Kate Middleton and Prince William put their royal rift aside today as they wished Meghan Markle a happy birthday. The Duchess of Sussex turned 41 today, with the Royal Family taking to social media to wish her a special day, The Sun reported.
Sharing a photo of Meghan on their social media channels, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wrote: “Wishing a happy birthday to The Duchess of Sussex!”
Minutes later, Prince Charles and Camilla posted: “Happy birthday to The Duchess of Sussex!”
Both posts featured pictures of the duchess beaming in white as she marked the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee at St Paul’s Cathedral this year.
The day saw her and Prince Harry sat at the other side of the aisle from Kate and Wills, with the seating order determined by working royal status.
It marked the first time the couple were seen with The Firm since the frosty Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey in March 2020, shortly before they officially quit royal life.
They have since made a number of bombshell claims about the royals, with fears more could come in Harry’s upcoming tell-all book.
The couple made their latest UK trip with their children Archie, three, and Lilibet, one, from California – where it’s likely they’ll stay for Meghan’s birthday.
However it is not yet known how the family will celebrate, a year on from Meghan’s 40 X 40 campaign which she set up to mark her 40th.
The duchess asked A-listers including Adele and Stella McCartney, as well as members of the public, to donate 40 minutes of their time to “help women re-entering the workforce” for the project.
She promoted the initiative in a glitzy comedy video recorded at her home in exclusive Montecito.
A year on, there has still been no follow-up on the campaign, which also featured comedy star Melissa McCarthy.
This story was originally published by The Sun and has been reproduced with permission.
For a group of parents visiting DisneyWorldtheir trip became that much more excruciating when their families got stuck on the ‘It’s a Small World’ ride.
A video shared by TikTok user @hazeysmom22 revealed visitors were stuck on the notoriously annoying ride for over an hour after one of the boats began sinking.
When operating normally, ‘It’s a Small World’ takes visitors on a scenic boat trip around a miniature version of the world populated by animatronic dolls dressed in costumes from different cultures. Throughout the trip, robots sing a loop of the Sherman Brothers’ song ‘It’s a Small World’.
READMORE:Ioan Gruffudd granted three-year restraining order against Alice Evans, includes social media posts about him
Disney World visitors got stuck on the ‘It’s a Small World’ ride for an hour. (Tik Tok)
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The TikTok user called the experience “torture.”
“[Staff] didn’t realize for like 45 mins, everyone was stuck on a boat so we sat there for about an hour stuck with the song on repeat!!”
The ride has been an integral part of the Disney World experience since the 1970s and has garnered a significant amount of hate over the decades.
One TikTok commenter wrote, “I have such a deep hatred of this ride after an incident in the CA park when I was 12. I’m 31 now.”
Another said, “No joke, this legitimately happened to me when I was a kid in the late 80s! They never turned the music off, I can’t hear that song without cringing!”
A TikTok video showed young babies were also stuck. (Tik Tok)
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“My dad got stuck on this ride for hours when he went to Disney World for spring break in the early 70s,” said one TikTok user. “To this day, I can’t stand to hear the song.”
This isn’t even the first ride sinking this year.
According to the new york post, this is the park’s third sinking incident in two years. A few weeks ago, video footage showed guests climbing out of a car on Splash Mountain because it started sinking.
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Lonely Planet unveils the Ultimate Australia Travel List
Jennifer Coolidge has revealed she’s slept with 200 people due to her infamous role in the 1999 movie american piereports the new york post.
While she’s also known for her role in Legally Blonde and most recently in white lotusthe 60-year-old told Variety that american pie brought her more satisfaction than just fame.
“I got a lot of play at being a MILF and I got a lot of sexual action from ‘American Pie,’” she said. “There were so many benefits to doing that movie. I mean, there would be like 200 people that I would never have slept with.”
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While she’s played similar characters since “Stifler’s Mum,” her role as Tanya McQuoid in white lotus has earned her a first Emmy nomination and a fast pass to the second season as the only main character who got the part sans audition.
“Some jobs, I’m sort of going, ‘Wow, this isn’t worth working for.’ Mike [White] wrote, I was staying up late every night,” Coolidge admitted, referring to the white lotus creator who convinced her to be a part of the series.
