Robin Williams

It used to be that death signalled a very definite end to a celebrity career. But with the advent of CGI and hologram technology, actors and musicians no longer need to be alive to appear in new films and adverts – or even perform on stage.
However, the digital afterlife is not for everyone. New documents from the estate of Robin Williams, the actor who took his own life last August
, show that he has put in place a restriction on his image, or any likeness of his image, being used for 25 years after his death.
Williams, who is known for films such as Good Will Hunting and Mrs Doubtfire, filed a deed which states that his image cannot be used in any film or publicity until 2039 and also passed on the rights to his name, signature, photograph and likeness to the Windfall Foundation, It is a move that restricts any posthumous exploitation of the actor’s image, be it through using CGI to impose him into a film or advert or creating a live hologram of him performing standup. While California law already protects the statutory right to publicity – which grants individuals the right to say what their image can and cannot be used for up to 70 years after death – this deed adds another layer of security on top of that. Such a law does not exist in the UK.
Rachel Alexander, a leading privacy lawyer at WLLP, a firm specialising in entertainment law, said that while this was the first time she had seen a celebrity place such rigid restrictions on their image after their death, she predicted it would become more common in the future.
She said: “It is quite unusual for someone to do this. It is symptomatic of the fact that there is commercial gain to be made from someone’s image or likeness, both when they are alive and afterwards, so it emphasi
“The motive behind this seems to be firstly that Robin Williams wanted to make sure his image isn’t tarnished, with unauthorised images used in adverts for example or films, which technology has now made possible. I think it is very likely we will see more people doing it.”
Alexander added that separating his image rights and value from the rest of his estate and placing it into a foundation was a savvy move by Williams in terms of tax.
She said: “There’s also the Michael Jackson issue, where his estate has been levied with this enormous tax bill, and part of that is on the value placed on his likeness. So what Williams has done has transferred the value around his image and his likeness to a charitable foundation, which seems motivated by tax reasons.
“Celebrities are increasingly concerned with protecting their image. Unlike in the US, there’s no specific image rights law [in the UK] but we are seeing people like David Beckham and Stephen Hawking registering their names as trademarks, which is an indicator of the trend of these celebrities to do as much as they can to have complete control over every aspect of their image or brand – or at least make money from it. So I think this Robin Williams case is another extension of that.”
ses that.
It is becoming easier for Hollywood to create digital doppelgangers of much-loved stars with advances in CGI and VFX technology. Fast and Furious 7, which is due out this year, has used a combination of cutting-edge visual effects, archive footage and body-double work to digitally recreate lead actor Paul Walker, who died in a car crash in November 2013 when he was only halfway through filming. The film’s director, James Wan, finished Walker’s performance by digitally placing the actor’s face on to one of his brothers’ bodies.
It is not an entirely new fad, either. Laurence Olivier was dead for 15 years when he starred as the villian in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow in 2004. To pull this off, the production recorded new dialogue by another actor and used archive footage to create the evil hologram, Dr Totenkopf. A similar method was used in Superman Returns, where, thanks to CGI and old footage, Marlon Brando appeared as Jor-El two years after he had died.
Adverts have also begun to use CGI to bring actors back to life to promote their brands. The most recent example was the use of CGI in an advert for Galaxy chocolate, which saw Audrey Hepburn digitally recreated thanks to advanced VFX, while similar technology helped the long-deceased Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe sell Dior perfume in a 2011 television advert.
The digital afterlife is not just restricted to film stars. At the Billboard music awards, Michael Jackson performed his single Slave to the Rhythm from his posthumous album Xscape, despite being dead for five years, while audience members at Coachella music festival in 2012 got a surprise when Tupac Shakur, who died in 1996, appeared on stage alongside Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre, as a hologram.

