Matthew Scott Montgomery, who appeared in "So Random!" and other series, says he was subjected to shock therapy as part of his supposed treatment.

The Disney Channel put Matthew Scott Montgomery on the road to stardom more than a decade ago, but privately, the actor was grappling to come to terms with his true self.

Appearing on Tuesday’s episode of “Vulnerable With Christy Carlson Romano,” Montgomery recalled his decision to seek out so-called gay conversion therapy during his early years in Hollywood.

“In the environment that I grew up in, you’re taught that you deserve to be punished all the time,” said the North Carolina native, who appeared on “So Random!” and “Sonny With a Chance,” among other Disney Channel series.

“At the time, the career stuff was going so well that I was still in this broken prison brain of thinking: ‘I’m on red carpets. I’m on TV every week. This is too good. I should be punished on my days off.’”

He added: “Disney had nothing to do with it. It was not their idea. They didn’t know; no one knew. My cast mates did not know at the time.”

Montgomery said he visited a center in Los Angeles that was known for working with men in entertainment, though he didn’t identify anyone by name.

“Their selling point was, you look at any billboard in LA and see any male actor — they’ve been through these walls before,” he said. There, he was subjected to both electroshock therapy and hypnosis as part of his supposed treatment.

“They would kind of do a hypnosis-y kind of thing where you would imagine scenarios,” he explained. “You imagine the world is post-apocalypse and it’s a decimated Earth, and the only person left on Earth is a straight man. ... You go and you walk up and hug a straight man. And when you hugged the straight man in my mind, they would zap my hands, like the electric shock.”

Conversion therapy, sometimes referred to as “reparative therapy,” is an unfounded and harmful practice that attempts to change an LGBTQ person’s sexuality or gender identity. It has been explicitly discredited by the American Psychological Association and other top medical groups.

At present, 22 U.S. states have banned conversion therapy ― which has been known to treat LGBTQ identity as though it were an addiction ― on minors. Last year, President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing the Department of Health and Human Services to “explore guidance to clarify that federally-funded programs cannot offer so-called ‘conversion therapy.’”

However, as Montgomery’s remarks demonstrate, the practice continues to be promoted by some, especially within conservative religious communities. The actor described his parents as “very, very conservative,” and said they “were really upset” when he came out as gay at 18.

“My mom collapsed sobbing when she found out,” he said, adding that his father told him, “Being gay is a choice.”

Ultimately, Montgomery came to the realization that he could live as his authentic self after appearing in a production of Del Shores’ “Yellow,” in which he played a queer teenager who is taken in by a loving family after being rejected by his birth mother, a conservative Christian.

“That was the therapy I actually needed because I got the experience of what it was like to have a family not only love me, but celebrate me and really accept me,” he said.

These days, Montgomery’s career is once again on the upswing. Last year, it was announced that “Howdy, Neighbor!” — an LGBTQ-inclusive horror film featuring a script he’d written — had been picked up for production. He also recently reunited with Demi Lovato, a fellow Disney Channel veteran, on the Peacock documentary series “Unidentified.”

In his “Vulnerable” interview, he described Lovato as “my soulmate” and “the person who loves me the deepest,” and he credited the pop star with helping him “curate a life that was filled with love and art and expression.”

Bijou Phillips filed to end her 12-year marriage to the "That '70s Show" star less than a week after she said she would be standing by him.

Danny Masterson’s wife, Bijou Phillips, has filed for divorce from the former “That ’70s Show” cast member just weeks after he was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women.

TMZ is reporting that Phillips filed divorce documents in a Los Angeles-area courtroom on Monday.

Her lawyer, Lauzon Paluch, told the website that Phillips “has decided to file for divorce from her husband during this unfortunate time” and said “her priority remains with her daughter.”

Paluch said the effect of the recent events “has been unimaginably hard on the marriage and the family” but stressed that Masterson “was always present” for her “during her most difficult times of her life” and “is a wonderful father to their daughter.”

The filing comes less than a week after sources close to the former actor and model told People that she had no plans to end the 12-year marriage despite being “distraught” by the course of events.

Phillips’ divorce filing has become part of the chain reaction among Masterson’s friends and family since his conviction.

His former “That ’70s Show” cast mates Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis came under fire after writing letters calling for leniency on Masterson’s behalf. Both then stepped down from a nonprofit organization that Kutcher co-founded in 2009 with then-wife Demi Moore that seeks to combat child sex abuse.

Manson blew his nose on a concert videographer in New Hampshire in an “egregious” assault, a judge said

Marilyn Manson has been sentenced to 20 hours of community service and a fine of about $1,400 for spitting and blowing his nose on a concert videographer, The Associated Press reports. The incident took place at a 2019 concert in Gilford, New Hampshire. Manson pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor simple assault charge after turning himself in to authorities some 18 months after his arrest warrant was issued.

In a court statement read in her absence, the videographer, Susan Fountain, said, “I’ve never been humiliated or treated like I was by this defendant. For him to spit on me and blow his nose on me was the most disgusting thing a human being has ever done.” The judge described the assault as “egregious,” according to The Associated Press.

Manson must also alert police to any concerts planned for New Hampshire for the next two years and complete his community service by Sunday, February 4, 2024. He is permitted to carry out the service in California, where he resides.

When reached by Pitchfork, a representative for Marilyn Manson offered no comment.

