11/21/2022: 2022 American Music Award Winners

PLUS: SBF Cashed Out; Artists’ Equity Productions; and Heroic Sussexes

Nov 21, 2022

Today is Monday, November 21, 2022.

It is the 325th day of the year.

40 days remain.

PROGRAMMING NOTE

There will be no newsletter on Thursday or Friday this week during the Thanksgiving holiday.

HIT LIST

Have you been wondering how a bankrupt 30-year-old crypto dweeb can continue living in paradise in the Bahamas after bilking customers out of billions in assets?

The Wall Street Journal reports that after Democrat megadonor SAM BANKMAN-FRIED raised $420 million as part of FTX’s last fundraising round in October 2021, he cashed out $300 MILLION for himself.

MEANWHILE: Saturday court filings show FTX owes its top 10 creditors a combined $1.45 billion, but without naming names. The top 50 biggest creditors are owed a combined $3.1 billion.

The first hearings in the company’s bankruptcy case are set for Tuesday morning.

WORTH ASKING: SBF gave more than $37 million to Democrat and left-leaning candidates, groups, and causes during the 2022 midterm election cycle; do those beneficiaries have an ethical obligation to return that money?

WORTH NOTING: Another disgraced zillionaire who used investment rounds to enrich himself, and not the company, was WeWork founder ADAM NEUMANN, who’s certainly no pillar of business integrity.

SPEAKING OF DOUCHEBAGS: ELIZABETH HOLMES has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for her lies and frauds connected to blood testing startup Theranos. She’s due to surrender on April 27 to begin a 135-month sentence followed by three years of parole.

She’s still waiting for a second hearing to determine how much she’ll owe in restitution. Prosecutors have asked for around $800 million.

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Twitter remained up and running over the weekend amid an exodus of employees who quit with severance following ELON MUSK’s demand that remaining staff accept an extreme, driven work culture.

Musk ticked another item of the to-do list of free speech advocates over the weekend: Former President DONALD TRUMP got his account back after being suspended shortly after the January 6, 2021 election integrity protests in Washington, D.C. A handful of other notable accounts were restored, including KANYE WEST.

On Friday, CBS News and its local affiliates sent out statements that amid the turmoil at Twitter, the news outlets would be pausing all posts until they can assess “security concerns” at the platform.

BUT WAIT: By Sunday morning, they apparently did all the assessing that needed to be done and said they’d all be back to tweeting. So, there’s that.

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Bar patrons and staff reportedly stopped the 22-year-old gunman who killed five and injured at least 25 more at a gay club in Colorado Springs on Saturday night.

So far, two unnamed people fought the shooter to stop him from doing more harm. “We owe them a great debt of thanks,” said Colorado Springs’ police chief.

A police report indicates six minutes passed between the first 911 calls and the shooter being detained.

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North Korean dictator KIM JONG JUNIOR confirmed to the world he has a daughter over the weekend, when DPRK state media published a photo of the tyrant at a missile test launch with the girl.

No name or age was provided. Analysts believe that the official news agency publishing the photo was meant to be a signal to the world that there is a fourth generation of Kim dynasty in the works.

Others suggest the move was to soften Junior’s image at home, so that citizens didn’t just see him as an aggressive tyrant.

Junior reportedly has two other children with his wife, who used to be as big a pop star as one can be in North Korea.

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The New York National Guard was deployed over the weekend to aid in cleanup and response as a result of the massive blizzard that pummeled western New York State over the weekend.

One priority was helping people requiring dialysis to get treatment on Saturday.

Two people are confirmed dead from heart attacks while shoveling snow. Remarkably, fewer than 1,000 people were without power as of Saturday morning. All told, up to six feet of snow fell since Thursday evening in the Buffalo area, which broke records for total snowfall in a 24 hour period.

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BY THE NUMBERS

📈 The Dow added 199 points (0.59%) on Friday to close at 33,745. The S&P added 18 points (0.48%) to close at 3,965. The Nasdaq added 1 point (0.0099%) to close at 11,146.06.

