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As ‘Michael’ Opens, James Safechuck Issues Message to Abuse Survivors

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James Safechuck, one of two men whose allegations of childhood sexual abuse by Michael Jackson anchored HBO’s 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland, has released a video message to other survivors of childhood sexual abuse, timed to the renewed publicity surrounding the upcoming Jackson biopic Michael.

Distributed by Safechuck’s attorney John Carpenter of the Los Angeles plaintiffs’ firm Carpenter & Zuckerman, the video addresses other survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

“The Michael movie’s coming out and it’s getting a lot of promotion,” says Safechuck, 48. “There’s billboards and commercials and just people praising Michael and it can be triggering for survivors who have their own Michael in their lives, whether it’s the priest who’s close to God or the sports coach who’s just helping the kids or the step-parent who’s supporting the family.

“Our abusers are praised sometimes, even after we come out and tell the truth,” he continues. “And I just wanted to let you know that you’re not alone and that there’s other survivors out there that understand what you’re going through and that are there with you. And that if you’re feeling all the feels, then lean into people that are close to you, lean into people that support you and that give you love and know that you’re not alone. … [T]elling the truth and telling what happened is a good thing and that it’s part of your healing.”

Safechuck is a plaintiff in an ongoing civil suit against Jackson’s corporate entities, MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures, which a California appeals court revived in 2023 after years of dismissals.

Michael, directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Jaafar Jackson — Michael Jackson‘s nephew — as the late singer, is already breaking box office records as it heads into its opening weekend. Michael earned a huge $12.6 million in Wednesday and Thursday previews, putting it on course to open to $70 million-plus domestically, the top start ever for a music biopic.

Dan Reed, the director of Leaving Neverland, told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview that “people don’t care that [Jackson] was a child molester. Literally, people just don’t care.”

The Jackson estate has consistently denied the allegations made by Safechuck and fellow Leaving Neverland subject Wade Robson, saying after the project’s 2019 Emmy win, “The film takes uncorroborated allegations that supposedly happened 20 years ago and treats them as fact.”

Safechuck’s attorney Carpenter tells THR his client was “struggling with everybody celebrating his abuser,” leading him to make the video. “The most successful abusers, be they Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein, priests, coaches, relatives or Cesar Chavez, tend to have inordinate power and/or influence, which translated into misplaced trust,” Carpenter says. “It’s very powerful. It’s powerfully hurtful when people are celebrating their abuser. And so I think that’s what’s happening right now.”

Carpenter says he does not expect Robson to put out a statement regarding Michael. As for the pending trial, Carpenter says the date is currently “in flux” but expects it to happen “sometime in 2027.”

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David Ellison Dines With Trump & Xi With WBD-Owned CNN Banned From White House

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Reporters from CNN aren’t allowed in to the White House’s state dinner for China’s president tonight, but the outlet’s soon-to -be owner will be breaking bread with Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, along with a gaggle of tech bosses.

Striving to get a settlement in his $111 billion merger with Warner Bros Discovery approved by a federal judge, Paramount CEO David Ellison is among the invited guests to the superpower sit-down. A past donor to Democrats, son of Oracle founder and close Trump pal Larry Ellison has become close to the MAGA administration in his pursuit of first Paramount last year and more recently WBD. That closeness to Trump has proven a major concern to opponents of the ParaBros mega-deal, especially when it comes to the now Bari Weiss-run CBS New and, down the line, the Ted Turner created cable newser.

(L-R) Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos & Sam Altman

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Tech leaning Ellison will be among a band of brothers with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, META’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, TikTok’s Jeff Yass, NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang, and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella in the People’s House. Along with the titans of traditional industry that the ex-Apprentice host loves to surround himself with like Boeing, CEO Kelly Ortberg, JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, and Dell’s Michael Dell, Elon Musk, Apple’s ex-CEO Tim Cook, and Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos will be partaking of the three course meal too.

Chinese officials, White House senior staff, cabinet members, Trump offspring, Congressional GOP leaders and several members of the Supreme Court are there unsurprisingly. Equally unsurprisingly, Fox News‘ Jesse Waters, Laura Ingraham (called an “American television presenter”) and Bret Baier are at the state dinner too with their respective spouses.

Banned from the White House by Trump last week, CNN, MS Now and Politico took the administration to court. Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the outlets be re-credentialled, which they were for a while and then tonight they were not. With Trump TV now launched online, the saga continues.

Enjoy your meal.