In 2008's Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Kristen Bell and Russell Brand were thrown into raunchy sex scenes - but Bell made sure of no funny business off-screen

Kristen Bell threatened to "lop Russell Brand’s nuts off" if he tried anything with her on the set of Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

The pair were brought together for the 2008 Hollywood rom-com - also starring Jason Segel, Mila Kunis and Jonah Hill - as celebs whose secret romance was just uncovered (to the heartbreak of her ex-boyfriend).

However, following accusations of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse against Brand in a documentary - accusations he’s fervently denied - prior comments about his behaviour across his career have started resurfacing.

To promote Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Kristen was grilled on Brand’s known sexual lothario image of the time, and how that tied into his role as sex-crazed rockstar, Aldous Snow, in the film.

Not one to mince her words, Kristen - who is married to comedian Dax Shepard - declared that he "didn’t try to mess with her or get in her pants".

“He knew I would lop his nuts off,” she bluntly told the interviewer.

In another chat, she said that she had clearly shut down the idea of any sexual activity with the British star from the outset.

“I made it really clear from the beginning that I would sock him in the balls if he tried anything. So he was intimidated,” she said.

However, in a chat with Empire magazine, Kristen acknowledged Brand as a "gentleman" during sex scenes.

Leslie Jones told People magazine while promoting her new memoir, “Leslie F*cking Jones,” that her longtime friend Chris Rock went to counseling after Will Smith slapped him at the 2022 Academy Awards. Rock wrote the foreword to Jones’ new book.

“That shit was humiliating. It really affected him,” Jones said. “People need to understand his daughters, his parents, saw that. He had to go to counseling with his daughters.”

Variety has reached out to Rock’s representative for comment.

Jones added that the Oscars slap “infuriated” her, adding, “You don’t know that I was going to jump in my car and roll up there. I was so fucking mad on so many levels… Chris Rock did a fucking joke. I know Will, too… I was like, you couldn’t handle that shit afterwards? This is the Oscars. The whole world is watching.”

Rock was presenting the Oscar for best documentary when he made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head, despite her public battle with alopecia. Smith reacted by taking to the stage and slapping Rock across the face. He returned to his seat and yelled at Rock, “Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth.” Smith, who went on to win the Oscar for best actor that same night, ended up resigning from the Academy amid backlash to the slap. The Academy then banned Smith from its membership and from attending events such as the Oscars for 10 years.

Sean Penn recently graced the cover of Variety magazine and lambasted Smith for the Oscars slap.

“I don’t know Will Smith. I met him once,” Penn said. “He seemed very nice when I met him. He was so fucking good in ‘King Richard.’ So why the fuck did you just spit on yourself and everybody else with this stupid fucking thing? Why did I go to fucking jail for what you just did? And you’re still sitting there? Why are you guys standing and applauding his worst moment as a person?”

Jones’ memoir will be released on Sept. 19.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/2483703

> Comedian Katherine Ryan allegedly confronted Brand during the filming of Comedy Central’s “Roast Battle,” but her remarks were edited out. > > It seems that Russell Brand’s alleged sexual misconduct may have been a well-known industry secret. > > The British comedian left Comedy Central’s “Roast Battle” in 2018 after co-judge Katherine Ryan called him a “sexual predator” on camera, three sources who worked with the show’s production company, Fulwell 73, told Deadline in a story published Monday. > > The sources told the entertainment outlet that Ryan, a Canadian comedian who worked with Brand on the reality competition show, called him out on numerous occasions during filming, but her pointed remarks were edited out of the final cut of the episodes. > > On Sunday, The Mirror resurfaced a clip of Ryan telling the BBC’s Louis Theroux in 2022 that she had once confronted a co-worker about being a “predator” directly to “his face.” She did not name the co-worker at the time of the interview. > > She told Theroux that it was “very dangerous for us to have this conversation.” > > “I’m happy to have it,” Ryan continued, “but it is a litigious minefield, because a lot of people have tried to nail this person down for their alleged crimes, and this person has very good lawyers.” > > She added that the allegations against her co-worker were “not really my story to tell.” > > “No one has perpetrated any sexual assaults against me, but this person I believe very strongly — so do a lot of people … it’s an open secret — is a perpetrator of sexual assault,” Ryan told Theroux. > > According to Deadline and The Mirror, Ryan also told Theroux that she had confronted this co-worker “in front of loads of people, in the format of the show.” > > Deadline confirmed with its sources that Ryan was referring to Brand during her interview with Theroux. > > Ryan did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment and confirmation. > > Over the weekend, the U.K.-based outlets The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches released a joint statement saying they were investigating allegations that Brand had sexually assaulted and abused four women between 2006 and 2013 when the comedian’s acting career was at its peak. > > One woman, who is now 31, said she had a three-month relationship with Brand when she was 16, and that Brand “forced his penis down her throat” at the time. She characterized the comedian as abusive and controlling. > > Another woman who was interviewed by the British outlets said that Brand raped her against a wall in her Los Angeles home. The outlets’ joint statement also notes that they obtained medical records showing that this woman received treatment at a rape crisis center the day she said her rape occurred. > > Brand has denied the allegations. In a video he posted on social media the day before the British outlets’ investigation was published, Brand said he had received notice of “some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute.” He also suggested that he was the victim of a “coordinated attack” by the media. > > Deadline notes that Brand has been virtually absent from British television since his one-season stint on “Roast Battle” in 2018, with the exception of an appearance on “The Great Celebrity Bake Off” in 2019. > > In the past couple of years, the comedian has also rebranded himself as a wellness influencer and has become increasingly right-wing on social media. Brand shared COVID-19 conspiracy theories on his YouTube channel and hosted ex-Fox News personality Tucker Carlson on his channel in July.

