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Katy Perry addresses her feud with Taylor Swift: 'She started it'

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katy perry taylor swift james corden carpool karaoke late late show cbs

Katy Perry confirmed her ongoing feud with fellow pop star Taylor Swift on Monday's "Carpool Karaoke" special on CBS.

In the special that aired extended versions of the popular segment from "The Late Late Show," host James Corden asked Perry if there really is a feud with Swift.

"It's true. There's a situation," Perry said. "Honestly, it's really like she started it, and it's time for her to finish it."

Speculation about the years-long feud has been circulating since Taylor Swift released the hit single "Bad Blood," rumored to be about Perry.

But the conflict came back into the public eye after Perry performed a song believed to be inspired by her beef with Swift, "Swish Swish," on this past weekend's "Saturday Night Live." Perry didn't confirm that the song was inspired by Swift, but she was clear that it would make perfect sense.

Perry said it all started over three of her backup dancers going to work on Swift's tour with Perry's blessing. But when Perry was getting ready to launch her tour, they approached Swift's tour management about being able to go back on tour with Perry when she needed it. According to Perry. the dancers were then fired. The "Roar" singer also said she had tried to reach out to Swift to discuss the situation, but hasn't gotten a response.

“I tried to talk to her about it, and she wouldn’t speak to me,” Perry said. “I do the right thing any time that it feels like a fumble. It was a full shutdown, and then she writes a song about me, and I’m like, okay, cool, cool, cool, that’s how you want to deal with it? Karma!"

Perry also says she would love to squash the conflict.

"What I want to say is that I’m ready for that B.S. to be done," she said. "Now, there is the law of cause and effect. You do something, there’s going to be a reaction, and trust me, daddy, there’s going to be a reaction."

SEE ALSO: A day behind the scenes of 'Dancing with the Stars,' TV's biggest celebrity dance competition

DON'T MISS: Harry Styles gets emotional 'in a cool way' for James Corden's 'Carpool Karaoke'

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NOW WATCH: Katy Perry described all the ways climate change is hurting kids


HBO might end up making 20-minute 'Game of Thrones' episodes for your phone — here's why (ATT)

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game of thrones

"Game of Thrones" could be better for people to watch on their smartphones if it were produced in 20-minute episodes, according to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson.

“I’ll cause [HBO CEO Richard] Plepler to panic,” Stephenson said on Tuesday at J.P. Morgan’s Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, according to Variety. But “think about things like ‘Game of Thrones.’ In a mobile environment, a 60-minute episode might not be the best experience. Maybe you want a 20-minute episode.”

This statement is significant because it isn't just a media exec riffing about the mobile revolution. AT&T is in the regulatory process of an $85 million merger with Time Warner, HBO's parent company. If it goes through — AT&T expects the deal to close by the end of 2017 — Stephenson will be the one who ultimately controls HBO.

Variety reported that Stephenson's quote was underscoring a point that AT&T sees an opportunity to better wring profits out of Time Warner's media properties using mobile. That's a main pillar of the thesis driving AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner, and its bid to become a next-generation media company. (AT&T has already made HBO free for its "Unlimited Plus" subscribers).

Stephenson has said before that he believes we are in the midst of a prolonged upswing in how much video entertainment we watch.

"We are going to be living in a world where video is pervasively in front of you," Stephenson said at Business Insider's IGNITION conference in December. Today the average person consumes five hours of video a day. "That seems amazing to me," Stephenson said in December. But he said in 10-15 years, AT&T thinks people will watch nine hours per day.

Perhaps that's one reason HBO is exploring a whopping five "Game of Thrones" spinoff shows.

SEE ALSO: A TV bundle without sports that costs under $20 is coming together, according to Viacom's CEO

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NOW WATCH: An old video of Mark Zuckerberg shows the teenager in flannel pajamas opening his Harvard acceptance e-mail

The first employee at Oculus just left the company

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The first employee hired to work on the Oculus Rift at Oculus VR — the virtual reality headset company Facebook paid $2 billion for— is quitting.

"Chris Dycus, employee number 1, out," he wrote in a public Facebook post on May 15. 

Oculus VR team Brendan Iribe Palmer Luckey

Dycus was a hardware engineer at Oculus VR, where he worked on early prototypes of the Oculus Rift headset as well as the final consumer model that launched in 2016. He was hired in 2012 by founder Palmer Luckey directly; they were longtime friends before Dycus became the first Oculus employee.

