Who is Byron Allen? Meet the man taking over BuzzFeed, Colbert's slot

Late-night TV isn't the only takeoverByron Allen'sgot on the books.

In addition to inheritingStephen Colbert's timeslot on May 22, the media mogul has recently acquired a "majority stake" in BuzzFeed and will become its next Chairman and CEO.

According to anews releasefrom BuzzFeed, Inc., Allen Family Digital, an affiliate of Allen's family office, is set to acquire 40 million shares of the digital media company for $120 million by the end of the month.

Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed Founder and CEO, said the company was preparing for Allen's arrival by making "significant changes," including cost reductions, setting up BuzzFeed Studios and establishing Tasty as a new independent entity.

Allen plans to expand BuzzFeed and HuffPost into “free-streaming video, audio and user-generated content.”

"As of this moment, with the power of AI, BuzzFeed is officially chasing YouTube to become another premiere free video streaming service," Allen said in a May 11 statement.

Here's everything we know about Byron Allen.

Who is Byron Allen?

Allen, a Los Angeles native, was the youngest comedian to appear on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show" when he made his debut in 1979.

He was a host on NBC's "Real People," an early reality show, and attended film school at the University of Southern California, according to CSQ Magazine.

Allen founded what would become Allen Media Group in 1993, according to the CSQ profile. The company purchased The Weather Channel in 2018. Allen is currently the Chairman and CEO of the media company.

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Allen is listed as an executive producer onmultiple courtroom shows,including "Justice for the People with Judge Milian," "Mathis Court with Judge Mathis" and "America's Court with Judge Ross," among others.

IMDB also lists Allen as an executive producer for "The Grio Awards", "Byron Allen Presents the Comedy and Music Superfest" and "Who Wants to Date a Comedian".

Allen owns over a dozen ABC, CBS and NBC network-affiliate broadcast television stations around the country, 10 24-hour HD television networks and multiple digital streaming platforms.

When is Byron Allen taking over late-night?

Allen's "block" will begin the day after "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" ends its run on May 21.

"Comics Unleashed" and comedy game show "Funny You Should Ask," twoshows produced by Allen, will air on the East Coast at 11:35 p.m. and 12:37 a.m., respectively, on CBS.

Back-to-back half-hour episodes of "Comics Unleashed" will be followed by episodes of the "Funny You Should Ask," CBS announced April 6.

Allen purchased the airtime for "Comics Unleashed" and "Funny You Should Ask" from CBS, with Allen Media Group selling advertising on the shows, perThe Hollywood Reporter. Variety reports that the deal isthrough the 2026-2027 television season.

According to Variety, Allen had been lobbying for the slot since Colbert's ouster was announced in July 2025.

"If they’re looking for a show, my hand is already up," he said during an interview atNew York’s Advertising Week in October."Fifty years, I’ve been waiting for this moment. Definitely, I’m going for it."

Contributing: James Powel, Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Who is Byron Allen? He's taking over BuzzFeed, Colbert's TV slot

byCustos Caelorum

in

May 13, 2026

Who is Byron Allen? Meet the man taking over BuzzFeed, Colbert's slot

Late-night TV isn't the only takeoverByron Allen'sgot on the books. In addition to inheritingStephen Colbert's timeslo...

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Whoopi Goldberg falls back on “The View”, slams people who save seats in church: 'I'm gonna be in your chair'

Whoopi Goldberg once again fell back in her chair on The View.

Key Points

• The Oscar-winning actress called out people who save seats in church.

• "I'm telling you now, if you come down, I'm gonna be in your chair," Goldberg said.

Whoopi "Queen of Collapse" Goldberghas once again put on astunning display of chair-based performance art— this time asThe Viewcohosts broke down a Hot Topic about saving seats in public places.

Amid the discussion, Goldberg called out people who save seats in church, and specified why she felt it was such a big issue on Wednesday's live episode of the long-running talk show.

"To me, here's the biggest reason you don't want to do that, is because you want people to be on time," the 70-year-old said. "You don't want them to start thinking, oh, somebody's going to hold this for me, and you don't have to work on getting your behind out of there to get there on time. Don't do that!"

She continued, "If you're at a place and you see all these empty seats, I'm telling you now, if you come down, I'm gonna be in your chair, because I paid just like you paid," Goldberg said.

