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An actor and screenwriter has accused Tyler Perry of sexual harassment, alleging in a lawsuit that the media mogul repeatedly made unwanted advances and sought to cover up an assault with an offer to develop a show.

The 46-page complaint, filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court plaintiff, seeks punitive damages totaling $260 million and compares the allegations to those of other well-known entertainment industry figures accused of sexual misconduct.

“Mr. Perry’s success has led him to believe that money and influence can get him whatever he wants,” the complaint states, adding: “Mr. Perry sought the one thing his wealth and influence could not purchase — a sexual relationship with a man who would remain silent.”

In a statement, a lawyer for Perry accused the plaintiff, Derek Dixon, of trying to get close to the defendant “for what now appears to be nothing more than setting up a scam. But Tyler will not be shaken down and we are confident these fabricated claims of harassment will fail.”

According to the lawsuit, Perry offered Dixon — who at the time worked for an events company — his first acting role in 2019. A few months later, he invited Dixon to his home in Georgia and served him several drinks before telling the aspiring actor to stay in his guest room, according to the suit.

Perry suddenly appeared in Dixon’s bed and began groping him, according to the suit.

“Dixon kept informing Perry that he was not into sex in order to keep Perry at bay while at the same time not insulting the person who was dangling his career in front of him,” the suit states.

Perry continued to text Dixon about his sex life, according to the suit, which says that the more the actor ignored Perry the more aggressive he became. After Dixon quit his job and took a role on Perry’s show, “The Oval,” the suit says, Perry would ask about the actor about his sexual preferences; go on sexually explicit rants; and call or text Dixon almost daily, treating him as his on-call “pet.”

Dixon’s character in “The Oval” was scripted to be shot at the end of the season, but according to the suit, Perry indicated that he may survive the shooting and appear in future seasons if Dixon did a “good job.”

“Dixon immediately understood his job security depended on his ‘relationship’ with Perry,” according to the suit, which adds that Perry warned Dixon not to discuss any of their conversations with castmates or tell them about their friendship.

The suit accuses Perry of groping Dixon twice in 2020, including during a cast trip to the Bahamas. In 2021, while at Perry’s house, the filmmaker allegedly pulled down Dixon’s underwear and “began to vigorously grab, grope, and play with Dixon’s buttocks in a sexual manner. Dixon was naked, stunned and seized by tremendous fear.”

After the alleged assault, the suit says one of Perry’s lawyers told Dixon that “Christmas came early” because he’d done a good job on “The Oval.” He was given a raise for the following season, according to the suit, and Perry wanted to buy the rights to shoot a pilot for a script Dixon had written, called “Losing It.”

The suit says Dixon struggled with the decision about whether he should go public with allegations of sexual assault or accept Perry’s money. He ultimately “bowed to the pressure,” the suit says, and sought to advance his career.

While Perry purchased the rights to the script and filmed it, the suit states, he “had no intention of ever producing ‘Losing It.’ Perry never made any effort to sell the show or shop it. Perry was only using the show as a quid pro quo to Dixon, holding its production over Dixon’s head like the sword of Damocles.”

The show was not developed, according to the suit, and Perry later offered Dixon a position as a writer on one of his shows. Dixon turned Perry down and filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The status of that complaint was not immediately clear.

BOSTON — A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from limiting passport sex markers for many transgender and nonbinary Americans.

Tuesday’s ruling from U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick means that transgender or nonbinary people who are without a passport or need to apply for a new one can request a male, female or “X” identification marker rather than being limited to the marker that matches the gender assigned at birth.

In an executive order signed in January, the president used a narrow definition of the sexes instead of a broader conception of gender. The order said a person is male or female and rejected the idea that someone can transition from the sex assigned at birth to another gender.

Kobick first issued a preliminary injunction against the policy last month, but that ruling applied only to six people who joined with the American Civil Liberties Union in a lawsuit over the passport policy.

In Tuesday’s ruling she agreed to expand the injunction to include transgender or nonbinary people who are currently without a valid passport, those whose passport is expiring within a year, and those who need to apply for a passport because theirs was lost or stolen or because they need to change their name or sex designation.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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The government failed to show that blocking its policy would cause it any constitutional injury, Kobick wrote, or harm the executive branch’s relations with other countries.

The transgender and nonbinary people covered by the preliminary injunction, meanwhile, have shown that the passport policy violates their constitutional rights to equal protection, Kobick said.

“Even assuming a preliminary injunction inflicts some constitutional harm on the Executive Branch, such harm is the consequence of the State Department’s adoption of a Passport Policy that likely violates the constitutional rights of thousands of Americans,” Kobick wrote.

Kobick, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, sided with the ACLU’s motion for a preliminary injunction, which stays the action while the lawsuit plays out.