Jay Z’s Tidal Is Great for Artists, But Maybe Not for Fans

Jay Z once bragged that he could sell fire in hell

. Well, the music industry has been hell for a while now, and Jigga’s inner salesman is gearing up.
Jay took the stage with a powerhouse stable of artists—Madonna, Jack White, Kanye West, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Daft Punk, Coldplay’s Chris Martin—Monday afternoon to announce the re-launch of the music streaming service Tidal. It’s an ambitious endeavor. All of the artists on stage are referred to as “co-owners” of the venture, and they promised—in the words of Keys, who led the remarks during the announcement—”a whole new era” for the music industry.
But a new era for who? On the surface, Tidal offers fans high-fidelity audio and video as well as curated content. But the service—the result of Jay Z’s purchase of streaming music service Aspiro for $56 million earlier this year—is also intended to give artists more control over their content. And that’s great and all, but if artists are forming their own walled garden and charging fans $20 every month for lossless audio ($10 for not-so-high-fidelity tracks), is this service for us, or them?
By offering windows of exclusive access to some artists, Tidal is clearly taking aim at streaming services like Spotify. And it’s true that artists don’t get the best returns when it comes to streaming, as Taylor Swift’s flight from Spotify showed last year. To that end, Jay Z is reportedly offering lots of cash and an equity stake to those who join him, and other artists are being promised double the standard streaming royalties for their music. But if a group of the most popular artists in the world start what is essentially their own label, and then pull their music off of other services, will that service be any better than the music industry it’s trying to unsettle? If it leaves fans with only one place to stream the new record by Rihanna or Kanye West—both of whom coincidentally are supposed to have new albums in the offing—then the answer is “no.”

'What fog?' Sydney weather

When a Sydney Morning Herald photo editor asked a few photographers to "get some pictures of the fog" on Wednesday morning, they all said one thing: "What fog?"
Standing in Pyrmont and looking east at 9.05am Sydney was coated in a thick blanket of white fog, the skyline of the city invisible to the eye.
At the same time, those looking west past Mrs Macquaries Chair were treated to skies that were a rich periwinkle blue - Sydney was putting on a real show.Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Tim Constable said the contrasting skies were the product of a post-rain-event fog.
"The fog started in the west before sunrise, then we had a burst of rain just afer 5am, creating ideal conditions in the CBD with plenty of moisture for the fog to drift towards the west."
Fogs generally occur when relative humidity increases to 100 per cent.
"Basically the fog formed in the west and then slowly moved east, so the western suburbs would have seen the fog before the sun rise and then it slowly moved east," Mr Constable said.

"But it didn't get all the way to the coast through the CBD area, because by the time it got that far east the sun had come up and then it begins to warm up and we also get wind increasing in low levels, so the fog generally mixes out."
Mr Constable said that Sydney was in for a max of 27 degrees in the west today and 26 degrees in the city, with the possibility of a shower in the afternoon.

Essendon doping investigation WADA boss and James Hird's lawyer

The AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal handed down its verdict on Tuesday saying the panel was not satisfied the 34 past and present Essendon players had violated the AFL doping code.
A decision against a former Essendon support person, believed to be sports scientist Stephen Dank, will be made at a later date.
Former World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) president John Fahey said the whole two-year process was cumbersome but it was apparent what went on at Essendon was very strange.
Stephen Amendola, the lawyer for Essendon coach James Hird, said reputations have been trashed and there should be a judicial inquiry into the entire investigation.
Fahey denies the past two years of investigations are an indictment on the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA).
ASADA chief executive Ben McDevitt stated on Wednesday the authority is considering appealing the tribunal's verdict.
"There have been months and months and months of inaction whilst court actions were taken by the Essendon club and their coach to prevent the inquiry actually taking place - that was the delay," Fahey said on ABC News Radio.
"I'd like to see an examination of the regulations because there's a very cumbersome process in place in this country.
"I've not seen it taking place anywhere else where we can see so many preliminary steps taken before we can actually get to an inquiry. That to me is very unsatisfactory."
Fahey said the Essendon club escaped liability despite it being apparent that players did receive injections.
"There were needles given to numerous players and in this instance they weren't satisfied that the drug inside was the one that's on the prohibited list."
"To me, the tragedy for me in all of this is that the Worksafe Victoria department didn't look at what this meant from an employer-employee relationship. "
"Something again went on which was very, very strange. And we've now got to the point where we say, well it didn't breach to the comfortable satisfaction of a tribunal [or] the WADA code. That's really all we've achieved out of this in the end - that something did happen."

