Tag: passing

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Remembering President George H.W. Bush’s Legacy On The AIDS Epidemic

Last night, I shared the news that former President George H.W. Bush had passed away at the age of 94.

I did so because it was news-worthy.

But I do think it’s important to note that while many laud Bush Sr. in death, he was not a great ally to the LGBTQ community during his time in the White House.

Yes, he did sign into law the Hate Crime Statistics Act, which was the first federal bill to put “sexual orientation” under protection of discrimination. And he did advocate for not discriminating against those who became HIV positive.

But in 1992, he told the New York Times in no uncertain terms that he opposed same-sex parenting.

“I can’t accept as normal life style people of the same sex being parents. I’m very sorry. I don’t accept that as normal,” he said.

He would later “mellow” on his stance, saying in 2015,  “Personally, I still believe in traditional marriage, but people should be able to do what they want to do, without discrimination. People have a right to be happy. I guess you could say I have mellowed.”

But none of that erases the lives lost during the 1980s and early 1990s to the AIDS epidemic when his silence was deafening.

My friend Tom Viola, who leads Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, an organization that has literally saved countless lives since the late 1980s, expresses how many in the LGBTQ community feel today.

I have to say this as I witness so many I work with and admire give George Bush, Sr. a pass on his monstrously cold and negligent response to the thousands of our friends who died horrendous deaths during his thankfully brief 4 years in office.

And most especially today. World AIDS DAY, 2018.

I agree with my friend Jay Blotcher, below. I also appreciate that George Bush, Sr. could be a lovely man, one on one, or when you entered his family’s private circle or when engaged socially or giving him some graceful benefit of the doubt, as he aged and had little politically at stake.

And God knows he, and even his then seemingly dim-witted son, seem decent compared to the naked cowardice and evil of the current asshole in the Oval Office.

But I am having a tough time witnessing so many who support all we do, now with his death completely give the guy a whitewashed pass on the negligent evil of his administration’s response to AIDS. As I am also tired of allowing people, such as Bush, Sr., to be forgiven for allowing the true evil doers behind the scenes, such as Cheney, Helms Atwater and others of those days, to have called the shots.

The true display of all his now lauded personal nice guy/lovely man moral convictions would have been to say “NO, we won’t allow this!” Bush, Sr. did not. He stood firm in negligent homicide. The courage with which he went to world war completely evaded him in the war we were fighting. George Bush, Sr. could have taken a true hero’s stance and be remembered for it with gratitude forever. He did not. It pisses me off.

But like George, I was raised to be nice. So I’ll only say this much.

Instead I would now ask you to go over to THE AIDS MEMORIAL website on Instagram and note how many of those remembered died between 1988 and 1992, the years that George Bush, Sr. didn’t have the or political or moral courage to make a difference. He dove for cover, letting so many die. Yet still he wanted to go backstage and meet the casts, filled with people whose hearts were broken much due to his negligence. Would he had extended his kindness when it mattered.

Tom refers in his Facebook note to a post by Jay Blotcher, who wrote:

A president is dead. And as the eulogies come pouring in, my heart remains cold — as cold as Bush’s heart remained in the face of the hundreds of thousands of AIDS deaths that occurred during his reign.

My ACT UP comrades and I demonstrated relentlessly during his four years, demanding a humane governmental response to the epidemic. We were met with silence or excuses.

On Labor Day weekend of 1991, we marched on his summer compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, to protest his murderous policies. His response? He told media that he had more compassion for the merchants whose holiday weekend business we had disrupted. Let his cruel inaction be his legacy.

Save your tears for the people with AIDS we lost during his time in office.

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Marvel Comics Legend Stan Lee Dead At 95

Stan Lee, who led Marvel Comics for decades, has died at the age of 95.
Stan Lee (photo: Gage Skidmore)

Stan Lee, who led Marvel Comics for decades, has died at the age of 95.

He began his career at the Marvel predecessor, Timely Comics, as a gofer for $8 a week.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Lee, who began in the business in 1939 and created or co-created Black Panther, Spider-Man, X-Men, The Mighty Thor, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, Daredevil, Ant-Man and other characters, died early Monday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, a source told The Hollywood Reporter.

