The iconic actor from the 1980s and 1990s Val Kilmer has passed away.
Pneumonia.
He was 65 years old.
Best known for his roles in Top Gun and Batman Forever, Kilmer the brooding, versatile actor who played fan favorite Iceman in “Top Gun,” donned a voluminous cape as Batman in “Batman Forever” and portrayed Jim Morrison in “The Doors,” has died on Tuesday.
Kilmer died Tuesday night in Los Angeles, surrounded by family and friends, his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, said in an email to The Associated Press. The Times was the first to report his death on Tuesday.
Val Kilmer died from pneumonia. He had recovered after a 2014 throat cancer diagnosis that required two tracheotomies.
“I have behaved poorly. I have behaved bravely. I have behaved bizarrely to some. I deny none of this and have no regrets because I have lost and found parts of myself that I never knew existed,” he says toward the end of “Val,” the 2021 documentary on his career. “And I am blessed.”
Kilmer, the youngest actor ever accepted to the prestigious Juilliard School at the time he attended, experienced the ups and downs of fame more dramatically than most. His break came in 1984’s spy spoof “Top Secret!” followed by the comedy “Real Genius” in 1985. Kilmer would later show his comedy chops again in films including “MacGruber” and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.”
His movie career hit its zenith in the early 1990s as he made a name for himself as a dashing leading man, starring alongside Kurt Russell and Bill Paxton in 1993’s “Tombstone,” as Elvis’ ghost in “True Romance” and as a bank-robbing demolition expert in Michael Mann’s 1995 film “Heat” with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
The Iceman.
“While working with Val on ‘Heat’ I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character,” director Michael Mann said in a statement Tuesday night.
Actor Josh Brolin, a friend of Kilmer, was among others paying tribute.
“You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker,” Brolin wrote on Instagram. “There’s not a lot left of those.”
Kilmer — who took part in the Method branch of Suzuki arts training — threw himself into parts. When he played Doc Holliday in “Tombstone,” he filled his bed with ice for the final scene to mimic the feeling of dying from tuberculosis. To play Morrison, he wore leather pants all the time, asked castmates and crew to only refer to him as Jim Morrison and blasted The Doors for a year.
That intensity also gave Kilmer a reputation that he was difficult to work with, something he grudgingly agreed with later in life, but always defending himself by emphasizing art over commerce.
“In an unflinching attempt to empower directors, actors and other collaborators to honor the truth and essence of each project, an attempt to breathe Suzukian life into a myriad of Hollywood moments, I had been deemed difficult and alienated the head of every major studio,” he wrote in his memoir, “I’m Your Huckleberry.”
One of his more iconic roles — hotshot pilot Tom “Iceman” Kazansky opposite Tom Cruise — almost didn’t happen. Kilmer was courted by director Tony Scott for “Top Gun” but initially balked. “I didn’t want the part. I didn’t care about the film. The story didn’t interest me,” he wrote in his memoir. He agreed after being promised that his role would improve from the initial script. He would reprise the role in the film’s 2022 sequel, “Top Gun: Maverick.”
One career nadir was playing Batman in Joel Schumacher’s goofy, garish “Batman Forever” with Nicole Kidman and opposite Chris O’Donnell‘s Robin — before George Clooney took up the mantle for 1997’s “Batman & Robin” and after Michael Keaton played the Dark Knight in 1989’s “Batman” and 1992’s “Batman Returns.”
Janet Maslin in The New York Times said Kilmer was “hamstrung by the straight-man aspects of the role,” while Roger Ebert deadpanned that he was a “completely acceptable” substitute for Keaton. Kilmer, who was one and done as Batman, blamed much of his performance on the suit.
“When you’re in it, you can barely move and people have to help you stand up and sit down,” Kilmer said in “Val,” in lines spoken by his son Jack, who voiced the part of his father in the film because of his inability to speak. “You also can’t hear anything and after a while people stop talking to you, it’s very isolating. It was a struggle for me to get a performance past the suit, and it was frustrating until I realized that my role in the film was just to show up and stand where I was told to.”
His next projects were the film version of the 1960s TV series “The Saint” — fussily putting on wigs, accents and glasses — and “The Island of Dr. Moreau” with Marlon Brando, which became one of the decade’s most infamously cursed productions.