Hird's lawyer calls for judicial inquiry into investigation

Amendola said the AFL's participation compromised the independence of ASADA's investigation and he said the whole supplements investigation should be subject to a judicial inquiry.
"At the end of it what you've had is people's reputations trashed," Amendola told ABC 774 Melbourne.
"You've found out that 34 players, when ASADA prosecuted a case against them, the tribunal was not satisfied that something happened.
"To me the manner of the investigation has to be investigated."
He said despite the Federal Court determining ASADA and the AFL's investigation lawful, there needs to be further reviews of what took place.
"There were facts that were found in the decision at first instance, the decision of Justice Middleton, which to me dictate that there should be a judicial inquiry," he said.
Amendola said there is evidence that politicians were urging an outcome from the investigation.
He said handwritten notes from a government minister formed part of the evidence before Justice Middleton in the Federal Court hearing, and that that and other questionable matters warrant a judicial inquiry.

One shot dead at Fort Meade after trying to enter NSA gate

Story highlights

• Two people tried to enter the main gate to enter the headquarters of the National Security Agency at Fort Meade.
• One died at the scene, and another was wounded, the NSA says.

(CNN)One person is dead, and two more were hospitalized after an unauthorized vehicle tried to gain access to the National Security Agency campus in Fort Meade, Maryland, according to the NSA, which is investigating the incident.

"Shortly before 9:00 AM today, a vehicle containing two individuals attempted an unauthorized entry at a National Security Agency gate," Jonathan Freed, NSA director of strategic communications, said in a statement. "The driver failed to obey an NSA Police officer's routine instructions for safely exiting the secure campus. The vehicle failed to stop and barriers were deployed."

NSA police on the scene fired on the vehicle when it accelerated toward a police car, blocking its way, according to the NSA. One of the unauthorized vehicle's two occupants died on the scene. The other was hospitalized, as was an NSA police officer.

The two men who officials say tried to ram the main gate at NSA headquarters were dressed as women, according to a federal law enforcement official.

Investigators are looking into whether the men were under the influence of drugs following a night of partying, a federal law enforcement official said.

A man reported his car stolen from a hotel not far away from NSA Headquarters and said he had been with two men who had taken his car. Cocaine was found in the vehicle. The Howard County Police Department confirms that a Ford Escape reported stolen in Howard County, Maryland, is the vehicle involved in the incident.

The FBI said Monday morning that it was conducting an investigation with NSA police and other law enforcement agencies, and interviewing witnesses on the scene. The incident took place near one of the gates to the complex, far from the main buildings. The FBI said they did not think terrorism was related to the incident.

"We are working with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland to determine if federal charges are warranted," the FBI said in a statement.

White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said President Barack Obama had been briefed on the incident this morning.

This is the second security incident this month involving the NSA. At the beginning of March, a former state correctional officer was arrested, accused in a string of Maryland shootings, including one at Fort Meade. Gunshots struck a building near the NSA office, according to a police report.

Officers stopped Hong Young, 35, of Beltsville, Maryland, and recognized his vehicle as matching authorities' description of a car seen in surveillance footage near some of the other shootings. A gun in the car matched evidence found at the shootings, and Young was arrested, authorities said.

Police said earlier this month that there were no links to terrorism in the case, and no motive has been determined. No one was killed in the five shooting incidents.

In addition to the headquarters of the NSA, Fort Meade is home to 95 units from all branches of the armed forces and offices that report to several Defense Department agencies, according to the U.S. Army, which operates the base.

About 11,000 military employees and 29,000 civilians work there, according to the Army.

Some 6,000 people also live on the base, which began operations in 1917 as a garrison for World War I draftees, the Army said.