The late-night host has faced harsh criticism after announcing the return of his show last week.

Bill Maher is the latest host to walk back plans to return to TV without WGA writers amid the Hollywood strikes.

Maher credited reports that the AMPTP would soon return to negotiations with the striking WGA as the reason for this reversal. "My decision to return to work was made when it seemed nothing was happening and there was no end in sight to this strike," Maher tweeted on Monday. "Now that both sides have agreed to go back to the negotiating table I'm going to delay the return of Real Time, for now, and hope they can finally get this done."

After announcing last week that Real Time with Bill Maher would return to production "sans writers or writing," the host faced immense pushback. Keith Olbermann, for example, tweeted: "As somebody who's known you since 1978: F--- you, Bill."

Real Time with Bill Maher joins The Drew Barrymore Show, The Talk, and The Jennifer Hudson Show in delaying their planned returns amid pressure from strikers.

Now that the unions have flexed their power and demonstrated the public's continuing sympathy with the strikers, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) is returning to the negotiating table. Deadline reports that the AMPTP will resume bargaining with the WGA this Wednesday.

Russell Brand’s upcoming live shows have all been postponed following allegations of rape and sexual assault.

“We are postponing these few remaining addiction charity fundraiser shows, we don’t like doing it – but we know you’ll understand,” said a one-line statement from the promoters of Brand’s Bipolarisation tour in the past few minutes.

Brand was due to perform tomorrow at the Theatre Royal Windsor, with further dates in Wolverhampton and Plymouth.

Brand’s management and bosses at the Theatre Royal had spent this morning deciding whether to proceed with tonight’s show. A Theatre Royal statement said it will be “offering ticket refunds in line with our Terms & Conditions of sale.”

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/2450775

> Hudson's is the latest daytime show to halt production, following similar announcements from The Drew Barrymore Show and The Talk. > > The Jennifer Hudson Show has paused production and pushed back its return to the air following backlash from the writers' strike, EW has learned. > > The EGOT's daytime talk show was set to premiere its newest season on Monday, Sept. 18, but that was before Drew Barrymore attempted to cross the picket line. > > Barrymore had announced her decision to resume her eponymous talk show on Sept. 18 in spite of the Writer's Guild of America strike, now in its 18th week. The Never Been Kissed actress faced a heap of criticism for the move, leading her to pause her show's return until the resolution of the strike. > > "I have no words to express my deepest apologies to anyone I have hurt and, of course, to our incredible team who works on the show and has made it what it is today," Barrymore wrote on social media earlier today. > > Shortly after that news, The Talk followed suit, pausing its season premiere, which was also set for Sept. 18. A rep for CBS told EW the network would "continue to evaluate plans for a new launch date." > > Since the strikes began, other daytime talk shows, including The View, Tamron Hall, and Live With Kelly and Mark, have been filming new episodes. The Sherri Shepherd Show is currently scheduled to premiere its new season as planned on Monday. > > After more than two months of picketing, the WGA writers were joined by SAG-AFTRA actors in striking against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), bringing Hollywood to heel. While SAG card-carrying performers can technically still appear on talk shows, they can't promote any work distributed, produced, or financed by AMPTP studios or streaming platforms.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/2450622

> "I have listened to everyone, and I am making the decision to pause the show's premiere until the strike is over." > > Drew Barrymore is officially hitting "pause" on production of her daytime talk show. > > After days of enduring backlash surrounding her decision to resume The Drew Barrymore Show amid the writers' and actors' strikes, the host announced that she will no longer move forward with new episodes until the strikes end. > > "I have listened to everyone, and I am making the decision to pause the show's premiere until the strike is over," Barrymore wrote on social media Sunday. "I have no words to express my deepest apologies to anyone I have hurt and, of course, to our incredible team who works on the show and has made it what it is today." > > She added, "We really tried to find our way forward. And I truly hope for a resolution for the entire industry very soon." > > Barrymore announced plans last week for her Daytime Emmy–winning show to resume production without its three Writers Guild of America writers who, along with the rest of their union, have been on strike since May, demanding higher wages, clearer contract provisions, and more. > > The star quickly became the center of controversy, earning criticism from striking members of the WGA and the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), in addition to others of the industry. Following her decision, the National Book Foundation also rescinded its invitation for Barrymore to host its annual awards event. > > Her show resumed filming last week as picketers protested the choice outside the CBS Broadcast Center in New York. Some audience members said they were escorted out of tapings for wearing WGA-branded pins. A spokesperson for the show told EW in a statement that Barrymore was "completely unaware of the incident" and that their team is "in the process of reaching out to the affected audience members to offer them new tickets." > > Barrymore initially defended her decision in a now-removed video she posted on Friday, explaining, "This is bigger than me and there other peoples' jobs on the line." > > She continued, "I weighed the scales and I thought if we could go on during a global pandemic and everything that the world experienced through 2020, why would this sideline us? I just wanted to just put one foot in front of the other and make a show that's there for people regardless of anything else that's happening in the world." > > Barrymore, a member of SAG-AFTRA, insisted that the show's return was "in compliance with not discussing or promoting film and television that is struck of any kind," according to strike rules. When season 4 was first announced, a CBS spokesperson confirmed to EW that the series would "not be performing any writing work covered by the WGA strike." > > While Barrymore herself was not in violation as the series' host — daytime talk shows fall under a separate contract, the Network Television Code contract — resuming production meant that it left its writers behind. As the WGA-East announced on social media, "The [Drew Barrymore Show] is a WGA-covered, struck show that is planning to return without its writers… Any writing on The Drew Barrymore Show is in violation of WGA strike rules." > > Cristina Kinon, a writer for the show, told The Daily Beast that she was disappointed to see Barrymore resume production on the series without its writing team. "It is frustrating," she said, "because it will prolong the strike, and we just want it to end." > > When news broke that the series was coming back for a fourth season, CBS issued a statement to EW. "While our show has been largely an unscripted talk show from the beginning, the new shows we are producing this season will be completely unscripted until the strike ends," it read in part. "No one on our staff will fill a writing position. If you watch the show, it is obvious that Drew has always brought raw, unfiltered, spontaneous, open, and honest conversations to her viewers, and that will continue. The show also moves forward with important consideration to our staff and crew comprised of over 150 people, as well as our loyal viewers. We fully support Drew and her entire team 100 percent." > > The show was set to return with new episodes on Monday, Sept. 18.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/2414370

