Marvel and DC comic writer Deniz Camp seemingly posted his disappointment about President Trump’s assassin failing at his mission, then backtracked and faced even more criticism for playing dumb.
It all started when Camp posted on X, “Missed again :(” just after news broke over the weekend that there had been an assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, D.C., Saturday night.
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Missed again 🙁
— Deniz Camp (@DenizCamp) <a href="https://twitter.com/DenizCamp/status/2048217802289369538?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2026</a></blockquote>
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His comments were immediately flooded with outraged followers, even fellow leftists who were disgusted by the seeming celebration of violence.
“Pretty sickening to see a writer I once admired wishing death on the President of the United States,” one reply said.
“Bravo on the all-time self-own. Heroism and hope in your comics, pure glee at political murder in your tweets. Mask fully torched. Exactly why comics suck now and nobody cares what you &#8216;creatives&#8217; think anymore. Enjoy the backlash and canceled orders,” another commenter <a href="https://x.com/RiftWatcher73/status/2048795499042410762">wrote</a>.
Instead of deleting the post or apologizing, Camp made the claim that he was talking about something else entirely.
Follow up tweets included one that said, “I am so bad at darts!” alongside a stock image of a dartboard with darts not hitting their mark, and another that said, “People are really passionate about darts.”
No one in the comments believed that Camp was posting about darts. Many X users tagged DC and Marvel in the posts.
Camp is a comic book writer who has worked across Marvel, DC, and independent publishers. He wrote for “The Ultimates” for Disney-owned Marvel and contributed to X-Men-related projects. He&#8217;s also the writer of “Absolute Martian Manhunter” for DC’s “Absolute Universe” line. His independent work includes “Assorted Crisis Events” and “20th Century Men,” <a href="https://geeksandgamers.com/deniz-camp-trump/">per</a> Geeks and Gamers.
Meanwhile, actor and Trump critic Ben Stiller faced similar backlash for a social post that got misinterpreted and does seem to be a mistake, according to Community Notes.
Prominent figures including Congresswoman Nancy Mace and Richard Grenell came after Stiller when he <a href="https://x.com/BenStiller/status/2048203719846633967">posted</a> “Got it done” about 20 minutes after the would-be assassin breached security at the Washington Hilton. But his post also coincided with the end of the Knicks game.
“Ben Stiller’s post refers to the New York Knicks’ 114-98 playoff win over the Atlanta Hawks, as shown by his preceding Knicks post and the game recap,” the note clarified.

Deniz Camp

Marvel Comics Writer’s Two-Word Tweet Ignites Firestorm After Assassination Attempt

assassination attempt

Comics

Disney

Donald Trump

Entertainment

General

Marvel

U.S.

Late-night “comedian” Jimmy Kimmel is being put on blast by Melania Trump for a decidedly un-funny bit he did on Thursday about the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that’s even less humorous following the Saturday evening assassination attempt.
In his little parody, the Trump-hating talk show host said, &#8220;Our First Lady, Melania, is here. Look at Melania, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow.”
The clip aired Thursday night, two days before a crazed gunman gained access to the event with the intention of not only killing the president, but taking out <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/manifesto-shows-shooter-was-willing-to-kill-everyone-at-correspondents-dinner?author=Brecca+Stoll&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=5&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Manifesto+Shows+Shooter+Was+Willing+To+Kill+Everyone+At+Correspondents%E2%80%99+Dinner">everyone in the room</a> if necessary.
Melania did not take the &#8220;joke&#8221; lightly. Instead, she put Kimmel on blast, writing a scathing X post she shared Monday morning.
&#8220;Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country,&#8221; she wrote. &#8220;His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America. People like Kimmel shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.&#8221;
&#8220;A coward, Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him. Enough is enough.  It is time for ABC to take a stand,&#8221; the first lady added. &#8220;How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.&#8221;
Kimmel’s parody also mocked the Trumps’ marriage by pretending to introduce them to each other. &#8220;Oh, by the way, Melania, this is Donald. Donald, this is Melania,&#8221; he went on.
He also pretended to speculate on how Melania would spend her birthday, April 26, &#8220;She’s planning to celebrate at home the same way she always does, looking out a window and whispering, ‘What have I done?'&#8221;
As of Monday, the clip was still available on the official “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” YouTube page.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Jimmy Kimmel Roasts Trump &amp; His MAGA Minions at Our Alternative White House Correspondents’ Dinner" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GRjKhsJc95o?start=475&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The bit aired two days before California educator Cole Allen, 31, rushed a Secret Service checkpoint at the Washington Hilton armed with multiple weapons. He managed to strike an officer in his bulletproof vest before being detained and transported to a medical facility.
President Trump and other high-ranking officials were evacuated safely from the event, and there were no fatalities.
Kimmel’s hatred of the president has been on display for years, in his monologues and beyond. Following an ICE-related altercation in January, Kimmel <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/jimmy-kimmel-politicizes-ice-shooting-debuts-trump-is-gonna-kill-you-t-shirt">had a shirt made</a> that said, “Donald J. Trump Is Gonna Kill You,” and suggested that this was the “new slogan” for MAGA supporters. Kimmel went on to disparage Trump’s response to the shooting, saying, “This maniac, he’s not just killing people overseas.”
His rhetoric, and that of other late-night hosts, has become increasingly controversial as leftist vigilantes ramp up their assaults on conservatives.
And it’s not just Trump – Kimmel’s show has been hostile territory for Republicans while propping up Democrats since forever. Disgraced former Representative Eric Swalwell (D-CA) launched his gubernatorial campaign on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” before suspending the effort amid sexual assault allegations.
A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/late-night-hosts-targeted-conservatives-92-of-the-time-made-more-than-7000-trump-jokes-in-2025">report</a> published by the New York Post in December found that 92% of late-night jokes last year were targeted at conservatives. The full lineup of late-night shows included 197 liberal guests and only two who were conservative: Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld and economist Oren Cass.
NewsBusters found that Kimmel was the worst offender, making jokes targeting conservatives more than 3,000 times and focusing most of his ire on President Donald Trump. Of those jokes, 1,668 were about the sitting president.

