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Dave Chappelle told an audience in San Francisco last week that Saturday Night Live producers told him to avoid talking about Gaza or transgender people during his opening monologue when he hosted the show Jan. 18, the first new episode of the year.

Chappelle performed a stand-up show in San Francisco on Thursday, which was reviewed by Sfgate’s Dan Gentile, who wrote: “SNL producers told him he couldn’t speak about two topics: transgender people and Gaza, a shocking stroke of censorship, given the political nature of the monologue.”

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Just a month removed from his recent Saturday Night Live appearance, where he delivered an over 15-minute monologue, Dave Chappelle said he was forbidden by the late-night show’s producers from speaking on two topics.

Per SFGate’s senior culture editor Dan Gentile, who saw the comedian at the first of his three San Francisco stand-up appearances at the Masonic, Chappelle alleged he was not allowed to speak about Gaza and transgender people.

NBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The former stipulation presents a shocking instance of censorship, given that Chappelle has previously deemed the crisis a “genocide,” something Western media has been reluctant to do despite alarm bells by organizations like Amnesty International.

Despite this, Chappelle’s monologue did mention Palestine, as his closing moments called for greater empathy from everyone, including President Donald Trump. “The presidency is no place for petty people, so Donald Trump...

Dave Chappelle claims to be a fierce advocate for freedom of speech and freedom of expression — but freedom of the press apparently didn’t make the cut.

When the transgender community and its supporters first began to publicly criticize Chappelle for disparaging the transgender identity, Chappelle and his benefactors at Netflix were quick to reframe the controversy as a crisis in which the woke mob was waging war on Chappelle’s free speech. Then, when pro-trans protesters began to show up to Chappelle’s shows to push back on his continued campaign to frame the real issues trans people face as farcical, Chappelle used the presence of organized opposition to his agenda as proof that he must be the victim of a censorship campaign, never once considering that, maybe, his critics were also exercising the same right to free speech that he claimed to champion.

Today, Chappelle claims that he...

Exclusive: On April 18th of this year, at a parole board hearing in New Hampshire, convicted murderer James Parker was granted parole for his role in the brutal 2001 stabbing murders of Half and Suzanne Zantop, a pair of married Dartmouth professors. After acquiring rights to Judgment Ridge, a work of nonfiction detailing the chilly story of those murders, producers Randy and Steven Toll have enlisted Matthew Gentile (American Murderer) to direct a feature adaptation from his own script.

Written by Dick Lehr and Mitchell Zuckoff, Judgment Ridge evokes clear memories of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, as it delves deeply into the inexplicable behavior that led to these ruthless murders. It was at age 16 that Parker conspired with his best friend to commit the murders of the Zantrops. He and co-conspirator Robert Tulloch came to commit the crime after plotting to put together the $10,000 they needed to move to...

Two men have been indicted for distributing the heroin and fentanyl that caused the February death of Pose star and transgender activist Cecilia Gentili.

The four-count indictment accuses Michael Kuilan, 44, of Brooklyn and Antonio Venti, 52, of West Babylon, New York, with supplying the drugs that killed Gentili on February 6. The indictments were announced today by New York federal prosecutors.

The announcement by law enforcement officials today was the first time Gentili’s cause of death was disclosed.

“Cecilia Gentili, a prominent activist and leader of the New York transgender community was tragically poisoned in her Brooklyn home from fentanyl-laced heroin,” said Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in the statement. “Today, the alleged perpetrators who sold the deadly dose of drugs to Gentili have been arrested. Fentanyl is a public health crisis. Our Office will spare no effort in the pursuit of justice for...

This week’s surprise news of conservative politician Rachida Dati becoming France’s new Culture Minister provoked an earthquake within the country’s predominantly left-leaning film and TV industry.

Dati was appointed on Jan. 11 to succeed Rima Abdul Malak as Culture Minister as part of a reshuffle of France’s President Emmanuel Macron, which also saw 34-year-old Gabriel Attal becoming Prime Minister.

A combative straight shooter with an acerbic of humor and a definite sense of style, Dati is currently mayor of the posh 7th arrondissement where she regularly mingles with stars residing in the neighborhood. But her appointment as Culture Minister was welcomed with vitriolic headlines across the media and was called out by a large chunk of the film and TV biz as a casting error. The high profile politician is seen as a potential threat to the industry’s unique model of “cultural exception,” where independent, diverse filmmaking is nurtured through subsidies,...

