Steve Pond's Blog, page 179

Who Is Miles Caton? Meet the R&B Singer Making His Acting Debut in ‘Sinners’

Twenty-year-old Miles Caton made his feature film debut in Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” this month. Caton, a celebrated R&B singer, plays the teen cousin of Michael B. Jordan’s twins Smoke and Stack.

Since the release of the movie plenty of fans have grown curious about who Caton is. While this is his first film, it’s definitely not his first foray into show business.

Here’s an introduction to “Sinners” star Miles Caton.

Miles Caton was born into a musical family

Caton is the son of gospel singer Timiney Figueroa and the nephew of Anaysha Figueroa-Cooper. Caton has been performing for most of his life and has relationships with singers, including Faith Evans, Smokie Norful and Erica Campbell.

He appeared on Little Big Shots

Caton gained notoriety after he appeared on the third season of NBC’s “Little Big Shots” in 2018 at age 12.

Since then Caton has performed with H.E.R. and Yolanda Adams.

Miles Caton is a big fan of Ryan Coogler

In an interview with the Quintessential Gentleman Caton revealed he’s been a fan of director Ryan Coogler for a long time. “This moment is really special for me. Working with Ryan [Coogler] has been incredible. I looked up to him from ‘Fruitvale Station’ to ‘Black Panther’. To get to meet him and see how he is behind the scenes was special. [Coogler] is really like a football coach,” he explained.

“He’s always working with us … during certain scenes … whatever we were doing, he would be in it with us. If we were warming up, he’d do push-ups with us,” he added.

He learned guitar for ‘Sinners’

Though Caton is an accomplished performer, he added a new musical skill to his resume for the movie. “Can I just say, I feel like he doesn’t mention this enough, that he learned to play the guitar for this role. He did not play the guitar. He is a musician through and through because the way he can play a guitar now. It’s like he was born with it in his hands,” costar Wunmi Mosaku told Digital Spy in an interview published April 14.

‘Sinners’ is his first movie

Caton sent in an audition tape for his role in “Sinners” — just like a lot of other actors around his age did. But he stood out to Coogler, who told Variety, “You could just tell the kid was special — like, as a person. He was a good enough singer that he didn’t have to finish high school, but he did anyway. There was something to that. I was like, ‘Oh, man, we’ve gotta bring this kid in.’”

The post Who Is Miles Caton? Meet the R&B Singer Making His Acting Debut in ‘Sinners’ appeared first on TheWrap.

Starfighter: Everything We Know About Ryan Gosling’s Star Wars Movie

Lucasfilm announced a new “Star Wars” film starring Ryan Gosling during a panel at Star Wars Celebration in Japan this week titled “Star Wars: Starfighter,” and is expected to be released in 2027.

Gosling’s involvement in a “Star Wars” film had been rumored for a few months and was confirmed by the actor – who made a surprise appearance – along with Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and Chief Creative Officer Dave Filoni. Director Ryan Levy was also at the event.

“There are many rumors, some true, some not. … This is not a prequel, this is not a sequel. It’s a new adventure,” he explained. “It was a great process. This is no longer a ‘Star Wars’ movie in development. This is a ‘Star Wars’ movie we’re making this fall!”

“This script is so good,” Gosling added. “It’s filled with so much heart and adventure and there just really is not a more perfect filmmaker for this particular story than Shawn.”

What is ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ about?

Everyone involved with “Starfighter” has been pretty quiet about a potential plot, but director Ryan Levy told attendees at Star Wars Celebration in Japan the movie brings a lot of new elements to the existing films.

“The movie is a new adventure. It’s new characters,” he explained. “It takes place in a new period of time after the battle of Exegol, after episode nine.”

“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” is the 9th installment in the franchise. It’s believed the new film will take place roughly five years after that one.

When does ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ come out?

The movie is currently slated for a May 28, 2027, release.

Who will Ryan Gosling play in ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’?