In fact, the actress revealed she nearly talked herself out of playing the part. Now, she’s gearing up for its sophomore season, which airs in October 2022.
“I have done one thing really right in my life,” she said. “I’ve picked great friends. If Mike was never successful, and we just did ‘White Lotus’ as a play in a little theater where everyone paid 10 bucks to see it, it would still be one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. Because it was a killer job that no one else thought I could do.”
The HBO series is shot entirely in a single location — the first season being set in Hawaii, and the second set in Italy — due to the uncertainty of the pandemic. Coolidge’s character of her, so it seemed, was written perfectly for her.
“Whenever I’m lying in bed thinking about what I want to make Jennifer do, I know it’s something that she would not want to do,” White dished, nodding to the actress’ willingness to do just about anything on set. “One minute, she seems fragile, like it’s all going to fall apart, and the next minute she’s sturdy and doing hilarious riffs. Just when you think all hope is lost, she knocks it out of the park.”
White’s chance on Coolidge brought her out of her “obtuse” reputation and entered her into the role of “den mother” — and her remodelled image has bought her more opportunity despite her decades in the business.
“Maybe I got this special attention because people saw me as Stifler’s mum or the Legally Blonde woman. So if they see something else…” she said, which proved to be true.
“People that I could never get in the door — all of a sudden they’re asking me to be part of their things.”
This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission.
Ioan Gruffudd has reportedly been granted a three-year restraining order against estranged wife Alice Evans – amid claims she harassed him and his new girlfriend, Bianca Wallace, on social media.
“Ioan had no choice but to up his legal fight over Alice,” a source claimed to the Daily Mail in an article published Tuesday.
“She had become increasingly volatile and seemingly intent on destroying his career with her character assassination. He hopes this will put an end to it.”
Gruffudd, 48, was reportedly in attendance inside the Los Angeles court to witness the domestic violence restraining order granted, though Evans, 54, did not make an appearance.
According to the filing, Gruffudd claims Evans “has used her social media accounts to continue to harass, threaten, and disturb the peace of both me and my girlfriend, Bianca Wallace.”
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Gruffudd requested that Evans not be allowed to post any harassing messages about him or his girlfriend to social media or to share any text messages between the two of them, his girlfriend or their kids. He also asked that Evans not contact his employer of him.
the Fantastic Four actor filed for the restraining order in February, seeking to bar Evans from contacting or coming within 100 yards of him and Wallace.
Gruffudd alleged at the time that Evans “repeatedly told me between August 2020 and our separation on January 1, 2021, that if I left her, she would make false public accusations about me, sell false stories about me to the press and destroy me and my career.”
He also claimed that Evans threatened to tell people he had “abused her and her daughters” and that she would “call the police on [him]” if he did not comply with her demands, according to the petitions.
The filing adds that Evans allegedly “threatened to write a fake diary that reflected an abused victim, and to have the diary published; and … threatened to destroy [his] mother.”
Gruffudd further alleged that Evans harassed him on social media and made “hundreds of harassing, abusive and threatening communications by text, voice message, [and] video message” and even sent “threatening emails” to his mum, Margaret Griffiths.
Evans vehemently denied the claims, saying that his complaint was “a ploy to gain some sort of advantage over me in our divorce proceedings.”
Gruffudd, who married Evans in 2007, filed for divorce in March 2021 after Evans claimed via Twitter in January of that year that the actor had abandoned their family.
“My beloved husband/soulmate of 20 years… has announced he is to leave his family, starting next week. Me and our young daughters… are very confused and sad. We haven’t been given a reason except that he ‘no longer loves me,’” she said at the time.
Gruffudd and Wallace then went Instagram-official in October 2021. Months later, in January 2022, Evans posted a scathing message about Wallace on social media.
“She wants to put a stake in my heart. I’ve never seen such a lack of empathy,” Evans said.
In February, Evans asked the court to grant her custody over their two children: Ella, 12, and Elsie, 8. Gruffudd hit back, claiming that Evans would make fun of his “saggy vagina eyes” in front of their children.
This article originally appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission.