🛢 West Texas Intermediate slid under $80, trading at $79.83 on Friday. Brent Crude fell to $87.

⛽ The national average price of a gallon of gas was $3.67 on Sunday.

₿ Bitcoin remains suppressed, trading just over $16,000 Sunday evening.

🛩 There were 4,723 flights delayed within, into, or out of the United States on Sunday and 109 such cancellations.

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CHARTS

Weekend Box Office

10. The Banshees of Inisherin: $703k (down from 7)

9. Prey for the Devil: $935k (down from 6)

8. Smile: $1.1 million (down from 5)

7. Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile: $1.9 million (down from 4)

6. She Said: $2.2 million (new)

5. Ticket to Paradise: $3.2 million (down from 3)

4. Black Adam: $4.4 million (down from 2)

3. The Chosen Season 3: Episode 1 & 2: $8.2 million (new)

2. The Menu: $9 million (new)

1. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: $67.3 million (stayed at 1)

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DEATHS

JASON DAVID FRANK, one of the original Power Rangers, has died.

He passed away Saturday in Texas, according to a statement from his rep. TMZ reported that his death was due to suicide, but that has not been confirmed.

Frank was only 49.

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BABY NEWS

JHENE AIKO, 34, and BIG SEAN’s baby boy, Noah Hasani, has arrived.

Aiko and Sean, also 34, announced the birth with photos of the newborn on Instagram Friday.

Noah is the first child for Sean and Aiko, while she is also mom to daughter Namiko, 13, whom she co-parents with R&B singer O’RYAN.

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BREAKUPS

HARRY STYLES and OLIVIA WILDE are taking a break.

After nearly two years of dating, insiders told PEOPLE magazine that the two are taking some time apart due to his busy touring schedule and her family obligations and work in Hollywood.

The two were last spotted together at his concert just days ago.

WORTH NOTING: Some outlets reported the two are taking some time apart while others claim they have split for good. Stay tuned…

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WEDDINGS

NAOMI BIDEN, 28, and PETER NEAL, 25, tied the knot at the White House on Saturday.

The nuptials were the first wedding for a presidential family member held on the grounds since the Clintons were in office.

Naomi is the eldest grandchild of President JOE BIDEN, the daughter of HUNTER BIDEN and KATHLEEN BUHLE. She and Neal are both lawyers in DC.

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THE SWAMP

“I don’t see any reason for it,” says former President DONALD TRUMP about getting active on Twitter again, with his account restored over the weekend.

Trump’s deal with his Truth Social app reportedly requires that he make any social media post on that platform at least six hours before posting a similar message anywhere else, but only until the middle of next year. Trump is also part of an effort to turn Truth Social into a publicly-traded company, and putting his energy behind a competing app could cause trouble with potential investors.

MEANWHILE: President JOE BIDEN turned 80 on Sunday, making him the first octogenarian commander-in-chief.

A variety of news outlets, including Associated Press, Reuters, and the New York Times, published fawning but conflicted coverage about the milestone. While he’s old and his brain has turned into melted chocolate-chocolate-chip ice cream, he’s not much older than Trump. If the media uses age as a cudgel to beat Trump, they’re not (yet!) so brazen that they can just ignore Biden’s age, too.

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LOTTERY

No winner for Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing. Tuesday night’s drawing will be for a $259 million jackpot or a $131.4 million cash payout.

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A Kansas resident matched all six balls in Saturday night’s Powerball drawing. The winner has the option of the $92.9 million jackpot or $47.3 million cash option.

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SHOWBIZ NEWS

The 50th annual American Music Awards took place last night. WAYNE BRADY hosted the event from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

TAYLOR SWIFT swept wins in her six nominated categories, including Favorite Artist, Favorite Music Video, Favorite Female Pop Artist and Album and Favorite Female Country Artist and Album.

