Awards / Awards Shows

German track star Luz Long battled Black American star Jesse Owens during the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin -- while Hitler watched -- but instead of treating each other like enemies, the men became close friends.

And, now, Luz's famed silver medal from the long jump is on the block at SCP Auctions ... one of the most important medals in Olympic history.

Owens won four gold medals during the '36 Games ... and became a global superstar almost overnight. But, one of the medals almost never was ... 'cause Jesse was one missed jump away from failing to qualify for the medal round of the long jump.

That's when Carl Ludwig "Luz" Long -- born across the world and in very different circumstances than Jesse -- approached his competitor and offered him some advice.

“Why don’t you draw a line a few inches in back of the board and aim at making your take-off from there," Luz said to Jesse, saying, "You’ll be sure not to foul, and you certainly ought to jump far enough to qualify. What does it matter if you’re not first in the trials?”

Owens later talked about what those words meant for him, and did for his performance.

“Suddenly all the tension seemed to ebb out of my body as the truth of what he said hit me. Confidently, I drew a line a full foot in back of the board and proceeded to jump from there. I qualified with almost a foot to spare.”

In the finals, Long and Owens battled, both breaking the previous Olympic record in the process. In the end, Jesse, with a jump of 8.06 meters, beat Luz, and won the gold medal ... while LL took silver.

Luz, could've been mad, jealous, or even seen Jesse as the enemy, but instead was actually the first to embrace the man who just dashed his dreams of Olympic gold.

"You forced me to give my best,” Owens told Luz.

After receiving their medals, in one of the most courageous moments in Olympic history, Jesse and Luz walked side by side around the stadium, waving to the 110,000 spectators in attendance.

And remember, one of those people was Adolf Hitler ... who was annoyed a Black man dominated the Games, exposing his lies about race.

“It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler,” Owens later said.

“You can melt down all the medals and cups I have and they wouldn’t be a plating on the twenty-four karat friendship that I felt for Luz Long at that moment.”

Berlin, 1936, is the last time Jesse and Luz would see each other. The German track star was killed in 1943 during World War II at the age of 30.

However, shortly before his death, Long wrote a handwritten note to his friend Jesse, where he sadly predicted his impending death, and asked a favor.

"My heart tells me, if I be honest with you, that this is the last letter I shall ever write. If it is so, I ask you something. It is a something so very important to me. It is you go to Germany when this war done, someday find my [son], and tell him about his father. Tell him, Jesse, what times were like when we not separated by war. I am saying -- tell him how things can be between men on this earth.⁣"

In 1951, years after the letter, Owens fulfilled his promise and met Luz's son. Jesse would later serve as his best man at his wedding.

Now, nearly 90 years after he won the medal, Luz's granddaughter, Julia Kellner-Long, the daughter of the son Jesse befriended, has decided to put the medal on the block as a way to keep her grandpa's memory alive.

The auction for the medal -- estimated to be worth between $500K and $1 million -- ends this weekend

Kodak Black is screaming conspiracy against BET after his hit record "Super Gremlin" lost to Latto's "Big Energy" for "Song of the Year."

An upset Kodak went the distance in airing out his grievances ... targeting BET exec Connie Orlando, who's instrumental in all the network's music programming.

According to Big Yak, Connie was in cahoots with the female empowerment movement beforehand, and only invited artists like himself and EST Gee to generate bigger public interest.

The Hip Hop Awards ratings reportedly skyrocketed 34% from last year's tally, but Kodak wants J Prince to restart his award show talks after many rappers shared similar issues with last year's Grammys.

Kodak says GloRilla's "FNF" anthem should have taken the crown, and threw plenty of slander toward Latto ... calling her a "hating ass mutt" and "Frappucino."

Despite Kodak's opinions, Latto's "Big Energy" recently made history as the longest-running female rap song on the Billboard Hot 100 -- a whopping 49 weeks and counting!!!

The 2 rap stars have been at odds since Latto featured Kodak on her "777" album last spring ... when she suggested he was being difficult over clearing the song after his advances were rebuffed -- setting off a war between camps.

Joey Bada$$ made a powerful statement at the 2022 BET Hip Hop Awards ... urging rappers to stop delivering messages that lead to their demise, or the death of others.

During his performance of his "2000" album cut “Head High," Joey lined up 12 backup dancers ... each with a slain rapper's name embroidered on their hoodie.

