Names and faces

■ Actor-director Kevin Smith tweeted fans early Monday that he had suffered a “massive heart attack” after shooting a comedy special in the Los Angeles area. Smith credited a doctor with saving his life after the 47-year-old Clerks filmmaker suffered a total blockage of his left coronary artery, often referred to as “the widow maker.” “If I hadn’t canceled show 2 to go to the hospital, I would’ve died tonight,” Smith tweeted from the hospital. “But for now, I’m still above ground!” Smith, whose other films include Mallrats and Chasing Amy, is the writer and star of the AMC reality series Comic Book Men. He was reportedly shooting Kevin Smith Live!, his new standup special, in Glendale, Calif. Smith had posted on Facebook hours earlier about his show taping. Smith’s screenplay for his 1997 film Chasing Amy, starring Ben Affleck and Jason Lee as comic-book creators, received a Spirit Award. Smith himself has written comics for such characters as Daredevil, Green Hornet and Batman, and he famously financed his 1994 indie Sundance hit Clerks partly by selling his cherished comics collection.

■ Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump, says she believes her father’s denials of sexual misconduct, arguing that questions to her on the topic are “pretty inappropriate.” Ivanka Trump serves as a senior adviser in her father’s administration and just led the U.S. delegation at the closing ceremony for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Ivanka Trump has promoted herself as an advocate of women and families within the administration — a role that has come with unique challenges and calculations, given the allegations against her father and some of his public comments about women. Asked in an interview with NBC that aired Monday about the allegations of inappropriate behavior against the president, Ivanka Trump said: “I think it’s a pretty inappropriate question to ask a daughter if she believes the accusers of her father when he’s affirmatively stated there’s no truth to it.” “I believe my father, I know my father,” she said. “I think I have that right as a daughter, to believe my father.” The president has denied accusations of misconduct.

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