Melania Trump

READ IT: Melania Trump Responds To Kimmel’s ‘Hateful’ Monologue After White House Dinner Shooting

comedian

Jimmy Kimmel

Media

Politics

Television

The long-awaited sequel to 2006’s smash hit “The Devil Wears Prada” is getting some pushback, being accused of “blatant racism” for leaning into Asian stereotypes.
“The Devil Wears Prada 2,” starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep, is getting blasted over a brief moment in a trailer. The scene introduces Andy Sachs&#8217; (Hathaway) new assistant, Jin Chao, played by Helen J. Shen, who some say is portrayed as a nerdy, socially awkward Ivy League grad.
In the trailer, Andy appears reserved upon meeting Jin, prompting the assistant to quickly rattle off her credentials.
“If you don’t want me, you can interview someone else. That’s totally fine,” Jin says. “I did go to Yale, 3.86 GPA, lead soprano of [Yale singing group] the Whiffenpoofs, and my ACT score was 36 on the very first time.”
Commenters also took issue with the way Jin donned a buttoned-up collared shirt and thick glasses, which they argue feel out of place for employees at a major fashion company.
Social media users from around the world, especially in Asian countries, expressed their frustration with the clip.
“The promotion up to this point was really great, but right before release, they suddenly hit us with blatant anti-Asian racism and flipped the car,” one user in Japan wrote in a post that’s been viewed more than 16 million times.
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プラダを着た悪魔、ここまでのプロモーションめっちゃ良かったのに、公開直前に突然ド直球のアジア人差別を見せつけてきて横転 <a href="https://t.co/uNUYIzXl7U">https://t.co/uNUYIzXl7U</a>
— 黄色人種ちゃん (@dekaketu_purin) <a href="https://twitter.com/dekaketu_purin/status/2046767047435247708?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2026</a></blockquote>
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“We are in 2026… what made them think we’ll find this kind of racism funny,” another commenter <a href="https://x.com/kaxishk/status/2046919948384243754?s=20">said</a>. 
“Short stature, messy hair, childish clothing, big glasses, a ton of qualifications and high education and grades, servile and incompetent, a name that sounds just like &#8216;Ching Chang Chong,'&#8221; a third person echoed. “In this day and age, deliberately clipping out such a thick, over-the-top level of Asian stereotype that&#8217;s actually rare nowadays for ad use—did they judge that going full-on with the blatant discrimination would be more commercially appealing??”
As The Hollywood Reporter <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/devil-wears-prada-2-racism-backlash-asia-1236574540/">noted</a>, a lot of the widespread criticism is the result of X posts being automatically translated, meaning comments from around the world are being circulated in the United States.
However, some, including Korean-American filmmaker Joseph Kahn, said the backlash reflects a cultural misunderstanding and claims that Jin is so weird she’s cool, at least to a Gen Z audience. 
“There&#8217;s an uproar with Japanese Twitter about this Asian character. They feel she&#8217;s a caricature, which she is, but not about Asians but Gen Z. Her outfit is actually very couture in a film about fashion,” he <a href="https://x.com/JosephKahn/status/2047085534103932968?s=20">wrote</a>.
“Her glasses and hair clips are of the moment. The body shape disparity comes from Anne Hathaway who mandated there would be &#8216;diversity of sizes&#8217; which could either be taken as genuine virtue signaling or an actress wanting to be the skinniest and tallest onscreen. Nevertheless, the Asian character is being depicted as a fashionable, striver in the fashion world with typical Gen Z neurodivergency.”
&#8220;Nerds don&#8217;t exist in Gen Z because they&#8217;re all awkward freaks and all dress like Nintendo cartoons,” he concluded. “Anyway Japan, welcome to America.”

