Pat Carroll, the gregarious Emmy-winning comedienne who was a television mainstay for decades before segueing to a voiceover career that included portraying the villainous sea witch Ursula in The Little Mermaid, has died. She was 95.
Carroll died Saturday of pneumonia at her home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, her daughter Kerry Karsian told The Hollywood Reporter.
Carroll’s perky personality, screwball wit and impeccable timing made her a great second banana, and Red Buttons, Jimmy Durante, Mickey Rooney, Steve Allen and Charley Weaver were among those who called upon her to make their programs funnier. Her antics on Caesar’s Hour earned her an Emmy in 1957, and she was nominated for her work on the classic variety show the following year.
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In a 2013 interview with KliphNesteroff, Carroll compared Howard Morris, Carl Reiner and Sid Caesar on Caesar’s Hour to the Chicago Cubs’ legendary double-play combination of Tinkers to Evers to Chance.
“I learned so much about comedy from watching those three work together. It was unfailing,” Carroll said. “They worked together for so long that they had that innate sense of each other’s timing. It was impossible for them to fumble. We did two shows every Saturday night because one was for the West Coast and one was for the East Coast. If they totally abhorred a sketch they did, those three would sit in Sid’s dressing room with the writers and write a brand new sketch. Yes, amazing.”
For the next two decades, the bubbly blonde always seemed to pop up on TV.
Carroll played Bunny Halper, the high-spirited wife of nightclub owner Charley Halper (Sid Melton), on three seasons of The Danny Thomas Show in the early ‘60s; was Hope Stinson, who shared ownership of a newspaper with Ted Knight’s character, on the last season (1986-87) of Too Close for Comfort; and appeared opposite Suzanne Somers on the 1987-89 series She’s the Sheriff.
Carroll stood out as a cranky patient who shared a hospital room with Mary Richards (the latter was there to have her tonsils taken out) on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1971, and she portrayed Lily Feeney, the mother of Cindy Williams’ character, on a 1976 installment of Laverne & Shirley.
Her TV credits also included Cinderella, Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, Love, American Style, My Three Sons, Police Woman, Busting Loose, The Love Boat, Trapper John, M.D., Evening Shade, Designing Women and ER.
Carroll also was a game show favorite. To Tell the Truth, The Match Game, I’ve Got a Secret, Password All-Stars, You Don’t Say and The $10,000 Pyramid — you name it, she played it.
And she played Doris Day’s matchmaking sister in With Six You Get Eggroll (1968).
Carroll’s throaty laugh and spirited intonations made her a natural for animation work.
She first slipped into the recording booth in 1966 for the animated series The Super 6. But it was during the ‘80s that her voiceover career skyrocketed; she could be heard on the cartoons Yogi’s Treasure Hunt, Galaxy High School, Foofur, Pound Puppies and Superman.
Undoubtedly, her most memorable character was Ursula for the 1989 Disney feature The Little Mermaid. It would prove to be one of her favorite roles. “It was a lifelong ambition of mine to do a Disney film,” she told author Allan Neuwirth in Makin‘ Toons: Inside the Most Popular Animated TV Shows and Movies. “So, I was theirs hook, line and sinker.”
Carroll’s enthusiasm made the octopus-like character uniquely her own and Ursula would become one of Disney’s most memorable villains. However, she landed the part only after an arduous search by the studio.
Little Mermaid producer and lyricist Howard Ashman was a big fan of TV’s Dynasty and envisioned Ursula as a Joan Collins-type. And who better to play her than Collins herself? Alas, her agent quickly nixed the idea.
Writer-directors Ron Clements and John Musker saw Ursula more like a bellowing aquatic version of Bea Arthur, but her agent took offense when the script likened the actress to a witch — and passed. Roseanne, Heart’s Nancy Wilson and Nancy Marchand of The Sopranos fame then reportedly read for the role, but none was quite right.
Charlotte Rae and Elaine Stritch auditioned, but Rae didn’t have the vocal range for Ursula’s signature tune, “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” and Stritch couldn’t deliver the song the way Ashman wanted.
Carroll, though, immediately understood Ashman’s approach. The key was a recording that he had made of him singing the song. Once Carroll heard and saw that, the rest was easy.
“He gave me that performance! Come on, I’m honest enough to say that,” she said in Makin‘ Toons. “I got the whole attitude from him … his shoulders would twitch in a certain way, and his eyes would go a certain way … I got more about that character from Howard singing that song than from anything else.”
Carroll won the part and went on to voice the character in several video games and a 1993 Little Mermaid CBS series. (She also provided the voice for Morgana in the 2000 direct-to-video release The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea.)
Patricia Ann Carroll was born on May 5, 1927, in Shreveport, Louisiana. When she was 5, she and her family moved to Los Angeles. At age 20, she served as a Civilian Actress Technician for the army, writing, producing and directing all-soldier productions. She graduated from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. in 1949.
Carroll’s first professional appearance had come in 1947 alongside Gloria Swanson in a regional stock production of A Goose for a Gander. This led to more stock company roles, and she also sharpened her comic chops by performing in nightclubs and resorts.
Carroll’s off-Broadway debut came in 1950 in Come What May. Shortly after, she began landing television work on Goodyear Television Playhouse, The Red Buttons Show and The Saturday Night Revue.
Carroll first starred on Broadway in 1955 in the musical revue Catch a Star! written by Danny and Neil Simon. The performance earned her a Tony nomination. Decades later, Carroll received rave reviews for her off-Broadway, one-woman show Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein: A One-Character Play.
In his 1979 review for The New York Times, Walter Kerr wrote: “Miss Carroll, working from a text prepared by Marty Martin, gives us the bizarre, close-cropped, richly robed woman who could be — and once was — mistaken for a bishop with a zest that is awesome … I don’t know precisely how Miss Carroll is able to do it, but she manages — without any effort at all — to make us share Gertrude Stein’s attitude toward herself.”
The actress received a Drama Desk Award for her portrayal of the author; she beat out fellow nominees Moore, Susan Sarandon, Phyllis Frelich and Blythe Danner for the honor.
Carroll was married to Lee Karsian from 1955 until their divorce in 1976, and they had three children: Tara, an actress; daughter Kerry, a casting director; and son Sean (he died on the same date as his mom 13 years ago).
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Pat Carroll, the gregarious Emmy-winning comedienne who was a television mainstay for decades before segueing to a voiceover career that included portraying the villainous sea witch Ursula in The Little Mermaid, has died. She was 95.
Carroll died Saturday of pneumonia at her home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, her daughter Kerry Karsian told The Hollywood Reporter.
Carroll’s perky personality, screwball wit and impeccable timing made her a great second banana, and Red Buttons, Jimmy Durante, Mickey Rooney, Steve Allen and Charley Weaver were among those who called upon her to make their programs funnier. Her antics on Caesar’s Hour earned her an Emmy in 1957, and she was nominated for her work on the classic variety show the following year.