"I am a little disappointed I won't make it to my 5 year Oculus anniversary — only 2.5 months away! Oh well," he wrote in his Facebook post.

It sounds like Dycus is leaving under amicable terms. He wrote that he's leaving for a startup that, "really sounds like something I want to do," though he doesn't explicitly say where he's going other than "to beautiful, sunny SoCal." 

Dycus was part of the original crew that started Oculus VR, long before it was purchased by Facebook for $2 billion. Some of that crew remains in place at Oculus — Nate Mitchell, Michael Antonov, and Brendan Iribe (seen above) are still with the company. The company's founder and poster boy, Palmer Luckey, exited earlier this year following an anti-Clinton political donation controversy. 

palmer luckey demos oculus

Though Dycus is leaving on seemingly amicable terms, the past year for Oculus VR was rife with trouble:

The next project from Oculus VR, an Oculus Rift that operates without the assistance of a powerful gaming PC, is currently in the works.

Oculus Rift Santa Cruz prototype

It's codenamed the "Santa Cruz" prototype, and it's a bit of a step down from the experience offered on the first Oculus Rift. Instead of targeting so-called "high-end" virtual reality — the kind of VR powered by a powerful gaming PC or game console — the Santa Cruz prototype is aiming to compete with the likes of Samsung's Gear VR and Google's Daydream in the mobile VR space.

Facebook declined to comment on Dycus' departure, but confirmed he had left, and that he was the first company employee after the founders. You can read his full post right here:

Christopher Dycus, Oculus letter

SEE ALSO: Facebook is closing hundreds of its Oculus VR pop-ups in Best Buys after some stores went days without a single demo

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NOW WATCH: Playing this virtual reality game was the scariest thing I’ve ever done

Netflix's A-list stars like Brad Pitt and Will Smith defend its role in the movie industry

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war machine brad pitt

Netflix is locked in a war with movie traditionalists, and its A-list stars like Will Smith and Brad Pitt are coming to the streaming giant's defense.

Netflix seemed to be making progress in its frosty relationship with the movie establishment when it got two films into Cannes this year, Boon Joon-Ho's "Okja" and Noah Baumbach's "The Meyerowitz Stories."

But then Cannes decided to tweak its competition rules, after this year, as a result of the backlash toward the inclusion of the Netflix titles. Going forward, films will only qualify if they have a theatrical release in France (it's unclear whether those two titles will).

"The establishment closing ranks against us," Netflix CEO Reed Hastings wrote on Facebook. "See Okja on Netflix June 28th. Amazing film that theatre chains want to block us from entering into Cannes film festival competition." Netflix has historically sparred with movie theaters over its commitment to make movies available online the same day they are in theaters.

Netflix's movie stars have come to its defense, arguing that it is expanding the industry, not hurting it.

"Quite honestly, without a delivery system like Netflix, this movie wouldn't have been made," Brad Pitt said of "War Machine," his Netflix satire about American military involvement in Afghanistan. "Or if it did get made, it would have been at one-sixth of the budget only ... there is a great degree of difficulty to pull off," Pitt said at a press conference in Tokyo Monday, according to ABS-CBN News. "I guess the financial risk is really difficult for the studios to take on at this time."

Pitt's comments echo those of prominent producer Brett Ratner. Ratner said Friday that before Netflix, "Okja" had been pitched to traditional film distributors, which didn't want to back a $55 million film that was from a Korean director and didn't necessarily have franchise potential, according to The Hollywood Reporter. These kinds of mid-budget movies have become nearly impossible to make work, he said.

An absolute benefit

On Wednesday at a Cannes jury press conference, after legendary director Pedro Almodovar seemed to take a shot at Netflix, Will Smith described Netflix usage in his own home as an "absolute benefit,” according to Variety. Why?

"[My children] get to see films they absolutely wouldn’t have seen," Smith continued. "Netflix brings a great connectivity. There are movies that are not on a screen within 8,000 miles of them. They get to find those artists.”

Smith, like Pitt, isn't an unbiased party. Netflix reportedly shelled out more than $90 million for an upcoming Smith blockbuster "Bright." The movie is a cop thriller set in a world that's similar to ours in time period but contains fantasy creatures like orcs and elves.

