CAIRO FILM FESTIVAL CANCELS AWARDS CEREMONY

As turmoil continued to mount in Egypt between the Islamist majority and secular protesters, the Cairo Film Festival canceled its closing ceremony Thursday night. While the festival was intended to spotlight the work of the Middle East region’s filmmakers, many of them had boycotted the festival, including Egyptian filmmakers who expressed anger that after being […]

IT’S NOW DEFINITE: IRAN TO BOYCOTT THE OSCARS

Iran’s minister of culture has seemingly put an end to discussions about whether the country should boycott next year’s Academy Awards ceremony by stating at the opening of a film festival in Kerman, “I officially announce that we will avoid next year’s Oscars as a serious response to the intolerable insult to the Prophet of […]

JACK OSBOURNE: “BOYCOTT NBC!”

Jack Osbourne has responded angrily to a statement by NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt suggesting that Osbourne was dropped as a contestant on the upcoming Stars Earn Stripes reality series because the network feared that, after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, he may not have been able to “safely participate” in the competition. The series, […]

IRAN WON’T LET SELECTED FILMS APPEAR AT VENICE

The Iranian government is “currently investigating a plan to boycott this year’s Venice Film Festival,” the Tehran Times reported on Monday. The newspaper indicated tht such a boycott would be in retaliation for “the strong sanctions imposed by the European Union on Iran.” In a statement, Alireza Sajjadpur, an official of the Culture Ministery, noted […]

PIZZA HUT TURNS ASIDE PROTEST AGAINST HOWARD STERN

A campaign spearheaded by the conservative Parents Television Council calling for advertisers to boycott America’s Got Talent unless it removes shock jock Howard Stern as one of its new judges has apparently fallen on deaf ears. Most advertisers have simply ignored the organization, which in the past, has successfully mounted similar protests — in particular […]

CATHOLIC LEAGUE’S PRAISE OF DELTA DOESN’T FLY

Delta Airlines has denied that it yanked its advertising from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart after receiving complaints from the Catholic League about Stewart’s joking remark last month that “perhaps women could protect their reproductive organs from unwanted medical intrusions with vagina mangers.” (He was satirically criticizing Fox News for denouncing the network’s pursuit […]

HOWARD STERN MAKING G-RATED DEBUT

He’s no caustic Simon Cowell — as everyone expected him to be. That’s the general conclusion of TV critics who have seen previews of Howard Stern’s appearances in opening episodes of America’s Got Talent. Indeed, some writers express surprise at the downright G-rated performance that Stern puts on as the newest member of the judging […]

DID OTHER ADVERTISERS PULL THEIR SPOTS FROM ALL-AMERICAN MUSLIM?

Although Lowe’s on Monday claimed that it was not the only advertiser to pull its ads off TLC’s All-American Muslim series, the network itself declined to comment on the Lowe’s statement. In response to an inquiry by the Los Angeles Times, Laurie Goldberg, a spokeswoman for the Discovery Network and TLC Network, said in an […]

EXHIBITORS OUTRAGED BY STUDIOS’ VOD PLANS

Like yelling fire in a crowded theater, four movie studios set off panic among exhibitors attending the convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners with word, first reported by Daily Variety, that they plan to launch a premium video-on-demand program called Home Premiere that will allow subscribers to the DirecTV satellite service to watch […]

WIKILEAKS REVEALS SPIELBERG WAS BLACKLISTED BY ARABS

A document included in the WikiLeaks cache of classified information has revealed that the 14-member Arab League voted in 2007 to ban all of Steven Spielberg’s films after he donated $1 million to Israel at the time of Israel’s 2006 action in Lebanon. The memo, sent from the U.S. embassy in Damascus, said that Malaysia, […]

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