Jurors have found Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, guilty of first-degree murder for orchestrating the death of rap legend Tupac Shakur.

The verdict was reached Monday after the roughly two-week trial came to a close three decades after the music icon’s drive-by shooting death in Las Vegas. The decision was read after only hours of deliberations.

The decision comes after weeks of testimony that largely focused on past interviews and other comments about the killing from Davis, a former gang member who is the only person to ever face criminal charges in the 1996 shooting.

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Jurors began deliberations Monday afternoon to consider the case against Davis, who faces one count of murder with a deadly weapon with gang enhancements. The panel of 10 women and six men heard from two dozen witnesses for the prosecution and three for the defense.

During the delivery of jury instructions Monday, the judge noted that Davis was accused in an indictment alleging an open charge of murder. The charge could have included first- or second-degree murder, a decision that was left to the jury.

Now convicted, Davis faces up to life in prison.

Davis isn’t accused of firing the gunshots that killed Shakur at age 25, but prosecutors have portrayed him as a shot-caller who orchestrated the attack as retribution for a casino lobby brawl earlier on the night of Sept. 7, 1996, that involved Shakur, his entourage and Davis’ nephew.

Much of the prosecution’s case focused on the defendant’s own words about the Las Vegas shooting that stunned the hip-hop world. The case remained unsolved for decades before Davis’ public interviews and 2019 memoir helped revive scrutiny of the killing.

“Under California and Nevada law, if you are the shot-caller, if you hand the gun to somebody, even if you didn’t pull the trigger, it’s all the same,” said NBC4 legal analyst Royal Oakes.

Prosecutors revisited those recordings during closing arguments, claiming the case is “drenched in circumstantial evidence.” Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors that Davis acquired a gun and “went hunting” for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight.

Palal acknowledged Davis’ account changed over the years, but insisted a key element remained the same — Davis placing himself in the Cadillac.

Palal also told jurors the drive-by shooting was planned, suggesting premeditation warranting a conviction on a first-degree murder charge. He pointed to testimony and Davis’ accounts that the group initially searched for Shakur before later spotting him on the road and making a U-turn near the Strip.

“It’s a plan, not an impulse,” Palal said.

Prosecutors also played short clips of Davis’ YouTube interviews, during which he implored viewers to buy his book for what he referred to as “the real truth.” In one clip, Davis shared harsh words about Shakur and the attack at the MGM Grand.

Shakur, who was in Las Vegas for a heavyweight fight between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand, was riding in a BMW when a white Cadillac pulled up next to it at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip and gunfire erupted. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later. The driver of the BMW, Knight, survived.

In a 2008 police interview played for jurors, Davis said he provided the gun and his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, opened fire. The other men in the Cadillac have since died, limiting eyewitness testimony.

“Let’s be clear, Duane Davis did not pull the trigger. But he did plan the shooting in retaliation of the beating of his nephew,” Palal told jurors during opening statements. “Remarkably, you will learn that from Duane Davis himself.

“Now, 30 years later, we’re going to ask you to finally hold Duane Davis accountable.” 

Davis’ attorneys have disputed the statements and fought unsuccessfully to get them excluded. Attorney Michael Sanft told jurors his client’s words did not represent the truth.

During the defense’s closing argument, attorney Michael Sanft described his client’s words as braggadocio meant to make money, not the truth. He pointed to a lack of physical evidence placing Davis in the Cadillac with the shooter.

Davis wasn’t previously charged because law enforcement knew that he was “full of crap,” Sanft said earlier in the trial.

But prosecutors attempted to portray Davis as an influential gang member. Among the final prosecution witnesses to testify was a former Compton gang detective who characterized Davis as a high-ranking “shot caller.”

Davis’ ultimate authority meant younger gang members would not have opened fire on Shakur with Davis present unless he allowed it, said Robert Ladd, a former Compton police officer who investigated gang homicides in the southern Los Angeles County community.

Davis did not testify.

“Very smart move for him not to testify because in this situation the prosecution was unable to come up with any corroborating evidence of his guilt,” Oakes said. “They can’t really establish, really, that he was in Las Vegas, much less that he was in that car.

“Now, he confessed all that in his memoir, to the police in 08 and 09, podcast interviews, but is that going to be enough,” Oakes said. “Critically, there were inconsistencies in the stories he told that allowed the defense to argue he was just makin it up, he wanted street cred.”

The shooting marked a flashpoint in a dispute with roots in the long-running feud between the Mob Piru Bloods, a gang Knight and Shakur were affiliated with, and the South Side Compton Crips, for whom Davis was a prominent leader. Ladd testified that Shakur’s shooting triggered a 10-day war in Compton between the South Side Crips and Mob Piru, resulting in three killings and 10 attempted murders.

Other witnesses called by the prosecution included former law enforcement officers, including the first to respond to the scene of the shooting; the man who snapped what is believed to be the last photo of Shakur before the shooting; and a former Mob Piru member who helped Knight with security.

Shakur remains a cultural icon and is considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time. He was nominated for six Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

After his death, Shakur and his influence lived on. He received a posthumous star in 2023 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a street named after him in Oakland, and will be a character in the upcoming video adventure game “Stranger than Heaven.”

Parton, a Tennessee native, died on Tuesday, Aug. 25 after a brief battle with cancer. She was 80.

“I’d be remiss if I didn’t also talk about the passing of Dolly Parton,” Heupel said Monday. “All that she’s meant across the world, this country, and certainly, the queen of East Tennessee — a lady that was extremely proud of her roots.”

The iconic singer grew up in Sevierville, roughly 30 miles east of Knoxville, where the University of Tennessee is located.

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“You look at (Dolly’s) impact, you know, just her ability to give back, make an impact to people, certainly here in East Tennessee. She means a lot to people across this country,” Heupel said. “We’ll be wearing a sticker patch on the back of our helmet to recognize her accomplishments and everything that she’s meant.”

Parton often spoke about her upbringing as one of 12 children in what she described as a “dirt poor” family. Inspired by her youth, Parton led several initiatives to give back to her hometown, including her nonprofit Imagination Library, which provides children with access to free books.

The sticker, in the Volunteers’ signature orange, features a butterfly similar to the one in the Dollywood logo, with “Dolly” written in white at the center.

Tennessee, ranked No. 20 in the AP Top 25 preseason poll, hosts Furman in its season-opener on Saturday.

According to a press release, the festival was originally scheduled to take place in January 2026 — around her 80th birthday — and was going to feature Parton as a performer and host. Now, it will serve as a celebration of her legacy.

“We had the venue booked and we had the announcement ready to go. And then, in August 2025, Dolly had to take a step back after her initial health challenges. A lot of people always say, WWDD (What Would Dolly Do?), and, well, at this moment, Dollyfest is WDWD (What Dolly Would Do!),” organizer Danny Nozell, founder and CEO of CTK Enterprises, said in a statement.

“We are not discouraging people from celebrating Dolly in the ways they choose. However, as far as a traditional memorial goes, that is not something Dolly wanted,” he continued. “So, instead, it feels more appropriate for us to take a beat, let all the tributes that immediately make sense occur naturally, and then, see through this festival-style concept that was truly dreamed up by Dolly.”

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There was a private service for Parton on Friday attended only by immediate family, The Associated Press has confirmed. There will not be a public ceremony, per Parton’s wishes.

Parton’s great-niece, Lainey Parton, posted a tribute on Instagram on Saturday, writing in the caption: “This is a really hard post for me to make. I wanted to wait until after my granny was laid to rest yesterday before I tried to put any of this into words. From the time I was little, my granny always had a way of making me feel like I was enough. She never made my dreams feel too big or made me feel like I couldn’t do something. She believed in me before I even knew how to believe in myself.”

Ticket information and dates for Dollyfest are forthcoming. Fans can sign up to receive additional details at www.dollyparton.com.

The museum said Monday that the exhibit, which had been planned as the May 2027 spring Costume Institute show launching the annual Met Gala, will be replaced by another show to be announced later.

“Following thoughtful discussions with John Galliano, we have together decided not to proceed with the exhibition,” Max Hollein, director and CEO of the museum, announced in a statement.

The designer joined in the statement, saying: “After much reflection and discussion with The Met and all those involved, I have decided, with great sadness, that it is best for the exhibition not to take place at this time. I remain fully accountable for the pain caused by my words in the past, particularly the hurt I caused to the Jewish and Asian communities, and I remain deeply sorry for it.”

Galliano, long recognized as one of the fashion world’s biggest talents for his flamboyant designs, was at the pinnacle of that world for years as creative director of Christian Dior. He was fired from the post when a series of racist and antisemitic comments from 2010 and 2011 surfaced and went viral, leading to his conviction in an antisemitism trial in France.

Dropped by Dior, Galliano spent several years involved in public and private efforts to rehabilitate. He made a comeback in 2014 when he was hired by Paris fashion house Maison Margiela, where he remained for a decade.

He was to become only the third living designer to be the subject of a solo show at the Met’s Costume Institute.

The spring is launched by the annual Met Gala, the most visible event on the fashion calendar. The gala is overseen by Anna Wintour, Vogue’s global editorial director and one of the most influential figures in global fashion. Wintour has been a longtime friend and supporter of Galliano.

The museum had held discussions with Jewish community leaders before announcing the show, hoping to ward off anticipated backlash. But the anger only increased. One of the key critics of the planned show was New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who issued a statement Monday praising the decision to cancel.

“After my numerous and lengthy meetings and conversations with The Met, I am pleased that they have agreed to not honor John Galliano,” Menin said. “From the beginning, I have told them that I strongly disagreed with this decision, and at this rising time of antisemitism, it had served as a gut punch to the Jewish community. This is the correct decision, as the harm and pain this was causing was simply unacceptable.”

The singer and TikTok star known as D4vd pleaded not guilty Monday and was appointed a new attorney at his arraignment on murder and other charges in the death of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

D4vd, whose real name is David Burke, was assigned a new attorney from the public defender’s office during the hearing in a Los Angeles courtroom. His now-former attorney, Blair Berk, told the judge during the brief hearing that her team wishes to step down as counsel.

The judge asked Burke whether that was his wish, to which he replied, “Yes.”

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Burke had already entered a plea of not guilty to charges in a criminal complaint against him. Monday’s plea was to evidence presented at the July preliminary hearing.

His former legal team issued a statement Monday about the change of counsel.

“This morning the court granted out request to withdraw as counsel and appoint the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office after it was determined that David qualified for appointed counsel,” the attorneys said in a joint statement. “We continue to support David and his defense against these serious charges. We are grateful that the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office has taken over the representation and that David has a highly capable and committed team of attorneys and investigators behind him.”

Deputy Public Defender Walid Kandeel was appointed to represent Burke.

“The Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office has been appointed to represent David Burke,” Kandeel said. “We recognize the loss of life underlying the allegations and extend our sympathies to those who are grieving. At the same time, David Burke is entitled to a defense that takes his circumstances seriously and carefully examines the evidence. We are committed to providing him with that defense.

The next proceeding in the case is a status conference on Oct. 19. A trial would be held within 90 days of that date.

“As soon as the defense is ready to proceed, the DA’s office will proceed,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman.

Burke was arrested April 16 in the months-long investigation that began after decomposing remains were discovered in September 2025 inside the storage area of his abandoned Tesla. The car was impounded after it had been parked for an extended period in a Hollywood Hills neighborhood not far from a rental property where Burke had been living.

Police said Celeste’s death likely occurred in the spring of last year. The medical examiner’s office said the cause of death was multiple penetrating injuries caused by and object or objects, which indicates a stabbing.

Burke was charged April 20 with first-degree murder, including special circumstances allegations that can increase sentencing penalties. He also faces one count each of continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains.

Celeste, who disappeared in the Lake Elsinore area in 2024, was identified through forensics. She had been last seen April 5, 2024, in the western Riverside County community.

Burke was ordered to stand trial after a five-day hearing in July when a significant amount of evidence was presented in the case. Disturbing photos, details from forensics investigators and text messages, some from the night authorities said they believe Celeste was killed, were shown by prosecutors.

At a news conference after the judge’s ruling, Hochman said prosecutors methodically presented evidence that included a detailed yearslong timeline of interactions between Burke and Celeste at ages 12, 13 and 14.

Text exchanges were presented at the July hearing, including several from April 22 and 23, 2025, the date prosecutors said they believe Celeste was killed. They included messages in which Celeste threatened to end D4vd’s lucrative music career and the two argued over Burke’s relationship with another girl or woman.

The text messages indicated Burke called for a ride-share pickup on the night of April 23, 2025, at Celeste’s family home in Lake Elsinore to his Hollywood Hills residence.

At 10:10 p.m., Burke texted that the front door was open, according to the messages presented in court. At 10:31 p.m., he texted again to ask for an update on her location. The detective testified that Celeste’s death was likely within that 21-minute window between texts.

Burke’s phone and the Tesla left the residence around 11:30 p.m. and all communication between his phone and Celeste’s stopped after April 26, the detective said.

When questioning the detective, defense attorney Blair Berk — who is no longer his counsel after Monday’s hearing — argued that the text messages suggest it was Celeste who demanded to see him that night after he initially resisted.

She emphasized that the girl’s friends, family and other were aware of the relationship. Monday’s evidence included a notarized child consent form that revealed Celeste’s parents allow her to visit London with Burke in 2024.

Celeste’s decomposed body was found Sept. 8, 2025, after workers at Hollywood Tow reported a strong odor coming from the Tesla registered to the singer. Officers opened the front trunk, also known as a frunk, and found the remains in two cadaver bags.

They were found a day after what would have been Celeste’s 15th birthday.

Burke faces several special circumstances allegations, which can increase penalties at sentencing, including lying in wait, murder for financial gain, murdering a witnesses in an investigation and an allegation that Burke personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a sharp instrument, to commit the crime, Hochman said.

The financial gain allegation stemmed from the singer’s music career, which was being threatened by his alleged sexual relationship with the underage girl, Hochman said. Celeste was considered the key witness in that investigation, warranting the allegation of murdering a witness, he said.

Prosecutors told a judge at a hearing in mid-April that devices belonging to Burke contained a “significant amount” of child pornography.

Hochman said possible sentences, if Burke is convicted as charged, include life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. A decision will be made at a later date.

The “Romantic Homicide” singer’s world tour was in Minneapolis at the time of the discovery with a stop in Kansas City the next day. A representative told NBCLA at the time that D4vd was cooperating with authorities in their investigation.

D4vd is a singer-songwriter who rose to fame with viral hits on TikTok, where he has 3.8 million followers. That success led to signings with Darkroom and Interscope Records.

Born in Queens, New York, Burke moved to Texas in his early teens and gained a following on YouTube playing Fortnite and other online games. He started creating original music, some of which went viral on TikTok.

D4vd released his debut album “Withered” in April 2025 and embarked on a world tour.

In an interview on the “Zach Sang Show,” D4vd said the 4 substituted for the a in his name was for search-engine optimization and a representation of four cinematic universes with various characters that he was creating.

Closing arguments were delivered Monday in the Tupac Shakur murder trial after weeks of testimony that largely focused on past interviews and other comments about the killing from the only person to ever face criminal charges in the rap icon’s 1996 shooting death in Las Vegas.

After prosecutors and defense attorney made their final statements, juror began deliberations Monday afternoon in the case of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 63, who faces one count of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon with gang enhancements. The former gang leader isn’t accused of firing the gunshots that killed Shakur at age 25, but prosecutors have portrayed him as a shot-caller who orchestrated the attack as retribution for a casino lobby brawl earlier on the night of Sept. 7, 1996 that involved involving Shakur, his entourage and Davis’ nephew.

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The panel of 10 women and six men heard from two dozen witnesses for the prosecution and three for the defense.

During the delivery of jury instructions Monday, the judge noted that Davis is accused in an indictment alleging an open charge of murder. The charge may include first- or second-degree murder, a decision that will be left to the jury if they deliver a conviction.

Much of the prosecution’s case focused on the defendant’s own words about the Las Vegas shooting that stunned the hip-hop world. The case remained unsolved for decades before Davis’ public interviews and 2019 memoir helped revive scrutiny of the killing.

“Under California and Nevada law, if you are the shot-caller, if you hand the gun to somebody, even if you didn’t pull the trigger, it’s all the same,” said NBC4 legal analyst Royal Oakes.

Prosecutors revisited those recordings during closing arguments, claiming the case if “drenched in circumstantial evidence.” Chief Deputy District Attorney Binu Palal told jurors that Davis acquired a gun and “went hunting” for Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight.

Palal acknowledge Davis’ account changed over the years, but insisted a key element remained the same — Davis placing himself in the Cadillac.

Palal also told jurors the drive-by shooting was planned, suggesting premeditation warranting a conviction on a first-degree murder charge. He pointed to testimony and Davis’ accounts that the group initially searched for Shakur before later spotting him on the road and making a U-turn near the Strip.

“It’s a plan, not an impulse,” Palal said.

Prosecutors also played short clips of Davis’ YouTube interviews, during which he implored viewers to buy his book for what he referred to as “the real truth.” In one clip, Davis shared harsh words about Shakur and the attack at the MGM Grand.

Shakur, who in Las Vegas for a heavyweight fight between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand, was riding in a BMW when a white Cadillac pulled up next to it at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip and gunfire erupted. Shakur was shot multiple times and died six days later. The driver of the BMW, Knight, survived.

In a 2008 police interview played for jurors, Davis said he provided the gun and his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, opened fire. The other men in the Cadillac have since died, limiting eyewitness testimony.

“Let’s be clear, Duane Davis did not pull the trigger. But he did plan the shooting in retaliation of the beating of his nephew,” Palal told jurors during opening statements. “Remarkably, you will learn that from Duane Davis himself.

“Now, 30 years later, we’re going to ask you to finally hold Duane Davis accountable,” 

Davis’ attorneys have disputed the statements and fought unsuccessfully to get them excluded. Attorney Michael Sanft told jurors his client’s words did not represent the truth.

During the defense’s closing argument, attorney Michael Sanft described his client’s words as braggadocio meant to make money, not the truth. He pointed to a lack of physical evidence placing Davis in the Cadillac with the shooter.

Davis wasn’t previously charged because law enforcement knew that he was “full of crap,” Sanft said earlier in the trial.

But prosecutors attempted to portray Davis as an influential gang member. Among the final prosecution witnesses to testify was a former Compton gang detective who characterized Davis as a high-ranking “shot caller.”

Davis’ ultimate authority meant younger gang members would not have opened fire on Shakur with Davis present unless he allowed it, said Robert Ladd, a former Compton police officer who investigated gang homicides in the southern Los Angeles County community.

Davis did not testify.

“Very smart move for him not to testify because in this situation the prosecution was unable to come up with any corroborating evidence of his guilt,” Oakes said. “They can’t really establish really that he was in Las Vegas, much less that he was in that car.