David Gregory’s 2014 documentary “Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau,” described a cursed set that included a hurricane, Kilmer bullying director Richard Stanley, the firing of Stanley via fax (who sneaked back on set as an extra with a mask on) and extensive rewrites by Kilmer and Brando. The older actor told the younger at one point: “‘It’s a job now, Val. A lark. We’ll get through it.’ I was as sad as I’ve ever been on a set,” Kilmer wrote in his memoir.
In 1996, Entertainment Weekly ran a cover story about Kilmer titled ″The Man Hollywood Loves to Hate.″ The directors Schumacher and John Frankenheimer, who finished “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” said he was difficult. Frankenheimer said there were two things he would never do: ″Climb Mount Everest and work with Val Kilmer again.″
Other artists came to his defense, like D. J. Caruso, who directed Kilmer in ″The Salton Sea″ and said the actor simply liked to talk out scenes and enjoyed having a director’s attention.
Val Kilmer as Batman with Nicole Kidman.
″Val needs to immerse himself in a character. I think what happened with directors like Frankenheimer and Schumacher is that Val would ask a lot of questions, and a guy like Schumacher would say, ‘You’re Batman! Just go do it,’″ Caruso told The New York Times in 2002.
After “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” the movies were smaller, like David Mamet human-trafficking thriller “Spartan"; ″Joe the King″ in 1999, in which he played a paunchy, abusive alcoholic; and playing the doomed ’70s porn star John Holmes in 2003’s “Wonderland.” He also threw himself into his one-man stage show “Citizen Twain,” in which he played Mark Twain.
“I enjoy the depth and soul the piece has that Twain had for his fellow man and America,” he told Variety in 2018. “And the comedy that’s always so close to the surface, and how valuable his genius is for us today.”
Kilmer spent his formative years in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles. He attended Chatsworth High School alongside future Oscar winner Kevin Spacey and future Emmy winner Mare Winningham. At 17, he was the youngest drama student ever admitted at the Juilliard School in 1981.
Shortly after he left for Juilliard, his younger brother, 15-year-old Wesley, suffered an epileptic seizure in the family’s Jacuzzi and died on the way to the hospital. Wesley was an aspiring filmmaker when he died.
″I miss him and miss his things. I have his art up. I like to think about what he would have created. I’m still inspired by him,″ Kilmer told the Times.
While still at Juilliard, Kilmer co-wrote and appeared in the play “How It All Began” and later turned down a role in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Outsiders” for the Broadway play, “Slab Boys,” alongside Kevin Bacon and Sean Penn.
Kilmer published two books of poetry (including “My Edens After Burns”) and was nominated for a Grammy in 2012 for spoken word album for “The Mark of Zorro.” He was also a visual artist and a lifelong Christian Scientist.
He dated Cher, married and divorced actor Joanne Whalley. He is survived by their two children, Mercedes and Jack.
“I have no regrets,” Kilmer told the AP in 2021. “I’ve witness and experienced miracles.”
The first major defeat for President Donald J. Trump came in the Wisconsin Supreme Court elections.
The second was last Saturday’s Louisiana's constitutional amendment referendum ballot measures.
First.
Wisconsin.
Former president Joe Biden and former vice president Kamala Harris stayed out the race. For good reason. They are very unpopular. Thank their support to Israel for that one. It had to be former president Barack Obama. Obama still maintains a strong favorably within the Democratic Party.
Trump won the state in 2016 and 2024. Now his first test of losses are sponsored of former representative Mike Gallagher, Elon Musk, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Vice President JD Vance and Sean "Softball" Hannity.
The Democratic-backed candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court defeated a challenger endorsed by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday, cementing a liberal majority for at least three more years.
Susan Crawford, a Dane County judge who led legal fights to protect union power and abortion rights and to oppose voter ID, defeated Republican-backed Brad Schimel in a race that broke records for spending, was on pace to be the highest-turnout Wisconsin Supreme Court election ever and became a proxy fight for the nation’s political battles.
Trump, Musk and other Republicans lined up behind Schimel, a former state attorney general. Democrats including former President Barack Obama and billionaire megadonor George Soros backed Crawford.
