Freeman "Devastated" by Claims; Weinstein's Day in Court; 'Solo' Underperforming; ESPN Politics; Bezos' TV Revival

What's news: Harvey Weinstein's accusers reflect on seeing the disgraced mogul in court. Plus: Solo is underperforming in its holiday box office debut, Morgan Freeman responds to harassment claims and ESPN's politics are in focus. — Erik Hayden [The Hollywood Reporter - Today In Entertainment]( May 26, 2018 What's news: Harvey Weinstein's accusers reflect on seeing the disgraced mogul in court. Plus: Solo is underperforming in its holiday box office debut, Morgan Freeman responds to harassment claims and ESPN's politics are in focus. — Erik Hayden Harvey's Day in Court Harvey Weinstein's arrest ends months of speculation over whether the producer would be held accountable for his alleged misdeeds, Tatiana Siegel writes: In court, when he was arraigned, bond was set at $10 million or $1 million cash. Weinstein was asked to relinquish his passport and has to wear a monitoring device that allows him to be tracked 24/7. He can only travel between New York and Connecticut unless he receives approval from the D.A.'s office and court to travel. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. [Full story](I [Court photos]( I [What he was reading.]( + What Weinstein's team is saying. Weinstein's attorney Ben Brafman said, "Mr. Weinstein has always maintained that he has never engaged in non-consensual sexual behavior with anyone. Nothing about today's proceedings changes Mr. Weinstein's position. He has entered a plea of not guilty and fully expects to be exonerated." + And: "I anticipate the women who made these allegations when subjected to cross-examination, in the event that we even get that far, that the charges will not be believed," Brafman said. "Assuming we get 12 fair people who have not been consumed by the movement that has overtaken this case." What the accusers are saying... + Ashley Judd: "That Harvey Weinstein, a powerful man who thrived and flourished as he shattered and abused women in a culture of impunity was arrested and charged is resoundingly significant. It is a watershed event." + Rose McGowan: "I, and so many of Harvey Weinstein’s survivors, had given up hope that our rapist would be held accountable by law." + Asia Argento: "Today Harvey Weinstein will take his first step on his inevitable descent to hell ... We, the women, finally have real hope for justice." + Dominique Huett: "this was a very systematic pattern of abuse which was rarely considered a crime by a culture in the entertainment business that continually perpetuated it." + Natassia Malthe: "I hope that he is made accountable in a criminal case and that one day he will truly understand what the impact of his behavior has had on women, that has caused so many women unnecessary pain." [Many more.]( Morgan Freeman responds to harassment claims... [His Friday night statement:]( "I am devastated that 80 years of my life is at risk of being undermined, in the blink of an eye, by Thursday’s media reports. All victims of assault and harassment deserve to be heard. And we need to listen to them." + "But it is not right to equate horrific incidents of sexual assault with misplaced compliments or humor. I admit that I am someone who feels a need to try to make women—and men—feel appreciated and at ease around me. As a part of that, I would often try to joke with and compliment women, in what I thought was a light-hearted and humorous way." + "Clearly I was not always coming across the way I intended. And that is why I apologized Thursday and will continue to apologize to anyone I might have upset, however unintentionally. But I also want to be clear: I did not create unsafe work environments. I did not assault women. I did not offer employment or advancement in exchange for sex. Any suggestion that I did so is completely false." Elsewhere in film... ► Lucasfilm's Solo struggling in box office debut. The film could come in behind expectations with [$110M-$117M]( for the four-day holiday. The projected three-day weekend tally is $92M-$95M. (Fellow Star Wars standalone Rogue One grossed $155M in its three-day debut.) ► STX's Melissa McCarthy puppet movie sued. "The makers of Sesame Street are suing the promoter of a new Melissa McCarthy movie, saying it's abusing the famed puppets' sterling reputation to advertise the film," the Associated Press [reports](. ► Disney artist penning memoir. Natalie Nourigat, a storyboard artist at Walt Disney Animation, is [planning](a graphic novel memoir, I Moved to Los Angeles to Work in Animation. Boom! Studios will publish the work. *R.I.P., Paul Bloch. The famed publicist who represented the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Tom Cruise, Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy while specializing in damage control, has died. He was 78. [Full obit.]