Devil Wears Prada 2

Long-Awaited Hollywood Sequel Is Already Making Enemies

Hollywood

Japan

Movies

Racism

The new Michael Jackson biopic, “Michael,” was released today, and the director of “Leaving Neverland” is not pleased.
Dan Reed is known for the 2019 HBO documentary which explored the child sexual abuse allegations against the King of Pop, who died from an overdose in 2009. Reed said he can&#8217;t understand how anyone still believes Jackson should be celebrated.
&#8220;It says that people don’t care that he was a child molester. Literally, people just don’t care,&#8221; Reed told The Hollywood Reporter in an <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/leaving-neverland-michael-jackson-dan-reed-1236571986/">interview</a> published earlier this week. &#8220;I think a lot of people just love his music and turn a deaf ear. And short of having actual video evidence of Michael Jackson engaged in sexual intercourse with a 7-year-old child, I don’t know what would be sufficient to change these people’s minds.&#8221;
“Michael” director Antoine Fuqua addressed the accusations against Jackson in an <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/04/27/antoine-fuqua-profile?_sp=3ac5f857-94bf-4ed7-9051-b555ea70fcdf.1776878032698">interview</a> with The New Yorker published Monday. &#8220;Sometimes people do some nasty things for some money,&#8221; he said of the multiple claims from victims who claimed Jackson abused them.
Reed responded to that, saying, &#8220;For Antoine Fuqua to accuse people of gold digging is kind of ironic… It seems to me all the people involved in this movie are just making bank.&#8221;
&#8220;How can you tell an authentic story about Michael Jackson without ever mentioning the fact that he was seriously accused of being a child molester?&#8221; Reed added. &#8220;I just don’t really see it. If anyone’s making money, it’s Michael Jackson’s estate and the people who worked on this biographical picture.&#8221;
“Wade and James, the protagonists of ‘Leaving Neverland,’ have never made a cent from their accusations,&#8221; Reed went on. &#8220;People don’t seem to understand: If you bring a lawsuit, you don’t get any money until you win in court. And when you win in court, that means you’ve proved your case, right?&#8221;
The “Leaving Neverland” director also accused the media of “sucking up” to the Jackson estate for fear of retribution from the fans.
&#8220;So a lot of people, I think, will kind of swallow any misgivings they may have and just sort of say, &#8216;Oh well, it’s a great jukebox movie&#8217; and just completely ignore the fact that this guy was worse than Jeffrey Epstein.&#8221;
Jackson was first accused of sexual abuse by a 13-year-old boy in 1993. That case was settled for $20 million, and the pop singer never faced criminal charges. He was arrested on child molestation charges in 2003 and was acquitted in 2005. After Jackson’s death, more alleged victims came forward and sued Jackson’s estate in 2013.
There are rumors floating around that the original version of “Michael” did address the allegations, but those parts were cut due to a clause in the original settlement that provided the story could never be the subject of a movie. Actor Colman Domingo mentioned the omission while teasing the possibility of a sequel.
“The film takes place from the ’60s to 1988, so it does not go into the first allegations,” the actor, who plays Joe Jackson in the movie, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59jEWDncv28">said</a> during a &#8220;Today&#8221; show appearance. “So basically, we centered it on the makings of Michael. So, it’s an intimate portrait of who Michael is … through his eyes.”
Domingo hinted at the &#8220;possibility&#8221; of a sequel, which he hinted would include the sexual abuse trial storyline.
“Michael” is getting mixed reviews, but is still expected to do well at the box office this weekend due to the devoted fans who will go see it no matter what.

Michael

Director Slams Michael Jackson Biopic Hype: ‘Worse Than Jeffrey Epstein’

