Welcome back to the "Spotlight." I don’t know whether any of you have heard, but something pretty shocking took place this past Sunday night at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. I hope you’re sitting down while you read this (those of you with standing desks may want to bring it down to its lowest level—your chiropractor will forgive you). But apparently there was an awards ceremony at which…get this: gold statuette trophies were given to some of the most talented and accomplished people in the motion picture industry for their work from the past year! Who knew?! Remarkable that all this could have happened around Will Smith’s violent demonstration of how paper beats (Chris) Rock. As for the awards themselves, the deaf family drama, CODA notably won the Best Picture category representing a watershed moment that many saw coming for years—that a streaming service could take home Hollywood’s most coveted prize, while Ariana DeBose became the first openly queer woman of color to win an Academy Award for her role in the film adaptation of West Side Story. Still, those firsts seemed overshadowed by the ugly incident of Smith storming on stage and assaulting Rock with a slap across the face for making a joke (albeit one in poor taste) about Smith’s wife. In turn, we subsequently learned, Smith was asked to leave, he refused and then to punish him, he was given the Best Actor award (the horror!) and subjected to a standing ovation in the process (talk about best actors…). The weeks and months ahead are sure to have further dissection of the incident and reactionary measures at future award shows (the Grammys are just around the corner) and regrettably, at comedy clubs around the country (I’m even wearing a helmet as I write this). Whatever the result, I can only hope that what takes place around the stage does not detract from what is presented on the stage. For now, my best supporting readers in an entertainment and sports law blog, this week’s Spotlight goes to…you.
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Mamba forever: months after letting Kobe Bryant’s endorsement deal with Nike expire, his estate and Nike have forged a new partnership to help carry on Bryant’s legacy.- Dua Lipa is hit with yet another copyright infringement lawsuit over her mega-hit song, “Levitating.” If it were me from all this litigating, my heart would be palpitating.
- Musician and creatives’ social networking app, Vampr reaches new heights, adding users and taking on money hungry (err…blood thirsty?) investors. A surprising development for an app that only works in the dark.
- Madonna vogues into the metaverse, becoming the latest celebrity to acquire a Bored Ape NFT, while fellow musical acts Diplo and Nas sell NFTs of their own through tokenized royalty platform, Royal. Clearly, we are liv-ing in an ethereal world…
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PrincipalHe represents a wide array of entrepreneurs, investors, entertainers, athletes, producers, writers, media production and distribution companies and emerging and established CPG brands and businesses on intellectual ...
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The Sports, Arts & Entertainment group at Foster Garvey provides full service legal representation on sports, entertainment and business matters, including handling transactions related to brand management, licensing, joint ventures, venture capital, private equity, technology, the Internet and new media.
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