The seemingly unresolvable ethical dilemma of basing films on true tragedies and crimes, especially without the involvement of victims’ loved ones or survivors, is again up for debate ahead of the Australian premiere of a controversial new film, The Stranger.
Thomas M Wright’s film, which debuted at Cannes in May and premieres at the Melbourne international film festival on Friday, centers on the lengthy undercover police operation to capture the man responsible for the 2003 murder of 13-year-old Queensland schoolboy Daniel Morcombe.
Starring Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris, The Stranger does not depict the shocking crime or even use Daniel’s name because, as director Wright told Variety in May, “I couldn’t presume to know anything of the experience of that family. But I could see that there was a story about empathy and making meaning in the wake of violence – not violence itself.”
But in July, Daniel’s parents, Bruce and Denise Morcombe, called for audiences to boycott the film ahead of its premiere in Melbourne and general release later in 2022.
“The movie is not supported or sanctioned in any way by the Morcombe family,” the parents wrote on the Facebook page for the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.
While they have not seen the film, the Morcombes said its sheer connection to Daniel’s murder had upset them: “Its appalling storyline ignores our family’s pain and chooses to profit from 13 year old Daniel Morcombe’s death. In a twisted way, it also provides oxygen to a sadistic beast by notarizing his evil acts from him. ”
The Morcombes had previously declined an offer from production company See Saw Films to contribute to the film, and described the decision to go ahead without their cooperation as “a low act”.
From left: Joel Edgerton, Thomas M Wright and Sean Harris at the photocall for The Stranger at the Cannes film festival in May. Photograph: Stephane Cardinale/Corbis/Getty Images
“Out of our deepest respect for the family, the name of the victim is never mentioned in the film and the film does not depict any details of the murder. Nor is the family represented in the film in any way,” See Saw told Guardian Australia. “When the film was first in development, the producers approached the family to make them aware of the film. They declined to be involved. It is a decision we continue to respect.”
Where can the lines be drawn – between personal grief and trauma, the pursuit of art to make sense of tragedy, and the commercial realities of the film industry?
‘A really difficult balancing act’: entertainment or social commentary?
Australian cinema has a robust history of adapting real crime stories. Last year, a similar controversy arose with the release of Justin Kurzel’s film Nitram, based on the 1996 Port Arthur massacre. Like The Stranger, Nitram did not use the perpetrator’s real name or depict the shootings; instead it focused on the months before the shooter acquired his deadly arsenal from him.
But for many Tasmanians, the memory was still too raw to stomach, 25 years on; in Hobart, the premiere screening was half empty. A spokesperson for a foundation set up in memory of its victims said: “Films like this do nothing to help the understanding of such grotesque, violent and inhumane acts… we understand it’s a really difficult balancing act. But we’re not interested in giving the perpetrator a moment in the sun.”
Andrew Dominik’s 2000 film Chopper, based on the autobiographical books by convicted felon Mark “Chopper” Read, was lambasted by some in the media for heroising a violent thug. “He’s a character in a movie,” Dominik said in a recent interview with the Guardian. “I’m not trying to marry him.”
John Jarratt’s turn as killer Mick Taylor in the 2005 film Wolf Creek was based on the Australian serial killer Ivan Milat and Bradley John Murdoch, who murdered British backpacker Peter Falconio in the Northern Territory. And Kurzel’s 2011 debut Snowtown was based on the grisly “bodies in the barrels murders” in South Australia in the 1990s. After relatives of the victims complained about the film to South Australia’s Commissioner for Victims’ Rights, a consultation process was set up between the film-makers and the relatives ahead of its general release.
Prof Jane Stadler, an academic who has written extensively about cinema and ethics, told the Australian Guardian that the intended effect on the audience – and the strategies used to achieve it – should be taken into account when judging a film.
“The choice of focus – is it from the perspective of the protagonist or the antagonist – influences those who we may feel care, concern or understanding,” she says.
While true crime docudramas such as Catching Milat and Netflix’s Unbelievable typically situate the audience with victims and their families, lines are blurred when it comes to films that seek to transform real crimes into fictional entertainment, as these “often place the audience in close psychological proximity to the killer and their victims, to augment excitation and fear as the crime takes place,” Stadler says.
