Entertainment
Oscar: Pitt Wins Best Supporting Actor for ‘Once Upon a Time…’
Brad Pitt’s Oscar win on Sunday marks a fitting comeback for the veteran actor whose personal life, rather than his on-screen roles, have dominated headlines in recent years.
Pitt won the golden statuette for his role as a laid-back fading stuntman in Quentin Tarantino’s ode to 1960s Tinseltown, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.”
“This is incredible, really incredible,” the 56-year-old said as he accepted the award — his first Academy Award for acting after more than 30 years in showbiz and three previous performance nominations.
“They told me I only have 45 seconds up here, which is 45 seconds more than the Senate gave John Bolton this week,” he said, in reference to President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
“I’m thinking maybe Quentin does a movie about it — in the end, the adults do the right thing.”
His quips were the latest in a string of pithy, often funny speeches delivered as he swept a glut of prizes this award season including a Golden Globe, targeting everything from divorce to Prince Harry.
On Sunday, he bested a crowded field of four former Oscar winners — Joe Pesci and Al Pacino for Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” Anthony Hopkins (“The Two Popes”) and Tom Hanks (“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”).
But it was not his first Oscar — he won a best picture prize in 2014 as one of the producers of “12 Years a Slave.”
Pitt’s performance in “Once Upon a Time…” earned him rave reviews, with Britain’s Sunday Times describing it as the best by a movie star in 2019.
The award is a well-earned win for the Hollywood heartthrob, who has kept a low profile since 2016 as he went through a messy divorce with Angelina Jolie and a bitter custody battle over their six children.
Pitt faced accusations of child abuse, heavy drinking and drug use.
Since then, he has talked at length about getting sober, and attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings for a year and a half after having “taken things as far as I could take” them.
“This is for my kids who color everything I do. I adore you,” he said Sunday.
Even before his relationship with Jolie, Pitt has endured the constant tabloid spotlight — especially during his engagement to Gwyneth Paltrow and subsequent marriage to Jennifer Aniston.
“In the 90s, all that attention really threw me,” Pitt told The New York Times in an interview last year.
“It was really uncomfortable for me, the cacophony of expectations and judgments. I really became a bit of a hermit and just bonged myself into oblivion.”
(AFP)
Entertainment
EFCC Has Most Corrupt, Wicked People in Nigeria, Bobrisky Lashes Out at Anti-graft Agency
Nigerian controversial cross-dresser, Idris Okuneye aka Bobrisky, has taken to his social media account to lash out at officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The self-exiled transvestite, while reacting to EFCC’s plea to be kind and show sympathy for an official who was shot during a raid in Anambra State, alleged that the anti-graft agency has the most corrupt and wicked people in Nigeria.
Bobrisky, who criticised the EFCC for its hypocrisy, said he does not like reading about the anti-graft agency and feels like throwing up each time he does.
“I just don’t like reading anything about EFCC online, cus I feel like I want to throw up each time I read about them.
“You are asking the public to be human about the loss of one of your staff but you are the most wicked people in Nigeria,” Bob wrote on his official Instagram page.
He also recalled how his home was ransacked and he was manhandled by officials of the EFCC when he was accused of money laundering and naira mutilation.
“When I was in your custody, you took me to my house and searched my house.
‘‘When I asked you guys why, you claimed I’m into money laundering, you want to check if I’m not printing money in my house, Police are better than you all one million times…” Bobriksy added.
Nollywood actor, Saidi Balogun has reunited with his estranged wife, Faithia Williams at the graduation ceremony of their son, Khalid Ayomide Balogun.
The couple, both Nollywood actors, who called it quits with their marriage a few years ago, had cause to come together, to celebrate their son’s achievement as he graduates from the University of Lagos with a first-class honours.
Trending videos and photos captured the couple in jolly mood posing for photographs and exchanging pleasantries with well wishers and friends.
Saidi and Faithia had a bitter separation, which prompted Saidi to caution his ex-wife to desist from using his name, Balogun.
African Voices Changemakers, the popular CNN International magazine programme will this weekend host one of Hollywood’s most celebrated African actors, Djimon Gaston Hounsou. The programme is sponsored by digital solutions provider, Globacom.
The star actor who was born in Benin Republic in April 1960, will be chatting with programme anchor, Larry Madowo on his inspiring journey and how he links the Black diaspora with its roots through the Djimon Hounsou Foundation which he launched in New York in 2019.
Hounsou became a thespian when he acted in the 1990 film titled Without You, I’m Nothing from which he has gained recognition for his outstanding roles in several other films including Amistad (1997); Gladiator (2000) and a French film titled Forces speciales (2011) among other great works. His talents have earned him the Golden Globe Award as Best Actor in Drama and the NAACP Image Award both in 1998 and for his role in Amistad. He also got the Academy Awards as Best Supporting Actor in 2004 as well as an Outstanding Performance Award for Blood Diamond in 2007.
His foundation has been at the forefront of empowering Africans through his philanthropic initiatives like Run Richmond 16.19. He has successfully bridged history, culture, and community in a mission to unite the African diaspora and honour African heritage.
African Voices Changemakers will be broadcast on Saturday at 8.30a.m. and will be repeated same day at noon. Further repeats will be broadcast on Sunday at 4.30a.m. and 7p.m.; Monday 4a.m. Repeat editions will come up in the same broadcast schedule next week from Saturday.