But while Pitt, Ratner, and Smith have done business with Netflix, the fact that Hollywood big-wigs are coming to the streaming giant's defense is good for Netflix. The streaming service needs all the ammunition it can get.

Additional reporting by Jason Guerrasio.

SEE ALSO: How Hollywood hit filmmaker Judd Apatow thinks about tech changing the business

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NOW WATCH: Why Sean Parker’s plan to stream movies still in theaters for $50 could work

People love watching thrillers around 9 p.m. — and more insights from Netflix's data vault (NFLX)

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stranger things netflix

One of the great things about Netflix is that you can binge-watch on your own terms, instead of having to tune in at a specific time or wait a week for a show.

That means Netflix is a natural experiment in which time of the day people prefer to watch different kinds of shows. Netflix is notoriously secretive about its data, but on Tuesday the streaming giant release some stats on viewership patterns to USA Today.

Here is a sketch of what Netflix viewership looks like at different points in the day:

  • Breakfast. Netflix said that in the prework hours, viewers are 34% more likely to view comedies than they are in other parts of the day. Examples: "Master of None," "Lady Dynamite," "The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt."
  • Lunch. For those who are getting in an episode on their lunch break, Netflix said they prefer dramas — but not by much. They are 5% more likely to view dramas during lunchtime than they are during the rest of the day (though they make up 45% of viewing from noon to 2 p.m.). Examples: "The Crown," "Orange Is the New Black."
  • Night. Netflix said that around 9 p.m., thrillers see a 27% boost in viewing. But Netflix also noted that as it gets closer to bedtime, comedies begin to take over again. Perhaps people don't want to be too amped up when they are trying to get some sleep. Examples: "Stranger Things," "iBoy."
  • After midnight.According to Netflix, documentaries see a 24% uptick between midnight and 6 a.m. Examples: "Making a Murderer," "13th."

SEE ALSO: Critics say Netflix is bad for movies — here's what they are missing about its strategy

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NOW WATCH: An old video of Mark Zuckerberg shows the teenager in flannel pajamas opening his Harvard acceptance e-mail

No one wants to buy this $20 million townhouse owned by a real-life 'Wolf of Wall Street'-er

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Wolf of Wall Street Tribeca Mansion

Alan Wilzig, the real-life inspiration for a character in "The Wolf of Wall Street," is having a hard time getting rid of his New York City home.  

Wilzig's Tribeca mansion has been on the market since 2014, when it listed for $44 million. It's now on offer again for $19.75 million, down from $24.885 million in its third price chop.

Each time the townhouse gets relisted, its staging gets more and more tame. Many of its more eccentric features have disappeared and it's now more of a typical space in line with the surrounding area.

The 6,500-square-foot townhouse has a 2,200-square-foot roof deck, backyard, three bedrooms, and an attached multipurpose garage.

Wilzig inspired the character who introduced Leonardo DiCaprio's character to his future wife in a pool-party scene in the 2013 film. 

Jane Powers of Douglas Elliman now has the listing.

Megan Willett and April Walloga contributed reporting to an earlier version of this article.

SEE ALSO: These 22 whiskeys just won the highest honor at an international spirits competition

Entrepreneur and semiprofessional race car driver Alan Wilzig is selling his townhouse for just shy of $20 million.



It's a spacious, 6,500-square-foot mansion with plenty of amenities.



It also has 3,000 square feet of outdoor space.



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Here's everything leaving Netflix in June that you need to watch right now

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Jane Eyre movie image Michael Fassbender Mia WasikowskaNetflix just released the titles that will be leaving the streaming service in June. There are a few gems we'll miss, but not many — unless you have a kid who can't live without the first season of "Bob the Builder."

Before May ends, you should squeeze in some nostalgia time for "D2: The Mighty Ducks," "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," and a horror night for "The Blair Witch Project" before they all disappear from Netflix and exclusively live on DVD, VHS, or somewhere that you have to get off of your couch to find. 

