Washington — On Friday, “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill visited the White House with President Joe Biden, leaving with a pair of the president’s aviator sunglasses and a newfound respect for the job.

“I love the merch,” he added, removing his glasses briefly at the White House daily press briefing following his meeting with Biden. Hamill, 72, famous for playing Luke Skywalker, joked with reporters that he’d answer a few questions as long as they weren’t about “Star Wars.”

‘Star Wars’ Actor Mark Hamill Drops By White House For A Visit With ‘Joe-Bi-Wan Kenobi’

“I was honored to be asked to come to the White House to meet the president,” he told reporters. He’d been to the White House previously, during the Carter and Obama administrations, but he’d never seen the Oval Office, which he described as impressive. According to Hamill, Biden displayed photographs and other memorabilia from the Oval Office.

Hamill claimed Biden told him to call him “Joe,” to which Hamill responded with an alternative suggestion: “Can I call you Joe-bi-Wan Kenobi?”

“He liked that,” said Hamill, who also portrayed the Joker in “Batman: The Animated Series.”

‘Star Wars’ Actor Mark Hamill Drops By White House For A Visit With ‘Joe-Bi-Wan Kenobi’

Both Mark and the White House were hazy about the cause for his visit. But Mark, a Democrat and Biden supporter with a sizable social media following, has been posting about the president’s reelection campaign this week.

“May 1 Not Quench Your Thirst For Biden’s Re-election!” he tweeted on May 1.

On Friday, he wrote, “May 3 be absurd that the guy who tried to steal a fair election is allowed to run again,” referring to Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

May 4 is unofficially known as “Star Wars” Day, partly due to the famous Jedi line “May the Force Be With You.” The pun is “May 4 be with you.”

‘Star Wars’ Actor Mark Hamill Drops By White House For A Visit With ‘Joe-Bi-Wan Kenobi’

Mark also provided his voice for “Air Alert,” a downloadable program linked to Ukraine’s air defense system. His voice warns citizens to take cover if Russia launches another aerial strike on Ukraine.

SOURCE – (AP)

LONDON — Kevin Spacey, the Oscar-winning actor, has denied new charges of inappropriate behavior by men who will appear in a British television documentary airing next week.

In an online interview with journalist Dan Wootton, Spacey stated that he has never done anything unlawful and has struggled to return to work since being convicted of criminal charges in a London court last year.

“I can’t go through this again, allowing myself to be baselessly attacked without defending myself,” he said in the “Kevin Spacey: Right Of Reply” interview, which aired late Friday on Wootton’s YouTube channel.

Kevin Spacey Denies New Allegations Of Inappropriate Behavior To Be Aired On UK Television Next Week

Last July, a London jury cleared Spacey of sexual assault charges stemming from 20-year-old allegations made by four men. The court triumph was his second since defending himself against a $40 million lawsuit filed in New York in 2022 by “Star Trek: Discovery” actor Anthony Rapp.

The documentary “Spacey Unmasked” will be shown on Channel 4 in Britain on May 6 and 7 and on Max in the United States.

The actor mentioned during the interview that the program will feature men’s evidence about events between 1976 and 2013.

“I take full responsibility for my past behaviour and my actions, but I cannot and will not take responsibility or apologize to anyone who’s made up stuff about me or exaggerated stories about me,” said Spacey, who received Academy Award nominations for “The Usual Suspects” and “American Beauty.”

“I’ve never told someone that if they give me sexual favors, then I will help them out with their career, never,” he said.

Kevin Spacey Denies New Allegations Of Inappropriate Behavior To Be Aired On UK Television Next Week

Spacey, the creative director of the Old Vic Theatre in London from 2004 to 2015, said that he was a “flirt” with men in their twenties and occasionally made “clumsy” advances.

“I’ve clearly hooked up with some men who thought they might get ahead in their careers by having a relationship with me,” he went on to say. But there was no conversation with me. It was all part of their plan, a plan that was always destined to fail because I wasn’t in on the deal.”

The actor also stated on X, formerly Twitter, that he had “repeatedly requested” that Channel 4 give him more than seven days to reply to the claims brought against him in their program.

Spacey said that the network turned down his request “on the basis that they feel that asking for a response in 7 days to new, anonymized and non-specific allegations is a ‘fair opportunity’ for me to refute any allegations made against me.”

