Cassie Randolph eager to 'move past' drama rehashed on 'Coming Out Colton' - Page Six

Still a thorn in her side. 

After the trailer dropped on Monday for Colton Underwood’s new Netflix series, “Coming Out Colton,” a source exclusively told Page Six that his ex Cassie Randolph is frustrated that their tumultuous breakup is being rehashed. 

“Cassie really just wants to move past any drama having to do with Colton. She’s being roped back into all this Colton mess because of the Netflix show,” the insider said.

“There are a lot of bad memories associated with the end of their relationship and she wishes there was a way to completely separate herself from his narrative.” 

Former “Bachelor” lead Underwood, 29, handed his final rose to Randolph, 26, while filming the Season 23 finale of the ABC reality show in late 2018. Though they never got engaged, the pair continued dating — and even lived together at one point — until announcing their split in May 2020. 

Randolph got a restraining order against Underwood in September of that year for allegedly stalking her, attaching a tracking device to her vehicle and sending her disturbing text messages. She dropped the order less than two months later.

In the preview for “Coming Out Colton” — which details Underwood’s experience entering the gay community — the former football player admits he put Randolph “through hell” because of his “own insecurities” about his sexuality. 

“Cassie filed a restraining order against you. You went off the rails,” Underwood’s dad, Scott, tells him in the clip, while a friend adds elsewhere, “What you put her through was bulls–t.” 

Underwood has previously apologized to Randolph publicly, most notably when he came out in an emotional April appearance on “Good Morning America” and in a May cover story interview with Variety. 

Meanwhile, Randolph has remained largely silent about Underwood’s revelation and his subsequent apologies.

Initially, she addressed the influx of support she received in the wake of the news while promoting her YouTube channel in April, telling fans, “Thank you everyone for all the kind comments and messages.”

Later, in a video, she said, “I’m not gonna be further discussing it or commenting on it for now. There’s a lot of layers to it, and I just think the best thing for me at this time is to move forward and just focus on going forward.”

Although Randolph would rather not be a peripheral character on “Coming Out Colton,” she is pleased to see that Underwood seems remorseful.  

Randolph won Underwood’s final rose on “The Bachelor” Season 23 before the pair called it quits in May 2020.

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“It’s nice to see that he appears genuinely sorry — and it’s comforting to know that his friends and family are holding him accountable for everything he did to Cassie,” the source said. 

The trailer also sees Underwood reconnect with his former “Bachelor” suitress Onyeka Ehie, an ally who has applauded him on social media for sharing his truth. According to Variety, Ehie offers “full-throated support” for Underwood in their on-camera conversations.

However, a second source told us that most of the women of Season 23 are “unequivocally Team Cassie.” 

“The collective attitude among the girls of Season 23 is that they’re happy for Colton but are more concerned about Cassie in this situation,” the insider elaborated. 

“There is concern among Bachelor Nation about how Colton’s show is going to make her feel. They want her to feel supported as it plays out.”

The first source noted that it’s a “complicated situation” for Randolph, who may have worries about the way she’s discussed on “Coming Out Colton,” but is nonetheless thrilled that Underwood may be able to help others struggling to come out. 

“At her core, Cassie supports Colton telling his story if that helps him and other people in the LGBTQIA+ community,” said the insider. “The part that sucks is that there’s really no way for him to tell his story without mentioning their breakup.” 

These days, Randolph — who does not maintain communication with Underwood — is coupled up with musician Brighton Reinhardt, with whom she became Instagram official in August. 

Randolph is now dating musician Brighton Reinhardt.

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“Cassie couldn’t be happier and is thriving in her love life. Brighton is such a great boyfriend and she is grateful to have found love with him even after all the trouble she experienced with Colton and ‘The Bachelor,’” the source explained. 

“Having Brighton by her side certainly makes this Netflix stuff easier to deal with.”

Reps for Randolph, Underwood and Netflix were not immediately available when contacted by Page Six for comment. 

“Coming Out Colton” premieres Friday on Netflix. 

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Billy Porter makes a dramatic red carpet entrance at The Fashion Awards 2021 - CNN

Written by Jacqui Palumbo, CNN

On a frigid night in London, the fashion industry has stepped out on the red carpet for the Fashion Awards 2021, hosted by the British Fashion Council.

