By Beth Harris
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) --Awkwafina may not have an Oscar nomination, but the breakout star has already secured a second-season renewal of her new Comedy Central series.
"Awkwafina is Nora from Queeens" debuts Jan. 22. The network said Tuesday it was adding a second season for the show based on Awkwafina's real life growing up in the New York borough of Queens.
Awkwafina joined Jennifer Lopez, Eddie Murphy, Robert De Niro and Beyonce among the big names who didn't receive a nod when Oscar nominations were announced Monday. Awkwafina became the first actress of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe award in a leading actress category for "The Farewell."
"My emotional reaction to all of this is that I'm grateful for this journey," she said about being shut out for the Oscars. "I've had a pretty exciting ride and with this show and movies, we've seen this year that representation existed. I can't be more grateful to do what I do and be recognized a little bit at least is incredible."
Awkwafina, whose real name is Nora Lum, created the half-hour show in which she co-stars with B.D. Wong, Bowen Yang and Lori Tan Chinn. Awkwafina also has writing and executive producer duties. She was raised by her Chinese-American father and grandparents alongside her cousin after her Korean-American mother died when she was a child.
"I loved hanging out with my grandma in my 20s. Great food," Awkwafina told a TV critics meeting on Tuesday.
As a teenager, she came up with the name Awkwafina in a nod to the awkwardness she felt and as an alter ego to her outwardly passive personality.
"I made a point to draw on very true realities of my life growing up. The character of Nora, I don't think she's overdrawn in any way," Awkwafina said of the show. "I didn't find a need in her to go for anything that wasn't truly herself. I hope it inspires young kids not to be afraid to be themselves."
Sean “Diddy” Combs seeks bail, citing changed circumstances and new evidence
Sean "Diddy" Combs filed a new request for bail on Friday, saying changed circumstances, along with new evidence, mean the hip-hop mogul should be allowed to prepare for a May trial from outside jail.
Lawyers for Combs filed the request in Manhattan federal court, where his previous requests for bail have been rejected by two judges since his September arrest on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years with help from a network of associates and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
He has been awaiting a May 5 trial at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn.
In their new court filing, lawyers for Combs say they are proposing a "far more robust" bail package that would subject the entertainer to strict around-the-clock security monitoring and near-total restrictions on his ability to contact anyone but his lawyers. But the amount of money they attach to the package remains $50 million, as they proposed before.
They also cite new evidence that they say "makes clear that the government's case is thin." That evidence, the lawyers said, refutes the government's claim that a March 2016 video showing Combs physically assaulting his then-girlfriend occurred during a coerced "freak off," a sexually driven event described in the indictment against Combs.
They wrote that the encounter was instead "a minutes-long glimpse into a complex but decade-long consensual relationship" between Combs and his then-girlfriend.
The lawyers argued that the jail conditions Combs is experiencing at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn violate his constitutional... Read More