Lee’s final few years were tumultuous. After Joan, his wife of 69 years, died in July 2017, he sued executives at POW! Entertainment — a company he founded in 2001 to develop film, TV and video game properties — for $1 billion for fraud, then abruptly dropped the suit weeks later.

He also sued his ex-business manager and filed for a restraining order against a man who had been handling his affairs. (Lee’s estate was estimated to be worth as much as $70 million.) And in June 2018, it was revealed that the Los Angeles Police Department had been investigating reports of elder abuse against him.

On his own and through his work with frequent artist-writer collaborators Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and others, Lee catapulted Marvel from a tiny venture into the world’s No. 1 publisher of comic books and later a multimedia giant.

In 2009, the Walt Disney Co. bought Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, and most of the top-grossing superhero films of all time — led by The Avengers’ $1.52 billion worldwide take in 2012 — featured Marvel characters.

“I used to think what I did was not very important,” he told the Chicago Tribune in April 2014. “People are building bridges and engaging in medical research, and here I was doing stories about fictional people who do extraordinary, crazy things and wear costumes. But I suppose I have come to realize that entertainment is not easily dismissed.”

As a young introverted kid, comic books were truly my escape.

I collected practically all of the Marvel Comic line. The characters carried their own personal flaws along with their vaunted super-powers.

They were often unsure,  and occasionally, they might fail. Only to get back up.

That world of make-believe, where I could imagine being powerful and immune to the teasing and bullying I encountered at school, was what got me through my early years.

I remember realizing, as an adult, that the X-Men series was an allegory about gay people and that lifted me up a bit. I learned about power, responsibility, teamwork, and understanding the courage it can take to do the right thing.

RIP Stan Lee. #Excelsior

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Porn Star Kyle Dean Dead At 21

Kyle Dean (image via Twitter)

Adult performer Kyle Dean (real name Brandon Jason Chrisan) has passed away at the age of 21.

No cause of death has been released. Toale Brothers Funeral Home lists the date of his passing as September 28.

An obituary there shares that Dean “loved to play football and physically train his body.”

“He won fourth place in an Adult Physique Competition at the age of seventeen,” the entry adds.

Dean had worked for gay adult studios Corbin Fisher and GayHoopla in recent years.

According to South Florida Gay News, Dean had several arrests over the past few years involving “multiple drug and burglary convictions.”

In March of 2017, he was ordered to take part in a drug intervention program.

SFGN also notes that Dean was described by some online commenters as “gay-for-pay,” often requesting pre-paid Uber rides or presents from his Amazon wishlist.

Over on Instinct Magazine, I’ve reported on the deaths of several porn performers this year including Falcon Studios’ Dave Slick and BrokeStraightBoys’ Tyler White.

Often, in posting these stories, there are inevitable comments blaming the porn industry for the passing of adult performers.

But it’s worth noting that people from every walk of life succumb to drug use or suicide.

Over the past 20 years, having lived in Las Vegas and the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, I’ve met several adult performers who have their lives together and continue to thrive.

It might be just this writer’s opinion, but perhaps because these people are in the public eye, to whatever degree, their deaths get more scrutiny than people in other walks of life?

While the porn industry connection is titilating, correlation isn’t necessarily causation.

Earlier this year, Rosie Hodson – PhD candidate with an emphasis in studying pornography – told Dazed that making generalizations about the deaths of porn performers does them “a ‘disservice’ to define them simply by their careers in porn and is a gross oversimplification to connect all of their deaths directly to their work in pornography.”

“They are individuals,” she emphasized.

And behavioral scientist Gad Saad, a chair at the John Molson School of Business in Montreal, who studies the porn industry, told the New York Post this past January that people who enter porn are no more prone to mental issues than anyone else.

There is an interest in the passing of adult performers as evidenced by the traffic these posts receive.

While I’m sure there are many who can testify to the emotional toll working in the adult entertainment industry can have on people, I don’t know that the blame for every porn performer’s death lands squarely on the industry.

But I freely admit I’m not a trained professional in assessing the issue. I’m just a writer thinking out loud.

What do you think, readers? Is the porn industry to blame for young deaths? Or is this something we see in every walk of life?

Rest in peace, Brandon Jason Chrisan.

