought against me in an effort to use my name to generate publicity for himself." The civil case against Petty is ongoing, but Minaj has been dropped as a co-defendant, though she is still "prominently mentioned" in the lawsuit. Shia LaBeouf garnered critical acclaim for his film Honey Boy, which was meant to be based on his childhood. Notably, in the film, the main character's father is abusive. Except LaBeouf later admitted that the depiction of his father as abusive was "fucking nonsense" and that he'd "vilified [him] on a grand scale." He continued, 'My dad was so loving to me my whole life. Fractured, sure. Crooked, sure. Wonky, for sure. But never was not loving, never was not there. He was always there…and I'd done a world press tour about how f***ed he was as a man. ... My dad never hit me, never." Kevin Hart admitted to domestic violence in his memoir I Can't Make This Up: Life Lessons, even saying he once spent the night in jail after an argument with his then-partner Torrei turned physical. He described thinking, 'When it got violent where we're fighting — Am I really fighting? Am I holding my hands up as if she's a man right now? Oh my God. This is…I'm out. I've really got my hands up to not defend, but counter. Like, I'm waiting for you to throw a punch. Cuz I'm about to counter the s*** out of you.' Jamie Dornan once stalked a woman in order to prepare to play serial killer Paul Spector in The Fall. 'This is a really bad reveal: I, like, followed a woman off the train one day to see what it felt like to pursue someone like that. I really kept my distance," he revealed to the LA Times. "She got off a few stops earlier than I was planning so I said right, I have to commit to this. I followed her around a couple of street corners and then was like: What are you doing?" "It felt kind of exciting, in a really sort of dirty way. I'm sort of not proud of myself," Dornan continued. "But I do honestly think I learned something from it, because I've obviously never done any of that. It was intriguing and interesting to enter that process of 'what are you following her for?' and 'what are you trying to find out?'' He even wondered aloud, "Can we get arrested for this?" before telling the story. Joe Jonas reportedly asked out Gigi Hadid when she was only 13 years old. "He asked me to a baseball game, and I said no," Hadid revealed. "I was so nervous; I literally didn't even know what it meant to hang out with a boy." If Hadid's timeline is right, Jonas would've been 19 at the time, but since Hadid says this happened at the Grammys, it was more likely when Hadid was 14 and Jonas was 20 (as this was the first time Hadid attended the Grammys). After Hadid told Jonas "maybe next time," she says Joe "wrote his number on a piece of paper and gave it to my mom." The two later dated in 2015, when Hadid was 20 and Jonas was 26. Am I the only one who didn't know that Robert De Niro, along with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., once offered $100,000 to anyone who could prove that vaccines are safe? This came after participating in a panel that flouted debunked vaccine claims, including that they cause autism. (De Niro's son has autism.) Oh, and De Niro wanted to put an anti-vax film in the Tribeca Film Festival, calling it "very personal" to him, though he later pulled it. For the record, De Niro has said he's not anti-vaccine, and that he simply wants "safe vaccines." We also obviously know about the Amber Heard and Johnny Depp defamation trial, but one part that consistently gets overlooked is Paul Bettany's part. Bettany, a friend of Depp's, exchanged numerous texts with Depp about Heard, some of which concerned burning and drowning her. 'I'm not sure we should burn Amber," Bettany wrote after Depp suggested it. "She is delightful company and pleasing on the eye. We could of course do the English course of action and perform a drowning test. Thoughts? You have a swimming pool." Depp reportedly wrote back, 'Let's drown her before we burn her!!! I will fuck her burnt corpse afterwards to make sure she's dead.' Bettany reportedly replied, 'My thoughts entirely. Let's be certain before we pronounce her a witch.' Depp later said he was ashamed of these messages, said they were an example of 'irreverent and abstract humour' based on a Monty Python sketch, and claimed "none of that was ever intended to be real." Bettany later called it an "unpleasant feeling" to have his private messages read aloud in court and said he hadn't spoken out about it at the time because he didn't want to "just pour fuel on the fire." Speaking of Depp — unsealed court documents from the same defamation trial suggest that Depp was investigated by the LAPD and the Department of Family Services for allowing his then-15-year-old daughter, Lily-Rose, to live with her 23-year-old boyfriend next door to him in his condo. No charges were filed, and Depp has never publicly responded to these allegations, though the witness in the documents testified