Month: April 2023

Comedian Richard Lewis, 75, revealed the health issues he’s been faced with over the last three-and-a-half years. The star of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm shared in a video posted to Twitter that amid four surgeries for his back, shoulder and hip, two years ago he was also diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Lewis said he wanted to address questions about if he will perform stand-up again, noting that he recently wrapped the 12th season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, on which Lewis is an original series regular. Lewis announced his retirement from stand-up, but says he plans to continue acting and writing.  Lewis says was in the middle of a comedy tour before his health issues began, and decided to end on a high note. “I’m at the top of my game. After 50 years almost, I’m going to just call it quits. And I felt great about that. And then out of the blue, the shit hit the fan.” Lewis says he had four surgeries back-to-back, for issues with his back and shoulder, and then needed both shoulder and hip replacement. He continued: “And on top of all of that, two years ago I was walking a little stiffly, I was shuffling my feet. And I went to a neurologist and they gave me a brain scan, and I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. And that was about two years ago. But luckily, I got it late in life, and they say you progress very slowly if at all, and I’m on the right meds, so I’m cool.”

Lewis has alluded to health issues and complications on social media over the years, which kept him from appearing on Curb Your Enthusiasm as much as he would like. Lewis appeared in only one episode of the 11th season, and is slated to appear in the upcoming season 12.  Lewis said in his video: “I guess I just wanted you to know that that’s where it’s been at. I’m finished with stand-up, I’m just focused on writing and acting. I have Parkinson’s disease but I’m under a doctor’s care, and everything is cool and I love my wife [Joyce Lapinsky], I love my little puppy dog and I love all of my friends and my fans.”

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Hulu has released the official trailer for the remake of the 1992 film White Men Can’t Jump, starring Jack Harlow, Sinqua Walls, Teyana Taylor, Laura Harrier, Vince Staples, Myles Bullock and Lance Reddick. The film is written by Kenya Barris and Doug Hall, as well as produced by Barris and Paul Hall. The trailer highlights the banter between Harlow’s Jeremy and Walls’ character Kamal, with the story centering around the retelling of the iconic 90’s film that celebrates street basketball culture in Los Angeles.

The film follows Kamal, a once-promising basketball player who derailed his future in the sport; and Jeremy, a former basketball star riddled with injuries that called his career. The two share a tenuous relationship, as well as financial pressure and internal struggles, and while they seem to be vastly different, they realize they find something in common in the game of basketball.

White Men Can’t Jump will stream exclusively on Hulu starting on May 19, 2023. Take a look at the trailer  – here.

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Hulu’s ‘Reasonable Doubt’ will return for a second season. Executive producer Kerry Washington confirmed that the streaming service renewed the legal drama series for Season 2. Reasonable Doubt premiered on Hulu in September 2022.

Washington shared a TikTok video on Twitter that showed her “pass” on new ideas for her previous projects, including Scandal and Little Fires Everywhere; when Reasonable Doubt Season 2 was suggested, Washington reacted with “smash.”  Washington captioned the tweet: “Ready to SMASH. Season 2 of #ReasonableDoubtHulu here we gooooooo.”

Created by Raamla Mohamed, Reasonable Doubt follows Jax Stewart (Emayatzy Corinealdi), a defense attorney at a prestigious Los Angeles law firm. Morris Chestnut (The Best Man, The Resident) will join Season 2 as a series regular, portraying Corey Cash, “a charming, media-savvy defense attorney who often represents the underdogs.” McKinley Freeman, Tim Jo, Angela Grovey, Thaddeus J. Mixon, Aderinsola Olabode and Michael Ealy also star.

Editorial credit: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com

Famed actor, singer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte died Tuesday at his home in Manhattan at the age of 96. Belafonte’s longtime representative, Ken Sunshine, confirmed in a press release that Belafonte died Tuesday morning “of congestive heart failure at his New York home at the age of 96, his wife Pamela [Frank] by his side.”

The Jamaican-American Belafonte rose to prominence as an entertainer in the 1950s, appearing in films like Carmen Jones (1954), Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), and The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959). Belafonte made acting history twice: he was the first black man to win a Tony (in 1954 for ‘Almanac’) and the first to win an Emmy (in 1959 for ‘An Evening with Belafonte’).

His successful music career which skyrocketed with the release of the 1955 album Belafonte. Known as the ‘King of Calypso’, Belafonte brought Caribbean music to a global audience with his 1956 breakthrough album, Calypso, featuring the hits “The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)” “Jump in the Line” and “Jamaica Farewell.”  Calypso became the first LP ever to sell one million copies; and to this day, Belafonte remains one of the best-selling recording artists in history.

Despite his success in the entertainment world, Belafonte saw himself first and foremost as “a civil rights warrior.” His focus turned to the civil rights movement in the late 1950s, and he became an outspoken activist who was a confidant of his friend, Martin Luther King Jr.  Belafonte was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1987. His humanitarian work led to him receiving an honorary Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, from the Academy in 2014. Belafonte remained a crusader for social justice until the end of his life, and in one of his final acts of charity, the singer celebrated his 94th birthday in March 2021 with a star-studded virtual party that raised money for ‘The Gathering for Justice’, a social justice organization he founded in 2005. Last year, Belafonte was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the ‘Early Influence’ category, becoming the oldest living person to join the organization.

Belafonte married his third wife, photographer Pamela Frank, in 2008, and is survived by children Adrienne Belafonte Biesemeyer, Shari Belafonte, David Belafonte and Gina Belafonte as well as two stepchildren Sarah Frank and Lindsey Frank. He also has eight grandchildren: Rachel Blue Biesemeyer, Brian Biesemeyer, Maria Belafonte McCray, Sarafina Belafonte, Amadeus Belafonte, Mateo Frank, Olive Scanga and Zoe Frank.

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