Billy Porter is on hosting duties for the night at Royal Albert Hall, and made a dramatic entrance to the event with an entourage of dancers. The "Pose" and "Cinderella" actor wore a glittering patterned black and silver gown with sculpted shoulders by designer Richard Quinn, as well as black platform-heeled boots. The dancers arrived in floral print and black PVC outfits -- some entirely incognito in head-to-toe jumpsuits, also made by Richard Quinn. They spun, rolled and did splits ahead of Porter's entrance, writhing around him as he walked in.

Richard Quinn is one of five designers vying tonight to win the BFC Foundation Award, which honors emerging talent. Priya Ahluwalia, Nensi Dojaka, Bianca Saunders and Bethany Williams are also nominees.

Other celebrities who wore Quinn tonight include Priyanka Chopra Jonas in a billowing floral gown, Hailee Steinfeld in a shimmering backless polka-dot jumpsuit, and Addison Rae in a pink and black mermaid gown.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas attend The Fashion Awards 2021 at the Royal Albert Hall on November 29, 2021 in London, England. Credit: Stephane Cardinale/Corbis/Getty Images

Elsewhere on the red carpet, Gabrielle Union arrived in a statement-making chartreuse Valentino couture gown, Maria Sharapova wore a dress made from recycled Evian bottles by Iris van Herpen, and Tom Daley wore a deep blue asymmetrical suit by Christian Dior.

Gabrielle Union made a statement in Valentino couture. Credit: Stephane Cardinale/Corbis/Getty Images

"British fashion to me...there's something that's so incredible when you can go from street style to formal style, unique style, gender-bending queer style," said Daley on the red carpet in a TikTok video posted by The Fashion Awards, which live-streamed the red carpet on the social media platform. "Just to represent yourself however you want to, wear what what you want and just be you, and I love that about London (especially)."

British Olympic diver Tom Daley poses on the red carpet upon arrival. Credit: Mike Marsland/WireImage/Getty Images

Lily Allen and Demi Moore both arrived in Fendi, with Moore posing in her ombre knee-length gown next to Fendi creative director Kim Jones. Tonight, Jones is up for Designer of the Year, competing for the title with Jonathan Anderson, Demna Gvasalia, Daniel Lee, and Prada co-creative directors Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons.

The event follows a 2020 awards ceremony that was completely virtual due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and comes as many countries around the world announce new travel restrictions because of the Omicron variant. It also takes place one day after the devastating news of trailblazing designer Virgil Abloh's death. Abloh, Louis Vuitton's artistic director of menswear and founder of Off-White, died of cancer at age 41.

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Gotham Awards 2021 Winners List (Updating Live) - Variety

The 31st annual Gotham Awards is a key stop in the awards season marathon, especially for lower-budget indies looking for some traction for the Oscars race. However, not every likely Oscar contender found itself up for Gothams, including “The Power of the Dog,” “Tick, Tick… Boom!” and “The Harder They Fall,” as they exceeded the $35 million budget limit for nominees.

For the first time, international documentaries were eligible in the best documentary feature category. Additionally, the new award breakthrough nonfiction series is among category updates for the year, as well as outstanding lead performance, outstanding supporting performance and outstanding performance in a new series, from the television side. Outstanding lead performance, breakthrough performance and outstanding supporting performance were all gender neutral categories, with eight men and 14 women nominated.

As previously announced, Jane Campion was honored with a director’s tribute statue, while Magnolia Pictures chief Eamonn Bowles received the industry tribute honor. The cast of “The Harder They Fall” received the ensemble tribute prize and this year’s performer tributes were awarded to Kristen Stewart and Peter Dinklage.

See the full list of winners and nominees below.

BEST FEATURE

“The Green Knight” (A24)
“The Lost Daughter” (Netflix)
“Passing” (Netflix)
“Pig” (NEON)
“Test Pattern” (Kino Lorber)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

“Ascension” (MTV Documentary Films)
“Faya Dayi” (Janus Films)
“Flee” (NEON) – WINNER
“President” (Greenwich Entertainment)
“Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” (Searchlight Pictures, Onyx Collective, Hulu)

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

“Azor” (MUBI)
“Drive My Car” (Sideshow and Janus Films) – WINNER
“The Souvenir Part II” (A24)
“Titane” (NEON)
“What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?” (MUBI)
“The Worst Person in the World” (NEON)

BINGHAM RAY BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTOR AWARD

Maggie Gyllenhaal for “The Lost Daughter” (Netflix)
Edson Oda for “Nine Days” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Rebecca Hall for “Passing” (Netflix)
Emma Seligman for “Shiva Baby” (Utopia Distribution)
Shatara Michelle Ford for “Test Pattern” (Kino Lorber)