that they felt Depp had made false statements in order for the charges not to be filed. These statements were made in response to questions asking about Depp's supposed "penchant for not telling the truth" and were part of a larger case, so there were no other mentions I could see relating to possible statutory rape charges. Depp was not cross-examined on this specific claim. Heard did not seem to address these claims either, beyond alleging that Depp had once let an older musician whom Lily-Rose had a crush on stay over at his house when Lily-Rose was 14. Lily-Rose has not commented on these specific claims. "I asked him afterwards, I said, 'It must have gone pretty well,' and he said, 'Yeah,'" the witness, who appears to be his former agent Tracey Jacobs*, described. "I said, 'Well you couldn't have told them the truth.' And he just smiled." None of the claims reference specific names, but according to People magazine, Lily-Rose dated model Ash Stymest when she was 16 and he was 24, so this may have been the "boyfriend" the witness refers to, as the age gap lines up.*The court documents name her as one of the witnesses, then the ensuing transcripts refer to the specific witness speaking as an experienced talent agent who stopped working with Depp in 2016 after a 30-year working relationship. While Halle Berry has never publicly named her attacker, she has claimed that one of her exes, a well-known star, once "hit her so hard, her left eardrum was punctured" causing her to flee so quickly "there were skid marks." Singer Christopher Williams, who dated Halle, later alleged that the attacker was Wesley Snipes. Ex-boyfriend David Justice later claimed the same in a series of now-deleted tweets that were supported by Berry's ex-husband Eric Benét. Snipes and Berry did not respond to requests to comment from E! when it reported on the incident in 2004. Sean Penn was also accused of attacking Madonna when they were married. He allegedly tied her to a chair for nine hours, until she was able to escape and run to the police station. Originally, Penn was charged with battery and inflicting 'corporal injury and traumatic conditions,' but Madonna later pulled the complaints, though she did file for divorce. R&B singer Michel'le has publicly accused Dr. Dre (with whom she shares a child) of beating her so badly that she had to get plastic surgery on her nose to repair the damage. In the Season 1 reunion special of R&B Divas: Los Angeles, when host Wendy Williams pointed out that she had to be referring to Dr. Dre, Michel'le replied, "He knows it. That was very public," and said he often gave her black eyes right before she'd shoot music videos. According to Michel'le, they also started a relationship when she was only 17. Dr. Dre later publicly apologized for his past behavior toward women (which Michel'le didn't feel was genuine because it was public and not personally to her), and acknowledged that some allegations against him were true, though he then denied having abused Michel'le. And finally, we'll end on the scandal surrounding the never-released Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio movie Don's Plum. Basically, Maguire and DiCaprio starred in a movie that was essentially about a group of awful people talking in a diner. The movie was never released in the US, and in fact is not allowed to be released in the US after a legal battle where Maguire and DiCaprio claimed they had never been informed the film was a feature with a commercial release. (Director R. D. Robb and producer Dale Wheatley later settled with Maguire and DiCaprio.) Years later, Wheatley made the film available via request on his site freedonsplum, writing "Leonardo DiCaprio has done everything in his power to bury this film and me along with it." Wheatley also alleged frightening behavior from Maguire, who he says screamed at him for 12 hours about releasing the film. Oh, and he's also tweeted that "Leo is Tobey's little bitch," and that "there's something strange about their relationship — I do believe Tobey has something on Leo." One man's opinion, sure, but I still think this whole saga is pretty wild, and there's a lot we don't know. If you want to learn more, the New York Post even ended up making a documentary about it, but the most in-depth description IMO is this Reddit write-up by gestatingsquid, which is based on Wheatley's comments and interviews (which are also linked in the post). Obviously, we can't confirm Wheatley's comments or gestatingsquid's conclusions, especially since neither Maguire nor DiCaprio have spoken publicly about the film. Our only comments from the two come from the case itself, which this Vanity Fair piece reviewed, and are mostly in reference to the claims in the lawsuit about whether or not the film was a short. Maguire did not reply to requests for comment from Vanity Fair, and DiCaprio declined to comment. What's a celebrity scandal or allegation that you feel never blew up? Let us know in the comments.
