Singer D4vd could be facing the death penalty after being charged Monday with first-degree murder by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office in connection with the killing of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, whose dismembered body was discovered inside an abandoned Tesla in the Hollywood Hills last year.
L.A. District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced at a press conference Monday that the 21-year-old singer, whose real name is David Burke, faces a first-degree murder charge with special circumstances, including lying in wait; committing the crime for financial gain; and murdering a witness. He was also charged with a second count involving lewd acts with a child, as well as dismemberment of the 15-year-old girl’s body.
“These charges include the most serious charges that a D.A.’s office can bring,” Hochman said.
In September, a severely decomposed body was discovered at a Los Angeles impound lot inside a vehicle registered to Burke in Hempstead, Texas. Police said the remains were placed inside a bag in the Tesla’s front trunk.
The dismembered body was later identified as the missing Inland Empire teen. A decomposed head and torso were found in a cadaver bag inside the Tesla, according to court documents; additional dismembered body parts were discovered in a second bag inside the vehicle.
Rivas had been missing since April 24, 2024 — nearly 18 months before her remains were discovered at Hollywood Tow on Sept. 8. She was identified after the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner noted a tattoo on her right index finger reading “Shhh…,” prompting her mother to contact the office.
Burke was named a suspect by Los Angeles homicide detectives in November. He was arrested in Hollywood on Thursday on a probable cause warrant and is being held without bail. It remains unclear whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty.
“The determination on whether or not the district attorney’s office will seek the death penalty will be made at a later time,” Hochman said.
The Hollywood Reporter was unable to reach Burke’s attorneys at Berk Brettler LLP on Monday. Last week, following his arrest, the singer’s attorneys said they “will vigorously defend David’s innocence,” in a statement.
Burke was in the midst of a string of dates on the d4vd Withered 2025 World Tour when Hernandez’s body was identified in a car registered in his name. A Seattle concert scheduled that day was canceled, and the remaining tour dates were soon scrapped.
As d4vd, Burke broke out on TikTok and SoundCloud in 2022, leading to a rapid rise that included opening for SZA and performing at Coachella ahead of his debut album. He amassed more than 30 million monthly listeners on Spotify and signed with Darkroom/Interscope.
His debut album, Withered, released in April 2025, notably featured vocals largely recorded on an iPhone in his sister’s closet, as he told The Hollywood Reporter last year.
Out in Fiji, Benjamin “Coach” Wade was a popular pre-game winner pick among the press — a calmer, more introspective version of the Dragon Slayer who seemed poised for a deep run on Survivor 50. That calm didn’t last. In his exclusive exit interview with The Hollywood Reporter below, Coach explains where the game slipped away, how old instincts crept back in and why he believes he may never be meant to win Survivor.
***
Before the first Tribal Council of season 50, a lot of us in the press had you pegged as a potential winner. You were my winner pick. In pregame, you were really introspective and seemed like Coach 2.0, but we saw the Dragon Slayer come back pretty quickly. What changed from that pregame zen to that traditional Dragon Slayer game that we ended up seeing?
I’ll tell you. I had amassed an enormous army of real connections with people, real conversations. You can’t name a single person out there that didn’t want to play with me. Kamilla, Charlie, Mike — who very easily could have been Final Four. I set that spot to be the nucleus of every single beach that I was on. And even when we merged, Emily came up to me and we had a really good conversation. I had one commodity coming into that game, and that’s my word. When I say I’m going to do something, I do it. People misconstrue my honor and integrity. It’s not about getting through the game without lying because that’s impossible. I tried to do it in Tocantins and failed. It’s more about I’m going to vote the way I say I’m going to vote.
