Ralph W. Hemecker, a veteran TV director, writer and producer, died earlier this month. He was 65.

Per an obituary notice for Hemecker, the Hollywood veteran known for his work on “The X-Files,” “Blue Bloods,” “Once Upon a Time” and “The Flash,” passed away on July 10 at his home in Glendale, Calif.

Lana Parrilla, who starred in all seven seasons of ABC’s “Once Upon a Time,” paid tribute to Hemecker on Instagram, remembering the TV director as “one of the kindest, most generous souls I’ve ever known. One of ‘Once Upon a Time’s’ defining directors. A truly passionate, beautiful man and my dear friend.”

“I’m deeply heartbroken by this loss. Thank you, Ralph, for your friendship, the laughs, your genius, your generosity and the light you brought into my life,” she added. “You will be deeply missed, forever remembered and always loved.”

Born Ralph William Hemecker on June 12, 1961, he would go on to study English at Bucknell University, where he began making short films. He kept his education going at New York University, where he took filmmaking classes.

From there, Hemecker launched his career working in production and post-production. He then became a director for Fox’s “America’s Most Wanted.” He also directed episodes for “Silk Stalkings” and “Renegade.”

Hemecker scored a career breakthrough in 2000 with a directing gig for the TNT TV movie “Witchblade.” This project transitioned into a TV adaptation of the same name, where he worked as the showrunner, as well as executive producer and writer, for two seasons between 2001-2002.

Hemecker’s other notable credits included “Dead On,” “Blade Squad,” “Haunting Sarah,” “Fatal Desire” “Nora Roberts’ Angels Fall,” “Nora Roberts’ Midnight Bayou” and “Skyrunners.” In 2000, Hemecker founded his production company, Mythic Films.

He is survived by his two stepdaughters, father, sister, brother, three nephews, a niece and a great-nephew.

A celebration of life honoring Hemecker will be announced at a later date.

Jim Acosta did not mince his words while reacting to Donald Trump’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech Friday evening, even going as far as to slam the event as a “disgrace.”

The veteran journalist, who worked for CNN for nearly 20 years, laid into Trump’s address in a candid reaction posted to X.

“This dinner is a disgrace. Trump’s rambling, unhinged speech is full of hate and spite,” Acosta wrote. “Just spewing nastiness at his usual targets. Let’s not sanitize how truly ugly it was. This would be a great moment for members of the press to get up and walk out.”

He added in a follow-up post: “The wide shots tell the story. Most people aren’t laughing. They can’t wait to call their Ubers to go home.”

Acosta’s outrage over the event isn’t necessarily surprising, given he was among the 500-plus journalists who penned a viral letter urging the White House Correspondents’ Association to confront Trump at Friday’s dinner. Not to mention, Trump singled out his former CNN colleagues Anderson Cooper, Kaitlin Collins and Don Lemon during the WHCD speech.

Acosta wasn’t alone in his criticism of Trump’s address, as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.), Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and CNN’s Mark Thompson all spoke out against the president.

“Trump is cracking jokes about natural disasters while American families are still waiting for the disaster recovery dollars he promised,” Newsom posted on X after Trump made a jab about his response to the 2025 Southern California wildfires.

Newsom’s press office chimed in with its own response, adding, “Donald Trump is a son of a bitch.”

Schiff also weighed in after Trump suggested the event didn’t have a clown because “Adam Shifty Schiff was not available.”

“Looks like they found a clown after all…,” he hit back.

As for Thompson, the CNN CEO issued a formal statement after Trump zeroed in on the network’s journalists at the dinner.

“We stand by our journalist and the integrity and fair mindedness with which the CNN team reports the news,” Thompson wrote in a Friday evening statement. “Honest, accurate journalism may sometimes irritate politicians, but our right to report and present that reporting to the public without government interference is fully protected by the U.S. Constitution. CNN will continue to exercise this right.”

Though, not all of the responses were negative, as Fox News’ David Asman touted Friday’s dinner as a “great night for America.”

For other reactions to Trump’s speech, keep reading.

Think what you will of him…No president in my life has the stones of this guy. After 3 attempts on his life, he’s showing us how to stand up to political violence. And other than a few exceptions he’s been quite gracious to these people. Great night for America. pic.twitter.com/t4ptjCZj3R

— David Asman (@DavidAsmanfox) July 25, 2026

Hi @whca hope you feel proud about hosting a racist at your dinner, and were ok with him using ‘Palestinian’ as a slur from your podium. https://t.co/QYjKb4ruGI

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) July 25, 2026

Hey @whca: This is on YOU. You knew what you were getting, and even though a re-do wasn’t necessary, you did it anyway.

— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) July 25, 2026

Trump is cracking jokes about natural disasters while American families are still waiting for the disaster recovery dollars he promised. https://t.co/RGChrGZEtA

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) July 25, 2026

Donald Trump is a son of a bitch.

— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) July 25, 2026

This dinner is a disgrace. Trump’s rambling, unhinged speech is full of hate and spite. Just spewing nastiness at his usual targets. Let’s not sanitize how truly ugly it was. This would be a great moment for members of the press to get up and walk out.

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 25, 2026

I am not surprised at Trump’s delusional tirades at the annual Correspondents dinner. However, it is unacceptable, sad and self-defeating to sit through this garbage. My greatest concern is not his corruption- but ours. No journalist should stand for this.

— Brian J. Karem (@BrianKarem) July 25, 2026

President Donald Trump spent much of his White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech talking about the people covering him.

Over the course of an hour, Trump bounced from CBS News to CNN, from White House reporters to TV news anchors, from journalism awards to media executives, turning Washington, D.C.’s signature celebration of the press into a running conversation about the industry itself.

Friday night’s speech was a window into how Trump continues to view the organizations — and personalities — that shape the daily news cycle.

He opened on an unexpectedly gracious note, acknowledging the April shooting that halted the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner, and forced the organization to postpone it. The show was rescheduled for Friday, July 24.

“As I said three months ago, the show must go on,” Trump said, calling the attack “an assault on our democracy itself.” He also thanked the Secret Service and praised WHCA President and CBS News White House correspondent Weijia Jiang for helping bring the dinner back. “We sort of became friendly … we went through a little bit of a war together.”

That tone didn’t last long, however.

“I respect most of them … they do a great job, amazing job,” Trump said of the journalists in attendance before quickly pivoting to one of the night’s biggest laughs.

“This place is really the largest group of Trump Derangement Syndrome people ever put together at one time,” he said, adding that attendees were fortunate the original April dinner had been interrupted because he originally “was going to rip people.”

Trump also devoted considerable time to criticizing individual television personalities, revisiting long-running feuds with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper, former CNN anchor Don Lemon and MS NOW’s Lawrence O’Donnell.

But the speech wasn’t all aimed at familiar adversaries.

CBS News emerged as one of the night’s more surprising storylines.

Trump joked that Paramount owner David Ellison wanted to rename next year’s event to “the Trump White House Correspondents’ Dinner” before unexpectedly offering well wishes to CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss.

“I wish Bari Weiss all the best at CBS News. She’s a wonderful woman,” Trump said.

He also repeatedly referenced the journalism awards handed out earlier in the evening, congratulating some winners while questioning others, including Collins, whose reporting he dismissed even as he acknowledged her recognition.

By the speech’s end, one thing stood out more than any single joke or insult: Trump had used journalism’s biggest annual gathering not to unveil a new political message, but to engage directly with the media ecosystem that has defined much of his public life.

For a president who has long cast the press as both foil and amplifier, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner once again became less about Washington politics than about the evolving relationship between Trump and the journalists, executives and television personalities who cover him.