Regression – Syndication AP

An Iranian singer who faces possible prison time for his song that’s become an anthem to the ongoing protests shaking the Islamic Republic wept early after seeing he’d won a Grammy. Shervin Hajipour appeared stunned early on Monday in Iran after hearing Jill Biden, the wife of President Joe Biden, announce that he’d won the Grammy’s new song for social change special merit award for “Baraye.” An online video showed Hajipour in a darkened room, wiping tears away after the announcement. There was no immediate reaction in Iranian state media or from government officials to Hajipour’s win. The singer is among over 19,600 people arrested amid the demonstrations.

Dr. Dre, Missy Elliott and Lil Wayne were honored at the Recording Academy's second annual Black Music Collective event during an official pre-Grammy event. The three Grammy winners and music executive Sylvia Rhone received the renamed Dr. Dre Global Impact Award at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. The honorees received the award for their personal and professional achievements in the music industry. Wayne spoke about being overlooked, Dr. Dre shared his passion for collaboration and Elliott delivered a heartfelt speech that had some audience members shedding tears.

It took just two days at the PNC Championship for Tiger Woods to show he can still hit all the shots. He just can't walk to them at the moment. A few shots stood out to him. One was a 3-iron into the 18th green on Saturday. Another was the drive he hit some 15 yards past Justin Thomas. That prompted Woods to leave a note for Thomas in the fairway to remind him the old guy can still play. It was enough to raise the possibility of Woods doing something special after he recovers from plantar fasciitis.

The Biden administration has been conspicuously silent about how migrants should enter the United States when Trump-era asylum limits end, fueling rumors, confusion and doubts about its readiness. Many expect an online registration system. Migrants have been denied rights to seek asylum under U.S. and international law 2.5 million times since March 2020 on grounds of preventing COVID-19. The public-health rule known as Title 42 was scheduled to expire Wednesday until U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts ordered a temporary hold. The end of Title 42 is expected bring more migrants across U.S. borders.

Wang Yu has already been arrested, imprisoned and harassed by the Chinese Communist Party for her work as a human rights lawyer representing activists, Uyghur scholars and Falun Gong practitioners. This year, her movements also have been restricted by a color-coded app on her phone that’s supposed to protect people from COVID-19. The health codes have become ubiquitous in China in recent years as the country has struggled to contain the novel coronavirus, pushing the public to a breaking point that erupted in protests late last month. Last week the government announced it would discontinue the national health code, but even after lockdowns end, some dissidents and activists predict the health codes will remain in place in some form.

When Rita Wilson was young, her mother encouraged her to think about lyrics from new perspectives. The actor and singer-songwriter brought that idea to her new album, “Rita Wilson Now & Forever: Duets,” in which she and her collaborators reinterpret '70s-era songs, mostly ones not originally recorded as duets. She worked with Willie Nelson, Smokey Robinson, Keith Urban, Jackson Browne and many more for the album. Wilson said she and her co-producer looked for great songs that could sound like a conversation between two people. She says making music lets her ”stay in that creative conversation and in a very connected way."

Hilary Swank has announced she’s pregnant with twins and says that revelation might explain some of her wardrobe alterations and other actions on set of her new ABC series “Alaska Daily." The two-time Oscar winner tells The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday that the experience has reminded her of how women are her heroes while working long days on set. In “Alaska Daily,” Swank plays a seasoned investigative journalist who takes a job in Alaska to look into unsolved cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women. The series is created by Tom McCarthy, whose 2015 film “Spotlight,” also about investigative journalists, won the Oscar for best picture.

Elizabeth Emanuel cradles the massive scrapbook before laying it gently on the table and opening its Prussian blue covers to reveal a personal time capsule of her relationship with Princess Diana. Emanuel got to know Diana during the months she and her then-husband, David, spent designing the future princess’s wedding dress. Four decades later, there is a sense of intimacy as she leafs through sketches, fabric swatches and photos of Diana displayed alongside images of the designer’s mother stitching embroidery into the gown. Emanuel understands why Diana’s death in a Paris car crash 25 years ago next Wednesday — on Aug. 31, 1997 — resonated with so many people around the world.

Kevin Hart plays a stay-at-home dad to two cute kids who gets some time to himself for the first time in years in “Me Time,” a new comedy streaming on Netflix Friday. After some failed attempts to amuse himself, he ends up back with his wild childhood friend Huck, played by Mark Wahlberg, who has planned an elaborate 44th birthday party for himself and hijinks ensue. Associated Press Film Writer Lindsey Bahr writes in her review that “Me Time” squanders its promising premise, talented cast and enormous budget on frenetic, half-baked jokes. “Me Time” is rated R.

New York’s highest court has agreed to hear an appeal from Harvey Weinstein over his 2020 rape conviction. A spokesman for the Court of Appeals says oral arguments will likely be held sometime next year. Weinstein was convicted in February 2020 of forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006 and raping an aspiring actress in 2013. In June, an intermediate-level appeals court in New York upheld the conviction. Weinstein’s publicist, Juda Engelmayer, says, “We are hopeful and grateful for this rare opportunity.” The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.