Michael Jackson

Jimmy Failla falls to sleep each night watching “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson.
Yes, the late-night legend signed off in 1992, but YouTube and streaming services let fans relive his classic interviews.
“There’s a warmth to it … it’s exactly what I’m trying to bring back to late-night,” Failla says. And, so far, it’s working.
“Fox News Saturday Night,” Failla’s foray into the late-night market, just enjoyed its best ratings numbers to date after two-plus years on the air — nearly 1.8 million and 156,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo for the April 18 episode. That topped CNN’s airing of “Real Time with Bill Maher” in that 10 p.m. ET time slot. The latter, according to Fox News, drew 1,081,000 viewers and 97,000 in the 25-54 demo.
Failla doesn’t hide his right-leaning views, but he’s a far cry from Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and their liberal late-night peers.
You won’t see Failla bawling during his monologues, for starters. He’ll also take shots at President Donald Trump and other GOP darlings should their behavior warrant it. The focus is on laughs, not talking points.
“We’re playing ‘Steakhouse or Gay Bar’ and keg party crisis management skills [on ‘Fox News Saturday Night’]” he says, bits that don’t have a partisan bent. Failla adds, “The growth of the show is reflective of that.”
And while Colbert and Kimmel avoid right-leaning guests, Failla welcomes people across the political spectrum to the show, like Fox News pundit Jessica Tarlov, Democratic strategist Kevin Walling, and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Viewers may see more of them soon.
It’s a continuation of a mission he started with the “Everybody Calm Down” podcast, which wrapped in 2019.
“At my core, I am a comedian. My reverence is for comedy, to be a source for centrist fun,” Failla says. He refuses to demean liberals or insist on ideological purity.
Jimmy Kimmel once told a reporter about his right-leaning fans, “<a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/video/5613062102001">not good riddance but riddance.”</a>
Not Failla. He calls himself an “In-activist” and wants no part of the culture wars.
“You shouldn’t have to vote a certain way to like the song &#8230; I was beating that drum before there was a major market for it,” he says, an approach that “gives you a shot at a much broader target.”
Failla calls the current late-night landscape “purposeful” comedy, with jokes designed to prop up a narrative or deflect from news that could damage Democrats. Chevy Chase made a career out of portraying President Gerald Ford as a bumbling fool, Failla notes, based on a clip of the world leader stumbling down a stairwell.
President Joe Biden, by contrast, stumbled up one repeatedly and late-night hosts either played it down or ignored it. The hosts, Failla suggests, asked themselves how that material could help or hurt their party’s cause.
“The cause should always be … funny,” he says.
Failla’s red-meat-free approach sometimes comes back to bite him. He recalls one late-night monologue that singed President Trump, and it generated fan blowback.
“I’m never watching you again … I didn’t know you were a liberal … RINO!” read a smattering of responses Failla saw on social media. He was heartened by one viewer’s response, though.
President Donald Trump praised the segment, calling him a “very funny guy.”
“When it comes to comedy, he’s the most adult person in the room,” Failla says.
This weekend, Failla is taking his “can’t we all get along” approach to Saturday’s White House Correspondents Dinner gala in Washington, D.C. for live coverage from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET. on Fox News. He previously attended what’s comically dubbed “nerd prom” and yukked it up with the folks from the liberal “Daily Show” and NBC’s “Today.”
“My show is the ‘play nice in the sandbox’ show,” he says, adding Fox News will add a live text option so viewers can weigh in during the telecast. “People are very receptive to that idea.”
The live-text feature is one way he’s shaking up the staid late-night format.
“I’m trying to give the people at home the highest security clearance they can get and make them feel like they’re at the event,” he says.
Now, with his show’s ratings on the rise, Failla wants to expand on his bipartisan approach.
“We’ve established that we don’t need to be a viciously partisan show to draw a sizable audience,” he says. “That allows us to bring on more people you wouldn’t expect to see on the show.”
If that means California Governor Gavin Newsom drops by, so be it — even if Failla thinks the presidential hopeful is a “sociopath.” Prove me wrong, he says.
“Fox News Saturday Night” is hardly Failla’s only gig. He hosts the three-hour “Fox Across America” radio show, syndicated nationally, and he has a bustling stand-up career, too. The former New York City cab driver has found a system to juggle his gigs without dropping a single ball.
“It’s consistency of schedule,” he explains. “I’m a 48-year-old man who plays video games. I’m not the model.” There’s still a method to his hard-work madness. He doesn’t inject “drama” into processes that don’t impact the finished product. Plus, he embraces a “production model that makes the same things happen every day at the same time. You don’t feel the weight of doing them.”
That “weight” includes writing his own “Saturday Night” monologues, a task done by more than a dozen scribes in other late-night shows.
He has some unsolicited advice for his fellow late-night talkers. He suggests Jimmy Fallon pen his own monologues for “The Tonight Show,” leaning into his authentic, goofy self. Colbert’s final show is May 21, but Failla does share a tip for the host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
“Quit,” he cracks.
***
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic, and editor of <a href="http://www.hollywoodintoto.com/">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News&#8217; Big Hollywood. He&#8217;s also the host of <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hollywood-in-toto-podcast-w-christian-toto/id1186449155">The Hollywood in Toto Podcast</a>. Follow him at <a href="https://twitter.com/HollywoodInToto?lang=en">@HollywoodInToto</a>.

2022 FOX Nation Patriot Awards

Jimmy Failla: Late-Night’s ‘Can’t We All Get Along?’ Guy

Comedy

Late-Night

Police are investigating claims that cyberbullying may have contributed to the death by suicide of reality star Darrell Sheets, who was best known for starring in the popular A&amp;E series “Storage Wars.”
Law enforcement <a href="https://pagesix.com/2026/04/22/celebrity-news/police-investigating-claim-storage-wars-star-darrell-sheets-was-cyberbullied-before-death/?utm_campaign=nypost&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter">told</a> Page Six that they are “aware of these cyberbullying accusations and that is a part of the active investigation.”
Fans began circulating screenshots from a community Facebook group that Sheets was a member of, which detailed the alleged bullying. &#8220;My apologies to all people in Lake Havasu, my identity has been stolen and it is not me,&#8221; a post Sheets shared in January says. The reality star named two people who he claimed were “attacking me with hundreds of negative posts on people and their businesses.”
Sheets described the two individuals as “very sick people.”
&#8220;I banned him from being in my shop because of what him and [the other person] do to people,” he wrote, adding that he contacted the FBI about filing stalking, harassment, and stolen identity charges.
Another Facebook <a href="https://x.com/0hour1/status/2047065931822633184">post</a> shared in March made similar accusations about these same individuals.
&#8220;I’m extremely sorry and sick over this, these people have ruined me,” Sheets wrote. &#8220;People are showing up to my work and wanting to harm me, the police are aware of this.&#8221; He next said, “if something happens to me it was, it was [them].” 
Fans were heartbroken by the announcement that the 67-year-old star had died in an apparent suicide. 
According to a press release from the Lake Havasu City Police Department, Sheets was found around 2 a.m. local time on Wednesday, April 22, after officers responded to “a reported deceased individual.”
“Upon arrival, officers located a male subject who suffered from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head,” the release said. “The male was pronounced deceased on scene, and the Lake Havasu City Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Unit was notified and responded to the scene to assume the investigation.”
“Storage Wars” premiered on A&amp;E in 2010 and just debuted its 17th season in February. The reality show depicts real-life buyers who bid on the contents of abandoned storage units. 
During his time on the show, Sheets earned the nickname “The Gambler” for frequently bidding high on units that could be worth nothing. Sheets retired from “Storage Wars” in 2023 and opened an antique shop in Arizona called Havasu Show Me Your Junk.
A spokesperson for A&amp;E says in a statement, &#8220;We are saddened by the passing of a beloved member of our Storage Wars family, Darrell ‘The Gambler’ Sheets. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones during this difficult time.&#8221;
His longtime co-star Brandi Passante shared in an Instagram post full of photo memories that she’s “at a loss for words” following Sheets’ untimely death.
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“I would like to say to everyone, if you are struggling, if you feel hopeless or like no one cares.  I assure you they do!! You are not alone.  Please reach out for help,” Passante added after offering condolences to his family. “The grief from suicide is endless.  There is always help,” the caption added.
Sheets is survived by his ex-wife Kimber Wuerfel, his two children, Brandon and Tiffany, and a granddaughter, Zoie. Brandon frequently appeared with his dad on “Storage Wars” and had the nickname “The Sidebet.”
If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline or go to <a href="http://speakingofsuicide.com/resources" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources</a> for a list of additional resources.