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Legendary French Singer Charles Aznavour Dead At 94

Charles Aznavour (image via Facebook)

The Guardian shares the sad news that legendary French recording artist Charles Aznavoir has passed away at the age of 94.

The French singer Charles Aznavour – often hailed as his country’s Frank Sinatra – has died at the age of 94. Aznavour, who was born Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian in Paris to Armenian parents, sold more than 100 million records in 80 countries and had about 1,400 songs to his name, including 1,300 he wrote himself. He was sometimes described as the French Sinatra because of his stirring, melancholic style.

He is one of the most celebrated exponents of the French “chanson” form – easy-listening songs with vivid lyrics, rich in storytelling, emotion and humour. One early song, 1955’s Après l’Amour, was banned on French radio for its depiction of a couple basking in post-coital happiness. 1972’s What Makes a Man A Man, meanwhile, is sung in the persona of a gay man who faces down homophobia to declare: “Nobody has the right to be / The judge of what is right for me.”

For years, “What Makes A Man A Man” closed the show Divas Las Vegas with a dramatic rendition by one of the ‘divas’ reversing her illusion from drag queen to male.

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Three-Time Tony Award Nominee Marin Mazzie Passes Away At 57

Broadway actress Marin Mazzie has passed away at the age of 57.
Marin Mazzie

Broadway actress Marin Mazzie has passed away at the age of 57.

For three years, the three-time Tony Award nominee had battled ovarian cancer.

Most of what I do here on The Randy Report lately is ‘report.’

But right now, I feel I have to write about this great, inspiring artist. Artist with a capital ‘A.’

Not only about what she did, but how she and her talented affected us.

How she affected me.

“I always wanted to move to New York and be on Broadway even before I had really been here,” Mazzie once said. “I didn’t know what either of those things meant, but that’s what I wanted.”

The first time I read that, I felt a connection, a kindred spirit.

While I wouldn’t achieve Mazzie’s dazzling heights, I grew up knowing I needed to be (and one day would be) living in New York City working on a Broadway stage.

When she shared the news of her cancer diagnosis in 2015, again I felt a connection thanks to my own cancer journey in 2009.

Growing up in Illinois, she listened to every Broadway cast recording she could get her hands on.

“I just glommed onto the cast albums,” Mazzie said in a 1998 interview with the Associated Press. “I would play the records in my bedroom and act out all the characters.”

Yes, me too. I discovered, imagined and explored that ‘never-neverland’  of Broadway in my own childhood bedroom.

After early career Broadway replacement gigs (Big River, Into The Woods), Mazzie’s big break came when she was cast as “Clara” in Stephen Sondheim’s Passion. Her performance won her acclaim and the first of three Tony Award nominations.

Throughout her career, critics rightfully fell over themselves in praise of her power and sensitivity.

Of her star turn as “Guenevere” in Camelot, The New York Times called her “luminous.”

And regarding her Tony and Drama Desk nominated performance in the Broadway revival of Kiss Me, Kate:

“Her outlandishly entertaining take on that great exercise in animosity, ‘I Hate Men,’ which here includes a vivid simulation of giving birth, goes over the top, for sure. But it doesn’t go out of control. And when Ms. Mazzie needs to switch to a lyric sincerity, for ‘So in Love’ and ‘I Am Ashamed That Women Are So Simple,’ her soprano shimmers like polished silver.” – The New York Times

Without an ounce of hyperbole I can write that Mazzie’s performance in the 1997 Broadway musical Ragtime (another Tony nomination) was one of the most electric I’ve witnessed in a Broadway theater.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t share her powerful 11 o’clock number from the show, “Back To Before.”

I remember holding my breath for most of the song when I saw this live at the Ford Theater on Broadway.

Folks – This. Is. Art.

And then…

From the New York Times:

In May 2015, Ms. Mazzie was in an “Encores!” presentation of the musical “Zorba!” at New York City Center. The day it opened was the day she received her cancer diagnosis. She went on anyway.

“How ironic that I was singing: ‘Life is what you do while you’re waiting to die. Life is how time goes by,’ ” she told The Times that year, quoting a lyric from the show.

As a young actress, Mazzie was cast in a regional production of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, directed by the great James Lapine.