The first major election in the country since November was seen as a litmus test of how voters feel about Trump’s first months back in office and the role played by Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency has torn through federal agencies and laid off thousands of workers. Musk traveled to Wisconsin on Sunday to make a pitch for Schimel and personally hand out to $1 million checks to voters.
Early voting was more than 50% ahead of levels seen in the state’s Supreme Court race two years ago, when majority control was also at stake.
Seven polling sites in Milwaukee ran out of ballots, or were nearly out, due to “historic turnout,” and more ballots were on their way before polls closed, said Paulina Gutierrez, the executive director of the Milwaukee Elections Commission.
Clerks all across the state, including in the city’s deep-red suburbs, reported turnout far exceeding 2023 levels.
Schimel told his supporters he had conceded to Crawford, leading to yells of anger. One woman began to chant, “Cheater, cheater!”
“No,” Schimel said. “You’ve got to accept the results.”
A state race with nationwide significance
The court can decide election-related laws and settle disputes over future election outcomes.
“Wisconsin’s a big state politically, and the Supreme Court has a lot to do with elections in Wisconsin,” Trump said Monday. “Winning Wisconsin’s a big deal, so therefore the Supreme Court choice … it’s a big race.”
Crawford embraced the backing of Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights advocates, running ads that highlighted Schimel’s opposition to the procedure. She also attacked Schimel for his ties to Musk and Republicans, referring to Musk as “Elon Schimel” during a debate.
At least Trump can claim victory in Florida. Two House special elections went to the Republicans.
Schimel’s campaign tried to portray Crawford as weak on crime and a puppet of Democrats who, if elected, would push to redraw congressional district boundary lines to hurt Republicans and repeal a GOP-backed state law that took collective bargaining rights away from most public workers.
Voters in Eau Claire seemed to be responding to both messages. Jim Seeger, a 68-year-old retiree, said he voted for Schimel because he’s concerned about redistricting.
Jim Hazelton, a 68-year-old disabled veteran, said he had planned to abstain but voted for Crawford after Musk — whom he described as a “pushy billionaire” — and Trump got involved.
“He’s cutting everything,” Hazelton said of Musk. “People need these things he’s cutting.”
What’s on the court’s agenda?
Crawford’s win keeps the court under a 4-3 liberal majority, as it has been since 2023. A liberal justice is not up for election again until April 2028, ensuring liberals will either maintain or increase their hold on the court until then.
Crawford took the stage Tuesday evening surrounded by the four current liberal justices, thanked each of them and hugged them.
The court likely will be deciding cases on abortion, public sector unions, voting rules and congressional district boundaries. Who controls the court also could factor into how it might rule on any future voting challenge in the perennial presidential battleground state, which raised the stakes of the race for national Republicans and Democrats.
If George Soros can beat Republicans in Wisconsin and Louisiana, then he needs to bring that bag to the Midwest and swing them blue.
Musk and groups he funded poured more than $21 million into the contest. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, campaigned for Schimel in the closing weeks and said electing him was essential to protecting the Republican agenda. Trump endorsed Schimel just 11 days before the election.
Last year the court declined to take up a Democratic-backed challenge to congressional lines, but Schimel and Musk have said that if Crawford won, the court would redraw congressional districts to make them more favorable to Democrats.
Musk was pushing that message on election day, both on TV and the social media platform he owns, X, urging people to cast ballots in the final hours of voting.
Schimel, who leaned into his Trump endorsement in the closing days of the race, said he would not be beholden to the president or Musk despite the massive spending on the race by groups that Musk supports.
Crawford benefitted from campaign stops by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the vice presidential nominee last year, and money from billionaire megadonors including Soros and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
Record-breaking donations
The contest was the most expensive court race on record in the U.S., with spending nearing $99 million, according to a tally by the Brennan Center for Justice. That broke the previous record of $51 million record, for the state’s Supreme Court race in 2023.
Musk contributed $3 million to the campaign, while groups he funded poured in another $18 million. Musk also gave $1 million each to three voters who signed a petition he circulated against “activist” judges.
Schimel has leaned into his support from Trump while saying he would not be beholden to the president or Musk. Democrats have centered their messaging on the spending by Musk-funded groups.
50 Cent running on MAGAland.
“Ultimately I think it’s going to help Susan Crawford, because people do not want to see Elon Musk buying election after election after election,” Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler said Monday. “If it works here, he’s going to do it all over the country.”