Darrell Sheets

Police Investigate Shocking New Details In Death Of Beloved Reality Star

Death

Reality stars

Reality TV

Suicide

In a feel-good moment for movie fans, it was announced on Wednesday that puppeteer James Ortiz is eligible for a Best Supporting Actor award at next year’s Oscars, per <a href="https://variety.com/2026/film/awards/project-hail-mary-james-ortiz-oscars-sag-eligible-puppeteer-1236726540/">Variety</a>. Ortiz was the puppeteer and voice actor for the rock-shaped alien, Rocky, who became one of the best-loved parts of Amazon’s smash hit “Project Hail Mary” last month.
The film is expected to garner plenty of other nominations at the next Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Ryan Gosling, Best Picture, and Best Director. There’s no telling if the Academy will select Ortiz as a nominee even though he is technically eligible.
Variety also noted that his work could be recognized in the Special Achievement Award category, which was last given to “Toy Story” (1995).
“Typically, we talk about puppetry as a technical achievement, and it is,” Ortiz told the outlet.
“It’s a spectacle,” he added. “For me as a performer, however, that’s never my entry point. I’m interested in the heart of the character — what they’re trying to communicate, what they’re feeling underneath all of it. When we can take a medium like puppetry, which is often seen as decorative, and bring to life a character with a beating heart in a way that genuinely affects people, then we’re doing something truly meaningful.”
Ortiz previously discussed how much expertise and planning went into bringing Rocky to life. Fans of the film praised its overall authenticity, which included using a real puppet rather than relying on CGI.
“Rocky is super intelligent and has a mind like a computer — you never have to say anything twice to him,” Ortiz said of the character. “He’s a brilliant engineer. But his soul, to me, always felt like that of a little brother. There’s a little bit of this anxious, 14-year-old boy who really wants to be invited to the party.”
“What I loved about the process was at no point did [directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller] or anybody on the team ever treat me like I was a technician, or like a plumber who was brought in to fix a specific thing,” the puppeteer added. “At every point they would ask, ‘what do you think, would Rocky do this or that?’ And I’d think about it and tell them exactly how Rocky would feel.”
“Project Hail Mary” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hollywood-learned-the-wrong-lesson-from-project-hail-mary">dominated the box office</a> last month with an $80.5 million domestic opening weekend, with a 95% critic score and a 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. By the second weekend, the film had crossed $300 million worldwide and became the second-biggest non-franchise opening over the past decade, second only to “Oppenheimer.”