You can’t find a single time where I went into a vote saying, “This is what I’m going to do.” And then I did something different. That’s my commodity. When Ozzy tried to erode that commodity, I stood up for myself. But I was at the nucleus of everything and had this huge army that was systematically being picked off, unbeknownst to anybody knowing that it was the group that I was assembling. So that kind of unraveled me a little bit. What really happened was when we went to the “Blood Moon,” I made a huge mistake in forgetting that Colby didn’t have a vote. Colby and Joe asked me to throw a challenge before the merge, that last one. They said, “We got to get Colby’s vote back and we got to get out Aubrey or maybe Tiffany.” I said, “That goes against what I think as a competitor, so I can’t do that.” In hindsight, maybe we should have, but I forgot that Colby didn’t have a vote.
So we’re up there on the pegs (of last week’s challenge) and I couldn’t go longer. Dee turns around and looks at me and says, “Coach, I got you. ” I said, “Dee, are you sure?” She was like, “Yeah, I got you, Coach.” So I stepped off. Then in the moment where Colby says, “Coach, we’re screwed.” I said, “No, we’re not, man. We still got the votes. It’s you, me and Cirie.” He was like, “Coach, I don’t have a vote.” I say the F-bomb. You can see it on TV. They bleep it out. That’s the moment I realized I made a huge mistake, so it really derailed me because I then went and played very messy with Dee and scrambled and didn’t want Colby to go home.
Then I was like, “Frick, Colby just went home. So all right, let me be calm and cool. Let me reconnect with the people.” Then we get into the Dee vote and it’s a very simple one. I said, “All right, let’s go. Let’s vote Dee.” It was just a group of us. It was not me running the show. Then we said, “Well, who’s going to go second?” I think it was me, Jonathan and Joe having a conversation. The three of us agreed we needed to have Tiffany out because she’s Dee’s best friend. So we came up with that decision and then it was like, “who’s going to vote for who? How are we going to split the votes?”
You’re talking about all returning players. You’re going to go into a vote and not split it? If you have the numbers, that’s Survivor 101. And they refused to do it. I couldn’t believe it. So I started getting agitated because again, it was based on fear. I had already made some mistakes. I saw people leaving that were in my greater alliance and I thought, I cannot go home tonight. We could have been sitting here last week and you would’ve been saying, “Well, why didn’t you fight harder to convince people to split the votes?” I would’ve said, “Nobody wanted to split the votes, so I just put my tail between my legs.” That’s not me.
The other thing is that I am a performer. There’s this time, 10-12 days in, where I start thinking, “I have to make sure that I take this to the next level and that what I say does not end up on the cutting room floor.” So I think that there’s a little bit of that.
I’m a big believer in destiny. I’m not a religious man, but I’m deeply spiritual. I don’t think that I’m meant to win Survivor because I think that it would go so to my head. My ego would be getting so big — bigger than it already is — that it would be to the detriment of who I am as a character and the impact that I have on people. It doesn’t surprise me that you guys said that [I was a potential winner], but I’m very comfortable with what happened. I did not compromise myself. I think the farther I went in the game, maybe I would’ve had to betray people and change my votes up and compromise that part of my game.
Chrissy Hofbeck and Benjamin “Coach” Wade on Survivor 50.
After the challenge, you were told to lay low by Chrissy. How much did you actually buy into her advice and in hindsight — was she right?
I think there’s a middle ground. It started with Rizo the episode before. It does show that I have grown. I better have grown as a man — but in Tocantins I would’ve been like, “You’re not telling me what to do.” But I took the advice. I thought it was sound advice for the time. I know that I’ve been aggressive. I know that in order to get the vote split, I had to really throw my weight around. And then it was like, “okay, now let me be calm and let me sit here and let me let the chips fall.” I didn’t spend the whole day in the hammock, but I felt like it was sound advice and it coming from a good place, so I took it.
You were aligned with Ozzy. Did you have a sense that he hadn’t fully let that early Fight for Supplies issue go?
Hats off to him for playing the most strategic game he’s ever played. So congratulations, not coming in the same way that he’s always come in. Cirie, Stephenie, Joe, Jonathan — you could go over most people. They’re coming in the same way they came in last time. Ozzy has evolved strategically and good for him. But I knew that at the end of the day, he and I were not going to be sitting at the finals together. And it was really a matter of who was going to get to the other one first because I imagined him coming down to six, and then cutting him at six.