Voters weigh in on Musk and reasons for whom they backed
At a polling place in Waunakee near Madison, 39-year-old Iraq War veteran Taylor Sullivan said he voted for Schimel for no reasons connected to Trump or Musk, but rather “because I support the police as much as Schimel does.”
In Milwaukee, 22-year-old college student Kenneth Gifford said he feels that Trump has done damage to American institutions and that Musk is trying to buy votes.
“I want an actual, respectable democracy,” he said.
Louisiana voters reject amendments. It's a blow to President Donald J. Trump, Gov. Jeff Landry, Sean "Softball" Hannity, Sen. John N. Kennedy (R-LA) and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson.
The media mogul and rapper pledges to invest millions to build a media franchise in Shreveport. His endorsement of policies that harmed the majority Black city may end up blowing up in his gap toothed face.
Louisiana voters soundly rejected four constitutional amendments championed by Landry related to crime, courts and finances.
Voters said no to each amendment by margins exceeding 60%, according to preliminary results the secretary of state’s office released after voting concluded Saturday evening.
50 Cent shaking hands with Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana.
Landry and his allies had crisscrossed the state in support of an amendment that would have made sweeping changes to the revenue and finance section of the state’s constitution. The amendment received bipartisan support from lawmakers during a November special session on tax reform and was presented as a way to boost teacher salaries, curb excess spending and get rid of special tax breaks in the constitution.
Yet critics from across the political spectrum lambasted the proposed amendment as lacking transparency. The bill exceeded 100 pages but was condensed into a 91-word ballot question for voters.
While major teachers’ unions backed the amendment, a coalition of liberal advocacy groups and influential conservative religious figures opposed the changes that would have liquidated educational trust funds and removed constitutional protections for tax breaks for some kinds of properties owned by religious institutions.
Yo, 50... This Gary Chambers. Stay out of the bayou.
Another proposed amendment would have made it easier for lawmakers to expand the crimes for which juveniles could be sentenced as adults. Criminal justice reform groups rallied to oppose what they described as draconian punishment that would not address the root causes of youth crime.
The remaining amendments would have allowed lawmakers to create regional specialty courts, which opponents said could be used to usurp judicial authority from local courts, and provided more flexibility in the timeline for holding elections for the state’s Supreme Court.
Landry said he was disappointed but would continue to fight for “generational changes” in Louisiana.
“We do not see this as a failure,” he said in a statement. “We realize how hard positive change can be to implement in a State that is conditioned for failure.”
Landry blamed the loss on the left-wing billionaire George Soros and “far left liberals.” Open Society Foundations, a philanthropic organization founded by Soros, did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The Louisiana Democratic Party called the outcome “a resounding defeat” for Landry.
“Together, with voters from every party, people came to the conclusion that the constitutional amendments were at best misguided - at worst an attempt to give tax breaks to the rich while locking up more of our children,” the party said in a statement. “That is not the Louisiana values we stand for.”
This overstuff turkey will become the newest insufferable Republican lawmaker in Congress.
Zionism won.
Rep-elect Randy Fine (R-FL) and Rep-elect Jimmy Patronis (R-FL) won against their Democratic opponents. Republicans can breathe a sigh of relief.
However, the outrage is aimed at President Donald J. Trump. He endorsed a controversial figure like Fine.
Fine and Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) will put Israel first.
Fine will join Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Nancy Mace (R-SC), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Clay Higgins (R-LA) and Chip Roy (R-TX) in demonizing Democrats.
Fine will definitely incite violence towards Reps. Sarah McBride (D-DE), Maxine Waters (D-CA), Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Andre Carson (D-IN).
Patronis, the state’s chief financial officer, fended off a challenge from Democrat Gay Valimont even though she far outraised and outspent him. He will fill the northwest Florida 1st District seat vacated by former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who was chosen to be Trump’s attorney general but withdrew from consideration amid allegations of sexual misconduct, which he has denied.
In north Florida’s 6th District, Fine won against Democratic challenger Josh Weil for a seat vacated by Mike Waltz when he was tapped to become Trump’s national security adviser.
The win bolsters Republicans’ margin to 220-213 in the House of Representatives.