“This leaves film-makers open to accusations that they are profiting from pain, sadism and death … especially when the subject matter is real murders within living memory.”
Caleb Landry Jones in Nitram
Take Wolf Creek, as an example. “Fans of horror and thrillers enjoy feeling fear in the safety of the cinema, and that is what made Wolf Creek successful,” Stadler says. But Wolf Creek included depictions of what Milat and Murdoch really said and did, “which also put the audience in the ethically uncomfortable position of enjoying a leisure and entertainment activity based on a real person’s agony and terror.”
Stadler says it is understandable that any perceived commodification of victims’ experiences could be viewed as insensitive, intrusive and traumatic. However, in social realist films such as Snowtown and Nitram, she believes the intended effect is societal insight and cultural criticism – not entertainment.
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“Such films may foster ethical insight, elicit moral emotions such as righteous anger or compassion, and channel care and concern toward prosocial action or the prevention of social problems,” she says.
However, good intentions do not mean that these films only have a positive impact, she says: “[The Port Arthur gunman] was reportedly inspired by media coverage of mass shootings, and delighted by the media attention he garnered. Media stories of all kinds may fan the flames of gun violence by stoking shooters’ desire for attention and notoriety and fueling a macabre fascination or voyeuristic tendency in the public.”
‘Does my name belong to me?’
While The Stranger is the latest film to stoke this debate, it is not a new one, nor one unique to Australia.
In July 2021, Amanda Knox, the US exchange student who was wrongfully convicted and then acquitted of the murder of her housemate in Italy, shared her feelings about Stillwater. The film, directed by Tom McCarthy and starring Matt Damon, was directly based on her story of her and time in prison – but she was not involved.
“Does my name belong to me?” Knox wrote. “Does my face? What about my life? My story? Why is my name used to refer to events I had no hand in? I return to these questions because others continue to profit off my name, face, and story without my consent.”
In China, the film-makers behind The Playground are being sued by the family of Deng Shiping, a school administrator who was murdered and buried in a sports field after attempting to expose corruption in the construction industry. His body was discovered 16 years later. A popular tag on Chinese social media site Weibo, viewed more than 300m times, has described the film-makers as “consuming the dead”.
And there have been countless films based on high school shootings in the US over the past two decades, including Gus Van Sant’s controversial 2003 film Elephant, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and was based on the 1999 Columbine massacre. According to reports, that film was watched by a 16-year-old gunman weeks before he killed nine people at a Minnesota school shooting in 2005.
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Dr Tim Dean, a senior philosopher at the Ethics Center in Sydney, says it is human nature to try to make sense of horrific events, and to ask why and how they happen, “to restore our sense of understanding of the world and our sense agency in the world”.
“As a philosopher, I mourn the loss of the cultural tools that we used to have to make sense of the darker aspects of life,” he says.
“When you think about fairytales from 200 years ago, they are far darker than the tales we tell children today. The mythologies that we passed down from generation to generation weren’t just about positive events, great triumphs and heroes… there was an entire genre of tragedy.”
However, fictionalizing and rehashing crimes will always be a traumatic experience for some, especially the loved ones of victims or survivors.
“We have a need to understand and confront the full range of human emotion and human behaviours. So I do think that there is a legitimate argument that art should be able to explore this,” Dean says. “But it has to be done sensitively and needs to be done in good faith. And that’s always going to be a vexed issue.”
Jane Fonda is opening up about a past plastic surgery procedure, and admits she “is not proud” of having a facelift.
During an interview with fashion published this week, Fonda, 84, got candid about going under the knife.
“I had a facelift and I stopped because I don’t want to look distorted. I’m not proud of the fact that I had [one],” the iconic actress said.
“Now, I don’t know if I had it to do over if I would do it. But I did it. I admit it, and then I just say, OK, you can get addicted. Don’t keep doing it. A lot of women, I don’t know, they’re addicted to it,” she said.
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Fonda said expensive face creams are not part of her daily skincare routine.
“I don’t do a lot of facials. I don’t spend a lot of money on face creams or anything like that, but I stay moisturised, I sleep, I move, I stay out of the sun, and I have good friends who make me laugh. Laughter is a good thing too.”
the Grace and Frankie actress also told the media outlet about her H&M Move campaign and how she still feels youthful in her 80s.