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In a 2013 interview with KliphNesteroff, Carroll compared Howard Morris, Carl Reiner and Sid Caesar on Caesar’s Hour to the Chicago Cubs’ legendary double-play combination of Tinkers to Evers to Chance.
“I learned so much about comedy from watching those three work together. It was unfailing,” Carroll said. “They worked together for so long that they had that innate sense of each other’s timing. It was impossible for them to fumble. We did two shows every Saturday night because one was for the West Coast and one was for the East Coast. If they totally abhorred a sketch they did, those three would sit in Sid’s dressing room with the writers and write a brand new sketch. Yes, amazing.”
For the next two decades, the bubbly blonde always seemed to pop up on TV.
Carroll played Bunny Halper, the high-spirited wife of nightclub owner Charley Halper (Sid Melton), on three seasons of The Danny Thomas Show in the early ‘60s; was Hope Stinson, who shared ownership of a newspaper with Ted Knight’s character, on the last season (1986-87) of Too Close for Comfort; and appeared opposite Suzanne Somers on the 1987-89 series She’s the Sheriff.
Carroll stood out as a cranky patient who shared a hospital room with Mary Richards (the latter was there to have her tonsils taken out) on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1971, and she portrayed Lily Feeney, the mother of Cindy Williams’ character, on a 1976 installment of Laverne & Shirley.
Her TV credits also included Cinderella, Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, Love, American Style, My Three Sons, Police Woman, Busting Loose, The Love Boat, Trapper John, M.D., Evening Shade, Designing Women and ER.
Carroll also was a game show favorite. To Tell the Truth, The Match Game, I’ve Got a Secret, Password All-Stars, You Don’t Say and The $10,000 Pyramid — you name it, she played it.
And she played Doris Day’s matchmaking sister in With Six You Get Eggroll (1968).
Carroll’s throaty laugh and spirited intonations made her a natural for animation work.
She first slipped into the recording booth in 1966 for the animated series The Super 6. But it was during the ‘80s that her voiceover career skyrocketed; she could be heard on the cartoons Yogi’s Treasure Hunt, Galaxy High School, Foofur, Pound Puppies and Superman.
Undoubtedly, her most memorable character was Ursula for the 1989 Disney feature The Little Mermaid. It would prove to be one of her favorite roles. “It was a lifelong ambition of mine to do a Disney film,” she told author Allan Neuwirth in Makin‘ Toons: Inside the Most Popular Animated TV Shows and Movies. “So, I was theirs hook, line and sinker.”
Carroll’s enthusiasm made the octopus-like character uniquely her own and Ursula would become one of Disney’s most memorable villains. However, she landed the part only after an arduous search by the studio.
Little Mermaid producer and lyricist Howard Ashman was a big fan of TV’s Dynasty and envisioned Ursula as a Joan Collins-type. And who better to play her than Collins herself? Alas, her agent quickly nixed the idea.
Writer-directors Ron Clements and John Musker saw Ursula more like a bellowing aquatic version of Bea Arthur, but her agent took offense when the script likened the actress to a witch — and passed. Roseanne, Heart’s Nancy Wilson and Nancy Marchand of The Sopranos fame then reportedly read for the role, but none was quite right.
Charlotte Rae and Elaine Stritch auditioned, but Rae didn’t have the vocal range for Ursula’s signature tune, “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” and Stritch couldn’t deliver the song the way Ashman wanted.
Carroll, though, immediately understood Ashman’s approach. The key was a recording that he had made of him singing the song. Once Carroll heard and saw that, the rest was easy.
“He gave me that performance! Come on, I’m honest enough to say that,” she said in Makin‘ Toons. “I got the whole attitude from him … his shoulders would twitch in a certain way, and his eyes would go a certain way … I got more about that character from Howard singing that song than from anything else.”
Carroll won the part and went on to voice the character in several video games and a 1993 Little Mermaid CBS series. (She also provided the voice for Morgana in the 2000 direct-to-video release The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea.)
Patricia Ann Carroll was born on May 5, 1927, in Shreveport, Louisiana. When she was 5, she and her family moved to Los Angeles. At age 20, she served as a Civilian Actress Technician for the army, writing, producing and directing all-soldier productions. She graduated from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. in 1949.
Carroll’s first professional appearance had come in 1947 alongside Gloria Swanson in a regional stock production of A Goose for a Gander. This led to more stock company roles, and she also sharpened her comic chops by performing in nightclubs and resorts.
Carroll’s off-Broadway debut came in 1950 in Come What May. Shortly after, she began landing television work on Goodyear Television Playhouse, The Red Buttons Show and The Saturday Night Revue.
Carroll first starred on Broadway in 1955 in the musical revue Catch a Star! written by Danny and Neil Simon. The performance earned her a Tony nomination. Decades later, Carroll received rave reviews for her off-Broadway, one-woman show Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein: A One-Character Play.
In his 1979 review for The New York Times, Walter Kerr wrote: “Miss Carroll, working from a text prepared by Marty Martin, gives us the bizarre, close-cropped, richly robed woman who could be — and once was — mistaken for a bishop with a zest that is awesome … I don’t know precisely how Miss Carroll is able to do it, but she manages — without any effort at all — to make us share Gertrude Stein’s attitude toward herself.”
The actress received a Drama Desk Award for her portrayal of the author; she beat out fellow nominees Moore, Susan Sarandon, Phyllis Frelich and Blythe Danner for the honor.
Carroll was married to Lee Karsian from 1955 until their divorce in 1976, and they had three children: Tara, an actress; daughter Kerry, a casting director; and son Sean (he died on the same date as his mom 13 years ago).
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Many fans were surprised this week to learn that MGM is developing a new “Creed” spin-off titled “Drago” about Dolph Lundgren’s Ivan Drago and his son, played by Florian Munteanu. That group includes Sylvester Stallone, who is not participating in the film and claims he had no knowledge of it.
Stallone took to Instagram on Saturday night to voice his surprise and disgust about the film, which he says has been assembled behind his back by his longtime nemesis Irwin Winkler and his sons. He reserved some praise for Lundgren, but also feels personally betrayed by the fact that his former co-star didn’t inform him about the project.
“Another Heartbreaker…” Stallone wrote. “Just found this out…ONCE AGAIN , this PATHETIC 94 year old PRODUCER and HIS MORONIC USELESS VULTURE CHILDREN, Charles And David , are once again picking clean THE BONES of another wonderful character I created without even telling me … I APOLOGIZE to the FANS , I never wanted ROCKY characters to be exploited by these parasites… By the way, I have nothing but respect for Dolph but I wish HE had told me what was going on behind my back.… Keep your REAL friends close.”
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This is far from the first time Stallone has aired his grievances about Irwin Winkler. The actor has long held a grudge about the fact that he does not own any of the rights to the “Rocky” characters despite creating the entire franchise. Stallone’s contract for the first “Rocky” film paid him a set fee for writing and starring in the movie, as well as a percentage of the box office gross, but no ownership over the intellectual property. This has led to a strained working relationship with the Winkler family over the years, as Stallone was forced to keep working with them if he wanted to continue portraying the iconic character despite frequent creative and business disagreements.