Special elections are often low-turnout events that can lead to surprising results. While GOP wins were widely expected in both districts — two of the most heavily Republican in the country — it’s notable that Democrats narrowed the margins considerably from November.
The races were among the first electoral tests of Trump’s new administration. The narrowing margins may signal a shift in public sentiment, driven by unusually strong enthusiasm as Democrats from across the country poured millions into the races. The opposition party hoped that backlash to the president’s overhaul of federal agencies and firing of federal workers would carve into the GOP’s margins at the polls.
Why are Southern Republicans fat jackasses?
Trump takes credit for the wins
Trump congratulated both candidates late Tuesday and said his endorsement helped them secure a victory.
“THE TRUMP ENDORSEMENT, AS ALWAYS, PROVED FAR GREATER THAN THE DEMOCRATS FORCES OF EVIL. CONGRATULATIONS TO AMERICA!” he said on his Truth Social platform.
At a waterfront restaurant in Pensacola, congratulatory text messages were already lighting up Patronis’ phone as early results were posted Tuesday night. Patronis worked the crowd of about 100 people, shaking hands and giving hugs, his wife Katie and two sons in tow.
“Let it be known that this election is a reminder the Florida Panhandle will forever be red, and it’ll forever be Trump country,” Patronis told his supporters. “And even their $6 million could not overcome one simple post on social media by Donald Trump.”
Fine spoke to about 100 supporters at the 2A Ranch Saloon in Ormond Beach, a barn-like building adorned with Trump decor, including cardboard cutouts of the president and a photo signed by first lady Melania Trump. Above Fine, a glowing “Trump is still my president” sign hung from the overhead balcony.
After the speech, Fine downplayed the narrowing margin, saying it was in the double digits and in a special election.
“I think it’s hard to say that’s an underperformance,” Fine said.
Weil said in a statement that the “race was closer than anyone ever imagined.”
“This result is also a warning sign to Donald Trump, Randy Fine, and the unelected oligarchs taking apart the government,” Weil said.
What do the results show?
Republicans in both districts are on track to win with narrower margins than their predecessors in every county. They also are on track to trail Trump’s 2024 share of the vote in the two congressional districts.
In the 6th Congressional District, Trump received roughly 65% of the vote in 2024, just behind the 67% Waltz received in his final House reelection bid. In Tuesday’s special election, Fine was underperforming Waltz by about 10 percentage points.
In Volusia County, Trump received 58% and Waltz received about 60% in 2024, while Fine was hovering around the 50% mark with nearly all the votes reported.
Fine, a self-described “conservative firebrand,” had faced growing pressure during the race’s final days as some Republicans publicly criticized his campaign and fundraising efforts, questioning whether this race would embarrass Republicans less than 100 days into Trump’s administration. Weil’s campaign raised an eye-popping $9 million compared to Fine’s $1 million.
National Democratic leaders attributed Weil’s fundraising success to what they characterized as widespread outrage against Trump. That outrage failed to materialize in large enough numbers to overturn the outcome, foiling Democrats’ hope to pull off a huge upset that would have buoyed their party.
The Democratic National Committee’s chair, Ken Martin, said the results showed “Democrats overperformed.” The National Republican Congressional Committee said the victories sent a message that “Americans are fired up to elect leaders who will fight for President Trump’s agenda and reject the Democrats’ failed policies,” spokesperson Mike Marinella said.
Making America Israel Great Again.
What did voters say?
Carol Vyhonsky, who drove to Fine’s election party from her home in Brevard County with a group of her friends, said she had no issues with Fine’s victory not being as strong as his predecessor’s was last year.
“The polling was looking a little iffy there for a while, but he pulled through,” Vyhonsky said. “As long as he won, that’s the important thing.”
Retired nurse Brenda Ray and her husband, Vietnam War veteran Mike Ray, made it to the polls to support Patronis earlier in the day. Brenda Ray said she didn’t know a lot about him but supported him because she believes he’ll “vote with our president.”
“That’s all we’re looking for,” she said.
Who are Fine and Patronis?
Fine was first elected to the Florida House in 2016 and ran each year as a representative until 2024 when he successfully won his election to the Florida Senate. He is known for his support of Israel and his efforts to restrict LGBTQ+ rights.