So far very few details are available about the movie, and none have been shared about Gosling’s role. The actor also attended Star Wars Celebration and told fans, “Being here and seeing all of you [makes it] more inspiring to do it … It’s such a great reminder of how much movies can mean to us, specifically how much these movies mean to us … All we can hope for is: ‘May the fans be with us.’”

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Megyn Kelly Slams Obamas’ Relationship After Michelle’s ‘IMO’ Podcast Episode: ‘Married the Wrong People’ | Video

Megyn Kelly isn’t buying former First Lady Michelle Obama’s marriage advice. In response to the first episode of her new “IMO” podcast (in which Obama spoke about her marriage to former President Barack Obama), Kelly said, “I think she and he married the wrong people.”

Kelly and guest Maureen Callahan, an opinion writer for the Daily Mail, scrutinized Obama’s assertion, “If the odds were you’re going to be married to your partner for 50 years and 10 of those years could be bad, you know? You’d sign up for it, you know? And that’s really how it works out.”

Michelle and Barack Obama married in 1992.

“Is it, Michelle? I’ve been married for 17-and-a-half years and not one was bad. I think she and he married the wrong people,” Kelly said.

Callahan agreed and added that she doesn’t believe the former First Lady speaks of her husband positively.

“This is only her third episode. I can’t think of anybody I would go to for advice less than Michelle Obama. She really doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” she said. “First of all, she loves to tell us she hated Barack for a good decade. Please, teach me how to have a successful relationship with someone you clearly respect and admire. Every time she’s on the air, it’s like, ‘I’m dragging this ball of dead weight behind me. His name? Barack Obama.’”

Michelle Obama has been open about the strain that her husband’s two terms put on their marriage. In 2023 she told Revolt TV, “People think I’m being catty by saying this – it’s like, there were 10 years where I couldn’t stand my husband. And guess when it happened? When [our daughters] were little.”

“IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson” debuted in March. Though the podcast got off to a slow start, in recent weeks episodes have largely had more than 300,000 views on YouTube. The podcast is produced by Higher Ground.

Watch the exchange between Kelly and Callahan in the video above.

The post Megyn Kelly Slams Obamas’ Relationship After Michelle’s ‘IMO’ Podcast Episode: ‘Married the Wrong People’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Trump Posts Photoshopped Image of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s Knuckle Tattoos With Disputed ‘MS-13’ Interpretation

A digitally altered image that Donald Trump shared of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s knuckle tattoos – which the president presented as evidence that the deported El Salvadorian is a member of the MS-13 gang – stirred two separate controversies this week: from people who thought it was an incredibly clumsy Photoshop attempt, and from others who saw the obvious labels as a questionable interpretation of the symbols on his left hand.

Whatever the case, the president’s theatrical reveal to stem the growing controversy Friday wasn’t the slam-dunk Trump had perhaps hoped it would be.

Trump posed with the printed image in the Oval Office and later posted it across his social media accounts, declaring: “This is the hand of the man that the Democrats feel should be brought back to the United States, because he is such ‘a fine and innocent person.’ They said he is not a member of MS-13, even though he’s got MS-13 tattooed onto his knuckles.”

This is the hand of the man that the Democrats feel should be brought back to the United States, because he is such “a fine and innocent person.” They said he is not a member of MS-13, even though he’s got MS-13 tattooed onto his knuckles, and two Highly Respected Courts found… pic.twitter.com/31sNr2k1SK

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2025

In the hours that followed, some online sleuths found separate recent images of the former Maryland resident’s hand without the “M,” “S,” “1” and “3” that appear above the symbols in Trump’s version.

Many suggested they had uncovered a clumsy attempt at a visual deception, including former Minnesota state senator Linda Higgins, who wrote: “Hey Old Man, @realDonaldTrump, have someone teach you about Photoshop. This is an excellent example of altering a photo, in this case to make your illegal actions look good. But instead you look foolish.”