> An investigation by the Sunday Times and Channel 4's Dispatches has accused Russell Brand of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse, which he strenuously denies > > Comedian Russell Brand had to have a 'no sex' clause written into his contract when he landed the Big Brother spin off show presenting job, it has been claimed in Channel 4's Dispatches programme. > > The 48-year-old, who has starred in Hollywood films, been a stand-up and is now a Youtube star, is accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse, allegations which he has vehemently denied. Dispatches claims to have spoken to women who have been assaulted or emotionally abused by the Arthur actor. > > While the show was being aired, Brand was performing in front of a crowd of 2,000 fans at the Troubador Theatre, Wembley, the first time he has been seen since the allegations were first made by Dispatches, the Sunday Times and The Times. He told the crowd: "I really appreciate your support. I love you. I want to do a fantastic show for you. I've got a lot of things to talk to you about. There are obviously some things that I absolutely can not talk about - and I appreciate that you will understand." > > It comes less than 24 hours after Brand took to his own Youtube channel to address the claims in a statement last two minutes and 45 seconds. Brand said: "I've received two extremely disturbing letters or a letter and an email. One from a mainstream media TV company, one from a newspaper listing a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks, as well as some pretty stupid stuff like community festival should be stopped, that I shouldn't be able to attack mainstream media narratives on this channel. > > "But amidst this litany of astonishing rather baroque attacks, often very serious allegations that I absolutely refute. These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies. And as I've written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous." > > One of the women interviewed as part of the Dispatches documentary claims Brand had a 'no sex' clause written into his contract, which she says he told her about after they had slept together when he is said to have urged her to keep it a secret. She said: "One of the memories which is very vivid is I must’ve gone to see what he wanted for lunch, he saw it was me and turned around. I wasn’t close to him but I saw he had his penis out of his shorts. > > "I was scared to rock the boat, I felt very anxious, I was scared of what the repurcussions would be. I wasn’t going to tell anyone what he’d done because I didn’t want to lose hey job. His flirations grew stronger with me, I wss flattered, I was sucked Ito his world, He was a very intoxicating person." > > Brand's colleague met up with him and they had sex for the first time and it was then that she claims he told her she "couldn’t tell anyone else on the crew, it had to be a complete secret. He had it written into his contact he wasn’t allowed to have any sexual contact with anyone working on Big Brother." In Brand's own autobiography, he admits his agent had to sign a contract saying the star would be no trouble." > > If you've been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999.

"I’m trying to mature here and realize I can just walk away from the parts of this that no longer make me happy” said the singer-songwriter

Maren Morris released the songs “The Tree” and “Get the Hell Out of Here” on Friday — and announced she’s also getting out of the country music industry.

The singer-songwriter, 33, revealed in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that she’s leaving the genre and plans to release music on Columbia Records, instead of Columbia Nashville, moving forward. The Grammy winner also opened up about her decision to “take a step back,” explaining that she’s felt “very, very distanced” from industry and its politics.

“I thought I’d like to burn it to the ground and start over,” Morris told the outlet of country music. “But it’s burning itself down without my help.”

The “Middle” singer opened up about the challenges of advocating for progress in the country industry and being outspoken about her progressive beliefs — which have included supporting the LGBTQ+ community, taking a stand for the Black Lives Matter movement, and critiquing people like Jason Aldean’s wife Brittany Kerr Aldean for making transphobic comments.

“I’ve always been an asker of questions and a status quo challenger just by being a woman. So it wasn’t really even a choice,” Morris said. “The further you get into the country music business, that’s when you start to see the cracks. And once you see it, you can’t un-see it.”

The pop artist explained that she tried to advocate for change, but only found that made her unpopular. She added, “I’m trying to mature here and realize I can just walk away from the parts of this that no longer make me happy.”

The star continued, “Being one of the few women that had any success on country radio, everything you do is looked at under a microscope. You’re scrutinized more than your male peers, even when you’re doing well. So I’ve had to clear all of that out of my head this year and just write songs. A lot of the drama within the community, I’ve chosen to step outside out of it.”

Morris also commented on the popularity of songs like Aldean’s, 46, controversial “Try That in a Small Town,” which received backlash for what many interpreted as having a pro-violent, conservative message. “People are streaming these songs out of spite. It’s not out of true joy or love of the music. It’s to own the libs,” she said.

Fans speculate that the performer’s music video for “The Tree,” which she’s released as a double single project called The Bridge, includes references to the Aldean video. As the new clip also includes posters that read, “Lunatic Country Music Person,” it also appears to include a nod to how former Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson labeled her as such.