If you’re curious about my boot order, I was thinking it was going to be Stephenie, Cirie, after Ozzy, whittling it down like that. And then me, Jonathan and Chrissy at the final three. But it was inevitable. Ozzy and I have never had the luxury of starting on the same beach together. So we’re never going to have that day one alliance and that day one trust.
When Cirie came back from Exile, it looked like she shifted the vote onto you and Chrissy. Was that the turning point or were you already in trouble?
I think that was still part of the plan going into tribal, maybe not 100 percent but maybe 50/50 or 60/40 against me. Then Deven’s idol definitely tipped it 10 percent one way. But I did not think I was in trouble. I think Cirie came back and it was interesting because she and I had a talk on the hammock and she said, “Coach, I don’t know what it means for you to be an alliance, but I’ll tell you that for me to be in an alliance, it means that I will fight for you. I fought for you with the Colby vote and I will fight for you until my last dying breath out here.” That level of emotional deception is what made her dangerous in the moment. Hats off to her.
I did send her a text message and she said, “Well, Coach, you got to know that Dee actually said to me that you were going for me for the Colby vote.” Then he said, “But Dee later came back and said that she was lying about that.” It’s like a resting snake. They’re not really dangerous and she really has done some things, but she hasn’t been the strategic mastermind in this game. And in fact, I was sitting there thinking, “Is Cirie overrated?” Then she does something like that and shifts the whole game and you think, “yeah, she is dangerous.”
Coach and Jonathan Young.
You got a pretty memorable sendoff with the Tai Chi, rock formation, the haikus. You even got a song. What was it like for you watching your final episode back, even though you went home?
They’ve really honored me over the years. I have nothing but gratitude for the producers. I’ve got nothing but joyful times and memories, even the bad times. The fact that they don’t have to show any of that stuff. It’s all icing on the cake. They didn’t have to show the nicknames. Now it’s gone viral. And I’m literally having thousands of requests. I’m running this limited nicknaming ceremony on my website and we’ve almost sold out. It’s crazy. And as I said to the producer that did that episode, “You didn’t have to show that. And so thank you for giving me honor all the time in this edit.” Sometimes it’s including eye roll. Sometimes Tiffany’s finally getting airtime by slagging me off and reaming me a new one.
A lot of people should be thanking me because attached to me, good or bad, they’re getting the airtime. I just feel humbled and blessed and honored they have continued to put me up as one of the memorable characters. Five years from now, 18 of these contestants from season 50 will not even be remembered. But they will think of 50. And whether they love me or hate me, they will remember me being attached to this season.
Coach, you’ve always approached Survivor with a sense of mythology and a personal narrative. What story do you think the season ultimately told about you?
That I can be wise, that I can be a big character, I can be eclectic. I think the biggest thing is that I can be joyful, because they really showed my happy side. I’m singing and dancing almost the whole time. I think that that’s the biggest takeaway; but that I can be stupid and that I can have holes in me because I’m older and I’m vulnerable. They can show all of the above. It’s why in the words of the great man himself, “There’s never been a Coach, there will never be another Coach.”
The joyful part really shows where I’m at in life. I have this amazing family. I’ve got a great job, a great career. My kids’ artwork is hanging up behind me. The meaning of life is not what it was 15 years ago. It’s shifted and is different. It’s to have a relationship with the creator of the universe. It’s to have a relationship with the creator of the universe. That’s first and foremost. There’s a spot inside of our soul that will not be filled up with anything other than that, whatever that looks like to you. Number two is to find your soulmate and crush life’s obstacles together and leave a generational legacy through your children. And number three is to keep the magic inside of us that we’ve been born with.