"I think it's okay to move the towel,"Sunny Hostinchimed in, referencing people who save chairs at public pools.

"Yeah, because people put books there, pocketbook, I'll put it right under there," Goldberg said, before putting on a little show as she fell back in her chair to demonstrate how she'd luxuriate in a seat after moving someone's belongings.

"I think you can move it," Hostin reiterated, to which Goldberg responded, "Hell yeah, you can move it!"

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"But it shouldn't be okay for anybody to do it. If you're at a thing, you should have the right, the same rights as everybody else in that building or apartment complex, unless you're having a party and you let everyone know you're doing that," Goldberg continued.

The cohosts then warned that, sometimes, people might engage in a physical altercation over saving seats in public.

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"You don't want to do that with us," Goldberg joked. "Because we will hit back. I'm just saying!"

Goldberg has long displayed her EGOT-winning acting chops at the Hot Topics table, mounting stunning feats of collapse over discussions ranging from observations aboutBen Affleck and Jennifer Lopez,Donald Trump, andcoverage of theReal Housewivesfranchise.

The Viewairs weekdays on ABC.

Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly

byCustos Caelorum

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May 13, 2026

Whoopi Goldberg falls back on “The View”, slams people who save seats in church: 'I'm gonna be in your chair'

Whoopi Goldberg once again fell back in her chair on The View . Key Points The Oscar-winning actress called out pe...

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David Allan Coe, maverick country star known for his wild life and working-class anthems

David Allan Coe, who has died aged 86, was a maverick country music singer known for his wild tales of prison life and working-class anthems You Never Even Called Me by My Name and Take This Job and Shove It; he was a pioneer of the “outlaw” movement which bristled against Nashville’s conservatism and conformism.

A broad, physically intimidating man who could often rub people up the wrong way, Coe arrived in the Tennessee city in 1967, keen to make it as a country music star despite being a self-declared “long-haired redneck” (though the flowing mane that was a feature of his later stage shows was a 3ft-long blonde wig).

He lived for a time in a hearse, perpetually parked outside the Ryman Auditorium, where he would don elaborate rhinestone outfits and a Lone Ranger-style mask and busk for gullible passers-by who believed he had just come off stage.

Six years after arriving in Music City, Coe hit the big time thanks to Tanya Tucker’s cover of Would You Lay With Me (in a Field of Stone), which went to No 1 in the country charts. Coe signed with Columbia and released his major-label debut, The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy, in 1974. It included I Still Sing the Old Songs, and a cover ofGuy Clark’s country staple Desperados Waiting for the Train (later popularised by the Highwaymen supergroup consisting of Coe’s fellow outlawsWaylon Jennings, Willie Nelson,Johnny CashandKris Kristofferson).

But it was the album Once Upon a Rhyme, released a year later, that gave Coe his imperishable hit, You Never Even Called Me by My Name. Written by Steve Goodman andJohn Prine, it was a self-knowing send-up of honky tonk stereotypes involving trucks, beer and dysfunctional families: “I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison/ And I went to pick her up in the rain/ But before I could get to the station in my pick-up truck/ She got runned over by a damned old train”. The song remains a jukebox staple in bars across the Southern US, and lived up to its cocky, spoken-word interlude declaring it the “perfect country and Western song”.

That bristling self-assuredness inflected all of Coe’s music, from his Hank Williams-inspired journeyman epic The Ride in 1983 to Son of the South (1986), in which he reels off a list of his all-time favourite artists – Hank Williams Jr, the Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and “David Allan Coe” himself – and, finally, Willie, Waylon and Me (1987), in which he muscled in on Nelson and Jennings’s famous friendship.

It was a pointed dig at his fellow outlaws whom he considered more a part of the country music establishment; those peers, for their part, often suggested that Coe had a tendency to self-mythologise – and at points he claimed to have more than 300 tattoos, and be a practising Mormon and a polygamist.

Jennings in particular struggled with Coe’s abrasive, confrontational edge, and once said he would “stab you in the back and then ride off your name like he’s your best friend.”Shelby Singleton, the producer who discovered Coe, told Rolling Stone in 1976 that “Ninety per cent of what he tells you is probably bulls***t.”