The hitmaker also recently spoke to Billboard in their Pride issue cover story about her commitment to being an ally.

"I have heard the term 'Shut up and sing' more times than I can count — that’s always the cutesy little threat that they like to make," the CMA award winner said. "So I would say to my peers who are artists and to record-label heads, publishers, songwriters: I don't think any of us got into this art form to be an activist, but that’s ultimately thrust upon you to exist in this space and to feel like you can sleep at night."

Apple has become the latest entertainment company to suspend additional overall and first-look deals this month as the WGA strike is getting past the four-and-a-half-month mark.

As has been the case with the other recent suspensions at Disney, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. TV and CBS Studios, impacted are non-writing producers who are not currently rendering services due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. I hear the handful of pacts that are being suspended include those for Natalie Portman’s MountainA, the company she formed with producer Sophie Mas, and Adam McKay’s Hyperobject Industries. A rep for Apple declined comment.

A number of the streamer’s high-profile deals with non-writing producers are still ongoing as they are working on projects, including Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone, which is behind the upcoming Apple series Masters of the Air. Martin Scorsese, who signed a film and TV deal with the streamer in 2020, also has been busy finishing and promoting his upcoming Apple feature Killers of the Flower Moon.

Disney’s suspensions, enacted earlier this week, included deals with Gina Rodriguez and ThIs Is Us alums Justin Hartley, Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore at 20th Television, Yara Shahidi and Marc Webb at ABC Signature as well as Hiro Murai, Billy Porter and Stacey Sher at FX Productions. The studios will provide salaries for the impacted assistants through the end of 2023 and development executives through the first week of October.

WBTV’s list of suspensions included marquee names such as Greg Berlanti, Bill Lawrence and Mindy Kaling. The NBCUniversal studios — both film and TV — suspended the pacts for Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video and Dwayne Johnson’s Seven Bucks Prods, among others. CBS Studios put on pause deals with such companies as Phil McGraw’s Stage 29 and DeVon Franklin’s Franklin Entertainment. The studio also will continue to pay salaries to assistants associated with the suspended term deals through the end of 2023.

TV studios initiated the first wave of suspending overall and first-look deals –- primarily with writers — in early May, just days into the WGA strike. There have been more rolling suspensions over the past couple of months as more producers wrapped work on shows amid an industry production shutdown.

The new round comes as the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are stretching into the fall. In the first piece of good news in weeks, the WGA and AMPTP said yesterday that they have agreed to meet next week.

“It was a horrible, horrible thing and I tried to get him caught. And that was my brother.”

All three actors first met when working on That ’70s Show together in the early 2000s, with Mila and Ashton getting married in 2015 and remaining good friends with their costar.

In May, Danny was found guilty of drugging two women before raping them at the height of his fame on the Fox series.

Earlier this month, a judge sentenced him to 30 years to life in prison, and just days later it was revealed that the judge had received over 50 letters asking for leniency.

Two of these letters came from Ashton and Mila, and they both surfaced on the internet on Friday.

In his letter, Ashton called Danny a “role model,” and said that he doesn’t believe that his long-time friend “is an ongoing harm to society.” Asking the judge to consider a lesser sentence, Ashton said that Danny’s daughter being "raised without a present father would [be] a tertiary injustice in and of itself."

In Mila’s letter, she told the judge that she can “wholeheartedly vouch for Danny Masterson’s exceptional character and the tremendous positive influence he has had on me and the people around him.” She also praised his “dedication to leading a drug-free life” and called him “an outstanding role model and friend.”

People were horrified to learn of Ashton and Mila’s quiet support for Danny amid his crimes, and as the criticism grew online the couple uploaded an apology video to Ashton’s Instagram account.

In the post, the two stars appear somber as they insist that they truly “support victims.” They also say that they wrote the letters to “represent the person that we knew for 25 years” after Danny’s family asked them to.

Ashton adds that the letters "were intended for the judge to read and not to undermine the testimony of the victims or retraumatize them in any way."

Others have argued that there is no justification for the letters and — regardless of how good a friend Danny has been to them personally over the years — Ashton and Mila should never have supported a convicted rapist.

And one person who agrees with that sentiment is comedian Kathy Griffin, who took to her TikTok page this week to share her own experience of somebody who was close to her committing heinous crimes.

Kathy explained that her older brother, Ken Griffin, was a pedophile and also physically abusive towards his partners. She called the police on him multiple times in a desperate bid to get him arrested.

“OK, I’m weighing in on the whole Danny Masterson, Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis thing,” Kathy began. “The notion that this guy was also convicted of drugging these women, that is such serious stuff that I don’t really care that when they were working on That ‘70s Show he was a good guy to work with.”

“My brother, who’s now dead, his name was Ken Griffin, was a pedophile,” she went on. “It was a horrible, horrible thing and I tried to get him caught. And that was my brother, so I don’t want to hear about Ashton and Mila and Giovanni Ribisi and people that feel like they had to stick up for Danny Masterson because he was their bro, he was their buddy.”

“This was my own brother, and two of his girlfriends confessed to me he also physically abused them very violently and I called the LAPD about it twice,” Kathy said.

She then explained that Ken was a super of a building, which gave him access to his victims because he had keys to every unit. Kathy claimed that he molested a boy and a girl, and while he did go to prison for “something else” he was never convicted for these crimes.

“This has been something that caused a giant rift within my family,” she added. “For many years I was shunned from my own family because I was trying to get my brother Ken arrested.”

