Hollywood Week: Paramount/Skydance, Taylor Swift Immortalized, Ozzy Osbourne, Hulk Hogan, Malcom Jamal-Warner

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Category: Entertainment News

Published on Saturday, 26 July 2025 09:04

Written by Janet Walker

The Paramount Skydance merger finally received the blessing of the Federal Communications Commission, after settling with Mr. Trump, promising to remove diversity, equity and inclusion from the company's hiring practices, and to closely monitor its journalistic programming.

Paramount/Skydance Deal Set to Close

David Ellison, son of Oracle scion Larry Ellison, after a 250-day review managed to sway two members of the FCC ruling board to secure the approval for the merger of Shari Redstone's National Amusements, the umbrella company that controlled Paramount Global.

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The FCC 2-to-1 approval, which was mired in political persuasion and reeked of a payola scandal, came after the $16 million settlement, and several other key Trump era concessions which were announced this week after the new CEO of Paramount Skydance Corporation, David Ellison, meet with Trump appointed FCC czar Brendan Carr, indicating the new leadership would also offer fresh vision.

CBS, the Central Broadcasting System, and its news program 60 Minutes, has taken a beating over its presentation of an alleged editing of Mr. Trump's pre-election interview with his opponent former Vice-President Kamala Harris, which the president claimed he was presented in bad light. Carr specifically mentioned the brouhaha and stated, "These commitments, if implemented, would enable CBS to operate in the public interest and focus on fair, unbiased, and fact-based coverage. Doing so would begin the process of earning back Americans' trust," reported The Washington Post.

The dissenting vote, Anna Gomez, who is a registered democrat said, the deal which will further benefit Mr. Trump though other quid pro quo opportunities and will damage the credibility of the storied news programs by imposing unprecedented journalistic controls. Essentially creating a state sponsored media system that only allow investigative programming that slant the news, presenting the republican party and its extremes as serving the American public and gaining the public's trust with slated biased news.

With the convergence of social media, and a shortened news cycle most Americans find outlets that serve their opinions, and through parasocial relationships with trusted influencers rely less on the old guard as they distance themselves from the regurgitation of political vomit that is consistently force fed though mainstream media. Politics has become nasty business with both sides equally responsible for stooping to the level of the mud wrestling smackdown and the destruction of decorum.

Paramount Skydance deal is set to close August 7.

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Taylor Swift Immortalized

Madame Tussauds' famous wax museum has unveiled an unprecedented 13 Taylor Swift figurine exhibit featuring many of her iconic looks captured during the wildly successful ERAS Tour. The global launch of the Taylor Swift exhibit is the largest ever for the museum.

Laura Sheard, Global Brand Director at Madame Tussauds said, in a press release, "Taylor Swift is a generational icon and a cultural powerhouse. Madame Tussauds has a centuries-old legacy of holding a mirror up to the world of fame, immortalizing the profiles that are making an imprint on the day's culture. Taylor Swift's influence spans music, fashion, film, activism and even the economy. The phenomenal success of her record-smashing tour is the perfect moment for Madame Tussauds to immortalize with 13 figures – Taylor's lucky number – across four continents to ensure we're reaching as many fans as possible." 

The exhibit opens in New York, Hollywood, Las Vegas, Orlando, and Nashville featuring Swift's most celebrated fashion styles from the 149 date sold-out ERAS tour.  

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Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne, the front man for the 1970s heavy metal band Black Sabbath and leader of the Emmy award winning reality show, The Osbournes," which introduced the heavy metal rocker to a new generation, died this week after a lengthy illness. He was 76.

"It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning," his family said in a statement. "He was with his family and surrounded by love. We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time," reported The Washington Post.

Osbourne appeared to have outgrown his larger than life days as a badass rocker, living every man's fantasy of a rock star, and mellowed into the role of family man, cleaned up. His marriage to Sharon Arden, the daughter of his former manager, turned him around.

Lauded by contemporaries and fans alike, who credited Osbourne with paving the way for generations of musicians. Fellow rocker Alice Cooper, who like Osbourne, and other musicians of the 1970s, developed personas to appeal to the masses, said "I always saw Ozzy as a cross between the prince of darkness, which is the persona his fans saw, and the court jester."

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Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan, the World Wrestling Entertainment Pro wrestler, who shot to fame in the 1980s, died this week, at his home in Clearwater, Florida. He was 71. The cause was cardia arrest.

Hogan became the first superstar of the WWE franchise and moved effortlessly to Hollywood. He made is acting debut opposite Sylvester Stallone in Rocky III and went on to enjoy a successful acting career. During the 1990s, it was revealed he used steroids to bulk up and was expelled from the WWE.

A sex tape derailed his fledging career. He sued the online publication Gawker, and backed by Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiele, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal, and early investor in Facebook, eventually prevailed in court.  Gawker was forced into bankruptcy and reportedly settled with Hogan for $31 million.

"His lifelong friendship with WWE boss Vince McMahon began in 1979 when he was put against stars Ted DiBiase, Bob Backlund and Andre the Giant, whom he said "grabbed me by the back of my shirt and straightened me out," he noted during his Hall of Fame speech. "More than anybody in the ring, [Andre] taught me how to be a professional in his business," reported The Hollywood Reporter.

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Malcom Jamal-Warner

Malcom Jamal-Warner, who became a household name for his portrayal of Theo Huxtable, on the long running 1980s The Cosby Show, died this week of accidental drowning while in Costa Rica on vacation with his family.

Early reports indicated Jamal-Warner was swimming in the ocean with his eight year old daughter, when they both were caught up in the current. His daughter was rescued by a bystander who saw the pair struggling and paddled out. She survived. After nearly an hour of CPR attempts to revive Mr. Warner were unsuccessful.

"After news of his death, fans and famous friends, including Angela Bassett, Eddie Griffin, Niecy Nash, Jennifer Hudson and Morris Chestnut, shared public tributes for Mr. Warner. "He carried the weight of cultural legacy with grace, and he always made space for others to shine," Bassett, a longtime friend, wrote in an Instagram tribute," reported The Washington Post.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.