Boston Globe
10-06-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Red Sox ticket and merchandise sales see an immediate spike after call-up of top prospect Roman Anthony
'That generally happens when a team clinches the playoffs or makes it to the next round,' said Holzman, who indicated that before the call-up, tickets he had not already given away to charity because he knew he would be stuck with them were selling for half price. 'It's not normal. In my 40 years of doing this, the last time I saw anything resembling this was November of 2015 after David Ortiz announced his retirement, and the Red Sox said they were going to honor him in the last game of the 2016 season.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The bounce continued into this homestand, with post-announcement sales doubling for Tuesday night's game and tripling for Wednesday night, Holzman said. Advertisement The Yankees are in town this weekend, and with the Sox taking two of three in the Bronx last weekend, Holzman said there's 'renewed interest' in those tickets. NESN said Tuesday it set a record on its streaming platform. NESN 360 had the highest unique audience for any live event during Monday's Red Sox broadcast, with the total audience on the platform 18 percent higher than the previous record, which was set on Opening Day this season. NESN also said more than 80 percent of NESN 360 subscribers tuned in at some point to see Anthony's first game. Advertisement Bobby D'Angelo, an owner of Twins Enterprise that runs the Red Sox Team Store outside Fenway Park, hopes his business will be able to jump on the Anthony bandwagon. He's placed a large order to have more Anthony jerseys and T-shirts for sale, hopefully in time for the Yankees series. D'Angelo has to be cautious about placing too big of an order too soon, given the chance that despite the considerable hype surrounding Anthony, he may need more seasoning later in the year. Another factor to consider is Anthony's current uniform number, 48. 'That doesn't sound like Yaz or Ted Williams to me, that's a rough number,' said D'Angelo. 'But believe me, we have got orders in for Anthony. We want him.' Eventually, D'Angelo expects Anthony to rival fellow outfielder and current Red Sox merchandise leader 'by a mile,' Jarren Duran. 'I can tell you right now he and Duran will be 1 and 2 — all he's got to do is be a .250 hitter,' said D'Angelo. 'They're going to love this guy.' Holzman ascribed some powerful comps when it comes to the hopes and dreams surrounding Anthony. 'How long have we been hearing about him? It's like Cooper Flagg and AJ Dybantsa,' said Holzman. 'He's got the name, he's got the looks, he's got the attitude, everything you read about him, he's the real deal, right? I don't think since Mookie [Betts] has there been this kind of excitement.' Michael Silverman can be reached at
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Development plans for Canton's Midtown Plaza include 55 apartments, retail space
May 4—CANTON — The Midtown Plaza redevelopment project is moving forward with plans for a three-story mixed-use building in downtown Canton, the project developer revealed last week. Rob Holzman, vice president of planning and acquisitions with the Vecino Group, presented an update on the project at a joint meeting of the town and village boards Tuesday. The project will feature 55 one and two-bedroom residential units, a 10,000-square-foot SUNY Canton Entrepreneurial Center, and approximately 2,500 square feet of retail space. The project will feature affordable housing units targeting residents at 30 to 80% of the area median income. Holzman noted that a significant step in the process was the recent hiring of LaBella Associates, a civil engineering firm, to lead the site plan development. LaBella Associates' Regional Business Development Manager Anastasia Thomas will be a key partner in navigating the site plan review and approval process. The development team aims to secure site plan approval from the Village Planning Board by July or August. First up for LaBella is a site survey to identify any potential issues, such as hidden infrastructure. Geotechnical work will follow to determine the type of material beneath the paved area that extends from Miner Street to the old Jubilee Supermarket. Holzman said they are seeking 9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits from New York State Homes and Community Renewal. Vecino will submit the tax credit application in September or October. It is foundational to making the project financially feasible, Holzman said. Factors working for a successful application are that the project is for mixed-income housing including market rate and affordable units, it is located in the downtown core, the partnership with SUNY Canton, the village's prior work preparing the site, and it being named a priority project in New York Forward Strategic Investment Plan and Restore New York funding for demolition of the existing structures. Construction timelines will depend on securing the state tax credits, Holzman said. The Midtown Plaza, anchored by the Jubilee supermarket, has been vacant for 20 years. Since 2019, it has been the center of a plan to build housing, retail spaces, and an entrepreneurial center and incubator hosted by SUNY Canton. In 2023, the village paid $1.28 million for the properties owned by Gary M. Cohen and Vernon L. Green. Cohen, a New York City businessman, had owned the plaza and its parking lot since 1980. Green owned a separate property adjacent to Cohen's five parcels. Once completed, the Vecino Group will be the owner and property manager. Holzman said Vecino has created an in-house property management company in New York. This approach, he said, allows for more direct control over property management staff and avoids challenges associated with third-party management. Holzman said that finding good property managers can be difficult when outsourcing, so their internal management company provides better oversight and quality control. This approach allows the Vecino Group to maintain consistent standards across its affordable housing developments and ensure proper maintenance and tenant services, he said.