And the winners are…

Overall

Artist - Taylor Swift
New Artist - Dove Cameron
Collaboration - Elton John & Dua Lipa, “Cold Heart-PNAU Remix”
Touring Artist - Coldplay
Music Video - Taylor Swift, “All To Well (Taylor’s Version)”
Soundtrack - Elvis

Pop

Male Artist - Harry Styles
Female Artist - Taylor Swift
Duo or Group - BTS
Album - Taylor Swift, “Red (Taylor’s Version)”
Song - Harry Styles, “As It Was”

Country

Male Artist - Morgan Wallen
Female Artist - Taylor Swift
Duo or Group - Dan + Shay
Album - Taylor Swift, “Red (Taylor’s Version)”
Song - Morgan Wallen, “Wasted on You”

Hip-Hop

Male Artist - Kendrick Lamar
Female Artist - Nicki Minaj
Album - Kendrick Lamar, “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers”
Song - Future ft. Drake & Tems, “Wait for U”

R&B

Male Artist - Chris Brown
Female Artist - Beyonce
Album - Beyonce, “Renaissance”

Latin

Male Artist - Bad Bunny
Female Artist - Anitta
Duo or Group - Yahritza Y Su Esencia
Album - Bad Bunny, “Un Verano Sin Ti”
Song - Sebastian Yatra, “Dos Orguitas”

Rock

Artist - Machine Gun Kelly
Album - Ghost, “Impera”
Song - Maneskin, “Beggin’”

Other

Inspirational Artist - for King & Country
Gospel Artist - Tamela Mann
Dance/Electronic Artist - Marshmello
Afrobeats Artist - Wizkid
K-Pop Artist - BTS

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TAYLOR SWIFT is apologizing to her fans for the fiasco with Ticketmaster.

In a lengthy statement on Instagram, Swift wrote about how angry she is with the company, and how she and her team are trying to figure out how to correct the situation and improve it for the future.

As previously reported there were tons of issues and delays with the presale of tickets for Swift’s Eras Tour. The chaos got so bad that Ticketmaster canceled the public sale of tickets, resulting in sky-high price tags for those looking to score seats

The highest prices reported so far are floor seats at Gillette Stadium that are going for $22,500 a ticket.

Following Taylor’s blunt statement, Ticketmaster issued a formal apology to her and her legions of fans. They also bragged about how “over 2 million tickets were sold [...] the most tickets ever sold for an artist in a single day.”

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During his recent appearance on CHRIS WALLACE’s CNN show, QUENTIN TARANTINO said he wishes he would’ve confronted his longtime friend HARVEY WEINSTEIN over rumors of inappropriate behavior.

When asked what he knew regarding the nefarious allegations, Tarantino said that he had heard things but insisted he was never “privy to anything regarding rape or sexual assault.”

In hindsight, the famed director says he doesn’t regret working with Weinstein, but does wish he would have spoken up.

Weinstein has since been convicted of sex crimes in New York and is currently on trial in Los Angeles for similiar charges.

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ADELE kicked off her Vegas residency on Friday night at Ceasar’s Palace Colosseum.

Prior to performing, she told the crowd how “scared and nervous” she felt hitting the stage after her previous residency was scrapped at the last minute over production disputes and COVID concerns.

She also thanked her fans for showing up.

Adele’s boyfriend RICH PAUL, son ANGELO, and friend JAMES CORDEN were all front and center to cheer her on.

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TIM ALLEN visited his friend JAY LENO at the Grossman Burn Center where he is recovering from severe burns to his face, hands and chest.

On his way out of the hospital, Allen told TMZ photogs that his friend is feeling better and that his face will be better than ever when all is said and done.

“He’ll look like George Clooney,” Allen joked.

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TOM CRUISE’s daily commute is disrupting the filming of “Call the Midwife.”

JENNY AGUTTER, a star of the BBC drama, told The Mirror that he “keeps ruining our filming by landing his helicopter right outside where we’re shooting.”

Cruise, who is in England to film “Mission: Impossible -- Dead Reckoning Part Two,” reportedly flies directly over the “Midwife” set in Surrey on the way to his own set.