Here's everything that's leaving Netflix in June (we've highlighted the titles we think you should watch in bold):

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 11 best movies of 2017 so far

Leaving June 1

"D2: The Mighty Ducks"

"Honey, I Shrunk the Kids"

"Heterosexual Jill"

"House of Wax"

"Kidnapped"

"Knuckleball"

"Las mágicas historias de Plim Plim" (Season 1)

"L'Auberge Espagnole"

"Serendipity"

"The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975"

"The Blair With Project"

"The Good Guys" (Season 1)

"The Hustler"

"The Little Rascals"

"The Prince & Me"

"The Teacher Who Defied Hitler"

"The Three Musketeers"

"The Way of the Dragon"

"This Is Spinal Tap"

"Two Step"

"We Are the Giant"



Leaving June 6

"Private Practice" (Seasons 1-6)



Leaving June 8

"Xenia"



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The deal that created Ben Lerer's new media empire, Group Nine, totaled $585 million

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ben lerer

Group Nine Media, the holding company that tied together four media brands in October — Thrillist, NowThis, The Dodo, and Seeker — was created in a deal totaling $585 million, according to a new SEC filing on Tuesday.

The filing also lists $14 million to be "used for payments to any of the persons required to be named as executive officers, directors or promoters."

That $585 million includes the $100 million investment from Discovery Communications, disclosed at the time. (Seeker, Discovery's digital network, was one of the Group Nine brands.) 

The deal reflects the increasing stakes in the maturing online media market, putting Group Nine in a class of well-capitalized publishers including The Huffington Post, Refinery29, Vice, BuzzFeed, and Vox. These companies have secured huge investments from traditional media giants, or been absorbed by them.

The thinking

According to Group Nine CEO Ben Lerer, the idea behind the combination was simple: consolidation worked in the TV business, and it would work again in the digital video market.

“Brands and agencies want fewer points of contact,” Lerer told Business Insider in March. “The idea that you can talk to one company and just do more is something that really works. It worked in the TV business.”

The ideal outcome for all the Group Nine companies, according to Lerer, is creating a 360-degree product that spans both the world of social media and the world of TV. Accomplishing that, he said, will be much easier with the business sides of the brands merged.

The Lerer family

A big part of the creation of Group Nine came down to Lerer’s family, he told Business Insider in October. Ben’s father Ken, who cofounded NowThis, has been instrumental in many New York digital media companies including The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, and even Business Insider, where he was an investor and board member until the sale to Axel Springer. Ben's sister Izzie founded The Dodo.

The family element “made [the deal] possible,” Ben Lerer told us in October. “There was 1,000% transparency … No posturing or staredowns.” There was trust, and a frank discussion of whether the move would be best for Thrillist, NowThis, and The Dodo.

Now, it turns out, that deal was worth $585 million.

Business Insider parent company Axel Springer is an investor in Group Nine Media. 

SEE ALSO: Netflix is 12 times as popular as its streaming competitors among younger viewers

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NOW WATCH: An irresponsible obituary for the Great Barrier reef has gone viral — here’s what’s actually going on


6 details you might have missed in season 3 episode 3 of 'Twin Peaks'

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"Twin Peaks: The Return" is out there, to say the least, and it continues to get even weirder. In episode 3, some major characters made a reappearance, and there were references to both the prequel film "Fire Walk With Me" and Mark Frost's book "The Secret History of Twin Peaks." Here are all the details you may not have picked up the first time around.

If you have not yet watched the episode, it is currently available on Showtime on Demand.

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Tom Cruise says 'Top Gun 2' is 'definitely happening' and coming sooner than you think

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Top Gun

After years of rumors about a potential sequel to the 1986 blockbuster, Tom Cruise has confirmed that there will be a "Top Gun 2." And it sounds like you won't even have to wait all that long.

While on the Australian morning show "Sunrise" to promote his latest movie, "The Mummy" (out June 9), Cruise was asked about the rumors of a sequel.

"It's true," Cruise said. "I'm going to start filming it probably in the next year. It's definitely happening."

For the last few years, more talk about a "Top Gun" sequel has bounced around the internet as reports surfaced that it was in development. 

In 2015, Skydance CEO David Ellison said a script was being written and that the story would take place in the contemporary times and feature drone fighters.

"It’s really exploring the end of an era of dogfighting and fighter pilots and what that culture is today," Ellison said at the time.

Later that year, fellow "Top Gun" star Val Kilmer confirmed that he would be in the sequel.