Directors’ guild the Srf issued a statement saying “the far right is attacking culture”.

France’s directors’ guild, the Srf, and the producers guilds Spi and Upc, have all come out in support of Mehdi Fikri’s family drama After The Fire, about a woman on a quest for justice when her brother dies in police custody, blaming the film’s poor box office and scathing reviews on a far-right campaign they say is putting free speech at risk.

Fikri’s first feature was released in France on November 15 by Bac Films after a world premiere in Toronto’s Discovery section.

Before the writers strike — since joined by actors in Hollywood’s first double strike in 62 years — officially began, late night television hosts made a point to let their viewers know that their shows would be going dark if need be, in support of the writers. And, for the writers themselves, that support has been invaluable.

The late night crews were the very first to be affected by the strike, with every single show going into re-runs immediately as soon as it began. In what ended up being the final episode of “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” prior to the WGA strike beginning, Meyers carved out a moment to address the circumstances, saying that he feels “very strongly that what the writers are asking for is not unreasonable.”

He added that “If you don’t see me here next week, know that it is something that is not done lightly, and...

ESPN’s top marketing exec Laura Gentile is leaving the sports giant after a 20-year career to launch her own business.

As part of the move, Tina Thornton is being promoted to executive vp, creative studio and marketing, in the latest management shuffle at ESPN after it became its own division within Disney. ESPN chief Jimmy Pitaro, in an internal memo obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, said Gentile’s departure to open her own shop was “bittersweet news.”

“Laura’s strategic leadership and creativity have been vital to growing the ESPN brand, ESPN’s relationship with fans and our audience expansion efforts,” Pitaro added of Gentile. Her responsibilities at ESPN included developing and overseeing brand marketing across media and expanding ESPN’s reach to new audiences and sports fans.

In March, Pitaro restructured his senior leadership team, with Thornton taking on additional duties to lead content production and operations, while...

The Goldbergs will not be returning for an 11th season on ABC. Despite being a popular sitcom for ABC, the network has decided to move on to new shows and projects that don't involve the Goldberg family on TV screens.

Related: 5 TV Shows With Great Endings (& 5 That Disappointed Fans)

With the cancelation of the show, the cast of The Goldbergs is free to pursue new projects that range from voice-over work in animated features to pursuing careers in music. Some cast members have yet to announce their next roles, but with the success of The Goldbergs, it is likely the cast will make their way back to television and movie screens very soon.

Wendi McLendon-Covey - Beverly Goldberg

Wendy McLendon-Covey delights audiences as the overprotective, overzealous, and charismatic mother of her TV family, the Goldbergs. Now that her time as the Goldberg matriarch has ended, Wendi McLendon-Covey has been working...

Leading French producer Michael Gentile’s Paris-based outfit The Film is about to start shooting Julie Delpy’s next directorial outing, “The Barbarians,” and Laurence Arné’s “Les Hennedricks” starring Dany Boon.

Delpy’s comeback to French filmmaking since “Lolo,” “The Barbarians” is a satirical comedy unfolding in a small town in Brittany which is preparing to welcome Ukrainian refugees after voting unanimously to greet them in exchange for subsidies from the government. But instead of seeing Ukrainians come into town, they see Syrian refugees, causing some tensions among locals and testing their liberal beliefs. Delpy will star in the film opposite Sandrine Kiberlain (“Mademoiselle Chambon”), Laurent Lafitte (“Elle”) and Ziad Bakri (“The Weekend Away”), India Hair (“Angry Annie”), Mathieu Demy (“The Bureau”) and Delpy’s father Albert Delpy.

Delpy penned the script with Matthieu Rumani (“Family Business”), in collaboration with Lea Domenech (“Bernadette”). “The Barbarians” will start filming on...

Spoiler Alert! This story contains plot points from the series finale of ABC’s The Goldbergs.

The Goldbergs got its happy ending Wednesday by wrapping up 10 years on ABC with a possible new relationship for Beverly (Wendi McLendon-Covey), a secret marriage for Barry (Troy Gentile) and a ride in a fancy DeLorean for Adam (Sean Giambrone).