In 2019, Stallone recalled his unsuccessful attempts at asking the Winklers for equity in the franchise: “When I finally confronted them, I said, ‘Does it bother you guys that I’ve written every word, I’ve choreographed it, I’ve been loyal to you, I’ve promoted it, directed it and I don’t have 1% that I could leave for my children?’ And the quote was, ‘You got paid.’ And that was the end of the conversation.”
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Stallone — who wrote the screenplay for 1976’s Oscar-winning Rocky, in which he starred as boxer Rocky Balboa — took to Instagram on Saturday to criticize the planned film Drago that is being written by Robert Lawton, as first reported this week by The Wrap. Although Stallone did not directly name anyone in his latest post, his mention of a “94-year-old producer” is an apparent reference to Irwin Winkler, who is 91 and has a producing credit on all of the films in the Rocky franchise, in addition to the subsequent Creed spinoff films.
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“Another Heartbreaker… Just found this out…ONCE AGAIN , PATHETIC 94 year old PRODUCER and HIS SELFISH USELESS CHILDREN are once again picking what is left OFF THE BONES of another wonderful character!!!” Stallone wrote about Drago. “Seriously, how do you weasels look in mirror???”
The star continued, “I am sorry to the FANS , I APOLOGIZE to the FANS I never wanted ROCKY to be exploited FOR THIS GREED .. # no shame #sad day #Parasite.”
Drago is set to revisit Ivan Drago, portrayed by Dolph Lundgren in 1985’s Rocky IV and later in 2018’s Creed II. Lundgren had previously teased a potential spinoff film in a November 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
Stallone’s message follows his Instagram post from July 16 that criticized Winkler by name, referring to him as “the remarkably untalented and parasitical Producer of Rocky and Creed.” The post also criticized Irwin’s son David Winkler, who is credited as a producer on the Creed films, including the 2015 first film that starred Michael B. Jordan and earned Stallone an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor for reprising his role as Balboa.
In a follow-up post on July 17, Stallone wrote that he was upset over an ownership dispute related to the franchise. “I really would like [to] have at least a little WHAT’s LEFT of my RIGHTS back, before passing it on to ONLY YOUR CHILDREN – I believe That would be a FAIR gesture,” wrote Stallone, directing his vitriol at Irwin.
Both of those earlier posts have since been deleted.
Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff are credited as the sole producers on the first five Rocky films. The 2006 franchise-reviving Rocky Balboa credits six producers, including David Winkler and Irwin’s other son, Charles Winkler.
The Creed films center on Michael B. Jordan as the son of the late Apollo Creed, portrayed in the Rocky films by Carl Weathers. Stallone and Irwin Winkler are both credited as producers on the Creed movies, as are David and Charles, in addition to others. Chartoff was a producer on the first Creed before his 2015 death.
Last month, Stallone told Metro that he had “bowed out” of appearing in Creed III due to the story changing directions but that he supported the film. Creed III, hitting theaters March 3, 2023, counts Jordan as both director and star.
The character of Rocky Balboa originated with Stallone’s Rocky script in 1976, and his deal stipulated that he would play the title role. Stallone told Variety in 2019 that he had “zero ownership of Rocky” and that he was “furious” about this.
“Our commitment to him was that he could star in it,” Winkler recalled to The Hollywood Reporter in 1983 about making the first Rocky with Chartoff. “We convinced United Artists to give us the money to make it. They would only give us a limited amount of money, and they said that we had to put up our houses as collateral. We really mortgaged ourselves to make sure that we brought it in on time, and we did.”
Representatives for Irwin Winkler and Stallone did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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“To Kill A Mockingbird,” Aaron Sorkin’s stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s beloved coming-of-age novel, will not return to Broadway as previously announced.
The stage play, which opened on Broadway in 2018, played its final performance at the Shubert Theatre on Jan. 16. At the time, it was reported that the show would reopen in June at the Belasco Theater. The date was later moved to Nov. 2, with the planned venue changing to the Music Box Theater. Now, the play will shut down entirely, according to a report by the New York Times.
In an email obtained by the Times sent Thursday night to the cast and crew of the show, playwright Sorkin and director Bartlett Sher blamed the decision on the show’s original lead producer Scott Rudin. Sorkin and Sher reportedly wrote in the email that Rudin, who backed away from an active role on the show last year after allegations of his abusive behavior toward staff broke, “reinserted himself as producer and for reasons which are, frankly, incomprehensible to us both, he stopped the play from reopening.”
The Times also obtained an email that Rudin sent Sorkin and Sher on Friday, in which the producer credited his decision to concerns regarding the show’s profitability should it reopen later this year.
“The reason I opted not to bring back ‘TKAM’ has to do with my lack of confidence in the climate for plays next winter,” Rudin said in the email. “I do not believe that a remount of ‘Mockingbird’ would have been competitive in the marketplace.”
When “To Kill A Mockingbird” premiered in 2018, it was an immediate financial hit, grossing an average $2 million in ticket sales a week and recouping its investment in 19 weeks. It also received largely positive reviews and was nominated for nine awards at the 2019 Tonys, with Celia Keenan-Bolger winning for her role as Scout Finch. It did end up at the center of controversy after Rudin’s lawyers shut down dozens of community and non-profit productions of a different adaptation of the novel by playwright Christopher Sergel that premiered in 1991, which the producer eventually apologized for.
When the play resumed performances last October, after the Broadway shutdown in March 2020, original star Jeff Daniels returned to the role of Atticus Finch, and the show continued to sell well. However, after Daniels left Jan. 2 in the middle of a downswing for Broadway sales amid the pandemic, grosses for the show went down significantly.
A production of the play opened on London’s West End this March, starring Rafe Spall and Gwyneth Keyworth as Atticus and Scout. In addition, a National U.S tour began in Boston this April. Both productions will remain open as the Broadway production shutters.
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Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese are teaming up once again, this time to tackle an adaptation of the upcoming David Grann nonfiction book, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder.
Apple Original Films has landed the rights to the book, due out in April 2023. The project reteams the key players and companies behind the recently wrapped adaptation of Grann’s true-crime tome Killers of the Flower Moon.
Scorsese is attached to direct Wager, with DiCaprio attached to star. Producing are Dan Friedkin and Bradley Thomas of Imperative Entertainment, Scorsese via Sikelia Productions and DiCaprio and partner Jennifer Davisson via their Appian Way Productions
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Richard Plepler will executive produce through his banner, Eden Productions.
Set in the 1740s, Wager’s story is set in motion when a patched-together boat with 30 emaciated men lands on the coast of Brazil. The men were the surviving crew of a British ship that was chasing a Spanish vessel and had crashed onto an island in South America’s Patagonia region. Their tales of surviving the seas and elements made them heroes.