See the entire official guest list for tonight’s State dinner here:

  • President Donald J. Trump
  • First Lady Melania Trump
  • President Xi Jinping
  • Madame Peng Liyuan
  • Vice President JD Vance
  • Second Lady Usha Vance
  • Secretary of State Marco Rubio
  • Jeanette Rubio, Spouse of the Secretary of State
  • Chief of Staff Susie Wiles
  • U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue
  • Bonnie Perdue, Spouse of the US Ambassador to China
  • Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent
  • John Freeman, Spouse of the Secretary of the Treasury
  • Secretary of War Pete Hegseth
  • Ambassador Jamieson Greer, United States Trade Representative
  • Marlo Greer, Spouse of Ambassador Greer
  • Cai Qi, CPC Political Bureau Standing Committee Member, Chief of Staff to President Xi
  • Wang Yi, CPC Political Bureau Central Committee Member
  • He Lifeng, CPC Political Bureau Central Committee, Vice Premier of State Council
  • Zheng Shanjie, Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission
  • Wang Wentao, Minister of Commerce
  • Ma Zhaoxu, Executive Vice Foreign Minister
  • Ambassador Xie Feng, Chinese Ambassador to the United States
  • Ms. Ivanka Trump
  • Mr. Eric Trump
  • Ms. Lara Trump
  • Ms. Tiffany Trump
  • Mr. Michael Boulos
  • Mr. Viktor Knavs
  • Ms. Arabella Kushner
  • Jensen Huang, NVIDIA, CEO
  • Lori Huang, Spouse of Jensen Huang
  • Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, CEO
  • Dr. Lisa Su, Advanced Micro Devices, CEO
  • Daniel Lin, Spouse of Lisa Su
  • Tim Cook, Chairman of the Board of Apple
  • John F.W. Rogers, Goldman Sachs EVP and Secretary to the Board
  • Lynn Martin, President of the NYSE
  • Linda Mills, President of New York University
  • Eric Yuan, Zoom, CEO
  • Tang Fangyu Director, Central Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee
  • Minister of Finance Mr. Lan Fo’an
  • Mme. Wang Dan, Wife of Ambassador Xie Feng
  • Zhou Hongxu Deputy Director, General Office of the CPC Central Committee Director, Central Security Bureau
  • Lyu Luhua, Secretary to the President
  • Hong Lei, Assistant Foreign Minister Director General, Protocol Department
  • Cai Wei, Assistant Foreign Minister Director General, Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs
  • Mao Ning, Director General, Department of Press, Communication and Public Diplomacy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  • Zhang Quan, Secretary to Madame Peng
  • Zhang Yongchao, Deputy Director General, Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  • Kelly Ortberg, Boeing, CEO
  • Larry Fink, Blackrock, CEO
  • Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone, CEO
  • Sam Altman, OpenAI, CEO
  • Greg Brockman, OpenAI, President & Co-Founder
  • Anna Brockman, Wife of Greg Brockman
  • Dr. Miriam Adelson, Las Vegas Sand, Controlling Shareholder
  • Sergey Brin, Google/Alphabet, Co-Founder
  • Gerelyn Gilbert-Soto, Partner of Sergey Brin
  • Satya Nadella, Microsoft, Chairman & CEO
  • Jim Taiclet, Lockheed Martin, Chairman, President & CEO
  • Sundar Pichai, Google, CEO
  • Larry Culp, GE Aerospace, CEO
  • Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron, CEO
  • Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm, CEO
  • Jeff Bezos, Amazon, Chairman
  • Lauren Sanchez-Bezos, Spouse of Jeff Bezos
  • Jeff Yass, TikTok
  • Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan, CEO
  • Michael Dell, Dell, CEO
  • Mary Barra, General Motors, CEO
  • David Solomon, Goldman Sachs, CEO
  • Jane Fraser, Citi, CEO
  • Elon Musk, SpaceX & Tesla, CEO
  • Darren Woods, ExxonMobil, CEO
  • Chief Justice John Roberts, Chief Supreme Court Justice
  • Jane Sullivan Roberts, Chief Supreme Court Justice Spouse
  • Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Supreme Court Justice
  • Jesse Barrett, Supreme Court Justice Spouse
  • Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Supreme Court Justice
  • Ashley Estes Kavanaugh, Spouse of Supreme Court Justice
  • Speaker Mike Johnson, United States House of Representatives, Louisiana
  • Kelly Johnson, Spouse of Speaker Mike Johnson
  • Bret Baier, FOX News, American Journalist and Host
  • Amy Baier, Spouse of Brett Baier
  • Laura Ingraham, FOX News, American Television Presenter
  • Representative Richard McCormick, United States House of Representatives, Georgia
  • Jesse Waters, FOX News Host
  • Emma Waters, Spouse of Jesse Waters
  • David Ellison, Paramount Skydance, CEO
  • Susan Dell, Spouse to Michael Dell
  • Kevin Warsh, Chairman of the Federal Reserve
  • Jane Lauder, Spouse to Kevin Warsh
  • Secretary Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce
  • Allison Lutnick, Spouse to Secretary Lutnick
  • Director John Ratcliffe, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
  • Michelle Ratcliffe, Spouse to Director Ratcliffe
  • Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, U.S. Special Envoy to Middle East
  • Stephen Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor, Assistant to the President
  • Katie Miller, Spouse of Stephen Miller
  • Dan Scavino, Deputy Chief of Staff, Assistant to the President
  • Erin Scavino, Spouse to Dan Scavino
  • Attorney General Todd Blanche, Attorney General of the United States
  • Kristine Blanche, Spouse to Attorney General Todd Blanche
  • Meredith O’Rourke, The O’Rourke Group
  • Secretary Chris Wright, Secretary of Energy
  • Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Secretary of Health & Human Services
  • Secretary Linda McMahon, Secretary of Education
  • Secretary Doug Burgum, Secretary of Interior
  • Kathryn Burgum, Spouse to Secretary Burgum
  • Secretary Sean Duffy, Secretary of Transportation
  • Rachel Campos-Duffy, Spouse of Sean Duffy
  • Director Russell Vought, Director of Office of Management & Budget
  • Administrator Lee Zeldin, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
  • Acting Secretary Keith Sonderling, Acting Secretary of Labor
  • Brad Gerstner, Altimeter, CEO
  • Sangeeta Mehrota, Spouse of Sanjay Mehrotra
  • Anthony Barra, Spouse of Mary Barra
  • Kathy Woods, Spouse of Darren Woods
  • Albert Bourla, Pfizer, CEO
  • David Sacks, Co-chair, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
  • Administrator Kelly Loeffler, Small Business Administrator
  • Jeff Sprecher, Spouse of Kelly Loeffler
  • Katie Simpson, Fiancé to Brad Gerstner
  • Representative Jason Smith, United States House of Representatives, Missouri
  • Senator Steven Daines, United States Senator, Montana
  • General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • Director Jay Clayton, Director of Office of the Director of National Intelligence
  • Bernard Arnault, LVMH, CEO
  • Alexandre Arnault, Son of Bernard Arnault
  • Ryan McInerey, Visa, CEO
  • Michael Miebach, Mastercard, CEO
  • Sandra Lynn Ellison, Spouse of David Ellison
  • Cheryl Hines, Spouse of Secretary Kennedy