“Now, he confessed all that in his memoir, to the police in 08 and 09, podcast interviews, but is that going to be enough,” Oakes said. “Critically, there were inconsistencies in the stories he told that allowed the defense to argue he was just makin it up, he wanted street cred.”

The shooting marked a critical flashpoint in a dispute with roots in the long-running feud between the Mob Piru Bloods, a gang Knight and Shakur were affiliated with, and the South Side Compton Crips, for whom Davis was a prominent leader. Ladd testified that Shakur’s shooting triggered a 10-day war in Compton between the South Side Crips and Mob Piru, resulting in three killings and 10 attempted murders.

Other witnesses called by the prosecution included former law enforcement officers, including the first to respond to the scene of the shooting; the man who snapped what is believed to be the last photo of Shakur before the shooting; and a former Mob Piru member who helped Knight with security.

Shakur remains a cultural icon and is considered one of the most influential and versatile rappers of all time. He was nominated for six Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2017.

After his death, Shakur and his influence lived on. He received a posthumous star in 2023 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a street named after him in Oakland, and will be a character in the upcoming video adventure game “Stranger than Heaven.”

If convicted, Davis faces life in prison.

During a show at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Aug. 29, singer Harry Styles appeared to make a quick quip about his ex Taylor Swift, who married NFL player Travis Kelce at the storied arena in July.

“From the Madison Square Garden, home of the world champion New York Knicks,” Styles says, shown in a video that captured the musician’s comment on stage. “They also do weddings!”

Fans, understandably, went wild as the video captures a roar from the audience shortly after Styles’ comment.

The show was part of Styles’ 30-concert residency at the Garden, entitled the “Together, Together” tour, which kicked off on Aug. 26. He is currently promoting his most recent album, “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally,” which came out in March.

The venue just happens to be the site of the high-profile wedding between Swift and Kelce, which took place over the July 4 weekend and was attended by the likes of Tom Hanks and Jennifer Lopez. Their nuptials, according to a statement from the pair’s representatives sent to NBC News, were officiated by friend and comedian Adam Sandler. Instead of a traditional wedding party, Swift had her brother Austin Swift serve as the “man of honor,” while Kelce’s sibling Jason Kelce served as best man.

But more than a decade before the royal wedding, Swift and Styles, who fans lovingly referred to as “Haylor” at the time, were an item. They dated from late 2012 until early 2013. The two first met at the 2012 Kids Choice Awards. Rumors of their romance began to swirl in November 2012 when Swift was spotted, wearing a paper airplane necklace identical to that of Styles’. The next month, they were photographed walking around New York’s Central Park together.

The romance lasted just a few months with the pair breaking things off in January 2013. However, the two have seemingly stayed cordial over the years. And fans suspect that the relationship was the inspiration behind a few songs off of Swift’s album “1989,” including “Style” and “Is It Over Now?”

Styles is now reportedly engaged to actor Zoë Kravitz, though the couple has not publicly confirmed the news. During the opening night of Styles’ MSG residency, fans spotted Kravitz in the crowd. And the singer was filmed, giving her a thumbs up. 

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This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:

• Dolly Parton Laid To Rest, Niece Shares In Emotional Post: ‘I Love You, Granny. Always’
• Taylor Swift Donates $50K To Mom Who Was Seriously Injured Saving Teens On Roadside
• Dolly Parton Becomes Most Streamed Artist Worldwide The Day After Her Death

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Lainey Parton shared an emotional tribute post on Instagram Saturday, writing: “This is a really hard post for me to make. I wanted to wait until after my granny was laid to rest yesterday before I tried to put any of this into words.”

Parton died Aug. 25 following a brief battle with cancer at age 80. At her request, her social media pages had previously said a small private service would be held for immediate family.

Lainey remembered Parton as a loving and inspiring figure who “believed in me before I even knew how to believe in myself.”

“Because she couldn’t have kids of her own, she always made us feel like we were hers. She loved us that way, and I’ll forever be grateful for that,” she wrote.

Lainey shared a slew of photos from growing up with Parton, some from childhood and others taken on stage with the country star.

Lainey recalled singing with Parton on her 2024 Smoky Mountain DNA album, which included various Parton family members.

“I was a freshman in high school and SO nervous. But she had a way of making me feel like nothing bad could happen. She made me feel safe, confident, and like I belonged right there beside her,” Lainey recalled.

She said the music icon backed her decision to attend beauty school and helped her fund it.

“She didn’t just tell me to chase my dreams, she helped me get there,” she said.

“I’m so thankful I said yes to the opportunities and memories I got to share with her as my Aunt Dolly, including being in a movie with her. I’m so glad I have those moments to look back on now. I have things I can watch, hear, and hold onto when I miss her,” she continued.

While the family — and the world beyond — mourns Parton’s passing, Lainey said she’s holding on to the precious memories she shared with her “granny.”

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“It still doesn’t feel real that she’s gone. I’m going to miss her voice, her laugh, her hugs, and just knowing she was there. I’m even going to miss those 4 AM calls, and I’d give anything to see her name pop up on my phone again,” she said.

“I feel incredibly lucky that I got to call her my granny. Thank you for always believing in me, loving me, and making me feel like I could do anything. I love you, Granny. Always,” she said concluding her post.

The “Jolene” singer hailed from rural Tennessee, born into a large but tight-knit family. She was one of 12 children, and as her own family expanded, Parton maintained an incredibly close relationship with her siblings, nieces and nephews.

Her death sparked widespread mourning and emotional tributes from her fans, Hollywood and the music industry. The 11-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter was more than just an artist, she was an icon that transcended genre and time, a philanthropist focused on children and poverty, and businesswoman.

Parton was preceded in death by her husband of 59 years, Carl Thomas Dean, who died in 2025, and her parents, Avie Lee Caroline Owens and Robert Lee Parton, Sr.

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For the fifth weekend in a row, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” topped the North American box office. It grossed $22.2 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday, bringing its worldwide total to $2.33 billion and making it the fourth highest-grossing film of all time.

“Coyote vs. Acme,” which had been relegated to the dust heap, fared best of the newcomers, debuting in second place.

The Ridley Scott action drama “The Dog Stars,” starring Jacob Elordi, flopped. The film, about a pilot and German Shepherd who survive a global pandemic, opened in fifth place with $8 million for 20th Century Studios. It added $11.3 million overseas, a poor result for a film that cost between $70 million and $100 million to make.

“Coyote vs. Acme,” however, scored a decent, hard-earned opening. In 2023, Warner Bros. canceled any release of the completed film, preferring to take a tax write off on a movie originally produced for its streaming service, HBO Max. Warner also shelved “Batgirl” and “Scoob! Holiday Haunt,” both of which remain unreleased.

“Coyote vs. Acme,” based on an Ian Frazier “Shouts and Murmurs” New Yorker column, is about Wile E. Coyote suing the Acme Corporation for its faulty products. It stars Will Forte, John Cena, Lana Condor and Eric Bauza.

The film, a hybrid of live-action and animation directed by Dave Green, cost $70 million to make. But despite good test screening scores, Warner Bros. opted to ax the completed film. After an outcry, the studio put the film up for sale. Early last year, Ketchup Entertainment acquired worldwide distribution rights for about $50 million.

For the makers of the film, just getting released was a victory.

“‘Coyote vs. Acme’ is finally, gloriously, in theaters now,” Green said on social media Friday. “Which means one thing. WE WON.”

Reviews and audience scores were also good. Moviegoers gave it an “A” CinemaScore. Critics were just as enthusiastic. On Rotten Tomatoes, it rated 95% fresh.

While the result might have counted as a disappointment for some $70 million movies, the opening weekend for “Coyote vs. Acme” was the best ever for Ketchup. The indie distributor’s previous high was 2024’s “The Day the Earth Blew Up” (a $3.1 million opening), another Warner-made Looney Tunes castoff.

“The box office numbers are fair, but the reception is excellent and the release should set up good ancillary business for kids’ viewing, where the film should recoup its investment,” said David A. Gross, who publishes the box office newsletter FranchiseRe.

“The Odyssey,” in its seventh weekend, slid to third place with $14.3 million. It remains unusually strong overseas, where the Christopher Nolan movie grossed $48.6 million over the weekend. Altogether, the Universal Pictures release has collected $1.55 billion in global sales.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak:

1. “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” $22.2 million.

2. “Coyote vs. Acme,” $15.5 million.

3. “The Odyssey,” $14.3 million.

4. “Insidious: Out of the Further,” $10.1 million.

5. “The Dog Stars,” $8 million.

6. “Buddy,” $5.4 million.

7. “The End of Oak Street,” $5 million.

8. “PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie,” $4.9 million.

9. “Mutiny,” $2.8 million.

10. “Tony,” $2.2 million.

Daisy Chain Fields united a women-led lineup boasting queer pop star Chappell Roan, breakout rapper Doechii and riot grrrl pioneers Bikini Kill behind issues of women’s health, workplace protections and legal rights. Ahead of Saturday’s festival in Irvine, California, Rodrigo announced the show had already raised enough to make a $10 million donation to 10 nonprofit partners including Planned Parenthood, National Women’s Law Center and Black Mamas Matter Alliance.

Philanthropist Melinda French Gates pledged another $10 million through her Pivotal Ventures in a surprise appearance at the start of Rodrigo’s set, calling her “a force” and praising her for “showing a new generation how much their voices matter.”

Rodrigo said the festival’s artists and activists give her hope despite the “regression of women’s rights” today.

“That’s actually why I fell in love with the name ‘Daisy Chain,’” she said Friday. “It served as a reminder of how individual parts can come together to create something strong and unbreakable.”

Rodrigo, 23, has made a name channeling the rage and dissatisfaction of modern romance into chart-topping songs that are equal parts Taylor Swift and Alanis Morissette. Few superstars are better suited, then, to bridge the gap between Gen Z and nonprofits, which have struggled to build relationships with younger donors who tend to prefer informal ways of giving.

The connection is not lost on Daisy Chain Fields attendees.

“People don’t join together and mobilize unless they feel connected to the group that is mobilizing,” said Grace Slevin, 24. “What’s better than music?”

All-star benefit concerts have long been popular for driving millions of dollars toward everything from refugee aid and famine relief to pandemic response and natural disasters. But it’s been decades since a young artist with Rodrigo’s following brought her peers together for gender justice.

That focus comes as President Donald Trump attempts to overhaul family planning grants that reproductive health clinics use to provide birth control and treat sexually transmitted infections. His administration paused $27.5 million last year for such organizations, including some Planned Parenthood affiliates, before officials agreed to restore the money.

For Slevin, an Orange County, California, resident who does anti-sex-trafficking advocacy, Daisy Chain Fields embodies the sentiment of “be who you needed when you were younger.” She loves that attendees are welcome to learn about the beneficiaries’ work in addition to donating.

Nonprofit partners engaged with fans in Daisy Chain Fields’ “philanthropy village.” Festivalgoers collected pins from booths as they learned about health services from Planned Parenthood or pay tribute to caregivers through the National Domestic Workers Alliance.

An art installation by the Guerilla Girls, anonymous artist activists, invited fans to air their grievances on chalkboards. Handwritten responses included “PROTECT QUEER KIDS!” and “Put women in charge and pay us more!!!” as well as “ICE OUT!” and “ABORTION RIGHTS 4 ALL.”

Younger generations expect a level of authenticity beyond a “pseudo-sort-of-progressiveness,” Slevin said.

“They can see just how deeply intertwined the music is with the cause,” she said. “It’s not just, like, a second thought.”

Do you get déjà vu? Rodrigo’s effort recalls ’90s feminist push

Rodrigo took inspiration from Lilith Fair, the all-women festival that raised $10 million for charity from 1997 to 1999. Sarah McLachlan, who founded the show to dispel the music industry’s notion they couldn’t book women consecutively, performed with Rodrigo Saturday.

Planned Parenthood National Director of Arts and Entertainment Caren Spruch recalled working on Lilith Fair. Concert outreach has long been an important tool to reach people “where they are,” she said.

That culture-shifting work grows more important during times like this, she acknowledged, when abortion clinics are closing in restrictive states and anti-abortion groups are pushing the courts to limit access to the drugs used in the most common method of abortion.

Rodrigo, Spruch said, talks about those topics with “no shame or stigma.” As she did with other nonprofits, the three-time Grammy winner appeared in informational videos on Planned Parenthood’s social media.

“All of that does so much to help us normalize the whole range of reproductive health and rights,” Spruch said.

Intergenerational change

Melissa Shaw, 33, is driving to the festival from Tucson, Arizona, with her 8-year-old daughter.

They didn’t plan to spend the day camped out for close-up views. Shaw wanted to let her daughter ask questions as they explored the nonprofits and visited art installations. She appreciates that Rodrigo is not only promoting well-known organizations such as Planned Parenthood, but also groups focused specifically on Black maternal health or baby formula access.

“It’s really important for me as a parent to expose my daughter to celebrities who set that example,” Shaw said.

To her, the lineup seemed intentionally curated to attract multiple generations. Her daughter loves Rodrigo and Roan, and she herself grew up listening to Bikini Kill and fellow performer Santigold. She saw many mother-daughter duos sharing their festival plans online.

The festival’s nonprofit partners were eager to join that multigenerational community of women, too.

“At a time when decisions about our bodies, our health, our safety and our futures are being made for us not by us, a day built around care and community is its own kind of statement,” FreeFrom founder Sonya Passi said in a statement.

National Domestic Workers Alliance President Ai-jen Poo said the festival’s joyful atmosphere serves as a “powerful reminder to women everywhere of all ages that, no matter what, we have each other.”

Her organization works to ensure federal workplace protections for domestic workers, who are disproportionately women and immigrant women. She wants to recruit more young people, many of whom she said are worried they can’t afford to take care of their loved ones or start families.

“The only way change happens is through intergenerational connection and movements in our country,” she said. “This generation of young people has the opportunity to really change how we support caregiving for future generations.”

Philanthropy takes center stage

Organizers vowed to work with nonprofit partners to put the grants toward their most urgent and underresourced needs.

Newer nonprofits also appreciated the opportunity to expand their networks. Black Mamas Matter Alliance co-founder Angela Doyinsola Aina said the nonprofit, just 10 years old, reached people who wouldn’t have otherwise encountered their work on Black maternal health.

For the National Women’s Law Center, the gift offers flexibility to plug their own budgetary holes as they litigate sex discrimination cases. Uma Iyer, the nonprofit’s chief external affairs officer, said the support also boosted staff morale.

“We work on really hard things every day,” she said. “It was really energizing for us and it’s been really uplifting.”

Including both everyday audiences and front-line workers in benefits is key, according to Farm Aid co-executive director Jennifer Fahy. The annual fundraising concerts — launched by Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp to raise awareness of family farmers’ challenges —- celebrated their 40th anniversary last year.

“It’s just wonderful to see an artist of that generation, that new young generation, who is embracing that opportunity that exists to do these kinds of events, to share the stage and microphone to highlight issues that are important to the artist,” Fahy said.

___

Associated Press newsperson Abby Lee contributed from Irvine, California.

Lately at work or while running errands, she has seen people wearing Shakur shirts. The late rapper’s presence is everywhere since the Las Vegas trial began, she says, calling it a hopeful sign that answers are coming in the death of her favorite artist.

“His spirit wants this to come out and wants this to get justice,” Williams said.

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Nearly 30 years after Shakur’s death, the trial of the only person ever charged in his killing has drawn fans back to a loss many of them never stopped carrying. For them, the case not only offers the person who may be responsible for Shakur’s death, but a chance for resolution after decades spent keeping his music, message and memory alive.

Former Southern California street gang leader Duane “Keffe D” Davis has pleaded not guilty to orchestrating the drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.

After his death in 1996, Shakur and his influence lived on through fans and pop culture. He received a posthumous star in 2023 on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a street named after him in Oakland, California, and will be a character in the upcoming video adventure game “Stranger than Heaven.”

Fans see Shakur as a revolutionary

There’s no official memorial to Tupac where he was shot on the Las Vegas Strip on Sept. 7, 1996. But visitors stop at the intersection and fans gather regularly on his birthday, June 16, adding messages to a utility pole that is covered in remembrances, such as “RIP King,” “Tupac 4 Life” and “Gone but never forgotten.”

They leave balloons, cake or his favorite type of brandy, Hennessy. On a strip of concrete nearby, someone painted a rose with the phrase “the rose that grew from concrete,” a reference to Shakur’s posthumous book of poetry.

Atlanta resident Julie Hardy has been to the memorial three times on Shakur’s birthday to pay her respects.

“People still care, and he has not been forgotten,” said Hardy, 56.

For fans like Hardy, Shakur is more than just a rapper. Hardy categorized Shakur, the son of a Black Panther, among the likes of Black activists such as Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey and Martin Luther King Jr. because he wrote about the “revolution” and the ups and downs the Black community faces, she said.

Shakur’s philosophy that he dubbed T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E, which stood for “the hate U give little infants f—-s everybody,” called for the uplifting of marginalized communities and demanded accountability from systems that oppressed Black people and the youth.

Hardy gravitated toward Shakur when she was 19 living in Cincinnati, Ohio, and her cousin showed her Shakur’s first solo album, “2Pacalypse Now.”

Shakur’s “Brenda’s Got a Baby” resonated with Hardy because of the high rate of teen pregnancy at the time, she said. His song “Soulja’s Story” inspired her to write hip-hop songs because it told a story of things she also saw growing up in Black communities, such as police and gun violence.

When she saw on the news that he was shot, she called everyone she knew. Hardy then went to her friend’s house and prayed, hoping Shakur would survive like he did when he was shot in a robbery in November 1994.

She felt like a family member passed when she learned he died days later a hospital. He was 25.

“We looked up to him as an icon and a revolutionary, and now we’re looking up to him as a legend,” Hardy said.

Shakur inspired others in songwriting

Din “Lil Therapy” Malone took a bus from Denver, Colorado, to watch the trial in Las Vegas.

Malone was introduced to Shakur when he was 13 years old watching Shakur in his breakout starring role as a troubled teen in the 1992 movie “Juice.” Then, he started listening to his music.

“Tupac taught me how to translate my tears into words,” said Malone, a songwriter and artist. Outside of an overflow room in the courthouse, Malone wore a Shakur shirt and played Shakur’s music on his phone’s speaker.

Shakur wrote about his own hardships, and inspired Malone to do the same, putting into words experiences of being bullied as a kid or mourning family deaths, Malone said. He grew up in a Crips-run neighborhood in Denver and — like Shakur — learned how to “live through the hood.”

Shakur’s song “It Ain’t Easy” spoke to Malone about the importance of persevering when life isn’t easy. Even though he never met the rapper, he said he felt like he lost an older brother.

Shakur’s legacy continues

Williams, a North Carolina resident, runs a Facebook fan page for Shakur called All Eyez on Pac that has over 25,000 followers.

