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Did You Hear ... ? Late-night TV takes on Trump, Tom Cruise lands hard and more from the week in entertainment

Stephen Colbert, left, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers went off on the president’s response to violence in Charlottesville, Va.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times, left; Valerie Macon / AFP / Getty Images, center; Craig Barritt / Getty Images, right)
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The leader of the free world set off a late-night firestorm, a superstar got hurt, a singer scored a symbolic victory, a Broadway star became a Hollywood hype man and a stuntwoman died on a superhero set. Here’s all that news and more from this week in entertainment.

TV has looked at Charlottesville from both sides now

President Trump’s both-sides-bad response to weekend violence at a far-right rally in Charlottesville, Va., was volatile fuel for TV’s late-night hosts. At first, Seth Meyers couldn’t even joke about it. Same for Jimmy Fallon. Jimmy Kimmel noted, “All he had to do was condemn the Nazis,” and James Corden put forth a list of things — fidget spinners and Meryl Streep, among them — that Trump had denounced faster than racism. Stephen Colbert told The Times that Trump’s ideas “could kill us all.” Think this is fake news? Just watch all the clips. Heck, apart from late night, even Johnny Cash’s kids got in on the action.

Tom Cruise rolls the stunt dice one too many times

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Cruise does his own stunts, right? Like when he held on to that Airbus A400 military aircraft as it took off, and when he was messing around 130 floors up on the outside of Dubai’s tallest building? Well, a regular ol’ rooftop-to-rooftop jump didn’t go well for “The “Mission: Impossible 6” star this week in London. In a battle of a body vs. the side of a building, bones were broken, as was production. Did someone say “hiatus”?

Taylor Swift wins, and so does Mariska Hargitay’s charity

Swift won a symbolic $1 this week after a jury agreed that she’d been groped by a former radio personality, but the big winners after her civil-court showdown are charities supporting victims of sexual assault. The singer, who named her cat after Hargitay’s detective character Olivia Benson on “Law & Order: SVU,” made the first of a number of promised donations with a “generous investment” to Hargitay’s Joyful Heart foundation.

Lin-Manuel Miranda of ‘Hamilton’ goes Hollywood

He isn’t in “Hamilton” in L.A., but Miranda was definitely in L.A. this week for “Hamilton.” Joining Miranda for a mini-concert on Hollywood Boulevard ahead of the show’s official Pantages opening night on Wednesday were about 2,500 people hoping to win one of 40 cheap tickets for that night’s show. The Times was all over “Hamilton” all week long, as a matter of fact. Nothing like a little idealism when we seem to need it most.

Death strikes the set of ‘Deadpool 2’

Joi “SJ” Harris, a pioneering African American motorcycle road racer, was doing her first stunt for a movie. Doubling for Zazie Beetz’s “Deadpool 2” character Domino, she lost control of her bike, with fatal consequences. “[N]othing can come close to the grief and inexplicable pain her family and loved ones must feel,” star Ryan Reynolds said, offering condolences.

Robin Thicke and April Love Geary.
(Andreas Rentz / Getty Images)

Domestic Goods — and Bads: Robin Thicke and model girlfriend April Love Geary are expecting a baby. … Mindy Kaling is looking forward to all the freedoms parenthood affords…. Aretha Franklin will be spending her retirement years back in Detroit.

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Trumped: Wait a sec — has Trump’s time in office permanently changed how the media cover the presidency? … On “Weekend Update,” Tina Fey had some far-right rally-related advice. ... Anthony Scaramucci told Stephen Colbert he expected a longer run at the White House.

R.I.P.: Bruce Forsyth, British host whose career spanned the history of TV, died at 89. … Actor, director and Oscar-nominated writer Joe Bologna died at 82. … Robert Yancy, son of Natalie Cole, died at 39. … Fadwa Suleiman, a Syrian actress who became an icon of the rebellion against President Bashar Assad, died at 46. … Country music matriarch Jo Walker-Meador died at 93.

New Trailers:

Bonus Links: Here’s what happened when Dennis Prager conducted (most of) the Santa Monica Symphony. … Hey, fans of “The Jetsons”: We’re going to get to meet George Jetson and his boy Elroy all over again, in the flesh this time around.

Did You Hear …? runs Saturday in Entertainment at latimes.com.

cdz@latimes.com

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Twitter @TheCDZ

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