Entertainment News Roundup: Taylor Swift, Ke Huy Quan, Austin Butler join Hollywood's film academy; U.S. actor Kevin Spacey is a 'sexual bully', London court told and more

Following is a summary of current entertainment news briefs.

Hollywood faces possible second strike as actors' talks near deadline

Netflix Inc, Walt Disney Co and Hollywood's other major film and television studios were racing against a midnight deadline on Friday to reach a deal with the SAG-AFTRA actors union and avert a second labor strike this summer. A-list stars including Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep, in a letter to union leadership this week, said they were ready to walk off the job if negotiators cannot reach a "transformative deal" on higher base pay and safeguards around use of artificial intelligence (AI).

Hollywood stars stand by actors not 'swimming in money'

Laz Alonso recalled his days as an aspiring actor trying to break into the industry with the preconceived notion that all actors were rich. "It's very easy to think all the Hollywood stars or anybody in Hollywood is rich and swimming in money in a swimming pool. That's just not the case," Alonso said as he marched in solidarity with the striking Writer's Guild of America (WGA) during a picket outside the Amazon Studios lot.

Dolly Parton says turning to rock was 'one of the most fun things I've done'

Country music star Dolly Parton says her first rock album "Rockstar" is some of her best, as well as most fun, work she has ever done. Parton, 77, has teamed up with famous names like former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, veteran singers Elton John and Sting as well as her goddaughter Miley Cyrus, for the record released in November.

Taylor Swift, Ke Huy Quan, Austin Butler join Hollywood's film academy

Pop singer and songwriter Taylor Swift, "Elvis" star Austin Butler and best supporting actor winner Ke Huy Quan were among more than 300 people selected to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the group that awards the Oscars. Swift, 33, was invited to join the academy's music branch after writing songs for the soundtracks of the 2022 movie "Where the Crawdads Sing" and the 2019 film adaptation of the musical "Cats."

U.S. actor Kevin Spacey is a 'sexual bully', London court told

Kevin Spacey is an aggressive "sexual bully" who assaults men and gets turned on when his unwanted advances provoke anger, a British prosecutor said on Friday at the start of the Oscar-winning U.S. actor's trial on sex offence charges.

Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty to a dozen allegations of historic sex offences committed against four men, then aged in their 20s and 30s, which are said to have taken place between 2001 and 2013. His lawyer said the claims were "damned lies".

'Rust' armorer accused of handing off cocaine after shooting

The armorer for the movie "Rust" allegedly transferred cocaine to an unnamed person to dispose of evidence on the day the film's cinematographer was shot dead in 2021, special prosecutors said as they sought protection for a witness. The armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, passed a small bag of cocaine to the witness on the evening of Oct. 21, 2021, after a police interview "to prevent law enforcement from obtaining highly inculpatory evidence directly related to the defendant's handling of the firearm," prosecutors said in a court filing on Thursday.

Robot takes podium as orchestra conductor in Seoul

An android robot, EveR 6, took the conductor's podium in Seoul on Friday evening to lead a performance by South Korea's national orchestra, marking the first such attempt in the country. The two-armed robot, designed by the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, made its debut at the National Theater of Korea, leading musicians in the country's national orchestra.

Madonna postpones tour after hospitalization for infection

Pop superstar Madonna has postponed the start of her upcoming tour after being hospitalized in intensive care for a serious bacterial infection, her manager said on Wednesday. The "Vogue" singer is expected to make a full recovery, manager Guy Oseary said in a statement on Instagram.

Versatile Oscar-winning American actor Alan Arkin dies at 89

Alan Arkin, a versatile and prolific American actor who thrived in both comic and dramatic roles and won an Oscar for playing a heroin-using grandfather in the 2006 film "Little Miss Sunshine," has died at 89, his family said. "Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man. A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed," Arkin's sons Adam, Matthew and Anthony wrote in a joint statement.

Rapper Travis Scott avoids charges over Texas crowd crush

A Texas grand jury on Thursday declined to press criminal charges against rapper Travis Scott and five others over a 2021 crowd crush at a music festival that left 10 dead and injured thousands, prosecutors said. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said the grand jury was the culmination of 19 months of investigation into the tragedy at Scott's Astroworld Festival in November 2021.

(With inputs from agencies.)