Larry Kramer has died aged 84.

The author and prominent LGBTQ+ rights activist died on Wednesday (27 May) morning in Manhattan, the New York Times has reported. His husband David Webster said pneumonia was the cause.

As well as receiving acclaim for his writing, including the autobiographical 1985 play The Normal Heart, Kramer spent much of his life campaigning for equality and awareness around the AIDS epidemic.

In 1982 he founded the Gay Men’s Health Crisis to assist people living with HIV, and in 1987 helped launch ACT UP, a group that used headline-grabbing tactics to bring attention to AIDS and demand faster research for treatment.

That was the scene on the reddit board r/OldSchool, when a user uploaded the photo with a nonplussed caption: “My dad with David Bowie in a vacation in Greece. 1988.”

With nearly every bone broken in his body, they thought he was lost. But Bugs Bunny wasn't going to let that happen.

We're not talking an episode of Looney Tunes. This isn't fiction. This is the life of iconic voice actor Mel Blanc as told in the upcoming season of the podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz, and EW has an exclusive clip of Blanc's son Noel Blanc recounting his father's nearly fatal experience.

Snopes.com cites chapter and verse of the interview published by Playboy Magazine in its May 1971 issue. In those days Playboy had a certain reputation not only for photography, but also long-form interviews that tried to get beneath the surface of the individual in question. Wayne gave them ample opportunity. One of the questions asked if Wayne felt any empathy toward Native Americans — termed Indians in those times — so often portrayed in his films as villains. Wayne's response:

"I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them, if that's what you're asking. Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves."

In a 1971 interview with Playboy magazine, Wayne admitted he didn't like African-American people (or "the blacks" as he constantly called them) being in charge of anything because white people are apparently the only people who know what they're doing. As he said in the interview, "I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don't believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people." He also railed against black people getting too many opportunities. He felt that "Hollywood studios are carrying their tokenism a little too far," and that minorities should only get roles meant for them. Like slaves — Wayne actually claimed to be inclusive because he "had a black slave in The Alamo." To that, you might say, "well, it's a start," but honestly, it's not.

23 years ago today, the iconic supernatural drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered on the WB network. It was a scrappy little show based on the 1992 horror comedy film that didn’t make much of an impression critically or commercially. Who could have possibly known that this goofy teen show would go on to be one of the most influential and beloved series of the 90s and early 2000s?

When television is disposable, it relies on a reset at the end of every episode, so if you missed episodes here or there, you could simply jump back into the series without having missed anything important. It’s the basis for most procedural shows and sitcoms to this day: after all, you can watch an episode from season one or season 18 of Law & Order and still be able to follow along.

Buffy changed all of this with the invention of a season-long story arc. While its earlier seasons relied on a monster-of-the-week format, there would be an over-arching story thread, a Big Bad that would recur and wreak havoc throughout the season. These Big Bads (the Master, Angelus, Mayor Wilkins, etc.) were given a full season to develop into three-dimensional villains, which helped to raise the dramatic stakes (no pun intended) of the series.

The major sports leagues don't have the best reputation when it comes to gay players in the locker room, or gay slurs on the playing field, or much of anything with gay rights these days, really. But Kobe Bryant, in a sudden reversal for himself and perhaps a growing trend for stars in the notoriously conservative NBA, may have single-handedly changed that. In the early hours of Monday morning, in the shadow of the Grammys on Twitter, as all-star week began to bring the spotlight back to his league, the outspoken Laker chastised two fans for using "you're gay" as an insult in at-replies to the newfound Twitter favorite.

Welcome to “Remote Controlled,” a podcast from Variety featuring the best and brightest in television, both in front of and behind the camera.

In this week’s episode, Variety’s executive editor of TV, Debra Birnbaum, talks with comedy legend Carol Burnett, who scored her 23rd Emmy nomination for “The Carol Burnett Show 50th Anniversary Special.”

Even with six Emmy Awards under her belt, Burnett is still immensely grateful at the recognition by the TV Academy, as well as audiences. “To have this happen now, it’s kind of unbelievable,” Burnett says. “I was happily surprised.”

The program, which is in contention for variety special, celebrated the 50th anniversary of “The Carol Burnett Show,” the variety series which ran from 1967 to 1978, and won 25 Emmys over the course of its run.

Screen and song legend Doris Day will celebrate her 97th birthday on April 3 with her favorite sweet treat: Edy’s slow-churned chocolate fudge ice creamthis link opens in a new tab.

“Doris will be spending a quiet birthday at home again this year surrounded by a few close friends,” her business manager Bob Bashara tells PEOPLE. “She always gets lots of phone calls wishing her happy birthday. And, in the evening, she’ll enjoy a special birthday dinner followed by cake and ice cream.”

Ahead of her birthday, her adopted hometown of Carmel-By-The-Sea, California, where she moved in the 70s, is hosting the Doris Day Animal Foundation this link opens in a new tab Annual Benefit on Thursday, March 28 at the Cypress Inn.

Desi Arnaz was a Cuban-born American actor, musician, and TV producer. He is best known for his role as Ricky Ricardo in the cult classic American TV sitcom I Love Lucy. Co-starring alongside his then-wife Lucille Ball, the pair are credited as the inventors of the syndicated rerun as they were more than just actors in the show – they were key in making it into such a success. The show ran from 1951-1957 and spanned six seasons with 180 half-hour episodes in total, which was previously unheard of for a TV show.

Arnaz became part of one of the USA’s most watched shows, but his life wasn’t always glitz and glam, even if it might have seemed that way in the beginning. Born into a prominent Cuban family in Santiago in 1917, Arnaz’s father, Desiderio Arnaz II, was mayor of Santiago, the original capital of Cuba. His mother, Dolores de Acha, was the daughter of one of the founders of the Bacardi Rum Company. If that wasn’t enough of a claim to fame, Arnaz’s grandfather, Don Desiderio, was a physician who accompanied Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders at the Battle of San Juan Hill in 1898.

The celebration of the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. takes place this year amidst political chaos. In particular, it is occurring in the middle a weeks-long government shutdown that has pitted President Donald Trump, the leader of a party that is 90 percent white, against the most diverse Congress in American history over an idea that has been derided as racist and xenophobic.

Praise for Dr. King’s legacy will emerge from this partisan rancor. Rather than invoke unity, however, such praise exposes a difficult truth: King's legacy has become as segregated as the country he tried to heal.

Barbra Streisand has partnered with GLAAD to encourage LGBTQ voters to hit the polls on Tuesday for the midterm elections.

There are few gigs in modern TV more fraught with the potential to out yourself as a massive asshole than hosting Saturday Night Live. Pretty much every factor—the rush, the pressure, the presence of the live camera—is almost guaranteed to bring out the worst in people, whether it’s deciding to bust out their “funny” Jamaican accent for some godforsaken reason, doing whatever the hell it was Justin Bieber did to piss Bill Hader off so much, or just being all-around bad human being Steven Seagal.

Several men accused of sexual misconduct during the past year might be clamoring for their comebacks after mere months—but as far as Jane Fonda is concerned, they can keep on waiting. At an event in New York promoting a new HBO documentary about her life, Jane Fonda in Five Acts, the actress emphasized that while she does have compassion for men, she rejects the idea of letting anyone accused of sexual misconduct return to power before they’ve atoned.