Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Names and faces
▪ “Full House” actor Lori Loughlin was released Monday from a federal prison in Dublin, Calif., after spending two months behind bars for paying half a million dollars in bribes to get her two daughters into college, the federal Bureau of Prisons said.
Her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, is serving his five-month sentence at a prison in Lompoc near Santa Barbara. Giannulli is scheduled to be released on April
17, the Bureau of Prisons says. Prosecutors said Giannulli deserved a tougher sentence because he was “the more active participant in the scheme.” Loughlin and Giannulli were among the highest-profile defendants charged in the scheme, which revealed the lengths to which some wealthy parents will go to get their children into elite universities. Authorities said parents funneled bribes through a fake charity run by an admissions consultant to get their kids into top schools with fake athletic credentials or rigged test scores. The famous couple admitted in May to paying $500,000 to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California as crew recruits even though neither girl was a rower. Their guilty plea was a stunning reversal for the couple, whose lawyers had insisted for a year were innocent and accused investigators of fabricating evidence against them. The only public comments Loughlin or Giannulli made about the case since their arrest last year came at their sentencing hearings in August. Loughlin, who gained fame for her role as the wholesome Aunt Becky in the sitcom “Full House,” told the judge her actions “helped exacerbate existing inequalities in society” and pledged to do everything in her power to use her experience as a “catalyst to do good.”
▪ TikTok’s crowdsourced “Ratatouille” musical has cooked up some serious talent for its one-night-only benefit concert, including roles for Adam Lambert, Tituss Burgess, Wayne Brady, André De Shields and Ashley Park. The musical — based on the 2007 Disney/Pixar film — has been percolating over the past several months on TikTok. It is the product of several minds — many musical theater fans and out-ofwork performers — who collaborated on original songs, lyrics and ideas to turn an animated, nonmusical film into a two-act Broadway-style show. The story for the film and musical centers on Remy, an ambitious rat who dreams of becoming a Parisian chef. Burgess will play Remy, Lambert plays his older brother, Emile, and Brady plays his father. “Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical” — fondly nicknamed the “Ratatousical” — will begin streaming on Friday for 72 hours. Tickets are on sale exclusively on TodayTix.com with proceeds to benefit The Actors Fund, which aids entertainment industry workers.