Art and Culture

It's Wednesday and it's celebrity news time with our Michelle Kim. I hear that today, she has news on the AMAs for us.

Hello Michelle

[Reporter : ] Hello Conn-young

So how was the awards show[Reporter : ] Well, with Justin Bieber, MC Hammer, PSY, and Nicki Minaj, the event was a star-studded affair. My favorite part of the night was of course the performance by PSY and MC Hammer, which I'm sure many of our viewers have seen. Up next, I have a recap of the big winners of the night.

Justin Bieber was the big winner at the American Music Awards, held Sunday in Los Angeles.
The Canadian pop star swept the awards show, winning all three categories in which he was nominated, including the night's biggest award, artist of the year, over Rihanna, Katy Perry, Maroon 5 and Drake.
In his acceptance speech, the teen sensation had a message for all those who doubted he would ever come this far.

[Interview : Justin Bieber, Singer] "This is for all the haters who thought that maybe I was just here for one or two years, but I feel like I am going to be here for a very long time".

R&B singer Rihanna and rapper Nicki Minaj also won awards at this year's festival.
Minaj won favorite rap/hip hop artist and rap/hip hop album of the year for "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded".
Rihanna came away with one win for favorite soul/R&B album, but was not present at the awards show because she is in the middle of a seven-day tour to promote her upcoming "Unapologetic" album.

Another Canadian singer, Carly Rae Jepsen, picked up the coveted new artist-of-the-year award over British boy band One Direction, Australian artist Gotye, indie-pop band Fun, and rapper J.Cole.
British-Irish boy bands One Direction, nominated for three awards, and The Wanted, nominated for one, went home empty-handed at the end of the night, losing in the favorite pop/rock group category to Los Angeles band Maroon 5.

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[Reporter : ed; jenny] Did you see PSY's performance I did. I think he made the night even better.

[Reporter : ] I may be biased but I think that was one of my favorite performances from the AMAs and one of PSY's best performances ever. The mash-up of MC Hammer's song "Too Legit to Quit" and PSY's "Gangnam Style" was absolutely mind blowing. Who knew the two songs from two different pop eras would go so well together So that was why he was wearing those baggy pants instead of his usual retro suits! Well props to PSY for his continued success! And now moving on, what else do you have for us[Reporter : ] Up next I have more celebrity news for you, with a "Lord of the Rings" controversy, more trouble on "Sesame Street" and the latest film by Jackie Chan. Take a look.

Just a week before the New Zealand premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", the estate of "Lord of the Rings" author J.R.R. Tolkien and publisher HarperCollins have filed an 80-million-dollar lawsuit against Warner Bros. Studios over the licensing of the characters and plots in online and gambling games derived from the film franchise.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday, alleges that Warner Bros and its subsidiary New Line Cinema, which owns the merchandising rights to the "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" brands, infringed on copyrights by licensing to casino slot machines, online gambling, games and downloads.

Kevin Clash, the voice behind the "Sesame Street" puppet Elmo, has stepped down from the American children's television show following new allegations that he had sex with a minor.
The man, Cecil Singleton, filed a lawsuit against Clash on Tuesday claiming he met the then-32-year-old Clash in a chat room when he was just 15 and the two were involved in a sexual relationship as well.
Just a week ago, another man recanted claims that he'd had a sexual relationship with Clash when he was 16.

Jackie Chan is getting ready for the premiere of his new film "Chinese Zodiac", which opens on December 12th at the Hong Kong International Film Festival and will be released in Korea early next year.
Chan directed, produced, wrote and stars in the film, which is the sequel to the 1991 film "Armour of God II: Operation Condor".
The upcoming film follows treasure hunter Asian Hawk as he searches for 12 bronze statues of the animals of the Chinese zodiac.
The film will be Chan's last major action feature, though he's not retiring from film altogether.
He'll just be doing fewer death-defying stunts and relying more on advanced technology for his action scenes from now on.

I remember being surprised about Jackie Chan's retirement when I heard about it in MayI'm just glad it wasn't true.

[Reporter : ] So was I. And now, we get to see his fun-filled action routines once again in his upcoming film. Unfortunately this will be the last film where he does all of his own stunts, but hopefully he'll get a good stunt man and some high-tech graphics so his skills won't be missed as much.

I really hope so because it seems like only he could do such great stunts with the same comedic flair.

[Reporter : ] Me, too. I guess we have to catch this film while we can and I'll be sure to let you know when we have an exact release date for Korea.

Sounds great. And now, what's happening with the Elmo puppeteer[Reporter : ] Well, last week, we heard that the voice actor who plays Elmo, Kevin Clash, was accused of having been in a sexual relationship with a minor.
Then we heard that his accuser, a 23-year-old man named Sheldon Stevens, recanted his statement the next day.
Well, it turns out that Clash may have paid Stevens to get him to recant the claim.
The gossip site TMZ says it uncovered an agreement between the two in which Clash paid Stevens 125,000 U.S. dollars to say the relationship was "adult" and "consensual".

Well, I'm sure all of this comes as a huge disappointment to fans of Elmo and the show.
And whether Clash is guilty of the allegations or not, it's probably better that he resign to deal with the issue.
Well, thank you for covering a wide range of celebrity news for us and I look forward to more next week.

[Reporter : ] You're welcome, and I'll be back tomorrow with more arts and culture news.

See you tomorrow.

NOV 21, 2012

Reporter : dainee@arirang.co.kr