“The Executive Order and the Passport Policy on their face classify passport applicants on the basis of sex and thus must be reviewed under intermediate judicial scrutiny,” Kobick wrote in the preliminary injunction issued earlier this year. “That standard requires the government to demonstrate that its actions are substantially related to an important governmental interest. The government has failed to meet this standard.”

In its lawsuit, the ACLU described how one woman had her passport returned with a male designation while others are too scared to submit their passports because they fear their applications might be suspended and their passports held by the State Department.

Another mailed in their passport Jan. 9 and requested to change their name and their sex designation from male to female. That person was still waiting for their passport, the ACLU said in the lawsuit, and feared missing a family wedding and a botany conference this year.

In response to the lawsuit, the Trump administration argued that the passport policy change “does not violate the equal protection guarantees of the Constitution.” It also contended that the president has broad discretion in setting passport policy and that plaintiffs would not be harmed since they are still free to travel abroad.

Colossus came online in September 2024. The data center, housed in a former home appliance factory, is responsible for training X’s Grok chatbot.

Although economic leaders and local officials have praised xAI’s decision to locate in Memphis for its revenue-generating potential, residents of a nearby historically underserved Black neighborhood called Boxtown are skeptical of the venture.

In recent months they have mobilized against xAI, which is now seeking a permanent permit for a total of 15 turbines for Colossus.

The Shelby County Health Department, which said in May that it expected the permit review process to take 60 days, said “it would not be commenting on any potential or pending litigation.”

State Rep. Justin J. Pearson, whose district includes Boxtown, likened the current battle to the biblical story of David and the Goliath.

“We’re Davids in this fight,” he said. “It’s alright to be David because we know how the story ends.”

Memphis Mayor Paul Young has defended the project, recently writing in The Commercial Appeal that it’s estimated to bring $12 million in tax revenue to the city in its first year. He also said that a newly introduced ordinance would direct one-fourth of that revenue to communities within 5 miles of the facility.

In its permit application, xAI provided manufacturer information about the pollutants the turbines emit. Representatives for xAI have previously said the company would remove some turbines and equip the remaining ones with technology to lower their emissions.

Advocates say South Memphis was already dealing with industrial pollution, long before xAI’s arrival. The letter sent Tuesday references the city’s ozone levels and Shelby County’s high rates of asthma-related emergency room visits.

Because the federal lawsuit would be brought under the Clean Air Act, the NAACP was required to provide a 60-day notice.

“Memphis deserves honesty,” said Patrick Anderson, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. “Memphis deserves transparency and, most of all, Memphis deserves clean air.”

President Donald Trump will extend a deadline for the owner of social media platform TikTok to find a U.S. buyer so that it can remain operating in the country, the White House said Tuesday.

Trump plans to sign an executive order this week that will keep the platform, which has about 170 million U.S. users, running despite a bipartisan law banning it over national security concerns.

The law requires the app’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell it to a non-Chinese buyer or face a nationwide prohibition.

In April, the president extended an earlier deadline by 75 days to avoid disruption for the app.

“As he has said many times, President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Tuesday.

The order will give ByteDance an additional 90 days to comply with the law, which was upheld early this year by the Supreme Court.

“This extension will last 90 days, which the Administration will spend working to ensure this deal is closed so that the American people can continue to use TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure,” Leavitt said.

Earlier Tuesday, the president said that any divestiture deal would “probably have to get China approval, but I think we’ll get it. I think President Xi will ultimately approve it.”

State lawmakers across the country say they are deeply concerned about the lack of security they receive in the wake of the targeted shooting of two Minnesota legislators, even as local officials attempt to ramp up some safety measures.

Outside of their state capitol complexes, state legislators have little to no security protection. No state offers proactive security to members of its legislature, though law enforcement will typically step in if there are credible threats.

And despite the renewed attention to the issue, lawmakers fear little will ultimately be done that can make a meaningful difference, given that in many states, such positions are effectively part-time jobs with small budgets.

Democratic Minnesota state Rep. Emma Greenman, who was a close colleague of this weekend’s shooting victims, said the attack in her state would almost certainly have to serve as a “wake-up call” around the lack of safety measures for state lawmakers, but that solutions remained sparse.

“I think a lot of us are going through this,” Greenman told NBC News in an interview. “We are normal people in normal neighborhoods.”

“What does this mean now for part-time legislators?” she added. “We are not members of Congress, who have a lot more resources. Frankly, there’s just been a lot more thinking about how to protect members of Congress, or a governor, probably even a mayor.”

The safety concerns following the Minnesota shootings have also extended to members of Congress. Only a handful of federal lawmakers receive 24-hour protection from Capitol Police security details, though members may ask for extra protection.

Still, that level of protection goes far beyond what is available to state legislators. Like Greenman, Arizona state Rep. Stephanie Simacek, a Democrat, said she receives no security outside of her state Capitol complex.