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Lili Reinhart Says Hollywood Is “Afraid To Make” Her Lesbian Vampire Film

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As Lili Reinhart celebrates her role in The Love Hypothesis, she’s ready to sink her teeth into another romantic book adaptation.

Without revealing the title, the actress recently teased that she’s trying to adapt a novella “about lesbian vampires” but is having trouble finding a studio that’s willing to take on the source material.

“People are too afraid to make that,” Reinhart told Hits Radio. “So, if you work at a studio and are watching this video, I don’t know why you wouldn’t make that in this day and age. That’s what I’m trying to do.”

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Although Reinhart didn’t reveal which novella she’s trying to adapt, some are speculating it to be Irish author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla (1872), about a young Austrian woman who is pursued by the eponymous vampire.

The project comes as Reinhert promotes Prime Video’s adaptation of Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis, in which professor Dr. Carlsen (Tom Bateman) and PhD student Olive (Reinhart) start a fake relationship to test their theories about love.

Reinhart also serves as an executive producer on the Claire Scanlon-helmed adaptation, which is penned by Sarah Rothschild. She has previously been an EP on her films Chemical Hearts (2020), Look Both Ways (2022) and American Sweatshop (2025).

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Richard S. Reisberg Dead: TV Executive At Viacom, MGM/UA & Lionsgate Was 86

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Richard S. Reisberg, who held senior roles at Viacom Productions, UA TV, MGM/UA TV Productions and Lionsgate TV, passed away on September 23, 2026. His family confirmed the news to Deadline. He was 85.

After earning his law degree, Reisberg worked early on in business affairs at ABC, CBS and NBC and then Viacom International, where he rose to become Senior Vice President. In 1972, he was made President of Viacom Productions.

After Viacom, Reisberg held a string of senior roles: President of United Artists Television, President of MGM/UA Television Productions and President and Chief Operating Officer of Reeves Entertainment. His final industry position was President of Lionsgate Television.

He later became a mediator at JAMS and taught mediation at Pepperdine School of Law.

Reisberg is survived by his wife of almost 56 years, Judy; his daughters, Jennifer Benson and Stephanie Silvera; his son-in-law, Justin Silvera; and his grandchildren, Oliver and Tyler Benson and Ella and Layla Silvera. His son-inlaw, David Benson, predeceased him.

Donations in his memory may be made to Alzheimer’s Los Angeles.

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