The 38-year-old has loved Shakur ever since she watched “Poetic Justice,” the 1993 movie starring Shakur as a postal worker and Janet Jackson as a grieving hairdresser. One of the first Shakur songs she heard was “Dear Mama,” and she said she was touched by Shakur’s deep love for his mother, Afeni Shakur.

Over the years, Williams watched every video about Shakur and every interview of people who knew him, she said.

“That’s what made me create the page because I really truly have a love for Tupac,” she said.

She saw Shakur as a sweet, kind-hearted person who was misunderstood. Shakur wasn’t perfect. He was convicted of sexual assault and acquitted on more serious charges in a sex abuse case in 1994. He was sentenced to 18 months to over 4 years in prison, but served nearly eight months before he was released. But Shakur was human, Williams said.

Some fans who sat in the courtroom during the trial still don’t believe Shakur died, believing he faked his own death and is living in Cuba.

Williams said she was in denial when she first saw Shakur’s autopsy photos but sadly came around to realize he was gone

“He would want to have justice,” she said. “He would want to keep his name and legacy alive.”

The all-women lineup includes Chappell Roan, Doechii, Garbage, Mitski and The Breeders. Other performers include Bikini Kill, Die Spitz, Eli, KATSEYE, Not For Radio, Quiet Light, Rachel Chinouriri and Santigold.

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Special guests include Karen O, Sarah McLachlan and Stevie Nicks.

The event has two performance areas with no overlapping sets, allowing fans to see every performer on the schedule. Rodrigo is scheduled to close the festival from 8:40 to 10 p.m. on the Dandelion Stage.

The festival will make use of multiple areas of Great Park, including Great Park Live, the city-owned amphitheater operated by PSQ Productions, along with additional park space where a main stage will be built. Festival capacity is expected to reach up to 45,000 people.

“The lineup is truly insane and full of my heroes and friends,” Rodrigo said in an Instagram post. “I firmly believe that joy, community, and music can be the drivers of meaningful change and I’m hopeful this festival will be just that.”

Rodrigo said 100% of net proceeds will benefit charities dedicated to advancing and advocating for women and girls.

Beneficiaries include Baby2Baby, Black Mamas Matter Alliance, Center for Reproductive Rights, FreeFrom, Jhpiego, Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Institute for Reproductive Health, National Women’s Law Center and Planned Parenthood.

Daisy Chain Fields is the latest philanthropic effort by Rodrigo focused on women and girls. She launched her Fund 4 Good initiative in 2024 to support reproductive rights, education and efforts addressing domestic violence.

Metrolink post-event trains

Metrolink will operate three special post-event trains serving destinations in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange and northern San Diego counties, according to the agency.

Train 698 from Anaheim to Oceanside, departing at 11:30 p.m.
Train 699 from Irvine to Los Angeles Union Station, departing at 11:40 p.m.
Train 898 from Irvine to San Bernardino-Downtown, departing at 11:30 p.m.

Metrolink said the added service is intended to give festivalgoers an alternative to driving because parking at Great Park is limited.

Attendees can take regularly scheduled Metrolink service to Anaheim Station and purchase a shuttle pass through festival producer C3 Presents, or travel to Irvine Station and use a rideshare service to reach Great Park, officials said.

Weekend heat outlook

The festival on a warm weekend in Southern California with temperatures in Irvine expected to reach about 93 degrees Saturday.

The hottest period is expected between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., when festival performances will be underway. The festival has hydration stations, cooling stations, shaded areas and medical tents.

The beloved country legend and philanthropist, who hailed from rural Tennessee, died Tuesday at the age of 80.

The airport and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced the intent to name the airport in her honor to create “a lasting tribute to her indelible legacy and the generations of people she inspired across Tennessee and around the world,” they said in a news release.

Lee spoke with Parton’s team about the proposal this week and they expressed “their appreciation,” the governor said.

“Dolly Parton’s extraordinary life is forever woven into the fabric of our state,” Lee said. “From her rural mountain home in East Tennessee to global stages, Dolly carried the Volunteer Spirit with her. At a place where Tennessee welcomes the world, it is fitting that Nashville International Airport would bear the name of our state’s favorite daughter and greet travelers with the enduring legacy of Dolly’s music, generosity, faith, and kindness.”

The proposal to rename the airport will be addressed at the Metro Nashville Airport Authority’s meeting Sept. 17.

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A petition to rename the airport in honor of Parton, which was started more than a year before her death, has over 160,000 signatures as of Friday night and also garnered responses in support from a Nashville City Council member and a Tennesseee state representative.

The “Queen of Country” died surrounded by loved ones following a brief battle with cancer. Her death was felt across the nation and the world, and inspired heartfelt tributes from fans, celebrities and politicians alike.

Known beyond her music for her extravagant blonde hairdos, Southern charm, wit, generosity and kindness, Parton was beloved by generations. She was also a keen businesswoman and devoted philanthropist, creating the Dollywood Foundation for property relief and educational programs in East Tennessee, as well as Imagination Library, which mails free books to children around the world.

According to evolving data released early Friday afternoon by the industry data and analytics company Luminate, audio and video streams of Parton’s discography skyrocketed 2,458% on the day of her death, compared to Monday — climbing from 1.2 million to 30.5 million in the U.S. And by Wednesday, that number rose to 46.3 million.

Worldwide, her audio and video streams jumped 1,549%, from 2.5 million on Monday to 41.8 million Tuesday.

And on Wednesday, her on-demand audio streams jumped to 79.7 million, making her the most streamed artist, globally, on that date.

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In the U.S., 10 songs led the charge:

1. “Jolene” grew from over 196.2K streams on Monday to 3.3 million Tuesday and 4 million Wednesday.

2. “9 to 5” jumped from 208.6K on Monday to 3.0 million on Tuesday and 3.6 million on Wednesday.

3. “Islands in the Stream,” her duet with the late Kenny Rogers, climbed from 165.9K on Monday to 2.1 million Tuesday and 2.9 million Wednesday.

4. “I Will Always Love You,” Parton’s performance of her own classic, a song that was later made famous by Whitney Houston’s rendition, rose from 64.9K streams on Monday to 2.0 million Tuesday and 2.8 million Wednesday.

5. “Here You Come Again” followed, moving from 48.7K streams Monday to 1.5 million Tuesday to 2.1 million Wednesday.

6. Then there was “Coat of Many Colors,” with 28.9K streams Monday to 1.3 million Tuesday and 1.9 million Wednesday.

7. “Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That?” climbed from 22.1K Monday to 827K Tuesday and 1.3 million Wednesday.

8. “There Was Jesus,” her 2019 duet with Christian singer Zach Williams, rose from 85.2K streams Monday to 635.1K Tuesday and 682.0K Wednesday.

9. “My Tennessee Mountain Home” increased from 5.8K Monday to 562.3K Tuesday and 1.1 million Wednesday.

10. “Tyrant,” Parton’s collaboration with Beyoncé from Bey’s Grammy winning 2024 album “Cowboy Carter,” jumped from 47.8K Monday to 559.2K Tuesday and 755.5K Wednesday.

Sales for such Parton-related books as the memoir “Dolly Parton, Songteller” “My Life in Lyrics” and a picture story based on her classic song “Coat of Many Colors” were also soaring. As of early Friday afternoon, three Parton books were in the top 5 on Amazon.com’s bestseller list.

Curious to hear more Parton? Check out The Associated Press’ official playlist — from her country songs that challenge traditional gender dynamics to the greatest ballad ever committed to record — and read the stories behind them, here.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and the CEO of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority both came out in favor of the name change Friday. It’s expected to come up at the authority’s meeting next month.

Long before 80-year-old Parton died Tuesday, fans in January 2025 started an online petition calling for officials to rename Nashville International Airport in her honor. It got renewed attention following Parton’s death, jumping to more than 155,000 signatures Friday.

The change would make Parton the first woman whose name adorns one of America’s 50 busiest airports.

The governor said he’s already discussed the idea with representatives for Parton.

“At a place where Tennessee welcomes the world, it is fitting that Nashville International Airport would bear the name of our state’s favorite daughter and greet travelers with the enduring legacy of Dolly’s music, generosity, faith, and kindness,” Lee said in a statement.

Born in poverty in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Parton became an icon whose popularity crossed generational, geographic and political boundaries. In addition to writing and recording hit songs such as “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You,” she starred in Hollywood films including “9 to 5” and “Steel Magnolias.”

A number of American airports bear the names of beloved celebrities, from Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville, Kentucky, to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California. New Orleans’ airport was renamed for jazz icon Louis Armstrong in 2001.

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The vast majority of U.S. airports named for a person honor men. Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas, is one exception. Another is Amelia Earhart Memorial Airport in Atchison, Kansas.

Putting Parton’s name on the Nashville airport could require its governing authority to revisit its policy for such honors, which states that airport properties should only be named for people who have been dead for at least two years.

The governor’s office said his proposal and the naming policy will be discussed by the airport authority at its meeting Sept. 17.

“It’s a complete retranslation. It’s not a revision of the old version,” Wilson told The Associated Press during a recent Zoom interview from her home in Philadelphia, where she is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. “I’m about halfway through.”

Regarded as the first major English-language translation of Homer’s epic by a woman, her book was already a bestseller and a culture-wars flashpoint before the release of Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation. But she says her translation methods have become more sophisticated and that enough time has passed for her to see some flaws in her work — as an example, she overused the word “slave” when ancient Greek had different terms for different categories of enslaved people. The new edition will be longer, she says, and will better reflect the differing social worlds of Homer’s poem.

Fiction writers and poets, from Henry James to Walt Whitman, have revised and reissued early works. But translators rarely start over on a full-length text — especially not within a decade of the original work’s completion, and not when the translation has had the success of Wilson’s “Odyssey.”

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“I can’t really come up with a previous example of this situation,” says Kate Deimling, who oversees the literary division of the American Translators Association. “It’s not unheard of for translators to go back and make some corrections or edits in subsequent editions, but that’s not the same as a retranslation.”

Asked how her publisher responded, Wilson says her decision was “very controversial.” She says she’s “very much aware” that having two recent editions by the same translator would be a challenge for teachers, and hopes they won’t “curse” her name. Her editor at Liveright Publishing, Peter Simon, said in a statement that since she “has poured so much of her life and scholarship into ‘The Odyssey’ … her new approach is bound to be thrilling.”

Fame was of prime importance to the ancient Greeks, and Wilson is the rare classical scholar who has firsthand knowledge of a public life. Wilson’s 2017 translation was praised by many critics for making “The Odyssey” feel more modern and accessible, but also faced criticism online for making the story “woke.” Her “Odyssey” has now sold more than a million copies, and Wilson has again become a reason to argue.

Nolan had cited her translation and its opening sentence, “Tell me about a complicated man,” as inspiration for his epic film. Wilson, who says she will “probably” leave the line unchanged in the next edition, did not return his admiration. In interviews with the AP and other media outlets, and in an assessment for the London Review of Books, she called the movie grandiose and superficial, and at times incoherent.

Her reaction to the film has been extensively — even obsessively — defended and denounced, including by Joyce Carol Oates, who faulted her “haughty superiority.” Nolan has yet to respond directly, although, while being interviewed by podcaster Zhong Shu, he did speak out against “amateur criticism” for lacking the cinematic background essential for understanding the language of movies.

Wilson’s current prominence aligns with the release of her new collection of essays, conceived well before Nolan’s movie came out: “Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea,” a book that arrives Tuesday with blurbs from Salman Rushdie and “Song of Achilles” novelist Madeline Miller. It features a long section on translating “The Odyssey,” with tough assessments of modern editions by Daniel Mendelsohn and the late Robert Fagles. Other chapters take on the “slut-shaming” of Helen of Troy, offer tribute to the Roman poet Catullus and point to how some of the most famous words ever spoken by Robert F. Kennedy — his quoting Aeschylus in the aftermath of the Rev. Martin Luther King’s assassination — echoed author Edith Hamilton’s mistranslation.

During her interview, Wilson also discussed her feelings about celebrity, her disdain for Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson” books (Riordan, through a spokesperson at Penguin Random House, declined to comment) and her renewed appreciation for Stoic philosophy.

This conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

AP: In your essay on translating “The Odyssey” you write that Robert Fagles’ translation is “very loud, lively and chatty, so it’s not surprising that it has remained a bestseller in the U.S.” As you are also a bestseller, what qualities do you think you were able to bring to your book?

WILSON: I was going for the ancient idea of “enargeia,” vividness, that sort of emotional impact, emotional directness, the narrative pacing, the sense you can fully understand how does this character feel every time she or he is speaking.

AP: One theme of your essays is how wrong we can be about the Greeks, like Robert Kennedy misquoting Aeschylus because he had been reading Edith Hamilton’s popular writings, which themselves have many inaccuracies.

WILSON: Part of the theme of the book is not just that we make mistakes — maybe we can fix them — but that the particular kinds of mistakes those scholars and translators and popularizers or teachers like Hamilton make are very much determined by their own time. Obviously, I make mistakes, too. I’m obviously going to come to Homer and to the whole of antiquity with particular preoccupations which are going to be different from the preoccupations of a Homerist or a translator some 50 or 100 years ago.

AP: In a lot of these essays, you’re very conscious of bringing the ancient world into the present. In your essay on Stoicism (“Chill Out with the Stoics”), you start out by writing, “Stoicism is having a moment.” Are you more of a Stoic now than you were a month ago?

WILSON: I’m quite suspicious that through philosophy you can have security. The last few weeks have been a clear illustration of how I’m not in control of the reception of my work. I can write an essay; people will do whatever they want. They will have their own opinions of me. I have zero control. I actually think in some ways there’s a useful reminder about the powerlessness that comes with the awareness that “I’m going to be misunderstood. I’m going to be misread. People are going to hate me.” I’ve got to accept that.

AP: What is it about ancient Greece that made you study it, as opposed to Elizabethan England or 18th century France?

WILSON: I see it as a kind of intellectual greed. Through studying ancient Greece and Rome, I’m also interested in studying how did these cultures get reinvented, reimagined in each of these later periods.

AP: In your book, you criticize Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson” books. You find an ideology that puts you off.

WILSON: Many of my students love them so much. I think if I had read them as a child, I might have been a fan. They’re not designed for an adult literary reader. I think especially in the first Percy Jackson book, “The Lightning Thief,” there’s very much an ideology of: “Here’s this white boy in America who’s going to gather the whole of Western civilization, and there’ll be a hero’s journey, which will really be the heroism of American exceptionalism.” And I just think that is ideologically and historically quite questionable.

AP: In your chapter on comedy in ancient Greece, you begin with a reference to Cardi B’s (and Megan Thee Stallion’s) “WAP.” Does this happen to you a lot, where things pop up in the culture and it just resonates and you’re thinking, “Oh, that reminds me of something from classical times”?

WILSON: It happens to me all the time. Yes. This is not necessarily an explicit trope in the book, but I very much want to be constantly doing that, suggesting that we can find echoes of antiquity in places we might not expect. I use the discussion of “WAP” and of hip-hop as a way of talking about ancient comic poetry. My main point is not just that there’s lots of obscenity in both, but also lots of poetics in both. And if we somehow turn around our expectations about antiquity, we can turn around our expectations about modernity.

Apple announced it is raising subscription prices for its streaming service starting Friday.

Monthly subscriptions are up $2, from $12.99 to $14.99. Annual subscriptions have a $20 jump, from $99 to $119.

Existing subscribers will be notified approximately one month before being charged the new prices, Apple said.

The company has now raised Apple TV prices four times in the last four years. The streaming service has tripled its monthly subscription cost since launching in 2019 as Apple TV+ with a $4.99 price tag.

Apple TV currently has more than 300 original TV shows and movies in its catalog, up from a handful when Apple TV+ began. The service also has live streaming partnerships with Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer and Formula 1.

On top of the Apple TV changes, Apple announced additional price increases for Apple One. The bundle for Apple TV, Apple Music, iCloud+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+ and Apple Fitness+ is rising from $19.95 to $21.95 per month.

Apple isn’t alone among streamers when it comes to price hikes. Peacock raised subscription costs earlier this month and Netflix announced similar changes in March. HBO Max, Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+ and YouTube Premium have also announced higher prices in the last two years.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and Peacock.

But for Jake Reiner, the couple’s 35-year-old son, the nightmare feels like “eight years at the same time, and it also feels like eight minutes,” he told KABC-TV of Los Angeles in his first sit-down interview since the family tragedy.

“Every moment that I wake up, I’m reminded of my reality, and you’re living through that every single day,” he said.

Jake said he hasn’t spoken to his brother. Nor has he attended any of his brother’s court hearings, the station reported.

“He’s in jail, so, you know, it’s like I physically lost my parents and then Nick was arrested. And it’s like now, it’s just me and Romy,” he said, referring to his 28-year-old sister.

Jake opened up to KABC in the interview, which aired Thursday, about navigating grief and how it can manifest into anger.

“I’ll never understand. I don’t care how it’s explained to me. I don’t care what facts come out. I will never understand why this happened,” he told the station.

“It manifests into rage, into how unfair this was. How I didn’t get a say in what happened. I didn’t get to stop it from happening. I had no choice in the matter, and I just have to accept the reality of it. And to me that is just one of the most infuriating parts of all this,” he said.

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Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Singer Reiner, 70, were found brutally stabbed in their home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on Dec. 14. Nick was arrested hours later.

Jake was at Los Angeles’ Union Station for a celebration of life event for a friend when his sister called. He didn’t pick up.

“She called immediately again, and I knew at that point something immediately was wrong. Romy told me our dad was dead, and then she said, ‘I can’t find Mom.’ And I immediately went into shock. I need to get out of this train station, and I need to get to my parents’ house,” he recalled.

Asked whether he was surprised to learn that his brother was the main suspect, Jake took a deep breath and said, “I feel like that’s something I don’t really want to answer right now.”

In April, Jake wrote about his heartbreak on Substack, saying, “We lost more than half of our family that night in the most violent way imaginable.” He affirmed that that included Nick.

Nick Reiner, 32, has a long history of drug addiction and has struggled with his mental health. He co-wrote the 2016 movie “Being Charlie” with his father, who directed it, about the experiences of a young man who struggles with recovery.

“I can tell you, they never stopped wanting to help him. They never stopped helping him,” Jake said of his parents’ supporting Nick. “And I think that project was a way for my dad to try and connect with him.”

Asked whether it was ever a fear that something like the murders could ever happen, Jake declined to answer.

Now his focus is on following in his parents’ footsteps working with the Children’s Institute, an organization that supports children and families. He’ll be at its gala in November.

“It’s going to be hard. I think everything that we’ve done so far without them has been hard and weird. But I do feel responsible for making sure people know them and they remember them,” he said.

Nick Reiner has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder in connection with special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and lying in wait. His case continues in court. Earlier this summer, he filed a petition seeking access to his more than $1.5 million trust fund to help pay for his defense.

