Hollywood’s biggest night is finally here — and the stars did not hold back when it came time to bring the fashion to the red carpet at the 2024 Academy Awards on Sunday night. From statement gowns to the classic and dapper, this year’s group of nominees closed out the 2024 awards season with a (rather stunning) bang. Follow us all night for the best Oscar-worthy looks.
Andrew Tate (R) and his brother Tristan speak to the media as they arrive in Romania back from US, in Bucharest March 22, 2025.
“I used sex as a tool to make women love me, so they’d obey me and live in my house and make people money,” Andrew Tate says in the trailer for the upcoming documentary, Andrew Tate: Toxic Empire. Though many have accused the influencer of lying during his decade in the spotlight, it’s an accurate summation of his career.
Now, that career is the subject of ID’s four-part documentary. The first two episodes will premiere on ID on Nov. 25 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, with subsequent entries the following two weeks. They will also be available the same night on HBO Max.
Over the past decade, Tate has gone from a middling professional kickboxer and British reality show contestant to an infamous household name and de facto leader of the manosphere, a loose, online affiliation of disaffected young men. The new series will attempt to trace this evolution, talking with insiders, including men who participated in the War Room — the high-priced, private network Tate promoted, where he spoke directly with followers — as well as women who were in his orbit.
“He had his claws in me, and I just couldn’t escape,” one woman says in the trailer, released today. The former right-wing influencer Lauren Southern, who has accused Tate of sexual assault, appears in the documentary, as does Mateea Petrescu, who had previously worked as Tate’s publicist in Romania, as well as journalists, filmmakers, and former insiders. (Tate has accused Southern of fabricating the allegations.) The series promises never-before-heard testimonies from people close to Tate, as well as a look at the origins of his “PhD” — ”Pimping Hoes Degree” — program that he offered online, where he purported to teach men how to control women for profit.
Tate and his brother Tristan have been the subject of intense scrutiny, especially since their Dec. 2022 arrest in Romania on charges of human trafficking. Though they have denied all the allegations against them, they’re facing a slew of allegations across three countries — the U.S., U.K., and Romania — and are currently being held in federal detention in Florida as they await extradition to the U.K. (Their lawyer has argued that their detention is unlawful.)
However, no matter what happens with the numerous cases against them, Andrew Tate remains one of the most fascinating — if notorious — individuals of the internet age. ID’s new show aims to provide new insight into how he created his infamous empire, and why it took so long for the public to catch on.
Russell Brand and his wife Laura arriving at Southwark Crown Court, London.
A day after Russell Brand told the court that not a “single person” would testify on his behalf at his rape trial, the actor’s wife took the stand Thursday in defense of her husband.
Laura Brand — who Russell married in 2017 and shares three children with — told the court about their 20-year history, including first dating in 2006 and the “full sexual relationship” that followed. Because Brand was incapable of monogamy at the time, she testified, the pair broke up but remained in touch, ultimately reconnecting in 2015 — following Brand’s short-lived marriage to Katy Perry — and ultimately marrying two years later.
Laura essentially served as a character witness, telling the court of her husband, “I feel very seen by him,” and added that Russell is “caring and kind, a wonderful father to our children, and an amazing, attentive husband.”
“We have a very honest, frank and clear relationship and marriage,” Laura Brand said on the stand. “Our relationship has always been [about] honesty… I love him very much.”
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Russell’s defense lawyer attempted to ask Laura about her thoughts on “the truth of the allegations” against her husband by six women — the crux of the rape trial — but both the judge and prosecutors stopped that line of questioning.
Brand faces multiple charges related to his interactions with six women between 1999 and 2009; one count of attempted indecent assault, three counts of rape, and three counts of sexual assault. He pleaded not guilty and has publicly denied the allegations.
During opening statements for the prosecution, lead prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones argued that Brand’s own comments throughout his fame and the testimony of the women prove that Brand is a serial sexual predator who used the sexual demeaning of women as a means to an end. “The circumstances of the offending were as wide and as varied as the defendant’s career,” Karmy-Jones said. “His strong desire for some form of sexual contact was indiscriminate and voracious.”
The trial is expected to continue for another four weeks.
Jennifer Lawrence and Woody Harrelson at Los Angeles Premiere of 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2' in 2015
Being back on set as Katniss Everdeen for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping hit Jennifer Lawrence with a wave of nostalgia. For the first time in over a decade, Lawrence fell back into step alongside Josh Hutcherson and Woody Harrelson, the actress detailed during a recent appearance on the podcast Call Her Daddy.
