By Rebecca Rubin According To The variety Oscar host Conan O’Brien gave Los Angeles firefighters the opportunity to deliver a few zingers during Hollywood’s biggest night. On stage at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, O’Brien told the audience of A-listers, “Now, I know you’re going to find this hard to believe, but there are some jokes even I’m not brave enough to tell.” So he enlisted a number of first responders — members of the fire service who battled this year’s devastating Palisades and Eaton wildfires — and instructed: “On behalf of myself, would you please read what’s in the prompter?” O’Brien first them turned back to the crowd to say, “Remember — everyone in this audience has to laugh; these are heroes!” Los Angeles Fire Department captain Erik Scott kicked things of...

By Angelique Jackson, Brent Lang According To The variety The New York Times is asking a federal judge to dismiss Justin Baldoni‘s defamation suit against the paper for its role in publishing a bombshell report that ignited his legal battle with Blake Lively. Baldoni has accused the Times of working in coordination with Lively and her PR team on the Dec. 21 article entitled “‘We Can Bury Anyone’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine” that revealed the actress had filed a civil rights complaint accusing her “It Ends With Us” director and co-star of misconduct. The piece also contained allegations that Baldoni and his representatives engaged in an elaborate effort to tarnish Lively’s reputation in retaliation after she raised her concerns about his on-set behavior. In its filing,...

By J. Kim Murphy According To The variety The deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, remain under investigation, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adam Mendoza shared at a press conference Friday afternoon. In a statement, Mendoza stated that both Hackman and Arakawa’s bodies tested negative for carbon monoxide poisoning. The sheriff also disclosed that Hackman’s pacemaker recorded its “last event” on Feb. 17, meaning that it is currently assumed that that is the date that the actor died. Mendoza said there remains uncertainty over the order of the couple’s deaths. Final toxicology and autopsy reports remain pending — a process that Mendoza says “could be a month or three months or longer.” Initial findings indicate that there was “no external trauma to either in...