Month: February 2022

Olympic gold medal gymnast Simone Biles and Houston Texans safety Jonathan Owens announced on social media that are engaged. The two shared photos from the Valentine’s Day proposal in Houston, Texas, including a close-up look at Biles’ engagement ring.

The couple celebrated their one-year anniversary in August 2021 while Biles was in Tokyo, Japan, competing in the Summer Olympics.  In a post on Instagram, Owens wrote “Woke up this morning with a fiancée ” and added that Biles “really had no clue” he was going to pop the question.  The 24-year-old Biles also wrote on her Instagram:  “THE EASIEST YES. I can’t wait to spend forever & ever with you, you’re everything I dreamed of and more! let’s get married FIANCÉ.”

Biles won a silver medal with the U.S. team and a bronze in beam at the Tokyo Olympics, withdrawing midway through the team competition citing her mental health. Biles withdrew from all of the individual events until she returned to compete in balance beam.  The gymnast recently said she was uncertain about what’s next for her competitively, including a potential bid for the 2024 Paris Games.  Throughout her career, Biles has won seven Olympic medals and 25 World Championship medals.

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The 94th Academy Awards announced that the 2022 Oscars will be hosted by Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes.  Said Hall, Schumer and Sykes via a press release:  “We want people to get ready to have a good time. It’s been a while.”   The trio will be the first to host the Academy Awards since Jimmy Kimmel emceed the 2018 ceremony; the Oscars have aired without a host in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Hall, Schumer and Sykes all have previous awards show hosting experience. Hall hosted the 2019 BET Awards, Schumer hosted the 2015 MTV Movie Awards and Sykes hosted the 2018 GLAAD Media Awards.  Will Packer, producer of the Oscars, said: “This year’s show is all about uniting movie lovers. It’s apropos that we’ve lined up three of the most dynamic, hilarious women with very different comedic styles. I know the fun Regina, Amy and Wanda will be having will translate to our audience as well. Expect the unexpected!”

The last time there were at least three hosts was 35 years ago at the 1987 Academy Awards when Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn and Paul Hogan emceed. The only time there have been multiple women hosting was 45 years ago at the 1977 Academy Awards when Ellen Burstyn and Jane Fonda hosted alongside Warren Beatty and Richard Pryor.

“The Power of the Dog” leads this year’s Oscars with 12 nominations, followed by “Dune” with 10 nominations.  The 2022 Academy Awards will air Sunday, March 27, on ABC.

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Steven Spielberg’s film West Side Story is coming to Disney+, and will begin streaming March 2 in the U.S. and most international countries. West Side Story is based on the 1957 stage musical of the same name, which was previously adapted as a 1961 film directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins.

Spielberg’s version features Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler as Tony and Maria, two star-crossed lovers from rival gangs in 1950s New York. Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Mike Faist, Rita Moreno, Brian d’Arcy James and Corey Stoll also star.

West Side Story is nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress for DeBose and Moreno. The film originally opened in theaters in December.

https://www.justjared.com/2022/02/09/west-side-story-has-a-disney-streaming-debut-date/

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Whoopi Goldberg returned to her co-hosting spot on ‘The View’ after a two-week suspension following controversial remarks about the Holocaust. The 66-year-old Goldberg returned to the show on Monday, February 14.  Goldberg’s two-week suspension was announced on February 1, after she had said the Holocaust “isn’t about race” during a discussion about a school board banning Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel ‘Maus.’

Upon her return, she mentioned how diving deep into sensitive topics was par for the course on the show. “I missed you all too. There’s something kind of marvelous about being on a show like this, because we are The View, and this is what we do, and sometimes we don’t do this [as] elegantly as we could. It’s five minutes to get in important information about topics, and that’s what we try to do everyday.”  Goldberg continued:  “I want to thank everybody who reached out while I was away. I listened to everything everybody had to say, and I was very grateful. I hope it keeps the important conversations happening, because we’re going to keep having tough conversations. In part, because this is what we’ve been hired to do, and it’s not always pretty, as I said, and it’s not always as other people would like to hear.”

Following the backlash against Whoopi, the comedian apologized and discussed her comments on-air with Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.  She said at the time: “It is indeed about race, because Hitler and the Nazis considered Jews to be an inferior race. Now, words matter, and mine are no exception. I regret my comments, as I said, and I stand corrected. I also stand with the Jewish people, as they know.”  Despite her apology, ABC News President Kim Godwin suspended Goldberg on February 1, saying: “While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments.”

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Director Jason Reitman took to Twitter to pay tribute to his late father, “Ghostbusters” creator Ivan Reitman, with whom he worked on the sequel “Ghostbusters: Afterlife”. Ivan Reitman died in his sleep at his home on Saturday night. He was 75.

Reitman tweeted with a picture of him as a boy alongside his father: “I’ve lost my hero. All I want is the chance to tell my father one more story. He came from a family of survivors and turned his legacy into laughter. Thank you for the kind messages. Enjoy his movies and remember his storytelling gifts. Nothing would make him happier.”

Like his father, Jason Reitman has achieved great success as a filmmaker, receiving four Oscar nominations including two for Best Director for his work on “Juno” and the Best Picture-nominated “Up In The Air.” In 2019 that he took up the sci-fi film franchise that his father made famous and became director of “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” with Ivan Reitman serving as a producer. The father-son duo promoted “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” together, with Jason Reitman saying at the time: “For 40 years, the one question I was asked more than any other was, ‘Are you going to make a ‘Ghostbusters’ movie?’ I decided now was the time because … I wanted to make a movie for my father and I wanted to make a movie for my daughter.”

Jason Reitman Honors Father Ivan Reitman: “I’ve Lost My Hero”

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