However, six months later another vessel, even more beat up than the first, showed up on the coat of Chile, this one with three sailors — who accuse the passengers on the other boat of being mutineers.
As accusations and counter-accusations flew, the British Admiralty set a special trial to uncover the truth of what exactly happened on the island, exposing a story of not just a captain and crew struggling to survive one of the most extreme climates on the planet, but also battling their own human natures.
DiCaprio is coming off starring with Robert De Niro in Flower Moon, which Scorsese directed for Apple. DiCaprio, Scorsese and Imperative produced the period crime drama, set in 1920s Oklahoma and depicting the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation. The movie is in post, although a release date has not yet been set.
DiCaprio and Scorsese are one of the great pairings in cinema, and in the last 25 years the two have worked together on six movies that have generated multiple Oscar wins. The list includes Gangs of New York, The Aviator, The Departed, Shutter Island and The Wolf of Wall Street, with Flower Moon next to be released.
On top of Flower Moon, Grann’s previously adapted works include 2016’s The Lost City of Z, produced by Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, and the 2018 Robert Redford drama The Old Man & the Gun. His nonfiction book The White Darkness is being developed by Soo Hugh (Pachinko, The Terror) as an Apple original limited series that will star Tom Hiddleston.
Imperative, meanwhile, currently has its acclaimed limited series Black Bird, starring Taron Egerton, unfolding weekly on Apple TV+.
A previous version of this story misstated the release date of the book behind this project.
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Universal has released a brief teaser for its upcoming Christopher Nolan movie Oppenheimer, in which Cillian Murphy plays J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the fathers of the atomic bomb.
The preview, just a few seconds long, dropped early Thursday on Universal’s social media channels and was playing on a loop.
Amid a ticking clock, shown on screen, and images of a fiery explosion, various characters’ voices are heard.
“The world is changing, reforming. This is your moment,” a voiceover says at the beginning. Later, as Murphy’s character is shown adjusting his hat standing in front of a window and then walking down a hallway, a voiceover intones, “You gave them the power to destroy themselves and made him the most important man that ever lived.”
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Oppenheimer is set to hit theaters on July 21, 2023, and the picture, which Universal won a bidding war for, is the first Nolan has made in years not at his longtime studio home of Warner Bros.
The film has a star-studded cast including Kenneth Branagh, Michael Angarano, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid and Matthew Modine.
After Oppenheimer helped to develop the atomic bomb during World War II, his loyalty to the United States was questioned by hawkish government officials.
Oppenheimer is based on the 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.
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PHILADELPHIA — A Baltimore family is suing a Sesame Street-themed amusement park for $25 million over claims of racial discrimination, alleging multiple costumed characters ignored a 5-year-old Black girl during a meet-and-greet event last month.
The lawsuit comes in the wake of a video, shared widely on social media, showing two other Black girls apparently being snubbed by a costumed employee during a parade at the park in Langhorne, outside Philadelphia. Sesame Place apologized in a statement and promised more training for its employees after the video went viral earlier this month.
The suit, which seeks class action status, was filed in a federal court in Philadelphia against SeaWorld Parks, the owner of the Sesame Place, for “pervasive and appalling race discrimination.”
The lawsuit alleges four employees dressed as Sesame Street characters ignored Quinton Burns, his daughter Kennedi Burns and other Black guests during the meet-and-greet on June 18. The lawsuit says “SeaWorld’s performers readily engaged with numerous similarly situated white customers.”
The 5-year-old girl’s family is asking for $25 million in their lawsuit alleging racial discrimination.Shutterstock
During a press conference held Wednesday, one of the family’s attorneys, Malcolm Ruff, called for transparency from SeaWorld and for the company to compensate the Burns family. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
BOGALUSA, La. (WAFB) - Louisiana rapper, Javorius Scott, 24, known by his stage name as JayDaYoungan, was shot and killed in his hometown of Bogalusa, La. on Wednesday evening.
The Bogalusa Police Department confirmed the shooting in a post on Facebook.
The rapper was known for some of his popular songs like “23 Island”, “Catch Me in Traffic”, and “Muddy Situation’”.
Police say a close family member identified as Kenyatta Scott, Sr. was also injured in the incident.
Just before 6 p.m. that evening, police received a called of a shooting in the 600 block of Superior Avenue.
Officers responding to the scene stated one victim was taken to Our Lady of the Angels Emergency Room.
A second victim, still on the scene, was critically wounded and treated on scene by EMS, then transported to the emergency room.
Police say while working a chaotic scene at the hospital and working the crime scene on Superior Avenue, another shooting unfolded in the 800 block of Marshall Richardson Road just after 7 p.m.
Authorities reported a car was shot, possibly related to the first shooting. The occupants were not injured in the incident.
Kenyatta Scott, Sr. was transported to another facility and is stable condition.
Detectives say they are currently conducting interviews and working on leads.
More information will be provided as it becomes available.
Anyone with any information concerning these incidents can call the Detective Division at (985) 732-6238.
Andrew Glennon has shared his thoughts after a decision was made in his custody battle with Amber Portwood.
"We endured the nightmare," he exclusively told E! News. "Now we get to live the dream."
An Indiana judge awarded Andrew primary physical and sole legal custody of his and Amber's 4-year-old son James, per court documents obtained by The Sun. The judge also granted Andrew's request to relocate James to California. However, Andrew is ordered to "seek out and consider the mother's opinion before making any major decisions relating to the child's medical treatment, education and religion."
As for Amber, the Teen Mom star has been granted overnights with James that will be exercised every month, per the outlet. Her allotted time with the 4-year-old will alternate between the states of California and Indiana.
Following the judge's decision, Amber, who is also mom to 13-year-old Leah with ex Gary Shirley, shared in a statement that she has "worked so hard to better myself and improve my relationships with my children."
This summer, Sydney Sweeney experienced her first glimpse of millennial burnout. At 24, the actress is by definition a member of Gen Z, but this feels like a technicality given the amount of life experience she has. The panic attacks began in June, fast and furious events that convinced her brain she was probably dying. “I was losing my shit,” she says.
She went home to the Pacific Northwest for two weeks of family-mandated phone-free time, grounding herself in the region’s fresh air, “hiking and skiing and doing what I truly love.” The regimen worked in the immediate sense — though, she adds, “I still can’t get my mind to shut up, and I don’t sleep” — and helped her realize that her punishing schedule of back-to-back film and TV projects was working against her. It’s a hard lesson to accept, given the amount of pressure Sweeney feels to maximize this pivotal moment in her career — and the way the very same anxiety often will convince her that the momentum could stop at any time.
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Sydney Sweeney
We’re having breakfast in New York, three days after the Emmy nominations were announced; she scored nods for both Euphoria (supporting actress in a drama) and The White Lotus (supporting actress in a limited series). She has just flown down from Boston to New York, where she’s spending several months in production for Marvel’s Madame Web movie, with very little publicly known about her character. I’ve been asking her about her time in the New England city in hopes of gleaning something — anything — about the highly secretive Spider-Man offshoot.