The original "Top Gun," which starred Cruise as a hotshot pilot who's training at the elite Navy Fighter Weapons School, was one of the biggest hits of the late 1980s, earning over $350 million worldwide on a $15 million budget. The movie didn't just attract the male audience that wanted to see intense aerial action scenes, but women also flocked to the theaters thanks in part to Cruise's sex-symbol status and the music that ranged from Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" to Berlin's Oscar-winning ballad "Take My Breath Away" (used as background music to Cruise's romance with Kelly McGillis in the film).

Here's Cruise making the official announcement:

 

SEE ALSO: 35 movies coming out this summer that you need to see

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NOW WATCH: Watch the first trailer for 'Blade Runner 2049' starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford

The 7 highest-paid CEOs in the US last year were all in the media business — here they are

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Bob Iger Disney CEOYou can make a ton of money in the media business, especially if you're a CEO.

That's the main takeaway from a new study by the AP and executive data firm Equilar, which charted CEO pay in 2016. The top seven CEOs on the list were involved in media: running cable giants, movie and TV studios, or even video-game companies.

The highest-paid CEO was Thomas Rutledge of Charter Communications, who raked in $98 million. Last year, Charter merged with Time Warner Cable — not to be confused with HBO/Turner parent company Time Warner, whose CEO also made the top 7 — to become the second-biggest cable company in the US. (The CEO of Comcast, the biggest cable giant, made the list as well.)

After Rutledge came Les Moonves of CBS, who kept his network in first place and got his shareholders a 36.6% return in 2016.

But it wasn't just video powerhouses that made the list. Robert Kotick, the CEO of gaming behemoth Activision Blizzard, came in fifth at $33.1 million.

Those CEOs not in the media business fared well in 2016 too, according to the study. "The typical CEO at the biggest U.S. companies got an 8.5 percent raise last year, raking in $11.5 million in salary, stock and other compensation last year," according to the AP. "That’s the biggest raise in three years." And over the last five years, CEO pay has nearly doubled the pay gains of full-time employees (19.6% versus 10.9%).

Here are the top seven CEOs, all of which are in media:

AP reporting by Stan Choe.

No. 7: Jeff Bewkes of Time Warner — $32.6 million



No. 6: Brian Roberts of Comcast — $33 million



No. 5: Robert Kotick of Activision Blizzard — $33.1 million



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Bungie director Luke Smith on 'Destiny 2': Our goal is to 'unhide the fun'

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destiny 2 luke smith

LOS ANGELES — "Destiny" has been one of the most popular video games over the last few years, mainly due to its pedigree — the game was made from Bungie, the same company that produced the original "Halo" games — and the way it constantly changed and improved through regular updates, patches, and downloadable content.

But one of the big themes in "Destiny" was the back-and-forth between the game's players and the developers at Bungie. Though it's a great game today, "Destiny" was very rough at launch. Fans and reviewers criticized the game's incoherent story and frustrating in-game progression systems, among other aspects. Players — especially those who loved the game, embraced its potential, and played it for hours every single day — demanded specific changes and quality-of-life improvements. In turn, Bungie would work to address those concerns and desires to put them into the game over time. It was a perpetual cycle of give and take.

At the "Destiny 2" event in Los Angeles on May 18, which Business Insider attended, Bungie's game director Luke Smith said the sequel would be "a new beginning for everyone. It's a convergence for veteran players and new players into our universe."

But this game is a new beginning for Bungie, too. It's an opportunity to start fresh with players, especially after the rocky launch of the first "Destiny" game. So for Smith, who was one of the lead designers on the first "Destiny" game, and who now leads efforts on the sequel, this fresh start means focusing on a phrase he's used repeatedly while talking with Bungie's various teams about "Destiny 2": "How do we unhide the fun?"

SEE ALSO: We just got our first major look at 'Destiny 2' — here's what we learned

This "unhide the fun" mantra applies to some of the most simple aspects of "Destiny 2." Take the map, for instance. In the first "Destiny" game, each planet had a map, but it wouldn't tell you anything — either about landmarks, or where to go. In "Destiny 2," the map is is a real, interactive map. And now you can immediately jump from planet to planet without having to go to orbit first, which is a huge time-saver. "That's one way we're unhiding the fun," Smith said.



Another big change in "Destiny 2" is the weapons. The variety of weapons, and how they behave, was a big highlight in the first "Destiny" game, but Smith and the team at Bungie wanted to take that variety even further and, more importantly, improve the balance between those weapons in your arsenal.