“I’m almost 85, but I don’t seem that old,” Fonda said. “So getting young people to stop being afraid of being old, helping people realize that just because you’re a certain age doesn’t mean you have to give up on life, give up on having fun… or whatever you want to do. ”
The H&M Move campaign is focused on “getting the whole world moving” – something Fonda has said she’s “been doing a lot of” in her own life.
The Oscar-winning star pointed out that aging does not have to be intimidating, and she wants more people to be aware that it can be positive and healthy.
“I know better than I did even when I was younger that no matter how old you are or who you are or where you are, keeping moving in a way that’s appropriate for your age is absolutely critical to your healthy lifespan.”
This story originally appeared on Fox News and is republished here with permission
Anne Pantazis had become familiar with the pain that had been shooting through her right leg for years.
It had started towards the end of 2018 during a trip to Europe with husband Alex, 62.
“I started noticing a really weird feeling in my shin at the front of my right leg,” she tells 9Honey. “It started to get tingly, like there was ice on it, then it would go away.
“I thought, ‘Hmmm something weird is going on there.’
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Anne and husband Alex were in Europe when she began experiencing pain in her right leg. (Supplied)
When she returned home Anne, 55, visited her GP and it was concluded she must have been suffering from sciatica, a benign condition in which the sciatic nerve in the back and legs causes pain.
“But the numbness in my shin was what I couldn’t let go of,” she says. “Sciatica feels different. If you sit down or lie down with sciatica the pain goes away but with this the pain would increase. It would intensify.”
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Her doctor suspected sciatica, however Anne said it felt different to the benign nerve pain. (Supplied)
She explained this to doctors but felt they were “dismissive.”
Up until then she’d been in “fantastic” health, regularly attending the gym for pilates and enjoying long walks.
She was eventually referred to a neurologist and explained she felt something was wrong with her leg.
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“From there, three spots developed in my inner thigh,” she explains. “They kind of looked like mozzie bites. Of course I showed them to my doctor but they said they didn’t think they were related to my leg pain.”
She was sent to Chris O’Brien Lifehouse for further testing where it was discovered she had an aggressive cancer in her right leg called sarcoma.
Anne before her right leg was amputated. (Supplied)
“I had this kind of sixth sense that my leg was going to come off,” she recalls. “I had 10 days to get used to the idea. I knew my leg was going to come off but I didn’t know how high up it would be.
“I thought I would be able to keep my hip, I thought I could cope with that. But they had to remove it as well. By then I had found this really strange strength. I had no more tears to cry.”
She credits her husband and boys with helping her stay strong, with her sons telling her: “You can get through it mum!”
Her entire right leg was removed including her femur, meaning she lost the ability to bend on her right side at her hip.
Anne following the surgery to remove her right leg, getting used to crutches and her new prosthetic. (Supplied)
“The cancer was basically like an octopus or the root of a tree, it had intertwined itself and wrapped around the main artery in my leg. That’s why I had so much pain when lying down, it was cutting off the circulation and was around a bundle of nerves.”
“I remember the day before the operation,” she says. “Imagine someone told you tomorrow you won’t have a leg. I walked in the park one last time. I remember feeling the ground. I felt the stairs. I realized I was never going to feel like this again. I had a really long shower and thought this is the last time my right leg is going to feel it.”
She says waking up from the surgery was the “strange feeling because I felt extremely light on my right side.”
“You lose six or seven kilos because that’s how heavy your leg is,” she says. “The worst thing is you are left with phantom pain and sensation after the surgery. And it felt like my right leg was hovering about the bed. It was weird.
“When they sat me up it felt like my leg was there but it had gone through the mattress. Then they sat me in a chair and it felt like my right leg had gone through the chair.”
Following her surgery Anne underwent radiotherapy and suffered a “massive infection” in the residual area where her leg had met her hip, requiring another surgery.
“Unfortunately it took me 13 months to heal on top of everything, which meant that it delayed my rehab, plus the COVID lockdowns,” she says.
Anne was referred to Chris O’Brien Lifehouse where she was diagnosed with aggressive cancer. (Supplied)
Because she lost the ability to bend at the hip on her right side, her prosthetic wraps around her waist.