Music Megastars Team Up to Launch Streaming Service Tidal

A phalanx of chart-topping stars from across genres joined forces in the loading dock of New York City's biggest post office today to launch the newly artist-owned high-definition streaming service Tidal. Like a scene out of a pop-music version of The Avengers, 16 hit-makers – Alicia Keys, Arcade Fire's Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, Beyoncé, Daft Punk, Jack White, Jason Aldean, J. Cole, Jay Z, Kanye West, Deadmau5, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna and Usher – rubbed elbows onstage at the swanky launch event while two others beamed in digitally (Calvin Harris and Coldplay's Chris Martin). Aside from making a spectacle, the musicians made the case for an artist-owned streaming service.

"We come together before you on this day...with one voice in unity in the hopes that today will be a moment that will forever change the course of music history," said Keys, the only artist to address the audience, in an exuberant speech. "Our goal is simple: We want to create a better service and a better experience for both fans and artists, and that is our promise to the world."
She explained that the mission statement of the musicians, who stood patiently listening to the speech, was "to preserve music's importance in our lives." She spoke of artists delivering "exclusive experiences" via the service and ultimately finding a way to "preserve" the industry and the value of music. She also quoted Friedrich Nietzsche: "Without music, life would be a mistake."

"Today is the day," she repeated before inviting her co-owners to sign what she called a "declaration," though she did not expound on what it said. "This is the beginning of a whole new era," she said before each present musician made his or her way over to a podium to sign a document. When they were done, they returned to their spot onstage; Chassagne seemed to zone out to the music but eventually struck up a conversation with Beyoncé who was standing next to her. The whole speech and signing is viewable here.
The artists posed for a photo and most exited slowly stage right, carefully avoiding danger as Deadmau5 turned his helmet around. Aldean and Keys both came to the front of the stage to speak to the audience one-on-one and sign autographs.
When the event was done, Deadmau5 tweeted, "Yeah. That just happened. Awkward? Maybe. But I do believe in this venture!" He also offered, "At least we know who's got the bigger head." Nicki Minaj wrote on Facebook that she was "so proud to be a part" of the service.
Only Jay Z and Beyoncé emerged when it was done to look around the event space, which – despite its industrial-looking locale – was decked out in flashy screens and drop lighting. Among the displays, which gave museum-like presentations of archaic forms of sound delivery like LPs, "stereo and mono" vinyl, reel to reel and, the power-couple's preference, the cassette. They chitchatted with some people working there before a large bodyguard whisked them backstage.
Jay Z, of course, is the artist who was the first to put a stake in Tidal. The rapper revealed in January that he had invested millions of dollars into Aspiro, the Norwegian company that created Tidal. West, Rihanna and the other artists showed their support of the platform two months later, prior to its release, by changing their Twitter feeds to an aquamarine color.
"We saw the movement and how everything was going and figured that this could possibly be the last music format that we see in this lifetime," Jay Z told Billboard recently about Tidal. "We didn't like the direction music was going and thought maybe we could get in and strike an honest blow and if the very least we did was make people wake up and try to improve the free-versus-paid system, and promote fair trade, then it would be a win for us anyway."
Jay Z told Billboard that each of the founding owners in Tidal had an equal stake in its equity. "That's the utopia," he said. "Everyone is sharing in it; everyone is some kind of owner in it in some kind of way."
Tidal offers CD-quality music streaming of more than 25 million songs and high-def video streaming of 75,000 videos at somewhat monthly rates ($9.99/month for standard sound quality, $19.99 for top-shelf audio).
The service competes with other high-def audio companies like Deezer Elite and Spotify Premium, as well as the likely soon-to-be-relaunched Beats. According to Billboard, the competition is steep: Spotify boasts 15 million subscribers, Deezer has six million and currently Tidal is the smallest at 540,000.
"Will artists make more money? Even if it means less profit for our bottom line, absolutely," Jay Z told Billboard. "That's easy for us. We can do that. Less profit for our bottom line, more money for the artist; fantastic."