It’s joy, kindness and love. The world wants to beat it out of us, especially when we’re men. And it beat it out of me for a while, but I see it in my kids every day and I protect it in my kids every day. If we give that to everybody that we meet – joy, kindness, and love – the world’s going to change. And in my corner of the world, I do that every day and it has been changed. Whether I’m at the high school or I’m radiating light through these kids that are coming through my program and they in turn are radiating light to the student body, or where I’m conducting the symphony, where I’m coaching soccer. It’s there. It’s a ripple effect and we can all do it. We just have to let go of our ego and our pride.
To close us out, do you have a haiku, quote or a song that sums up your Survivor 50 experience?
I’ll give you a haiku and then I’ll give you a quote. So Walter Savage Landor once said that, “It’s easy to look down on others, but to look down on yourself is the true difficult task.” And I think that’s apropos. It’s easy for people to talk smack online. But when you look at yourself and your introspective and say, “This is not who I want to be, ” then that’s the difficult task and something that I think I’ve done over the survivor journey. A haiku, “Bitter at this time. My heart is downtrodden now. Resilience will come.”
Coach, always a pleasure to talk to you. I look forward to seeing you at the finale in L.A. next month.
You too, brother. I appreciate you.
***
Survivor airs new episodes on Wednesdays at 8pm on CBS and Paramount+.
J.M. Harper’s documentary “Soul Patrol” garnered the top nonfiction honor at the 28th annual Sarasota Film Festival. About the first all-Black special forces unit in the Vietnam War, the doc premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
“We are so honored to receive this award,” said “Soul Patrol” producer Sam Bisbee, who was recently nominated for an Academy Award for “The Perfect Neighbor.” “I’ve always had the best experiences at Sarasota, starting with our film ‘Robot & Frank’ in 2012. The film community there is just so wonderful.”
Despite critical acclaim and winning the Sundance U.S. documentary directing prize, “Soul Patrol” is still seeking distribution. Submarine’s Josh Braun, the film’s sales agent, told Variety that the doc is “on the path” to finding a home.
“Festivals like Sarasota, the Berkshires, the Hamptons, and Woodstock are an important part of the infrastructure,” Braun said. “Particularly for films that haven’t found their deal yet.”
Last month, Braun sold the Sundance 2026 title “Cookie Queens” to Roadside Attractions. The film about the $800 million worth of cookies that Girl Scouts across America sell annually took home the SIFF special jury doc prize.
Rory Kennedy returned to SIFF for the fourth time with her doc “The Trial of Alec Baldwin.” The film is a revealing portrait of Baldwin after the tragic on-set accident on the movie “Rust,” which resulted in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
“We are longtime admirers of the Sarasota Film Festival and its deeply engaged audiences,” Kennedy said. “’The Trial of Alec Baldwin’ is particularly suited to the big screen — where its tension, complexity, and sense of disbelief unfold most powerfully as a shared, collective experience.”
Kennedy said that she has partnered with “a terrific distributor” to release the doc in theaters this fall.
On April 19, after a screening of “In the Hand of Dante,” director Julian Schnabel received the SIFF Achievement in Directing Award. Kenny Anderson received the Achievement in Sport Award.
Libby Ewing garnered SIFF’s narrative feature jury prize for “Charliebird.” The film previously won the Tribeca Festival 2025 Founders Award for Best U.S. narrative feature.
Audience awards went to Ari Selinger’s “On The End” for best narrative film and John H. Cunningham’s “Occupational Hazard: The First Coral Reefers” for documentary.
SIFF awarded “In Plain Sight” the best U.S. narrative short. Best documentary short went to “40 Days In Saratoga” and best animated short was awarded to “My Neighbor.”
“I’m honored to help close out the 28th year of the Sarasota Film Festival by celebrating the exceptional films showcased this year,” said Mark Famiglio, SIFF President and Chairman of the Board. “At its core, the festival exists for the community – to champion diverse voices and the power of storytelling.”
Consisting of 47 features and 39 short films, the festival kicked off on April 10 with a screening of “Deep Water” and concluded on April 19.
