Group wants to boot The Who from Super Bowl
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. - A South Florida child abuse prevention group wants the NFL to reconsider booking The Who for the Super Bowl halftime show.
Child AbuseWatch.net objects to Pete Townshend performing because of his 2003 arrest by British police on suspicion of possessing child pornography. He was eventually cleared but placed on a sex offenders registry for five years as part of a formal police caution for accessing a website containing images of child abuse.
The Pompano Beach group's founder and CEO Evin Daly told the South Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper that their concerns are focused on Townshend.
"I'm a fan of the band, I grew up with The Who. Pete Townshend is the only issue, and the issue is that he's a former registered sex offender," Daly said. "The issue is, it sends the wrong message to American families."
He did not return phone or e-mail messages on Friday.
In a Dec. 17 letter to Daly, Joe Browne, the NFL's executive vice-president of communications and public affairs, said the league was aware of Townshend's arrest. He also noted Townshend's charity work.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told The Associated Press on Friday that Townshend and The Who will perform in the Feb. 7 halftime show at LandShark Stadium in Miami.
"U.K. police cleared him since he was doing research for a project on child abuse," McCarthy said.
Messages left on Friday for The Who's U.S. record label, Universal, and the band's publicist were not immediately returned.
Disney Completes Marvel Deal, Makes New One With Stan Lee
On the last day of 2009, Disney confirmed that it had completed its $4.24-billion acquisition of Marvel Entertainment as Marvel shareholders voted to approve the deal. The studio added frosting to its New Year's celebration cake by announcing that it had also acquired a 10-percent stake in Pow! Entertainment for $2.5 million. Pow! is headed by former Marvel president Stan Lee, who created or co-created many of Marvel's iconic superheroes, including Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Iron Man, and the Hulk. Disney, which already had a first-look deal with Pow!, acknowledged that it wanted to extend the relationship in order to take advantage of Lee's "knowledge and familiarity of the Marvel universe." The deal was announced on Thursday, three days after Lee's 87th birthday.
Shania to carry Olympic Torch
TIMMINS, Ont. - It will be a Party for Two on Friday as Canadian country music sensation Shania Twain carries the Olympic Torch through her hometown of Timmins, Ont.
It's expected that Twain will carry the torch during a two-hour celebration in Timmins. The Torch was dogged by protests last month as it made its way through Southern Ontario. But Olympic officials say there are no signs of any demonstrations planned for Timmins on Friday and they don't intend to boost security when the country music star carries the flame.
They say security officials "don't want to take away" the uniqueness of the torch run - both for Twain's fans and the singer herself - by having undue levels of security.
But they say security can be increased at a moment's notice if there is a sign of trouble.