Coe took issue with those who refused to acknowledge his influence: he was the first mainstream country artist to have an all-female backing band, Ladysmith (a milestone which was later wrongly attributed to Dolly Parton’s early collaborator Porter Wagoner).

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David Allan Coe was born on September 6 1939 to Donald Coe and Dorothy, née Wilson, in Akron, Ohio, an industrial city then known as the Rubber Capital of the World. His childhood was impoverished and unhappy, ruled by his violent, drunken father, who worked at Goodyear Tires, and he was sent to a reform facility aged nine.

Two decades in correctional facilities followed, including three years at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, where he faced charges for grand theft auto and possession of burglary tools. He later claimed that, while incarcerated, he killed a fellow inmate with a mop bucket after the inmate made homosexual advances in the communal showers, but this was later debunked; he also met the shock-rock pioneer Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, of I Put A Spell on You fame, who encouraged him to start singing.

Prison left its mark on Coe: his first album, Penitentiary Blues, was released in 1970. Five years later, he reflected on how he had found solace in the system: “There were a lot of times when I would actually be in the county jail after being busted and I’d wake up the next morning and say to myself: ‘Oh I’m glad it’s over; I’m glad I’m going back to prison now, where I know I’ll be safe, where I’ll be out of society.’”

It was a fellow outlaw pioneer who earned Coe his most lucrative hit. In 1977, the aptly namedJohnny Paycheckhad a No 1 with a cover of Coe’s blue-collar anthem Take This Job and Shove It, which inspired the 1981 film of the same name, starring Robert Hays andArt Carney.

Coe’s commercial success began to plateau following his controversial albums Nothing Sacred (1978) and Underground Album (1982) – later reissued together as 18 X-Rated Hits – which were criticised for containing racist slurs and sexist stereotypes. Coe addressed the controversy in 2004, telling the website Swampland: “Anyone that would look at me and say I was a racist would have to be out of their mind.” It was not until his 1983 album Castles in the Sand – which contained The Ride – that Coe was welcomed back into the fold in Nashville.

Decades of obscure albums and purposely uncommercial projects ensued, including a pornographic novel. Late-life Coe was known mostly for his wizened, plaited beard and angry stage presence, as well as collaborations with the metal band Pantera and fellow country controversy-magnet, Kid Rock.

His final two decades were marred by financial struggles. In 2007, there were reports that he owed more than $290,000 in child support to his ex-wife Jody Lynn Coe (he was married six times), with whom he shares four children, including the country music podcaster Tyler Mahan Coe. Coe pleaded guilty to tax evasion in 2015 and was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to repay almost $1 million to the authorities.

He is survived by his sixth wife, Kimberley.

David Allan Coe, born September 6 1939, died April 29 2026

byCustos Caelorum

in

May 12, 2026

David Allan Coe, maverick country star known for his wild life and working-class anthems

David Allan Coe, who has died aged 86, was a maverick country music singer known for his wild tales of prison life and working-class an...

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Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte Impeached, Again

The Philippines’ House of Representatives impeached Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday—for thesecond time—over accusations of unexplained wealth, misuse of state funds, and threats to have herformer allyPresidentFerdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.assassinated.

The second impeachment came more than nine months after the country’s Supreme Court voided the first over a constitutional technicality, but the top court’s decision did not prevent any future attempts.

After deliberations, there were 255 votes cast in favor of impeaching Duterte, more than the required third of House members. With the House vote on Monday, Duterte, who comes from one of the country’smost prominent political dynasties, became the first official in the Southeast Asian country’s history to be impeached twice.

Duterte will face trial before the Philippine Senate, which observers say is the real battleground: “The manner in which the impeachment trial will play out before the public will shape how voters will look at her candidacy,” Jean Encinas-Franco, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines, tells TIME.

A strong pro-Duterte bloc sits in the Senate. After the House impeached the Vice President for the first time last year, the Senate effectively shelved the proceedings, referring to the Supreme Court ruling. This year, as the House deliberated on Duterte’s impeachment, a majority of Senators suddenly elected a known ally of the Duterte family as Senate President, who has denied that the impeachment influenced the shake-up.