Kathy also said that it has “always haunted” her that she was ultimately unable to stop Ken, because the LAPD told her that unless he confessed or one of the children reported him then there was nothing that they could do.

“I think about those children every day, and I think about other victims he probably had,” she shared. “And the difficulty in getting a conviction in SA cases… The bar is so high that I tend to absolutely believe the victims when there’s even a trial.”

“I could never do anything about my brother and I felt so helpless,” Kathy concluded. “The point is, blood was not thicker than water in my case. And if you know that somebody is committing SA, you should do something if you can. My god, at least try.”

Kathy’s video has been viewed over a million times since she posted it, and she has been widely praised for her honesty amid such a difficult topic.

“Thank you for being vulnerable and sharing this ❤️❤️❤️” one person commented on the TikTok. Another added: “That takes a lot of courage and you did the right thing.”

“I can’t imagine the conflicting emotions you experienced with your brother. I’m so sorry,” one more said. Someone else wrote: “The right thing is not always the easy thing. thank you for standing up for victims.”

Another user said: “Thank you for using your platform for good and thanks for sharing your story! It means so much to so many.”

This isn’t the first time that Kathy has discussed Ken, with the star previously opening up about him in her 2009 memoir.

During an appearance on the Tyra Banks Show to promote the book that same year, Kathy said that Ken was 20 years older than her and would crawl into her bed when she was a child.

“When I was a little tiny kid, six or seven years old, he’d come and crawl into bed with me and whisper sweet nothings in my ear and stuff that was creepy,” she shared. “Many, many, many women had a much more difficult time than I did.”

She said that she became “estranged” from him when “a couple of separate women” told her that he was a pedophile — and it created a huge divide in the family.

“It became a difficult thing for me and my family,” Kathy explained. “I told my parents I wasn’t going to come to Christmas until he would leave and stuff like that, it put them in a tough position.” Kathy added that the rest of her family struggled to understand the way that she felt about Ken because they were in “denial” and wanted “proof” of the allegations.

Eventually, her dad confronted Ken directly, and he apparently responded to the pedophile accusations by simply saying: “I do what I do.” While Kathy didn’t see her brother “for many years,” she did visit him in hospital shortly before his death because her mom asked her to go and say goodbye while he was “brain dead.”

“I was actually frightened of him until the day he died,” she told Tyra. Kathy isn’t the only high profile name to speak out against Ashton and Mila’s actions, with Christina Ricci responding to the scandal by posting on her Instagram story that “people we have loved and admired" can also do "horrible things" and that "people we know as ‘awesome guys’ can be predators and abusers."

She added at the time: “Unfortunately, I’ve known lots of ‘awesome guys’ who were lovely to me who have been proven to be abusers privately.” Mila and Ashton have not publicly commented on the situation since uploading their apology video. I f you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE, which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search for your local center here.

If you are concerned that a child is experiencing or may be in danger of abuse, you can call or text the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.

"Pawn Stars" cast member Corey Harrison had bloodshot eyes, a blank stare, and reeked like booze during his DUI traffic stop ... so says the cop who busted the reality star.

TMZ broke the story, Harrison was arrested for DUI early Friday morning in Vegas on his way home. According to the police report, obtained by TMZ, Corey was driving his white Ford F250 pickup and unable to maintain his lane ... at times swerving into the bike lane.

Cops say when they pulled Corey over and made contact, he smelled like booze and had bloodshot eyes, but explained his truck sometimes pulls to the right.

The report states officers gave Corey a field sobriety test and asked he provide a blood or breath sample. When Corey allegedly replied he should "probably ask for his lawyer" the officer informed him they'd get a search warrant for his blood, and if he did refuse his driver's license would be revoked.

Corey eventually agreed to provide a breath sample, but the report states the breathalyzer at the jail was broken, so Corey allowed his blood to be drawn. The report does not state the results of the blood sample, but Corey was booked for DUI.

We spoke to Corey Friday, hours after his arrest who also informed us of the busted breathalyzer. Corey told us he'd recently flown back into town after a trip to Minnesota, but only had one drink on the flight ... 7 hours before his arrest.

It was a rare case of “out of the fire and into the Friars.”

Jimmy Fallon apologized to his staff this week after a Rolling Stone exposé claimed that he’d created a toxic environment at the 30 Rock HQ of his “Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” — in part because he seemed to have shown up to the office smelling of booze back in 2017.

But Page Six has heard over the years that Fallon, 48 — who had a legendary reputation for drinking, and occasionally getting into high-spirited scrapes, at downtown watering holes including Niagara, and especially the long-defunct Siberia — used the private Friars Club as a safe space for the gregarious host to let his hair down without making the gossip pages.

While the struggling 55th Street club is famed for its celebrity members — who, generally speaking, happily drank among the other members at the various bars around its clubhouse — we’re told Fallon was often ensconced in rooms that were especially closed off from other card-carrying folks, with his writing staff as party pals.

As this reporter once discovered the hard way, anyone not in the NBC fold was told to take a hike.

In fact, it was much speculated around the hallowed halls once walked by Frank Sintra and Jerry Lewis, that NBC brass were the ones who came up with the Jimmy management strategy.

But on Friday an NBC spokesperson told Page Six that was not true. A spokesperson for Fallon declined to comment.

A Friars’ insider told us, “He did bring his writers to the club and they’d have a private room, but I don’t know if that was organic, as he’d hang out there anyway — he gifted the writers annual memberships so it makes sense that’s where they’d hang —or if NBC encouraged it. Could have been a win-win for both.”

