Taylor Swift, Pink to Be Honored at 2023 iHeartRadio Awards

Taylor Swift arrives at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP)
Taylor Swift arrives at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP)
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Taylor Swift, Pink to Be Honored at 2023 iHeartRadio Awards

Taylor Swift arrives at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP)
Taylor Swift arrives at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP)

Taylor Swift will receive the 2023 iHeartRadio Innovator Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards later this month, which will feature performances by Kelly Clarkson, Keith Urban, Pat Benatar, Muni Long, Cody Johnson, Coldplay and Pink, who is this year’s Icon Award recipient.

The Innovator Award is presented to an artist who has “impacted global pop culture throughout their career.” Past recipients include Pharrell Williams, Justin Timberlake, U2 and Alicia Keys.

Pink will receive the Icon Award honoring her “impact on pop culture, longevity and continued relevance as a touring and radio force with a loyal fan base worldwide.”

The iHeartRadio Music Awards will be aired March 27 on Fox from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and aired on iHeartRadio stations and the app.

Lizzo, Swift and Harry Styles lead the awards nominations with seven nods each, and Jack Harlow and Drake are close behind with six each.

For top song of the year, Lizzo’s “About Damn Time” faces off against Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” Styles’ “As It Was,” Justin Bieber’s “Ghost,” Doja Cat’s “Woman,” Glass Animals’ “Heat Wave,” Latto’s “Big Energy,” Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow’s “Industry Baby,” Harlow’s “First Class,” and Imagine Dragons’ “Enemy.”

Fans can vote in several categories including best fan army, best lyrics, best cover song, best sample and best music video. Voting on Twitter begins Wednesday using the appropriate category and nominee hashtags and will close March 20.

With five nominations each are Doja Cat, Beyoncé, Dua Lipa, Tems, Bad Bunny and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Silk Sonic, Future, Latto, Imagine Dragons, The Weeknd, BLACKPINK, Karol G and Nicki Minaj have four each.

Artist of the year pits Beyoncé against Doja Cat, Drake, Dua Lipa, Styles, Harlow, Bieber, Lizzo, Swift and The Weeknd for the crown. Best duo or group nominees are AJR, Black Eyed Peas, BLACKPINK, Silk Sonic, Glass Animals, Imagine Dragons, Måneskin, OneRepublic, Parmalee and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Country artist of the year nominees are Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Kane Brown, Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen. Hip-hop artist of the year nominees are Drake, Future, Kodak Black, Lil Baby and Moneybagg Yo.

Nominees for alternative artist of the year are Imagine Dragons, Måneskin, Twenty One Pilots, Weezer and Red Hot Chili Peppers, the last of whom also are on the list of rock artists of the year, along with Ghost, Papa Roach, Shinedown and Three Days Grace.

The Latin pop/reggaeton artist of the year nominees are Bad Bunny, Daddy Yankee, Farruko, Karol G and Rauw Alejandro. And nominees for best R&B artist are Blxst, Bleu, Silk Sonic, Muni Long and SZA.



Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys Merge Their Parallel Lives for ‘The Beast in Me’

This image released by Netflix shows Claire Danes, left, and Matthew Rhys in a scene from "The Beast in Me." (Netflix via AP)
This image released by Netflix shows Claire Danes, left, and Matthew Rhys in a scene from "The Beast in Me." (Netflix via AP)
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Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys Merge Their Parallel Lives for ‘The Beast in Me’

This image released by Netflix shows Claire Danes, left, and Matthew Rhys in a scene from "The Beast in Me." (Netflix via AP)
This image released by Netflix shows Claire Danes, left, and Matthew Rhys in a scene from "The Beast in Me." (Netflix via AP)

When prestige TV was first thought to be eclipsing movies, with quality scripts and meaty acting roles, two shows frequently bandied about were "Homeland" with Claire Danes and "The Americans" starring Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell.

Danes acknowledges other parallels with Rhys.

"I mean, you married an American lady, I married a British gentleman," she said, referring to her marriage to Hugh Dancy and Rhys’ partner, Russell.

"We’ve just been mirroring each other’s lives," added Rhys, noting that they also had children around the same time.

Danes and Rhys had never worked together, until now. They co-star in the new cat-and-mouse limited series, "The Beast in Me," streaming on Netflix.

