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A.J. Benza

News

A.J. Benza

Jamie Foxx reps push back at Covid claims
Image
Representatives for actor Jamie Foxx are pushing back claims that his hospital stay stemmed from getting a Covid vaccine, saying such allegations are “completely inaccurate.”

The claim that Jamie Foxx was forced to go to the hospital due to reactions from a Covid shot come from, not surprisingly, those without any actual evidence to back it up. Case in point: A.J. Benza, the gossip columnist who might best be remembered as the guy who swung at “Stuttering” John Melendez and made Gary “Baba Booey” Dell’Abate scream like a mama monkey. At best, it’s one of the great moments of Howard Stern’s E! show; at worst, it gives another glimpse into the sort of person Benza is.

On Drew Pinsky’s Ask Dr. Drew show, Benza said a source “in the room” told him that Jamie Foxx had been admitted after his Covid shot, which left him “partially paralyzed and blind.
See full article at JoBlo.com
  • 6/9/2023
  • by Mathew Plale
  • JoBlo.com
Jamie Foxx at an event for Comment tuer son boss 2 (2014)
Jamie Foxx’s Rep Shoots Down Viral Conspiracy Theory That Covid Caused Actor’s Illness: ‘Completely Inaccurate’
Jamie Foxx at an event for Comment tuer son boss 2 (2014)
Jamie Foxx cannot catch a break.

After he was hospitalized earlier this year due to an unspecified illness, Foxx is now battling a different enemy: online conspiracy theories. A.J. Benza, a podcaster and former New York Daily News contributor who you might also remember from frequent appearances on E! News in the 1990s, was on the online talk show “Ask Dr. Drew,” who claimed that the actor was left “partially paralyzed and blind” after getting a Covid vaccine. Foxx’s representatives told NBC News the claim is “completely inaccurate.”

Benza said that after Foxx got the vaccine while on set and formed a blood clot, which led to a stroke. Benza claimed that this information came from a source close to the actor and Dr. Drew Pinsky, the former “Loveline” host who has been embroiled in a series of controversies over the past few years (including downplaying the severity of...
See full article at The Wrap
  • 6/8/2023
  • by Drew Taylor
  • The Wrap
Jamie Foxx Reps Shut Down ‘Completely Inaccurate’ Rumours Illness Was Caused By Covid-19 Vaccine
Image
While Jamie Foxx continues to recover, his team is shutting down rumours.

Recently, claims have been spreading online that the “Collateral” star’s mysterious medical complication, which sent him to hospital in April, was caused by a Covid-19 vaccine.

Read More: Jamie Foxx’s Daughter Corinne Slams ‘Wild’ Speculation About His Health; Says He’s ‘Been Out Of The Hospital For Weeks’

The rumour caught on after gossip columnist A.J. Benza appeared on the “Ask Dr. Drew” podcast and made the unsubstantiated claim.

Benza claimed that he’d heard Foxx suffered a blood clot due to the vaccine, causing a stroke.

But in a statement to NBC News, reps for the actor called the rumour “completely inaccurate.”

Despite Benza not naming the source of his claims, or responding to NBC News’ request for comment, the rumour has spread online, thanks to personalities like right-wing commentator Candace Owens amplifying the claims on her YouTube show.
See full article at ET Canada
  • 6/8/2023
  • by Corey Atad
  • ET Canada
‘The Pope Of Greenwich Village’ Miniseries In The Works From Producers Hawk Koch & Gene Kirkwood, With Writers Nick Vallelonga, George Gallo & Chazz Palminteri
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Exclusive: The Pope of Greenwich Village is headed to the small screen.

Hawk Koch and Gene Kirkwood, producers of the 1984 film, have teamed with Oscar-winning writer Nick Vallelonga (Green Book), writer/director George Gallo (Midnight Run), and Oscar-nominated actor/writer/playwright Chazz Palminteri, (A Bronx Tale) to develop an eight-hour miniseries based on Vincent Patrick’s best-selling 1979 book The Pope of Greenwich Village and its 1984 feature adaptation.

The Pope of Greenwich Village film starred Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts and Daryl Hanna. It revolved about two cousins, Charlie and Paulie, played by Roberts and Rourke respectively, who unknowingly rob the mob and face dangerous consequences.

Vallelonga, Gallo and Palminteri are all native New Yorkers, and Vallelonga has a personal connection to the film.

“My father, Tony Lip, who Green Book was about, played the role of Frankie Shy in the opening scene of the original film, and I was an extra in the stickball scene,...
See full article at Deadline Film + TV
  • 12/2/2020
  • by Nellie Andreeva and Denise Petski
  • Deadline Film + TV
George Gallo To Bring A.J. Benza’s ‘74 And Sunny’ To The Big Screen
George Gallo at Cannes promoting Middle Men
Exclusive: George Gallo is set to direct the feature adaptation of A.J. Benza’s 2015 childhood memoir ’74 and Sunny from Simon & Schuster.

