'Jimmy Kimmel Live' hit with $395,000 fine over emergency tones in skit

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Simulated wireless alert tones used in a “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” skit making fun of a presidential alert test have cost Walt Disney Co’s (DIS.N) ABC $395,000 in civil fines with the US Federal Communications Commission.

AMC Networks (AMC.N) separately on Thursday agreed to pay a $104,000 fine for using an alert tone in a February 2019 episode of the “The Walking Dead.” The commission handed down smaller fines to Discovery’s Animal Planet and Meruelo Radio Holdings for other violations.

The use of emergency alert system or wireless emergency alert tones are barred by FCC rules “to avoid confusion when the tones are used, alert fatigue among listeners, and false activation of the system by the operative data elements contained in the alert tones,” the agency said.

Discovery agreed to pay a $68,000 civil penalty because during an episode of Animal Planet’s “Lone Star Law” contained an actual wireless emergency alert tone. The crew was filming Texas Game Wardens following Hurricane Harvey and caught the tone of a real wireless alert received by phones during filming.

Meruelo paid $67,000 for broadcasting a simulated signal in a promotion for its morning show on southern California-based radio stations KDAY and KDEY-FM.

AMC, Discovery and Meruelo did not immediately comment

ABC said in a statement it takes “regulatory compliance seriously and we are pleased to have resolved this issue.” In its consent decree with the FCC, it admitted it did broadcast the tones “in the absence of an actual emergency” or authorized test in an Oct. 3, 2018 broadcast.

The late-night comedy show used a simulated wireless emergency alert tone three times during a sketch regarding the nationwide presidential wireless emergency alert test that took place that day.

ABC told the FCC the tones were improperly included in the episode because a “misunderstanding that the use of the tone was permissible.” The FCC said ABC took steps to remove the portion of the episode containing the tones from its website and other online streaming sites, and decided not to rebroadcast the episode.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency in October 2018 sent presidential wireless alerts to millions of mobile phones that triggered a loud tone, a special vibration and a message reading: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

Government officials told reporters in 2018 President Donald Trump would not personally trigger the alert - from his phone or any other device - and emphasized that no president could “wake up one morning and attempt to send a personal message.”

Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Lisa Shumaker

source: news.abs-cbn.com

US comedian Kimmel makes tearful plea for children's health care

LOS ANGELES - Choking back tears, the star comedian Jimmy Kimmel has recounted his newborn son's brush with death -- and waded into the raging debate on health care in America -- in an emotional speech that went viral on Tuesday.

One of the biggest names in American comedy and the host of last February's Oscars, Kimmel used the opening monologue of his "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" show to announce the arrival last month of his son Billy, who appeared at first to be a healthy newborn.

But in the sequence Monday night, he went on to recount how, minutes after the birth, the infant began to turn blue and it became apparent that something was seriously wrong.

Doctors and medical staff quickly determined that Billy, Kimmel's second born child, had a serious birth defect requiring immediate open heart surgery followed by years of monitoring and future medical procedures.

None of that posed an insurmountable challenge to a multimillionaire performer like Kimmel.

But it led him to reflect during a tearful 13-minute-long speech on the plight of other families whose children face similar medical crises.

Without mentioning it by name, he plugged former president Barack Obama's health care law which has come under attack by his successor Donald Trump and congressional Republicans, who are currently pushing a second attempt to dismantle it.

"Until a few years ago, millions and millions of us had no access to health insurance at all," Kimmel told the audience.

"Before 2014, if you were born with congenital heart disease like my son was, there was a good chance you would never be able to get health insurance because you had a preexisting condition," he said.

"If your baby is going to die, and it doesn't have to, it shouldn't matter how much money you make," Kimmel said.

"I think that's something now, whether you're a Republican or Democrat, or something else, we all agree on that, right?" he added, to cheers and applause from the crowd.

As the broadcast went viral on Tuesday, the former Democratic president was among those who tweeted out his support -- and thanks -- to the comedian.

"Well said, Jimmy. That's exactly why we fought so hard for the ACA, and why we need to protect it for kids like Billy. And congratulations!" Obama wrote.

The requirement, under Obama's Affordable Care Act, for insurance providers to offer coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions, is a key sticking point in Trump's attempts to repeal the law -- with conservatives seeking to scrap the protection, but other Republicans unwilling to water down such a popular provision.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

LOOK: Kate Upton on SI swimsuit cover is the gift that keeps on giving

The 2017 SI Swimsuit Covers have been revealed. Welcome back, @KateUpton! Follow the link for more photos and video https://t.co/4cszjybbVp pic.twitter.com/y7TguJdPVD

 — SI Swimsuit (@SI_Swimsuit) February 15, 2017

 For the third time, Kate Upton is gracing the cover of this year's Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, the model and part-time actress told "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on Tuesday night.

Upton was also on the cover in 2012 and 2013.

Here is the official promotional video produced by SI if still images aren't enough to satisfy your curiosity. You're welcome, fellas.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Clinton says US presidential election an 'alternative reality'

LOS ANGELES - Democrat Hillary Clinton said on a late-night television show on Monday that sometimes she feels she is in an ''alternative universe'' in the U.S. presidential race against Republican Donald Trump.

"I do feel sometimes like this campaign has entered into an alternative universe," Clinton said on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live. "I have to step into the alternative reality, answer questions about am I alive, how much longer will I be alive."

Clinton was for the first time responding to allegations made by Trump and some of his backers that she is suffering health problems that could be problematic in the White House should she win the Nov. 8 election.

Both Clinton and Trump have released notes from doctors declaring them physically fit for the presidency.

