Gawker.com, pioneering web publication and the brainchild of Nick Denton, will be shut down as of next week, according to Gawker itself. The closure of the site comes after Univisions winning bid for the Gawker Media company, which was forced into bankruptcy following a successful lawsuit by Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan) funded by Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel.
Univisions bid still faces final approval from a New York bankruptcy court, but is worth $135 million. Gawker founder Denton informed staff of the closure Thursday, but the site says plans for its archives have not yet been finalized.
Gawker was launched in 2002 by former Financial Times journalist Nick Denton, along with then-editor Elizabeth Spiers. It began life as an online gossip news publication focused on New York, but later widenedits focus to the broader media industry and celebrity culture in general.
In 2012, then editor A.J Daulerio published a short video clip of Hulk Hogan having s*x with Heather Clem, the wife of a friend. Gawker refused to take down the clip upon receiving a cease-and-desist form Hogans lawyer, which would ultimately result in the suit. Financial support for that suit, among others against Gawker.com, was provided by Thiel, who defended his role in the legal proceedings in a New York Times editorial earlier this week. TechCrunchs Kate Conger and Anthony Ha offered some cogentcounterarguments.
Univisions offer for Gawker Media spanned all seven of its media properties, including Gawker.com. Univision plans to continue operatingthe remaining websites, according to a new press release from the media company, which include Jezebel, Gizmodo, Deadspin, Lifehacker, Kotaku, io9 and Jalopnik, andDenton provided a statement to Recode following new of Univisions successful bid which suggests theyll continue operations:
Gawker Media Group has agreed this evening to sell our business and popular brands to Univision, one of Americas largest media companies that is rapidly assembling the leading digital media group for millennial and multicultural audiences. I am pleased that our employees are protected and will continue their work under new ownership disentangled from the legal campaign against the company. We could not have picked an acquirer more devoted to vibrant journalism.
Update: Denton tells staff that Gawker.com archives will remain accessible even though Monday will be its last day of active posting. He also confirms what many suspected, that he will also be departing after the sale to Univision closes. He also says no one has been willing to take on continuing operation of Gawker.com in terms of prospective investors or media companies.
Kubo and the Two Strings - "Covering a Classic" Clip - In Theaters Friday
Fuller House star Jodie Sweetin rocked the green carpet at the premiere of Kubo and the Two Strings in Universal City, Calif. on Sunday (August 14).
Joined byfianc Justin Hodak and her two daughters Zoie, 8, and Beatrix, nearly 6 the Full House alum, 34, looked lovely in a print maxi dress.
After the premiere, the proud mama took to Instagram with a family photo.
Hitting the green carpet family style! We had a great time at the #kuboandthetwostrings premiere. The girls were so excited to go.#familytimeisthebesttime.Necklace- @alycerossdesigns.Stylist @shannonmcclure68.Makeup- @terimakeup.Hair @annamariaorzano, she wrote.
While at the event, theNetflix star dished to Entertainment Tonight about her upcoming nuptials.
Were really excited, Sweetin said. Were looking at the end of next year. We havent started any planning for it though. Ive just been so busy with Dancing With the Stars and Fuller House. But once this wraps and I have a little bit of free time, were going to start jumping into the planning.
This will be thefourth marriage for Sweetin who shares daughter Zoie with ex-husband Cody Herpin, and Beatrix with ex-husband Morty Coyle.
While red carpet events are fun and glamorous, at the end of the day Sweetin is still mom.
They are not impressed with me as a mom at all. Im still mom, Sweetinsaid. At the end of the day, I go home and I take toys away and tell them no phones and time out. But I was telling my daughter Zoie, I said, Its so much fun! I love getting to include you guys in my work stuff, because as a mom, so much of your life [is] so busy and its great to be able to bring them out to stuff like this. I have fun with them.
Rumor Report | Darren Sharper pleads guilty to rape charges - The Breakfast Club
In February, Milazzo rejected a proposed plea deal that carried a nine-year prison sentence for the five-time NFL Pro Bowl defensive back, calling it too lenient given the seriousness of all the allegations against him.
The revised plea agreement allowed Milazzo to consider allegations made by 16 purported victims of Sharpers sexual violence, some of which did not result in formal charges.
Sharpers 14-year career in the NFL included stints with the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings. He was working as an NFL Network analyst when women began to allege that they had blacked out while drinking with him and woke up to find they had been sexually abused.
He was charged in Louisiana with drugging three women with the intent of raping them in 2013.
