Thursday, April 19, 2012
newsmakers
Dove Awards returns to Atlanta for 2nd year
ATLANTA
The Dove Awards show for Christian and gospel music returns for the second-straight year to Atlanta, and organizers hope to have another successful and inspiring event.
Music artists ranging from Yolanda Adams and Natalie Grant to rapper Lecrae are expected to perform at the awards show, which will be taped Thursday at the Fox Theatre in downtown Atlanta. The show will air Tuesday on GMC, formerly the Gospel Music Channel.
Singer Jason Crabb, who is up for artist of the year, leads all nominees with eight. Laura Story is up for six nominations and Lecrae received five nods for the show, which has run for 43 years.
Actor David Mann of Tyler Perry’s sitcom “Meet the Browns” and Christian comedian Chonda Pierce will co-host the show.
‘Housewives’ urged to settle with actress
LOS ANGELES
A Los Angeles County judge prodded lawyers for Nicollette Sheridan and the producers of “Desperate Housewives” on Wednesday to settle the wrongful-termination suit brought by the actress that resulted in a jury deadlock last month.
“I would strongly urge you to consider settlement discussions,” Superior Court Judge Elizabeth White told attorneys during a hearing in which she set a September retrial date.
A jury split 8 to 4 — a vote short of the nine-vote majority required for a civil verdict — in favor of Sheridan’s claim that her character was killed off in the fifth season of the show after she accused its creator, Marc Cherry, of striking her in a rehearsal.
Sheridan’s lawyers told the judge that ABC — the parent company of defendant Touchstone Television Productions — refused to discuss an out-of-court settlement, a charge disputed by a Touchstone lawyer.
The judge said the sides should meet with a mediator assigned to the case, adding, “An 8 to 4 vote is nothing to be overly confident about in terms of defending the case.”
Sheridan is seeking at least $5.7 million in economic losses and potentially more in punitive damages.
Lawsuit: ‘Bachelor’ show discriminates
NASHVILLE, Tenn.
Two black men are taking “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” to court with a lawsuit that claims the reality shows are blocking contestants of color from starring roles.
Nathaniel Claybrooks and Christopher Johnson filed a federal lawsuit in Nashville on Wednesday. It says the popular TV shows are engaged in a pattern of racial discrimination that intentionally excludes people of color.
The two men say that after 10 years and a combined total of 23 seasons of “The Bachelor and The Bachelorette,” neither of the shows has featured a single person of color in a central role.
Calls and emails to the publicist for the creator of the show an email to the ABC publicist were not immediately returned.
Combined dispatches