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In February, Duterteannouncedshe would run for President in the 2028 national elections. Shecontinues to lead in public opinion pollingabout who could succeed Marcos, as Philippine Presidents are constitutionally limited to a single six-year term. Duterte joined Marcos’ ticket to secure a landslide victory in the 2022 national elections, but the two have since become political rivals, fomenting a feud that has thrown the country into political and economic turmoil.

A guilty verdict at the Senate could spell political doom for Duterte, the daughter of former Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte, who is in theInternational Criminal Court’s custody as he faces a trial overa nationwide drug war that caused thousands of deaths during his term.

If found guilty, the Vice President will be removed from her post and could be barred from public office. However, Manila-based political scientist Cleve Arguelles tells TIME that the impeachment could in actuality consolidate Duterte’s political constituency, “potentially strengthening loyalty among supporters and preserving her viability for 2028.”

The Vice President has alleged that the impeachment proceedings against her are politically motivated and has denied any wrongdoing.

Duterte ​is the highest‑ranking official ⁠to be impeached in the Philippines since formerPresident Joseph Estrada in 2000, though that impeachment trial was aborted after prosecutors walked out. Estrada resigned months later.

Of the five impeached public officials in the country’s history, including Duterte, only one—a former Supreme Court Chief Justice—has been convicted.

byCustos Caelorum

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May 12, 2026

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte Impeached, Again

The Philippines’ House of Representatives impeached Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday—for thesecond time—over accusations of unexpl...

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Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis Choose 'Perfect' Name for Baby Kangaroo at Australia Zoo, Says Robert Irwin

Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis named Australia Zoo's newest kangaroo

NEED TO KNOW

• Robert Irwin praised the Wales family for their help and highlighted the importance of protecting wildlife

• Robert helps run the Australia Zoo and is an ambassador for Prince William's Earthshot Prize

Prince George,Princess CharlotteandPrince Louishad the honor of naming a baby kangaroo at the Irwin family's Australia Zoo.

On May 7, the Australia Zoo announced thatKate Middleton,Prince Williamand their three children named its newest eastern grey kangaroo joey.Robert Irwininvited the family to help name the joey and they chose a meaningful moniker.

The royals named the new kangaroo Cwtch (pronounced "Kutch"), a Welsh word meaning "cuddle."

The cute pick nodded to William and Kate's Prince and Princess of Wales titles, and Irwin, 22, shouted out Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 11, and Prince Louis, 8, for their assistance in picking it in anInstagramvideo released Thursday.

"G'Day! It's Robert Irwin here with a couple of my mates. This is of course the icon of Australia, the kangaroo, and I'm very proud to announce that my friends, the Wales family, helped us to name our beautiful new joey," theDancing with the Starschamp said as he said in the grass, with Cwtch, her mother and another kangaroo beside him.

The wildlife conservationist described Cwtch as "the absolute perfect name" for a joey kangaroo as at that age they "love a cuddle" and spend most of their time in their mother's pouch.

"I want to say a particular thank-you to Prince George, Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte for your help in finding this one a brilliant name," he said, and underscored out the importance of protecting wildlife.

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Cwtch already seems to have another fan in the Irwin family, as Robert's motherTerri Irwincommented below the clip shared as a joint post with the Prince and Princess of Wales' handle, "So special.💕"

Robert similarly voiced his joy in a statement, where he said, "I absolutely love the name ‘Cwtch’ - it couldn’t be more perfect for this little joey. I am so thankful to have received special assistance from Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis with the naming."

"Cwtch is already stealing hearts, and I hope she inspires people to fall in love with wildlife and want to help protect it," he added.

Robert helps run Queensland's Australia Zoo alongside his mother Terri and sisterBindi Irwin, and is an ambassador for Prince William'sEarthshot Prize, a prestigious global contest galvanizing positive environmental change through a decade-long effort.

Speaking to PEOPLEat London's Climate Action Week in June 2025, he described William as a "kindred spirit" and said his activism surely inspires his children.

Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage?Sign up for our free Royals newsletterto get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!

"I think Prince William is certainly creating an amazing legacy for his kids and for an entire generation to take inspiration from. I have no doubt that they'll carry up that mission," Irwin said then.

Read the original article onPeople

byCustos Caelorum

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May 11, 2026

Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis Choose 'Perfect' Name for Baby Kangaroo at Australia Zoo, Says Robert Irwin

Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis named Australia Zoo's newest kangaroo NEED TO KNOW Robert I...

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