Fallon is under fire after a Rolling Stone article quoted 16 current and former employees accused him of being erratic, drunk at work and “creating a toxic work environment.”

“Nobody told Jimmy, ‘No,’” a staffer told the magazine.

“Everybody walked on eggshells, especially showrunners,” another former employee said.

“You never knew which Jimmy we were going to get and when he was going to throw a hissy fit. Look how many showrunners went so quickly. We know they didn’t last long.”

Fallon offered an apology to “Tonight Show” in a Thursday night video call.

An attendee of the all-hands meeting characterized the funnyman’s mea culpa as “pretty earnest.”

“It’s embarrassing, and I feel so bad,” Fallon allegedly said. “Sorry if I embarrassed you and your family and friends . . . I feel so bad I can’t even tell you.”

Fallon made headlines in 2014, shortly after he got the “Tonight Show” gig, for getting caught up in a scuffle at East Village bar Niagara, and we’re told the alleged retreat behind Friars lines happened shortly after.

But the Friar’s Club closed this past spring — so where will the funnyman hide out now?

“Poor Things,” a film about Victorian-era female empowerment, has won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival

ROME -- ROME (AP) — “Poor Things,” a film about Victorian-era female empowerment, won the Golden Lion on Saturday at a Venice Film Festival largely deprived of Hollywood glamour because of the writers and actors strikes.

The film, starring Emma Stone, won the top prize at the 80th edition of the festival, which is often a predictor of Oscar glory. Receiving the award, director Yorgos Lanthimos said the film wouldn’t exist without Stone, who was also a producer but was not on the Lido for the festival.

“This film is her, in front and behind the camera,” Lanthimos said.

The film, based on Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel of the same name, tells the tale of Bella Baxter, who is brought back to life by a scientist and, after a whirlwind learning curve, runs off with a sleazy lawyer and embarks on a series of adventures devoid of the societal judgements of the era.

Other top winners on the Lido were two films shaming Europe for its migration policies.

“Io Capitano,” (Me Captain) by Matteo Garrone, won the award for best director while Garrone’s young star, Seydou Sarr, won the award for best young actor. The film tells the story of two young boys’ odyssey from Dakar, Senegal, to the detention camps in Libya and finally across the Mediterranean to Europe.

Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border,” about Europe’s other migration crisis on the Polish-Belarus border, won the Special Jury Prize.

“People are still hiding in forests, deprived of their dignity, of their human rights, of their safety, and some of them will lose their lives here in Europe,” Holland told the audience. “Not because we don’t have the resources to help them but because we don’t want to.”

Peter Sarsgaard won best actor for “Memory,” in which he co-stars with Jessica Chastain in a film about high schoolers reuniting. In his acceptance speech, Sarsgaard referred to the strike and artificial intelligence and the threat it poses to the industry and beyond.

“I think we could all really agree that an actor is a person and that a writer is a person. But it seems that we can’t," he said. "And that’s terrifying because this work we do is about connection. And without that, this animated space between us, this sacrament, this holy experience of being human, will be handed over to the machines and the eight billionaires that own them."

Cailee Spaeny won best actress for “Priscilla,” Sofia Coppola's portrait of the private side of Priscilla and Elvis Presley.

The jury was headed by Damien Chazelle and included Saleh Bakri, Jane Campion, Mia Hansen-Løve, Gabriele Mainetti, Martin McDonagh, Santiago Mitre, Laura Poitras and Shu Qi.

Drew Barrymore's popular talk show is coming back to a TV near you -- this despite the fact that there's still a couple strikes going on ... and one guild is effectively calling her a scab.

The former child star announced Sunday that season 4 of 'The Drew Barrymore Show' will soon resume production, something she knows is going to ruffle feathers ... but which she's defending as necessary, while also vowing to comply with strike regulations.

Drew writes, "I made a choice to walk away from the MTV, film and television awards because I was the host and it had a direct conflict with what the strike was dealing with which was studios, streamers, film, and television. It was also in the first week of the strike and so I did what I thought was the appropriate thing at the time to stand in solidarity with the writers. And to be clear, our talk show actually wrapped on April 20th."

Then, the haymaker ... "However, I am also making the choice to come back for the first time in this strike for our show, that may have my name on it but this is bigger than just me. I own this choice. We are in compliance with not discussing or promoting film and television that is struck of any kind."

She explains that people, apparently, need her show ... writing, "We launched live in a global pandemic. Our show was built for sensitive times and has only functioned through what the real world is going through in real time. I want to be there to provide what writers do so well, which is a way to bring us together or help us make sense of the human experience."

Drew finishes with this ... "I hope for a resolve for everyone as soon as possible. We have navigated difficult times since we first came on air. And so I take a step forward to start season 4 once again with an astute humility."

Read between the lines, and it sounds Drew is going to proceed without any writers -- at least for now. While she's saying they'll be in compliance, the WGA says she's already in violation of strike rules by moving forward at all ... claiming 'TDBS' is a struck show.

A WGA honcho tells THR, "It has stayed off the air since the strike began on May 2nd but has now (unfortunately) decided to return without its writers. The Guild has, and will continue to, picket any struck show that continues production for the duration of the strike."

Fun fact -- 'The Drew Barrymore Show' is just one of 2 daytime talk shows ('The Talk being the other) that employ union writers. CBS -- the parent company -- says her show will not be performing any writing work covered by the WGA strike, including literary material.

Season 4 is expected to premiere on Sept. 18. We'll see what Drew says about this on the air, if anything.