When explaining why they chose British-Nigerian filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr. as the international guest of honor at this year’s Projeto Paradiso National Talent Network gathering in Recife, the initiative’s executive director Josephine Bourgois said it was because Davies Jr’s “My Father’s Shadows” is a film that “could have been made by a Brazilian filmmaker.” This feeling was confirmed over the director’s visit to the Northeastern capital, where he showed his BAFTA-winning film at the imposing Cinema São Luiz.
“I had never seen my skin tone shot like [it],” said director Stefano Volp following the busy Saturday night screening. “‘My Father’s Shadow’ brings such a poetic and honest experience about masculinity, and particularly Black masculinity, to Brazil,” echoed filmmaker Fernanda Lomba. “Akinola bravely and generously weaves a fabulous patchwork of memory, private life, and Nigeria’s history. We have a lot to learn from this filmmaker’s gentle radicality [in Brazil].”
In a conversation with lauded Brazilian screenwriter Jaqueline Souza earlier in the week, the Davies Jr. mentioned how he realized in the last few years that there is a “big bridge between Brazil and Nigeria that maybe a lot of Nigerians are not cognizant of.” “We share a lot within our spirituality, the way we see the world, food, and politically as well.”
‘My Father’s Shadow’
Credit: Cannes Film Festival
Speaking with Variety at the event, the director recalls first visiting Brazil a few years ago and going to Rio de Janeiro to see landmarks such as Christ the Redeemer and Copacabana Beach. “But everybody I met kept telling me I needed to go to Salvador. When I finally visited, it was almost like a psychedelic experience. It was one of the most striking feelings I have ever felt. It was like a fever dream; everything felt so vivid. I was there for maybe four or five days. When people describe ‘My Father’s Shadow’ as a fever dream, this is how I felt about Salvador.”
With “My Father’s Shadow” being released in Brazil at the end of the month, Davies Jr prepared a special treat for the city he felt so connected with: a screening with live score performed by the film’s musicians, Duval Timothy and CJ Mirra. Since the drama is being distributed by Filmes da Mostra, the distribution arm of the Mostra de São Paulo, Davies Jr is also taking the event to the city where he held the Brazilian premiere back in October.
“I remember telling my Brazilian distributors once we struck a deal to show the film in Brazil that it would be incredible to have a proper premiere in Salvador,” adds the director. “I wanted to do something with the film in the city. I wanted to give the audience in Salvador something that felt truly special.” As for the São Paulo screening, the filmmaker called it a “gesture of our appreciation for having the film housed within such a fantastic, prestigious festival.”
The director’s time in Brazil is being captured by a duo of documentarians working on a special short film about how “My Father’s Shadow” resonates in Brazil. Director Lucas Crystal and cinematographer Henrique Alves first approached the British-Nigerian filmmaker at the Mostra de São Paulo, and have been closely following him on his latest visit.
“We thought about making a documentary when we realized that Akinola’s journey through Brazil would mimic that of Brazilians themselves, starting in the Northeast and going all the way down towards the south,” says Crystal. “We felt there was a poetry in this geographical mirroring, and we wanted to tell audiences about this bridge between Brazil and Nigeria, one we didn’t even know existed before meeting Akinola at the Mostra.”
The filmmaking duo says their film will be even more relevant given that Brazil will hold presidential elections at the end of the year. “Akinola’s film is very political and can talk to audiences at this key moment in our political history. We are about to make a choice that will define life for generations of Brazilians,” emphasizes Crystal, with Alves adding that films like “The Secret Agent” and “I’m Still Here” have opened a national appetite for political stories, but there’s still a lack of Black-focused and Black-led political narratives. “As a Black filmmaker, Akinola’s work spoke directly to me in a way Brazilian films haven’t in a while.”
LONDON, ENGLAND: Akinola Davies Jr. accepts the Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer Award for ‘My Father’s Shadow’ on stage during the EE BAFTA Film Awards 2026 at The Royal Festival Hall on February 22, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart Wilson/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA)
Getty Images for BAFTA
With such a special connection to the Latin American country, would Davies Jr. ever embark on a Brazilian co-production? “Absolutely, I’d love to,” he says immediately. “It would be incredible to figure out the right relationship. I’ve met incredible Brazilian producers and filmmakers and everybody has been really generous and clever. I am sure when the time is right and the perfect opportunity arises, one hundred per cent, I’d love to work with Brazil. There is a bridge to be built. There is a big Brazilian community in Lagos, so hopefully we can find the right story for co-production. I am completely open to it.”