Benza, the former Daily News show business columnist and E!’s Mysteries & Scandals host and producer, is currently writing the script.

’74 and Sunny recounts when Benza’s shy, effeminate cousin from New Jersey came to live with his Sicilian-American family during the summer of 1974 in Long Island, memories that were dominated by the author’s short-tempered, outspoken, hyper-masculine father. Through anecdotes of fishing with his father, playing tackle football and conquering neighborhood bullies, Benza tells a story of triumph and acceptance, of a loving but rough-around-the-edges family that puts aside its prejudices to welcome with open arms a young boy struggling to understand his sexuality and ultimately accept himself. It’s a story in which tolerance wins over ignorance, family neutralizes fear, and love triumphs over all.

Greg Ansin...
See full article at Deadline Film + TV
  • 12/12/2018
  • by Anthony D'Alessandro
  • Deadline Film + TV
Viceland’s ‘Trump Tapes’ Is Over, But Tom Arnold’s Hunt Isn’t
Tom Arnold in The Hunt for the Trump Tapes (2018)
Exclusive: Tom Arnold hasn’t given up his quest to uncover incriminating evidence against Donald Trump, but his Viceland series The Hunt for the Trump Tapes With Tom Arnold is over. A source said it was only ever intended as an eight-episode series.

But Arnold isn’t done. “I am not quitting until I get all the tapes or Trump resigns, which ever happens first,” he told Deadline. “Every day both things get closer to happening.”

Over the course of the show that premiered September 18, Arnold searched high and low for elusive videotapes allegedly showing Trump in all manner of compromising positions – from the infamous “pee tape” in a Moscow hotel room to an outtake on The Apprentice in which Trump allegedly used the N-word. Arnold hasn’t found the tapes yet, if they exist, but he hasn’t stopped looking.

“His search was fascinating and I loved it,” said Peter Woronov,...
See full article at Deadline Film + TV
  • 10/23/2018
  • by David Robb and Anita Busch
  • Deadline Film + TV
Lillo Brancato in USS Alabama (1995)
‘Wasted Talent’ Acquired By Freestyle Digital Media; New Trailer For Lillo Brancato Docu Released
Lillo Brancato in USS Alabama (1995)
Exclusive: Freestyle Digital Media announced today that is has secured the distribution rights to the Steve Sanulis-directed documentary Wasted Talent. The film will debut on demand on November 13.

The film, which also debuted its first trailer (watch above), follows 41-year-old actor Lillo Brancato who made his debut in Robert De Niro’s 1993 directorial debut A Bronx Tale. He went on to star in Renaissance Man, Crimson Tide, and The Sopranos, but Brancato fell from grace after becoming an addict and getting arrested for the murder of NYPD Officer Daniel Enchautegui during a drug excursion gone horribly wrong. Despite being cleared of the murder charge, Brancato still spent more than eight years in prison on an attempted burglary conviction. During his time in prison the actor was finally able to get clean and sober so that now, out from behind bars, he can hopefully pick up where is acting career left off.
See full article at Deadline Film + TV
  • 10/17/2018
  • by Dino-Ray Ramos
  • Deadline Film + TV
Arnold Schwarzenegger
‘Hunt for the Trump Tapes’ Trailer: Even the Easter Bunny Has Something for Tom Arnold (Video)
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Tom Arnold swears he’s gonna get to the bottom of this whole “Trump tapes” thing, even if he has to take unusual routes. That includes hitting up Peter Cottontail to find out what he’s got on Potus, in the first look at the actor’s new Viceland series, “The Hunt for the Trump Tapes.”

“I’m going to dig as deep as I have to, to expose the ugly truth about the ugly man,” Arnold says in the minute-long trailer.

Viceland’s new series “The Hunt for the Trump Tapes with Tom Arnold,” will see Arnold doing some “citizen journalism” to find out the truth behind the rumored recordings of Donald Trump. It will begin with Arnold’s appearance on the “Howard Stern Show” and continues to follow the comedian as he meets with figures like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Penn Jillette, Judd Apatow and Rosie O’Donnell. And, apparently,...
See full article at The Wrap
  • 8/16/2018
  • by Jennifer Maas
  • The Wrap
The Apprentice (2004)
Tom Arnold Demands ‘The Apprentice’ Creator Mark Burnett Release Tapes of the Real Donald Trump
The Apprentice (2004)
Tom Arnold is searching for the Donald Trump tapes — but he means more than just the infamous, alleged Trump “pee pee tapes.” For his new Viceland series “The Hunt for the Trump Tapes,” Arnold is issuing a challenge to “The Apprentice” executive producer Mark Burnett: Release the hours of tapes of Trump on set acting inappropriate.