KABC reported that Jake Reiner isn’t commenting about his brother’s attempts to access money from the trust.

The famous puppet troupe announced on their Instagram page Aug. 26 that Curry, who died this week at his Los Angeles home, has been posthumously bestowed the great standing of honorary Muppet.

In the post, the Muppets praised Curry, who starred as the iconic Long John Silver in 1996 film “Muppet Treasure Island,” describing the actor as “unparalleled.”

“Few humans have earned the title of honorary Muppet more than the legendary Tim Curry. As a performer he was unparalleled — witty, charming, unnerving, and deeply funny,” the post said. “We will always consider it one of our greatest treasures to have been part of Long John Silver’s crew. Thank you for everything, Tim.”

The actor, who died at 80 years old, joins Dolly Parton, who also passed this week on Aug. 25, as an honorary member of the beloved puppet troupe. Others, including comedians Robin Williams and Pee-Wee Herman are also part of the extremely selective group of human Muppets.

Curry, who’s known for his role in projects ranging from “Rocky Horror Picture Show” to “Home Alone 2,” has always been fond of the puppet crew. In his 2025 memoir “Vagabond,” he describes “Muppet Treasure Island” as “one of the best pictures I ever made” and “most apex of my big films from the 1990s.” The experience was truly life-changing for the actor.

“I cannot overstate how much I adored working with the Muppets,” Curry wrote in the book. “The extraordinary thing about them is that they are all characters in their own right, and you should treat them as such.”

Actors Aug 26

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The film, an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic, revolves around the adventures of a young orphan named Jim Hawkins who gets wrapped up in a swashbuckling adventure with Curry’s Long John Silver to find buried treasure.

The film, Curry wrote in his memoir, allowed him to tap into his feelings around the death of his own father, who passed away when the actor was 12 years old.

“There’s a whole improvised scene where Silver is trying to establish a rapport and relationship between himself and young Jim,” Curry wrote. “Having lost my father at a similar age, and for that to have been such a formative time for me, made my heart go out to Jim’s character in a very authentic way. I tried to imagine how I wished people had spoken to me when I was a boy.”

Curry added that there was a “real honesty” in the way in which he delivered his lines.

“Opening myself up in such a personal way wasn’t something I’d ever really experimented with before in film, and certainly not on the stage,” Curry wrote. “I had not planned on that bit; it just happened. In the end, I was very happy with it, though; it felt like a real risk in a very different kind of way, and I was proud of how I’d pulled it off.”

When filming wrapped, Curry wrote, he found himself missing the project.

“I was genuinely saddened to return to dealing with humans again,” the actor said in the memoir.

The Muppets also have a special place in his heart for another reason. While Curry was famously committed to keeping his love life private, he was openly crazy about one particular gal: Miss Piggy. In the book, Curry describes the fabulous ham as “always funny, and never boring.”

“Although I did say at the outset that I wouldn’t speak about any of my romantic relationships, I will say that Miss Piggy and I had quite a good time together, both on set and in our trailers,” he joked. “Fortunately, our dalliances never led to any tension with Kermit—I was clever about it.”

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:

• Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Has Sent Over 100,000 Braille Books to Low-Vision Kids: She ‘Cared About Everyone’
• Dolly Parton shares photo of her ‘real hair,’ reflects on love of wigs in new book
• Tim Curry Honored By ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ Co-Stars

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Good Good, among the most popular in the YouTube Golf space, has said the video was meant to be a spinoff from the movie, “Obsession.” But the criticism was immediate and relentless, and the pressure began mounting by the day.

Intended to promote Callaway and Good Good’s collaboration on its Quantum Driver, the commercial instead immediately drew criticism for appearing to promote violence against women. In the commercial, Good Good co-founder Garrett Clark is seen rushing over to his golf bag and pushing over golfer Alexis Miestowski to keep her from grabbing the Quantum Driver. As she is on the ground he leans over and tells her, “Do not touch my new driver.”

The video was deleted the same day it was posted on Aug. 20, but it continued to make the rounds on social media and apologies from Good Good and Callaway had little effect.

“We were disappointed with what we saw,” PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said Tuesday of the response from Good Good. He said its role as a title sponsor was a “fluid situation.”

“We agree with their decision to use this time to focus on their organization and the work ahead,” the tour said in a statement Thursday. “The PGA Tour believes in golf’s ability to bring people together and create a welcoming environment for all.”

The tournament already was changed on the PGA Tour’s website to “Austin Championship.”

Golf Channel postponed a Good Good reality show Wednesday because a sponsor, reported to be Galaxy Golf, wanted its brand scrubbed from the telecast. Dick’s Sporting Goods removed the apparel from its stories. And then Callaway said it was ending the three-year sponsorship.

The PGA Tour confirmed Good Good said it would pull out as title sponsor of the new Nov. 12-15 tournament in Austin, Texas. The tour said the tournament still would be played.

“After thoughtful discussions with the PGA Tour and careful reflection, we have decided to step away as sponsor of the tour event in Austin this fall,” Good Good said in a social media post. “We recognize that we have work to do as an organization, and our focus right now is on our team, our culture and ensuring we will learn from this situation.”

The video was pulled the night it was posted, and it was followed by apologies by Good Good Golf and Callaway Golf the next day. But then Callaway added another layer of apologies, this one from CEO Chip Brewer, who conceded that while Good Good produced the video, Callaway approved it before it was posted.

Brewer said the approval never should have happened and the company would investigate.

Callaway posted to its social media channels on Thursday that it has ended its relationship with Good Good effective immediately; has taken “appropriate internal corrective actions” and strengthened approval procedures to avoid another mistake; and has committed $1 million to support organizations working to prevent violence against women.

“These actions do not undo the harm caused or excuse our role in it,” the statement said. “We sincerely apologize to everyone who was hurt, disappointed, or offended by this incident.”

Good Good Golf was launched as a YouTube channel in 2020 and now is among the largest content creators in the sport, featuring eight men and four women competing in golf and various challenges. It has made-for-TV shows, apparel and other merchandise.

Clark, the Good Good founder, posted a rambling, eight-minute video Wednesday evening in which he called it “the worst ad known to man” and the reaction to the ad was “not what we stand for.”

“I do not support DV (domestic violence) or abuse or any of that of any kind,” he said.

The PGA Tour has embraced such content creators over the last several years, even staging exhibitions during the week of The Players Championship and Tour Championship.

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“Relationships are about communication, Jay,” Lucia Caminos tells her partner in crime, Jason Duval, as the game’s dual protagonists speed down the roads of Vice City, running late to an outing. Jason apologizes.

The exchange between the characters was featured in a 27-minute video preview for the long-awaited sixth installment of the game, which was unveiled by Rockstar Games in a hyped-up online event hosted by Netflix on Thursday.

The teaser, which was captured entirely from in-game footage on PlayStation 5, offered fans a closer look at a title that has been more than a decade in the making.

But what was intended to be a blockbuster moment for the franchise was complicated by a hack last week in which material from the game was leaked to the public.

The online user claiming responsibility for the hack cited frustration with the video game industry’s shift away from physical media and toward digital ownership — a growing source of tension between publishers and players. Fans have also complained about the delayed rollout of the game, as well as the cost.

Rockstar Games acknowledged the leak in a statement on Wednesday, calling it “heartbreaking” for the team. “And this is obviously not how we intended for you to see the game after all this time,” the game publisher wrote in its post on social media.

“We are very sorry that everything has taken as long as it has,” the post continued, “from getting the game finished (nearly there!) to sharing more details and official gameplay, and providing the community with everything you want to know.”

The company encouraged fans to “wait a bit longer” to experience GTA VI for themselves on Nov. 19, when it arrives on Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Netflix has not commented on the leak. In the lead-up to the exclusive preview, the streamer leaned into the game’s passionate fanbase.

The streaming giant has in recent years doubled down on its commitment to the gaming space. It previously partnered with Rockstar to bring Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy — The Definitive Edition to subscribers via the App Store, Google Play, and in the Netflix mobile app.

Brandon Riegg, Netflix’s head of nonfiction series, called the fan excitement around the game “unprecedented.”

“Grand Theft Auto reveals have become cultural moments in their own right,” he told Netflix’s online publication, Tudum.

The game’s newest installment will allow players to toggle between the perspectives of Jason and Lucia, who exhibit a Bonnie-and-Clyde dynamic as the player follows their story.

The preview began by showing the pair getting caught up in a drug bust, where Jason pauses to pet a dog on their way into a pickup that ends in a shootout with police. Later, the dual protagonist perspectives come into play during a police chase when Lucia takes the wheel while Jason shoots out the window.

Outside of their life of crime, the first look gives a glimpse at the range of leisure activities available to the player — including shooting basketball, diving in the ocean, weightlifting, jet skiing and dancing at a strip club.

The developers behind the game told Dazed magazine that the GTA VI world will be “more grounded and reactive than before,” meaning non-player characters (NPCs) will react appropriately to a player who walks down the street with a rifle.

GTA VI will also feature changes in the protagonists’ physical condition akin to the system in Rockstar’s acclaimed Red Dead Redemption 2. That means, for example, Jason and Lucia can gain or lose weight, build muscle and incur physical markers of exhaustion.

Rockstar employees told Dazed that it took years of on-the-ground exploration in Florida to shape the game’s world, which is set in the fictional U.S. state of Leonida (based on Florida), with Vice City being inspired by Miami.

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“We will meet with ex-criminals, law enforcement, club promoters, gun dealers and anyone notorious or influential who’ll take our calls,” added Rupert Humphries, Rockstar’s senior vice president of narrative. “We hang out, get a feeling for the place, listen to the stories, cross-reference that with books and journalism, and try to get to the heart of which characters will bring the city we are creating to life.”

By Thursday afternoon, gamers were already analyzing the footage.

Some were enthusiastic about the new setting, with one user in a Reddit thread writing “They really nailed Florida. It looks great outside of that nothing that makes me want to rush to cop it.”

Several fans marveled at the interactions displayed in the preview.“LUCIA AND JASON ACTUALLY FEEL LIKE A REAL COUPLE IN GTA VI,” one fan page wrote on X. “The Extended Look shows small everyday moments between them. Rockstar seems to be putting a lot more focus on their relationship this time.”

Others criticized aspects of the game, like Jason’s voice. “The main character sounds so bored and monotone,” wrote another Reddit user. There were also gamers who voiced their continued frustration about the price tag, which starts at $79.99.

Before the Netflix online event, Rockstar had also invited a small group of content creators and press to a “hands off preview,” meaning no one played the game but got an early glimpse of it.

“It’s notable that, for its very first gameplay presentation to the press, what Rockstar chose to show wasn’t a dramatic set piece; it was a slice of the world,” wrote the gaming publication IGN in its preview report. “It was a ballsy move that showed an eagerness to signal to players just how much awaits them in this new, bigger, and better criminal playground.”

“The biggest takeaway?” the publication wrote. “Those streets are going to be home to the best type of chaos.”

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The news comes less than a week after the couple surprised fans and critics alike with plans to return to Britain. Their arrival was reported by news organizations including the BBC and the Daily Telegraph, with the newspaper reporting that their plane landed at Birmingham International Airport around noon.

Flight tracking websites showed a private charter flight from Van Nuys, California, arrived at the airport at 11:56 a.m.

The couple’s children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, have already enrolled at British schools and will start classes in September. The family plans to live at a private, nonroyal residence outside of London, but haven’t said exactly where that will be.

Prince Harry’s representative declined to comment.

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Harry and Meghan gave up their royal duties and moved to California more than six years ago, saying they wanted to earn their own living. They later signed lucrative contracts with Netflix and Spotify.

Relations with the rest of the royal family quickly soured as the couple said palace staff had been insensitive to Meghan’s mental health and leveled charges of racism and media manipulation at members of the royal family.

Tensions between Harry and King Charles III, his 77-year-old father, appear to have eased in recent months, but relations with Prince William, the heir to the throne, remain tense. Charles is undergoing treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer that was discovered in 2024.

Harry said last year that he wanted to reconcile with his family and that he didn’t know “how much time my father has left.” He has also expressed a desire for his children to have a chance to get to know their grandfather.

Harry, Meghan and the children visited the king at his Highgrove Estate in western England last month while the prince was in the U.K. for a series of charity appearances. It was the first time Archie and Lilibet had seen their grandfather in person since 2022, when the family traveled to Britain for events marking the late Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne.

Charles wasn’t told about the couple’s impending move at the time and only found out about it last week.

In a motion filed in Delaware federal court on Wednesday, Gomez’s lawyers asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by investors of Wondermind, who allege they were misled into investing nearly $1.2 million in the 2021 start-up after being made false promises about the company’s leadership, resources, and infrastructure for years.

The lawsuit, filed for common-law fraud, breach of contract, and securities fraud, names Gomez, her mother, Mandy Teefey, and their former business partner, Daniella Pierson.

“The notion that Selena engaged in ‘fraud’ or any other wrongdoing is absurd — and in addition to filing our motion we are exploring other avenues of relief for Ms. Gomez including sanctions against plaintiffs for improperly including her,” Mathew S. Rosengart, an attorney for Gomez, said in a statement to NBC News.

Wondermind and Teefey did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Pierson, who has previously denied any wrongdoing, also did not respond to a request for comment.

According to the complaint — filed on Aug. 13 in federal court in Delaware by Wondermind SRS 44 LLC and Bespoke Wondermind SPV I LLC, limited liability companies that invested in the startup — the three founders allegedly told investors the sprawling “mental fitness” company would include a phone app, advertising deals and celebrity-driven content with Gomez “intimately involved” as head of marketing.

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Instead, the complaint alleges that many of those initiatives never happened, that investors received false updates, and that they were kept in the dark about Wondermind’s mismanagement and descent into financial turmoil. It alleges investors became aware of the company’s disarray after two bombshell stories by Forbes and The Cut.

Gomez’s attorneys, however, argue in the motion that the lawsuit does not specify any false statements the singer made personally to investors and that she was not even a member of the board. The motion added that Gomez never agreed to manage Wondermind and did not hold a minority stake in the company.

The “vague, generalized, and contradictory allegations concerning Selena Gomez demonstrate that Ms. Gomez could not possibly have engaged in any ‘fraud’ (she did not), is not liable to Plaintiffs (she is not) and, as a matter of law, must be dismissed from this lawsuit,” the motion states.

The motion notes that Teefy and Pierson handled management as Wondermind’s co-CEOs and board members, and Gomez was retained “as a consultant and conferred on her title of Chief Impact Officer.”

It notes that one of the few communications cited in the lawsuit that directly involved Gomez was a December 2022 email from Pierson discussing Wondermind’s growth. Gomez was copied on the email, according to the court filings, and her lawyers argue that there is no allegation she knew anything in it was false.

The motion asks the judge to dismiss all four claims brought against Gomez with prejudice.

Rosengart added in a statement that the “motion to dismiss demonstrates that plaintiffs never should have dragged Selena Gomez into this case as the claims against her are completely meritless if not frivolous.”

In a statement to NBC News earlier this month, Pierson says she categorically denied the allegations and said she “welcomes the opportunity to present concrete documentation and financial records that establish the facts.”

“To be clear, she has never used investor funds for personal expenses. Quite the opposite: Daniella invested her own money into the business and did not draw a salary from the company,” she said in a statement.

Chloe Melas and Joe Kottke contributed.

It was an abandoned church, in rural Tennessee where she grew up, that had become known as a haven for sex, drugs and violence. Rather than see the used condoms on the floor, the out-of-tune piano left behind or the explicit drawings on the walls as a hindrance to her religious encounter, Parton spoke fondly of the setting where she went to pray as a young girl.

“I would sing hymns to God for a while and look at dirty pictures for a while and pray for a while, and one day as I prayed in earnest, I broke through some sort of spirit wall and found God,” she wrote.

“Here in one place was God, music and sex.”

The country music icon was known for blurring the line between Sunday morning and Saturday night, a window into her theology that captivated people across political and denominational lines.

As news broke this week that the 80-year-old country music icon died of cancer, social media was flooded with quotes and interview clips of Parton proclaiming her Christian faith, something she wore on her sleeve even when her relationship to church was complicated.

But for many Christian members of the LGBTQ+ community who struggled to reconcile their sexuality and gender identity with the intolerant beliefs they were taught, Parton’s public support helped them keep their faith in some cases, and transformed their understanding of how God sees them in others.

“Her approach to solidarity was inspiring for me as a young, queer Christian girl realizing I was gay,” said Ciarra Jones, a 32-year-old workplace consultant from Oakland, California. “For queer Christians, experiencing another queer Christian — or another queer-affirming person that is Christian — is important to your journey. Dolly, for me, was one of those lights.”

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Parton was a trailblazer in LGBTQ+ acceptance

Long before same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide, Parton made acceptance a recurring theme of both her music and public persona, which has contributed to long-running support from the LGBTQ+ community.

“I got a huge gay following and some really macho-looking women,” Parton told Andy Warhol for a 1984 cover story for Interview Magazine.

When Warhol told her she would make a great preacher, Parton responded: “What do you mean? I am a great preacher.”

American Christianity spans the theological spectrum on sexuality and gender identity, with some remaining firmly committed to a conservative view. As society has shifted, so have some Christians’ beliefs on things like same-sex marriage, though there is a widening partisan divide on certain issues, particularly regarding transgender people.

Parton, whose grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher, said her support for LGBTQ+ people was rooted in her Christian faith. “We are all God’s children,” she told Larry King in 2016. But she also did not try to convince others of her beliefs, sometimes to the frustration of fans who thought she ought to be more vocal.

“Some are preachers, some are gay / Some are addicts, drunks and strays / But not a one is turned away / When it’s family,” Parton sings on the song, “Family,” from her 1991 album “Eagle When She Flies.”

“I don’t condemn nor condone anything,” Parton once told The Associated Press regarding the song. “I just love and accept people where they are for who they are.”

Some queer people who were raised in religiously conservative homes push back against the notion that Parton was not political enough.

“It’s very, very hard to grow up and know who you are and have that be described as deviant and to be afraid that what you are is totally wrong,” said Duncan Teater, a film student at the University of Southern California, as his voice broke.

Teater, who is gay and grew up in Kentucky, was raised as a conservative Christian and has a complicated relationship to the faith as an adult. But, he said, Parton’s support was meaningful and he appreciated how she thinks about religiosity.

“For someone with the credibility and respect that Dolly Parton had, to be confident about the worth of every human being and to say that out loud and without hesitation and in such simple and loving words was a pretty radical act and a pretty political act,” he said.

Parton was vocal about faith in unexpected places

Parton’s faith, and her relationship with the gay community, spread beyond her music and interviews.

On the website for Dollywood, the East Tennessee theme park Parton opened decades ago after seeing families like hers unable to afford to go to Disneyland, there is a mission and values statement, which includes a commitment to live them out “in a manner consistent with Christian values and ethics.”

