The Sauce, With Sos 12/9/21

JURY BEGINS DELIBERATIONS IN JUSSIE SMOLLETT'S TRIAL

Jurors in former "Empire" star Jussie Smollett's case will have their first full day of deliberations today starting at 9:15am local time in Chicago. A judge dismissed them shortly after 5pm yesterday. As you know, Smollett is facing charges after allegedly lying to police about a hate crime in 2019.

Closing arguments happened yesterday and the prosecutor walked through what he said was “overwhelming evidence.” Along the way, Special Prosecutor Daniel Webb mocked the “false testimony” he said Smollett gave.

“Besides being against the law,” Webb noted. “It is just plain wrong to outright denigrate something as serious as real hate crime and then make sure it involved words and symbols that have such historical significance in our country.”

Accordingly, Smollett’s lawyer, Nenye Uche, pushed back against the evidence by saying the Osundairo brothers were “sophisticated liars.” “They are highly intelligent, really smart,” Uche offered “And they know how to dumb it down so you think they’re victims.” Uche comparing the Nigerian-born siblings to an Internet “African prince scam.”

Smollett is facing up to three years behind bars if found guilty, though experts say if convicted, he’s likely to receive probation or community service.

Source:Deadline

MICHAEL STRAHAN'S SPACE FLIGHT DELAYED TO SATURDAY

Michael Strahan was supposed to go to space today. Unfortunately, that won’t be happening. Blame it on high winds. 

The “Good Morning America” and five others were set for the ten-minute sojourn to the final frontier with Jeff Bezos’ space travel company, Blue Origin. 

Instead, the launch will happen on Saturday.

Source:USA Today

SELENA GOMEZ PRODUCING SPANISH-LANGUAGE TRUE CRIME DOCUSERIES

We already know that Selena Gomez is a talented producer (just look at "13 Reasons Why"). Now she is taking her talents to Univision, inking a deal with them for Spanish-language TV and film production.

Selena's production company, "July Moon Productions" is set to produce "Mi Vecino, El Cartel (The Cartel Among Us), which is a true crime docuseries. It's the "story of a murder that rocked a quiet suburban town in Texas and launched a multiyear international investigation.”. The series will be for "Univision's" soon-to-come subscription streaming platform. Another production company, "Blackfin" which is owned by "Hasbro's eOne," will also produce the series. 

This marks Selena's first time as a producer for a Spanish-language series. The forthcoming "Univision" streaming product is not yet titled, but it planned to launch next year, after the merger with Mexican TV giant "Televisia" goes through.

Executive VP and GM of SVOD at Univision, Rodrigo Mazon, says, "“We certainly hope to do more with her. Selena Gomez is obviously a superstar — there’s probably nobody bigger — and she also cares a lot about elevating Latinx voices and storytelling. So the match was perfect. It is a pretty gripping and thrilling and crazy story, so we felt that it would be extremely interesting to everyone in the Spanish-speaking world and around the world to hear about it.”

Source: The Hollywood Reporter