Milazzo agreed in June to delay Sharpers sentencing so prosecutors could evaluate his cooperation in the cases of two co-defendants accused of participating in the Louisiana incidents.
Allyson Felix and Team USA Runners Play Online Game "QWOP" | GQ
In one of the strangest sights ever seen on an Olympic race track, the U.S. women"s 4x100 relay team were given a second shot at qualifying in Rio after dropping their baton in their earlier qualifying heat on Thursday.
Team USA petitioned for a re-run after Allyson Felix claimed a Brazilian sprinter elbowed her as she was making a baton pass to teammate English Gardner on the third leg.
The IAAF sided with the Americans, and just after 7pm the four athletes wandered back out onto the race track to re-take their positions.
Scroll down for video
On your marks, get set, go... against no-one!Tianna Bartoletta lines up for the start of an unprecedented replay relay race in which Team USA ran against nobody
Ghost track! The US women"s 4x100 relay team ran against no-one else this evening after they were granted the chance to rerun their heat following a baton drop
Morolake Akinosun of the USA crosses the finish line after completing a re-run of the women"s 4 x 100m Relay
It was one of the most unsual sights at these Olympic Games with just the Americans taking part in a relay race held just for them
Despite the USA being the only team on the track, the final changeover was still a little iffy
It was a surreal moment at Olympic Stadium as the United States" 4x100m relay team qualified for Friday"s final with no one else on the track
Tianna Bartoletta, English Gardner, Morolake Akinosun and Felix finished the re-run in a time of 41.77sec the fastest time overall to bump China from the field
They were the only athletes on the track at the time, making it a truly bizarre sight.
Their only goal was to beat the time set by the the Chinese who were the slowest to qualify with 42.70.
The team retook their places in lane 2 of the track, the exact same lane they were places earlier in the day.
In the end, the team won comfortably with a time of 41.77, despite a difficult final changeover.
Morolake Akinosun of Team USA crosses the finish line after completing the teams re-run
At times, it looked more like a public practice session than an Olympic race
"I"m very relieved," said Felix afterward. "I just wasn"t sure how a situation like that played out. I have never been in that situation before, but I am happy that we got a shot at it."
However some have suggested their fastest-qualifying time was helped by the fact there was nobody else out on the track.
There was a truly mixed reaction from the crowd in the stands having witnessed one of the most unusual things seen at these Olympic Games.
Earlier in the day, video showed the moment that Brazilian sprinter Kauiza Venancio encroached on Team USA"s lane.
Tianna Bartoletta, English Gardner, Allyson Felix and Morolake Akinosun were clearly delighted at being given the opportunity to re-run their qualifying race
There would have been no excuses this time around had there been any mistakes!
Although her feet did not cross the line, but her arms swung well into Felix"s lane.
That split-second intrusion caused Felix to miss her opportunity to hand-off to Gardner, and in a last-ditch effort she threw the baton at her teammate and it fell on the ground - an immediate disqualification.
Knowing that they had a chance to protest the race if they finished, Felix picked up the baton and made Gardner continue running. The Americans finished dead last, but by finishing they were allowed to petition for a review.
After the race, Felix explained to reporters what she felt as she was making the pass.
"I just felt contact and it tripped me up," Felix said.
The relief on the women"s faces was clear to see after being given a second chance at gold
Allyson Felix, English Gardner and Morolake Akinosun made their way around the track to greet their fourth team member after completing the race
The U.S. women"s 4x100 relay team were initially disqualified from running in the final after dropping the baton in their qualifying heat on Thursday
The Americans earned the right to re-run the race after Allyson Felix complained that a Brazilian sprinter elbowed her as she was handing off the baton
In the re-run they had to beat the time set by eighth-place qualifier China (42.70) in order to earn a spot in the final on Friday
After dropping the baton, Felix picked up the baton and made her teammate English Gardner carry on the race so that they could have the right to petition a review
When the baton fell, Felix was clearly angry, yelling and even pushing her teammate Gardner in frustration
This is Felix"s last chance for gold at these Olympics, after losing the 400-meter race to a Bahamian runner her dove over the finish line to secure first place
Brazilian sprinter Kauiza Venancio (left) is the runner who elbowed Felix. The Brazilian team has since been disqualified
The American women had been heavily favored to pick up gold in the 4x100 relay.
Felix was part of the four-person team that set a world and Olympic record in the 4x100 at the London games in 2012. That team ran the race in 40.82 seconds.