That's why Bungie changed the three weapon slots each player has. Previously, all players would have primary (scout rifles, hand cannons), secondary (sniper rifles, shotguns), and heavy (rocket launchers, machine guns) weapons. In "Destiny 2," those slot names will become "kinetic" (weapons that fire bullets), "energy" (weapons that fire lasers and alien ammunition), and "power" (shotguns, grenade launchers, and other heavy weapons).



According to Smith, the inspiration for the weapon changes came from "the community's desire to have cool primary-feeling weapons with energy types on them," as well as the desire at Bungie internally to balance PvP, or "player versus player" multiplayer matches. In the first "Destiny," PvP was fast-paced and frenetic, but lots of people complained about getting killed in a single shot, usually from a shotgun.

Smith explained why minimizing the impact of one-hit kills was so important in "Destiny 2":

"One-hit kills are often something you couldn’t react to. You don’t know how you could’ve done it better, right? And if you don’t know how you could’ve done it better, it means you’re never going to improve. So, improvement is a huge part of mastery, wanting to get good at something. One of the reasons I believe people love video games as their choice of entertainment and hobby is because it’s an opportunity to improve at something. You’re gaining mastery. No matter what game you’re playing, you’re ultimately getting better at it. And the weapon slot changes also spark a desire to do things like reduce the amount of one-hit kill weapons that are available — and when they are available, we let you know when they are available. We’re presenting more information to you because when we present the information, players consume it, and it’s an opportunity to get better. Teamwork, facilitation, it’s all based on more information."



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Seth Meyers: Why Trump's 'drain the swamp' campaign was just an 'empty promise'

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Meyers Swamp

On Tuesday night's "Late Night," host Seth Meyers took a much-needed break from breaking news and dived deep into the swamp that President Donald Trump promised to drain.

“Drain the swamp” was just one of the chants that Trump popularized throughout his presidential campaign. Meyers said the three-word phrase summed up the mission of the Trump campaign, but it's a mission that he hasn’t followed through on, according to the host.

Meyers showed some news clips including CNN’s Jake Tapper saying, “Is now-President Trump draining the swamp, or stocking it with a whole bunch of new critters? The administration has made a number of hires who are advising or leading the agencies they targeted as lobbyists just a short time ago.”

“So it seems a more accurate three-word campaign promise would have been, ‘Run! Swamp monsters!’” Meyers said.

Meyers then explained that nine people who worked on Trump’s transition team registered as lobbyists. And it gets worse.

“According to reports, the White House is issuing secret waivers to the president’s own ethics rules, allowing incoming officials to work on issues they handled before becoming public servants," Meyers said.

The host added that under former President Barack Obama's administration, these waivers were publicized on the White House website. But Meyers checked that page under the Trump administration and it is blank.

“Other blank White House web pages include Court Cases Trump Won, KellyAnne Conway’s Honest Statements, and Melania’s Favorite Things to Do in DC,” Meyers joked.

“So, as usual with Trump," Meyers said, “his insistence on changing the way Washington works was overhyped. Mainly just empty promises and all talk."

Watch the segment below:

 

SEE ALSO: 100 movies on Netflix that everyone needs to watch in their lifetime

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NOW WATCH: 7 details you might have missed in the premiere of season 3 of 'Twin Peaks'

Stephen Colbert: Trump's proposed budget is built on 'the ground-up bones of poor people'

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Stephen Colbert Trump budget cuts CBS final

Stephen Colbert opened Tuesday's "The Late Show" by doing a complete takedown of President Donald Trump's cuts in a budget proposal called "A New Foundation for American Greatness."

But how Colbert sees it, "He's building that foundation on the ground-up bones of poor people."

There are proposed cuts to the food-stamp program SNAP and the children's health-insurance program CHIP.

"To which America's children replied, 'stop' and 'help,'" Colbert said.

The host added, "I know this is an unpopular position these days, but I believe children should go to the doctor and eat."

But Colbert wasn't done. He then touched on the section of Trump's budget proposal that includes what Colbert sees as "brutal, senseless cuts to medical research."

Some major ones include $14 billion in cuts to Health and Human Services, a 19% cut to the National Cancer Institute, and cuts to the Center for Disease Control.

"So whenever that thing inside of Steve Bannon bursts out and goes airborne, we will not be able to handle it," Colbert said.