Comic-Con audiences got a sneak peek at the new “Lord of the Rings” series “The Rings of Power” Friday in San Diego. Amazon Studios unveiled a new trailer for the show, set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.” Stephen Colbert, a self-proclaimed Tolkien fan, was also on hand to moderate a panel teasing the series on the fan convention’s biggest stage, Hall H. The eight-part series will debut on Prime Video on Sept. 2, with new episodes arriving weekly. It is said to be the most expensive ever made, with a reported budget of $465 million.

Steven Spielberg is bringing his highly personal film “The Fabelmans” to the Toronto International Film Festival this fall. Organizers on Friday announced his participation, which will mark his first time at the festival. Spielberg co-wrote the coming-of-age story about a young man and a shattering family secret. His co-writer is Tony Kushner, who he also collaborated with on “Lincoln." The cast includes Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen and Judd Hirsch. “The Fabelmans” is set for a Nov. 11 theatrical release from Universal Pictures and is expected to be a big player in the upcoming awards season. The Toronto International Film Festival kicks off on Sept. 8 and runs through Sept. 18.

Italian police say three Italian environmental activists glued their hands to the glass protecting Botticelli's masterpiece painting “Spring” in the Uffizi Galleries. The museum in Florence says thanks to the glass, no damage was done to the iconic painting in the incident Friday morning. Carabinieri police said two young women and a man, all Italians who had bought entrance tickets, staged the protest in the Uffizi's room dedicated to the painter. They sat on the floor and displayed a banner reading, “Last Generation No Gas No Coal.” The glue was safely removed from the glass protecting the painting. The activists were ordered by police to stay out of Florence for three years.

Several artists including Bun B, Lupe Fiasco and 6LACK have recorded songs honoring Juneteenth for Apple Music. Performers from different genres composed new tracks, while others recorded cover songs for the second annual “Juneteenth 2022: Freedom Songs” playlist, which launches Friday on the streaming platform. The playlist releases more than a week before the annual holiday – also known as Emancipation Day and Freedom Day – that commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans learned about their freedom on June 19. The 16-song playlist also features country singer Brittney Spencer, reggae-dancehall singer Kranium, gospel singer Koryn Hawthorne and Latin rapper-singer Eladio Carrion.

Supreme Court financial disclosures reveal that the justices took in $800,000 in book royalties last year, a lucrative supplement to their judicial salaries. Reports released Thursday show that by far the largest payment went to Justice Amy Coney Barrett. It's $425,000 for a yet-to-be-released book and likely the first installment on a reported $2 million deal she signed soon after joining the court in 2020. Justices are being paid $274,200 this year for their work on the bench. Chief Justice John Roberts gets a little more, $286,700. The largest advances before now have gone to Justices Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor, who each received more than $1 million for their accounts of their rise from poverty to the nation’s highest court.

Foo Fighters will honor the rock band’s late drummer Taylor Hawkins with a pair of tribute concerts in September, with one in London and the other in Los Angeles. The twin shows will take place Sept. 3 at London’s Wembley Stadium and Sept. 27 at The Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, featuring “his bandmates and his inspirations playing the songs that he fell in love with, and the ones he brought to life,” the band said in a statement. Lineups for each show will be announced at a later date. Hawkins died March 25 during a South American tour with the rock band. He was 50.

There are more than a few A-list stars coming to the multiplex, and your televisions, this summer. But there's also quite a few new names that will sure to have audiences buzzing, like Austin Butler, a television teen hearthrob who stars as Elvis Presley in Baz Lurhmann's drama, Keke Palmer, a child actor who is showing new depths in Jordan Peele's “Nope," comedian Jo Koy who at 50 is making a splash in his first major film “Easter Sunday,” English actor Andrew Koji who holds his own with Brad Pitt in “Bullet Train," or Cooper Raiff in “Cha Cha Real Smooth.”

Lin-Manuel Miranda, one of this year’s most prominent Oscar nominees, is sitting out the ceremony after his wife tested positive for COVID-19. Miranda shared the unfortunate news on Twitter Saturday afternoon. He said that even though he has tested negative himself, he will stay away from the ceremony out of caution. Miranda is up for an Oscar for best original song for “Dos Oruguitas” from the animated film “Encanto.” Should he win, he would attain rare EGOT status, meaning he’d be an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony winner. 

Yes, folks, dinosaurs do still roam the Earth. Come Sunday night, an increasingly irrelevant Hollywood elite will gather for their annual fete to an astonishing lack of self-awareness, a.k.a. the Academy Awards. In less than two weeks, Major League Baseball will throw out the first pitch on another fun-filled season of jockstrap adjustments and dallying even longer than usual between pitches so every fielder, plus a couple of hot dog vendors, have time to shift to one side of the field. Baseball & the Oscars. Two relics of a bygone era, both fighting to avoid relegation to Nicheville U.S.A.