Entertainment News Roundup: HBO out of boxing, Marilyn Monroe's roadster

Hey Dude, don't be afraid: McCartney pens book for his grandchildren

Paul McCartney has written a children's book called "Hey Grandude!", a name the 76-year-old former member of The Beatles says came from one of his grandchildren. "I've got eight grandchildren and they're all beautiful and one day one of them said to me 'Hey Grandude!'. I said 'What?' and I thought, I kind of like that," McCartney said in a video he posted on Twitter on Thursday.

HBO getting out of the boxing business after 45 years

U.S. broadcaster HBO said on Thursday it will be dropping live boxing from its programming schedule from 2019 due to dwindling ratings, ending a 45-year association with the sport. With the top fights on Pay Per View and boxing available on other places and platforms such as the streaming service DAZN, which in May partnered with Matchroom Boxing in a $1 billion eight-year deal to broadcast 16 U.S. based fights a year, HBO has decided to put those resources into other projects.

'Star Wars' fans promised an up-close look at Vader in virtual reality

Notorious "Star Wars" villain Darth Vader will appear next year in the first installment of a new three-part story told through virtual reality, producer Lucasfilm announced on Wednesday. The series, called "Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series," will be watchable on Oculus Quest virtual reality headsets, which offer immersive, 360-degree video experiences.

Marilyn Monroe's 1956 roadster could fetch $500,000 at auction

A two-seater convertible car owned by Marilyn Monroe is going up for auction in November and could fetch up to $500,000, organizers said on Tuesday. The 1956 raven black Ford Thunderbird, owned by the movie star for six years until shortly before her death in 1962, is being auctioned for the first time.

France investigates rapper's call to 'hang white people'

The Paris prosecutor's office on Wednesday opened an investigation into a little known French rapper who shot to social media fame with a video called "Hang white people". #NickConrad became the top trending topic on Twitter in France on Wednesday after politicians of all stripes condemned the music video, which YouTube said it had removed for violating its policy on hate speech.

Cosby's appeal likely to focus on the parade of accusers at his second trial

Bill Cosby's appeal of his conviction for sexual assault is expected to focus on a Pennsylvania judge's decision to allow several accusers to testify against him, but his challenge faces significant hurdles, according to legal experts. The disgraced comedian's first trial hinged largely on the credibility of a single woman, his one-time friend Andrea Constand, who said he drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2004, and ended in a hung jury.

Will Smith feels 'absolute terror' in Grand Canyon bungee jump

Actor Will Smith took a bungee jump into the Grand Canyon on Tuesday to mark his 50th birthday and raise money for a global education campaign. The "Men in Black" star leaped from a helicopter and bounced head first between the steep sides of a gorge at the Grand Canyon in Arizona in a jump streamed live on YouTube.

Police violence film 'Monsters and Men' shakes up actor Washington

As an African-American born and raised in the United States, actor John David Washington is no stranger to violence and racism. But Washington, the son of Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington, says he was shaken up when preparing to play a New York cop who gets caught up in the shooting of an unarmed black man in the movie "Monsters and Men."

Dench says 'can't approve' of cutting Spacey from Hollywood film

Veteran British actress Judi Dench has criticized the decision to remove Kevin Spacey from a completed Hollywood film last year after the two-time Oscar-winning actor was accused of sexual misconduct. The makers of "All the Money in the World" decided to reshoot Spacey's scenes with actor Christopher Plummer stepping in to play the late U.S. oil tycoon Jean Paul Getty in the drama about the 1973 kidnapping of Getty's grandson.

Bill Cosby, in cuffs, imprisoned for up to 10 years for sexual assault

Bill Cosby was marched out of court in shackles on Tuesday after a judge branded him a "predator" and sentenced him to between three and 10 years in prison for sexual assault, capping the downfall of the once-beloved comedian known as "America's Dad." Cosby, 81, was found guilty in April of three counts of aggravated indecent assault for the drugging and sexual assault of his one-time friend Andrea Constand, a former Temple University administrator, at his Philadelphia home in 2004.

(With inputs from Reuters)