“We are constantly out there, vulnerable. Whether I’m volunteering somewhere, knocking doors for someone, starting to run my own campaign, I’m out there, vulnerable,” Simacek said.

In Simacek’s home state, then-Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., was shot in the head while she was meeting with constituents in 2011.

Simacek, who makes $24,000 annually as a state representative, said there is no appetite to fund a security apparatus for legislators.

“I don’t see any path for that,” she said. “And that’s so frightening, considering the circumstances right now.”

So Simacek is taking matters into her own hands. She said she’s already started the process of installing cameras on her home property, which she is paying for herself, not with campaign funds.

Kansas state Sen. Tory Marie Blew, a Republican, also said she doesn’t receive any security protection after she leaves the state Capitol building in Topeka.

She also said she has no hope for a legislative path that might fund added safety measures.

“It would be expensive, obviously, and we’d have to have a budget item for it,” she said. There are also logistical complications, especially in larger states, Blew noted.

“I live three hours away from the state capital. I don’t think we’d even know where to start for all these lawmakers who live far [away],” she said.

Blew and her family have a Ring security device on their door at home, “but we can’t afford a massive security system,” she said.

Authorities said the Minnesota shooting suspect, Vance Boelter, visited the homes of four elected officials early Saturday, impersonating a police officer. Authorities allege he shot and killed state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband at their home, shortly after, they say, he seriously wounded state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife in a separate shooting at their home.

Like Greenman, Simacek and many others serving in state government, Blew has been on the receiving end of threatening emails and somewhat regularly gets “yelled at” in public.

“It’s part of the job,” she said. “More and more, it’s nerve-wracking.”

A number of state officials in recent days have attempted to take some additional steps to protect lawmakers.

Wisconsin officials announced increased security at their state Capitol on Monday as lawmakers look to continue their legislative session. New Hampshire officials did the same.

In Colorado, officials paused public access to the state’s campaign finance database. Campaign finance filings in every state almost always require a candidate to list their home address, making it publicly searchable for anyone. Legislators in Minnesota, New Mexico and North Dakota took similar actions, The Associated Press reported, removing lawmakers’ home addresses from state government websites and databases where they are listed or searchable.

Elsewhere, other actions to ensure lawmaker safety marked a clear interruption in what have typically been mundane legislative procedures.

For example, following the shooting, lawmakers in one state postponed the unveiling of at least one bill that was expected to receive a lot of attention politically while they evaluated whether proper security protocols were in place for its release, an operative in that state said.

In the meantime, lawmakers NBC News spoke with said they’re not taking any chances with their home safety.

Simacek said she “makes sure the door is always locked” and reminds her children “that we don’t open it when anybody knocks — we see who it is first.”

Greenman, who was forced to shelter in place throughout the weekend as law enforcement officials frantically searched for the Minnesota suspect, said she remains fearful.

“Even now that this guy’s caught, there is going to be a worry about copycats,” she said. “We all feel much more vulnerable now.”

The pace of political violence has so quickly accelerated in the United States that the country is poised to field a widening group of 2028 contenders who have experienced it in some form.

To date, at least a half-dozen public officials who may run for president in 2028 have either personally faced political violence, lost friends in such plots or had to manage political unrest in their states.

Foisted onto the national stage by these incidents, these politicians have given the public a glimpse of how they conduct themselves in a crisis, including their ability to combat false messaging that often proliferates over social media and whether they have the capability to lead without being dragged into petty political skirmishes.

The assassination over the weekend of Melissa Hortman, the Democratic leader of the Minnesota state House, and her husband was the latest episode of violence that captured national attention. Another Democratic state legislator and his wife were also shot multiple times and are recovering.

It thrust Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee and potential 2028 White House hopeful, into the national spotlight, where he directed the messaging behind a major investigation and manhunt while confronting his own grief at losing “the dearest of friends.”

The Minnesota tragedy came as California Gov. Gavin Newsom was locked in a cross-country confrontation with the White House over its use of federal law enforcement amid protests over immigration arrests in the state.

Just two months ago in Pennsylvania, an attacker firebombed Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence because of his position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Shapiro had already dealt with the fallout from political violence after his state handled the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler last July; the shooter also killed a man at Trump’s campaign rally that day.

That in turn impacted JD Vance, who had met with Trump that morning to discuss joining the ticket as his vice presidential running mate. Trump announced Vance as his pick less than 48 hours after the shooting — a move that positioned Vance, then 39, as a young prospective heir to the MAGA movement who may be eyeing the 2028 GOP presidential nomination. Trump also faced a second assassination attempt while they were running mates.

And in 2020, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, another Democrat on the shortlist of 2028 contenders, was the subject of a kidnapping plot.