( What's Hurting ESPN? Has Disney's flagship sports network really been "weakened" by political controversies, or just cord-cutting? A Wall Street Journal feature by Shalini Ramachandran renewed the debate: ► "How a weakened ESPN became consumed by politics." + [Wall Street Journal:]( "Executives at the sports-media giant wanted to seek out new audiences by spicing up shows with opinionated analysis and debate, including on SportsCenter, its struggling news and highlights franchise. But the amount and intensity of political expression generated sharp internal disagreements over whether ESPN was appropriately taking part in the broader national conversation, or whether top executives were encouraging a divisive company culture and giving too much leeway to hosts to promote left-leaning views, both on air and on social media." ► "There is no evidence whatsoever that ESPN is losing subscribers due to its 'politics.'" + [Deadspin:]( "This is just the first phase of an a la carte cable TV future, and that future rightfully should terrify ESPN and Disney executives. But that path is straightforward and pretty obvious; it’s a simple business story about an industry struggling into a period of disruption. If ESPN actually believes that 'we’ve become too political' is the reason for its recent decline, they’re in even worse shape than they know." Meanwhile... + Keith Olbermann, who has a long history at ESPN, is [expanding his role]( at the network as part of a new agreement that will see him guest-anchoring approximinately 20 episodes of SportsCenter. Elsewhere in TV... ► Behind Amazon's revival of The Expanse. CEO Jeff Bezos is a big fan of the book - the source material was on the screen when the executive displayed Amazon's Kindle Fire for the first time to press - and was livid that the TV series went to NBCUniversal-owned Syfy. + The move is said to have ignited Bezos' demand that Amazon Studios brass find the company's version of Game of Thrones. [Full story.]( ► Syfy's Deadly Class replaces showrunner. The series, based on the Image Comics graphic novel of the same name, has [swapped]( showrunner Adam Targum with Mick Betancourt ahead of the show's premiere. ► George Takei says "this nightmare is finally drawing to a close." In the wake of [a story]( that threw into question allegations of assault against Takei, the former Star Trek actor reiterated his claim that he does not remember his accuser, who on Friday stood by his original story. *R.I.P, Gary Garfinkel. The longtime Showtime exec, an advocate for stand-up comedians and his network, died after a battle with an undisclosed illness. He was 55.[Full obit.]( Topher's Take While in Cannes, BlacKkKlansman star Topher Grace opened up to discuss his mandate to work with auteurs ("I don’t need the money"), the prospect of a That ’70s Show reboot and his thoughts on former co-star Danny Masterson. [Full story.]( What else we're reading... — "The envelope, please. And make it quick." Danny Hakim writes: "Some of us don’t have the time - or the attention span - to watch full-length feature films. The Golden Trailer Awards are just for us." [[New York Times](] — "Most of this is nonsense, most of this is a lie." Miranda Sawyer profiles Anthony Hopkins: "Alcoholism and ambition fuelled the actor’s rise to the top. He talks masculinity, fame." [[The Guardian](] — "Terrence Howard is accused of violent abuse. When is his Time Up?" Amy Zimmerman writes: "The star of Empire just hosted his own prank TV special, despite years of accusations of violent abuse from ex-partners and strangers alike." [[Daily Beast](] — "Spotify plans to change XXXTentacion policy after outcry." Lucas Shaw writes: "Facing a rebellion among artists and even some of its own employees, Spotify Technology SA will partially walk back a move to punish musicians for their personal misconduct." [[Bloomberg](] *Social charts: Roseanne Barr leads [top comedians](, Ryan Reynolds [tops actors](. From the archives... + On May 26, 1982, Steven Spielberg unveiled E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial at the Cannes film festival. The sci-fi classic would become a summer smash en route to four Oscar wins at the 55th Academy Awards. [1982 review.]( **Happy Memorial Day weekend, this newsletter will be back on Tuesday. Today's birthdays: Lauryn Hill, 43, Matt Stone, 47, Alex Garland, 48, Helena Bonham Carter, 52, Lenny Kravitz, 54, Stevie Nicks, 70. Follow The News Is this email not displaying correctly? [View it in your browser.]( ©2018 The Hollywood Reporter. 5700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 All rights reserved. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Preferences]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms of Use]( May 26, 2018