The episode titled “Bev to the Future” began with a family screening of Back to the Future before the discussion turned to the possibility of turning back the clock and reliving old glory days. Beverly had the perfect opportunity to do just that by attending a high school reunion with Adam as her reluctant “date.”

But Beverly soon realizes that Adam is nothing more than an inconvenient third wheel because she runs into George (Rob Corddry), an old flame from high school who she dated before marrying Murray.

Meanwhile,...

Warning: The following contains spoilers for The Goldbergs, season 10, episode 20.

While later seasons of The Goldbergs haven’t really known what to do with Barry, season 10 proved that the series has found the right use for its supporting star—and helped Adam’s character arc in the process. It is never too late for a family sitcom to work out the perfect dynamic between its main characters. While some shows have perfect chemistry between their ensemble casts from the first episodes, others need time to find their groove and capture the right tone. For instance, The Goldbergs spent years fine-tuning the show’s line-up thanks to many changes, the last of which occurred when the show dropped Murray in season 10.

It took until The Goldbergs season 10 for Pop-Pop to finally play a fitting role in the series since Murray’s father only became a major supporting star in the show’s later seasons.

After putting the finishing touches on chapters two and three of motion-capture VR experience “Jailbirds” earlier this year, writer/director Thomas Villepoux will next adapt his tale of freedom and confinement into a feature, Variety has learned.

Currently in development, the upcoming “Jailbirds” feature will nearly triple the runtime of a nearly finished short that Villepoux and producer Griselda Gentile will bring to Cannes’ Marché du Film next month. Deploying the same motion-capture techniques Villepoux honed on his three VR pieces, both iterations of the “Jailbird” saga will delve even deeper into the work of Belgian cartoonist Philippe Foerster, whose work in the cult comics mag “Fluide Glacial” inspired the recently completed VR series.

“Artistically speaking, the project already exists,” says Griselda Gentile, who produced the various iterations through her Be Revolutions banner. “We’ve already done the creative work on character design and decors. Now we’re just working on [building out] the narrative.

“Arthur remembers it being a 125 pages. I remember reading a 50-page treatment,” said Barbra Streisand. Regardless of how many pages of a synopsis, or an outline or a so-called “treatment,” that Arthur Laurents had written, Streisand wanted those pages, titled “The Way We Were.” Better yet, she wanted them now. “I fell in love with it!” she gushed.

More important, Streisand put her enthusiasm into the only words that count in Hollywood. “I want this to be my next movie,” she told the producer Ray Stark. Stark had produced “Funny Girl” on Broadway and also brought it to the screen, with Streisand reprising the role of Fanny Brice, who happened to be the producer’s mother-in-law. The New York theater had long been home to Jewish artists who refused to hide their heritage. The movies, not so much. Streisand in the movie “Funny Girl” was historic, a Jewish actress playing a proudly Jewish character.

There have been plenty of real-life people and events that have been made into movies. From biopics and documentaries to making films about the world’s most notorious serial killers and criminals, Hollywood doesn’t seem to be slowing down when it comes to sharing stories about high-profile cases. The latest infamous figure to come under scrutiny is Jason Derek Brown, a charismatic con man who found himself on the FBI’s ten most wanted list back in 2007. In American Murderer, writer-director Matthew Gentile aims to capture the insanity and chaos of the events leading up to his infamy. Unfortunately, the film lacks any style, substance, or suspense despite a killer performance from Tom Pelphrey.

The story follows real-life con artist Jason Derek Brown (Pelphrey). Jason is charismatic, with a lust for life and a natural inclination to party 24/7. After growing up in a household in which his father perfected the meaning of scam,...

Citing 19th Century patriotic poetry and Mussolini-era writers and philosophers, the freshly appointed culture minister of Italy’s new right-wing government has promised a new era for the country’s cultural sector and revealed he wants to reform state funding for the performances arts.

Gennaro Sangiuliano is among 24 ministers in the new government of Giorgia Meloni, who was sworn in as Italian prime minister on Sunday, three-and-a-half weeks after her far-right Brothers of Italy party (Fratelli d’Italia) swept to victory in general elections.