Other Democrats have had to deal with losing a close friend or colleague to the violence.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who ran in 2020 and may also be a 2028 hopeful, told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday that she had dined with Hortman just hours before the assassination.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker also had an interaction with Hortman on Friday, the night he delivered an address at the Minnesota Democratic Party’s annual dinner. On Monday, Pritzker was updating local news media of what he said was a “hodgepodge” of lists that included 600 names of officials found among the belongings of Vince Boelter, the man charged in the killing of Hortman and her husband. Pritzker said he was not among those on any target list.

A volatile political climate often immersed in misinformation and partisan vitriol has contributed to the spate of attacks on public office holders, political observers say. Leaders need to show in these times that they can help heal a community, turn down the temperature and even reach across the aisle.

“The country has made it very clear it’s sick of how divisive things are, and I think the country is sick of the violence and the example it’s showing children and the pain it’s causing people,” said Stephanie Grisham, a former Trump press secretary who resigned after the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol. “Anybody running for office in the future would be foolish not to consider that.”

Grisham, who endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris last year, added of Walz: “His message was absolutely spot on. It was: we should be able to have a conversation with our neighbors.”

She said the repudiation of such acts “should be loud, and it should be Republicans and Democrats who can’t stand each other, standing side by side, to say, ‘Yes, we disagree vehemently, but that doesn’t give anyone the right to hurt a human being.’”

Pete Giangreco, a Democratic strategist who advised Klobuchar in her 2020 presidential campaign, pointed to Saturday’s “No Kings” protests across the country as a model for constructive dissent.

“It’s a call to get back to a place where we could have our differences, but do it in a civil way in elections that are free and open for everybody who is a citizen,” he said of the protests that drew hundreds of thousands but remained peaceful.

“I think the more partisan Democrats get about the messaging as it relates to the political violence, the less helpful it is both to the country as a whole, but also to the prospects of winning in 2028,” Giangreco said.

For Newsom, the message he sent to his constituents was to demonstrate peacefully. And to the wider national audience, both the governor and his office deluged information spaces, either to correct false narratives or combat negative messaging coming from the White House.

“This is about all of us. This is about you. California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next,” Newsom said in a major address he framed as the president sending Marines to his state to try to provoke violent clashes. “Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived.”

Trump officials boasted about images coming from California, saying they were “happy to have this fight,” and Trump gave the green light for law enforcement to take aggressive action. “If they spit, we will hit,” he said.

“It is really tragic to be in a situation where it is the right thing to do in these situations, to basically make sure that Republicans aren’t able to step in there and set a false narrative,” said Pat Dennis, president of American Bridge 21st Century, a pro-Democratic group.

He said one of the more dangerous contributions to an era of political violence in recent years came in January, when Trump pardoned or offered commutations to those involved in the Capitol attack. That included individuals convicted — and some who even pleaded guilty to — attacking law enforcement officers.

“These groups have a sense that they are effectively above the law because the president will pardon them for their crimes,” Dennis said. “And I believe that is done as an intimidation technique.”

Trump likewise recently brought up the prospect of pardoning those convicted in the plot targeting Whitmer, saying he would “take a look at” pardoning the men involved and said the trial “looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job.” Whitmer said she was disappointed with Trump’s remarks.

Prosecutors said that two men convicted in the kidnapping scheme wanted to grab Whitmer and hang her.

“Don’t forget the most important thing — these defendants were outside a woman’s house in the middle of the night with night vision goggles and guns and a plan to kidnap her. And they made a bomb. That’s real enough, isn’t it?” a federal prosecutor said in closing arguments.

“When the president was shot at in Pennsylvania, I was one of the first people on either side of the aisle to condemn it,” Whitmer said last month at the Mackinac Policy Conference in Michigan. “We have to condemn political violence, no matter where it comes from, no matter who it’s aimed at. It does a disservice to everyone if we do anything short of that.”

Another potential Republican 2028 candidate touched by violence is Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had been so shaken by the Capitol attack by Trump supporters that he deemed it “one of the saddest days in our history” and a “national embarrassment.”

“With our increasingly heated rhetoric and our wild conspiracies, our politics has been playing with fire for a long, long time,” Rubio said at the time.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. — who is also discussed as a 2028 candidate — and Klobuchar were also present during the violent assault on the Capitol that day.

The toxicity and divisiveness that have exploded in America over the last decade have led to a steady rise in threats to members of Congress. Last year, the Capitol Police saw an 18% increase to their threat assessment section load, investigating 9,474 concerning statements and direct threats against members of Congress, their families or their staff members. In 2021, threats surpassed that number after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, when police investigated 9,625 threats. On Monday, a 25-year-old Georgia man was arraigned on federal charges of making violent threats against Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Deb Fischer, R-Neb., the Justice Department said.

“When someone attacks an individual — like this weekend, like Gov. Shapiro, like Steve Scalise several years ago — that is an attack not just on a political ideology, it is an attack on public service,” said former Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., who is now a fellow with the Center for American Progress. “Everyone can relate to that. Everyone can feel for that. That’s why I think it’s more important than ever that people be very careful about the message.”