Hey Old Man, @realDonaldTrump , have someone teach you about Photoshop. This is an excellent example of altering a photo, in this case to make your illegal actions look good. But instead you look foolish https://t.co/IXl2mZnG5u

— Linda Higgins (@LindaIHiggins) April 18, 2025

But a close look at the photo shows obvious signs that the letters are, in fact, intentionally added labels applied to explain the symbols confirmed in other photos of Abrego Garcia’s left hand.

The characters “M,” “S,” “1” and “3” are different colors, are clearly a computer-generated font and aligned vertically. In addition, typed words were added below each symbol in almost illegibly tiny letters: “Marijuana,” “Smiley,” “Cross” and “Skull.”

Trump’s communications team could have cleared that notion up ahead of time by disclosing that the photo was labeled – but chose not to. Neither Trump nor his communications team have addressed the controversy as of midday Saturday.

The interpretation of those symbols is not so cut-and-dried, however. The four symbols – “Marijuana,” “Smiley,” “Cross” and “Skull” – have not been found in any law enforcement guidelines or manuals to stand in for MS-13 gang identification.

But the messaging – that they are proof Abrego Garcia is a member of the notorious El Salvadorian criminal operation – was already out there.

Let me get this straight. Your argument is that the administration “photoshopped” Arial font onto the hand.

Instead of realizing that it’s juxtaposed by law enforcement to explain

Marijuana – M
Smiley – S
Cross – 1
Skull with 2 eyes/1 mouth – 3

Put your helmet back on.

— Stocking Mill Coffee (@smcroasters) April 19, 2025

An ICE source told The New York Post that Abrego Garcia would be required to get an identifying tattoo to be a part of MS-13, but they had “never heard of those resemblances being made.” The source added that the only way to know whether the president’s interpretation is accurate would be from sources and informants within the notorious The Terrorism Confinement Center prison in El Salvador.

U.S. courts have demanded the Trump administration “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States, where he has been living for the last 14 years in Maryland with his wife and young child. The administration has insisted that he is a gang member after officials initially admitted his deportation was initiated by an administrative error.

The post Trump Posts Photoshopped Image of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s Knuckle Tattoos With Disputed ‘MS-13’ Interpretation appeared first on TheWrap.

Douglas Murray Doubles Down on Joe Rogan Slam for Twisting History: ‘Don’t Feed Me This S—‘ | Video

British social commentator Douglas Murray didn’t back down from his criticism of many of Joe Rogan’s guests. While speaking to Bill Maher Friday night, Murray said the issue is one of “basic social hygiene.”

“These people that I was trying to call out on Joe’s show, they are doing things like, ‘Hitler wasn’t that much of an anti-Semite, [the] main problem in the 20th century was Winston Churchill. Winston Churchill was the warmonger. Adolf Hitler wanted peace’,” Murray explained. “And I just look, it’s a matter of social hygiene. Don’t feed me this s–t.”

Douglas Murray calls out his critics from his appearance on Joe Rogan debating Comedian Dave Smith:
Bill Maher: "You were on Joe Rogan, got a lot of press, glad you said what you said.
I like Joe but he has on people who entertain these crazy conspiracy theories and doesn't push… pic.twitter.com/ThnwMYQYIn

— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) April 19, 2025

While Murray acknowledged there is “crossover between the people who are just trolls” that “this because they think it’s really fun to do the Jewish question, to do like a bit of Holocaust denial, a bit of Hitler praise, a bit of Churchill degradation.”

“They think it’s kind of funny what they’re watering and what’s going to come up underneath them are going to be people who believe this rot.”

If Churchill can be labeled a warmonger and Hitler a good guy, “you can do things like Christian nationalism,” Murray added as Maher cut in, “You can buy a Kanye album!” (The rapper has launched frequent antisemitic attacks in recent years.)

