Met Gala kicks off with Pharrell, Teyana Taylor and Lewis Hamilton. Here's how to watch

NEW YORK (AP) — A rainy Met Gala got underway Monday and a trend true to the menswear theme has already emerged: Emma Chamberlain and other women in pinstripe gowns. The evening's starry guest list amounts to about 450 high-profile people from tech, sports, art, entertainment and more. This is the first Met Gala to focus exclusively on Black designers, and the first in more than 20 years to have a menswear theme. Among the hosts are Pharrell Williams, Lewis Hamilton, Colman Domingo and A$AP Rocky. LeBron James was made honorary chair but bowed out of attending due to a knee injury. The gala raises the bulk of the curation budget for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute.

Janelle Monáe embraces dandyism at the Met Gala with help from an Oscar winner and tequila diamond

Janelle Monáe will embrace Black dandyism’s elegance at the Met Gala with an all-star collaboration with Oscar winner Paul Tazewell and Thom Browne. 1800 Tequila is adding a sparkling ethical diamond brooch for a finishing touch. Monáe said the ensemble she’ll reveal Monday will honor her ancestors and dandy-dressing family members while celebrating a more conscious approach to fashion jewelry. With Black dandyism carving its place in Met Gala history, Monáe found sentimental value in wearing the 1800 Tequila ethical diamond, a gem not mined from the earth, but crafted from the brand’s Cristalino tequila.

Novelist Percival Everett and playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins among Pulitzer winners in the arts

NEW YORK (AP) — Percival Everett’s novel “James,” his radical re-imagining of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from the perspective of the enslaved title character, has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. “Purpose,” Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ drawing-room drama about an accomplished Black family destroying itself from within, won for drama. It also earned six Tony Award nominations last week. Everett’s Pulitzer confirmed “James” as the most celebrated U.S. literary novel of 2024. Jacobs-Jenkins had been twice nominated for a drama Pulitzer, for “Everybody” in 2018 and “Gloria” in 2016. He is on the host committee of this year’s Met Gala.

Trump has threatened a 100% tariff on movies made outside the US. Here's what we know

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump is threatening to levy all films made outside the U.S. at a steep rate of 100%. Over the weekend, Trump accused other countries of “stealing the movie-making capabilities” of the U.S. and said that he had authorized the Commerce Department and the U.S. Trade Representative to “immediately begin the process." But further specifics or dates weren’t provided, and the White House confirmed that no final decisions had been made as of Monday. A lot remains unclear about how an import tax on international productions could even be implemented. And unlike other sectors that have recently been targeted by tariffs, movies go beyond physical goods, bringing larger intellectual property ramifications into question.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs' says he's 'a little nervous' as sex trafficking trial gets underway

NEW YORK (AP) — The sex trafficking trial of hip-hop impresario Sean “Diddy” Combs is underway in New York with jury selection. Combs told a federal judge he was “a little nervous” as he requested a bathroom break during questioning of prospective jurors on Monday. Prosecutors say Combs coerced women into participating in sex acts with prostitutes during drug-fueled parties. They say he used violence and threats to keep his victims compliant and silent. Lawyers for Combs say the sex was consensual. Combs has pleaded not guilty to charges including racketeering conspiracy and bringing sex workers across state lines. The trial is expected to last at least two months.

The Latest: The Met Gala opens as rain fails to dim the stars for fashion's biggest night

NEW YORK (AP) — Fashion’s biggest night of they year is underway as stars gather for the Met Gala on Monday in rainy Manhattan. This is the first Met Gala to focus exclusively on Black designers, and the first in more than 20 years to have a menswear theme. Among the hosts on Monday are Pharrell Williams, Lewis Hamilton, Colman Domingo and A$AP Rocky. LeBron James was made honorary chair but will not attend because of a knee injury. The guest list includes about 450 high-profile people from tech, sports, art, entertainment and more. Vogue’s Anna Wintour is the gala’s mastermind. The gala raises the bulk of the budget for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.

The stories behind all of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs' name changes as the hip-hop mogul heads to trial

In the criminal indictment for this week’s sex trafficking trial of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, the document lists the hip-hop mogul’s aliases. Most people, especially music fans, probably already know them. He told Jet Magazine in 1998 he used to huff and puff when he got mad, so his childhood nickname was Puffy. He switched stage names from Puff Daddy to P. Diddy in 2001, not long after he was acquitted of gun and bribery charges related to a New York City nightclub shooting. He became Diddy in 2005. In 2021, he announced he had legally changed his middle name to Love, but later clarified Diddy remained his stage name.

Theater producer Jeffrey Seller, behind 'Rent' and 'Hamilton,' shines a light on his own journey

NEW YORK (AP) — Jeffrey Seller, the Broadway producer behind such landmark hits as “Rent,” “Avenue Q” and “Hamilton,” didn’t initially write a memoir for us. He wrote it for himself, saying he had a personal need to tell his story. Seller’s “Theater Kid” traces the rise of an unlikely theater force who was raised in a poor neighborhood far from Broadway, along the way giving readers a portrait of the Great White Way in the gritty 1970s and ’80s. The 60-year-old is candid about trysts, professional snubs, mistakes and his unorthodox family, says he wasn’t interested in writing a recipe book on how to make a producer.

New York Times wins 4 Pulitzers, New Yorker 3; Washington Post wins for coverage of Trump shooting

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Times won four Pulitzer Prizes and The New Yorker three for journalism in 2024. Prizes were awarded on Monday for reporting, photography and commentary that touched on issues including the war in Gaza, the fentanyl crisis and last summer’s assassination attempt on President Donald Trump. ProPublica won the prestigious public service medal for the second straight year, this time for reporting on pregnant women who died because of doctors who did not provide care because of concerns about new abortion laws. The Pulitzers also honored editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes, who quit the Washington Post because it wouldn’t run her cartoon criticizing tech leaders that included her newspaper’s owner

Ann Telnaes, who quit Washington Post in protest, wins Pulitzer for 'fearlessness' in commentary

NEW YORK (AP) — A longtime editorial cartoonist for The Washington Post who quit in protest after editors killed her sketch of the newspaper’s owner and other media executives bowing before President Donald Trump, has won the Pulitzer Prize for illustrated reporting and commentary. Ann Telnaes won the prize Monday for “delivering piercing commentary on powerful people and institutions with deftness, creativity – and a fearlessness that led to her departure from the news organization after 17 years.” She said when she quit in January that she had never before had a sketch killed because of the point of view inherent in the cartoon’s commentary. She called that dangerous for a free press.