Patronis’ family founded the well-known Panama City restaurant Capt. Anderson’s, located along the Gulf of Mexico. He has been involved in Florida politics since he was in college, interning in the Florida Senate before being elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2006. He was appointed by then-Gov. Rick Scott to become the state’s CFO in 2017 and won races to keep the Cabinet-level office in 2018 and 2022.
Ashley St. Clair is taking Elon Musk to court for child support.
MAGAland will turn on you if you are not ride or die.
Candace Owens, Ann Coulter, Matt Drudge, Anthony Scaramucci, Michael Cohen, Stephanie Grisham, Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney are no longer welcomed.
Even white nationalist Nick Fuentes is on this list.
Now another one added.
The far right media agitator confessed on social media the father of her child is Elon Musk. The billionaire of X Corp and Secretary of Government Efficiency has been President Donald J. Trump's most adamant supporters.
The woman, Ashley St. Clair has turned on Musk and soon Trump.
She is a controversial figure.
It was revealed that Musk paid her $2.5 million to get rid of her.
St. Clair isn't taking that. She wants parental support and she is planning to take Musk to court for child support and a DNA test to confirm that he is the father.
She hasn't been on X lately since she was swamped with death threats and claims of her being Mossad.
St. Clair is a staunch supporter of Israel.
Musk, a sexual predator with 13 children (actually 15) children has used non-disclosure agreements to keep women from confessing his weird encounters.
Musk was under federal watch for his sexual predator claims. Those seem to magically disappear now that Trump is back in office. He claims ignorance.
In all sincerity, appreciate the kind words. Wish I did not feel the need to make a statement. Kids should be off limits for journalists
Will be spending time with my family & logging off for a while.
“I don’t know if the child is mine or not, but am not against finding out. No court order is needed,” Musk said in a post on X, responding to reporting that a court has ordered him to take a paternity test.
“Despite not knowing for sure, I have given Ashley $2.5M and am sending her $500k/year,” he added.
It was a reply to the mentally ill far right agitator Laura Loomer.
Loomer allegedly slept with Trump. She accompanied him for his debate and Sept. 11th commencement. Loomer is notorious for harassing and stalking political opponents.
Musk’s comments came after St. Clair was seen selling her Tesla, saying she was doing so after Musk allegedly cut childcare payments.
Ashley St. Clair and Elon Musk.
St. Clair shot back at Musk for saying a court is not necessary for him to take a paternity test, saying, “Elon, we asked you to confirm paternity through a test before our child (who you named) was even born. You refused.”
She also addressed his claims related to continued childcare support.
“And you weren’t sending me money, you were sending support for your child that you thought was necessary… until you withdrew most of it to maintain control and punish me for ‘disobedience,’” she continued in her post on X on Monday. “But you’re really only punishing your son.”
St. Clair attacked Musk for using his social media platform “to distribute derogatory messages about me and our child to the entire world.”
“It’s all about control with you, and everyone can see it. America needs you to grow up, you petulant man-child,” she added.
The longtime restaurant where women who served customers in attractive attire is going bust, literally.
Conservatives will claim it went woke when they hired plus size, transgender, male and non white servers.
Progressives will claim it was too sexist and only served a purpose of making sexually predators lust for servers.
Others will say bad service.
Regardless, Hooters will be a shocking lost if the company decides to close locations nationwide.
Hooters, the U.S.-based restaurant chain known for chicken wings and “Hooters Girls” skimpy wait-staff outfits, has filed for bankruptcy protection.
HOA Restaurant Group filed the motion for Chapter 11 protection Monday in the North Texas Bankruptcy Court in Dallas.
The company ran into financial woes as its debts mounted, but it says it intends to stay open and resolve its troubles within months. A group of the company’s original founders that own almost a third of Hooters’ U.S. locations, including about half of its biggest volume restaurants, plans to buy and operate more of the outlets, Hooters said in a news release.
“Our renowned Hooters restaurants are here to stay and we are taking action to strengthen our business to better serve our valued customers over the long term,” the company said in a notice on its website.
Hooters, based in Atlanta, Georgia, was founded in Clearwater, Florida, in 1983. Trouble had been brewing for a while.
Hooters had sponsored the No. 9 NASCAR car driven by Chase Elliott since 2017, but last year, Hendrick Motorsports ended its ties to the longtime sponsor because it was not meeting its financial commitments.