“That was a big, big break for me in my career,” she told BroadwayWorld.com. “Being taught to sing ‘Not a Day Goes By’ by Stephen Sondheim himself? That’s something I will never forget.”

In 2016, she revisited the song to devastating effect in concert honoring Stephen Sondheim.

Yes, she had, indeed, learned to sing this song.

In 2016, after her cancer diagnosis, Mazzie stopped the show at the Nothing Like A Dame event with “And The World Goes ‘Round” from the off-Broadway show of the same name.

They say life informs art. It’s abundantly clear life had informed Mazzie of her own deeper connection to these lyrics.

One last performance, from the gala concert celebrating Stephen Sondheim’s 80th Birthday, here’s Marin singing “Losing My Mind” from Follies.

Note how she takes the entire song to build. Check her eyes the entire time.

And finally, the intake of air at the 3:40 mark.

Perfection.

Mazzie is survived by her loving husband, Jason Danieley.

RIP Marin Mazzie.

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Burt Reynolds Was More Than Just A Huge, Sexy Hollywood Star

Burt Reynolds (image via Flickr/Alan Light)

With the passing of Burt Reynolds this week of a massive heart attack, Hollywood lost one of the great box offices stars of the silver screen.

Reynolds irresistible charm came from a combination of undeniable sex appeal coupled with an open, self-effacing sense of humor. As Variety puts it, his “post-modern macho posture.”

From 1978 through 1982, Reynolds was the top-grossing box office star in the United States.

Films like Deliverance, Smokey and the Bandit, The Longest Yard (Golden Globe nomination), Starting Over (Golden Globe nomination), Boogie Nights (Oscar nomination) were all critically acclaimed.

But there were mistakes along the way, too.

Reynolds famously turned down the role of “Han Solo” in Star Wars, as well as the Richard Gere role in Pretty Woman.

He also, according to reports, regretted his famous nude pictorial in Cosmopolitan Magazine the same year that Deliverance was released saying in hindsight he felt the magazine shoot detracted from the film’s Oscar chances.

During the early 90s, when great film role offers weren’t coming in, he returned to TV (where he began in the 1960s) with the sitcom Evening Shade, for which he won an Emmy Award.

What many don’t know, however, was his personal pet project – a theater in Jupiter, Florida, appropriately called, The Burt Reynolds Dinner Theater.

For over a decade, Reynolds created jobs for scores and scores of actors. Reynolds said he wanted to build a theater “for people who haven’t seen live theater, at prices they can pay.”

He also wanted to create a space where actors could come work and have fun.

“They can do the show they want to here,” he said. “I can’t pay much, but they’ll get a condo, a car and the royal treatment.”

I can attest, as a former actor, many of my friends on social media who worked there offering their own tributes to Reynolds, who gave them exactly that.

A short list of stars who played at his theater in 116 productions included Carol Burnett, Charles Nelson Reilly, Farrah Fawcett, Eartha Kitt, Ned Beatty, Kirstie Alley, Robert Hays, Marilu Henner, Robert Urich, Alice Ghostley and Ossie Davis.

And then there’s the fact that for many gay men (including this writer) Reynolds’ furry, masculine sex appeal was a first inkling that the same-sex held an undeniable attraction.

RIP Burt Reynolds.

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Tony Award & Pulitzer Prize Winning Playwright Neil Simon Dead At 91

Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Neil Simon

Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Neil Simon has died at the age of 91.

According to TMZ the celebrated playwright had been suffering from a failing kidney, Alzheimer’s and dementia.

One of the most prolific playwrights in Broadway history, his success began in 1961 with Come Blow Your Horn.

That was quickly followed by Barefoot in the Park in 1963.

He would go on to be honored with Tony Awards for his plays The Odd Couple, Biloxi Blues and Lost in Yonkers (for which he also was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1991).

The were many other major hits along the way including The Sunshine Boys and the musicals Promises, Promises, and Sweet Charity.

Incredibly, in one theater season he had 4 plays running on Broadway simultaneously.

Across 30 plays, 17 Tony nominations, dozens of screenplays, a Kennedy Center honor in 1995 and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2006, Simon’s writing was celebrated for his depth of humor and humanity.

H was the first playwright to have a Broadway theater named after him.