BEST SCREENPLAY

“The Card Counter,” Paul Schrader (Focus Features)
“El Planeta,” Amalia Ulman (Utopia Distribution)
“The Green Knight,” David Lowery (A24)
“The Lost Daughter,” Maggie Gyllenhaal (Netflix) – WINNER
“Passing,” Rebecca Hall (Netflix)
“Red Rocket,” Sean Baker & Chris Bergoch (A24)

OUTSTANDING LEAD PERFORMANCE

Olivia Colman in “The Lost Daughter” (Netflix)
Frankie Faison in “The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain” (Gravitas Ventures)
Michael Greyeyes in “Wild Indian” (Vertical Entertainment)
Brittany S. Hall in “Test Pattern” (Kino Lorber)
Oscar Isaac in “The Card Counter” (Focus Features)
Taylour Paige in “Zola” (A24)
Joaquin Phoenix in “C’mon C’mon” (A24)
Simon Rex in “Red Rocket” (A24)
Lili Taylor in “Paper Spiders” (Entertainment Squad)
Tessa Thompson in “Passing” (Netflix)

OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE

Reed Birney in “Mass” (Bleecker Street)
Jessie Buckley in “The Lost Daughter” (Netflix)
Colman Domingo in “Zola” (A24)
Gaby Hoffmann in “C’mon C’mon” (A24)
Troy Kotsur in “CODA” (Apple)
Marlee Matlin in “CODA” (Apple)
Ruth Negga in “Passing” (Netflix)

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMER

Emilia Jones in “CODA” (Apple)  – WINNER
Natalie Morales in “Language Lessons” (Shout! Studios)
Rachel Sennott in “Shiva Baby” (Utopia Distribution)
Suzanna Son in “Red Rocket” (A24)
Amalia Ulman in “El Planeta” (Utopia Distribution)

BREAKTHROUGH SERIES — LONG FORM

“The Good Lord Bird” (Showtime)
“It’s A Sin” (HBO Max)
“Small Axe” (Amazon Studios)
“Squid Game” (Netflix)
“The Underground Railroad” (Amazon Studios)
“The White Lotus” (HBO Max/HBO)

BREAKTHROUGH SERIES — SHORT FORM

“Blindspotting” (STARZ)
“Hacks” (HBO Max/HBO)
“Reservation Dogs” (FX)
“Run the World” (STARZ)
“We Are Lady Parts” (Peacock)

BREAKTHROUGH NONFICTION SERIES

“City So Real” (National Geographic)
“Exterminate All the Brutes” (HBO/HBO Max)
“How to With John Wilson” (HBO/HBO Max)
“Philly D.A.” (Topic, Independent Lens, PBS)
“Pride” (FX)

JURY AWARD FOR ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE

AUDIENCE AWARD

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In Bill Cosby Case, Supreme Court Is Asked to Toss Ruling That Freed Him - The New York Times

The prosecutors who brought the 2018 sexual assault case are appealing the decision in June by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that overturned the jury verdict.

Prosecutors who say Bill Cosby belongs in prison are asking the United States Supreme Court to throw out an appellate court ruling earlier this year that overturned his 2018 conviction for sexual assault on due process grounds.

Mr. Cosby walked free from prison in June after serving less than three years of a three-to-10-year sentence.

His release followed a ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that Mr. Cosby’s rights had been violated when the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office pursued a criminal case against him despite what the appellate court found was a binding “non-prosecution agreement” given to him by a previous district attorney.

It was a dramatic reversal in one of the first high-profile criminal convictions of the #MeToo era.

The petition for review, filed last Wednesday by the district attorney’s office but only made public Monday, challenges that decision, arguing that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court erred in its ruling.

The Pennsylvania high court’s decision came in the case of Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee to whom Mr. Cosby had become a mentor. He was arrested in 2015 on charges that he had drugged and sexually assaulted her at his home in a Philadelphia suburb 11 years earlier.

The arrest came at a time when dozens of other women had already come forward to accuse Mr. Cosby of sexual assault or misconduct.

A spokesman for Mr. Cosby, Andrew Wyatt, released a statement that referred to the decision to seek Supreme Court review as “a pathetic last-ditch effort.”

“In short, the Montgomery County D.A. asks the United States Supreme Court to throw the Constitution out the window, as it did, to satisfy the #metoo mob,” the statement said. “There is no merit to the DA’s request which centers on the unique facts of the Cosby case and has no impact on important federal questions of law.”