“Only one per cent of all amputees in the world can’t use their hip,” she explains. “Many of us don’t use prosthetics so we can’t walk.
“For me it hasn’t been too long but I’m doing really well,” she says. “Maybe because I have a fitness background.”
She is currently working with a specialized physiotherapist as well as a gait trainer who specializes in prosthetics.
“We meet four to five times a week,” she says. “I am at rehab all the time.”
Watch the video above to see Anne using her prosthetic.
She was fitted with a prosthetic that wraps around her waist. (Supplied)
Today, Anne is doing as well as can be expected.
“I get up and try and do things as normally as possible,” she says. “I live in a two-story home so I use crutches up the stairs at the moment, mainly for safety reasons, but not my prosthetic yet. Yes, you can make a bed with one leg and crutches, it’s just a bit slower.
“Then I have breakfast and go to the gym or pilates. I do drive, I had a left foot pedal installed and it’s really good, so I have my freedom.
“What I don’t have yet is the confidence to go out with my prosthetic,” she explains. “I get out and about okay and to shopping centers but it is tiring. I’ll have a rest in the afternoon and in the evening I still cook dinner with one leg or with my prosthetic.”
She also misses wearing the clothes she used to wear and heels.
“Dressing as an amputee, you don’t feel like yourself,” she explains. “I used to wear really tight clothes but now I wear looser clothes so they fit over my hip prosthetic. I’ve started wearing wrap skirts and things like that.
“And I wear Sketchers at the moment. I’ll be able to wear a block heel later but not right now or I’ll fall over.”
Anne is taking part inGo The Distancefundraising campaign for the second year, raising funds for Chris O’Brien Lifehouse which saved her life. Find out more byvisiting the website.
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Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams has debuted her most dramatic hair transformation yet.
The 25-year-old UK actress, who shot to fame playing Arya Stark on the HBO fantasy series in 2011, uploaded a holiday snap showing off her edgy new buzzcut.
“Washing head w facewash,” she captioned photos of the new look on Instagram, adding the hashtag #3in1girlie.
British model Iris Law, 21, who recently debuted her own shaved head, gave Williams her stamp of approval in the comments, to which Williams replied, “U the blueprint.”
Tons of other friends and fans showed love for the bold look as well, with one person writing, “You have a lovely shaped bonce!”
Others commented, “Oh she cute,” “Queeeeeeen! I wasn’t ready” and “Wow, the buzz cut looks amazing on you.”
While this may be one of Williams’ most dramatic changes yet, she’s no stranger to pushing boundaries.
Earlier this year, the former child star bleached her hair and eyebrows a platinum hue for her role in the forthcoming limited series about the Sex Pistols.
And shortly after ending her eight-season run as Arya in 2019, Williams departed from her character by dyeing her brown hair a bright bubblegum pink.
“I love it, it’s a whole new me,” she said at the time.
Her big chop may be a nod to boyfriend Reuben Selby, who has a similarly cropped cut. The couple of three years often match their looks, having sported the same makeup and similar outfits in the front rows of Paris Fashion Week in 2019.
It comes as the Thrones spin-off,House of the Dragon, is just weeks away from premiering.
The prequel series, set 200 years before the events of GoTwill focus on the rise and fall of the Targaryen family.
It premieres express from the US on Binge and Foxtel on August 22.
A suspect mistakenly released from a Los Angeles County jail where he was being held on suspicion of shooting Lady Gaga’s dog walker and stealing her French bulldogs has been recaptured.
James Howard Jackson, 19, was arrested nearly five months after being released from jail while awaiting trial “due to a clerical error,” the county Sheriff’s Department says.
Here’s what you need to know about the latest development in the saga.
Wait, what happened?
In February last year, Lady Gaga’s dog walker, Ryan Fischer, was shot by a man who stole two of the singer’s French bulldogs in Hollywood.
Detectives said they did not believe the thieves knew the dogs, Koji and Gustav, were Lady Gaga’s at the time.
It is believed the offender was motivated by the value of French bulldogs, which can be thousands of dollars each.
Lady Gaga with one of her beloved French bulldogs.(Supplied: Instagram)
Is the dog walker OK?