Watch Colbert's comments on Trump's budget cuts below:

 

 

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 11 best movies of 2017 so far

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NOW WATCH: Watch the first trailer for 'Blade Runner 2049' starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford

'Game of Thrones' author George R.R. Martin: Trump is a grownup King Joffrey

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king joffrey game of thrones season 4

"Game of Thrones" author George R.R. Martin and star of the HBO series Kit Harington don't think highly of President Donald Trump.

In a new profile of Harington for Esquire, the two men weighed in on comparisons between the HBO hit fantasy drama and today's politics.

"I think Joffrey is now the king in America," Martin told Esquire. "And he's grown up just as petulant and irrational as he was when he was 13 in the books."

On "Game of Thrones," Joffrey Baratheon, who was played by Jack Gleeson, was believed to be the eldest son of King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) and Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey). But in actuality, Joffrey was the result of Cersei's incestuous relationship with her twin brother, Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau).

Spoiled, egotistical, vengeful, and sadistic, Joffrey took the throne after Robert's death and all his bad traits became heightened. Responsible for some atrocious acts, Joffrey was regarded as the worst villain on "Thrones" — until murderous Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) took the title from him.

While Harington — whose heroic "Thrones" character, Jon Snow, was famously brought back from death — told Esquire that he prefers not to speak on politics, he nevertheless made it clear that he doesn't have a high opinion of Trump.

"Mister Donald Trump — I wouldn't call him President, I'll call him Mister," the actor said. "I think this man at the head of your country is a con artist."

SEE ALSO: Why 'Game of Thrones' fans are saying Ramsay is even worse than Joffrey

DON'T MISS: Seth Meyers: Hillary Clinton is ready for 'Game of Thrones'-style revenge

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NOW WATCH: Here's everything we know about HBO’s 5 'Game of Thrones' spinoffs


The latest 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' trailer shows off the awesome new Spidey suit

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Spider-Man Homecoming trailer

The third trailer for “Spider-Man: Homecoming” just came out and it introduces some new footage of its villain Vulture in action (former Batman Michael Keaton takes the role) as well as some cool glimpses of spider-tech courtesy of Peter Parker’s new sort-of boss, Tony Stark.

In the trailer, we hear Parker say that he’s Stark’s intern. That's kind of true, but also not really.

In addition to some exciting features of the updated spider-suit, which is reflective of Iron Man's suit and gives Parker 576 web shooter combinations, the trailer also emphasizes what this new franchise is all about: the fact that Peter Parker is just a teenager with Spanish quizzes and girls, played by an actual teenager and not a 27-year-old Tobey Maguire.

The trailer also gives us a glimpse of Zendaya’s character, and teases everyone who campaigned for Donald Glover to play Spider-Man a few years back with his brief appearance talking to Spider-Man. Glover’s character is not named, and will most likely remain a mystery until the film's release on July 7.

Watch the trailer below:

 

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The Rock can't save the unfunny 'Baywatch' movie

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Baywatch Paramount Pictures final

At its peak in the mid-1990s, "Baywatch" was the most-watched TV show in the world thanks to its cheesy storylines and showcasing scantily clad ladies (well, plus David Hasselhoff) running in slow motion on the beach.

It wasn’t a great show, but it did the trick if you needed to kill time.

That’s kind of how Paramount’s long-awaited “Baywatch” movie (opening in theaters on Thursday) can be explained. It’s going to be a hell of a watch when it comes on HBO, but you should get your head examined if you pay to watch it at the theater.

Yes, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is the biggest movie star on the planet right now, but even he can’t make this lame comedy into something worth your money — though, to his credit, he tries really, really hard.

Paramount certainly swung for the fences with this. They cast Johnson and Zac Efron together to play two lifeguards who take their jobs way too seriously and try to bust a drug kingpin (“Quantico” star Priyanka Chopra) after her potent product washes up on their beach. It’s not the worst plot for an R-rated comedy (if you took the beach component away, you have the plot for the movie version of “21 Jump Street”). But audiences don’t come to these movies for plot. There need to be big laughs, the wackier the better.

And like The Rock, the movie tries really, really, really hard to deliver a gut-busting comedy (the filmmakers even put Efron in drag), but too much effort can kill humor, and that's what happens here.

A big problem is the movie doesn’t really go out of its way to offer original material. Low-hanging fruit include distracting the villain by dancing funny; the not-so-bright heartthrob; and jokes about male and female anatomy (the movie even blatantly rips off the zipper scene from “There’s Something About Mary”).