Danes plays Aggie, a prickly Pulitzer prize-winning author who has a looming deadline for her second book and a major case of writers' block. She's also grieving the death of her young son and dissolution of her marriage soon after.

When Rhys' Nile, a real estate tycoon, moves in next door, his reputation precedes him because he was a suspect in his ex-wife’s disappearance. Nile's aggressive dogs and loud security alarm unnerves Aggie. He and his new wife try to charm the neighbors, but she's a tough nut to crack.

"You're not how I pictured you...at all," Nile says to Aggie in an early encounter. "On the page you're a lot more self-assured." Somehow he entices Aggie to have lunch and the ice between them begins to thaw.

"I think they’re both crazy smart and rarely encounter another person who thinks as quickly as they do. They’re kind of hyper-perceptive. And they kind of enjoy challenging each other," said Danes.

Although she doesn’t completely trust Nile, Aggie proposes she write a book about him to get his narrative out there.

"He goes, ‘Hang on, I can undo this kind of, you know, a societal scar that I’ve been living with, and I can possibly clear my name," said Rhys. "He foolishly thinks he could use Aggie in that sense."

"The Beast in Me" reunites Danes with some of the team who worked on "Homeland," including showrunner Howard Gordon.

When filming began, only three scripts had been written, so no one really knew what was going to happen. "We were all discovering the evolution of the story in real time," said Danes, who adds her history with the production team made her "trust them implicitly." Even Rhys was OK with the unknown because it served his portrayal of Nile.

"In a way it’s kind of liberating because then you’re only playing the present and what’s on the page in that moment," he said. "Sometimes I think when you do know the outcome, I have a tendency sometimes to kind of play into that or to do something ridiculous that flags it. So there’s freedom in the fact that you don’t know."

What they knew for sure was to lean into their character's unlikely chemistry.

"The pyrotechnics were pretty much contained within these sparring sessions. There is a little murder in there, but that’s not where the tension really lies. They are hiding a lot from each other. They’re playing each other but they also are forging a genuine intimacy and connection that unnerves both of them."

"I mean there’s actually nothing I enjoy more than that," she said.


Michelle Yeoh to Get Honorary Award at Berlin Film Fest

Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh poses with the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for "Everything Everywhere All at Once" during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on April 18, 2023. (AFP)
Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh poses with the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for "Everything Everywhere All at Once" during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on April 18, 2023. (AFP)
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Michelle Yeoh to Get Honorary Award at Berlin Film Fest

Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh poses with the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for "Everything Everywhere All at Once" during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on April 18, 2023. (AFP)
Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh poses with the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for "Everything Everywhere All at Once" during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on April 18, 2023. (AFP)

Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh will be honored with a lifetime achievement award at next year's Berlinale film festival, organizers said Friday.

Yeoh, 63, will receive the Honorary Golden Bear in recognition of her "outstanding achievements in film and cinema", the festival said in a statement.

"Michelle Yeoh is a visionary artist and performer whose work defies boundaries ‒ whether geographic, linguistic or cinematic," Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle said.

The award will be presented at the festival's opening ceremony in the German capital on February 12, 2026.

The Berlinale, running February 12-22, is Europe's first big cinema showcase of the year and ranks along with Cannes and Venice among the continent's top film festivals.

Yeoh was a member of the jury in 1999 and has appeared at the festival in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and more recently "Everything Everywhere All at Once".

"Berlin has always held a special place in my heart," she said, crediting the event as "one of the first festivals to embrace my work with such warmth and generosity".

Yeoh won the best actress Oscar in 2023 for her portrayal of Chinese-American laundromat owner Evelyn Wang in "Everything Everywhere All at Once" -- becoming the first Asian woman to win the award.

Her film credits stretch back to the 1980s, but her Hollywood breakthrough came when she was cast as the first ethnic Chinese Bond girl in 1997's "Tomorrow Never Dies" opposite Pierce Brosnan.

She also starred in the Oscar-winning 2000 martial arts film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", the 2005 period drama "Memoirs of a Geisha" and the 2018 romantic comedy "Crazy Rich Asians".

Last year's Honorary Golden Bear went to Scottish actress Tilda Swinton, with previous recipients including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.