In chronological order of their deaths, Joey honored Scott La Rock, Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Big L, Soulja Slim, XXXTENTACION, Nipsey Hussle, Pop Smoke, King Von, Young Dolph, Trouble and PnB Rock -- all who fell victim to gun violence between 1987 and last month ... when PnB was killed. 😕

Joey went on to argue rappers are spurring their own genocide, and preached the culture needs to take accountability for the message it's delivering to kids.

He also slammed the popular slang term "op" a.k.a. enemy ... contending that war is being fought within rappers' own circles.

The New York rapper isn't the only one from his rap generation to decry the rap murder rate -- just a few weeks ago, Rich Homie Quan told us the "shoot 'em up, bang-bang music" is a problem for everyone who hears it.

When "MJ: The Musical" meets "The Producers" ... you get a little something like this.

John Branca -- one of the guys behind Broadway's biggest spectacle right now -- went backstage Friday night with his wife, Jenna, to meet the show's lead star ... Myles Frost, who plays Michael. They had a cool little photo-op moment together -- flashing smiles and looking sharp.

'MJ' has been playing since earlier this February -- after a lot of delays, due to COVID -- and so far ... it's a smash hit. Not only has it been commercially successful, but it has sat well with critics too ... even snagging a handful of Tonys this year, including for Frost.

He won Best Actor in a Musical -- and 'MJ' has won some technical Tonys too, such as Best Choreography, Best Lighting Design and Best Sound Design. It's about Mike's real-life 1992 Dangerous tour, and the show gives a BTS glimpse at some of his imagined rehearsals.

Of course, it also covers a ton of MJ hits along the way ... with his signature dance numbers to boot. There was controversy around this at first, but most of that seems to have fallen by the wayside, especially this many months into a long and consistent run.

George and Amal Clooney brought out some of their most famous friends in NYC to christen a new award show ... with guests including Michelle Obama, Drew Barrymore, Cindy Crawford and more.

The star-studded event went down Thursday at the New York Public Library. The Albie Awards, named after Justice Albie Sachs -- and hosted by George and Amal -- were about honoring folks who have taken a stand against injustice.

Of course, the power couple was front and center the whole night ... and they certainly looked the part. Amal wore a bedazzled Versace gown, while GC rocked a tux.

Unclear if she was at the show, but Michelle Obama was spotted entering The Albie Award's after-party at The Mark Hotel following the event.

Among the final celeb guestlist ... Clooney's co-star Julia Roberts, John Krasinski, Meryl Streep, Gayle King, Drew Barrymore, Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber.

Dua Lipa and Lori Harvey also pulled up to the event. Of course, Dua Lipa recently made headlines with the soon-to-be former host of "The Daily Show" Trevor Noah as the two were spotted hanging out in NYC.

Keegan-Michael Key joined a very lucky group on the TMZ Celebrity Tour ... offerin' up advice on how award shows can evolve so comedy bits don't drag people down.

Keegan hopped on our bus in Bev Hills ... and as his wife and writing partner Elle kicked it on the sidewalk, he offered up some tips on cringe-worthy humor during these awards shows.

KMK put it plainly -- you can make a killer joke that has a positive message ... but bringing someone down should be out of bounds.

He's pretty clearly referring to last week's Emmys ... where Jimmy Kimmel was dragged for "passing out" on stage as Quinta Brunson accepted her award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.

After finishing his TMZ Tour "Ted Talk," he entertained passengers with a throwback from 'Key & Peele' ... breaking out his substitute teacher character that he debuted a decade ago!!!

The Las Vegas Aces were poppin' bottles, twerkin', and making beer angels in the locker room after winning their first WNBA title!

The party went down after the Aces beat the Connecticut Sun, 78-71, in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals at the Mohegan Sun Arena Sunday ... winning the championship.

It's the team's first title ... as well as the first 'chip for head coach Becky Hammon -- who made history as the first coach to win a title in their first season at the helm.

So, the Aces had A LOT to celebrate!

And, Aisha Sheppard -- a 2nd round pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft -- enjoyed the beer showers by dropping to the floor and making a beer angel (she's from D.C., she knows a thing or two about snow).

While Aisha was enjoyin' the drizzle, Kelsey Plum was hilariously interrupting Chelsea Gray (the Finals MVP) and A'ja Wilson's press conference ... with her boombox.

Plum -- who had 15 points in the deciding game -- also shared her championship meal on her IG ... a salad. But, don't ask her if it was good.

"They gave the team pizza, okay?! Look what they gave me," the point guard said, "I'm so faded I can't even taste this."

Yeah, the Emmy Awards are all about taking home one of those statues, but it's not a total loss if ya don't get one ... 'cause there's always the after-party!!!