Rocky

Everyone’s Favorite Alien Could Win An Oscar

Academy Awards

Oscars

Lena Dunham is addressing the fallout from years-old claims that she sexually abused her younger sister, who is now identifying as &#8220;transmasculine nonbinary.&#8221;
The “Girls” creator is currently on the interview circuit promoting her new memoir, “Famesick,” which is a follow-up to her first memoir, “Not That Kind of Girl.” 
Dunham delivered a slightly different outlook when she addressed the controversy spawned by the first book in the pages of the second. 
&#8220;I was shocked when a conservative media site analyzed the book carefully, pulling choice passages and coming to the conclusion that I had engaged in sexually inappropriate childhood behavior with my sibling,&#8221; Dunham wrote in the new book, referring specifically to the media watchdog site Truth Revolt, the site where Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro served as Editor-in-Chief.
Dunham wrote that she wasn’t too worried about the backlash at first because she assumed “any logical person&#8221; would interpret the negative reaction as being &#8220;an attempt to cherrypick sections to create a narrative that spoke to the idea that I — and by extension, the majority of feminists — were not crusaders for justice but, in fact, wanton perverts.&#8221;
&#8220;I didn&#8217;t consider what I&#8217;d written to be particularly salacious,&#8221; the actress and writer went on, per <a href="https://ew.com/lena-dunham-cyrus-grace-dunham-book-controversy-11949411">Entertainment Weekly</a>. &#8220;And anyway, what about the things I hadn&#8217;t included? I&#8217;d decided against describing the time, age four, I announced to a group of near-strangers that my punishment at home for misbehavior was having &#8216;a fork stuck up my vagina.&#8217; (It was not.) I don&#8217;t know where I came up with that, but I&#8217;ve always been confused by anyone who doesn&#8217;t recognize that children are inherently innocent, and yet their imaginations are endless and deranged.&#8221;
Now, Dunham is especially sympathetic about putting the experience in print, not because she thinks it was wrong, but because it negatively impacted her sister’s journey to coming out as trans.
She noted how this situation happened just as her little sister was &#8220;sprouting wings, getting out from under the type-A straight-girl drag he&#8217;d [sic] worn for all of high school.&#8221;
&#8220;What I had been guilty of on the page, what the internet should have charged me with and given me a short sentence for, was poor phrasing — maybe a second count for TMI,&#8221; Dunham wrote in “Famesick.”
&#8220;What I was now guilty of seemed to be a laissez-faire attitude about what was mine to confess, which had derailed the life of the person I had felt most tasked with protecting.&#8221;
Dunham defended her actions as being a response to her sister being a “mystery.”
&#8220;It was ironic that as a 6-year-old, I&#8217;d wondered if he had a vagina, when what I didn&#8217;t understand for the entirety of our shared childhood was that he wasn&#8217;t my sister,&#8221; she wrote. &#8220;Eight years ago, around the time Cyrus came out as trans, he and I were still working to mend our relationship. It wasn&#8217;t just the incident around the book — since the moment I&#8217;d begun to have a public life, it had gobbled up the space around his private one, however unintentionally.&#8221;
&#8220;It didn&#8217;t help that the champagne fizz of new fame makes even the most generous people temporarily narcissistic, obsessed with their own image and its success or failure,&#8221; she admitted. &#8220;But the book had been a clear turning point, after which he seemed to feel safer being as far away as possible from the ricocheting bullets of my public persona.&#8221;
In the first book, which was released in 2014, Dunham described masturbating while lying next to her very young sister and inspecting her vagina. “My mother didn’t bother asking why I had opened Grace’s vagina,” Dunham wrote in the original book. “This was within the spectrum of things that I did.”
In another passage, she discussed trying to get her sister to “kiss her on the lips for five seconds” by offering gifts. “Basically, anything a sexual predator might do to woo a small suburban girl, I was trying,” Dunham <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/nov/05/lena-dunham-statement-abuse-claims">wrote</a>.
The backlash to these revelations put her on the defensive, with her going on a self-described “rage spiral.”
“The right-wing news story that I molested my little sister isn’t just LOL – it’s really f***ing upsetting and disgusting. And by the way, if you were a little kid and never looked at another little kid’s vagina, well, congrats to you,” she posted on X in 2014.

Lena Dunham

Lena Dunham’s First Memoir Led To Accusations Of Sexual Abuse So She Decided To Write Another

Books

Child Sex Abuse

A book questioning the benefits of mass immigration is shooting to the top of the Amazon bestseller list after going viral when it was yanked from the site April 17.
All the leftists who shriek about book bans were notably silent when “The Camp of the Saints,” a 1973 dystopian novel written by French author Jean Raspail, became unavailable at the largest bookseller in the world. 
The work of fiction depicts the collapse of Western civilization after a horde of third-world migrants overtakes the country. The book’s publisher, Vauban Books, released a statement following the book being removed from Amazon on April 17.
An X post from Vauban Books on April 20 said, “On Friday, April 17th, Amazon US removed the paperback listing for our edition of Jean Raspail’s The Camp of the Saints (at this writing, the book remains available for purchase in Kindle and audiobook formats).” 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Our statement on Amazon&#8217;s suppression of The Camp of the Saints in the United States: <a href="https://t.co/JDTE5i4XbH">pic.twitter.com/JDTE5i4XbH</a>
— Vauban Books (@VaubanBooks) <a href="https://twitter.com/VaubanBooks/status/2046262858904641889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2026</a></blockquote>
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“We have since been informed by Amazon that the book is in violation of the company’s ‘offensive content’ policy,” the statement continued. “Amazon has supplied no information as to which portions of the book are offensive nor to whom.”
Vauban Books also noted that the book had been selling well after first being listed on Amazon in July 2025. “In the eight months since, Amazon has sold roughly 20,000 paperback copies of it.”
“The Camp of the Saints” was also said to have been “extensively reviewed in the American and international press” and found that its reviewers &#8220;have been unanimous in their assessment of its abiding importance and relevance to contemporary debates.”
“While we cannot say for certain has taken this extraordinary step, it may be no coincidence that the listing was removed one day after New York Magazine published a critical article on Vice President Vance that referenced the book.”
Following public outcry, Amazon reportedly <a href="https://x.com/VaubanBooks/status/2046621879574688215">shared a response</a> with Vauban Books courtesy of their media contact, stating, “We’ve resolved an error that briefly affected the availability of a paperback listing of The Camp of the Saints, and the title is now restored.'&#8221; 
The publisher said that Amazon &#8220;appears to be in damage control mode,&#8221; and again confirmed that the book was originally taken off the website due to their &#8220;offensive content policy.&#8221;