“I’m a very open person,” she says. “I love to talk about everything,” noting the fact that it eats at her that she can’t open up about Madame Web. I eventually learn that she’s preparing for the role with fight training, movement training and something called Reformacore Pilates, and that she was drawn to the film because she “liked the personal struggles that the character goes through.” She spends a lot of time talking about the cross-country road trip she took — with her mother and her rescue dog, Tank — to get to Boston and how she much prefers that city’s slower pace to New York’s frenetic nature. Here on the rooftop of Sweeney’s favorite Manhattan hotel, though, we’re insulated from the chaos of midtown.
The venue is different than the places one would expect to find burgeoning A-listers — the Sunset Tower it is not — but she’s become friends with the staff and even good-natured ribbing from friends and family hasn’t persuaded her to decamp for fancier pastures. Her loyalty proves to be valuable currency when, later, endless boxes full of designer fashion for this shoot start arriving at the happily accommodating front desk at record pace.
Over the course of her short career, she’s had to learn how to make herself at home pretty much anywhere. White Lotus introduced a certain Eloise at the Plaza energy into her life: The HBO miniseries, a darkly satirical examination of white privilege at an upscale Hawaiian resort, was shot on location at the Four Seasons in Maui during the throes of the pandemic. The sequestration was a COVID-protocol necessity but lent itself greatly to the project, giving the cast — fellow Emmy nominees Connie Britton (who plays her mother), Murray Bartlett, Jake Lacy, Steve Zahn, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario and Natasha Rothwell — a chance to immediately bond via what Sweeney describes as an idyllic routine of celebrating each day’s wrap with a sunset swim. Britton mentions during a phone call that she and Sweeney actually met for the first time in the pool at the Four Seasons. “To be honest, the shoot was more fun for the cast than for me,” show creator Mike White says with a laugh when asked to corroborate the set environment. “I would look out from my balcony while working and see them having drinks. But it gave everyone a camaraderie and depth of relationship that, particularly with Connie and Sydney, we could exploit for the show.”
Sydney Sweeney was photographed July 15 at 1896 Studios and Stages in Brooklyn. Fendi top, Fred Leighton jewelry.
It also was Sweeney’s first time at an exclusive resort, giving her a front-row seat to a class divide that she’s still grappling with: balancing her lower-middle-class upbringing and the wealth-filled spaces she finds herself in now. For much of the shoot, she had the run of the place, getting to know the staff well enough to pop in to the kitchen and grab food from the refrigerator. “We were all friends, and [the resort] felt like a house that belonged to all of us,” she says. “Then toward the end, they opened up the resort to guests, and it became clear I did not belong [among the clientele]. I would go to breakfast in my sweatshirt and pajama shorts and get the most disgusting glares from the guests that I dared to show up like that.”
White describes the introduction of the real world into the cast and crew’s COVID bubble as “almost traumatic” but ultimately powerful in the way it served the narrative: “Suddenly we’re watching employees, our family, get bossed around — it added to the meta feeling of the show reflecting life.”
Euphoria, with its rampant drug use and unflinching sexual politics, sets fire to everything one thought a high school drama could or should be — it’s also HBO’s most-watched show after Game of Thrones. Sweeney was initially told that Euphoria‘s casting director didn’t think she was right for the role of Cassie — a sweet, popular girl whose insecurities and daddy issues drive her into the arms of boys at school — and that she shouldn’t bother coming in to audition. Her agent — she’s been with the same reps at Paradigm for her entire career— had other clients who’d gone in to read for the part and was willing to pass Sweeney the script. She eventually put herself on tape, reading with her mom, and sent it to the Euphoria team. They booked her directly. (“No hate to the casting director,” she adds. “I love her now.”)
Sweeney is frank about what she went through — and what she says she’s still going through — to make it in this business. “The rejection you get while you’re trying to learn to be yourself is insane,” she says. “It’s insane how adults look at you.” Even with two Emmy noms, she says her sense of being a Hollywood outsider remains. “I had no idea getting into this industry how many people have connections. I started from ground zero, and I know how fucking hard it is. Now I see how someone can just walk in a door, and I’m like, ‘I worked my fucking ass off for 10 years for this.’ ”
Sweeney spent her childhood in a small town near Spokane on the Washington-Idaho border, an experience she describes as simultaneously idyllic and wholesome, bordering on chaste. She was deeply committed to her education at a pastoral private school; she took multiple languages and was her high school valedictorian. Unlike the hedonistic characters on Euphoria, she never went to a party, opting to study and then be on call for the inevitable 3 a.m. phone call from friends requesting a ride home. Her parents were strict — she recalls having to sneak episodes of the Shailene Woodley-starring ABC Family sitcom The Secret Life of the American Teenager — but she never rebelled. To this day, her drink of choice is water, and over breakfast she tells me she’s never even tried coffee. “If I’m celebrating, or it’s a very rare occasion, I’ll have a Shirley Temple,” she says.
Money was limited at home — financial aid helped pay for private school and college — but never an urgent problem until the family moved to L.A. when Sweeney was 13 to facilitate her acting dreams. She can’t pinpoint where or when that itch started, describing it more as an emerging “idea in my head, a goal, of who I wanted to become.” Sweeney’s parents gave up their house and life in Spokane, but the extreme cost of L.A. living priced them out of the real estate market and into a motel: “We lived in one room. My mom and I shared a bed and my dad and little brother shared a couch.” Sweeney was relatively unaware of their financial hardships until her parents’ relationship started falling apart, a combination she says of losing their home and savings and the strain of the disapproval of their life moves by family and friends back in Washington. She kept auditioning throughout her teens, taking “really shitty projects” for little pay (sometimes $100 a day), hoping it would be enough to keep her parents’ faith and maybe even make the family whole again. “I thought that if I made enough money, I’d be able to buy my parents’ house back and that I’d be able to put my parents back together,” she says. “But when I turned 18, I only had $800 to my name. My parents weren’t back together and there was nothing I could do to help.”
Sydney Sweeney was photographed July 15 at 1896 Studios and Stages in Brooklyn. Styling by Molly Dickson Gucci look with hat, Fred Leighton jewelry, Christian Siriano skirt (hanging).
****
Sweeney says that SharpObjects, Marti Noxon’s 2018 HBO miniseries based on the novel of the same name, was her first truly successful audition. She read with the director, the late Jean-Marc Vallée, and it felt “amazing.” She booked a role as Alice, a patient at a mental health facility whose death haunts star Amy Adams. It would be her first of several dramas on the premium cable network as well as the first of many jobs alongside established actresses, including Elisabeth Moss on The Handmaid’s Tale. Sweeney remembers Adams for her advice about balancing a successful acting career and her desire to have a family — in March, reports surfaced that Sweeney was engaged to restaurateur Jonathan Davino after she was photographed with an engagement ring; she declines to comment on her relationship status and doesn’t wear a ring to the interview. “I want to have a family, I’ve always wanted to be a young mom, and I’m worried about how this industry puts stigmas on young women who have children and looks at them in a different light,” she says. “I was worried that, if I don’t work, there is no money and no support for kids I would have.”