This is Felix"s last chance for gold at the Olympics, after placing second in the 400-meter dash thanks to a Bahamian runner who made a controversial dive over the finish line to secure gold.
It was less dramatic in the men"s 4x100 qualifying heats on Thursday, with the U.S. easily winning their heat and running the fastest time of all the qualifiers with a 37.65 finish.
But it will be a very different race come Friday, when Usain Bolt joins his relay team. He has helped the Jamaican team take home gold in the event in the past two Olympics.
In order to petition the IAAF, runner must finish their race, so Felix had Gardner continue the race
Gardner jets down the third leg of the race after the botched hand off
Felix was very clearly frustrated when her team finished dead last due to the tampered hand-off
The American women have been heavily favored to pick up gold in the 4x100 relay
Twitter users were shocked to see the baton drop, and rallied for the American team to be reinstated
Rio 2016 badminton: PV Sindhu storms into Olympic final By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Published:August 19, 2016 10:53 am Shobhaa De is back, by tweeting a strange remark about P V Sindhus win, but unlike last time, has tried to cover up her act. (Source: Twitter)
While Indians cheered for PV Sindhu and the possibility of her winning the gold at the Rio Olympics, columnist Shobhaa De seemed to be setting her sights a bit lower. After Sindhu smashed her way into the badminton finals on August 18, De wrote a cheeky tweet P V Sindhu, Silver Princess?. After that rather fiasco of a selfie tweet earlier, guess how this one went down with the good people of Twitterverse.
Twenty-one-year-old Sindhu defeated Japans Nozomi Okuhara 21-19, 21-10 making for a historic win. Shell now face Carolina Marin of Spain in the finals. Everyones happy that Sindhu, and thus India, has a silver medal guaranteed now, but the obvious chant is #GoForGold and Des remark has really rubbed people the wrong way.De is now gaining more of a reputation for her irksome tweets than her novels. First for her unapologeticremark on Indias delegates to Rio Olympics, and now this.
She had previously jeered the Indian team by tweeting Goal of Team India at the Olympics: Riojao. Selfies lo. Khaali haat wapas aao. What a waste of money and opportunity.
This was met with a lot of lambasting by sportsmen including Abhinav Bindra and Virender Sehwag and the general populace alike. Not only that, ever since that tweet, wrestler Sakshi Malik has bagged India a bronze, and tweeple have been taking jibes at Des selfie remark.
De must have realised that her new silver princess tweet has further upset the cart, and it seems the author tried to salvage the situation by two new tweets. One said: Silver minted by Sindhu. Chandi ke baad Sona!!! and the other Go for gold, girl!!!
Heres her latest jabbing remark,
Oh well, too bad, because the damage was already done. Tweeple have been trolling her continuously. Sample these:
Womens 4×100m relay - Allyson Felix dropped baton - Rio Olympics 2016 slideshow
RIO DE JANEIRO A valiant effort by Allyson Felix to overcome an ankle injury that threatened to derail her Olympic dreams months before she reached Rio wasnt quite enough for her to win gold in the womens 400-meter dash on Monday night, when Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas dived at the line and won the race by perhaps half an arms length.
Miller won with a time of 49.44 seconds, to a season-best 49.51 for Felix, who grew up in Los Angeles and attended USC. Shericka Jackson of Jamaica was third in 49.85.
No one was initially sure who had won. Miller, gasping for air after holding off Felixs late surge, fell forward onto the track and rolled over onto her back. Felix sat on the track, arms clasped around her knees, as she looked to the scoreboard for the result.
The crowd at Olympic Stadium let loose a roar when Millers name was listed first, followed by Felix.
Felix won the gold medal in the 200-meter dash at the London Games four years ago and had hoped to pursue a 200-400 double here. However, a training accident that damaged ligaments in her ankle in late April led her to struggle at the U.S. Olympic trials and she didnt make the team in the 200 and so was unable to defend her title. However, she is expected to run both the 400-meter and 1,600-meter relays here.
Running in Lane 4 on a track dampened by rain that had delayed the start of several races, she made a strong surge down the stretch and appeared in position to win. But thats when Miller made her desperate and successful dive and came up a winner.
War Dogs Official Trailer 2 (2016) - Miles Teller Movie
War Dogs, a film starring Jonah Hill and Miles Teller, grossed $1.25 million at the Thursday box office, passing the Ben-Hur remake which grossed $900,000 at the previews.