Sangiuliano arrives from state broadcaster Rai, where he worked since 2003, rising through the ranks to become editor-in-chief of news programming at Italian state channel Rai 2 in 2018.

He replaces Dario Franceschini of the centre-left Democratic Party, who was Italy’s longest-serving minister of culture, and the TV and film worlds are now waiting to see what this means for the sectors.

The new minister told Rome...

Some people are drawn to the idea of pursuing their dreams at any cost, until reality sets in and they begin to realize the situation they’ve gotten themselves into has become a nightmare. That’s certainly the case for the anti-hero of Jason Derek Brown, an elusive, real-life fugitive who’s been on the FBI’s most-wanted list […]

The post Boston Film Festival 2022 Interview: Matthew Gentile Talks American Murderer appeared first on Shockya.com.

"You're never going to find him!!" "Sure about that?" Saban Films has revealed a trailer for a crime thriller titled American Murderer, marking the feature debut of filmmaker Matthew Gentile. Yet another film with a very generic, blatant title telling us that this is about, well, an "American murderer" I guess. Gentile's American Murderer is based on the true story of Jason Derek Brown - a charismatic con man turned party king who bankrolls his luxurious lifestyle through a series of scams. When his funds run low and his past catches up with him, he plots his most elaborate scheme yet and, in the process, becomes the FBI's most unlikely – and elusive – top ten fugitive. But is he actually a murderer? Or just a robber on the run? Huh. The thriller's impressive cast includes Tom Pelphrey, Ryan Phillippe, Idina Menzel, Moises Arias, Paul Schneider, Shantel VanSanten, Kevin Corrigan, and Jacki Weaver.

Saban Films has acquired U.S. and Canadian rights to “American Murderer,” a new thriller with Tom Pelphrey, Ryan Phillippe, Idina Menzel, and Jacki Weaver. The film is the debut feature of director and writer Matthew Gentile. Saban Films is planning an October 2022 release.

“American Murderer” is based on the true story of Jason Derek Brown, a charismatic con man turned party king who bankrolls his luxurious lifestyle through a series of scams. When his funds run low and his past catches up with him, he plots an audacious scheme, one that lands him on the FBI’s top ten fugitive list.

Pelphrey is an Emmy nominee for his work on “Ozark” and also appeared in “Mank.” Phillippe starred in “Cruel Intentions” and “MacGruber.” Menzel is the Tony Award winning star of “Wicked” and acted alongside Adam Sandler in “Uncut Gems.” Weaver is a two-time Oscar nominee for her work...

In today’s podcast news roundup, Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum will take fans back to “Smallville”; QCode hatches supernatural comedy series “Bloodthirsty Hearts”; the Obama’s Higher Ground and Spotify culture series “The Big Hit Show” unpacks “Fight Club”; and more.

Dates

More than a decade after “Smallville” ended its run on TV, series stars Tom Welling (who portrayed Clark Kent/Superman on the show) and Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor) are hosting a new podcast revisiting every episode of the fan-favorite hit. “Talk Ville,” from Cumulus Media, is set to premiere July 13, with new episodes dropping each subsequent Wednesday, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Podcasts and other platforms. In the podcast series, Welling and Rosenbaum will rewatch each episode of the TV series show by show, sharing behind-the-scenes information and anecdotes. “Smallville” aired from 2001-10, initially on The WB before moving to The CW network; all...

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When filmmaker Jeremiah Zagar got called to the big leagues to direct Adam Sandler in Netflix’s Hustle, he drafted a key teammate from his last film to make the leap along with him.

Noëlle Gentile, a onetime public school theater teacher in Brooklyn and upstate New York, spent months working with athletes-turned-actors Juancho Hernangomez, Anthony Edwards, Kenny Smith, Boban Marjanovic and legend Julius “Dr. J” Erving to prove their skills on and off the court. The film centers Sandler as Stanley Sugarman, a down-on-his-luck basketball scout for the Philadelphia 76ers. After discovering a once-in-a-lifetime player with a rocky past (Hernangomez), Sugarman brings the phenom to the U.S. where, against the odds, they have one final shot to prove they have what it takes for the NBA.

Gentile got the shot after making her acting coach debut on his 2018 critically acclaimed indie,...