Its business strategy has faced challenges over the years, including lawsuits over its hiring of only “Hooters Girls” to serve customers.
Last year it agreed to pay $250,000 and provide other relief to settle a race and color discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against a Hooters outlet in Greensboro, North Carolina.
In 2022, the restaurant refuted claims it was shutting down and rebranding due to changing customer tastes.
In 2019, the Hooters hotel-casino off the Las Vegas Strip was sold to an Indian hotel company and rebranded as the OYO Hotel and Casino.
In 2017, the company tried opening a restaurant that didn’t feature wait-staff in tight tops, as a test of a different approach to its original concept.
Longtime Atlanta area rapper Young Scooter has passed away. He was associated with Gucci Mane, Future and Rocko.
Kenneth Edward Rashaad Bailey was born on March 28, 1986.
He died on March 28, 2025.
He was signed to Black Migos Gang Music, Freebandz and 1017 Icy Records.
The incident involving him and the Atlanta Police.
The rapper was 39 years old.
He first gained regional recognition for his collaborations with the rappers, as well as his mixtape Street Lottery (2012) and its lead single, "Colombia". His guest appearance on Future and Juice Wrld's 2018 song, "Jet Lag" marked his sole entry on the Billboard Hot 100.
Scooter was born in Walterboro, South Carolina. When he was nine, his family moved to the Kirkwood Community (also known as "Lil Mexico") of Atlanta, Georgia. In 2008, after he was charged with drug trafficking, he decided to start pursuing a career in music. Scooter was a childhood friend with fellow Atlanta rapper Future.
While his first mixtape Plug Talkin didn't receive much attention, with his second release Finessin and Flexin' he made a name for himself, already collaborating with Future.
Scooter's real breakthrough came in January 2013, when he released his mixtape Street Lottery. SPIN named it "Rap release of the week" and XXL featured it on its "Best mixtapes of January" list. Eric Diep of XXL called Scooter "one of the hottest street rappers coming out of Atlanta" and wrote that tracks like the single "Colombia" and "Street Lottery" (featuring Bun B) are "proof of his undeniable talent". The tape was also a viral success gaining over 100,000 downloads on DatPiff.
The Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office told Atlanta outlet 11 Alive and entertainment magazine Variety that Kenneth Bailey, 39, died after an incident in Atlanta on Friday night.
In a press conference Friday, Atlanta Police Department homicide commander Lt. Andrew Smith said that officers responded to a dispute with a weapon Friday, which was Young Scooter's 39th birthday. He said initial reports indicated that shots were fired.
Future loses another member of the Freebandz.
USA TODAY has reached out to the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office for comment.
"Once officers arrived they knocked on the door. A male opened the door and immediately shut the door on the officers," Smith said. Then, APD set up a perimeter at the scene, Smith said.
"During the process of establishing the perimeter, two males fled out of the rear of the house," Smith said. "One male returned back into the house. The other male jumped two fences as he was fleeing. When officers located him on the other side of the fence, he appeared to have suffered an injury to his leg."
"Officers rendered aid and he was transported to Grady Hospital where he was pronounced deceased," Smith told reporters, adding that "that male is going to be a 39-year-old male out of Atlanta," which matches Bailey's description.
Atlanta police clarified that the Young Scooter incident was not an officer-involved shooting.
Gucci Mane with Scooter.
"Just to be very clear, the injury that was sustained was not via the officers on scene. It was when the male was fleeing," Smith continued.
Scooter was known for his freestyle type of rapping, without writing down his lyrics, similarly to Gucci Mane. He defined his style as "count music", and explained it in an interview with Complex: "I don't really care what I say on a beat as long as it's about some money. When you try to think hard and write it out, that's when it's gonna be fucked up."
Scooter's lyrical themes are largely about money and drugs. David Drake of Complex compared his "populist, kingpin rapping" to that of Young Jeezy, although he noted that Scooter doesn't have the "all-encompassing grandiosity" of his fellow Atlanta rapper.
Scooter listed his influences as Jay-Z, 50 Cent and Sean "Puffy" Combs aka Diddy.
Gucci Mane has saw people who he mentored throughout his career die. Young Dolph, Takeoff, Slim Dunkin, Big Scarr, Enchanted and Young Scooter have passed away.