No word on whether anyone has told him about the nuisance.

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AFROMAN tumbled off the stage during his concert in New Hampshire on Friday night in the middle of belting out his hit “Because I Got High.”

Fortunately, he was not hurt and jumped back up on stage with a big grin on his face, eyewitnesses told TMZ.

The only casualty was his spilled drink, which his handlers corrected right away.

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CASTING CALL

Former Disney CEO BOB IGER is returning from retirement to once again take the reigns on the entertainment company.

“The Board has concluded that as Disney embarks on an increasingly complex period of industry transformation, Bob Iger is uniquely situated to lead the Company through this pivotal period,” the company said in a statement released late Sunday.

Iger will replace BOB CHAPEK, who took over for Iger in the early days of the pandemic, just as Disney was launching its own streaming service, Disney+.

Iger will remain in the top spot for at least two years.

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BEN AFFLECK and MATT DAMON announced Sunday that they plan to launch an independent production company called Artists’ Equity.

The idea is to hire talent and pay them from a cut of the profits, rather than up front, like big studios and streamers typically do. (This was how showbiz worked prior to the launch of streaming services.)

“This is partly an effort to try to recapture some of that value and share it in a way that’s more equitable,” Affleck told The New York Times.

Another plus for Artists’ Equity is that it will allow those behind the lens to have control of their vision without all the “politics” that sometimes hinder a project.

Damon and Affleck have both contributed an undisclosed amount of cash from their own pockets and have secured at least $100 million from RedBird Capital Partners.

WHAT’S MORE: Damon has already committed to several projects through the new company.

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ELLEN POMPEO sent an emotional note to “Grey’s Anatomy” fans on social media, thanking them for supporting her character Dr. Meredith Grey for 19 seasons.

The actress announced her exit from the long-running show over the summer.

While she will no longer be a cast member, Pompeo will still be part of the show, serving as executive producer.

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MARIAH CAREY will be opening for Santa Claus at the end of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday.

The Queen of Christmas (though not officially) posted the news on Instagram Friday.

The annual parade will be full of the usual -- helium balloons, marching bands and performers lip-syncing their big hits.

The 96th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will air on NBC on Thanksgiving morning.

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THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS

BRODY JENNER says his dad CAITLYN JENNER (formerly Bruce Jenner) never financially supported him while he was growing up.

Brody, who is Caitlyn’s son from her previous marriage to LINDA THOMPSON, spoke candidly about the situation on DJ VICE’s “Electric Taco” show, saying “I don’t think [Caitlyn] has ever given me a penny in my life.”

“I grew up with David Foster as my dad, pretty much, and my mom. And Caitlyn Jenner, Bruce at the time, didn’t even pay child support,” he explained.

Brody also added that no one from the Kardashian family gave him money either. (Remember Cait -- before she was Cait -- was married to KRIS JENNER.)

BRANDON JENNER, Brody’s big brother, doubled down on the claim, explaining that the two basically grew up without their father in their lives.

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WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS

PRINCE HARRY and MEGHAN MARKLE will be honored next month for their “heroic” actions of speaking out against The Firm.

The couple are set to receive the Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award, which celebrates the work of exemplary leaders, on December 6.

KERRY KENNEDY, who leads the foundation and is the niece of the late JFK, said of the Sussexes, “they went to the oldest institution in UK history and told them what they were doing wrong [...] they knew that if they did this there would be consequences [...] they have done it anyway. I think they have been heroic in taking this step.”

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SPORTS

After the Milwaukee Bucks loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night, GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO wanted to work on his free throws.

Several arena employees, just doing their job, approached the hoop he was shooting on with a tall ladder. Not ready to leave, Giannis got angry and pushed the ladder out of the way, causing it to topple over. The whole thing was caught on video by some fans who were still in the arena.

Giannis shot 4-for-15 (27%) from the free throw line during the game, so it's understandable he would want to get in some practice.