Adams assured her it could be done, but the insecurities over her financial health and the momentum of her career remain years later. There’s no longer a pressure to say yes to every offer, and she’s learned not only to negotiate her salary but to revel in the process of standing up for herself, yet she’s filling her schedule with as many movies and series as she can pack in. “If I wanted to take a six-month break, I don’t have income to cover that,” she says. “I don’t have someone supporting me, I don’t have anyone I can turn to, to pay my bills or call for help.” Surely HBO paychecks afford a lifestyle immune from rising gas prices? “They don’t pay actors like they used to, and with streamers, you no longer get residuals,” Sweeney notes. “The established stars still get paid, but I have to give 5 percent to my lawyer, 10 percent to my agents, 3 percent or something like that to my business manager. I have to pay my publicist every month, and that’s more than my mortgage.” It’s not that she wants people to feel badly for her, but she is adamant that the luxuries of the job not gloss over the realities of the business. To stay relevant as a young actress, particularly one so deeply entrenched in and reliant on the internet generation, requires investment. There’s a lot of press to do, and the associated costs — styling, tailoring, hair and makeup, travel — aren’t always covered by a network. She says this is what motivated her pivot into brand deals, taking gigs as a Miu Miu ambassador and starring in an Armani beauty campaign: “If I just acted, I wouldn’t be able to afford my life in L.A. I take deals because I have to.”
After five years of constant work, she was able to buy a home in Los Angeles — something that’s still deeply out of reach for many of the city’s residents — and almost instantaneously the location leaked onto real estate blogs. She was scrolling through TikTok one day and discovered a trend in which college students (the house is near one of the city’s universities) drive past her front door and try to get a picture. Paparazzi have been camped out, ignoring personal pleas from her mother to pack up and leave. I mention the Kardashians, ensconced in their gated communities far outside the city, and she deadpans that she maxed out with this home purchase; there’s nothing left for a gate. “I couldn’t believe I was even able to buy a house,” she says. “I want to be able to stay there.”
Sydney Sweeney was photographed July 15 at 1896 Studios and Stages in Brooklyn. Fendi look with shoes, Fred Leighton jewelry, Piers Atkinson headpiece.
***
“The first time I saw her transform into this petulant child [on The White Lotus], I was shocked,” says Britton. “But she’s also so funny. We were exploring these vitriolic relationships while we had the time of our lives.” In the audition process, White was taken by Sweeney’s decision to play Olivia Mossbacher with an air of intimidation rather than the straightly funny approach other actresses took. “And then she’s obviously nothing like that as a person, so that all felt really exciting,” he says. “She’s very likable and charming, but then you put her in front of a camera and — I don’t want to sound like some Old Hollywood freak — but she has these powers. Certain actors have a certain kind of magic, and she is definitely one of them.”
Due to network scheduling, The Handmaid’s Tale made it to air before Sharp Objects, marking it as her onscreen introduction for many viewers. She played Eden, a teenaged handmaid assigned to an arranged marriage with Max Minghella’s Nick in the second season. It was a supporting but impactful role. It became the first time she was recognized in public with frequency, often by women who felt compelled to tell her they hate her character: “I think most people wanted Elisabeth’s [Moss] and Max’s characters to be together, and Eden disrupted that.”
Sweeney in The Handmaid’s Tale as Nick’s young wife, Eden, the role that first got her noticed in public, often by women who’d tell her how much they hated her character.
Handmaid’s Tale was nominated for 20 Emmys that year, with the entire cast in attendance. This year’s telecast, which NBC is set to air Sept. 12, Sweeney’s 25th birthday, will mark her return. Zendaya was the only Euphoria castmember to receive a nod, for the show’s first season, and Sweeney says her own nom came as a surprise: “Of course I was hoping for Euphoria because I’m so proud of my character and I put a lot into it, but I didn’t think I was going to get it because of the other actresses who gave such incredible performances this year.”
Francesca Orsi, head of drama and executive vp programming at HBO, calls the double nomination a thrilling moment for the network: “Sydney has an incredible ability to create unforgettable, breakout performances, and with Cassie and Olivia, she brought such versatility to her portrayal of these two very different young women.”
The show’s second season, for which she is nominated, focuses on the burgeoning addiction of Zendaya’s Rue while also pitting Maddie (Alexa Demie) against Cassie as Sweeney’s character self-destructs with her best friend’s ex-boyfriend (Jacob Elordi’s Nate). Sam Levinson, who has near total creative control over the show (he’s the creator, director and sole staff writer), called Sweeney during the hiatus between the first and second seasons. “He read me that first scene where Cassie and Nate go into the bathroom,” she says of the ill-fated couple’s first secret hookup. “And I was like, ‘Oh my God, Sam, you’re a madman.’ ” The plot twist paid off, spurring one of the constantly memed series’ most viral images (of Cassie hiding in the bathtub, face struck with fear) and laying the groundwork for her eventual snot-ridden breakdown monologue (“I have never, ever been happier!”) that felt like the star’s clear Emmy submission. “I feel really bad for Cassie; she’s losing herself so much,” Sweeney says of her character. “But I thrive doing that shit. People talk about how heavy this season is, but I love it.”
Sydney Sweeney was photographed July 15 at 1896 Studios and Stages in Brooklyn. Area headpiece.
There also have been reports about the way Levinson handles the making of the show: Guest stars like Minka Kelly have given interviews about initial drafts of scripts they felt were overly sexual, there were rumors of actress Barbie Ferreira feuding with the creator, and HBO was forced to issue a statement in response to concerns over long working hours, saying the set was in “full compliance with all safety guidelines and guild protocols.” Levinson declined to participate in this story, and Sweeney declines to discuss this element of the show in much detail, noting, “I fully trust in the filmmakers that I work with, and I’m always so excited for whatever Sam writes.” She adds that she forgets a lot of the minutiae of her shows and what it’s like behind the scenes: “It’s as if it’s someone else’s life.” This could be an evasion, but at the photo shoot a few hours after our breakfast, I see her lose herself so completely, I’m almost willing to buy it. When the cameras click on, Sweeney gets so laser focused, it’s almost like she’s dissociating. She tells me that, in photo shoots and on red carpets, she’ll even create a persona for herself, a way to calm her nerves and add a layer of armor between who she really is and who the job requires her to be. (The version you see in the cover photo is “Daphne.”)
“People forget that I’m playing a character, they think, ‘Oh, she gets naked onscreen, she’s a sex symbol,’ ” she says, referring to her many nude scenes in Euphoria. “And I can’t get past that. I have no problems with those scenes, and I won’t stop doing them, but I wish there was an easier way to have an open conversation about what we’re assuming about actors in the industry.”