Disney Streaming and Parks Shine in Fourth Quarter, but Some TV Networks, Movies Weaker

This image released by Disney shows the Silver Surfer, portrayed by Julia Garner, in a scene from "The Fantastic Four: First Steps." (Marvel/Disney via AP)
This image released by Disney shows the Silver Surfer, portrayed by Julia Garner, in a scene from "The Fantastic Four: First Steps." (Marvel/Disney via AP)
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Disney Streaming and Parks Shine in Fourth Quarter, but Some TV Networks, Movies Weaker

This image released by Disney shows the Silver Surfer, portrayed by Julia Garner, in a scene from "The Fantastic Four: First Steps." (Marvel/Disney via AP)
This image released by Disney shows the Silver Surfer, portrayed by Julia Garner, in a scene from "The Fantastic Four: First Steps." (Marvel/Disney via AP)

Disney's fourth-quarter performance was mixed as a weaker performance from its television networks and some films was buffered by strength in its streaming business and theme parks.

Disney is still trying to work out a new licensing deal with YouTube after its content went dark on YouTube TV late last month, leaving subscribers of the Google-owned live streaming platform without access to major networks like ESPN and ABC.

The Walt Disney Co. earned $1.31 billion, or 73 cents per share, for the three months ended Sept. 25. It earned $460 million, or 25 cents per share, in the prior-year period.

Stripping out one time charges and costs, earnings were $1.11 per share. That's better than the $1.03 per share that analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research predicted, The AP news reported.

Revenue for the Burbank, California, company totaled $22.46 billion, short of Wall Street’s estimate of $22.86 billion.

Revenue for Disney Entertainment, which includes the company’s movie studios and streaming service, dropped 6%, while revenue for the Experiences division, its parks, climbed 6%.

Operating income from linear networks dropped 21% and revenue slipped 16%. Disney said that the operating income decline was driven by the Star India transaction, as Star India contributed $84 million to its year-ago results. Operating income for domestic linear networks fell 7% due to lower advertising driven by declines in viewership and political advertising.

Disney said that its movie distribution results were weaker when compared with the same period last year, which was buoyed by “Deadpool & Wolverine” and spillover receipts from “Inside Out 2.” Films released during the most recent quarter included “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” “The Roses” and "Freakier Friday."

Disney’s direct-to-consumer business, which includes Disney+ and Hulu, posted quarterly operating income of $352 million compared with $253 million a year ago. Revenue rose 8%.

The Disney+ streaming service had a 3% increase in paid subscribers domestically, which includes the U.S. and Canada. There was a 4% rise internationally, which excludes Disney+ HotStar.

Total paid subscribers for Disney+ came to 132 million subscribers, up from 128 million in the third quarter.

Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions totaled 196 million, an increase of 12.4 million from the third quarter.

The strong streaming results come shortly after the entertainment company saw Disney+ and Hulu subscription cancellations climb in September when ABC briefly cancelled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!. ”

Data from subscription analytics company Antenna showed that Disney+ and Hulu subscription cancellations rose in September when ABC briefly cancelled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!.”

Walt Disney Co. owns the streaming platforms and ABC. ABC pulled the show off the air for less than a week in September in the wake of criticism over his comments related to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Prior to the incident, Disney had said in August that it anticipated that total fourth-quarter Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions would increase more than 10 million compared with the third quarter, with most of the increase coming from Hulu due to the expanded Charter deal. The company had also expected a modest increase in the number of Disney+ subscribers in the fourth quarter.

Disney also previously announced that it will stop reporting the number of paid subscribers for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ streaming services because the metric has become less meaningful for evaluating the performance of its businesses. The company will stop reporting the metric for Disney+ and Hulu beginning with fiscal 2026’s first quarter and no longer reports the figure for ESPN+ starting with fiscal 2025’s fourth quarter.

The Experiences division, which includes Disney’s six global theme parks, its cruise line, merchandise and video game licensing, reported operating income climbed 13% to $1.88 billion. Operating income increased 9% at domestic parks. Operating income surged 25% for international parks and Experiences.

Disney maintained its forecast for double-digit adjusted earnings per share growth for fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027.

Disney's stock fell 5% before the market open on Thursday.