“It was so crazy. It was the same crew. It was the same AD, who I’ve worked with a million times because I love him,” Lawrence said. “And with Josh and Woody … it was so emotional. Josh and I didn’t walk to the bathroom without our arms around each other. It was so beautiful.”
Last year, it was widely reported that Lawrence would reprise her role for Sunrise on the Reaping, the sixth film in the Hunger Games franchise, set for release on Nov. 20, with Hutcherson also returning as Peeta Mellark. What wasn’t noted at the time, however, was Harrelson’s participation in the film, which centers on the origin story of his character, Haymitch Abernathy.
“And Woody, obviously, came through the window of my hotel room uninvited,” Lawrence said. “It wouldn’t be the same if he listened to boundaries or used a door.”
Harrelson’s voice appeared in an early teaser for Sunrise on the Reaping, in which the official film logo was revealed. “I think these games are going to be different,” he said in the preview. Fans speculated the actor might return as a narrator in the film. The 21-year-old actor Joseph Zada leads Sunrise on the Reaping as Abernathy alongisde Mckenna Grace, who plays Maysilee Donner.
“Nobody can be Woody Harrelson but Woody Harrelson,” Nina Jacobson, who produces the Hunger Games franchise, told Variety last year. “But you have to find that mischief that he has in him inherently and try to understand, if you turn back time from the man you meet at the beginning of The Hunger Games, who he was before all of that, and why he became that.”
Zada hadn’t heard from Harrelson directly following his casting, but did receive a message from the actor’s niece. “He doesn’t have a phone,” he told Vanity Fair. “I’m sure I’ll speak to him eventually, but apparently he’s very happy for me.”
Russell Brand arrives at court ahead of his trial, where he faces rape and sexual assault charges at Southwark Crown Court on October 28, 2026 in London, England
Former actor Russell Brand finally took the stand in his rape trial — but he says he’ll be facing the charges and the jury alone.
The actor told jurors at London’s Southwark Crown Court Wednesday that he was unable to persuade a “single person” to testify on his behalf. When the lead attorney for his defense, Ian Winter, asked if anyone would touch him “with a bargepole,” Brand answered, “No.” “My entire life has been consumed by these allegations,” Brand said. “I have devoted myself to these matters.”
Brand, 51, faces multiple charges related to his interactions with six women between 1999 and 2009; one count of attempted indecent assault, three counts of rape, and three counts of sexual assault. He pleaded not guilty and has publicly denied the allegations. Prior to the public accusations, Brand was best known for his comedic work in Hollywood staples like 2008’s Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the 2010 comedy Get Him to the Greek. (He was also a well-known former husband of pop star Katy Perry. The two divorced after 14 months.) In recent years, he had pivoted toward digital pundit work, creating podcasts centered on spirituality and anti-government conspiracies.
But in a 2023 documentary investigation, Russell Brand: In Plain Sight, multiple women accused Brand of predatory actions, ranging from abuse, assault, and rape. Following its release, six women independently went to police and accused him of past assaults.
Brand’s trial, which began on Oct. 12, will undoubtedly pit the women’s testimony about their experience with Brand against Brand’s own recollection of events. Prior to the criminal charges, Brand was public about his womanizing tendencies and often expressed remorse or regret for the ways he treated women, but has always maintained that his sexual encounters were consensual.
During opening statements for the prosecution, lead prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones argued that Brand’s own comments throughout his fame and the testimony of the women prove that Brand is a serial sexual predator who used the sexual demeaning of women as a means to an end. “The circumstances of the offending were as wide and as varied as the defendant’s career,” Karmy-Jones said. “His strong desire for some form of sexual contact was indiscriminate and voracious.”
For the past two weeks, the court has been hearing testimony from Brand’s accusers, both by playing their video interviews with police and with the victims taking the stand. One of the women, who accused Brand of assaulting her at a radio station around 2004, said Brand “lept on her” when she was leaving a room, grabbing her waist, bottom, arms, legs and roughly pinning her to a wall while kissing her as she fought. The room was full of people on Brand’s team — who she called his “entourage” — and she testified that they did nothing to stop it. During questioning, she said she didn’t go to the police because she was afraid of career repercussions.
“One, who is going to believe me?” she said. “Two, I could lose my job and I have a mortgage to pay.”