The comment drew laughter that Murray played off of. “That’s the last stage. And that’s the ultimate … they want … after they’ve absolved Adolf Hitler, they want to absolve Kanye, and then they’re going to get to the point of hell,” he fired back.

Murray appeared on Rogan’s show on Thursday, April 10, and used his time to confront the host for frequently entertaining guests who hold “counter-historical” views.

“I just feel we should get it out straight away,” Murray told Rogan. “I feel you’ve opened the door to quite a lot of people who have now got a big platform who have been throwing out counter-historical stuff of a very dangerous kind.”

“If you throw a lot of s—t out there, there’s some point at which ‘I’m just raising questions’ is not a valid thing anymore,” Murray also said. “You’re not asking questions. You’re telling people something.”

Rogan insisted he chooses guests based on who he’d like to speak to, not because of what they believe.

The post Douglas Murray Doubles Down on Joe Rogan Slam for Twisting History: ‘Don’t Feed Me This S—‘ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

‘Minecraft’ Tops ‘Sinners’ With $45 Million 3rd Weekend As Warner Bros. Carries Box Office

Easter weekend is a triumphant one for Warner Bros., as “A Minecraft Movie” continues its torrid pace with a third No. 1 at the box office while Ryan Coogler’s original horror film “Sinners” is off to a promising start with historic levels of critical and audience acclaim on its side.

Saturday industry estimates have “Minecraft” earning $45 million in its third weekend, dropping just 43% as its domestic total reaches a remarkable $348 million. Taking advantage of school spring breaks, the Legendary co-production has kept kids coming out to scream “chicken jockey” at the screen and is estimated to have a domestic total of $348 million by Sunday with a $1 billion global total guaranteed.

“Sinners,” meanwhile, has earned $19 million from 3,308 locations on Friday and is currently projected for a $41 million opening. That’s a solid start for the reported $90 million net budget production, though it will need to leg out considerably to turn a theatrical profit for Warner Bros. as the film has a first-dollar revenue sharing deal with Coogler.

But “Sinners” could very well get those box office legs, as it is shaping up to be one of the most critical acclaimed horror films of all time. The movie sports spectacular Rotten Tomatoes scores of 98% critics and 97% audience, 5/5 on PostTrak and a historic A on CinemaScore.

For horror films on the audience polling service, a B or B+ is considered a positive result, while an A- is a rare result that only a few classics of the genre like Jordan Peele’s “Get Out,” James Wan’s “The Conjuring” and Jonathan Demme’s “The Silence of the Lambs” have ever earned. “Sinners” has become the first horror film to earn an A on CinemaScore since James Cameron’s “Aliens” in 1986.

Like “Aliens,” which blended horror with action, “Sinners” is a genre bender, mixing its bloody vampire frights with mature drama and crowd-pleasing musical sequences. That blend has critics and audiences raving and could create the longterm buzz that establishes Coogler as a name-brand director alongside the likes of Jordan Peele, whose 2022 film “Nope” opened to $44 million and stands as the mark “Sinners” has to beat to earn the highest opening weekend for an original film since the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Angel Studios/Mofac Animation’s “The King of Kings” continues to draw out Christian moviegoers for Easter weekend, dropping just 12% from its $19 million opening for a $17 million second weekend and a $45 million 10-day total. Even if subsequent weekend drops are higher with kids back in school, the animated Gospel retelling now joins “Sound of Freedom” as the second box office hit for Angel Studios.

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Bill Maher Jokes Trump Is Celebrating Easter ‘by Locking Up Guys Named Jesus’ | Video

Bill Maher talked a lot about how Easter Sunday is this weekend, and unexpectedly, given his well known affinity for cannabis, he didn’t make any jokes about how it happens to be on 4/20 this year. He did however make plenty of Easter-related jokes about Donald Trump and his cronies, among them that Trump is celebrating “by locking up guys named Jesus.”

(Obviously pronounced in the Spanish style, a reference to Trump’s escalating war on immigrants.)