The park has a chaplain and a chapel — the Robert F. Thomas Chapel, named after the doctor who delivered Parton — that hosts weekly Sunday services.

Patrick Burrows, a 38-year-old scholar of theology and ethics, grew up going to Dollywood and has been more than 100 times.

“Any time there was a church outing in the Southern Baptist church that I grew up in or a day off from school or needing a mental health break in high school,” said Burrows, who grew up outside of Asheville, North Carolina.

The theme park was so formative for him that he wrote a chapter about it in his dissertation while studying theology at Harvard Divinity School.

“You should not see gay and lesbian couples standing next to people with ‘Jesus saved me from my sin’ shirts. And yet you see it” in what Burrows refers to as the “Dollyverse.”

“Dolly created this space for people who are very different from one another to be different from another,” he said.

Burrows recalled writing dozens of pages before one line sparked an epiphany, prompting him to rewrite his entire thesis chapter: “Though I only know it in retrospect, Dolly Parton, through Dollywood, taught me how to be gay and how to be a Christian.”

Cullen’s representative Kevin Motely said he died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. Details about a cause of death were not immediately available.

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In a statement, Cullen’s family referenced a quote that Cullen often shared when he spoke at fan events.

“Peter Cullen passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family and held in the hearts of his many friends and countless fans worldwide,” the family said. “His family asks that you honor his remarkable legacy by serving your communities and leading others with compassion, integrity, and loyalty and always remember, ‘Be strong enough to be gentle.'”

Cullen frequently referenced the quote when speaking to audiences and cited it as part of the inspiration behind the sonorous voice of the leader of the Autobots. It was a piece of advice he said was shared by his brother Larry, a captain in the Marine Corps, before he auditioned for the role of a “hero truck” in the 1980s.

“I’m going to an audition. I’m auditioning to be a truck,” Cullen told the audience at a 2023 TFcon fan event. “I said, ‘But Larry, he’s a hero truck.’ And, his face got somber and he said, ‘Peter, if you’re going to be a hero, be a real hero. Don’t be a Hollywood hero type with the yelling and screaming. Be strong enough to be gentle.’

“So, his voice is ringing in my ears as I drive to the audition.”

Before the audition, Cullen only knew he would be reading for the part of a truck.

“You’re always auditioning for something in animation that’s a little off of the norm,” Cullen told the AP in 2019.

Cullen voiced Optimus Prime in the animated series and returned to the role years later for the Michael Bay film series. He also provided the voice effects of the Predator, who took on Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1987 film of the same name.

Born in Montreal, Canada, Cullen’s baritone voice led to a career in radio before he became the announcer on the “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” in 1967.

Cullen earned a long list of credits during his prolific voice acting career that spanned more than five decades. His work included the voice behind the melancholy donkey Eeyore in the “Winne the Pooh” franchise and roles in several animated series.

Cullen provided the sound of King Kong’s roar in the 1976 film and was the robotic voice of the villainous KARR vehicle in the “Knight Rider” TV series.

The mid-1980s animated “Transformer” series was inspired by a popular line of toys that could transform from robots to cars and trucks. The series followed the battle between two opposing factions — the Autobots and Decepticons, led by Megatron.

Cullen’s voice became synonymous with the heroic Prime, and he reprised the role decades later for the live-action films, starting with “Transformers” in 2007. Cullen delivered some of the films’ most memorable lines, such as this phrase from the first movie: “I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars: We are here. We are waiting.”

Another well-known Cullen-voiced movie quote reads, “Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing.”

Among Cullen’s many other TV credits are “Tom & Jerry,” “The Addams Family,” “My Little Pony,” “Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers,” “The Flintstone Kids,” “Duck Tales,” “Rainbow Brite,” “Rambo,” “Ghostbusters,” “Pound Puppies” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”

Cullen was honored with a handprints ceremony in 2014 at TCL Chinese Theatre in the heart of Hollywood.

U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman dismissed Baldoni’s defamation and extortion lawsuit against Lively last year, and she was allowed to move forward with a request for financial damages under a California #MeToo-era law.

Liman wrote in his ruling that while “counsel’s rates were not unreasonable… the number of hours for which Lively seeks reimbursement is unreasonable.”

He also rejected her request for fees related to media relations expenses and some travel.

In a statement, Lively’s attorneys, Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb, said, in part, “Blake Lively’s case was never about money — it was about accountability. She lifted the curtain for other victims, and set the precedent for others to come forward and expose similar conduct. This result demonstrates that the legal system is not as easily manipulated as social media, and still functions as a force for accountability.”

A representative for Baldoni did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the judge’s ruling.

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Lively was seeking $8,035,040.88 in fees and costs, comprised of $7,495,526.87 in attorneys’ fees and costs in the amount of $539,514.01.

Liman awarded her $363,245.40 in attorneys’ fees and $44,206.35 in costs.

Lively and Baldoni settled their yearslong legal dispute in early May. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. A source familiar with the matter previously confirmed to NBC News that no money changed hands.

The settlement headed off what had promised to be a blockbuster trial in New York.

Lively accused Baldoni of sexual harassment during the production of the 2024 movie “It Ends With Us,” which he directed. Lively had also alleged that Baldoni’s company, Wayfarer Studios, retaliated against her after she complained about allegations of misconduct on the set of the film.

Baldoni vehemently denied Lively’s claims.

In January 2025, Baldoni countersued Lively and her husband, “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds, alleging defamation and extortion. He argued that Lively and Reynolds tried to wreck his reputation and accused her of using her grievances as a way to “seize control” of the movie.

Baldoni also brought a defamation suit against The New York Times over an article headlined: “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine.”

Liman tossed out both suits last year.

Austin Mullen and Adam Reiss contributed.

On Aug. 26, a day after the country icon died at the age of 80, her team shared an update on all the plans she had in development.

“Dolly worked up until the day she died. She loved seeing her dreams come to life, and loved knowing her work brought people joy,” her longtime manager Danny Nozell said in a press release. “Ever the planner, Dolly worked with the team that she handpicked, for the past several years to build a project roadmap that will guide us for decades to come.”

Parton died after being diagnosed with cancer, her estate announced Aug. 25 in a statement. She had not publicly disclosed her diagnosis, but had been open about her ongoing health challenges.

Celebrity News Aug 26

Dolly Parton locked away a song the world won't hear until 2045

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The Dolly Parton you may not know, in her own words

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Miley Cyrus pays tribute to godmother Dolly Parton: ‘I have an angel by my side'

While the beloved star’s death came as a shock to many, she prepared for her legacy to live on. Nozell said in his statement that he and Parton’s team will oversee the many projects she had been working on and “ensure the many dreams she had yet to fulfill are brought to life.”

He noted that many projects were in various stages of development, stressing that Parton approved everything that would be shared on her official channels.

“If you see unreleased music, products, books, experiences, and campaigns launched through official Dolly Parton channels, you can have confidence in knowing that she placed her personal stamp on it.”

The “9 to 5” singer’s team also shared a video compilation of Parton hard at work, promoting some upcoming content.

Parton’s team also said that details on additional projects, including an avatar show she previously spoke about, a biopic, docuseries, scripted series, a Billy The Kid animated series and many more “will be revealed soon.”

Below, an overview of the active Parton projects and some of their release dates.

• Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stops (celebrating National Truck Driver Appreciation Week beginning September 13, 2026)
• Dolly Parton’s SongTeller Hotel (stays begin September 14, 2026; grand opening September 29, 2026)
• Dolly Dolls (launching online September 15, 2026)
• Dolly’s Life Of Many Colors Museum (grand opening September 29, 2026)
• Dolly’s Cup Of Ambition Coffee (launching online September 29, 2026; retail launch Spring 2027)
• Dolly On The Holly (Coming Holiday 2026)
• DOLLY: A True Original Musical On Broadway (Previews begin December 7, 2026; Opening Night January 19, 2027 with tickets currently on-sale through November 21, 2027)
• Kendra Scott x Dolly — The 9 to 5 Collection (launching January 2027)
• Dolly’s Dog Treats (Coming Early 2027)
• Dolly Bedding & Home Decor (Coming Q3 2027)

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:

• Dolly Parton shares photo of her ‘real hair,’ reflects on love of wigs in new book
• Dolly Parton Honored By Fans, Fellow Artists and More After Her Death at 80
• What Dolly Parton Said About Not Having Children with Husband Carl Dean

This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser.

William Applegate, 31, appeared in a Hollywood courtroom Tuesday for a mental competency hearing, during which he was found unfit to stand trial, and stalking and other charges against him were tossed despite the objection of city prosecutors, according to the City Attorney’s Office.

The stalking charge alleges that the crime occurred Aug. 23 of last year, while the other charges — including trespassing, disorderly conduct, attempting to enter a non-commercial dwelling and battery — involve alleged crimes May 23 of this year.

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In June, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Wasserman issued a stay-away order requiring Applegate to remain at least 100 yards away from Carpenter. The order came less than three weeks after the singer obtained a temporary restraining order against Applegate.

Carpenter contended in court papers that Applegate made multiple visits to her Los Angeles home and was caught on video by her doorbell camera.

During the June court hearing, Applegate repeated statements he made in a sworn declaration in opposition to an extension of the stay-away order, to the effect that he and Carpenter are both currently part of a classified “military government program.”

“Carpenter and I being together as soon as possible is essential not only to the success of the program, but to national and global security and the possibility of our continuing existence on this planet both as a global community and as a species,” Applegate said in his declaration.

Applegate said he and Carpenter met during a July 2025 concert when she performed in London.

Carpenter appeared virtually for the June hearing, but did not testify.

Attorneys for Carpenter say Applegate appeared May 23 at the singer’s home and tried to “force his way inside.” Applegate’s security team tried to get him away from the property, but he struggled and insisted that he knew Carpenter and that she was expecting him. Los Angeles police were ultimately called and took him into custody.

Jail records show he was booked into jail that night, but he was cited and released the next morning.

Applegate allegedly went back to Carpenter’s house later that same day, and he was again escorted away by security, according to court documents. But he then allegedly returned to the home the following day.

The singer’s court papers alleged that Applegate has been actively stalking her since the end of April, and his behavior has been on a “deeply troubling escalation pattern.” The court filing included a series of photos from her doorbell camera showing the man at her door.

Defense attorneys will begin calling witnesses to the stand later this week with closing arguments expected to begin Monday in the criminal case of the only person to stand trial in the 25-year-old hip-hop icon’s shooting death.

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The defense is planning to call three witnesses, but they were not available to testify until Thursday.

Davis isn’t accused of firing the fatal shots, but prosecutors allege that he orchestrated the shooting in a revenge plot for a casino brawl hours earlier involving his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, and Shakur. The rapper was in Las Vegas for the highly anticipated heavyweight fight between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand.

Under Nevada law, someone who helps another person commit murder can be convicted of the crime.

On Wednesday, prosecutors played short clips of Davis’ YouTube interviews, during which he implored viewers to buy his book for what he referred to as “the real truth.” In one clip, Davis shared harsh words about Shakur and the attack at the MGM Grand.

Prosecutors also played a clip from earlier in the trial when Davis appeared to mouth words toward a witness testifying about the rivalry between Death Row Records and Bad Boy Entertainment.

Among the final prosecution witnesses to testify was a former Compton gang detective who characterized Davis as a high-ranking “shot caller.” Davis’ ultimate authority meant younger gang members would not have opened fire on Shakur with Davis present unless he allowed it, said Robert Ladd, a former Compton police officer who investigated gang homicides in the southern Los Angeles County community.

Ladd described Davis as a leader of the South Side Compton Crips who could order younger members to act. Ladd testified that Shakur’s shooting triggered a 10-day war in Compton between the South Side Crips and Mob Piru, resulting in three killings and 10 attempted murders.

Much of the prosecution’s case rested on Davis’ own words from previous law enforcement interviews and documentaries. Davis has said he was riding in a white Cadillac with Anderson and two other men when they pulled alongside Shakur and Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight in a black BMW. In a 2008 police interview played for jurors last week, Davis said he provided the gun and Anderson opened fire.

The other men in the Cadillac have since died, limiting eyewitness testimony.

Asked Tuesday who would have been the leader among the four men in the Cadillac, Ladd answered, “Mr. Davis.”

Ladd said that Anderson, a younger-ranking gang member, could not have opened fire with Davis in the car without Davis’ permission. If Davis had told the others to handle the dispute later, Ladd testified, “there wouldn’t have been a shooting.”

Defense attorney Michael Sanft emphasized the lack of physical evidence supporting that theory. Ladd acknowledged that, aside from Davis’ own admissions, he had no physical evidence placing Davis in Las Vegas that night and no phone records showing Davis ordered the shooting.

Law enforcement experts said they collected bills and letters from Las Vegas hotels in Anderson’s and Davis’ residences, but they didn’t know when they were dated, or the current location of that evidence.

Sanft has characterized his client’s accounts as fabricated and accused investigators of failing to corroborate what he has said. During the initial stages of the trial, Sanft said Davis was not previously charged in the case because law enforcement knew that he was “full of crap.”

Other witnesses called by the prosecution included former law enforcement officers, including the first to respond to the scene of the shooting; the man who snapped what is believed to be the last photo of Shakur before the shooting; and a former Mob Piru member who helped Knight with security. Jurors also heard audio of Davis’ previous interviews.

Jonathan Landrum and Jessica Hill of The Associated Press contributed to this report.

An unreleased Dolly Parton track has been sealed inside a time‑capsule box at Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It is a project she completed in 2015 when the resort first opened.

“I have written a song that no one is going to hear until I am 99 years old. I might be there, I might not be,” the star said on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” back in 2022.

The song now stands as one of the most unique pieces of her legacy following her death Tuesday at age 80 after a battle with cancer.

Parton wrote and recorded the track specifically for the capsule, which is set to remain closed for 30 years. She also packed the box with items meant to help future listeners understand how the song was created, including a cassette player and CD player.

In Memoriam Aug 25

Country music icon Dolly Parton dies at 80

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“I put stuff all in this box and it would preserve it, how we played those at the time,” she said.

The “Jolene” singer admitted the long wait for the song’s release was far from ideal for her.

“I had to write this song that no one was going to hear until then, and I tell you, you have no idea how that has bothered me,” she said. “I want to go dig that up so bad. It’s a really good song. I don’t know whose d— idea that was.”

Still untouched and unopened, the capsule stands as a quiet piece of Parton’s legacy awaiting its moment. Fans will have to wait until 2045 to finally hear it.

Those interviews captured a Parton who could be funny and self-deprecating but also clear-eyed about who she was and what she wanted.

Here is Parton, who died Tuesday at age 80, in her own words, as compiled by AP Music Writer Maria Sherman:

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Parton knew she would be famous before Hollywood came calling

“I never thought of myself as a movie star. I knew I’d be a star, but as a singer or as a writer of songs or books or poetry. I wanted to be a famous performer and wear flashy clothes, but singing in movies was not one of my ambitions. My family lived in the mountains and we didn’t see movies.”

“I can’t act a part, but if they allow me to be myself, then I can handle it. If they find me a story that allows me to be me, then I’m interested; if they don’t, I’m not.” (July 1979)

On kissing President Jimmy Carter at the White House

“My husband wants a picture of this, too.” (October 1979)

Critical in her self-review of her performance in ‘9 to 5’

“In places I was real good. In places I was real average and in others I was … (sticking out her tongue). All in all, for the first time out, I was proud of it.” (December 1980)

Parton worried ‘The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas’ would offend her preacher grandfather

“I’ll admit I had some misgivings about the title of the movie. After all, my granddaddy was a preacher, and I’m a spiritual person myself. I didn’t want to do anything that might be considered offensive. Then I saw the play and I realized it was just a foot-stompin’ good time.” (December 1981)

Parton saw Dollywood as a way to let Appalachia tell its own story

“It’s something I want to take pride in, to preserve the Smoky Mountain heritage rather than have Hollywood portray us as they often do.” (July 1985)

On husband Carl Dean and happiness

“It was love at first sight. I see people who turn my head all the time. It’s just that nobody’s turned my head around as much as him.” (May 1992)

On singing with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt

“We do love to sing. Your whole life you wait to find those compatible voices. It’s like making love. … I get off on it. I do. I get so thrilled. When it buzzes, it is good. It’s just like sex in that way. Don’t fight it.” (March 1999)

On Elvis’ legacy in eastern Tennessee

“I don’t think he will ever die down. He’s considered by many to be like a religious figure, like Jesus. … I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s there, and it’s real, and people love it.” (August 2002)

Why she never wanted to retire

“I’ll be like Bob Hope, touring when I’m 100. I love being busy. … I will never retire. I hope to fall dead in the middle of some great event or some great song I’m singing. Then they’ll say, ‘Oh well, she went happy and doing what she loves.’” (April 2004)

On her award show performance after Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s Super Bowl show

“There’s not going to be no wardrobe malfunction this evening. There’s not supposed to be, it’s not planned. But as tight as my clothes are there’s no telling what will happen. If it does happen, I’m going to wipe out the first three rows.” (April 2004)

Her label, Dolly Records, was an investment in herself

“I’m looking at it like an investment. I thought, ‘I’ve made enough money. I can afford to invest a little in myself.’” (March 2008)

On receiving her honorary doctorate

“Just think, I am Dr. Dolly! So when people say something about ‘Double-D,’ they will be thinking of something entirely different.” (May 2009)

Looking back on 25 years of Dollywood

“I always thought that if I made it big or got successful at what I had started out to do, that I wanted to come back to my part of the country and do something great, something that would bring a lot of jobs into this area. Sure enough, I was lucky, and God was good to me and things happened good.” (April 2010)

On being proud of Miley Cyrus

“I’m her fairy godmother. … I’m just real proud of her. She does not need my advice, but she’s often asking for information and advice, and I tell her what I know, but I think the girl’s doing all right without me.” (July 2010)

People thought Whitney Houston wrote one of her most famous songs

“People always tell me, ‘I thought that was Whitney’s song. I didn’t know you wrote it. I thought she wrote it.’ And I tell them, ‘She can have the credit. I’ll just take the cash.’” (December 2018)

On her charity work

“I don’t do it for attention. But look! I’m getting a lot of attention by doing it.” (October 2022)

On taking to rock music like ‘a duck on a June bug’

“I just didn’t think that I had done enough in the rock world to be considered, to be put in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame when there were so many great rock artists that are not even in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. … They were going to put me in anyway, so I just accepted it gracefully. But I thought, ‘Well, I’m going to have to earn my keep.’ … I jumped on that like a duck on a June bug.” (November 2023)

On her family album and legacy

“My grandpa used to say, when I got famous, he said, ‘Well, she came out crying in the key of D.’ I think we all did.”