Another woman who claims Brand anally raped her while they were having consensual sex, fought back against the defense attorney’s implications that she consented to the entire night.
“I did not consent. We are not here to discuss my morality … I didn’t consent to what happened to me, I have said that repeatedly,” she said. “I carried that feeling of guilt and shame and I felt lots of things but particularly for exactly the reason that you are doing right here — that I brought it on myself. That just because you go somewhere willingly and the outcome in the end is not consensual, it’s a different scenario.”
On the stand Wednesday, Brand stated that he remembers sleeping with some of the claimants, but others he doesn’t remember at all. In all cases, he denies assaulting them and said that he often speaks during sex to confirm his partner is enjoying it. When his attorney asked for an example, Brand said, “I believe I would have been saying: ‘Am I doing this right, do you like this, is this OK?”
“Consent is fundamental, essential and necessary, and in many ways more important than sex itself,” he added.
The trial is expected to last at least another four weeks.
Danny Masterson lost his rape conviction appeal.
Danny Masterson’s bid to overturn his 2023 rape convictions and 30-year prison sentence was denied by a California appeals court on Tuesday, leading lawyers for the That ‘70s Show star to vow they’ll seek review in the state’s highest court.
In their 89-page ruling, obtained by Rolling Stone, a panel of three appellate justices rejected Masterson’s arguments that his trial judge improperly handled evidence, violated his right to a fair trial, and “exhibited hostility toward Scientology.” Masterson claimed the judge had demonstrated bias by “comparing Scientology to white supremacists, gangs, and Satanists,” according to his appeal filings.
The justices disagreed. “All of these statements, viewed in context, evidence no animosity toward Scientology,” they wrote.
The panel noted that Masterson himself had asked the trial court before his 2022 trial to limit references to Scientology, citing the public’s generally negative perception of the organization. During arguments over that request, the trial judge questioned why evidence involving Scientology would be considered “more inflammatory than, let’s say, evidence concerning street gangs, prison gangs, white supremacy, outlaw motorcycle clubs.” Such evidence “comes in all the time and it certainly is negative,” the trial judge observed.
“The jury in this case was not asked to determine the truth or falsity of Scientology doctrine or beliefs. The jury instructions clearly limited the purposes for which the jury was to consider Scientology evidence: to explain the victims’ delay in reporting defendant’s actions; to explain the victims’ behavior before, during, and after the charged crimes; to explain the witnesses’ ties to Scientology; and to evaluate the circumstances under which statements were made and the weight to give statements made by all of the witnesses. Admission of Scientology evidence for those purposes did not contravene the First Amendment,” the appellate justices said in their ruling. “Defendant fails to establish any abuse of discretion or First Amendment violation by the trial court.”
Masterson, a prominent Scientologist, was charged in 2020 with forcibly raping three women on different occasions during the height of his sitcom fame in the early 2000s. An initial trial ended with a hung jury, but a follow-up jury convicted him in May 2023, finding that he raped two of the Jane Does. Both trials included emotional testimony from the three women. They all said Masterson drugged them before forcibly raping them. They were practicing Scientologists at the time and testified that Church of Scientology officials protected Masterson.
The actor filed his direct appeal a few months after his conviction. He later filed a separate habeas petition claiming his former lead attorney failed to put on an adequate defense at his retrial.
The appellate court on Tuesday rejected both Masterson’s appeal of his convictions and his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. In an email, his lawyers said they planned to seek review by the California Supreme Court while separately pursuing habeas corpus relief based on what they called “exculpatory evidence that was never presented to the jury.” They contend that the two women whose allegations led to Masterson’s convictions told friends their sexual encounters with him were consensual. The appellate justices were not persuaded that the evidence should have been admitted at trial or that it would have changed the outcome.
“Danny is serving a life sentence for crimes he did not commit. No one in California, not defendants and not victims who have actually been the victim of a sex crime, is safer by virtue of today’s unfortunate decision,” his lead appellate lawyer, Cliff Gardner, said in a statement.
Eric Multhaup, the lawyer leading Masterson’s habeas corpus challenge, called the ruling “fundamentally wrong.” He accused the appellate panel of dismissing the petition with “a one-paragraph summary of the one-sided evidence presented by the prosecution.”
“This cursory treatment reflects poorly on the administration of justice in the Court of Appeal and will be rectified by a petition to the California Supreme Court,” Multhaup said.