Jones, who prosecuted the 1963 church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, in which four young girls of the Black church were killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan, said he sees parallels to today’s volatile climate and the civil rights era. Politicians need to remember that violence begets violence, Jones warned, so even condoning small acts of violence can have a tragic impact.

“That bombing took place in part because of the rhetoric of an Alabama governor and a racist police commissioner that was giving a permission structure to a group of folks that was basically: ‘Do what you want to because we’re not going to really look at it,’ I am absolutely convinced of that,” Jones said.

After facing his own interactions with law enforcement, Shapiro posted a message on social media Saturday upon hearing of the politically motivated shootings in Minnesota.

“Leaders across our country must speak and act with the moral clarity this moment demands,” Shapiro tweeted. “This is unacceptable — we all have a responsibility to stand up and work to defeat the political violence that is tearing through our country. America is better than this.”

Steve Schale, a Democratic strategist in Florida who works with a bipartisan group that recruits candidates for the state Legislature, said the threats against public officials could have a paralyzing effect.

“One of the unspoken tragedies of this is it’s just going to make that much harder for good people to be willing to raise their hand and enter public service,” he said.

Schale said that part of Joe Biden’s success in 2020 was as an antidote to chaos and that a similar dynamic could play out in 2028. “Candidates who can speak to these fears and then speak in a unifying fashion, I think will probably do well,” he said. “But more importantly, I just think all of us who have a platform at any level have to take more responsibility for what we say and how we contribute to it.”

For Vance, last year’s failed assassination attempts on Trump provided Republicans with a rallying cry: “Fight! Fight! Fight!” — the words Trump defiantly offered after his ear was bloodied in Butler. Vance spoke about his reaction to the Butler attempt during an interview last fall with podcast host Joe Rogan. He recalled that he was playing mini-golf with his young children in Ohio at the time and that his “fight or flight” instincts went into effect: He went home to “load all my guns, and basically stand like a sentry at our front door.”

After the Minnesota shootings, Vance called Walz, his opponent in last year’s vice presidential debate, to express condolences, a source familiar with the call told NBC News.

Trump condemned the Minnesota slayings on his social media platform.

“Such horrific violence will not be tolerated in the United States of America,” Trump wrote. “God Bless the great people of Minnesota, a truly great place!”

However, he refused to call Walz after the Saturday slayings, shootings of two others and subsequent manhunt. Instead, he insulted the governor.

​​“Why would I call him? I could call and say, ‘Hi, how you doing?’ The guy doesn’t have a clue,” Trump said of Walz. “He’s a mess. So I could be nice and call, but why waste time?”

Walz made clear, over X, who did reach out to offer support.

“My thanks to Premier Doug Ford of Ontario who called to express his condolences to the Hortman family and the people of Minnesota,” he said.” In times of tragedy, I’m heartened when people of different views and even different nations can rally together around our shared humanity.”

Dozens of alumni from Boston University’s women’s soccer team have signed a letter supporting the team’s former coach after she was accused by podcast star Alex Cooper of sexual harassment.

Cooper, host of the popular podcast “Call Her Daddy,” alleged in her new Hulu docuseries “Call Her Alex” that she endured years of sexual harassment from her college soccer coach, Nancy Feldman.

The letter, obtained by NBC News and first reported by TMZ Sports, is signed by 99 former BU women’s soccer team members spanning graduation years from 1996 to 2022. Signatories included players and former assistant coaches. The letter stated that they aim to share their collective perspective “not to diminish or discredit anyone’s individual experience, but to speak as a united group of alumni about how our time in the program was different.”

“During Coach Feldman’s time leading the program, we categorically never felt unsafe,” the letter stated. “We were never at risk of or witness to inappropriate behavior or anything that could be characterized as sexual harassment. As a leader, she approached every day with professionalism, making decisions in service of the success of the team.”

The alumni added that Feldman has “remained an important part of our lives, and we shall stand by her.”

In the two-part docuseries, Cooper alleged that Feldman “fixated” on her, wanted to know whom she was dating, made comments about her body, put her hand on her thigh and wanted to be alone with her. She alleged Feldman once questioned her about a date and asked whether she had had sex the night before.

“Nancy Feldman was someone I trusted. Someone I believed in. Someone who was supposed to help me grow. Someone who was supposed to protect me,” Cooper wrote in an Instagram statement last week. “But instead she made my life a living hell and abused her power over me.”

A representative for Cooper did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cooper said in the docuseries that her parents backed up her accusations against Feldman, having written down every incident she told them about during her three years on the team. But when she reported the allegations to the athletic director, she said, no investigation resulted.

Cooper played on the team from 2013 to 2015, according to the BU women’s soccer roster. Feldman, who retired in 2022 after 27 years at the university, did not respond to a request for comment at her former BU email.