RIP Neil Simon.

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Sen. John McCain Dead At 81

Sen. John McCain, who after years in the U.S. military went on to serve 36 years in Congress, has died at the age of 81 due to glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive type of brain tumor.
Sen. John McCain

 Sen. John McCain, who after years in the U.S. military went on to serve 35 years in Congress, has died at the age of 81 due to glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive type of brain tumor.

The son and grandson of four-star Navy admirals, he volunteered for combat duty in the Vietnam war upon graduating from the Naval Academy.

He was famously shot down over Hanoi suffering two broken arms and a shattered leg, and was a prisoner of war for five and a half years. During that time he rejected early release ahead of his fellow prisoners.

After retirement from the Navy, he ran for and won two terms in the House of Representatives beginning in 1983 and then six terms in the U.S. Senate.

His was a career of extreme highs and lows. He ran for president twice – losing the Republican nomination to George W. Bush in 2000, and then losing the general election in 2008 to Barack Obama.

But his 2008 run for the White House was marred by a series of bad decisions, most prominently selecting the half-term governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, as his running mate. Many in politics today point to that moment as the beginning of a surge of unqualified, untempered candidates that opened the door to the election of Donald Trump.

And in the waning days of the election, as the country became mired in financial crisis, he declared the ‘fundamentals of the economy’ were strong.

While there’s no doubt that McCain was a conservative through and through, one of the hallmark’s of his long career in service was his distinct ability to change with the times.

Although he spent years opposing LGBTQ rights, like his longtime opposition to openly gay and lesbian military personnel, he would go on to become a defender of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy.

And six years after it’s repeal, he opposed an amendment to a defense spending bill that could have undercut an executive order by President Obama that banned LGBT discrimination by federal contractors. The amendment would eventually be stripped out of the bill.

In 2013, the self-described ‘maverick’ was one of only ten Senate Republicans to vote in favor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that would ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. In his home state of Arizona, he was highly critical of a proposed “license to discriminate” bill.

In 2015, he gave his full-throated support to President Barack Obama’s nomination of Eric Fanning, who became the first openly gay Secretary of the Army.

And when Donald Trump proposed a complete ban on transgender military service members last year, McCain stepped up early vigorously opposing the policy, saying in a statement, “There is no reason to force service members who are able to fight, train, and deploy to leave the military — regardless of their gender identity.”

His last ‘maverick moment’ of his career came when he dramatically gave a thumbs-down on a repeal of the Affordable Care Act last year.

In September of last year, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked him how he wanted to be remembered.

“He served his country and not always right,” McCain responded. “Made a lot of mistakes. Made a lot of errors, but served his country. And I hope we could add honorably.”

President Clinton and Secretary Hillary Clinton issued this statement:

Senator John McCain believed that every citizen has a responsibility to make something o the freedoms given by our Constitution, and from his heroic service in the Navy to his 35 years in Congress, he lived by his creed every day.

He was a skilled, tough politician as well as a trusted colleague alongside whom Hillary was honored to serve in the Senate. He frequently put partisanship aside to do what he thought was best for the country, and was never afraid to break the mold if it was the right thing to do.

I will always be especially grateful for his leadership in our successful efforts to normalize relations with Vietnam. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Cindy, his mother, Roberta, his children, and his entire family.

And from President Obama:

John McCain and I were members of different generations, came from completely different backgrounds, and competed at the highest level of politics. But we shared, for all our differences, a fidelity to something higher-the ideals for which generations of Americans and immigrants alike have fought, marched, and sacrificed.

We saw our political battles, even, as a privilege, something noble, an opportunity to serve as stewards of those high ideals at home, and to advance them around the world. We saw this country as a place where anything is possible – and citizenship as our patriotic obligation to ensure it forever remains that way.

Few of us have been tested the way John once was, or required to show the kind of courage that he did. But all of us can aspire to the courage to put the greater good above our own. At John’s best, he showed us what that means. And for that, we are all in his debt. Michelle and I send our heartfelt condolences to Cindy and their family.

Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin issued the following statement:

“Senator McCain was a patriot and a hero, whose life was defined by his service and sacrifice on behalf of our country.

“While we disagreed on many issues, later in his career, he became an increasingly vocal advocate for LGBTQ servicemembers.