And the feeling is mutual when it comes to the Brazilian counterparts. Lomba, a filmmaker who works directly with strengthening the presence of Black creatives in Brazilian cinema through Nicho 54, says Davies Jr.’s visit to Brazil is “part of a certain Black zeitgeist, a moment where creative and business connections are heating up between Brazilian and African filmmakers thanks to a shared cultural imaginary. I believe we are witnessing the beginning of a long-awaited collaboration.”
To Davies Jr., being able to connect with the diaspora is even “more important” than he realized while making his film. “The response to the film has been overwhelming. When you make an authentic piece of work, people in the diaspora can resonate with the film regardless of where they are. I think we need to see more of each other’s films. I think there needs to be a lot more collaboration and a lot more sharing of resources, concepts and ideas between filmmakers.”
“I think for so much of the world, especially the Anglophone world, we look towards the U.K. and the U.S. and suddenly that seems to dominate the conversation, but there is a huge underserved Francophone community, there’s a Caribbean community, a Latin American community… We just need to figure out more ways of connecting.”
The film, directed by Adam Meeks, casts Poulter and Centineo as two fictional characters (brothers grappling with opioid addiction) amid the real-life participants of a court-sponsored drug rehabilitation program in rural Ohio. Meeks’ extended family lives in this part of the state, and the story developed from those close ties; his uncle introduced him to the drug court judge, who invited him to sit in on a meeting.
“Working with Oscilloscope on ‘Union County’ is an affirmation of the film we made, which aspires to be in conversation with so many of the great independent films they’ve distributed over the years,” Meeks said in a statement. “We’re so proud to partner with them to bring this film about community and human connection to cinemas and audiences across the country.”
“Union County” earned rave reviews and an extended standing ovation following its Sundance Film Festival premiere in January. The Park City audience cheered loudest for Annette Deao, who has worked as a therapist helping people navigate addiction recovery via this program for more than 20 years. Deao appeared in Meeks’ 2020 short film and plays herself in the feature. In fact, nearly everyone in the film is a nonprofessional actor, bearing their own truths on camera.
Oscilloscope Laboratories will release “Union County” theatrically in the summer or the fall of 2026.
Oscilloscope’s SVP of Acquisitions Aaron Katz said, “It’s rare to see recovery portrayed with this level of honesty. Adam delivers a grounded, deeply emotional, and unsensationalized look at a community confronting a crisis that feels all too familiar today, while still leaving room for hope. Anchored by a phenomenal, seamlessly integrated performance from Will Poulter, the film is both moving and uplifting, and we’re excited to bring it to audiences.”
In his review, Variety’s Peter Debruge praised Meeks for his execution of the hybrid narrative and how it tackles the opioid crisis.
“The make-or-break ingredient turns out to be British actor Will Poulter, whose immersive commitment dovetails beautifully with Meeks’ unvarnished sensibility,” Debruge wrote. “Meeks’ raw, honest movie fits neatly within a tradition of red-state escapees who remain committed to depicting the communities they know best with empathy and compassion.”
Poulter and Centineo, who played brothers-in-arms in last year’s A24 drama “Warfare,” also contributed behind the scenes: Poulter is billed as a producer on the film with Centineo as an executive producer.
Other producers on the film include Brad Becker-Parton, Martha Gregory, Stephanie Roush, Faye Tsakas, Sean Weiner, Tim Headington, Theresa Steele Page, Ellyn Daniels and Will O’Connor. Executive producers are Anita Gou, Caroline Clark, Luca Intili, Lauren Shelton, David Darby, Christine D’Souza, Julia Nelson and Greg Nobile. “Union County’ is a Ley Line Entertainment and Burn These Words production, presented by Seaview and Arkhum Production in association with Kindred Spirit and Wait A While Films.