Boston University did not respond to a request for further comment. But after the docuseries’ release, the university had told NBC News that it has a “zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment.”

“We have a robust system of resources, support and staff dedicated to student wellbeing and a thorough reporting process through our Equal Opportunity Office. We encourage members of our community to report any concerns, and we remain committed to fostering a safe and secure campus environment for all,” the school stated, without directly addressing Cooper’s claims.

The “Call Her Alex” docuseries, released earlier this month, is the first time Cooper has publicly come forward with her allegations since building a massive social media platform through her podcast empire.

“When this initially happened to me I felt like I had no voice. But that is no longer the case. Now I’m coming for all of you who abused your power over innocent young individuals,” Cooper wrote in last week’s Instagram statement. “Nancy Feldman, you will no longer be able to hide in the shadows and get away unscathed from the calculated pain you caused me and so many other women.”

She added that she is speaking out for anyone who also went through her experience and felt unheard.

“We will no longer be silenced. I’m ready to bulldoze through every f—ing door for all of you out there,” Cooper wrote. “Because when I was 18 years old, dismissed and ignored by Boston University, I prayed and wished someone with a voice would have held my hand and helped me through the darkest time in my life.”

WASHINGTON — A group of lawmakers spanning a broad ideological spectrum is raising alarms about the possibility of the United States taking an active role in the conflict between Israel and Iran.

The emerging coalition unites strange bedfellows, including some of President Donald Trump’s most fervent supporters and progressive Democrats, who have been vocal opponents of U.S. involvement in foreign entanglements in the years following the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, particularly without congressional approval. It could also represent a serious threat to the stranglehold Trump holds over the hard-right base of the Republican Party.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a libertarian who has not been afraid to buck Trump on fiscal issues, is teaming up with Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calf., to attempt to force a vote on a war powers resolution that would require the administration to get approval from Congress before participating in the conflict in any meaningful way.

“This is not our war,” Massie wrote on X. “But if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution.”

His announcement led to a flood of progressive Democrats to promise they would support the legislation, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, both members of the “squad.”

“The American people aren’t falling for it again. We were lied to about ‘weapons of mass destruction’ in Iraq that killed millions + forever changed lives,” Tlaib wrote on X. “It’s [unconstitutional] for Trump to go to war without a vote in Congress.”

Massie and Khanna also co-sponsored a similar resolution during the first Trump administration seeking to limit U.S. involvement in the war in Yemen. Trump did not sign the resolution, which passed the House and Senate. but ultimately backed off efforts for the U.S. military to take an active role.

In an interview with NBC News on Tuesday, Khanna predicted this issue may be the one where Trump loyalists have the resolve to break with the president.

“This is core to many in the MAGA base. It’s different,” Khanna said. “It has a different intensity than even the people who care about the deficits and are concerned about Trump’s move there, or people who don’t like his tariff policy.”

That intensity is reflected in the chorus of concern reverberating throughout the MAGA political orbit. High-profile commentators like Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon have warned Trump to avoid tangling the U.S. up in what they view as a conflict that could turn into another endless war. Trump responded by calling Carlson “kooky”, which led Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., one of Trump’s fiercest supporters on Capitol Hill, to rush to the former Fox News host’s defense.

Green called Carlson “one of her favorite people” in a post on X, before arguing that “foreign wars/intervention/regime change put America last, kill innocent people, are making us broke, and will ultimately lead to our destruction.”

Khanna said a non-interventionist posture was the foundation of Trump’s rise.

“I feel like the entire MAGA movement started as a rejection of the Bush and neocon war in Iraq. That was a central part of their identity,” Khanna said.

Khanna and Massie plan to introduce the measure as a privileged resolution, which would force a full House vote in a matter of days. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who is closely aligned with Trump, may have the option of revoking the privilege because it is a war powers resolution. Johnson’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the resolution.

If the resolution makes it to the House floor, Khanna acknowledged that the entire Democratic conference may not be on board.

“There’s still people in our Congress who voted for the war in Iraq. There are people who still have a very, more hawkish view on the Middle East,” Khanna said. “I think it’s a declining number.”

Across the Capitol, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., is leading an effort to prohibit Trump from unilaterally getting the U.S. into a war with Iran, while making clear that “the question of whether United States forces should be engaged in hostilities against Iran” can only be answered by Congress.”

Kaine questioned whether U.S. involvement is in its national security interest and that the minimum prerequisite is a debate and approval from Congress.

“I am deeply concerned that the recent escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran could quickly pull the United States into another endless conflict,” said Kaine. “The American people have no interest in sending servicemembers to fight another forever war in the Middle East.”

In terms of getting cosponsors for his new resolution, a Kaine spokesperson said, “Senator Kaine is in dialogue with colleagues.”