Watch >> (**WARNING: FOUL LANGUAGE**)

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DAY OF THE YEAR

National Gingerbread Cookie Day

World Television Day

World Hello Day

National Red Mitten Day

False Confession Day

National Stuffing Day

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ON THIS DATE

1783 – Two Frenchmen fly 5-and-a-half miles over Paris in an untethered hot-air balloon.

The flight took 25 minutes. It was the first significant and controlled human adventure into the sky.

Two months earlier the fliers had sent some barn animals up in one of their balloons in front of King Louis.

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1916 – The Titanic's sister ship, the Britannic, sinks in the Aegean Sea. It was functioning as a hospital ship to service wounded soldiers fighting in World War I.

30 people died and more than 1,000 were rescued.

After the Titanic Disaster, the White Star Line mandated that there be enough lifeboats on board for everyone.

It is known that an explosion caused the ship to sink, but it's uncertain what caused it—many historians suggest the ship hit a water mine.

The wreckage would be discovered 400 feet beneath the surface of the Aegean Sea in 1976 by Jacques Cousteau.

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1975 – A meddling Senate committee reports that American agents had engineered at least 5 assassination plots of foreign leaders.

The Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities linked the U.S. to a failed attempt on Fidel Castro's life. The bureaucrats found no information that an American president ever authorized an assassination.

President Ford decried the report, saying it undermined the country's foreign policy initiatives.

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1976 – "Rocky" premieres in New York City.

It was released two weeks later across the country and became a huge hit at the box office.

The boxing flick would take home 3 Oscars, including Best Picture.

Then-unknown Sylvester Stallone wrote the screenplay.

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1980 – A worldwide television audience of more than 350 million people watch the episode of Dallas that reveals who shot JR.

SPOILER ALERT: It was Kristin Shepard, his wife's sister and his former mistress.

The CBS drama ran for 12 full seasons, beginning in 1978.

In the US alone, the episode drew in 83 million people. That's 76 percent of all TV sets in the country at the time.

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1995 – Princess Diana admits she cheated on Prince Charles.

During her hour-long conversation with BBC reporter Martin Bashir, Diana admitted to an adulterous affair with her riding instructor James Hewitt.

She also shared her hurt at Charles’ affair with long-time friend Camilla Parker-Bowles.

The interview was watched by an estimated 15 million people—one of the BBC’s highest-ever audiences.

The couple were separated at the time of the interview and would divorce in 1996.

Diana would die in a car accident a year later.

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2019 - Elon Musk unveils Tesla’s all-electric pickup, the Cybertruck, at an event in Los Angeles.

While showing off how much of a beating the vehicle could take, Tesla Chief Designer Franz Von Holzhausen took a sledgehammer to the body. He also hit the shatterproof windows with a metal ball that — to the surprise of Musk — shattered the window.

Earlier, Musk had claimed the truck was bulletproof against a 9mm handgun.

The truck was initially set to be available for purchase in 2021, but it would get pushed back.

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BIRTHDAYS

Isabel May - actress, “Alexa & Katie” - 22

Levi Jones - bassist, The Tide - 25

Carly Rae Jepsen - pop singer - 37

Jena Malone - actress, “Donnie Darko” & “Into the Wild” - 38

Nikki Bella - wrestler - 39

Brie Bella - wrestler - 39

Johnny Dang - entrepreneur, “The Jeweler to the Stars” - 48

Michael Strahan - football player - 51

Ken Griffey Jr. - baseball player - 53

Troy Aikman - football player - 56

Bjork - pop singer - 57

Nicole Sheridan - actress, “Desperate Housewives” - 59

Goldie Hawn - actress, “Overboard” & “Foul Play” - 77

David Porter - producer & songwriter - 81

Born On This Date

Hetty Green - financier, known as the Witch of Wall Street - 1834 (d. 1916)

William Beaumont - father of gastric physiology - 1785 (d. 1853)

Voltaire - philosopher and playwright - 1694 (d. 1778)

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