Left: Sweeney (with Brittany O’Grady, right) in HBO’s The White Lotus. Right: The actress on the cable network’s Euphoria. She received Emmy nominations for both shows.
She’s trying to put a bit of that power back into her own hands with the launch of her production company, Fifty-Fifty Films. The first project on the slate is an adaptation of Jessica Goodman’s 2020 YA novel They Wish They Were Us; it’s set as a limited series at HBO Max under the new title The Player’s Table. It’s a murder mystery that takes place at an elite East Coast private school, and Goodman describes it as a story about a young woman (Sweeney) grappling with class dynamics and sexual politics and trying to find agency in her life. “When we met, it was immediately obvious to me that Sydney was very savvy, that she was very self-aware about the way she is viewed in the world and that she wanted to take charge of her own career,” says Goodman. “People underestimate young women in all industries, but especially in media and entertainment. She is such a force and really knows how to get things done in a way that might surprise people who only watch her on TV.”
As Sweeney starts to transition into the next phase of her career, she’s thinking a lot about her professional values. One of the most disconcerting things she’s noticed about the industry is the way it fails to facilitate loyalty — whether to yourself and your beliefs or to the people around you. “It’s built to try to make you backstab people,” she says. “It’s insane. My agent is my best teammate, and I’ll have her forever.” But, she adds, “I see how people are like, ‘We support each other’ — and I’m like, ‘No. You fucking don’t.’ ” I ask her whether she has people to commiserate with. No. Not the other girls from Euphoria? “We don’t really talk about that kind of stuff,” she says.
While fame has expanded her awareness of the way the world works, it’s having a chilling effect on her personal life. “I can feel my bubble of who I can talk to and share intimate things with and have relationships shrinking, shrinking, shrinking,” she says, explaining that she experiences it as a loss of control. “You’ll write about this and people won’t believe what I say. And that’s really, really hard.”
This story first appeared in the July 27 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
Sydney Sweeney was photographed July 15 at 1896 Studios and Stages in Brooklyn. Area dress, headpiece and necklace, Giuseppe Zanotti boots.
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(CNN)According to Candace Cameron Bure, everything is "all good" between the actress and JoJo Siwa after Siwa pegged her as the "rudest celebrity" she's ever met.
Siwa posted a video on TikTok over the weekend that went viral in which she shared a photo of Bure, but no details about how she was rude.
It had the internet trying to theorize what happened between the former "Dancing With the Stars" contestants that could have caused drama.
"I had no idea where it came from and so I immediately tried to reach out to her through a mutual friend," Cameron Bure said. "My publicist contacted her manager and I DM'd her because I didn't know what happened."
CNN has reached out to Siwa for comment.
She said she was able to speak with Siwa and asked what had happened because as far as Cameron Bure could recall, they had had a "great" time meeting on "The Kelly Clarkson Show."
Cameron Bure said the singer and former "Dance Moms" star was at first hesitant to tell her why she felt slighted by Cameron Bure since she was just participating in a TikTok trend and "didn't think it was a big deal."
But the "Fuller House" star said they kept talking.
"She said, 'I met you at the Fuller House premiere when I was 11 years old, and we were all on the red carpet. I had come up to you and said, "Can I have a picture with you?" and you said to me, "Not right now." And then proceeded to do what you were doing and take pictures with other people on the red carpet,'" Cameron Bure recalled Siwa explaining.
She said the now 19-year-old Siwa told her, "You weren't even mean and I get it now, as an adult, when you're on the red carpet and everything's happening and you're being pulled in different directions, but at that time I was 11."
"I kind of broke your 11-year-old heart, I didn't take a picture with you!" Cameron Bure said, adding, "I feel crummy. JoJo, I'm so sorry!"
Cameron Bure said it's now "all good on the JoJo front."
And she learned from it.
"I think that the lesson we can learn is to be mindful of no matter how many followers you have, even a 10 second trending TikTok video can do damage," Cameron Bure said. "Because our words matter and our actions matter and whether you have 50 million followers or 500 followers or five followers, we all influence the people around us."
Top Chef vet Howard “Howie” Kleinberg, who finished in seventh place in the Bravo competition series’ Miami-set third season, died last week of a heart attack. He was 46.
“The Top Chef family is saddened to learn about the unexpected passing of Howard Kleinberg from Season 3,” Bravo said in a statement posted on Twitter late Tuesday. “Howie’s passion for cooking filled so many and our deepest sympathy goes out to his family and friends.”
Kleinberg made a name for himself on the Miami restaurant scene, opening several eateries, including Bulldog Barbecue, following his Top Chef run.
“I am just finding out how many lives he touched,” Kleinberg’s mother, Susan, told the Miami Herald. “He was married to his passion in life, which was his cooking.”
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Zoey Stark is back! The former NXT women's tag team champion was put on the shelf by Toxic Attraction and returned to take a new shot at the group. She is the new No. 1 contender for the NXT Women's Championship, held by Mandy Rose.
The July 26 edition of WWE NXT 2.0 opened with Stark speaking on her recovery and vision for her future.
The D'Angelo Family took a major shot at Diamond Mine, laying out The Creed Brothers while Roderick Strong and Damon Kemp fought. Tony D'Angelo gladly accepted an eight-man tag team match challenge to showcase his group's dominance.
Xyon Quinn has gladly ruined Apollo Crews' NXT return, costing him a match against Giovanni Vinci. Crews wanted revenge in a bout. Vinci would also compete on the night, facing Andre Chase.
Wes Lee looked to get his own revenge, fighting Grayson Waller while building momentum for a rematch against Trick Williams. Indi Hartwell hoped to turn around recent bad luck against Arianna Grace.
Tuesday's show had a chance to surprise many by highlighting much of the best talent in NXT 2.0 in and outside the ring.
1 of 8
Zoey Stark showed her appreciation to the fans for accepting her back after her injury.
Cora Jade interrupted on the stage followed by Toxic Attraction from the ramp. Stark challenged Mandy Rose to a title match, but instead Gigi Dolin agreed to fight her later.
Jade's involvement was unnecessary in this segment beyond keeping her on television. We may get Stark vs. Jade down the line, but the focus of the night was Stark calling out the women who injured her.
While Stark is not the most polished mic worker, she is passionate, which goes a long way. She told the story of her injury and road to recovery before explaining why she needed to dethrone the NXT women's champion. She sold the match for any time in the near future.
Grade
B
Notable Moments
Stark advised that she was given a timetable of longer than one year to return from surgery. She returned after eight months.
She called out Jade for throwing away the NXT women's tag team championship, putting over how much that title meant to her.
McKenzie Mitchell interviewed The Schism during which Joe Gacy promised he could be Cameron Grimes' new father figure.
2 of 8
Grayson Waller dominated the action against Wes Lee. When Lee finally found his opening, Trick Williams cheap-shot him from the crowd, setting up Waller for a return rolling cutter that sealed the win for the loudmouth.