A lawyer for Ms. Constand, Bebe H. Kivitz, said Ms. Constand “is gratified that the District Attorney’s Office is appealing. This appeal demonstrates the prosecutors’ confidence in the verdict, and attempts to seek justice on behalf of all of Cosby’s victims.”

The accusations against Mr. Cosby, and his eventual conviction on three charges of aggravated indecent assault, painted a disturbing portrait of a man who for decades had brightened America’s living rooms as a beloved entertainer and father figure.

Mr. Cosby has consistently denied the accusations that he was a sexual predator, suggesting that the encounter with Ms. Constand, and those with other accusers, had been completely consensual.

It is by no means certain that the U.S. Supreme Court will agree to hear the case. The court denies the vast majority of petitions seeking review.

The justices only consider cases that involve federal law, and they rarely hear cases merely to correct erroneous rulings. Instead, they generally agree to hear cases in which lower courts have reached differing conclusions or ones involving legal issues of great public importance.

Some legal experts had not expected prosecutors to file an appeal to the Supreme Court, seeing the case as a matter of state rather than federal law, and one that involves a specific set of circumstances that do not involve far-reaching constitutional issues.

For the appeal to succeed, the justices would have to decide that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision relied on and misinterpreted a federal law or constitutional provision, experts said.

“The district attorney’s office really strains in its petition to make this into a precedent-setting issue — it’s not,” said Shan Wu, a former federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C., who has followed the case. “The unique facts make it highly unlikely that it would ever arise again.”

Mr. Cosby’s lawyers have 30 days to respond, though they may seek an extension.

Mr. Cosby’s appeal to Pennsylvania’s highest court had argued, among other issues, that the entertainer had relied on a previous prosecutor’s statement in 2005 that Mr. Cosby would not face charges in the case.

The district attorney at the time, Bruce L. Castor Jr., had said he made the non-prosecution agreement verbally to Mr. Cosby’s lawyer, after determining there was insufficient evidence to win a prosecution on sex assault charges. He has pointed to a news release he issued announcing the end of the criminal investigation as evidence that an immunity agreement existed. He has subsequently testified that the agreement was intended to compel Mr. Cosby to testify in any civil suit that Ms. Constand might file by removing Mr. Cosby’s ability to exercise his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Shortly after the criminal investigation was dropped, Ms. Constand did sue Mr. Cosby, and settled in 2006 for $3.38 million.

During testimony in the civil suit, Mr. Cosby acknowledged giving quaaludes to women he was pursuing for sex — evidence that played a key part in the criminal prosecution later brought by Mr. Castor’s successors.

As the criminal case proceeded, the trial court — and an intermediate appeals court — found that no formal non-prosecution agreement ever existed.

But in its 6-1 ruling, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court found that Mr. Cosby had, in fact, relied on Mr. Castor’s assurances that he wouldn’t be prosecuted and that the subsequent decision by a successor to charge Mr. Cosby violated the entertainer’s due process rights. The court barred a retrial, though two of the judges who voted in the majority dissented on that remedy.

“Petitioning to ask the High Court for review was the right thing to do,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said Monday in a statement, “because of the precedent set in this case by the majority opinion of Pennsylvania Supreme Court that prosecutors’ statements in press releases now seemingly create immunity.”

The district attorney’s office referenced an argument put forward by one of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices, Kevin Dougherty, who said in an opinion that no district attorney had the “power to impose on their successors — in perpetuity, no less — the kind of non-prosecution agreement that Castor sought to convey to Cosby.”

In their 33-page filing, the prosecutors also tried to counter the argument that Mr. Cosby had a right to rely on what Mr. Castor said was a promise not to prosecute him further, asserting that “a reasonably prudent person would have been reckless to rely on a supposed guarantee that the prosecutor did not clearly convey and may not have had the power to grant.”

Since being freed, Mr. Cosby, 84, has portrayed the decision as a full exoneration. The chief justice of the Pennsylvania high court, Max Baer, has said, though, that the court’s ruling did not find Mr. Cosby innocent, only unfairly prosecuted.

Patricia Steuer, 65, who has accused Mr. Cosby of drugging and assaulting her in 1978 and 1980, said that although she appreciated the effort to appeal what she viewed as a flawed decision, she was not optimistic about the outcome.