Netflix hosted their Emmy night affair at Milk Studios and some of the winners who pulled up to celebrate included Julia Garner and Jason Bateman from "Ozark" and Kim Ji-yeon and Oh Young-soo from "Squid Games".

"Squid Games" star Lee Jung-jae took a moment to flick it up with Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos ... while still clenching his Emmy for Best Male Actor in a drama, the first Asian actor to do so.

"Stranger Things" creator Matt Duffer and star Charlie Heaton were also at the Netflix bash, even though most of the show's cast skipped the award show.

The HBO Max after party, held at San Vicente Bungalows, was just as popping.

"Succession" star Nicholas Braun and "White Lotus" producer David Bernad hit up the reception ... as well as Maude Apatow and Sydney Sweeney from the hit series "Euphoria".

Braun's costars -- Jeremy Strong and Matthew Macfadyen were also looking to cut loose ... after all the "Succession" cast scored the Emmy for Best Drama.

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" stars Larry David and Cheryl Hines also made sure to celebrate the night with HBO.

The 2022 Emmys are over, and it's clear a memo went out before the affair kicked off -- wear black or white, and most of the attendees fell in line.

We're joking about the memo, but it's true celebs were all smiles Monday night at the Microsoft Theater in downtown L.A., and also all kinda matchy.

Those on theme included Reese Witherspoon and Laura Linney, Sydney Sweeney and Zendaya, Matthew Macfadyen and Nicholas Braun, Andrew Garfield and Martin Short, Steve Martin and Selena Gomez, Hannah Waddingham and Brett Goldstein, Seth Rogen and Julia Garner ... and a lot more.

A lot of the gents in the room wore simple black and white tuxes -- so in many ways, it was a pretty traditional fashion affair, but the number of people in straight-up black and white definitely caught the eye.

Everyone looked great, and obviously brought out their best 'fits. It just seems they all hopped on a conference call together, 'cause very few people broke the unofficial dress code.

Jennifer Coolidge punked the Emmys in spectacular fashion Monday night ... when she defied the orchestra that was trying to get her off the stage and turned the whole thing into a dance party!!!

Jennifer won the richly-deserved award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series and at first, seemed a little flummoxed ... she says she swelled up after taking a lavender bath ... so much so she barely got into her Emmy getup and had trouble speaking.

She was hysterical ... seemingly rattled as she ticked off the people she wanted to thank.

Then, the dreaded orchestra started to play her off, but Jen wasn't having it. She made it clear this could be a "once-in-a-lifetime" moment and wasn't about to go quietly.

The band then pivoted to more lively music, and rather than taking the hint, she busted a move that sent the audience into an uproar of laughter. It was Ferris-Bueller-like as other celebs in their seats started to feel the beat in solidarity!

Steven Spielberg has done it again -- his latest flick got a standing ovation at the Toronto Film Festival this weekend ... and the Oscar buzz is so loud you'd think it was a chainsaw.

The iconic moviemaker got a packed room of ticketholders at TIFF Saturday to rise to their feet once the credits started to roll at the conclusion of his newest offering, 'The Fabelmans,' which is inspired by his own life and family ... and story about how he got into filmmaking.

According to critics and journos who were there ... it's being considered a masterpiece, and perhaps one of SS' best projects to date -- which is saying something, of course.

The premise is about a kid growing up with a creative mother who's into the arts and feeds her son's passion for filming -- while the father is more grounded and pushing the boy into a more stable career. Supposedly, it's part dramedy, part biopic ... and most say it's fantastic.

Essentially, it's Spielberg's love letter to cinema -- and based on the response it's getting so far ... some feel a frontrunner at the Oscars has emerged, including on the acting front.

Michelle Williams is getting rave reviews for her stellar performance -- and Paul Dano, too, is receiving kudos for a job well done. Considering the Academy's long history of loving/voting for movies about movies, this one is sure to do well come awards season.

Murray Bartlett is going up against his own guys at the Emmys this year -- and while you might think he'd be a little competitive ... the guy's just here for a good time.

We got the Aussie actor -- who's the lead star of HBO's hit limited series, "White Lotus" -- just as he was arriving in L.A. for Monday's television award show ... and our walk-and-talk interview with him is absolutely awesome.

Check it out ... MB is radiating pure joy as he leaves LAX with a baggage handler in tow -- telling us he's super excited to be nominated, even if it means fellow 'Lotus' actors beat him.

If you didn't know, Jake Lacy and Steve Zahn -- who also appears in "White Lotus" -- are nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series as well ... but Murray's just as happy for them as he is for himself. We tell him he's the favorite to win, and the dude is completely humble.