Kaine has credibility on the issue as an outspoken voice for reining in presidential war powers under administrations of both parties. He led an effort in the Biden administration to return that authority to Congress after years of lawmakers ceding it to the executive branch, garnering bipartisan support for that effort.

But past efforts have fallen prey to congressional malaise and run into opposition from military hawks in both parties, and early indications are that Senate Republican leaders want to support Israel.

“While the U.S. military is not involved in offensive operations against Iran, U.S. forces on land, at sea, and in the air have helped defend Israel from indiscriminate missile attacks launched by Iran,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Tuesday. “President Trump and our country remain steadfast in our defense of Israel and committed to working toward peace in the Middle East and, first and foremost, for the safety of American personnel stationed in the region.”

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was detained after an incident inside an immigration court in the city, a spokesperson for his mayoral campaign told NBC News Tuesday.

Kat Capossela, Lander’s press secretary, told NBC News in an email that “Brad was taken by masked agents and detained by ICE,” a reference to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, after “escorting a defendant out of immigration court.”

Speaking outside the courthouse at a press conference held by his official office, Lander’s wife, Meg Barnette, told reporters that Lander remains in custody, but “I am confident that Brad will be out soon.” It’s unclear whether he’s been arrested.

A spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security, the agency that oversees ICE, did not immediately return a request for comment about Lander’s status or if he will face charges.

Lander is running in next week’s Democratic primary for mayor.

In video that Lander’s office shared with NBC News of the aftermath of the incident, he can be seen being handcuffed in the hallway of the building and addressing law enforcement.

“I’m not obstructing, I’m standing right here in the hallway. I asked to see the judicial warrant,” he said.

“You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens asking for a judicial warrant,” he added.

Lander is then led into an elevator with his hands behind his back as an aide can be heard asking, “Where are you taking the Comptroller of the city of New York?”

During her press conference, Barnette echoed Democratic criticisms of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, arguing that judges were dismissing charges against defendants before being turned over to federal agents to begin the process of deporting them.

“This is not the way we deal with rule of law, this is not the way people are treated in the United States,” Barnette, a former attorney, said.

“I feel really rattled and scared, and my husband is a candidate for mayor, is an elected citywide official, is U.S. citizen,” she said. He “has a U.S. passport and I know in all likelihood he is okay. And all of the other folks in that building are risking having their families torn apart with inadequate explanation. And it’s an abomination.”

MONTREAL — When they began working together on the new “F1” movie, Formula 1 living legend Lewis Hamilton was pleasantly surprised to see that Brad Pitt knew what he was doing behind the wheel of a race car.

“He had a bit of a feel for it already. It wasn’t completely alien. I worked as a driver coach when I was a kid just to make a bit of money on the side, and I had some pretty bad drivers along the way!” Hamilton, a seven-time world champion who races for Ferrari and is a producer for the movie, told NBC News at a media briefing ahead of Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix. “Straight away you could see he had a concept of a driving line.”

Hollywood has made lots of movies about racing and Formula 1. But “F1 The Movie” — an Apple Original Films film that’s being released theatrically by Warner Bros. on June 27 — gives viewers something they’ve never seen before: a big-budget production filmed alongside racing real drivers and real teams, melding authentic F1 luminaries into the cast while filming at Grand Prix weekends.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Joseph Kosinski hosted a screening Thursday in Montreal for F1 insiders and reporters, including NBC News, before the race weekend and a glitzy red carpet launch event Monday in New York.

The movie comes at a time of a lucrative relationship between Hollywood and Formula 1. The sport’s popularity has soared in the United States over the last five years, and F1 executives hope the first-of-its-kind movie will help the international series penetrate deeper into its top-priority market.

Pitt plays protagonist Sonny Hayes, a fictional F1 driver whose promising young career was cut short after a horrific crash in the 1990s but who makes the unlikeliest of comebacks decades later with the fictional APXGP team. It’s a story of adventure, heartbreak and the insatiable pursuit of glory, with the thrills and dangers of Formula 1 captured by one of America’s most famous actors.

The character is a daredevil who embodies elements of real-life drivers Max Verstappen and James Hunt, bringing a high racing IQ and a knack for bending the rules to his advantage. He’s enlisted in a desperation move by a former F1 teammate-turned-team owner, played by Javier Bardem, to drive alongside a young rookie, portrayed by Damson Idris, who is desperate to prove himself in a car that’s too weak to compete for wins. Their team may soon cease to exist if it can’t turn things around soon.

Pitt was “super open-minded and really dove deep into what it takes to be a racing driver, which was really cool to see,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton described it as the most “immersive” film ever made about racing, or perhaps any other sport, “in the sense of filming on race weekends.”

The movie also includes tantalizing on-track visuals and a plot line that taps into the strategic mischief and chess moves that make the sport exciting. And there are crashes. Lots of them, including fiery ones.