“Each time I have been given the time and a proper forum to defend myself, the allegations have failed under scrutiny and I have been exonerated,” he said.

Kevin Spacey Denies New Allegations Of Inappropriate Behavior To Be Aired On UK Television Next Week

Spacey said he had struggled to return to work since being acquitted of all criminal charges, characterizing the experience as a “life sentence.”

His acting career had suffered since 2017 when he was publicly accused of inappropriate behavior at the start of the #MeToo movement. He then lost his starring role as Frank Underwood in the Netflix thriller “House of Cards”.

SOURCE – (AP)

Los Angeles — Dan Schneider, a former Nickelodeon producer and writer, sued the makers of “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV” on Wednesday, claiming the documentary series falsely claimed that he sexually abused the child actors with whom he worked.

Schneider filed a defamation lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Warner Bros. Discovery and the other corporations involved in the series.

Schneider, a former teen actress, was a key figure in Nickelodeon’s dominance of youth culture in the 1990s and 2000s. She worked on sketch series “All That,” “The Amanda Show,” and “Kenan & Kel,” as well as as an executive producer on shows such as “Zoey 101,” “iCarly,” and “Victorious.”

Ex-Nickelodeon Producer Schneider Sues ‘Quiet On Set’ Makers For Defamation And Sex Abuse Implications

He is also a prominent figure in “Quiet on Set,” which premiered on true crime cable channel ID in March. It has since been streamed on Max, creating a big splash among Nickelodeon’s former stars and fans. It includes cast and crew interviews to expose the show’s sexualization of young teens, as well as a poisonous and abusive work climate that many blamed Schneider for. It also contains accounts of sexual assault of young performers, including “The Amanda Show” and “Drake & Josh” star Drake Bell, by crew members who were eventually convicted.

Schneider, who left Nickelodeon in 2018, claimed in the lawsuit that the “Quiet on Set” trailer and episodes of the show purposefully mixed and juxtaposed images and mentions of him with criminal sexual abusers to imply he was complicit.

“The portrayal of Schneider in ‘Quiet on Set’ is a hit job,” according to the lawsuit. “While it is indisputable that two bona fide child sexual abusers worked on Nickelodeon shows, it is likewise indisputable that Schneider had no knowledge of their abuse, was not complicit in the abuse, condemned the abuse once it was discovered and, critically, was not a child sexual abuser himself.”

The lawsuit names Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of ID and Max, as defendants as well as the show’s producing firms, Sony Pictures Television and Maxine Productions.

Emails requesting comments from representatives of the three companies were not immediately replied.

The four-part series implies that Schneider’s shows had a tendency to place young women in funny situations with sexual connotations, and it portrays him as an angry and emotionally abusive boss.

Ex-Nickelodeon Producer Schneider Sues ‘Quiet On Set’ Makers For Defamation And Sex Abuse Implications

It includes direct charges of sexual harassment and gender discrimination from women who worked as writers for him on “All That.” They claimed he exhibited pornography on his computer in their presence in the writers’ room and asked for massages, joking that they would lead to the women’s sketches appearing on the show, which Schneider denies.

It also includes an interview with Bell, who claims “extensive” and “brutal” sexual assault at the hands of a dialogue coach when he was 15, as well as an interview with the mother of another girl who was sexually abused by one of the crew members.

The Associated Press normally does not identify persons who claim to have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Bell has.

Following the show’s release, Schneider apologized in a YouTube video for “past behaviors, some of which are embarrassing and that I regret.”

However, the lawsuit claims that the show, particularly the trailer, unjustly implicates him in child sexual abuse by presenting photographs of him — including some with his arm around young actors — during discussions about an unsafe atmosphere for children.

The lawsuit seeks damages to be assessed at trial for “the destruction of Schneider’s reputation and legacy” caused by “false statements and implications.”

Ex-Nickelodeon Producer Schneider Sues ‘Quiet On Set’ Makers For Defamation And Sex Abuse Implications

Nickelodeon, which is not involved in the lawsuit, stated in a statement about the series that it cannot “corroborate or negate” allegations made decades ago, but it investigates all formal complaints and has strict processes for working with minors.

“Our highest priorities are the well-being and best interests not just of our employees, casts and crew but of all children,” a spokesperson for the network said in a statement. We have adopted numerous safeguards over the years to help ensure we are living up to our own high standards and the expectations of our audience.”

SOURCE – (AP)