“I hope that a lot of my songs may last that long. And I hope I’ll be remembered as somebody that tried to do some good in the world and left, you know, a few good things.” (November 2024)

On leaning into faith after losing husband Carl Dean and being a superstar

“I am a person of faith, and I truly believe that I’m going to see him again someday. And I see him every day in my memories and in my heart, and in all the things that we used to do and all the things that we’ve built together. You just kind of have to learn to kind of make new plans — but that’s the hardest part.”

“I don’t think about my life in terms of ‘superstar.’ I’m just a workin’ girl. I always say — and it’s the truth — that I am a workhorse that looks like a show horse. But I gotta keep it all up and I enjoy all of it. My husband always said, ‘If anybody was ever born to be a star, it’s you.’” (May 2025)

The quotes were compiled from interviews, including with AP journalists Maria Sherman, Gary Gerard Hamilton and Glenn Gamboa, as well as the late Bob Thomas and Frank Cormier and former AP journalist Mike Cidoni Lennox.

People began gathering Tuesday at the star, unveiled in 1984 at 6710 Hollywood Boulevard for the country music icon whose film and TV career flourished in the 1980s with hits like “9 to 5,” shortly after word her death at age 80.

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Her representatives said she had recently been diagnosed with cancer.

Parton’s star was unveiled in a dual ceremony with actor Sylvester Stallone, who co-starred with Parton in the movie “Rhinestone.” The 1985 musical comedy revolved around a bet that Parton’s character can turn a New York cab driver played by Stallone into a country music star.

One of the notes left at the Walk of Fame star read, “Thank you for loving me and accepting me before I knew how to love myself.”

Another borrowed the title of one of Parton’s award wining songs, “I will always love you Dolly.”

“Thank you, Dolly, Brazil misses you,” another card read, an example of Parton’s far-reaching influence.

“The glow of her being outshone every star,” was written on a piece of paper.

Flowers, candles, nail polish, Duncan Hines Dolly Parton cornbread mix, pink sunglasses and other items also were left at the star.

“I love Dolly,” said Walk of Fame visitor Jennifer Garza. “She means a lot to all of us girlies who really like music, and we write music and we play music and we look a different way. She was always about that.”

Parton earned nearly every major honor a musician could aspire to during her legendary career as singer-songwriter, but her influence spread well beyond country music and into the world of Hollywood films.

Parton, whose death at age 80 was announced Tuesday by her nephew and head of security Bryan Seaver, made her feature film debut with 1980s “9 to 5” and went on to amass a long list of acting credits. Parton, whose song by the same name became a workplace anthem, was already well established as a country music icon when she portrayed Doralee Rhodes in the story of three female employees who find creative and comedic ways to get even with their sexist boss played by Dabney Coleman.

Parton starred alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in the hit film, establishing herself as a pop culture figure with a broader audience. Parton’s song won two Grammy awards, and she was nominated for her first Academy Award (Best Music, Original Song).

Parton also became familiar to TV audiences with roles in variety specials and a long list of TV holiday films. She produced projects through her Sandollar Productions company.

She earned 11 Grammy Awards, a Country Music Hall of Fame induction and a Kennedy Center Honor.

Parton, who played at the Hollywood Bowl in July 2011 and October 2016, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.

“Our heart breaks for everyone who was touched by the music, personality, and compassion that Dolly Parton brought to this world,” the Hollywood Bowl said in a statement on social media. “A country-music maverick who welcomed everyone to the fold, a world-class singer who could bring the house down with her voice, a woman of so many talents they could be hard to keep track of—did you know she was an expert banjo player? Sending our love to all those who mourn her loss today.”

She was named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress in 2004 for her enrichment of the American cultural heritage.

Grint, who starred in all eight “Harry Potter” movies from 2001 to 2011, will join the play at the Lyric Theatre from Feb. 2 to May 30, 2027.

“Ron Weasley has been a part of me since I was 11 years old, and I can’t wait to meet him again in this stage of life,” Grint said in a statement. “There is something so full-circle and so special about stepping back into Ron’s shoes now when we are both fathers; it is somehow both very familiar and completely new.”

It will mark the second time a member of the “Harry Potter” film cast has joined the stage production. This year, Tom Felton reprised his role of Draco Malfoy, seeing box office receipts jump.

The play picks up 19 years after the end of the final novel, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” An adult Potter is married to Ginny Weasley, sister of his best friend, Ron, who married brainy Hermione. Both couples have children and all are in danger again. Ron runs his own joke shop, Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes.

“His return creates a powerful bridge between the story audiences first fell in love with and the story of family, legacy and the passage of time that ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ carries forward,” producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender said in a statement.

Grint made his Broadway debut in the original production of “It’s Only a Play,” opposite Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane. He made his West End debut in Jez Butterworth’s play “Mojo,” starring opposite Ben Whishaw.

The 33-year-old star shared a touching social media post Wednesday honoring Parton, her godmother who died this week at the age of 80.

“The feeling of losing my Aunt Dolly is beyond what feels right to share,” Cyrus wrote. “Our most sacred moments were private and they’ll stay there behind the stage, beneath the glamour & between our hearts.

“What I KNOW is Dolly would want me to feel it, write a song about it, and then continue on and be strong. I have an angel by my side. I always have. One of our last conversations was about music and metamorphosis.

“I will always love her and want to make her proud. My heart breaks for the world, her family and friends who will miss her deeply. We’re in this loss together and we will see her in all of the most beautiful things.”

Parton revealed in 2023 on SiriusXM’s “The Howard Stern Show” that country singer Billy Ray Cyrus asked her to be his daughter’s godmother while the two were touring together in 1992.

“We just got to be good friends because he’s a Kentucky boy, I’m from Tennessee,” Parton said. “And he said … ‘We’re having a girl, and you’ve got to be her godmother!’ And I said, ‘Well, I’d be honored.’ So, actually, Miley and I took over from there. We’ve just stayed very, very close through the years.”

Billy Ray Cyrus made a Facebook post Tuesday honoring Parton.

“I have so many moments and memories with Dolly Parton, it’s hard to know where to start,” he wrote. “Like every little boy, I grew up loving Dolly Parton. She was a part of our lives, on our TV’s, right in our living rooms.

“In 1992, I’ll never forget walking into her dressing room to apologize for all the tabloid stories which claimed I was having an affair with her. In true Dolly fashion, she just looked at me, winked and said, “Honey, this trash sells records!”

“Dolly recently sent me a beautiful message, telling me she loved me with her whole heart. I will always love her in the same way ….. with my whole heart … and I always will.”

Parton made multiple appearances alongside Miley and Billy Ray on their Disney Channel show “Hannah Montana” — playing the role of “Aunt Dolly.”

“I’m her fairy godmother,” Parton told the Associated Press in 2010. “I’m just real proud of her. She does not need my advice, but she’s often asking for information and advice, and I tell her what I know, but I think the girl’s doing all right without me.”

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The two also shared the stage on many occasions, including at the 2019 Grammy Awards, and hosted a New Year’s Eve special to ring in 2023. Later that year, they also collaborated on a cover of Cyrus’s 2013 hit “Wrecking Ball” for Parton’s album “Rockstar.”

“I’ve grown up covering my Aunt Dollys music & it’s an honor to hear her singing one of my songs,” Cyrus wrote at the time in an Instagram post.

When Parton was named to TIME’s 100 Most Influential People of 2021, Cyrus wrote her profile for the section.

“Have you ever met anyone who doesn’t love Dolly Parton?” Cyrus wrote. “I never have. Dolly is not only my idol because of her incomparable career — she’s also my role model because of her steadfast morals and values. At her core, she is the definition of a humanitarian.

“She may be my fairy godmother,” Cyrus continued, “but I think she’s that to everyone else too.”

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Longtime manager and friend Marcia Hurwitz said Curry died peacefully at his Toluca Lake home. Details about a cause of death were not immediately available.

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LAPD responded to Curry’s residence late Tuesday for a death investigation, the agency said. No foul play was suspected.

Curry, who suffered a stroke in 2012, played Dr. Frank N. Furter in the 1975 musical comedy film. He also played the terrifying clown Pennywise in the 1990 film based on Stephen King’s novel “It” and was Mr. Hector in “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.”

Curry got his start on stage in the West End London production of “Hair” in 1968. He was part of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” musical when it began its stage run at the Royal Court’s Theatre Upstairs in London. The show brought him to Los Angeles for performances at The Roxy on Sunset Boulevard before it was turned into a mid-1970s film that retains a cult following today.

The Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles first screened the film on a regular basis in 1976 and still offers weekly showings.

Curry continued performing on stage, including in Broadway productions, as his TV and film career accelerated in the 1970s and 1980s with several villainous roles.

“I like playing the more curious corners of the human mind and human behavior, partly because they’re a tad more interesting,” Curry told The Associated Press in 1993.

Curry was born in Cheshire, England and was the son of a Navy chaplain and school secretary. His father died when he was 12.

He started acting in his teens when he attended a school for sons of Methodist ministers.

“I was lucky that it was a liberal kind of school; many of them in England are rather Dickensian,” he told The Associated Press. “There was a lot of theater, and I sang, too; I had been singing in church from the age of 7. I had enormous opportunities to express myself in that way. I just got hooked, really.”

Curry graduated from the University of Birmingham and found stage success in London.

In addition to his role as the smug concierge in a futile struggle with Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin McCallister in “Home Alone 2,” Curry portrayed Wadsworth the butler with a secret past in 1985’s “Clue.” He was a wealthy philanthropist in 1995’s “Congo” and starred opposite Carol Burnett in the movie “Annie.”

Curry talked about his Hollywood experience in a 1996 AP interview.

“Hollywood tends to use European actors, especially English ones, as villains because they prefer heroes to be Americans,” Curry said. “I think we come with a certain amount of style, which is hard for American actors to acquire. They have to choose early on between New York and the theater vs. Hollywood and television and movies. In England there is still regional theater, where you can be assured work for several years doing all kinds of things.”

Curry also took on several voice-acting roles, including in “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” “The Wild Thornberrys” and “The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius.”

Curry, who never married and had no children, was private about his personal life, but he shared some personal thoughts in his memoir “Vagabond: A Memoir” He was convinced to tell his story because of so many moving encounters with fans, Curry wrote.

“The notion that my experiences might resonate helps me persevere — if they strike a chord with only one teenager, alone with a book in his room, as I so often was; or that young woman reading this on an interminably long bus ride; or that older queen, hopefully still in his fishnets, who saw “Rocky Horror” upstairs at the Royal Court; or that middle-aged mother who organizes ‘Clue’ watching parties and refuses entry to anybody out of costume; or that buttoned-up bank clerk who relishes musicals; or that woman who kicked me out of the Waverly for being myself.”

Curry is survived by his nieces, Kate Lewis, Julia and Patrick Bullman and great nieces, Josephine and Georgina and nephew, Mark Lewis

It has surfaced at pivotal moments, shaping her family story, her artistic evolution and now her grief.

To start, Cyrus’ father, Billy Ray Cyrus, was born on that day, giving it early significance within her family.

As her career accelerated, the date kept reappearing. In 2013, her transformation from teen star to global pop force crystallized on Aug. 25, the day she released “Wrecking Ball” and delivered her headline‑making VMA performance with Robin Thicke. The moment reshaped her public image and marked a turning point in her career.

A decade later, Cyrus made the date part of her narrative intentionally.

In a 2023 interview for the ABC special “Endless Summer Vacation,” Cyrus alum explained why she chose Aug. 25 as the release date for “Used to Be Young,” a single from her Endless Summer Vacation album. 

“I decided to release ‘Used To Be Young’ on Aug. 25 because this particular date historically has been important to me personally and in my career,” she said.

On Tuesday, that meaning behind the day deepened into something devastating.

Dolly Parton died on Aug. 25 at 80 after a battle with cancer. Parton, her godmother, had been a guiding figure throughout Cyrus’ life and helped her understand the music industry.

“The feeling of losing my Aunt Dolly is beyond what feels right to share,” Cyrus wrote in a tribute. “Our most sacred moments were private and they’ll stay there behind the stage, beneath the glamour & between our hearts.

“What I KNOW is Dolly would want me to feel it, write a song about it, and then continue on and be strong. I have an angel by my side. I always have. One of our last conversations was about music and metamorphosis.

“I will always love her and want to make her proud. My heart breaks for the world, her family and friends who will miss her deeply. We’re in this loss together and we will see her in all of the most beautiful things.”

Cyrus and Parton’s bond was also reflected in their work together. The two shared the stage several times over the years, including a widely praised duet of “Jolene” on “The Voice” in 2016. They reunited again during “Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party” in 2022, performing a mix of classics and fan favorites.

In Memoriam Aug 25

‘There will never be another Dolly': Celebrities react to death of Dolly Parton

Celebrity News Aug 25

Dolly Parton shared health updates in her final weeks. Here's what she said

In Memoriam Aug 25

Country music icon Dolly Parton dies at 80

Billy Ray Cyrus also honored Parton in a heartfelt tribute.

He said he had “so many moments and memories with Dolly” and recalled “walking into her dressing room” in 1992 to apologize for tabloid rumors linking them romantically. According to Cyrus, Parton simply winked and told him, “Honey, this trash sells records.” He added that Parton recently sent him a message saying she loved him with her whole heart and said he will always love her the same way.

She died after being diagnosed with cancer, her estate said in an Aug. 25 statement. Parton had not publicly disclosed before that she’d been getting treatment for the illness.

“After bravely facing a brief battle with cancer, Dolly departed her Earthly life today at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones,” the statement read in part.

In the days before her death, Parton did disclose some details about the health challenges that caused her to step away from the stage in recent months.

Fans first began to worry about the music legend’s wellbeing when she postponed her Las Vegas residency in September 2025 due to “health challenges,” she said at the time.

She later shared in March 2026 at the opening day celebration for Dollywood’s 41st season that “I’ve had a few little health issues, and we’re taking good care of them.”

“I just kind of got worn down and worn out, grieving over Carl and a lot of other little things going on,” Parton said, referencing the death of her husband of 60 years, Carl Thomas Dean.

“I just got myself kind of where I needed to build myself back up spiritually, emotionally, and physically. But, all is good. It didn’t slow me down.”

In a longer announcement on her Instagram page in May, she offered more details. “I have some good news and a little bad news,” Parton said in the video posted May 4, 2026.

“The good news is I’m responding really well to meds and treatments, and I’m improving every day. Now, the bad news is it’s going to take me a little while before I’m up to stage-performance level.”

Although she wasn’t performing, Parton insisted she was still grinding, working on a Broadway musical and opening a hotel and museum in Nashville, all while recovering and giving her health the attention it deserved.

In the days leading up to her death, Parton continued to address the ongoing health concerns. Here’s what she shared.

In Memoriam Aug 25

‘There will never be another Dolly': Celebrities react to death of Dolly Parton

In Memoriam Aug 25

Country music icon Dolly Parton dies at 80

Celebrity News Aug 25

Who was Dolly Parton's husband, Carl Dean? Everything she said about their 60-year marriage

She was going through ‘hard times’

In an Aug. 21 interview with People, Parton said she was going through some “hard times with my health.”

Before Dean’s death, she’d focused her attention on his health, she said. As a result, she was “dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl,” she told the outlet.

No stranger to health struggles, Parton dealt with surgeries, kidney stones, a hysterectomy and suicidal ideation over the years. Parton said this time, however, she was going through it with a social media spotlight on her that never dimmed.

“But I think because we live in a 24/7 world with social media, everything gets magnified in ways it wasn’t years ago,” she told People of the concern over her health.

“I used to joke that I was the Queen of the Tabloids, but now I guess I can say I’m the Queen of Social Media AI,” she added.

She felt ‘dizzy’ and ‘dehydrated’

To maintain face time with her supporters, Parton was working with a team to develop an avatar of herself to stand in for her at appearances and events she couldn’t attend, she told People.

Until that came to fruition, she recorded videos. At the opening of a new Dollywood theme park ride, the NightFlight Expedition, on Aug. 14, Parton joined attendees from a screen. In a video message projected at the event, Parton revealed that she sometimes gets “a little dizzy, and I get dehydrated.”

But she assured fans that she was getting better.

“All is going well on the medical end of things, and I continue working away on all our other projects.” She wished Dollywood guests well and promised to see them “down the road.”

She died after a ‘brief battle with cancer’

In an Aug. 25 statement several hours after Parton’s death was announced, her team revealed that her cause of death was cancer and she’d been a patient at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Tennessee.

“Our beloved Dolly Parton spent her life and career bringing joy, laughter, hope and integrity into everything she touched. Her unmatched generosity reached the lives of countless people whom she would never meet, yet she was always there to offer a helping hand,” the statement from Team Dolly read.

“Whether it be the hundreds of millions of books donated through her invaluable Imagination Library or funding research that helped create a lifesaving vaccine used around the world, Dolly’s unconditional love for all people was the guiding force for her lasting impact. After bravely facing a brief battle with cancer, Dolly departed her Earthly life today at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones.”

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:

• Read Dolly Parton’s Family’s Statement on Her Death in Full, Which She Hand-Selected Her Nephew to Deliver
• Tributes Pour in for Dolly Parton After Music Legend’s Death at Age 80
• 30 Dolly Parton Quotes and Words of Wisdom to Live By

While the country music legend had been in the spotlight since the ‘50s, her relationship with the businessman mostly remained out of the limelight.

Parton, a star on the stage, television and film, died on Aug. 25, 2026, at the age of 80. Her nephew Bryan Seaver confirmed her passing in a video message shared on her Instagram page. He did not mention a cause of death.

The news of her death came about a year after Parton had to postpone multiple concerts as a she faced “health challenges.”

Her death also followed the loss of her beloved husband, who died on March 3, 2025, at the age of 82.

She penned a sweet statement at the time reflecting on their decades of marriage.

“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy,” she wrote on her Instagram, alongside the announcement of his death.

Dean, who was from Nashville, was a businessman without any industry ties. In a 2023 interview for “What Would Dolly Do? Radio,” the singer gave insight into her long-standing private relationship.

“Carl has never been in the limelight and all, never wanted to be in it. He don’t like it,” said Parton.

She shared that after one public outing, he knew that life wasn’t for him.

“He went to one thing with me early on when we first married to a BMI Song of the Year (event), and he came out there taking off his tuxedo, his tie and all that and said, ‘Don’t ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things because I ain’t going,’” she said. “I never asked him and he never did.”

But despite their different approaches to public life, the two had a lasting relationship, celebrating 58 years of marriage before his death.

Here’s a look back at the major events in their relationship, from their first meeting at a laundromat to his support for her music.

In Memoriam Aug 25

‘There will never be another Dolly': Celebrities react to death of Dolly Parton

In Memoriam Aug 25

Country music icon Dolly Parton dies at 80

Parton and Dean met in 1964

Many people can live in a city for years before going on a date, but Parton met her husband on her very first day in Nashville. She told the New York Times that she brought a lot of dirty clothes with her, and stopped at the “Wishy-Washy” laundromat.