Beyond the cheap finish, this was a really good back-and-forth contest. Waller continues to show off a varied and smooth move set, while Lee has always performed at a high level. These two are professionals on a brand that desperately needs them.
Lee vs. Trick is not the most exciting feud, but it has helped solidify the latter as more than just a lackey to Carmelo Hayes. It could well be the first step in separating the two.
Waller picked up another win that could lead him to challenging for the NXT Championship.
Result
Waller def. Lee by pinfall.
Grade
B+
Notable Moments
Before walking out, Waller put himself over as better than Lee and everyone watching.
Lee tried to turn around the action but jumped right onto the shoulders of Waller, who lifted him into an impact powerbomb.
Waller knocked Lee clean off the top rope to the floor where Trick punched him in the back, nearly causing a count-out.
3 of 8
Xyon Quinn tried to keep firm control of the match, but once Apollo Crews got a foothold, he never let up. He planted Quinn with a single-arm powerbomb for the win.
While this match got time, it wasn't overly exciting. Despite weeks of buildup, it never once felt like Quinn had a chance. The finish was flat, not landing hard enough to feel like a proper end to the contest.
Both men are talented, but their ability to tell a story in the ring was in question here. Crews has the experience and talent to do more, while Quinn has shown serious potential that NXT 2.0 is not all that interested in unlocking.
Result
Crews def. Quinn by pinfall.
Grade
D+
Notable Moments
Quinn planted Crews with a spinning fireman's carry slam and then went for his running forearm but took an enzuigiri that turned the momentum of the match.
Wendy Choo woke up from a dream of her Battle Royal loss and promised to make Tiffany Stratton's life worse.
Kiana James presented a PowerPoint presentation on Nikkita Lyons being the main problem in the NXT women's division.
4 of 8
Gigi Dolin barely challenged Zoey Stark. Once the No. 1 contender got going, she planted Dolin with a belly-to-back GTS to win.
Afterward, Cora Jade attacked Stark, but Roxanne Perez returned to send her running.
Despite being out eight months, Stark looked smoother than ever in the ring. The action was short but tight, not wasting a second throughout this surprisingly one-sided affair.
It is a shame this was a complete squash, but the point was to push Stark. She came off as a true top name, wiping out a former tag team champion and rival in minutes.
Perez's return was somewhat anticlimactic. It came off unnecessarily rushed. However, this allowed NXT to quickly announce the future of the NXT Women's Tag Team Championships.
Result
Stark def. Dolin by pinfall.
Grade
C
Notable Moments
It was announced that Rose would face Stark at NXT Heatwave on August 16. Sarray confronted the NXT women's champion, setting up a match between them next week.
Perez announced alongside Alundra Blayze that she was relinquishing the NXT Women's Tag Team Championships, and a Fatal 4-Way next week would crown the new titleholders next week.
Solo Sikoa challenged Von Wagner to a Falls Count Anywhere match for next week. Wagner gladly accepted despite Robert Stone's warning.
5 of 8
JD McDonagh appeared in the crowd where he gave health tips to the fans. He then greeted everyone at ringside. Finally, he called out Bron Breakker.
The NXT champion challenged McDonagh to a match at NXT Heatwave before headbutting him.
While McDonagh ended the segment sitting on the mat, this was a surprisingly smart segment. He showcased his intelligence by going over the many ways he can break a man with only limited force.
Even when Breakker knocked him down, he laughed in the face of the champion. The size difference between these two barely feels like a factor at this point, as the challenger has explained exactly how he will beat the bigger man.
Grade
B
Notable Moments
McDonagh threatened to break Vic Joseph's collarbone by applying pressure.
Breakker busted McDonagh's lip with a headbutt, causing the challenger to laugh.
6 of 8
Andre Chase made Giovanni Vinci pay for his cockiness, nearly taking the win at multiple moments.
Vinci finally put him away with a straitjacket powerbomb. Nathan Frazer stopped Vinci from attacking The Professor afterward.
This was the match of the night and came from an unlikely source. While Vinci is a great wrestler, he also had to bring out a different energy from Chase. This was worked like a main event and made the most of the time it got.
Vinci needed to win here, but he gave more than expected to The Professor. This was proof of the value both men bring to NXT and why they deserve a larger spotlight.
If any match on this show was helped by the new creative regime, it was this one.
Result
Vinci def. Chase by pinfall.
Grade
A
Notable Moments
Before the match, Frazer found Chase U backstage and asked for the opportunity to represent them as flag bearer.
Vinci dominated until he decided to break the Chase U flag over his shoulder, setting off Chase, who knocked him clean out of the ring.
Chase planted Vinci with an atomic drop, spinebuster, a series of boots and a side slam that nearly won it.
Vinci caught Chase jumping with a delayed vertical suplex then Chase responded with a double underhook powerbomb.
NXT showed a comic book-style video package for Axiom, celebrating his first win.
7 of 8
Arianna Grace tried to prove herself, but she had no idea how to take the win. Indi Hartwell knocked her out with a big boot to seal the victory instead.
This was a complete squash as expected. Grace is still learning, so there was not much action here that left an impact.
Hartwell got a valuable win. It was an inoffensive segment to hopefully push Indi Wrestling down the right path.
Result
Hartwell def. Grace by pinfall.
Grade
D
Notable Moments
Backstage, before the show, Grace questioned why Hartwell cheap-shot her in the Battle Royal and promised to get away from her negativity.
Sanga talked up Valentina Feroz and Yulisa Leon for their tag title shot next week.
Katana Chance and Kayden Carter got into an argument with Ivy Nile and Tatum Paxley, and Elektra Lopez got involved to fuel the fire, causing a brawl to break out.
In pre-taped interviews, Lash Legend and Alba Fyre warned one another about what would happen when they fought again.
8 of 8
Tony D'Angelo made sure Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde and Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo isolated the least experienced member Damon Kemp. Finally, he got the hot tag to Julius Creed. He changed the momentum of the match.
Brutus Creed took a High-Low from Wilde and Del Toro, leaving Roderick Strong and Julius to fight the four. Strong accidentally kneed Julius in the face, allowing The Don to win with the Fuggedaboutit.
This was a surprisingly distraction-free clash of talent. The two stables battled to the most logical result. If anything, it felt too short. While The Family is growing more comfortable together, Diamond Mine is falling apart, so there was no reason to mess up that dynamic.
Julius looked good throughout and even before the match. He has been built up as the new leader of the group, which likely means Strong will fight him for control of Diamond Mine soon.
Result
The D'Angelo Family def. Diamond Mine by pinfall.
Grade
B
Notable Moments
Backstage, D'Angelo reminded his family that they needed to stay focused for the battle with Diamond Mine. Diamond Mine got along as they prepared for the match.
Del Toro and Wilde wore attire matching D'Angelo and Stacks to show solidarity.
The contest started slow, but a whole brawl broke out before long, ending with The Don retreating only to get a Brutus Bomb.
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