Zawya
26-04-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Strategic Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) Fuel Investment, Expansion in Namibia's Upstream Sector
Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity continues to emerge as a critical engine for growth in Namibia's upstream oil and gas sector, as emphasized during a high-level panel discussion at the Namibia International Energy Conference (NIEC) on Thursday. Industry leaders outlined how strategic M&A deals are not only reshaping the country's energy landscape, but also playing a key role in unlocking capital and accelerating exploration. Gil Holzman, CEO of Eco Atlantic Oil&Gas, highlighted how acquisitions have underpinned his company's expansion in Namibia since its entry into the market in 2009, stating: 'Most of our best blocks are the result of M&As. Our most recent acquisition was in 2021 when we bought Azinam, which gave us promising blocks in the Orange Basin.' According to Holzman, these acquisitions have fortified Eco Atlantic's asset portfolio while positioning Namibia as an increasingly attractive frontier for global exploration. He pointed to M&A transactions involving supermajors such as ExxonMobil, QatarEnergy, Chevron and TotalEnergies as instrumental in bringing in not just capital, but also the technical capabilities needed to advance exploration in Namibia's offshore and onshore basins. Discussing the company's operational strategy, Holzman emphasized a phased approach anchored in collaboration: 'We aim to secure promising prospects, de-risk them internally and then attract partners with the technical know-how and capital required to unlock new frontiers.' Echoing this sentiment, Adam Rubin, General Counsel at ReconAfrica, emphasized that M&As remain a strategic avenue to catalyze value creation, drive innovation and meet the substantial capital demands of upstream development. 'We have not yet produced onshore, but the oil is there. Be patient – we will find it and produce,' he said, reaffirming the company's commitment to moving from exploration toward full-scale production in the Kavango Basin. Robert Bose, CEO of Sintana Energy, added that M&A activity has played a central role in enabling Sintana to broaden its asset base and build relationships with complementary partners. 'M&As have helped us connect with the right partners and diversify our portfolio,' he said. 'Cost-effective investment remains a key motivator, and we are focused on disciplined growth.' From a financial perspective, Liz Williamson, Head of Energy at Rand Merchant Bank, outlined the opportunities that arise when IOCs divest from mature or late-life assets. She noted that such moves often create openings for mid-cap firms with fresh capital and a focused approach to step in. 'This trend is beneficial for African governments, as middle-tier companies are often better suited to fully commit to and invest in these projects,' she explained. Williamson also underscored the importance of establishing clear, investor-friendly deal frameworks and local content policies that build investor confidence. 'Not many African countries are currently securing significant foreign direct investment, and Namibia must maintain its appeal by offering clarity on local content laws,' she said. As Namibia emerges as a key exploration hotspot on the continent, discussions around capital flows, deal-making and upstream expansion are set to continue at African Energy Week 2025: Invest in African Energies, taking place from September 29-October 3, 2025 in Cape Town. The event will unite industry leaders, investors and government representatives to advance dialogue, showcase project opportunities and drive strategic partnerships across Africa's energy landscape. Namibia's rising profile and recent exploration success will be a focal point, drawing increased attention from global stakeholders seeking entry into one of the continent's most dynamic markets. AEW: Invest in African Energies is the platform of choice for project operators, financiers, technology providers and government, and has emerged as the official place to sign deals in African energy. Visit for more information about this exciting event. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Energy Chamber.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Claire Danes and ‘My So-Called Life' Creator to Reunite for New HBO Drama Series
Claire Danes is set to reunite with 'My So-Called Life' creator Winnie Holzman for a new drama series in the works at HBO, TheWrap has learned. The new series, titled 'The Applebaum Curse,' is billed as an ongoing one-hour drama series about a dysfunctional family with Danes as the lead role, per the official logline. The show is still in early development at the network, an individual with knowledge told TheWrap. Danes is attached to star in and executive produce the series, while Holzman would serve as writer, showrunner and executive producer for 'The Applebaum Curse.' The new series would reunite Danes and Holzman three decades after they worked together on 'My So-Called Life,' which ran for just one year from 1994-95 on ABC. In the show, Danes starred as Angela Chase, a teen from a fictional Pittsburgh suburb grappling with social issues that made for a tumultuous adolescence. Despite only running for one season, 'My So-Called Life' helped launch Danes' career, with her starring in 'Romeo + Juliet,' the 1998 film adaptation of 'Les Misérables' and 'It's All About Love' in the coming years. The 'Homeland' actress recently starred in Max's 'Full Circle' and as well Hulu's TV adaptation of 'Fleishman Is in Trouble.' Holzman, who prior to 'My So-Called Life' had writing credits on 'The Wonder Years' and 'Thirtysomething,' went on to write for ''Til There Was You' and served as a writer and executive producer for 'Once and Again,' 'Huge' and 'Roadies.' Most recently, Holzman served as an executive producer on Jon M. Chu's 'Wicked,' for which she also has a writing credit after writing the book for the original Broadway musical alongside Stephen Schwartz. HBO also recently greenlit a music industry drama series, titled 'The Band,' with Ben Stiller attached to star as a pop impresario and talent mogul beset by scandal. The post Claire Danes and 'My So-Called Life' Creator to Reunite for New HBO Drama Series appeared first on TheWrap.