Taylor Swift’s upcoming concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour doesn’t come out for over a month, but it’s already proving to be an incredibly alluring draw at the box office. In fact, the film has reportedly already earned enough in ticket sales to more than cover its budget, weeks before it hits theaters.

According to Puck, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour reportedly cost somewhere between $10 and $20 million to make. It’s not clear if that sum covers only the filming of the movie, which took place at her Los Angeles shows, or if it also includes marketing, distribution, and more. That’s a very healthy figure for a concert doc, and it might be hard for some musicians to earn it back…but not for Swift.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour sold historically well when pre-sale tickets were first made available by AMC, the theater chain carrying and distributing the film. According to Variety, which reported on claims made by AMC, the movie brought in $26 million in ticket sales in just its first three hours of its pre-sale window. So, it seems that Swift managed to make back the millions that it cost to produce the documentary of sorts within less than a quarter of a day.

After tickets had been available for a full day, that sum climbed even higher. Much higher. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour earned $37 million in pre-sales in just the first 24 hours fans could purchase them, reports Deadline. That’s potentially more than three times the budget of the film, if it cost somewhere toward the lower end of estimates.

Industry projections are suggesting that Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour could become one of the biggest films of the year based on its opening weekend alone. The film might bring in $100 million or more in just the first few days it's in theaters. From there, the numbers grow much larger, and after its North American run is through, which could last weeks or even months, that sum could climb to $150 million or more.

Ashton Kutcher and wife Mila Kunis shared a video message after coming under fire for writing a judge character letters in support of Danny Masterson for his rape trial, before his prison sentence.

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis have broken their silence after facing backlash for writing character letters to a judge in support of Danny Masterson during his rape trial.

The married couple, who first got to know the actor while starring with him on That '70s Show in the '90s, shared a video message on Instagram Sept. 9, two days after their former costar was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women. He has denied any wrongdoing.

"We are aware of the pain that has been caused by the character letters that we wrote on behalf of Danny Masterson," Kutcher said in the clip, while Kunis, sitting beside him, then added, "We support victims. We have done this historically through our work and will continue to do so in the future."

Kutcher said that a couple of months ago, Masterson's family reached out to them and asked them to "write character letters to represent the person that we knew for 25 years so that the judge could take that into full consideration, relative to the sentencing."

Mila said that "the letters were not written to question the legitimacy of the judicial system or the validity of the jury's ruling." Ashton added, "They were intended for the judge to read and not to undermine the testimony of the victims or retraumatize them in any way. We would never want to do that, and we're sorry if that has taken place."

Mila noted, "Our heart goes out to every single person who's ever been a victim of sexual assault, sexual abuse or rape," then stopped the recording.

In his character letter, Kutcher, who also worked with Masterson on the Netflix series The Ranch until the latter star was fired in 2017 amid allegations he sexual assaulted three women in the early 2000s, wrote, "While I'm aware that the judgement has been cast as guilty on two counts of rape by force and the victims have a great desire for justice, I hope that my testament to his character is taken into consideration in sentencing."

Kutcher called Masterson "an extraordinarily honest and intentional human being," adding, "Over [our] 25 year relationship I don't ever recall him lying to me. He's taught me about being direct and confronting issues in life and relationships head-on, resolving them, and moving forward. Danny is a person that is consistently there for you when you need him."

Kutcher also called Masterson a "role model."

"I attribute not falling into the typical Hollywood life of drugs directly to Danny," he wrote. "Any time that we were to meet someone or interact with someone who was on drugs, or did drugs, he made it clear that that wouldn't be a good person to be friends with."

Kutcher continued, "He also set an extraordinary standard around how you treat other people. There was an incident where we were at a pizza parlor and a belligerent man entered who was berating his girlfriend. We had never met or seen these people before, but Danny was the first person to jump to the defense of this girl. It was an incident he didn't have to get involved in but proactively chose to because the way this man was behaving was not right. He has always treated people with decency, equality, and generosity."

Mila wrote to the judge that from the moment she met Masterson, she "could sense his innate goodness and genuine nature" and that he proved "to be an amazing friend, confidant, and, above all, an outstanding older brother figure" to her.

Like her husband, she also praised the actor's "steadfastness in promoting a drug-free lifestyle." She added that "his genuine concern for those around him and his commitment to leading by example make him an outstanding role model and friend" and that "Danny's role as a husband and father to his daughter has been nothing short of extraordinary."

Bijou Phillips, Masterson's wife and mother of their 9-year-old daughter Fianna Francis Masterson, had also written the judge to plead for leniency in her husband's sentencing. "We need him more than you can imagine," she wrote. "I know he has been convicted of serious crimes. But the man I married has only been an extraordinary husband to me and a devoted father to our daughter."

Bijou was spotted sobbing in court during his latest hearing. After he was sentenced, he blew her a kiss before being led away.

A day after the sentencing, Ashley Hinshaw, wife of That '70s Show alum Topher Grace, took to her Instagram Stories to share her thoughts. "To every rape victim that is retraumatized by witnessing society debate and focus their attention on what is going to happen to the RAPIST...I see you," she wrote, adding a heart emoji.

Masterston plans to appeal his conviction. "The errors which occurred in this case are substantial and unfortunately, led to verdicts which are not supported by the evidence," his lawyer, Shawn Holley, said in a statement after his sentencing. "And though we have great respect for the jury in this case and for our system of justice overall, sometimes they get it wrong. And that's what happened here."

Masterson, Holley said, "did not commit the crimes for which he has been convicted and we—and the appellate lawyers—the best and the brightest in the country—are confident that these convictions will be overturned."