“Mark Burnett does have a disc with every outtake of ‘The Apprentice,'” he said. “I’d like [Burnett] to stand up and say, ‘actually we had to cut out all the lies and sexual harassment, he’s not really that guy [you saw on the screen],'” Arnold said. “The real guy is this other guy.”

Arnold, who appeared on “Celebrity Apprentice” and is familiar with how the production worked, said he’d like to have just one 12-hour day worth of footage from the 18 cameras that were used on the show.

“I want to show America that,...
See full article at Indiewire
  • 7/26/2018
  • by Michael Schneider
  • Indiewire
‘The Hunt For The Trump Tapes With Tom Arnold’ Gets Premiere Date On Viceland – TCA
Viceland has slotted a September premiere date for its anticipated series The Hunt For The Trump Tapes with Tom Arnold, in which the titular comic actor takes his activism off Twitter and puts it into real life. The eight-episode series will debut with a double episode on Tuesday, September 18 at 10:30 Pm.

Described as All the President’s Men meets Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arnold tries his hand at “citizen journalism” in The Hunt, using his network of connections to search for the truth behind the many rumored, potentially damaging recordings of President Donald Trump.

The series begins with Arnold’s appearance on The Howard Stern Show where he asks Stern to release his many hours of Trump interviews and follows Arnold as he meets with his deep network of show business connections including Celebrity Apprentice vets Arnold Schwarzenegger and Penn Jillette, fellow comedian turned outspoken Twitter activist Judd Apatow, and...
See full article at Deadline Film + TV
  • 7/26/2018
  • by Denise Petski
  • Deadline Film + TV
Viceland’s ‘The Hunt for the Trump Tapes With Tom Arnold’ Sets Premiere Date
Viceland’s new series “The Hunt for the Trump Tapes with Tom Arnold” will premiere on Tuesday, Sept. 18, at 10:30 p.m., it was announced Thursday at the Television Critics Association’s summer 2018 press tour.

The eight-episode series will see Arnold doing some “citizen journalism” to find out the truth behind the rumored recordings of Donald Trump. It will begin with Arnold’s appearance on the “Howard Stern Show” and continues to follow the comedian as he meets with figures like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Penn Jillette, Judd Apatow and Rosie O’Donnell.

The show also reveals the frenzy of attention surrounding Arnold’s surprise meeting with Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, which took place earlier this summer in New York.

Also Read: 'Sharp Objects': Eliza Scanlen on Playing Amy Adams' 'Rebellious' Little Sister With 'Balls' (Video)

Arnold will also meet with veteran journalists like “The New Yorker” writer Jane Mayer,...
See full article at The Wrap
  • 7/26/2018
  • by Ashley Boucher
  • The Wrap
Adam Carolla
Adam Carolla Defends Chris Hardwick: ‘A Gentle Soul of a Guy’ (Audio)
Adam Carolla
Adam Carolla became one of the first celebrities to defend Chris Hardwick.

It happened on Wednesday when a discussion with columnist Aj Benza on Carolla’s podcast, “The Adam Carolla” show, turned toward the recent accusations posed against the Nerdist co-founder, who has appeared on Carolla’s show in the past. Carolla referred to Hardwick as a “gentle soul of a guy.”

Hardwick, a king in the geek media industry, was dealt a significant blow after actress and former Nerdist host Chloe Dykstra posted a Medium essay last week, accusing her ex-boyfriend of “sexual assault,” “controlling behavior” and career sabotage after their breakup.

Hardwick denied Dkystra’s sexual assault accusations in a statement the following day.

“First off, he’s a gentle soul of a guy,” Carolla said after acknowledging that people have been approaching him with questions about Hardwick. “Chris has always been a very thoughtful, sort of just gentle guy.
See full article at The Wrap
  • 6/20/2018
  • by Tony Maglio and Jennifer Maas
  • The Wrap
5 Screen Legends Worthier of a Biopic Than Marilyn Monroe
Michelle Williams’s Oscar nomination means one more month of my least favorite activity: thinking about Marilyn Monroe. Are we done yet? The whole point of My Week With Marilyn was to validate your great aunt’s boring perception of Norma Jean – that she took great photos, was sometimes a screen gem, and confused pills for meals. I get it. Here are five screen legends with lesser-explored stories worthier of a biopic.

5. Montgomery Clift

Nearly a decade ago, Colin Farrell was in talks to star in a biopic of the gifted and visibly tragic actor who made A Place in the Sun’s insane melodrama sort of believable, From Here to Eternity a classic, and Judgment at Nuremberg the slightest bit awkward. (Was that slurring at the witness stand part of his role or everyday life?) Clift is captivating as a screen presence and as a subject, and I’d...
See full article at The Backlot
  • 1/26/2012
  • by virtel
  • The Backlot
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