The deal for the film was negotiated by Oscilloscope’s Katz, with WME, D’Souza and Nelson representing the filmmakers.
Christina Applegate says she’s “getting stronger and better every day” after her recent hospitalization.
“Thank you for the outpouring of love and well wishes,” she wrote in Instagram caption on Monday. “Health issues are a constant for me, but I’m a strong chick and I’m getting stronger and better every day. I’m taking a moment to focus on my health, but I’ll be back with more to say soon enough.
Christina Applegate has offered an update on her health on the heels of reports she was hospitalized in Los Angeles amid an ongoing battle with multiple sclerosis.
“Thank you for the outpouring of love and well wishes,” the actress shared on Instagram Monday. “Health issues are a constant for me, but I’m a strong chick and I’m getting stronger and better every day. I’m taking a moment to focus on my health, but I’ll be back with more to say soon enough.”
She shared the post with a picture of a coffee mug and the words “Kissy Kissy” written on it, placed on top of her new memoir You With the Sad Eyes, which was published last month.
The update comes after TMZ reported last Thursday, April 16, that the veteran star had been hospitalized since late March. The actress had not commented on the report and her only Instagram post in April was an update on her memoir becoming a New York Times audio bestseller. After the report got picked up widely, Applegate’s rep issued a statement declining comment on whether or not “she is in the hospital or what her medical treatments are.”
The rep added, “She’s had a long history of complicated medical conditions that she has been refreshingly open about, as evidenced in her memoir and on her podcast.”
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are charming sisters and witches passing their magical skills to their kids in the trailer for Practical Magic 2, which dropped on Monday and is directed by Susanne Bier (The Perfect Couple, Bird Box).
Bullock and Kidman reprise their roles from the 1998 original, which follows orphaned sisters Sally and Gillian Owens as they are raised by their witch aunts Aunt Jet (Dianne Wiest) and Aunt Franny (Stockard Channing). After avoiding witchcraft most of their lives, the pair work to learn how to use their powers to ward off a curse that threatens women in the family over the generations from finding love, and leaves men they fall in love with dead.
“Everyone we love dies,” Bullock says at one point in the teaser. Kidman then adds: “A really horrible death. I mean, it’s just — it’s not great for the Tinder bio.” Wiest and Stockard also return to a reassembled Coven for the long-awaited sequel, along with new cast members Joey King, Lee Pace, Maisie Williams, Xolo Maridueña and Solly McLeod.
“Practical Magic 2 returns to a world steeped in moonlit mischief and powerful ancestral magic, as the Owens sisters must confront the dark curse that threatens to unravel their family once and for all in a must-see cinematic event of fun, magic and mayhem,” a synopsis from the producers states.
Based on the novel entitled The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman, Bier directed a script penned by Akiva Goldsman and Georgia Pritchett. Denise DiNovi, Bullock and Kidman share the producer credits, while Andrew Kosove, Broderick Johnson, Donald Sabourin and Hoffman are executive producers.
Warner Bros. plans a Sept. 11, 2026 theatrical release.
D4vd has been charged with murder following his arrest last Thursday for the murder of a teen girl whose decomposed body was found in the trunk of his Tesla.
At a press conference on Monday, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said that the singer, whose real name is David Burke, would face a first-degree murder charge which could potentially make him eligible for the death penalty. He will also face charges for lewd acts with a child and for dismembering the girl’s body.
The victim, Celeste Rivas Hernandez, went to Burke’s home in the Hollywood Hills on April 23, 2025, Hochman said. That was the last time she was seen alive, he said. Her body was found five months later. Hochman declined to say how Rivas was killed, but said the coroner’s report would be released shortly.
“There is physical evidence and there is forensic and digital evidence that we intend to present in court to prove these charges beyond a reasonable doubt,” Hochman said.
Hochman alleged that Burke was having a sexual relationship with Rivas, who was 14 when she died and 13 when she ran away from home.