“It never occurred to me that they’d petition to the U.S. Supreme Court,” she said. “I’m grateful for that, but I don’t have a lot of hope that he’ll end back in prison.”

Julia Jacobs contributed reporting.

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Adam McKay Details Will Ferrell Split, Says Actor Hasn’t Returned His Emails: ‘I F**ked Up’ - IndieWire

Adam McKay opened up in detail for the first time about his professional split from Will Ferrell. The two collaborators worked together on some of the most definitive comedy films of the 2000s, including “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” and went on to form the production company Gloria Sanchez Productions. McKay and Ferrell announced in April 2019 they were ending their partnership, saying in a statement at the time, “The two of us will always work together creatively and always be friends. And we recognize we are lucky as hell to end this venture as such.” As McKay revealed in a new Vanity Fair profile, that promise turned out not to be true.

Ferrell told The Hollywood Reporter in October that “bandwidth” was the reason for his split from McKay, pointing to McKay’s increased producing responsibilities. The actor said, “Adam was like, ‘I want to do this, and this, and this,’ he wanted growth and a sphere of influence, and I was just like, ‘I don’t know, that sounds like a lot that I have to keep track of.’ To me, the potential of seeing a billboard, and being like: ‘Oh, we’re producing that?’ I don’t know. At the end of the day, we just have different amounts of bandwidth.”

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While McKay’s interest in producing more was the start of the end, the director told Vanity Fair that the final blow was his decision to cast John C. Reilly over Ferrell in his upcoming HBO drama series about the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers. Lakers fan Ferrell was originally cast in the role of team owner Jerry Buss, but he was not McKay’s first choice.

“The truth is, the way the show was always going to be done, it’s hyperrealistic,” McKay said. “And Ferrell just doesn’t look like Jerry Buss, and he’s not that vibe of a Jerry Buss. And there were some people involved who were like, ‘We love Ferrell, he’s a genius, but we can’t see him doing it.’ It was a bit of a hard discussion.”

McKay wanted to cast John C. Reilly, whom he worked with on “Step Brothers” and who is also Ferrell’s good friend. McKay ended up making the casting change and hiring Reilly behind Ferrell’s back.

“I should have called him and I didn’t,” McKay said. “And Reilly did, of course, because Reilly, he’s a stand-up guy…I fucked up on how I handled that. It’s the old thing of keep your side of the street clean. I should have just done everything by the book.”

McKay said the last time he spoke to Ferrell was the phone conversation they had talking about breaking up. “I said, ‘Well, I mean, we’re splitting up the company,'” the director said. “And he basically was like, ‘Yeah, we are,’ and basically was like, ‘Have a good life.’ And I’m like, ‘Fuck, Ferrell’s never going to talk to me again.’ So it ended not well.”

Vanity Fair notes that “McKay says he’s written emails to Ferrell, attempting a rapprochement, but has never heard back.” The director concluded, “In my head, I was like, ‘We’ll let all this blow over. Six months to a year, we’ll sit down, we’ll laugh about it and go, It’s all business junk, who gives a shit? We worked together for 25 years. Are we really going to let this go away?’ [But Ferrell] took it as a way deeper hurt than I ever imagined and I tried to reach out to him, and I reminded him of some slights that were thrown my way that were never apologized for.”

Head over to Vanity Fair’s website to read McKay’s profile in its entirety.

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At Jussie Smollett trial, Osundairo brothers at center stage - New York Post

CHICAGO — Two brothers stand at the center of the case that prosecutors will lay before jurors when the trial of Jussie Smollett begins this week.

The former “Empire” actor contends he was the victim of a racist and homophobic assault in downtown Chicago on a frigid night in January 2019. The siblings, who worked with him on the TV show, say he paid them $3,500 to pose as his attackers.

Smollett is accused of lying to police about the alleged attack and has been charged with felony disorderly conduct. A class 4 felony, the crime carries a sentence of up to three years in prison but experts have said it is more likely that if Smollett is convicted he would be placed on probation and perhaps ordered to perform community service.

Whether Smollett, who is Black and gay, testifies remains an open question. But the siblings, Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, will take the witness stand where they are expected to repeat what they have told police officers and prosecutors — that they carried out the attack at Smollett’s behest.

Jurors also may see surveillance video from more than four dozen cameras that police reviewed to trace the brothers’ movements before and after the reported attack, as well as a video showing the brothers purchasing a red hat, ski masks and gloves from a beauty supply shop hours earlier.