Kimmel asked Clinton to open a jar of pickles as a test of her strength. She did so successfully.

"This has become one of their themes. Take my pulse while I'm talking to you - make sure I'm alive," Clinton said to Kimmel of the health rumors.

Clinton said that sometimes Trump's remarks about her - such as a recent charge that President Barack Obama and Clinton co-founded the Islamic State, which he later said was sarcasm - go beyond personal attacks and become harmful to U.S. national security.

"There's enough evidence now that when Trump talks the way he talks it actually helps the terrorists," Clinton said. "I think it's crazy, but I think it's also harmful."

Clinton said she had begun preparing for the three presidential debates scheduled in September and October.

"I want to take it seriously," Clinton said. "But you've got to be prepared for, like wacky stuff that comes at you and I am drawing on my experience in elementary school."

Clinton brushed off the possible release of an additional 14,900 emails that the FBI found when investigating her use of a private email server as secretary of state.

"My emails are so boring," Clinton said. "What's a few more?"

The U.S. State Department has already reviewed some 30,068 emails from her 2009-2013 tenure and released most of them, amounting to some 55,000 pages.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Pacquiao recalls last time he was underdog

Filipino boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao doesn’t mind being the underdog in his May 2 fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The eight-division champion even relishes the feeling, noting that it has been a while since he was considered an “also ran” in a boxing match.

“No, I'm not worried at all. It's good for me because it gives more motivation, encouragement, focus to win the fight,” Pacquiao said in an interview on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" as quoted by Boxing Scene.


According to Yahoo! Sports, online betting site Bovada had Mayweather as a minus -210 favorite, while Pacquiao is at plus -170, with the American favored to win by decision or technical decision, 5/7.

But Pacquiao didn’t mind the numbers and instead used them to fuel his fire for his welterweight title clash against the undefeated Mayweather.

The last time he came in as the underdog in a boxing match was when he met Oscar De La Hoya in the ring back in 2008. He pummeled De La Hoya in that bout, forcing the “Golden Boy” to retire on the stool after eight rounds.

Pacquiao earlier said he was more anxious about fighting De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto compared to Mayweather.

“In my heart and my mind, I was more worried about De La Hoya and Cotto than this fight,” he told ESPN.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Kimmel asks Pacquiao: Will you beat up Justin Bieber, too?

Check out this video where Manny Pacquiao pays a surprise visit to Jimmy Kimmel's show.

The eight-division champion has become a regular guest on ABC's late-night show, but this time, he just dropped by to say hi.

Kimmel and Pacquiao also talked about Justin Bieber posing with Floyd Mayweather Jr. during their press conference for the May 2 fight.

"I noticed that Floyd keeps bringing Justin Bieber out in the ring, did you see that?" asked Kimmel.

"Will you beat Justin Bieber up, too?"

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

'Thor' star Chris Hemsworth named world's sexiest man

WASHINGTON - Australian actor and "Thor" avenger Chris Hemsworth is the world's sexiest man, the US magazine People said Thursday.

The honor was announced on the late night US TV show hosted by Jimmy Kimmel on ABC and in the magazine itself.

With his face at first masked and his voice digitally modified, Hemsworth, 31, speaking from Australia, toyed with playful yes-or-no questions from the American TV audience.

Kimmel's instructions and teasers to his crowd: "If you guess correctly, the sexiest man alive will make love to you, so this is big. I will give you three clues. He is sexy, he is a man, he is alive."

Is he in a band? No. Over age 35? Wrong, again.

"Are you hairy?" a bearded, balding man in the audience asked, smiling.

"Just up here," the still unknown masked person asked, gesturing to his head.

Fast forward: the audience zeroed in on the guy as a non-American, buffed dude who is an actor that has played a superhero in the movies, wielding a hammer: Thor in the Marvel Studios superhero movies? Bingo!

Hemsworth’s award was a small facial mirror.

"Anything you would like to say to the men who lost, specifically Matt Damon?" Kimmel asked, referring to the popular American actor.

"I like everything there is about being sexy, to pursing the lips the right way to squinting at the essential time. Thank you, Matt, and all the other previous intelligent men. This is based on an IQ test, not just the physical appearance," the actor said.

Asked if there was anyone he wanted to thank, Hemsworth said, "my parents, I guess, for putting this together."

In this week's People cover story, Hemsworth told People he thought it was "pretty funny" when he first heard word of his new status. He is married to Spanish actress Elsa Pataky and they have three children.

"I think you've bought me a couple of weeks of bragging rights around the house," he told the magazine.

"I can just say to her, 'Now, remember, this is what people think, so I don't need to do the dishes anymore, I don't need to change nappies. I'm above that. I've made it now.'"

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

LOOK: Manny Pacquiao meets Bill Clinton

It was a political party backstage at "Jimmy Kimmel Live" when Filipino ring icon and Sarangani Representative Manny Pacquiao met former United States President Bill Clinton.

Pacquiao has made it a tradition to appear on Kimmel’s show before his major fights, and he continued that tradition in the April 2 episode of the show, where he promoted his upcoming rematch against unbeaten American Timothy Bradley Jr.

It was Pacquiao's eighth appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" dating back to 2009. The only time he failed to make an appearance on the show prior to a major bout was last year, when he fought Brandon Rios.

Also making an appearance on the show was former President Clinton, who told Kimmel that he is hopeful of Pacquiao’s political future in the Philippines.

“I hope he goes right up on the ladder,” said Clinton, as quoted by the Washington Post. “He’s a great guy, and he’s a great role model in his country.”

“He’s very strong and honest,” he added.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com