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 * The year began with rap making history at the Grammys as
Childish Gambino's "This is America" became the first hip hop
track to win the ceremony's top record and song of the year
accolade. At the Oscars, "Green Book" took best film while
Briton Olivia Colman beat presumed favorite Glenn Close for the
best actress honor.
* The case surrounding "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett, who is
gay and black, lit up social media after he told Chicago police
two men had attacked him by throwing a noose around his neck,
pouring bleach on him and shouting abuse.
Smollett was later charged with making up the attack and taken
off the "Empire" TV show, although prosecutors dropped the
criminal case against him.
* Criminal cases during the #MeToo era saw Hollywood producer
Harvey Weinstein's trial, in which he is accused of rape and
predatory sexual assault, set for January 2020. He has pleaded
not guilty to the charges. Actor Cuba Gooding Jr pleaded not
guilty to charges of groping three women.
* Singer R. Kelly was arrested and charged with recruiting
underage girls and women to have sex with him. He has denied
abuse accusations for decades.
* Prosecutors dropped a sex assault case against Oscar winner
Kevin Spacey after the alleged victim refused to testify.
* Documentary "Leaving Neverland", in which two men said they
had been abused as children by Michael Jackson, renewed scrutiny
of the late singer's legacy. Jackson's estate called it a
"rehash of dated and discredited allegations".
* The U.S. college admissions cheating scandal saw actress
Felicity Huffman briefly go to prison. Rapper A$AP Rocky got a
suspended sentence following a brawl in Sweden.
* The Rolling Stones temporarily postponed their North American
tour after singer Mick Jagger underwent heart surgery. The Spice
Girls reunited for a tour, though without fifth member Victoria
Beckham.
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* Reality star Kim Kardashian revealed she is studying to become
a lawyer and her half-sister Kylie Jenner became the youngest
self-made billionaire thanks to her makeup business.
* Dwayne Johnson was named the world's highest-paid actor in an
annual Forbes list while married couple Nick Jonas and Priyanka
Chopra took People magazine's best dressed accolade. People
named singer John Legend "sexiest man alive".
* The ending of medieval drama "Game of Thrones" divided fans,
some petitioning for a re-write.
* Superhero film "Avengers: Endgame" broke "Avatar"'s 10-year
record as the biggest box-office movie of all time. Comic book
standalone "Joker" became the first R-rated Hollywood production
to take more than $1 billion in ticket sales worldwide.
* Actress Sophie Turner and singer Joe Jonas tied the knot and
Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence married art gallery director
Cooke Maroney. Chart topper Justin Bieber and model Hailey
Baldwin married a second time while singer Katy Perry and actor
Orlando Bloom got engaged. Actor Liam Hemsworth and singer Miley
Cyrus separated after seven months of marriage.
* Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan welcomed son Archie
while Kardashian and her rapper husband Kanye West announced the
arrival, via surrogate, of their fourth child, Psalm.
* The world said goodbye to several big names including fashion
designer Karl Lagerfeld, actors Doris Day, Peter Fonda, Albert
Finney, Carol Channing and Luke Perry, composer Andre Previn,
Prodigy frontman Keith Flint and Nobel Prize-winning author Toni
Morrison.
(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Andrew
Cawthorne)
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