• Morgan Freeman says he did not assault women and that it's not right to equate misplaced compliments or humor with incidents of assault. The Academy Award-winning actor made a second statement late Friday in response to a CNN report that multiple women had accused him of inappropriate behavior. A production assistant said Freeman tried to lift her skirt and subjected her to unwanted touching and comments. Other women said Freeman commented about their bodies, or made them uncomfortable by staring at them. Freeman, 80, said he tries to make people feel appreciated and at ease around him, and that he made light-hearted jokes and compliments to women. He said that clearly wasn't coming across the way he intended.
• The makers of Sesame Street are suing the promoter of a new Melissa McCarthy movie, saying it's abusing the famed puppets' reputation to advertise the R-rated film. A judge on Friday scheduled a hearing next week to consider a request for immediate relief by Sesame Workshop, which sued Thursday in federal court in Manhattan for unspecified damages and an order forcing the film to be marketed differently. The film, The Happytime Murders, is scheduled for release Aug. 17. McCarthy plays a human detective who teams with a puppet partner to investigate grisly puppet murders. The lawsuit said the Sesame Street brand will be harmed by a just-released movie trailer featuring "explicit, profane, drug-using, misogynistic, violent, copulating and even ejaculating puppets" along with the tagline, in all capital letters: "No Sesame, All street." STX Productions LLC, in a statement issued in the name of "Fred, Esq," a lawyer puppet, said it was looking forward to introducing its "adorably unapologetic characters" to adult moviegoers this summer. "We're incredibly pleased with the early reaction to the film and how well the trailer has been received by its intended audience," it said. "While we're disappointed that Sesame Street does not share in the fun, we are confident in our legal position."
A Section on 05/27/2018