“In the last few years, Senator McCain blocked anti-LGBTQ language in the National Defense Authorization Act, opposed a ‘license to discriminate’ bill in Arizona, denounced the Trump-Pence Administration’s effort to ban transgender troops and spoke out against the nomination of the anti-LGBTQ Mark Green to lead the Army.

“We join with millions of Americans in mourning his loss, and extend our deepest condolences to Senator McCain’s wife, Cindy, and his entire family.”

Donald Trump, a five-time draft dodger who criticized McCain during the 2016 campaign and questioned if he really was a war hero (“I like people who didn’t get captured”) refused to apologize to McCain in his last days.

As American leaders hailed McCain tonight, all Trump could muster this evening was a tepid tweet which read, “My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!”

(h/t The New York Times)

(image via PBS News Hour/Flickr – CC license)

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Robin Leach, Host Of ‘Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous,’ Dead At 76

Iconic host of 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous' Robin Leach has died at the age of 76 after suffering a stroke ten months ago
My husband Michael Caprio with Robin Leach in Las Vegas

Very sad to report that longtime journalist and TV host, Robin Leach, has passed away at the age of 76.

Living here in Las Vegas, my publicist husband Michael (above) became very good friends with Robin over the years as Robin moved here in 1999 and became a mainstay in entertainment journalism.

The Hollywood Reporter recaps his incredible life and career:

Leach had been hospitalized since Nov. 21 after suffering a stroke in Cabo San Lucas, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where Leach worked as a celebrity columnist.

“Despite the past 10 months, what a beautiful life he had. Our Dad, Grandpa, Brother, Uncle and friend Robin Leach passed away peacefully last night at 1:50 a.m.,” said the family in a statement. “Everyone’s support and love over the past, almost one year, has been incredible and we are so grateful. Memorial arrangements to follow.”

The London native gave viewers a glimpse of those with “champagne wishes and caviar dreams” with Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, which aired in syndication from 1984-95.

“The more eye-popping and outrageous, the better,” Leach told Askmen.com in 2007. “We wanted to make your mouth drop. That was the main effect. One picture was worth a thousand words, so if you had more pictures, the less you would have to say.”

He also was an early investor in the Food Network.

Born on Aug. 29, 1941, Leach wrote for The Harrow Observer while he was attending the Harrow County School for Boys, earning $6 a week at the newspaper after he graduated. He went on to become the youngest editor at London’s Daily Mail at 18, then wrote for the New York Daily News, Ladies’ Home Journal, People and The Star after moving to the U.S. in 1963.

“I wanted no other job than to work in newspapers,” he told the Las Vegas Sun in 2011. “I was fascinated by the process of collecting information, talking to people and having the story appear in a paper that would be delivered in your letterbox.”

After appearing on CNN and helping to launch the syndicated Entertainment Tonight news show, Leach co-created Lifestyles with producer Al Masini. The program helped usher in the era of celebrity-focused reality series and culture.

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News Round-Up: August 22, 2018

• One of my fave InstaHunks, Rodiney Santiago, is currently chronicling his journey through Italian islands where I was just two weeks ago! #MyTimingWasOff
Rodiney Santiago

Some news items you might have missed:

• One of my fave InstaHunks, Rodiney Santiago, is currently chronicling his journey through Italian islands where I was just two weeks ago! You have to click over and check out his gorgeous vacay pics. #MyTimingWasOff

• Pro-football player and convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez reportedly came out to his lawyer before committing suicide in 2015.

• Vermont Democratic gubernatorial candidate Christine Hallquist, the first trans candidate for govnernor of a major party, is receiving death threats.

• A self-identified Ku Klux Klan leader in Maryland has been sentenced to four years in prison for firing a gun into a crowd at the 2017 Nazi rally in Charlottesville.

• Craig Zadan, the prolific out producer who brought musicals like The Sound of Music, Jesus Christ Superstar, Gypsy and Cinderella back to television died unexpectedly at the age of 69 due to complications from shoulder surgery. His arious productions earned six Academy Awards, five Golden Globes, 17 Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, a Grammy Award, six GLAAD Awards, four NAACP Image Awards and two Tony Awards.

•