Amazon

Amazon Yanks Anti-Immigration Novel, Accidentally Sends It Rocketing Up The Charts

anti-immigration

Censorship

Conservatism

Fiction

The monoculture is dead, The Hollywood Reporter claims. Its evidence? No one watches the Oscars anymore. An article over the weekend, “The Last Time Everyone Watched the Same Thing,” highlighted the last moment everyone shared: a selfie that Bradley Cooper took at the 2014 Oscars, which instantly became the most widely-shared Tweet ever.
More than 43 million people witnessed that act of elite digital solipsism. But we should be asking: Does an iPhone snapshot that includes Ellen DeGeneres and Kevin Spacey really indicate some sort of peak? Or was it so self-absorbed and off-putting that it actually hastened a cultural shift? Whether consciously or not at the time, Americans saw that moment and thought, “This is bullsh*t.” After all, the number-one show at the time was The Big Bang Theory, which had something like 23 million weekly viewers, a sitcom about geniuses, but made for dumb people, or at least people that Hollywood thought were dumb. Good riddance, and don’t let the door hit you in the bazinga on the way out.
Look at what happened when Hollywood took one last stab at uniting us all when COVID hit. That was the age of Tiger King, a terrible documentary reality show that baked its own obsolescence into its premise. Sure, everyone watched it, but only because public entities and massive peer pressure terrified them into staying indoors.
But the ultimate mask-off moment occurred with Gal Gadot’s “Imagine” video, which just celebrated its sixth birthday. It was the cringiest thing ever created: entitled celebrities singing a dated folk song while normal people grieved the losses of loved ones, their jobs, or their regular daily routines. That was just the start of the 2020 crap parade, the worst cultural period in global history, which featured charity cast “table reads” of 1980s comedies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and a video of Katy Perry singing “Baby Mine” from Dumbo while dressed in an elephant costume. Faced with this tsunami of garbage, people watched reruns of Columbo and Friends instead and said, &#8220;Take this monoculture and shove it.”
The traditional pipeline stopped producing. Our entertainment became YouTube and Instagram videos of people cooking stuff they’d found in the garbage. And it was fine.
Then again, maybe the article’s entire premise is flawed. The “monoculture” might actually still exist. It’s just that old metrics, like Nielsen ratings and box office grosses, don’t tell the whole story. The Hollywood Reporter mentions Stranger Things, but what about Squid Game? Or Mr. Beast? The Minecraft movie was a massive cultural phenomenon, as were the Super Mario Bros. films. If the monoculture is dead, then how did KPop Demon Hunters take over the Oscars this year?
Let’s not denigrate the traditional monoculture era. It brought us Back to the Future, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, Cheers, the golden age of The Simpsons, Yo! MTV Raps, Seinfeld, Thriller, Legally Blonde, and many other entertainment products serving infinite pleasure. All that material is still out there, swirling around, and much of it is still watchable and good. Young people still listen to ’80s music and know what a flux capacitor is; they can still pick Donkey Kong out of a police lineup. It’s just that we’re not all watching the same thing all the time. As the title of an Oscar-winning movie — which was not part of the monoculture — goes, it’s everything, everywhere, all at once.
Besides, we don’t all need to be watching the same thing. The era when 90 million or so people saw BJ say “Goodbye” to Hawkeye on M.A.S.H. is more distant from today’s reality than V-J Day was from the 1970s. It has no relevance. Our world is more atomized, more diverse, and less dependent on traditional gatekeepers than ever. Maybe the death of the monoculture is a good thing. Imagine.
***
Neal Pollack is the author of 12 semi-bestselling books of fiction and nonfiction and is a three-time Jeopardy! champion.

86th Annual Academy Awards – Show

If The Monoculture Is Dead, Should We Be Cheering Its Demise?