Pitt “did all his own driving,” Bruckheimer said in an interview, having trained for three months — first in a Formula 3 car before he graduated to the faster machinery.

“The saddest day for Brad is when he had to step out of the car and we wrapped the movie. I was more relieved than anybody else that everyone was safe,” he said.

And because it’s Hollywood, Pitt’s character is part of a romantic plot with Kerry Condon’s character, Kate McKenna, his technical director, who’s tasked with building him a winning car.

“Our ambition was to make an authentic racing film,” said Kosinski, who has also helmed films like “Top Gun: Maverick.” “And we want it to be a film that works not only for experts like you all who live and breathe this world every day, but we also want it to be a film that plays to people who don’t know anything about Formula 1 or other sports. The most important thing, of course, being that we just tell a great story about redemption and friendship and teamwork in this incredible sport.”

However, F1 junkies are likely to be able to spot some things that couldn’t — or wouldn’t — happen in real life. Pitt’s F1 car in the movie, clearly slimmer than the real F1 cars he’s racing, is a Formula 2 car, for example.

A driver also wouldn’t be conversing with his team boss in the pit lane mid-race through his helmet and the deafening noise. Plus, there are only so many shenanigans F1 will tolerate from one driver trying to finagle the race outcome.

“We wanted to find how far can you push it so that you can get right to the edge,” Kosinski said, adding that they consulted with Hamilton about how to strike that balance.

But the scenes that racing die-hards may question are part of the bargain struck to make the movie palatable to a wider audience, serving as important ingredients in the plot.

“What we’re trying to do with this movie is, first of all, entertain audiences,” Bruckheimer said. “That’s the key. It’s not a documentary; it’s a movie. Hopefully you will be moved by it emotionally.”

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali told reporters in Montreal that it requires “very F1 eyes” to think the movie glamorizes rule-breaking.

“If you look to the audience that will watch the movie, this will be perceived as racing action, authentic fighting,” he said. “And that’s what will come out. I’m pretty sure of it.”

Still, there’s plenty of realistic dialogue for avid F1 fans to feast on. On Hamilton’s advice, Sky Sports commentators David Croft and Martin Brundle, the voices of F1 for British and American fans, are also the announcers in the movie.

Croft told NBC News he and Brundle spent 19 hours filming their scenes. His favorite part? Working with Kosinski, Croft said, “a director I’ve held in such high regard for many years and who it was a real privilege to be working with to create what hopefully the audience will see as a truly authentic F1 movie.”

The script includes talk of oversteer and understeer, using “DRS” to go faster and sacrificing straight line speed for better cornering. Pitt’s character casually drops a reference to “Eau Rouge,” and there’s a storyline involving the late Ayrton Senna from the 1990s — all of which Formula 1 experts will appreciate.

“It’s threading a needle,” Kosinski said of appealing to both casual viewers and hard-core Formula 1 fans.

Apple Senior Vice President Eddy Cue said that when the movie was screened in the United States, “very few people” said they had ever seen a Formula 1 race.

“When we finish and we ask how many of you would like to go see a race now, literally every single hand goes up,” he said. “And so we think there’s a huge, huge opportunity to grow the sport all over the world with this movie. And I think it will do that.”

Hollywood is seeking to tap into that potential by aggressively promoting the movie all over TV and at F1 races.

“We’ll see how it grows the sport even more, but it was obviously interesting and nice to get a glimpse already or to see it,” said Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg, who joined F1 in 2010, long before the U.S. boom. “I think the public is going to like it. I think they’ve captured more angles of the industry, of what teams and drivers do — how much goes into it, especially preparation time and between races. Personally, I liked it. It was pretty cool.”

After years of stagnating with American audiences, F1 unlocked something special by personalizing the sport to reach new, casual fans. It found a way to transcend the technical side, using social media to make the human faces and drivers accessible to regular audiences.

F1’s commercial side and its teams became relentless content-creation factories seeking online engagement. That connection, elevated by Netflix’s popular “Drive to Survive” series, attracted a newer, younger and more female audience.

“It’s one of the biggest movies we’ll see in probably this decade,” said Peter Crolla, a Haas F1 veteran who was recently hired to be team manager for the new GM-backed Cadillac F1 team next year. “They have put every ounce of energy they could have done into it. It’s the level of detail they’ve gone to [in] the desire to make it as realistic and to integrate themselves into the sport as they have done. By the end of 2024 we didn’t even feel there was an F1 movie being filmed. It was like it was literally an 11th team.”

Hamilton fondly recalled some of his conversations with Pitt as Pitt was training to drive a real race car for the movie, feeling the G-forces jolt through his body.

“Through that process, it was amazing to speak to Brad and see his shock. He’s kind of like, ‘Jeez, what are our bodies going through?’” Hamilton said. “He’d text me after the test, like, ‘My appreciation for what you drivers do is even higher than it already was.’ So I hope that reflects in the driving.”