Burke is accused of murder with multiple “special circumstances” that make the case eligible for either the death penalty or life without parole. Those include “lying in wait,” murder for financial gain, and murdering a witness to a crime — as Rivas is considered a witness to the lewd acts charge.
At the press conference, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell defended the decision not to release details of the investigation sooner.
“My duty is not to fuel speculation,” he said. “It’s to deliver justice, and that requires patience and discipline on everybody’s part. This investigation was driven by a single purpose — to secure justice for Celeste Rivas and for those who loved her.”
The case began back in September 2025, when LAPD officers were called to the Hollywood tow yard to investigate a foul odor emanating from the car, which had been in the yard for days. The police found the decomposed body placed inside of a bag in the front trunk of the Tesla, which was registered in Hempstead, Texas to D4vd. The car was impounded the previous week after being abandoned in the Hollywood Hills, where neighbors complained of a rotting smell.
Early reports indicated that D4vd was cooperating with the investigation. A week after he was linked to the body’s discovery, he canceled the remaining dates of his U.S. tour.
The body was soon identified as Rivas, who was reported as missing in 2024 when she was 13. In November, the LAPD confirmed that they were investigating a trip that D4vd had taken to the Santa Barbara area sometime during the spring of 2025 following Hernandez’s disappearance, and the medical examiner’s office said the LAPD had blocked the office from releasing details about the death.
Finally, an answer to one of life’s great questions: can $45 million fit in the waistband of a man’s G-string?
That would be a yes, as Channing Tatum’s experiential business Free Association Live has pulled off a significant capital raise to fund the global expansion of “Magic Mike Live” – a theatrical revue of skilled and sexy male dancers adapted from Tatum’s film franchise “Magic Mike.”
FA Live, co-founded by Tatum, Peter Kiernan, Reid Carolin, and Vincent Marini, has raised $45 million in debt and equity financing to mount more “Magic Mike” shows around the world. The experience has already staged sold-out runs in London and Las Vegas, with New York and Australia up next. A multi-year tour across Asia and Europe is also in the works.
The fundraise includes a strategic investment from Jeff Bewkes and Kevin Tsujihara’s Alignment Growth, a media and entertainment investor, and debt financing from East West Bank.
“Our incredibly successful and beloved London and Las Vegas experiences have made it clear that ‘Magic Mike Live’ has tapped into something powerful,” said Kiernan, CEO of FA Live. “This investment comes at a pivotal moment for the company — it enables us not only to expand the IP globally, but also to think more ambitiously about how we leverage our track record and infrastructure in live entertainment to develop new IP, new formats, and bold new ways of engaging audiences worldwide.”
Since its debut in 2017, the live show has entertained over 2 million guests from 70+ countries with over 6,000 performances across engagements in Miami, Dallas and Berlin. Earlier this year, Tatum appeared on “Today’ to announce the NYC residency, which counts strong pre-sales for its October debut. Tatum has also personally invested in this latest raise for FA Live, which operates independently from his film and TV production company. FA Live also counts COO Kosha Shah Eisenberg and chief brand officer Cody Carolin.
“Experiential entertainment continues to be one of our highest-conviction investment themes, fueled by a sustained shift toward immersive, memorable experiences over material goods,” said Tsujihara, managing partner at Alignment Growth. “FA Live has built one of the most successful live entertainment franchises of the past decade.”
East West Bank managing director Todd Steiner said the institution was “excited to partner with FA Live as they expand. As the largest independent bank headquartered in Southern California, East West Bank brings decades of experience in developing financing strategies tailored to the unique creative and operational complexities of the entertainment industry.
Next in development is a collaboration with Lionsgate on a live show inspired by the “Step Up” film franchise, set to debut in 2027.
The Raine Group, Eisner Law, and VirtuGlobal served as advisors to FA Live, which is repped by CAA. Granderson De Rochers served as advisor for Alignment Growth and Loeb & Loeb served as advisor to East West Bank.