“After I’d put my clothes in the machine, I started walkin’ down the street, just looking at my new home, and this guy hollered at me, and I waved,” Parton told the New York Times in 1976. “Bein’ from the country, I spoke to everybody. And he came over and, well, it was Carl, my husband.”

In that 1976 interview, Parton had more to say about their first meeting.

“I wouldn’t go out with him. I mean, that was somethin’ we was taught. You gotta know somebody or they may take you on a back road and kill you. But I said, ‘You’re welcome to come up to the house tomorrow because I’m baby‐sittin’ my little nephew.’”

She said he came over every day for a week, and they sat on the porch and talked. “I wouldn’t even take him in the house,” she said.

But the first day she didn’t have to babysit, she said that Dean took her to meet his parents. “Cause he said he knew right the minute he saw me that that’s the one he wanted.”

They had a secret 1966 wedding

After dating for about two years, Dean proposed to her and they wed in May of that same year. While preparing for her wedding, the upcoming nuptials caused tension between her and her then-manager, Fred Foster.

“He asked me not to get married. He said it’ll make it so much harder if you’re married with all this promotion,” she said in a 2012 interview with Chattanooga, Tennessee, NBC affiliate WRCB.

“My mother-in-law had already sent out invitations,” Parton said. “It broke her heart because I said we had to call the wedding off.”

But that didn’t stop the two from getting married in a more private ceremony the following weekend. Only her mother, Avia Lee Owens, and Pastor Don Duvall and his wife were present at Ringgold Baptist Church where they tied the knot.

Parton wrote ‘Jolene’ in 1973

One of her most famous songs, “Jolene” tells the story of a woman begging for Jolene not to “take her man.” Parton said this was inspired by a “flirtation” that her husband had with a woman working at the local bank.

“She got this terrible crush on my husband,” Parton told NPR in 2008. “And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us — when I was saying, ‘Hell, you’re spending a lot of time at the bank. I don’t believe we’ve got that kind of money.’ So it’s really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.”

Parton got close with her bandleader in the 1980s

In a 1986 interview with Ladies’ Home Journal, republished in her book, “Dolly on Dolly: Interviews and Encounters with Dolly Parton,” the country icon spoke about how she had gotten “wrapped up” in an “affair of the heart” in 1982.

She told the outlet she’d faced the disloyalty of “a special friend, an affair of the heart, which just about killed me. Oh, I cried an ocean. But I ain’t gonna talk about it anymore,” she said, playfully. “I’ve got to keep some mystery.”

Parton said at the time that she and Dean were not divorcing, reiterating what she has said years earlier.

“We’ll just always be together,” she told People in 1982. “To him it’s all a joke. There ain’t a man in this world could ever live up to my husband. That’s one of the things that keeps me from going too far.”

In a 1982 interview with Barbara Walters, Parton confirmed that she’d been stuck at home in Tennessee for health issues alongside her husband. She joked that her months at home had “just about busted” their relationship.

“I’m glad to be going,” she explained. “He’s glad for me to be going and so we’re glad to get back to our abnormal.”

In the Walters interview, Parton added that she and her husband were “flirts” but were faithful “best I know how.”

“I just love people there and … being a woman away from home, there are these good looking guys that come on to you pretty strong. And every now and then I like to come on pretty strong myself,” she said. “But I know that I’ve got something at home, that I wouldn’t threaten or take a chance on losing for anything in the world.”

Parton said she and Dean were still a team in 1997

In a 1997 interview with Out Magazine in which she promoted her latest collection of dance club remixes, Parton explained that she and her longtime companion, Judy Ogle, was “just an old maid” and not her lover.

“People think because she’s never married that she must be a lesbian, and because we’ve been together, that we must be lovers. But the fact is, I think Judy would rather be called a lesbian than an old maid,” she quipped. “If I was gay, I’d certainly never find a finer person than Judy as a mate. I’m as close to her just about as I am with (my) husband.”

She also responded to rumors about her husband being out of the picture.

“They don’t … see my husband because he hates being in the limelight. But I see him all the time,” she told the outlet.

Parton added that the secret to her decadeslong marriage was simple.

“We just make a point to enjoy the stuff we enjoy and stay out of each other’s faces. I don’t get in his s—, and he don’t get in mine. And we get along great.”

The Out interview, along with many others, were reported in the 2017 book “Not Dumb and Not Blonde: Dolly in Conversation.” The book — which cites Parton and Randy Schmidt as authors — collected and published interviews with Parton dating as far back as 1967.

Parton and Dean renewed their vows in 2016

In May 2016, Parton and Dean got the wedding they planned years ago, but never got to have. The private affair was held at their Nashville-area home, and she said they “just had fun with it.”

“I got all dressed up in the most beautiful gown you’ve ever seen and dressed that husband of mine up. He looked like a handsome dude out of Hollywood,” Parton told Rolling Stone.

“We had a few family and friends around. We didn’t plan anything big at all because we didn’t want any kind of strain, any kind of tension, any kind of commotion, so we planned it cleverly and carefully. We just had a simple little ceremony at our chapel at our place. We just had just a few people who needed to be there to make sure they got the pictures and the few things that we needed.”

Parton also said that their vow renewal inspired a large portion of her album “Plain and Simple,” which was released that August.

Parton surprised Dean with a Playboy look for his birthday in 2021

In honor of her husband’s birthday, Parton donned a throwback look that she knew he would love. In July 2021, she put on a Playboy bunny costume in his honor.

“Remember sometime back I said I was going to pose on the cover of Playboy Magazine when I was 75? Well, I’m 75 and they don’t have a magazine anymore,” she said in a video at the time. “But my husband always loved the original cover of ‘Playboy’ so I was trying to think of something to do to make him happy.”

Parton was the first country star to pose for the now-defunct magazine, appearing on the cover in 1978. According to her official website, her contract at the time had “very specific parameters that did not include nudity,” but she still wore the classic bunny suit.

In her 2021 video, she said that she had a new cover made with her fresh outfit and “the new Dolly.”

“Well, the old new Dolly,” she said, good-naturedly. “In the first one, I was kind of a little butterball in that one. Well, I’m string cheese now.”

“But he’ll probably think I’m cream cheese,” Parton said with a wink. “I hope!”

Parton released her 2023 rock album with Dean’s support

The singer released her “Rockstar” album in 2023. On “What Would Dolly Do? Radio,” she spoke more about her husband’s reaction to hearing the album.

“I played him the whole album and he said, which to me was the greatest compliment in the world, he said, ‘You know, it’s pretty good,’” she said. “That would be like anybody else saying, ‘Oh, that’s best I ever heard. That’s just so fantastic.’”

She said Dean has always been honest with her about his opinions.

“I had done a couple of things in the past, just some rock things. He said, ‘It’s OK. It’s OK,’” Parton added. “He’s very honest. We have such a great relationship. I know not to ask him if I don’t want an honest answer.”

Parton announced Dean’s death in 2025

On March 3, 2025, a statement was shared on Parton’s Instagram announcing the death of her husband.

“Carl Dean, husband of Dolly Parton, passed away March 3rd in Nashville at the age of 82. He will be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending. He was survived by his siblings Sandra and Donnie,” the statement read, followed by a personal message by Parton.

“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years,” the singer wrote. “Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:

• Tributes Pour in for Dolly Parton After Music Legend’s Death at Age 80
• Dolly Parton’s Siblings: What to Know About Her 11 Brothers and Sisters
• What Dolly Parton Said About Not Having Children with Husband Carl Dean

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The beloved country music legend, actor and philanthropist died at the age of 80, her family announced Tuesday on social media. Parton’s team said she died surrounded by loved ones following with a brief battle with cancer.

Parton sold over 100 million records and was an 11-time Grammy winner – with 52 nominations, the second most all time among woman. She was also an Emmy winner, a two-time Oscar nominee and six-time Golden Globe nominee, including two nods for Best Performance by an Actress.

“Dolly Parton’s legacy is not celebrity, but humanity. She was a champion of equality and literacy. She was a picture of dignity, even when dressed outrageously,” the Country Music Hall of Fame wrote in a social media post.

News of Parton’s death led to an outpouring of tributes on social media.

Her friend and fellow country music legend Reba McIntire thanked Parton for “all the wonderful things you did for us here on earth.”

“Your love, your music and you gave so much with your huge huge heart,” McIntire continued. “There will never ever be another you.”

Singer Dionne Warwick wrote, “I will certainly miss her laugher, jokes and her being. Rest well and in total peace my friend. My heart is heavy.”

Country singer Kelsea Ballerini called Parton her “East Tennessee angel” on her Instagram Story, adding “thank you for every ounce of magic and butterflies, acceptance and joy, heart and music you brought to this world. we will always love you Dolly.”

President Donald Trump said on social media he was ordering flags lowered to honor the late country star.

“Very sad to report that Dolly Parton, one of the greatest Country singers, and far beyond, EVER, has just passed away,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “In her honor, I am lowering the American flag throughout the United States for a one week period beginning tonight at 6:00PM.”

He called her death “a true loss for millions of people. There has never been anyone like her, and never will.”
“Rest in Peace, Dolly!” he concluded. “The World loves you.”

Taylor Swift said in a statement that “A world without Dolly doesn’t feel possible, real, or right.”

“Dolly gave us someone to look up to while encouraging us to be who we are as individuals,” she added. “Somehow she was able to give us her lessons about the world gently and honestly, simultaneously, and oftentimes hilariously. She managed to give the world the ultimate mystery and fantasy in some corners of her life, but to give full transparency in the ways that counted.”

Many others fans, musicians, celebrities, politicians and others paid tribute to Parton.

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Parton, whose death at age 80 was announced Tuesday by her nephew and head of security Bryan Seaver, made her feature film debut with 1980s “9 to 5” and went on to amass a long list of acting credits. Parton, whose song by the same name became a workplace anthem, was already well established as a country music icon when she portrayed Doralee Rhodes in the story of three female employees who find creative and comedic ways to get even with their sexist boss played by Dabney Coleman.

In Memoriam Aug 25

Country music icon Dolly Parton dies at 80

In Memoriam Aug 25

‘There will never be another Dolly': Celebrities react to death of Dolly Parton

Parton starred alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in the hit film, establishing herself as a pop culture figure with a broader audience. Parton’s song won two Grammy awards, and she was nominated for her first Academy Award (Best Music, Original Song).

Tomlin shared an X post that included a photo of Parton and the caption, “Friend. Songwriter. The Great Harmonizer of Humanity. Dolly. Dolly. Dolly. Forever Dolly.”

In an Instagram post, Fonda recalled Parton’s gifts and her charity.

“I know that millions are mourning and I want to say this – more than anyone I have ever known, Dolly will always be with us because she was so present, so powerful, so generous and playful that she is woven into all our lives and hearts forever,” Fonda said. “We have our memories of her, her songs, Dollywood, 9 to 5, the millions of books she got into the hands of children, all the iconic images that bring her to us. And they are all blessings. Let’s be grateful for all that she has left us to ease our sadness now.”

Parton, who had a home in West Hollywood, followed “9 to 5” with roles in several other films.

“The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” (1982): Parton played Miss Mona Stangley, the protective proprietor of the “Chicken Ranch” brothel. She starred alongside Burt Reynolds in the musical comedy that earned Parton a second Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. Parton performed her stirring hit “I Will Always Love You” for the movie.

Parton released the song in 1974, and it later became a hit for Whitney Houston in 1992. In a 2021 interview with People magazine, Parton reflected on the song’s lasting success over the decades.

“You never know when you’re writing songs, how they’re going to turn out,” Parton told People in 2021. “But after ‘I Will Always Love You’ became a worldwide thing, it was in the movie ‘The Bodyguard,’ and it was No. 1. I really felt my worth.

“Whitney did such a fantastic job. And I thought, ‘Wow. I wrote that little song.’ That’s when I felt my worth as a songwriter. This is my gift and I’m going to do the best I can with it.”

“Rhinestone” (1984): Parton and Sylvester Stallone shared the screen in a musical comedy involving a bet that Parton’s character can turn a New York cab driver into a country music star. A few lessons later at her Tennessee home and Stallone’s character is on a path toward a dramatic career change.

“Steel Magnolias” (1989): Parton played Truvy Jones, a Louisiana beauty salon owner who shared her wisdom with customers. The comedy-drama about the friendship shared by a group of woman also featured Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine and Julia Roberts.

Field shared a heartfelt Instagram post Monday about her co-star.

“If there are truly angels on earth, then we have just lost one,” Field said. “Dolly Parton. There will never be another. I adored her with all my heart and will always cherish our time together. Forever. Rest in peace beautiful Dolly.”

“Straight Talk” (1992): Parton’s character leaves small town Arkansas life behind for the big city, in this case it’s Chicago, and accidentally becomes a radio talk show host.

“Joyful Noise” (2012): Parton teamed up with Queen Latifah in this feel-good film about a choir that takes a new direction under a new director entering a high-stakes national competition.

Parton also became familiar to TV audiences with roles in variety specials and a long list of TV holiday films. Parton also produced projects through her Sandollar Productions company.

She earned 11 Grammy Awards, a Country Music Hall of Fame induction and a Kennedy Center Honor.

Parton, who played at the Hollywood Bowl in July 2011 and October 2016, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984 and was later inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. Parton’s star is located at 6710 Hollywood Boulevard, where flowers will be placed Tuesday afternoon in her memory.

“Today, we will place flowers on the Walk of Fame star of our beloved Dolly Parton with profound sadness and gratitude,” aid Ana Martinez, Hollywood Walk of Fame producer. “Dolly was a once-in-a-lifetime talent whose music, films, generosity, and unmistakable spirit touched millions around the world. Her loss is immeasurable—not only to her family, friends, and fans, but to the entire world. The Hollywood Walk of Fame will forever shine a little brighter because Dolly Parton walked among us.”

She was named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress in 2004 for her enrichment of the American cultural heritage.

No cause of death was announced in Seaver’s Instagram post.

In her new Dazed interview, West was asked what she would be doing if she were not an artist.

“What would I be? I still wanna work. I wanna work at, like, Starbucks next year,” she said. “I think I can next year ’cause I am gonna be 14, so … I think I can. I want to have a regular job, I guess.”

West, the daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, also spoke openly about the pressures of being a teenager today and how her priorities differ from her peers’.

“Everyone’s in love with boys, vaping and doing all kinds of bad stuff,” she said. “All I want is blue hair and piercings.”

Her look is inspired by Japanese virtual pop idol Hatsune Miku and her electric blue ponytails have quickly become a defining part of her emerging aesthetic.

As she continues to shape her identity as an artist, West revealed the worst advice she has ever been given and why she ignored it.

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“To start my career later. It’s like, nah, this is my hobby, this is what I like to do, this is what I wanna do with my life,” she said.

Many young artists are encouraged to wait, but West is already releasing music, performing at festivals and creating a clear artistic identity while also, apparently, craving the normalcy of having a job behind the counter.

Parton’s team said she had faced a brief battle with cancer and died Tuesday surrounded by her loved ones.

Parton’s nephew, Brian Seaver, announced the country music icon’s death in a video posted to her Instagram account.

“My name is Brian Seaver, son of Cassie Parton, and I’m representing the Parton and Owens family today announcing the passing of my aunt, Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean, Sister, Sis and Granny to one generation and Gigi to the next,” Seaver said in a video.

The star’s team honored her legacy, saying she “spent her life and career bringing joy, laughter, hope and integrity into everything she touched.”

“Her unmatched generosity reached the lives of countless people whom she would never meet, yet she was always there to offer a helping hand,” Team Dolly said in a statement. “Dolly’s unconditional love for all people was the guiding force for her lasting impact.”

In the last year, Parton had canceled a string of concerts and appearances due to unspecified health challenges. She announced in May 2026 that she was canceling a Las Vegas show and said she’d been undergoing treatment for kidney stones for several years.

“Lord, they dig more stones out of me a year than the rock quarry in Rockwood, Tennessee,” Parton said in a statement. “But seriously, my immune system and my digestive system got all out of whack over the past couple three years, and they’re working real hard on rebuilding and strengthening those and hopefully I’ll be up to snuff again soon.”

In Memoriam Aug 25

‘There will never be another Dolly': Celebrities react to death of Dolly Parton

Celebrity News Aug 25

Who was Dolly Parton's husband, Carl Dean? Everything she said about their 60-year marriage

Born Dolly Rebecca Parton on Jan. 19, 1946, in Pittman Center, Tennessee, the country icon made her debut album, “Hello, I’m Dolly,” released in 1967, after achieving success as a songwriter for other artists.

She received 52 Grammy nominations, 11 wins and was the second-most nominated woman in Grammy history, behind only Beyoncé, who has 79 nods and 24 wins.

Parton’s biggest hits include her three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 — “9 to 5,” “Here You Come Again” and “Islands in the Stream.” She also has 25 No. 1 Hot Country songs like “Yellow Roses,” “Think About Love,” “Tennessee Homesick Blues” and “Jolene.”

She also saw success in Hollywood, starring in films like “9 to 5” and “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” both of which earned her Best Actress Golden Globe nominations.

Bedecked in blonde bouffant hairdos and never without her makeup, Parton also became one of the nation’s best known brands who parried questions about her hourglass figure and augmented breasts with her signature self-deprecating wit.

“It costs a lot of money to look this cheap,” Parton once said.

Parton, the fourth of 12 children from a poor Appalachian family, said her father was “one of the smartest people I’ve ever known,” but he was embarrassed that he couldn’t read.

The country music legend made it her mission over the past three decades to improve literacy through her Imagination Library book giveaway program.

The singer was always recognized as a philanthropist, and when Hurricane Helene struck Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and her hometown, Tennessee, she made a $1 million donation to cover recovery efforts.

Other moments where she gave back to the community include a call she made to a fan after he had learned that his chemotherapy and radiation treatments were no longer working, and that his cancer was spreading.

“I’ve heard you’ve been a fan of mine for many years and I just wanted to thank you for that,” the singer told Gold in a video of the call shared on Instagram.

This bucket-list interaction left the Utah man feeling like he was “on top of the world.”

Never shy at expressing her Christian faith, Parton was also a public supporter of the LGBTQ community who advocated for marriage equality and spoke up in defense of transgender people.

“I keep saying: If you’re the fine Christian that you think you are, why are you judging people,” Parton said during a 2017 interview with Larry King. “That’s God’s job.”

Before her passing, the singer’s husband of 58 years, Carl Dean, had died on March 3, 2025, in Nashville. He was 82.

Parton honored her love story with Dean — who famously avoided the spotlight after not enjoying a 1967 event he attended with his wife — by releasing a song dedicated to him called “If You Hadn’t Been There” days after his passing.

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“Obviously medical matters are private but it’s routine and he will be back in a few weeks,” the 66-year-old music executive’s representative said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly.