Directed by Todd Phillips, Warner Bros. is estimating a $13 million opening weekend for War Dogs, based on a true story of two men who won a $300-million contract from the Pentagon to arm Americas allies in Afghanistan. Something of a bromance, War Dogs also features Bradley Cooperin a small, but memorable role.The filmsbudget was $40 million.
In comparison, Tina Feys recent war comedy, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, opened to $300,000 and went on to make $7.6 million, based on a $35 million budget. The genre is a tough one to sell, and war-based comedies have had trouble resonating with audiences in recent years, as Bill Murrays Rock the Kasbah proved last fall.
Also Read: "Ben-Hur" Remake Is "Forgettable and Foolish," and 8 Other Unholy Reviews
War Dogs has received decent reviews so far it has a score of 60 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
The critically acclaimed 1959 Ben-Hur film grossed $74 million on a budget of $15 million, which was the most money spent to make a movie at that time. The remake had a hefty budget of $100 million, and multiple trackersare currently setting its opening weekend gross at a paltry $12 million on average, while the studio is being more optimistic with a $20 million estimated gross.
The remake stars Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell, Rodrigo Santoro, Morgan Freeman and was directed by Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter director Timur Bekmambetov.
It follows the epic story of Judah Ben-Hur, who flees his homeland after being falsely accused of treason only to come back years later to seek revenge. The film currently holds a score of 29 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
The opening estimates of Ben-Hur are worse than Universals Warcraft, which was widely considered one of the summers biggest bombs, opening to $24.2 million domestically against a hefty $160 million budget.
Also Read: "Ben-Hur" Remake May Become Summer"s Biggest Box Office Bomb
Kubo and the Two Strings grossed $515,000 at the Thursday previews, ahead of what the studio expects will be a $12 million weekend.
Voiced byMatthew McConaughey, Charlize Theron and Rooney Mara, the animated film was directed by Travis Knight. Kubo was produced by Laika, the production company behind hits like 2009s Coraline and 2014s The Boxtrolls.
Kubo was produced on a $55 million budget and currently holds a score of 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
May 20: "Neighbors 2" vs. "Angry Birds Movie" vs. "The Nice Guys"Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne and Zac Efron return for some new fraternity high jinks -- and will face off against a 1970s-set film starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe as well as some bitter animated birds based on the popular phone game.
May 27: "Alice Through the Looking Glass" vs. "X-Men: Apocalypse"
Two big sequels with wide appeal: "Alice" is a four-quadrant movie, meaning the movie offers something for every demographic. "X-Men" is another film in the popular franchise that already has a huge following, and let"s be honest -- Marvel movies do extremely well at the box office. The box office winner may depend on which movie gets the IMAX screens.
Disney/Fox
June 10: "Conjuring 2" vs. "Now You See Me 2" vs. "Warcraft"
This summer day marks the release of two sequels to surprisingly successful movies, while the newcomver "Warcraft" will vie for fans of the popular video game.
Warner Bros./Summit/Universal
July 1: "The BFG" vs. "The Legend of Tarzan" vs. "The Purge: Election Year
Two classics are hitting theaters in the prime of summer. Steven Spielberg"s adaptation of the Roald Dahl children"s book faces a giant challenge from Alexander Skarsgard"s jungle-raised man. "The Purge" franchise has consistently been a low-budget production but continued to make money at the box office -- the last film, "Anarchy," earned $72 million domestically.
Disney/Warner Bros./Universal
July 8: "Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates" vs. "The Secret Life of Pets"These light-hearted comedies target very different young audiences audiences. The former is a raunchy R-rated movie featuring Zac Efron and Anna Kendrick, while "Pets" targets family audiences in the tradition of recent Illumination hits like "Minions."
Fox/Illumination
July 22: "Star Trek Beyond" vs. "Ice Age: Collision Course"
"Star Trek Beyond" hopes to boldly go where 2013"s "Trek Into Darkness" went, with a $229 million domestic gross based on the die-hard fan base. "Ice Age: Collision Course" is the fifth movie in a well-known franchise, which has accumulated$729.6 million in revenue since 2002.
Paramount/Fox
August 12: "Ben-Hur" vs. "Pete"s Dragon" vs. "Sausage Party"
"Ben-Hur" and "Pete"s Dragon" are mostly remakes of movies that young audiences may be too young to remember, while Seth Rogen"s R-rated animated movie features a stellar cast ofJames Franco, Jonah Hill and Kristen Wiig.
Paramount/Disney/Sony
Previous SlideNext Slide1 of 8
Summer Movie Preview 2016: TheWrap takes a look at the most competitive faceoffs at the box office between May and August
