NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Omarosa: Country is not going to be OK under President Trump

Omarosa Manigault Newman is starting to tell her story, as promised. And her story is that America is not going to be OK under President Donald Trump.

“No,” a tearful Manigault Newman, who left her White House job in December, tells her co-star, Ross Mathews, on a clip teasing “Celebrity Big Brother” when he asks if the country will be OK. “It’s going to not be OK.” She adds, in a whisper: “It’s so bad.”

Manigault Newman also said she would never again vote for Trump.

In response, the White House reminded reporters at the daily briefing that Manigault Newman, who is a native of Youngstown, was fired three times on “The Apprentice” – and once by the White House.

“Not very seriously,” said spokesman Raj Shah, when asked about the White House reaction to the comments. “Omarosa was fired three times on ‘The Apprentice.’ And this was the fourth time we let her go. She had limited contact with the president while here. She has no contact now.”

Manigault Newman says she was “haunted by tweets every single day,” and wondered, “What is he going to tweet next?”

She says she wanted to stop him, but “all the people around him attacked me,” blocking her access.

Mathews then asks who does have the power to influence the president. “It’s not my circus, not my monkeys,” replies Manigault Newman. “I’d like to say not my problem, but I can’t say that because it’s bad.”

Earlier in the clip, Mathews tells her that he “never got” why she joined the White House.

“It was a call to duty,” she says. “I felt like I was serving my country, not serving him ... it was always about the country.”

Her support of Trump was challenged by another “Big Brother” contestant, Keshia Knight Pulliam.

Manigault Newman compared her loyalty to the president to that of Knight Pulliam for Bill Cosby.

Previously, Knight Pulliam has said accusations of sexual abuse against Cosby don’t reflect the man she worked with as a child actress on “The Cosby Show.”

Knight Pulliam rejected the parallel.

Internet activist, songwriter John Perry Barlow dies at 70

John Perry Barlow, an internet activist and former lyricist for the Grateful Dead, has died.

The digital-rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation said in a statement that Barlow died Wednesday morning in his sleep at age 70.

The cause of death was not immediately known.

Barlow co-founded the EFF in 1990 to champion free expression and privacy online.

EFF says that Barlow, “always saw the internet as a fundamental place of freedom, where voices long silenced can find an audience and people can connect with others regardless of physical distance.”

He also wrote lyrics for Grateful Dead songs including “Black Throated Wind” and “Blow Away,” among others.

He also co-wrote “Cassidy” with Grateful Dead founding member Bob Weir.

Jim Carrey says users should yank their Facebook accounts

LOS ANGELES

Delete your account.

That’s what Jim Carrey says Facebook users should do, as the actor looks to pull the mask off fake news.

The star of “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” and “The Mask” said on Twitter this week that he’s dumping his Facebook stock and deleting his page because the social media giant profited from Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election via spreading false news with Russian origins, and says the company is still not doing enough to stop it.

The 56-year-old Carrey encouraged other investors and users to do the same. He ended his tweet with the hashtag “unfriendfacebook.”

Facebook has not responded to Carrey’s tweet, but founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said stemming the flow of misinformation is among the company’s foremost goals.

MTV producer charged with DUI

BRADENTON, Fla.

Authorities in Florida say the producer of MTV’s “Siesta Key” has been arrested on a drunken-driving charge.

A Manatee County Sheriff’s report says 57-year-old Gary Kompothecras sped past deputies in a Porsche at 100 mph on Interstate 75 early Thursday.

A deputy says Kompothecras smelled of alcohol. He said he’d had wine at the Hard Rock casino in Tampa earlier, but wouldn’t provide a breath test.

The Bradenton Herald reports Kompothecras told deputies he has a Ph.D. and knew the alphabet, but he could not complete reciting it.

Associated Press