“It’s good Friday, and this is the day Jesus died for all of our sins. So you know what? Have fun. It’s all paid for. You’re playing with the house money,” Maher said at the start of his monologue.

Noting this week was also tax day, Maher continued, “one of the things that DOGE has done, it’s kind of gutted the IRS. Oh, you know, you’re not. If you don’t have it, don’t worry about it. Yeah. I mean, I’ll say this, a lot of the things Trump does are really pandering to the base, but letting tax cheats not have to worry about getting audited? That one came from the heart.”

Back to the topic of Easter, Maher said, “I don’t want to say the economy is going into sh—er, but people are dying, dying — yeah, they’re dying too, but dying potatoes for Easter because eggs are too expensive. This sounds like something my Irish relative did after they s— in the hole and slept in the mud.”

“So yes, we’re dying potatoes. People are dying overseas because we cut overseas aid. They say… we’re going into a recession, we have a constitutional crisis. Today, Melania had a jacket that said, I’m starting to care,” Maher continued. “It’s Easter. It’s Easter on Sunday. Are you excited about that? Oh, my God, my favorite holiday on the Christian [calendar], the day when we celebrate Jesus being resurrected from the dead. Or, as Elon Musk sees it, an elaborate scheme to defraud Social Security.”

“Very big day at the White House. Trump is honoring the day by locking up guys named Jesus,” Maher went on, also joking that Trump “pardoned Pontius Pilate.”

“JD Vance, our vice president, He’s in Rome. You know, he’s a convert, a recent convert to Catholicism. I know it’s married to a Hindu, goes right to the Catholics. I don’t know what that says, But I that he can run into because he heard priests like little pricks,” Maher said. “JD is over there. He wants to get in to see the Pope. It’s not sure he’s gone on to but he’d like to get in there to convince him that Jesus was dead wrong about being nice to foreigners.”

You can watch the whole monologue below:

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Trump Officials Tried to Claim Harvard Letter Was Sent by Mistake After University Publicly Rejected Demands

On Monday, after Harvard University publicly rejected a series of authoritarian demands Trump administration officials sent to Harvard the previous Friday, one of those officials tried out a novel de-escalation technique: He frantically called the university up and insisted the letter had been sent by mistake.

That original letter, sent April 11, ordered Harvard to comply with numerous outlandish demands, among them discontinuing diversity efforts, limiting or outright banning student protests, installing right-wing faculty essentially hand-picked by the administration and spying on international students.

Harvard President Alan Garber condemned these demands in a statement released the morning of April 14, saying in part, “no government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue. The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”

But the New York Times reported Friday that shortly after Garber’s letter went public, Josh Gruenbaum, a top lawyer at the General Services Administration, made “a frantic call” to one of Harvard’s attorneys and insisted the letter was “unauthorized” and shouldn’t have been sent.

From here things get murkier. NYT reports that three different Trump officials, speaking anonymously, said there are “differing accounts” as to what actually happened, and why.

Meanwhile, White House policy strategist May Mailman effectively told NYT the administration stands by the letter. Curiously, she also said in a statement that “it was malpractice on the side of Harvard’s lawyers” not to have called the White House before going public about the letter’s demands.

In its own statement to NYT, Harvard shut down Mailman’s assertion, noting that the letter “was signed by three federal officials, placed on official letterhead, was sent from the email inbox of a senior federal official and was sent on April 11 as promised. Recipients of such correspondence from the U.S. government — even when it contains sweeping demands that are astonishing in their overreach — do not question its authenticity or seriousness.”

“It remains unclear to us exactly what, among the government’s recent words and deeds, were mistakes or what the government actually meant to do and say. But even if the letter was a mistake, the actions the government took this week have real-life consequences” on students and employees and “the standing of American higher education in the world,” the statement continued.

