Deadline: “The release of The Savant is back on. A year after Apple TV put the thriller starring Jessica Chastain on hold three days before it was slated to premiere on Sept. 26, 2025…”
“The Savant‘s last-minute benching was due to its storyline about preventing extremist attacks and some imagery, including sniper attacks, that were considered potentially triggering two weeks after the assassination of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk.”
“Barbra Streisand expressed disdain for President Donald Trump’s ‘unchecked ego’ on Thursday following his threat to demolish the Kennedy Center amid the ongoing legal battle to mount his name on its exterior,” The Wrap reports.
Said Streisand: “You can easily imagine my indignation at seeing this revered institution become the subject of such a bitter struggle over one man’s name and unchecked ego.”
Hollywood Reporter: “When it screened at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month, Musk got the kind of reception every international distributor dreams about. Attendees applauded enthusiastically for five minutes and saluted director Alex Gibney, even shouting ‘thank you’ inside the festival’s Sala Grande for his hard-hitting investigation into the world’s richest man.”
“But despite that instant and reassuring focus group, Universal Pictures, which controls worldwide rights to the film outside of North America, now appears to be having second thoughts on a documentary it paid a significant sum to acquire.”
“President Donald Trump celebrated Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle’s plans to leave the U.S. taking a dig at the royal couple as they return to live in the UK,” Bloomberg reports.
Said Trump: “I’m happy about it. I was not a fan. I thought they treated the royal family with great disrespect. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the way she acted. I thought she was terribly disrespectful to the Queen, to King Charles.”
He added: “I wouldn’t have taken them back, frankly. If I were the royal family.”
“President Trump said that country music star Dolly Parton ‘really liked me,’ but stayed out of politics to avoid losing fans,” the New York Post reports.
Fox News: Dolly Parton refused to pick political sides for decades: “I’m not in politics, I’m an entertainer.”
“Days before the Army’s top officer was abruptly fired earlier this year, he was advised by a fellow general now vying to replace him to stop the military’s investigation into an unauthorized helicopter flyby of musician Kid Rock’s Tennessee estate,” the Washington Post reports.
“Gen. Randy George, whom Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed as the Army chief of staff without explanation, felt it was important to follow typical protocol and determine whether any safety regulations had been violated during the March 28 flyby.”
“Rosie O’Donnell’s stint filling in for ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has not gone unnoticed by the Trump White House,” Deadline reports.
On Friday, they issued a statement: “Rosie O’Donnell is a nasty woman and a total slob whose brain has been completely destroyed by Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
The Wrap: Rosie O’Donnell unleashes on Trump in insult-heavy monologue.
New York Post: “Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sought U.S. political clout far beyond the dreams of any British royal since King George III, with the Duchess of Sussex angling to take over the Senate seat held by Kamala Harris ahead of the 2020 presidential election.”
“Weeks before Democrat Joe Biden’s win over President Donald Trump, a source says, Markle requested a sit-down with California Gov. Gavin Newsom because she ‘wanted to be considered to be appointed’ to the seat held by Harris, which she vacated just before becoming vice president on Jan. 20, 2021.”
Mark Liebovich: “Here it is, August on Martha’s Vineyard, and Alan Dershowitz has barely been heard from.”
“Well, that’s not exactly true. He has been heard from on many topics—because Dershowitz is who he is, and pretty much anyone can join Substack, and TV bookers can be hard to resist. Still, he has said little publicly about the maddening injustice he’s faced in recent years: his annual summer shunning at the hands of the island’s liberal social gentry. Has this perennial comedy of ill manners—the Vineyard cancellation of Alan Dershowitz—finally run its course?”
Hollywood Reporter: “When Michele Tafoya became the Republican nominee for Senate from Minnesota Tuesday night, the longtime Sunday Night Football reporter made a resounding entrance onto the political stage. Tafoya collected more than twice as many votes as her nearest opponent, a former Navy SEAL…”
“But Tafoya also sent a different signal with her win: the tradition of television entertainers diving into Minnesota politics is alive and well.”
“Former pro wrestler Jesse Ventura did it, winning an election for governor in 1998 in a shocking upset. Comedian and SNL veteran Al Franken did it, winning an election for senator in 2008 in a shocking drama (a recount and a few hundred votes). A pair of local TV fixtures, news anchor Rod Grams and entrepreneur and TV-commercial mainstay Rudy Boschwitz, did it, each serving as senators in the last few decades of the 20th century.”
“And now Tafoya is looking to do it too.”
“Tom Selleck is well known for his past friendship with the Reagans, and his passion for politics. But, with Donald Trump in office now, the actor is staying more quiet these days,” The Wrap reports.
Said Selleck: “I stay out of the current political world. Why piss off half the country when you’re in the business of entertaining people?”
“Just three minutes and 46 seconds after NBA insider Shams Charania posted the sports-world-shaking news that LeBron James inked a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers, Josh Shapiro’s X account lit up with an intricately crafted proclamation declaring LeBron James Day in the city,” Politico reports.
“How could the Pennsylvania governor and potential 2028 presidential candidate and sports superfan have gotten the document out so quickly unless he already knew it was happening?”
“He did, well before even the most wired of NBA insiders could get the news out… That’s because Shapiro was far more hands-on in the process than previously known.”
“Federal agents seized the mobile phone and computer of Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter last September in a wide-ranging probe into the financial dealings of the billionaire’s businesses,” Bloomberg reports.
Elon Musk reflected on his brief venture into politics in a new interview, suggesting he “got carried away,” The Hill reports.
Said Musk: “I think I got a little too involved in politics. I got carried away frankly.”
“Whitney Cummings told a few jokes at the expense of President Donald Trump during last month’s Mark Twain Prize for Humor — but a particularly biting one didn’t make it to the broadcast version,” the Washington Post reports.
“The ceremony, which honored Bill Maher, premiered on Netflix on Tuesday. During the event, Cummings joked that Trump missed the evening’s festivities because he got ‘caught in sex traffic,’ an allusion to the president’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex offender and disgraced financier.”
“That joke was cut for the broadcast.”
“President Trump, who has indulged in the trappings of hosting the world’s most-watched sporting event and unabashedly used his political power to get the suspension of a U.S. soccer star overturned, scripted his own flyover on Sunday at the World Cup final,” the New York Times reports.
“Less than an hour before Argentina and Spain were to face off, Marine One, the presidential helicopter, cruised high above MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.”
“It was the second time in less than six weeks that Mr. Trump had sought to commandeer the spotlight at a major championship in the New York metro area.”
The Wrap: Donald Trump elicits “massive boos” at World Cup final.
New York Times: “It’s a scene that has been echoed across the United States — in a multitude of languages and colors, as soccer fans from all over the world, many now making their homes in America, have packed bars, restaurants, living rooms and concert venues.”
“No matter where they came from or where they gathered, they all sought the same experience: a chance to watch their nations compete while surrounded by others who share passion and pride for the country they or their ancestors once called home.”
“Together, these fans have brought places throughout the United States to life.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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