Names and faces
Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity is vowing to continue his criticism of ABC latenight comic Jimmy
Kimmel until Kimmel apologizes for a segment in which he joked about the accent of first lady
Melania Trump, who was born in Slovenia.
With late-night comedy almost uniformly opposed to President Donald Trump and with political talk shows dominated by conservatives, Kimmel and Hannity were playing to their audiences. Hannity called Kimmel a “sick, twisted, creepy, perverted weirdo” during his Fox show Friday. Hannity ran several clips of Kimmel routines that he said exposed the comic’s “creepy” past. Kimmel returned fire on Twitter, often in off-color fashion. He said it’s sad that anyone who is “slobbering over” Donald Trump would call him a pervert. When Trump was the Republican presidential nominee, he was heard on tape bragging about fame enabling him to grope women, and he later apologized for his comments.
A man selected as a juror in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault retrial thinks the comedian is guilty and wants the case to be completed, according to a prospective juror who said the man offered his opinion as they chatted during jury selection. Cosby’s lawyers seized on the alleged comment and asked Friday that the juror be removed immediately from the retrial, which begins Monday in suburban Philadelphia with opening statements. They attached to their filing an affidavit from the prospective juror who talked to the man. He is said to have stated: “I just think he’s guilty, so we can all be done and get out of here.” If the juror isn’t removed, the defense lawyers said, then Judge Steven O’Neill should question him to determine whether he can be fair and impartial, or if he lied during the questioning that led to his selection. They also want the other jurors questioned to see whether they were influenced by the man’s alleged comment. Prosecutors had no comment on the jurors’ alleged conversation. Court officials didn’t immediately respond to messages about it. The prospective juror said she didn’t know whether the man was joking or serious. She said in her affidavit that some people being considered for the jury were sitting close enough to overhear the conversation and that they may have heard the comments about Cosby. Cosby is accused of drugging and sexually molesting Andrea Constand, a Temple University women’s basketball administrator, at his home in 2004.