Culture

DW Opinion

Up-and-coming singer D4vd, known for his viral R&amp;B pop hits, is facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of a 14-year-old girl — months after a decomposed and dismembered body was found in the trunk of his Tesla on September 8, 2025.
D4vd, whose real name is David Burke, is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Celeste Rivas Hernandez — with additional charges of sexual abuse, lewd and lascivious sexual acts with an individual under 14 years old, and mutilation of human remains — the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Rivas Hernandez was last seen by her family in 2024, when she was only 13. She was described Monday by officials as a &#8220;runaway&#8221; and was 14 when she was allegedly killed by the 21-year-old singer. During Monday&#8217;s press conference, prosecutors alleged D4vd killed Rivas using a sharp object on or around April 23, 2025, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/d4vd-charges-celeste-rivas-hernandez-a5ae08c1dda921dad1750d3ceda16c47">Associated Press</a>.  She went to the singer&#8217;s house in the Hollywood Hills on that date and was never heard from again. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman alleged that D4vd mutilated her body about two weeks later. Months later, on September 8, her body was found decomposed and dismembered in two bags in the front trunk of a Tesla registered to D4vd.
&#8220;The condition of her remains delayed the medical examiner&#8217;s ability to be able to determine cause of death,&#8221; Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said Monday at the press conference. &#8220;Despite these obstacles and despite intense public pressure, our robbery homicide division detectives remained steadfast in their duties. They recovered and analyzed a substantial amount of digital and forensic evidence. They stayed focused, disciplined, and committed to uncovering the truth.&#8221;
Hochman said during the news conference that the murder charges included special circumstances, which he explained were lying in wait, committing a crime for financial gain, and murdering the witness in an investigation — charges that could result in the death penalty.
&#8220;These charges include the most serious charges that a DA’s Office can bring, first-degree murder with special circumstances,&#8221; Hochman said.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rapper-arrested-months-after-dismembered-teen-found-in-his-tesla?author=Amanda+Harding&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Rapper+Arrested+Months+After+Dismembered+Teen+Found+In+His+Tesla">RELATED: Rapper Arrested Months After Dismembered Teen Found In His Tesla</a>
Hochman said evidence will show in court that the financial gain in this case is D4vd&#8217;s lucrative music career, and because Rivas Hernandez was a &#8220;witness&#8221; to something, killing her eliminated the risk that she could talk. Hochman said that D4vd was under investigation for the lewd and lascivious sexual acts, and Rivas was the witness to this. Per <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2026/04/20/d4vd-prosecutors-expected-to-announce-charges-in-celeste-rivas-hernandez-case/">TMZ</a>, the DA suggested that Rivas Hernandez had threatened to go to police or go public regarding their sexual relationship, so he invited her over and then killed her — which led to the &#8220;lying in wait&#8221; charge.
&#8220;I&#8217;m a parent of three children, and a parent&#8217;s nightmare is a situation where your daughter goes out one night and never comes back,&#8221; Hochman said.
An attorney for the singer told <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2026/04/20/d4vds-family-speaks-out-after-murder-charges-in-celeste-rivas-hernandez-case/?adid=social-tw">TMZ</a>, &#8220;We are disappointed but not surprised that the District Attorney made this decision. David&#8217;s family stands behind him 100%.&#8221;
D4vd was arrested last week at his Hollywood Hills home after lying low for months. He canceled the remainder of his &#8220;Withered World Tour&#8221; after Rivas Hernandez&#8217;s remains were found.
It&#8217;s not clear yet whether the DA&#8217;s office will seek the death penalty, and Hochman said that would be decided at a later date. The coroner&#8217;s report is expected to be made public as well.
D4vd pleaded not guilty hours after the charges were filed, and demanded an immediate preliminary hearing, <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2026/04/20/d4vd-pleads-not-guilty-celeste-rivas-murder/">TMZ reported</a> on Monday.

Credit: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for Coachella

TikTok Singer Racks Up Disturbing Charges In Murder And Dismemberment Of 14-Year-Old Girl

Gen Z

News

The Apple TV series “The Savant,” which was postponed in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, is now apparently going to have its debut.
The series was scheduled to premiere in September 2025, but that all changed after Kirk was shot during a speaking event at Utah Valley University. “The Savant” follows an undercover investigator, Jodi Goodwin (Jessica Chastain), who infiltrates online hate groups in an attempt to curtail mass terror attacks.
Because this is Hollywood, the main character, who is based on a real person, mostly hunts for woman-hating white supremacists. Daily Wire contributor Christian Toto <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-watched-appletvs-cancelled-political-drama-its-clear-why-they-pulled-it">previewed</a> the series and said it was “ripped from a progressive’s fever dream, a tale completely disconnected from today’s headlines.”
“Before it was like, ‘I don’t know if we’re going to see it,’ but now I can say, ‘We’re going to see it,” Chastain <a href="https://variety.com/2026/tv/columns/jessica-chastain-apple-tv-finally-release-the-savant-after-postponement-charlie-kirk-assassination-1236725384/">told</a> Variety at an event on Saturday night. The outlet did not confirm an exact date, but they reported that inside sources said it would happen in July.
Apple TV announced the postponement on September 23. Chastain, who is an executive producer, posted on Instagram the following day that she did not agree with Apple TV&#8217;s decision to pull the show due to Kirk’s assassination. 
“In the last five years since we’ve been making the show, we’ve seen an unfortunate amount of violence in the United States,” she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/apple-postpones-drama-on-political-mass-shootings-following-charlie-kirk-assassination">wrote</a> on social media at the time before going on to list various events, including January 6 and the assassination attempts on President Donald Trump. 
“These incidents, though far from encompassing the full range of violence witnessed in the United States, illustrate a broader mindset that crosses the political spectrum and must be confronted. I’ve never shied away from difficult subjects, and while I wish this show wasn’t so relevant, unfortunately it is. ‘The Savant’ is about the heroes who work every day to stop violence before it happens, and honoring their courage feels more urgent than ever.”

The_Savant_Photo_010301

Leftist ‘Fever Dream’ Series Plows Ahead Despite Massive Conservative Backlash

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