Sure, you might get a chuckle or two, but you have to come stronger in the seen-it-all-before era we live in today.

And there is just some awful CGI. I mean, you have The Rock in your movie, and he’s going to do some crazy life-saving scenes. Why do the boat on fire and the finale set on a firework barge have special effects that seem to come straight out of a “Sharknado” movie?

At its best, “Baywatch” was always going to be a “21 Jump Street” rip-off, but it couldn’t even get to that level.

 

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Allison Williams breaks down the infamous Froot Loops scene in 'Get Out'

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Allison Williams Froot Loop Get Out Universal final

Jordan Peele’s directorial debut “Get Out” became a surprise critical and box-office sensation earlier this year thanks to its chilling look at racism through the guise of a horror movie.

There are countless fascinating things about the movie, about a black man who joins his white girlfriend for a visit to her parents' house, but one standout comes toward the end. (Warning: Spoilers ahead.) Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) has been brought down to the basement and is about to have the brain of a white man put in his skull when we are given a glimpse of the real Rose (Allison Williams), his heretofore "girlfriend."

What’s quickly become known as “the Froot Loops scene” shows Rose wearing all white with her hair pulled back tight in a ponytail listening to “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” while eating Froot Loops in a bowl and sipping milk from a straw out of a glass. Sitting on her bed, with framed photos of her past conquests hanging on the wall, she’s doing a Bing search on her laptop for “Top NCAA Prospects.”

The brief scene is a sublime mix of comedy and horror that has stayed with people long after they’ve watched the movie.

It’s also launched some great memes, like Peele tweeting a picture of Donald Trump Jr. eating cereal with the hashtag #getoutchallenge.

Then there’s this creative meme that went viral featuring a photo of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway sitting awkwardly in the Oval Office while looking at her phone during a visit from leaders of historically black colleges with a picture alongside it of a search box and the entry “Top NCAA Prospects.” 

But it turns out the already infamous Froot Loops scene wasn’t even in the original script.

“It was added while we were already on set in Alabama shooting,” Williams told Business Insider.

And many of the genius details in the scene were thought up right at the moment of shooting it.

“The decision to use Froot Loops was one that went right down to the wire,” Williams said. “And I can’t remember who came up with the idea to split them up, but Jordan and I brainstormed about what would be interesting, and it was decided to make the milk separate from the Froot Loops. I know my contribution were the tiny sips and tiny little bits.”

Williams said that Peele wrote the scene to drive home just how disturbed and terrifying Rose really is.

“This is our chance to see what it's like to be Rose every day,” Williams said. "It drives home the point that she has stalled developmentally at the age that she started doing the job. She still dresses somewhat androgynous, she’s totally meticulous, total control freak. She has her teddy bear and Froot Loops and milk. And the idea of her going upstairs and immediately putting all her photos back in frames and putting them up on the wall is also really chilling.”

Get Out Allison WilliamsThe scene was one of the last shot for the movie, and Williams said she was grateful for that, as it was unpleasant to play evil Rose.

“I really only did one or two takes for those scenes and if he could Jordan would just keep the camera rolling because it helped keep me focused. That was a really strange experience shooting that scene.”

However, Williams admits that she can't help but laugh every time she sees the scene, with its bizarre reveal and the cheesy '80s pop playing over it. The scene also reminds her how much fun Peele had shooting it.

“When Jordan was watching the monitor and I was the real Rose character, he would grin and rub his hands together, like, ‘Yes, this girl is so evil,’” Williams said. “That was all the validation I needed when I was trying to stay in that evil version of Rose.”

With the movie becoming a huge hit, Williams believes the Froot Loops scene has the “potential of being iconic,” and she gives all the credit to her writer and director.

“This is a guy who from the beginning knew what he wanted the movie to look like, sound like, feel like,” Williams said of Peele. “It’s just perfect.”

“Get Out” is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.

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Here's how Jay Z and Beyoncé spend their $1.16 billion

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Beyoncé and Jay Z are officially a billion-dollar couple after Forbes put their combined worth at $1.16 billion this week. The entertainment tycoons not only earn millions from music and tours, but they also rake in cash from numerous side companies and business ventures. 

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HBO just released a new 'Game of Thrones' trailer — the dragons are back

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