Names and faces

This Jan. 4, 2014 file photo shows actor Gary Oldman speaking at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center in Palm Springs, Calif. Oldman is defending fellow actors Mel Gibson and Alec Baldwin from critics of their comments on Jews and homosexuals, saying people need to take a joke. In an interview with Playboy, Oldman decried "political correctness" that ensnared the two actors.

This Jan. 4, 2014 file photo shows actor Gary Oldman speaking at the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center in Palm Springs, Calif. Oldman is defending fellow actors Mel Gibson and Alec Baldwin from critics of their comments on Jews and homosexuals, saying people need to take a joke. In an interview with Playboy, Oldman decried "political correctness" that ensnared the two actors.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Diane Sawyer is stepping down as news anchor of ABC's World News in September after nearly five years in the job, to be replaced by her regular substitute, David Muir. The network also said Wednesday that George Stephanopoulos will add the role of chief anchorman for live news events to his current jobs as Good Morning America co-host and host of the Sunday morning This Week political show. The exit of Sawyer, 68, is not unexpected. She will remain at ABC News to concentrate on landing big interviews and doing prime-time specials. World News was a steady second to Brian Williams at NBC during her tenure, although the ABC broadcast has made gains among younger viewers. Muir, 40, has been groomed for the job. He steps in when Sawyer is away and traveled to China to report with her in 2010. He has a high profile on World News with his regular "Made in America" series where he does stories across the country. As chief anchorman of live news events, Stephanopoulos takes over a role traditionally held by the evening news anchorman at most network news divisions.

Gary Oldman has apologized for defending fellow actors Mel Gibson and Alec Baldwin from critics of their remarks about Jews and gays. "I am deeply remorseful that comments I recently made in the Playboy Interview were offensive to many Jewish people," the actor wrote Tuesday in an open letter to the Anti-Defamation League. "Upon reading my comments in print -- I see how insensitive they may be, and how they may indeed contribute to the furtherance of a false stereotype." During the expletive-laden Playboy interview, Oldman decried the "political correctness" that ensnared Gibson and Baldwin. Gibson delivered an anti-Semitic rant in 2006 while being arrested for drunken driving, and he later apologized. Baldwin last year was accused of using an anti-gay slur in a New York City street confrontation. "Mel Gibson is in a town that's run by Jews and he said the wrong thing because he's actually bitten the hand that I guess has fed him, and doesn't need to feed him anymore because he's got enough dough," Oldman said in the interview. In his later letter, first reported by the industry website Deadline.com, Oldman wrote, "I hope you will know that this apology is heartfelt, genuine, and that I have an enormous personal affinity for the Jewish people in general, and those specifically in my life." Oldman's Playboy comments had drawn a sharp response from Jewish leaders.

A Section on 06/26/2014