Yes, but he has lost part of a lung as a result of his injuries.
In a social media post following the attack, Mr Fischer thanked Gaga for her support while he was fighting for life in hospital.
“You have shown so much support throughout this whole crisis to both me and my family,” he said.
“I look forward to the future and the moment when I get bombarded with kisses and licks (and maybe even an excitement pee?) from Asia, Koji, and Gustav.”
Ryan Fischer thanked Lady Gaga for her support while he recovered in hospital.(Supplied: Instagram)
And the dogs?
They’re also safe and well.
Lady Gaga offered a $US500,000 reward ($643,000) — “no questions asked” — to be reunited with the dogs.
The dogs were returned two days later to an LAPD station by a woman who police initially said appeared to be “uninvolved and unassociated” with the crime.
Lady Gaga’s French bulldogs Koji, Miss Asia and Gustav. (Supplied: Instagram)
Who was charged?
A month after the kidnapping, multiple people were charged with attempted murder and robbery in connection with the armed snatching of Lady Gaga’s dogs and the shooting of their walker.
Police arrested James Jackson, 19, Jaylin White, 19, and Lafayette Whaley, 27, in connection with the violence.
Police also arrested 50-year-old Jennifer McBride — the woman who returned Lady Gaga’s dogs who police initially said appeared to be “uninvolved” with the crime.
Ms McBride turned out to be in a relationship with the father of one of the suspects.
So someone was arrested, then mistakenly released, but has now been recaptured?
Yep.
Mr Jackson was mistakenly released from a Los Angeles jail in April this year, where he was being held on a charge of attempted murder.
Last month, US authorities offered a $US5,000 ($7,200) reward in return for information that led to his arrest.
At the time, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said the move aimed “to speed up the legal process” and Mr Jackson was arraigned under a new case number.
“Mr Jackson was subsequently released from custody by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. We are unsure as to why they did so,” the statement from the District Attorney’s Office read.
The findings come just weeks after the SSO made a triumphant return to the refurbished and acoustically enhanced Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, with its new chief conductor Simone Young at the helm.
MEAA’s chief executive Erin Madeley said the union had been encouraged by the quick response of SSO management and the board in accepting all recommendations of the Broderick investigation.
“It is entirely unacceptable for any worker to be unsafe at work or to be fearful about speaking up about bad behaviour, which is why we welcome the initiative taken by SSO to investigate and report,” she said. “Our members are encouraged by the remedial and constructive steps being taken by SSO management which have been and must continue to be inclusive and in cooperation with our members.”
Former CEO Emma Dunch cited the Broderick review in an unfair dismissal claim she has filed against the SSO and its chair.
She claims to have been terminated in December after she had acted against a musician last year accused of sexual assault, a case now before the courts, and hired Broderick to review the SSO’s culture.
Her unfair dismissal case is up for mediation on August 22. At the time of her sacking, she claimed she had been the victim of a political “hit job”.
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It was this parting allegation, rather than the dismissal itself, that the SSO content damaged Dunch’s own professional reputation and career prospects, according to court documents.
In the Broderick report, Wilson and Whitehead noted there was great pride in the role its people played in contributing to the SSO, combined with a great passion for the institution and a desire to be part of its future.
They also acknowledged a strong appetite for cultural change, recognizing that the SSO needs to evolve and modernize its culture. “Our people believe now is an opportunity time for us to review and refocus.”
“For many, the hierarchical nature of our Orchestra, the long average tenure of musicians and the overriding view that the orchestra is more like a family than a workplace, creates an environment that while strong, many don’t see as being bound by workplace policies and legislation, and may not support psychological safety for all,” they said.
“Others perceive a skills gap in leading and managing people in both the administration and the Orchestra. There are skills that can be learned.
“There was evidence of cultural division within the organization between musicians and administrators that created a sense of isolation and a lack of belonging and inclusion. We acknowledge that the survey found unacceptable rates of harmful behavior across the company, not just within any specific cohort.”
the herald understands that none of the harassment allegations cited in the report have been referred to the police for investigation. The review identified issues, not individuals, and there had been no personnel changes. The review’s findings and recommendations have been communicated with all staff, and workshops and training programs have begun.
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