Cowell’s rep did not immediately respond to TODAY.com’s request for additional comment.

Cowell sits on the judging panel with Howie Mandel, Sofia Vergara and Mel B. The quartet are currently deciding which contestants will advance from the quarterfinals stage. The rep did not confirm when the toughest judge is expected to return to Season 21, which premiered in June.

It’s not yet confirmed if a guest will fill in for Cowell at the judge’s table.

News of Cowell’s surgery was first reported by TMZ. Sources with direct knowledge told the publication that he is undergoing a routine procedure related to his back and that there is no indication of a new major health crisis.

The television personality has had to undergo an operation to treat his back problems before.

In August 2020, he had a six-hour surgery after breaking his back in multiple places, his rep told TODAY.com at the time. The operation involved many procedures and fusions, and required a metal rod to be placed in Cowell’s back.

A spokesperson said that Cowell injured his back after falling from his electric bike at his home in Malibu.

A year later, he opened up about the severity of the situation while appearing on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”

“I was like a millimeter away from breaking my spine, which would have been a disaster,” he revealed. “So in a weird way it was kind of meant to happen because I was really pushing my luck.”

Dowel recalled that his son Eric was with him when he was “thrown about 8 feet in the air” and landed on the ground.

“This is at the front of my house and the only thing I thought was, ‘I can’t lie here.’ And you’re not supposed to move. I knew I’d broken my back in that second, somehow managed to get back into my bedroom,” he added.

He said in addition to a large scar, he was left with a titanium rod and screws in his back following the surgery.

Cowell also addressed the accident during an interview with TODAY’s Jason Kennedy in May 2023.

“It was painful, it wasn’t great,” he said about the fall.

“However, I was so unfit before the accident. I didn’t know how unfit I was until I had to do all this stuff afterwards,” he continued. “And I’m like, ‘My God.’ Things like that, I believe, happened for a reason.”

He also shared that he planned to still ride his bike despite the injury.

“I’m obsessed with these things,” he said.

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The pop star shared the unexpected origin story during “The Icon Sessions,” a 20‑year retrospective hosted by Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. and the Songwriters & Composers Wing, held live at the GRAMMY Museum. 

The conversation explored the evolution of Swift’s songwriting across her catalog, including how one of her most recognizable tracks took a dramatic turn in the studio.

Swift said she arrived at the session with a stripped‑down, emotional version of the song. 

“I wrote this really sad piano ballad called ‘I Knew You Were Trouble,'” she said. “I was really excited to bring it in and I played them this really, really sad ballad and I was like, ‘I think just no drums.'”

Her collaborators immediately pushed the track in a different direction.

“They’re like, ‘What if it’s dubstep?'” Swift recalled. “Oh yeah, like ‘What if it’s electric guitar and dubstep? Like we’re not putting a piano in this.'”

Swift admitted she hesitated at first.

 “I was like, ‘I don’t know, guys … let’s give it a run. I don’t know.'”

Ultimately, she said the shift unlocked the song’s full potential.

“It ended up being the best thing for it,” she said. “As a collaborator, my favorite people to be in the room with are yes‑and people. So why not try it?”

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Swift added that she sought out those producers because she wanted to avoid repeating herself creatively. 

“I came to them specifically because I didn’t want to be making lateral moves creatively,” she said. “Why wouldn’t we go down that path? Why wouldn’t we?”

She said the energy in the studio shaped the final track.

“I really think that enthusiasm in the studio can make or break what you end up creating,” she said.

Released in 2012 as part of Swift’s “Red” era, “I Knew You Were Trouble” became one of her biggest breakout pop hits, debuting in the top 10 and ultimately peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The “Severance” star was one of the guests at the epic nuptials between the Kansas City Chiefs star tight end and the global pop superstar, set at Madison Square Garden on July 3.

“It was kind of on a grand scale,” Scott told Craig Melvin on TODAY Aug. 24. “There were more people than were at my wedding, but at its core, it just felt like a regular wedding with two people coming (together). Everyone was teared up. It was a really lovely, lovely event.”

Despite all the spectacle, the details of which have slowly trickled out from the star-studded guest list, Scott said all the emotions involved were heartfelt and genuine.

“It was incredible,” he said. “It was really terrific. The impression we had more than anything was that it was a real wedding. You had the sense that these are just people who love each other.”

Among the many people jealous of Scott for scoring a coveted invite was his teen daughter Francesca “Frankie” Scott, who is a diehard Swiftie. Craig asked the actor if going to the wedding scored him some dad points with his daughter.

“Sure did, except I didn’t bring her, so I lost some points at the same time,” Scott said. “But she stayed up and waited for us to come home that night to get all the details.”

Craig asked if Scott could reveal any of those actual details that he shared with his daughter.

“I can’t,” Scott said. “You can have her on, and she’ll tell you what happened.”

“Honestly, we would book her tomorrow if she would share,” Craig joked.

Scott attended the wedding with his wife, Naomi Scott, as well as Paul Rudd and wife Julie Rudd. The “Parks & Recreation” actor shared a photo of the two couples in their wedding guest best, with the caption, “❤️T&T❤️.”

After attending the wedding of the year this summer, Scott has now joined his castmates for the third season of “Severance,” which he said is “a few weeks in” to shooting.

He also stars in the new Netflix crime thriller “The Whisper Man,” which begins streaming on Aug. 28. Scott plays a widower whose 8-year-old son goes missing, and he reaches out for help to his estranged father, a retired cop played by Robert De Niro. 

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The domestic diva had quite the reaction to seeing the ad, which, unbeknownst to her, also featured “Off Campus” star Belmont Cameli.

“Oh, pumpkin spice latte? The drink that makes us all a little more basic?” she says in the spot before a barista hands her the latte she ordered.

“This smells like my house in the fall,” she says about the treat. “It’s perfect.”

Cameli, with drink in hand, then walks up the counter asking for a straw. Martha turns and the two size each other up.

“You would get it hot,” he tells her with a wry smile.

“Should I know him?” Stewart then says to the camera as she walks away. Cameli looks on at her before turning to the camera and winking.

It turns out, Stewart may be oblivious to Cameli because he wasn’t actually on hand when she shot the commercial, at least according to the lifestyle maven.

“Wow! The actor I was interacting with while we shot the commercial was a different guy — a ‘stand in.’ This guy is cuter,” she wrote in the comments of the clip shared on Starbucks’ Instagram page.

Stewart’s reaction certainly resonated with fans.

“@marthastewart48 save some Belmont for us, bestie,” someone replied.

“@marthastewart48 as always has impeccable taste,” another person commented.

“oh my heart breaks for the poor stand in whenever he sees this,” joked another fan.

“Martha slaying in her own comment section,” someone else wrote.

While Cameli may be new to Stewart, the actor’s star is actively on the rise. After appearing in “Along for the Ride” and “The Alto Knights,” his breakout role came with Prime Video’s college hockey drama “Off Campus.”

Cameli stars as hockey star Garrett Graham opposite Ella Bright as aspiring singer Hannah Wells. After leading Season 1, Cameli and Bright are set to return for “Off Campus” Season 2, which is already filming.

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In an Instagram post shared Aug. 21, Paquin blasted the industry, accusing it of failing to protect “pre-sexualized female, child ‘stars’” including Panettiere. Paquin, who made her acting debut in the 1993 film “The Piano,” was 9 years old when filming began. Panettiere’s television career began at 4 years old in the soap opera “One Life to Live.”

“It’s not a coincidence that so many former, specifically pre-sexualized female, child ‘stars’ have profoundly sad lives and untimely ends,” Paquin, now 44, wrote in the post, before likely referencing the deaths of Panettiere, Michelle Trachtenberg and Daveigh Chase. “We were not as protected by the ‘systems’ that look great on paper, as we are supposed to be. RIP HP, MT, DC and too many others.”

Trachtenberg died in 2025 at age 39 due to complications from diabetes. Chase died in June at age 35 from AIDS. Her father John Schwallier confirmed to NBC News that she was homeless at the time of her death.

Paquin also encouraged others who have backgrounds as child stars to reach out to her for support.

“It’s a strange small club we belong to and you are worthy of support no matter how our industry made us feel. Literally DM me,” Paquin wrote. “I believe you and I will stand by your side. You aren’t alone. Let’s have each other’s backs. It might make public disclosure less terrifying.”

Panettiere was found unresponsive Aug. 16 at a residence in Greenville, South Carolina and later pronounced dead. She was 36. Her passing has reignited discussions around the treatment of child stars. Panettiere, who’s also known for her roles in “Heroes” and “Nashville,” had begun to appear on screen when she was not yet a year old. In her book, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” published in May, Panettiere wrote that she had “lost the chance to have a ‘normal’ childhood.”

In her memoir, Panettiere described a collection of traumatic events, including when, at 19, she was asked to get in bed with an older celebrity. The actor also described moments when a television executive kissed her on the lips, and when an Oscar-winning actor and director exposed himself to her at a party.

When she was 15 years old, Panettiere was given “happy pills” before walking a red carpet — an incident that would kickstart a long battle with drug addiction, she has said.

“I had no idea that this was not an appropriate thing, or what door that would open for me when it came to my addiction,” she said in a 2022 interview with People.

Paquin, who’s also known for her roles in “X-Men” and “True Blood” has been open about her experiences as a child star in the past. The actor, who won the Oscar for best supporting actress at age 11 for her performance in “The Piano,” told The Guardian in a 2019 interview that she’s had “some absolutely horrific experiences” as someone growing up in the industry.

“People treat people who have no power, sometimes, in ways that are completely unacceptable,” Paquin told the outlet. “But when you’re a child and you don’t know any different, and you don’t want to get into trouble, you just keep your mouth shut.”

Paquin’s latest post has drawn praise from several other former child stars including Mara Wilson, who played the titular character in 1996 film “Matilda,” and Alyssa Milano whose breakout role was as character Samantha Micelli in 1980s sitcom “Who’s The Boss?” 

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Bolleau was 14 at the time of the alleged attacks, which she said unfolded during the filming of the Disney Channel movie, “The Poof Point.” The plaintiff, now 39, said her alleged attacker, who is not named in the suit, was “a lifelong resident of California” who was more than twice as old as she was at the time.

“John Doe” was “an on-set, adult, middle-aged, male employee of Disney who was involved in the filming of the movie” who “repeatedly raped, sexually assaulted, sexually abused and sexually harassed” Bolleau, according to the suit, which was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday.

“Mr. Doe’s sexual abuse of Ms. Bolleau was apparent to the adults on Disney’s set,” the suit states. “Disney repeatedly failed Ms. Bolleau.”

A representative of Disney, based in Burbank, California, could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday.

Bollea’s other credits include voicing Olei on Disney’s “The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder,” and Nubia Gross in “The proud Family” original series and movie, according to IMDBShe’s also appeared in shows like “Real Husbands of Hollywood” and films like “Stan the Man.”

She alleges the abuse she experienced derailed her career because she had “trauma of returning to a set,” according to the lawsuit.

Her lawsuit comes amid growing scrutiny of how child performers have been treated in Hollywood.

The 2024 documentary “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” detailed allegations of toxic working conditions on some Nickelodeon shows. Bolleau participated in the documentary, where she opened up about her experiences as a Black actor on “The Amanda Show,” but she did not discuss the allegations made in her recent lawsuit.

Other former child stars have since spoken about the pressures of growing up in the industry and called for stronger support.

Protections for child performers have expanded over the past decade, including new on-set advocates and tighter rules for adults working with minors. But industry sources told NBC News last week that safeguards remain inconsistent and have not kept pace with growing awareness of the potential mental health effects of child stardom.

The alleged abuse toward Bolleau occurred in Utah, where “The Poof Point” was filmed in Utah, often in the man’s hotel room after he supplied her with alcohol, as well as on set, according to the lawsuit.

“On set, Mr. Doe regularly fondled and excessively touched Ms. Bolleau, often rubbing his genitals on Ms. Bolleau while giving her unsolicited hugs,” the suit states. “No one from Disney stopped this extremely inappropriate touching and molestation of a child.”

The abuse continued after the cast left Salt Lake City, with the man sexually assaulting Bolleau under a blanket as they flew back to California, the lawsuit said.

Bolleau’s work on “The Poof Point” suffered due to the alcohol and sex, according to the lawsuit.

“Disney recognized Ms. Bolleau’s sudden shift in demeanor and performance — clear indicia of child sexual abuse — and attacked, blamed and threatened Ms. Bolleau, a victim of rape, and Ms. Bolleau’s mother,” according to the lawsuit.

The studio “has been protecting and empowering sexual predators,” the lawsuit adds.

Bolleau’s lawsuit does not specify the amount of damages she is seeking.

“Over the last decade, countless child actors have come forward to bravely share their experiences of abuse by adults in entertainment,” Bolleau’s attorneys, Douglas Wigdor and Jane Kim, said in a statement, adding that those responsible “directly or indirectly” should be held accountable.

Joe Kottke and Alexandra Detwiler contributed.

In a statement, Bonta said the meeting scheduled for Monday was canceled after what he called a confidentiality issue stemming from a Friday meeting between his office and Paramount Skydance.

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“As I’ve said before, generally for all cases, I prefer to resolve disputes in the boardroom, not the courtroom,” Bonta said. “As I’ve also said, if the opposing party in litigation wants to meet in good faith to make a sincere effort to resolve the case, we’ll meet.

“My office had a meeting with Paramount on Friday. Paramount did not maintain the confidentiality of that meeting. Not only did Paramount leak the alleged substance of settlement discussions, but they misrepresented these discussions, demonstrating a lack of good faith. As soon as Paramount stops playing games and engages sincerely, my office is happy to meet again.”

A Paramount Skydance spokesperson provided the following statement later Monday morning.

“We share AG Bonta’s concerns about the public discussions and misreporting that has surrounded this deal,” the spokesperson said. “As we have assured the Attorney General’s office, Paramount has not been the source of the leaks of any of our confidential discussions with the AG’s office. We remain hopeful and stand ready to continue good faith discussions to resolve the Attorneys General suit and move forward with our plans for increased competition and increased output to the benefit of the talent and entertainment workers.”

Bonta has called the proposed merger illegal, claiming it would lead to higher prices, lower quality content and fewer films and TV productions.

In an Aug. 14 statement, Paramount CEO David Ellison said in an Aug. 14 statement that the merger will create a “stronger competitor with greater capacity to invest in premium content, support creative talent and workers, and deliver more high-quality entertainment to audiences.”

The proposed merger was reviewed June 12 by the U.S. Department of Justice. Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general filed a federal antitrust lawsuit in July seeking to stop the deal.

Under an agreement reached in the case, Paramount and Warner Bros. cannot complete the transaction until June 1, 2027, or until after a court decision on the states’ claims, whichever occurs first. A trial is scheduled for March 2027.

Last week, a report from the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity and L.A. County Film Office estimated a total of 10,360 job-years could be at risk due to the merger, including direct film and television jobs and employment supported by production spending. A job-year is the equivalent of one full-time job lasting one year, according to the report.

“Criticizing the actions of the Israeli prime minister, a military technology contract, or the executives who supply it is not the same as criticizing Jewish people,” Ruffalo wrote in an X post Saturday. “This critical and necessary dialogue is then dishonestly framed as being anti-Israel.”

The dispute traces back to a social media post from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement — a Palestinian-led campaign opposing Israel’s occupation, which began in 1967 — that Ruffalo had boosted.

The post featured comments from Oracle executive vice chair Safra Catz describing the company’s assistance to Israel following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack.

Catz said Oracle undertook efforts it couldn’t fully discuss to support the Israeli military, alluding to advanced technology the company made available for that purpose.

BDS captioned the clip by accusing Oracle of being“complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity — including apartheid and genocide against Palestinians.”

Ruffalo reshared the post to his Instagram story Friday, taking aim at Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison — who backed his son David Ellison’s acquisition of Paramount Global through Skydance Media. Ruffalo argued that Larry Ellison is “using [Oracle] to fund his son David’s Warner Bros acquisition.”

“These ‘really profoundly scary technologies’ will most likely be merged into one of the largest media conglomerates in the world and one day used on you,” Ruffalo wrote. “Look how [Catz] revels in what we now have come to see as a genocide, which was built on an apartheid system of oppression powered by Oracle.”

Ruffalo urged his followers to push back against the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, arguing it would be “catastrophic for our film industry” through job losses, higher cable costs, and reduced competition.

The merger remains on hold, possibly until next June, while a federal judge considers a lawsuit from a coalition of state attorneys general challenging the deal over antitrust grounds.

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Paramount responded over the weekend, saying it was “troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute.”

“Words like ‘genocide’ and ‘apartheid,’ applied to a corporate transaction, aren’t just wrong — they’re a bridge too far, and they cheapen the very real suffering those words are meant to describe,” Paramount said in a statement to multiple news outlets. “This doesn’t deserve a response in kind — and to be clear, we don’t tolerate prejudice of any kind, against anyone.”

In his Saturday response on X, Ruffalo reiterated that his criticism was not directed at Jewish people. He said the merger “has real consequences for real people, and for the entire country.”

“Scrutinizing the Ellisons, including Oracle’s business built on data, surveillance technology and government contracts, and the serious threat to editorial freedom and the loss of a livelihood for thousands of families, is fair and necessary,” the actor wrote. “The $111 billion deal would hand one family control over CNN, HBO and Warner Bros., backed in part by foreign money whose influence on editorial decisions has never been fully explained to the public.”

A Paramount spokesperson said the company has no further comment.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a pro-Israel human rights organization, took to social media Saturday to “commend Paramount for speaking clearly and refusing to allow prejudice to masquerade as political or corporate criticism.”

Jack Simony, president and director general of the nonprofit Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation, issued a similar statement via email.

“Paramount deserves recognition for confronting antisemitic tropes directly and unequivocally,” Simony wrote. “From the earliest days of Hollywood, Jews working in media have seen their participation recast as control and their success as conspiracy.”

Ruffalo’s comments also drew criticism from Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent pro-Israel advocacy group.

The actor has long been a critic of Israel’s military conduct in Gaza, frequently using his social media platforms and public appearances to draw attention to civilian suffering there.

In 2021, he apologized for social media posts suggesting Israel was committing genocide, calling the characterization inaccurate, inflammatory, and disrespectful, and warning that it risked fueling antisemitism. Since then, however, his criticism of Israel has grown more pointed.

Last September, a United Nations commission concluded that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Public opinion in the U.S. has also shifted: a February Gallup poll found that , for the first time, more Americans said they sympathized with Palestinians (41%) than with Israelis (36%).

Ruffalo was among thousands of film industry workers who pledged last year not to work with Israeli film institutions they say are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”

In a September interview with Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan, he described Israel’s actions in Gaza in blunt terms, calling them a famine, a genocide, and ethnic cleansing.

Amita Kelly contributed.