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Jack Nicholson Returns to Courtside for Lakers’ Playoff Game

Actor Jack Nicholson attends Game 6 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, April 28, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP)
Actor Jack Nicholson attends Game 6 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, April 28, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP)
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Jack Nicholson Returns to Courtside for Lakers’ Playoff Game

Actor Jack Nicholson attends Game 6 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, April 28, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP)
Actor Jack Nicholson attends Game 6 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday, April 28, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP)

Jack is back.

Los Angeles Lakers superfan Jack Nicholson was watching at courtside for the first time in nearly two years Friday night when his team hosted the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 6 of their first-round playoff series.

The 86-year-old Nicholson hadn’t been in his usual seats in the Lakers’ downtown arena since last season’s opening game in October 2021, but the three-time Academy Award-winning actor returned to his famed spot near the opposing bench with his son.

Nicholson was a fixture in the last half-century of Lakers history, cheering on the team through several eras of success after getting his season tickets in 1970. He was the most prominent face in the Lakers’ gallery of celebrity fans, his sunglasses and famous grin ever-present at courtside — and occasionally on the court if he was particularly displeased by an official’s call.

Nicholson cheered while the Showtime Lakers racked up championships and captured Hollywood’s imagination, and he remained an avid fan while they won five more titles in the Kobe Bryant era. He famously adjusted his shooting schedules and personal meetings to keep himself free to catch every big Lakers game.

Nicholson rarely attended games after fans returned to the Lakers’ building following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the chance to watch the Lakers attempt to win a playoff series at home for the first time since 2013 was irresistible to their No. 1 fan.

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Spielberg, Spike Lee and Queen Latifah among Standouts in US Arts and Humanities Honored by Biden

First lady Jill Biden speaks as President Joe Biden listen during a National Arts and Humanities Reception in the East Room at the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
First lady Jill Biden speaks as President Joe Biden listen during a National Arts and Humanities Reception in the East Room at the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
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Spielberg, Spike Lee and Queen Latifah among Standouts in US Arts and Humanities Honored by Biden

First lady Jill Biden speaks as President Joe Biden listen during a National Arts and Humanities Reception in the East Room at the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
First lady Jill Biden speaks as President Joe Biden listen during a National Arts and Humanities Reception in the East Room at the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Joe Biden on Monday honored acclaimed filmmakers, singers, writers and others who have made their mark on American culture, awarding the prestigious National Medals of Arts and National Humanities Medals to 39 recipients.
Filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee and Ken Burns and singers Missy Elliott and Queen Latifah were among 20 recipients of National Medals of Arts, while the 19 recipients of National Humanities Medals included playwright-screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and historian Jon Meacham, The Associated Press said.
Three of the medals were awarded posthumously: The late singer Selena Quintanilla and artist Ruth Asawa are arts medal winners and the late chef-author Anthony Bourdain was among the humanities medal winners.
“Above all, you are the masters of your craft that have made us a better America with all of you have done,” Biden said at the White House ceremony.
Biden took a brief detour in his remarks to give a shout-out to Vice President Kamala Harris’ run for the White House.
“I know the power of the women in this room to get things done” and boost the next generation, he said, adding that the female winners were “proving a woman can do anything a man can do, and then some, that includes being president of the United States of America.”
The line drew a standing ovation.
Biden also told the winners that the moment was a “very consequential time in the arts and humanities in America” because “extreme forces are banning books, trying to erase history, spreading misinformation.”
The arts medals are managed by the National Endowment for the Arts, and the humanities medals by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Actors Idina Menzel and Eva Longoria, producer Bruce Cohen and musicians Leonardo “Flaco” Jimenez and Herbert I. Ohta also received arts medals, along with photographers Randy A. Batista and Clyde Butcher, artists Carrie Mae Weems, Alex Katz and Mark Bradford, arts leaders Jo Carole Lauder and Bruce Sagan and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
The arts medals are given “to individuals or groups who are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts in the United States.”
Other humanities winners included former US poet laureate Joy Harjo, actor-literacy advocate LeVar Burton, cartoonist Roz Chast and philanthropists Wallis Annenberg and Darren Walker. The humanities medals honor “an individual or organization whose work has deepened the nation’s understanding of the human experience, broadened citizens’ engagement with history or literature, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to cultural resources.”
Humanities medalists ranged from such cultural institutions as the Mellon Foundation and Appalshop to educators Robin Harris, Robert Martin and Ruth J. Simmons to scholars Pauline Yu, Nicolás Kanellos and Robin Wall Kimmerer. Writer Juan Felipe Herrera, filmmaker Dawn Porter and anthropologist Rosita Worl also were honored.