Smollett’s attorneys have not spelled out how they will confront that evidence and the lead attorney, Nenye Uche, declined to comment. But there are clues as to how they might during the trial, which starts with jury selection Monday in a Chicago courtroom. It is expected to last a week.

Jussie Smollett arrives at the Leighton Courts Building for the start of jury selection in his trial.

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Buried in nearly 500 pages of Chicago Police Department reports is a statement from a woman who lived in the area who says she saw a white man with “reddish brown hair” who appeared to be waiting for someone that night.

She told a detective that when the man turned away from her, she “could see hanging out from underneath his jacket what appeared to be a rope.”

Her comments could back up Smollett’s contention that his attackers draped a makeshift noose around his neck. Further, if she testified that the man was white, it would support Smollett’s statements — widely ridiculed because the brothers, who come from Nigeria, are Black — that he saw pale or white skin around the eyes of one of his masked attackers.

One of the defense attorneys, Tina Glandian, suggested during a March 2019 appearance on NBC’s “Today” show, that one of the brothers could have used white makeup around his eyes to make Smollett believe he was white. To address skepticism on the jury, Glandian could ask the brothers about a video she talked about on the program that she said shows one of them in whiteface reciting a monologue by the Joker character from a movie.

Given there is so much evidence, including the brothers’ own statements, that they participated in the attack, it is not likely that Smollett’s attorneys will try to prove they did not take part. That could perhaps lead the defense to contend that Smollett was the victim of a very real attack at the hands of the brothers, perhaps with the help of others, who now are only implicating the actor so prosecutors won’t charge them, too.

Jussie Smollett arrives with family and attorneys for the first day of his trial for reportedly staging an attack on himself at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.

TANNEN MAURY/EPA-EFE/Shutterstoc

The $3,500 check could be key. While the brothers say that was their fee to carry out the fake attack, Smollett has offered a different and much more innocent explanation: that he wrote the check to pay one of them to work as his personal trainer.

“I would assume the defense is going to zero in on that,” said Joe Lopez, a prominent defense attorney not involved with the case. “If they texted messages regarding training sessions, checks he (Smollett) wrote them for training, photographs, the defense would use all of that.”

What they will almost certainly do is attack the brothers’ credibility — an effort that will certainly include a reminder to the jury that the brothers are not facing the same criminal charges as Smollett, despite admitting to taking part in the staged attack.

Jussie Smollett faces charges of felony disorderly conduct for lying to Chicago police that he was the victim of a hate crime.

TANNEN MAURY/EPA-EFE/Shutterstoc

“Everything Smollett is responsible for, they are responsible for,” said David Erickson, a former state appellate judge who teaches at Chicago Kent College of Law and who is not involved in the case. “They participated and they walk away? What the hell is that?”

Erickson said he expects prosecutors to confront that issue before Smollett’s attorneys do, as they won’t want to appear to be trying to hide something.

Finally, Smollett’s career could take center stage. On one side, prosecutors could make the same point that then-Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson made when he announced Smollett’s arrest in 2019: that Smollett thought the attack would gain him more fame and get him a raise on a hit TV show.

But Lopez said the defense attorneys might ask the jury the same question he has asked himself.

“How would that help him with anything?” he asked. “He’s already a star.”

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Julia Roberts' Husband Danny Moder Shares Rare Photo of Twins Hazel and Phinnaeus on Their 17th Birthday - E! Online

These birthday tributes are guaranteed to make you smile.

Julia Roberts and Danny Moder's twins just turned 17 years old! And although the Oscar winner and the cinematographer tend to keep their kids out of the spotlight, they did make a rare exception over the weekend for Hazel Moder and Phinnaeus Moder's birthday. "17 of the Sweetest years of life," Julia, who also shares 14-year-old son Henry Moder with Danny, wrote in a Nov. 28 Instagram post alongside a photo of the twins as newborns.

Julia's niece, actress Emma Roberts, commented on the adorable picture, which originally appeared on the cover of People, with three heart emojis.

Meanwhile, Hazel and Phinnaeus' dad also celebrated their birthdays on his social media page. "These rabble rousers," Danny captioned a photo of the duo eating breakfast. "17 today. thank you for helping me through fatherhood."

In the comments of the post, many of Danny and Julia's celeb pals couldn't help but gush over their twins. "17!!!!!" Ali Wentworth wrote. "Happy Birthday!" While director Alex Richanbach commented, "This is insane, man. Happy birthday to these two grown ups!"

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