Murray tells us he and the rest of the cast are out to party it up and celebrate the show's success, regardless of who wins. Fact is, at least one of them is due to walk away with a statuette -- because the series was so popular ... and the performances were top-notch.

We also think we might've learned what Murry's secret to success is ... and it seems to come down to what he's munching on. The old adage is true, and then some!

Adele and Eminem are on the cusp of becoming EGOT winners, because they just snagged a crucial letter in the acronym ... a couple of Emmys, respectively.

The artists won awards Saturday during the 2-day Creative Arts Emmys ceremony in Los Angeles. Adele's 'One Night Only' show -- where she was singing at the Griffith Observatory last year -- took home five Emmys, in fact ... including for Outstanding Variety Special.

As for Em ... he too won for Outstanding Variety Special, although his was for the live version (Adele's was pre-recorded). As we reported ... him, Dre and the rest of the SB gang are all Emmy winners now for their Halftime Show performance earlier this year.

With Shady, that means he's just a T away from EGOT. His longtime manager, Paul Rosenberg, noted that on Twitter.

Just for a refresher -- Eminem has won an Oscar for Best Original Song in "Lose Yourself" ('8 Mile), tons of Grammys, and now ... an Emmy for his Super Bowl gig. Adele has also won an Oscar for Best Original Song in "Skyfall," Grammys galore, and now this as well.

The Tony is by far the hardest award to win for entertainers who don't normally do theater work (like these two) ... but there's ways to earn one without having to necessarily perform.

They could each write songs for Broadway shows and win that way, or contribute to the musical arrangement of an original song -- which is well within their wheelhouse. Both could easily do something like that and potentially win a Tony, assuming they're interested.

If they each won EGOTs, they'd join a relatively small and prestigious list of past winners -- including Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend, Rita Moreno, Mel Brooks and a handful of others.

For now, though, they're on the list of 4-award winners, sharing company with Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand, James Earl Jones, Quincy Jones and Harry Belafonte.

Not a bad crowd!

The incredible Super Bowl Halftime Show got a big score Saturday night ... an Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special, and some very big names took home some hardware.

Dr. Dre, who produced and performed in the show, won along with Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent.

The halftime shows are always big, but this is the first one that was honored with an Emmy.

Now get this ... Eminem is now one award away from an EGOT ... all he needs is a Tony and he joins a very small group.

Everyone in the group except Snoop has also won a Grammy.

The show was electric, with iconic songs like "California Love," "No More Drama," "Lose Yourself" and "Still D.R.E."

Some other Emmy winners -- Adele for "One Night Only," and The Beatles "Get Back" documentary.

Congrats!!!

Johnny Depp's brief cameo at the VMAs was embraced by some, but it's stirring up outrage as well -- specifically from Amber Heard's sister -- who went in on MTV.

Whitney Henriquez posted a screenshot of MTV's award show logo, but she placed an ominous letter at the front ... a big capital D. So now, on Whitney's page, it reads DVMA -- which alludes to domestic violence.

She writes, "@MTV YOU'RE DISGUSTING AND CLEARLY DESPERATE! I REALLY HOPE THAT NONE OF THE PEOPLE THAT MADE THIS CALL HAVE DAUGHTERS... #DVMAS #ISTANDWITHAMBERHEARD."

There's also a photo of Amber superimposed on Whitney's mock-up -- so yeah, the Heard family is clearly not happy with the network's decision to feature JD right from the top.

As you'll recall ... Johnny's face was digitally shown inside the Moonman costume that was floating above the stage as soon as the broadcast began. He had a corny little monologue, referencing the fact that he's in need of work ... and available for just about any gig now.

Johnny Depp just made one small step in his Hollywood resurgence ... because he's returned to TV sets, appearing on MTV at the Video Music Awards in an astronaut suit.

The movie star just made his debut as the network's famous Moonman -- recently dubbed the Moonperson -- dressing up and showing his face Sunday to kick off the award show broadcast. But that's all that was shown ... literally just a video of his mug in the suit, which appears to have been pre-recorded. He said he "needed the work," and that was that.

The real McCoy wasn't actually there for the show, it seems. Still, pretty cool!

As we first told you... Johnny was tabbed for a surprise appearance at the VMAs, and it come on the heels of both the recent announcement of his return to film plus his new deal with Dior to continue being the face of the Sauvage fragrance line.

Johnny's won 5 MTV Movie Awards in his career, including Best Villain, Global Superstar, Best Male Performance and 2012's Generation Award.