Since Monday, the Trump administration has only escalated things further. On Tuesday, it froze Harvard’s public funding in order to punish the school for fighting back. And on Wednesday Trump himself ordered the IRS to revoke the school’s tax exempt status. So far that drastic step hasn’t happened — and legal experts say Harvard will likely win any legal challenge it brings should it happen.

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‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 17 Finale: And the Winner Is…

Note: The following story contains spoilers from the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 17 finale.

RuPaul Charles has officially crowned the queen of Season 17.

The Top 4 queens of Season 17 “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Lexi Love, Onya Nurve, Jewels Sparkles and Sam Star competed in Friday’s finale for the title of America’s next drag superstar, with Onya Nurve taking home the crown.

Each queen kicked off the night’s festivities lip-syncing to their respective original song, with Jewels’ ding-a-ling ditty, Lexi’s roller skating routine, Onya’s nerve-filled number and Sam’s star-power showdown.

After their performances RuPaul named the top two queens as Onya Nurve and Jewels Sparkles and asked them to lip sync for the crown to Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra.”

Jewels’ reveal-filled lip sync was not enough to earn her the crown. Onya’s charisma, uniqueness, Nurve and talent won out in the end.

In addition to the title of America’s next drag superstar, Onya received a one year’s supply of Anastasia Beverly Hills makeup and a grand prize of $200,000 courtesy of TodayTix.

The runner up received $25,000, and Lexi Love and Sam Star each took home a $10,000 cash tip courtesy of Anastasia Beverly Hills.

Crystal Envy won Miss Congeniality, telling fans at home to “sparkle like a crystal, and be kind.” Each Season 17 queen walked away with $2,000 from L’Oréal Paris.

RuPaul presented EGOT winner Liza Minnelli with the ‘Giving Us Lifetime Achievement Award’ during the season finale Friday. The LGBT icon sat in a throne at centerstage as shirtless dancers performed her hit “Ring Them Bells.”

“I don’t know what else to say except If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be me,” Minnelli said. “You made me.”

This season the finale took place on the main stage with a limited in-person studio audience. Previous seasons have been held in a larger venue to hold more “Drag Race” fans, returning queens and celebrity guests.

Season 16 winner Nymphia Wind reprised her Snatch Game character, Jane Goodall, as she recapped her time since winning her season. Wind even featured the real Goodall in her package.

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” won Outstanding Reality Competition Program at the 2025 GLAAD Media Awards earlier this month.

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” airs Fridays on MTV.

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Josh Shapiro Says He Never Heard From Trump After Antisemitic Arson Attack on His Home

Less than a week after Josh Shapiro’s home was burned in an arson attack over the Pennsylvania governor’s support of Israel, he still has not heard from President Donald Trump.

Speaking with George Stephanopoulas on “Good Morning America” Friday, Shapiro admitted that he was still waiting on a call from the president. Other Trump appointees reached out to the governor, but the president was not one of them.

“I haven’t,” Shapiro said. “I heard immediately that day from Director [Kash] Patel of the FBI. And I’ve heard from Attorney General [Pam] Bondi.”

Shapiro also acknowledged there were some security failings that resulted in the arson attack, but he is viewing it as a hopeful learning experience for the Pennsylvania police moving forward.

“Look, there — there were clearly security failures,” he said. “And — I want, you know, I have confidence in the Pennsylvania State Police to learn from it, to address it.”

Cody A. Balmer, the suspect in the arson attack, confessed to scaling a wall, breaking a window and tossing a homemade incendiary device into the governor’s home because Balmer believed Shapiro was complicit in the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza, according to police earlier this week.

Details of a police search warrant were made public on Wednesday, Balmer’s 911 call that said Shapiro, a vocal supporter of Israel, “needs to know that he ‘will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people.’”

The warrant added: “Balmer continues saying he needs to stop having my friends killed, and ‘our people have been put through too much by that monster.'”

Shapiro was, at one point, being considered as a vice presidential candidate after Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee in the 2024 presidential race.

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