Clarke's team carry on Cricket World Cup celebration

After a night of rejoicing in their World Cup win, the Australian cricket team continued to celebrate with a few thousand fans at Federation Square in Melbourne on Monday.
Following repeated questions from journalists about how good winning feels, the players – mostly sporting dark glasses – wandered into the crowd, signing autographs and posing for photos.
Appearing on stage fresh from the rooftop bar with the ICC Cricket World Cup trophy, outgoing one-day international captain, Michael Clarke
, was asked to describe his overriding emotion.
“A little hungover,” he said, to cheers from the crowd donning green and gold. “I think I speak for everybody in that sense. I guarantee you the boys will continue to celebrate today. It’s the Australian way.”
Following Sunday night’s win over New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground the former Test player and now commentator Shane Warne faced some criticism for encouraging the players to toast their success and for asking them if they were “thirsty”.
After Warne took to social media to defend himself, opener Aaron Finch said on Monday the team were entitled to celebrate.
“To finally get the prize after a lot of hard work... it went to plan from the start,” he said. “We had a great plan, and the bowlers stuck to it. It’s incredible work to restrict a side to 180. I think we’ve got every right to celebrate, to finally get the prize after a lot of hard work.”
Clarke played a central role in securing his team’s seven-wicket win over their trans-Tasman rivals and fellow co-hosts of the tournament, top scoring for Australia with 74.
His final ODI was witnessed by just over 93,000 people at the MCG, the largest crowd ever at an Australian cricket event. Clarke said it was “the right time” to end his one-day career. “I’ve been able to help the team as much as I can,” he said. “Now it’s time to focus on Test cricket, and there’s still plenty that I want to achieve. Hopefully this momentum can help us in the upcoming tours, whoever we’re playing.”
Despite their nightlong celebrations that continued as the sun rose on Monday, the team seemed energetic and happy to spend a couple of hours with their fans.
Player of the tournament, fast bowler Mitchell Starc, told supporters that he “got pretty lucky taking a few wickets”.
“The boys behind me played a massive part in that,” he said. He described taking out the World Cup on home ground as “a phenomenal feeling”.

WWE Stock Crashes After Record-Breaking WrestleMania

Fans may be happy about World Wrestling Entertainment’s 31st annual WrestleMania blowout, but investors are not.
WWE stock fell more than 14% on Monday morning after Seth Rollins stole the World Heavyweight Championship belt from Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. The dive probably has less to do with what happened in the ring, than how many fans were watching–and subscribing to more wrestling.
WWE announced that its “over-the-top” television network has grown to 1.3 million subscribers, up 31% from January 27, when the company passed 1 million for the first time. That’s tremendous growth for a product that costs $9.99 a month. But it clearly wasn’t enough to impress Wall Street.
“We believe that exceeding 1.3 million subscribers reflects the successful execution of our strategy and puts us on the path to transformative growth through WWE Network,” (former billionaire) WWE CEO Vince McMahon said in a statement.
WWE CFO George Barrios admitted that while the company is “pleased with our short-term results” and “confident in the long-term potential,” subscriber count may “exhibit seasonality” in which customers pay for the service in the run up to big events like WrestleMania and drop it during the slower months.
One successful tactic in February was a free promotion that attracted 201,000 trial subscribers to WWE Network. 154,000 (77%) of those converted to paying subscribers in March.
This isn’t the first time a subscriber update at WrestleMania sunk WWE’s stock. One year ago, the stock plunged 19% the day after WWE’s biggest show
. WWE kept falling and hit bottom in May, losing 60% of the company’s value in a month and a half. The stock had rebounded 46% since then before Monday.

NCAA Tournament

CLEVELAND -- With everything at stake for Kentucky, the Wildcats stayed calm and made just enough plays to keep their unblemished season intact.
The shot at history and another NCAA title are still in reach.
Andrew Harrison made two free throws with six seconds remaining, and the unbeaten Wildcats made their last nine shots to survive their toughest test to date, coming back after trailing for much of the second half to defeat Notre Dame 68-66 on Saturday night in the Midwest Regional final.
The Wildcats (38-0), seeking to become college basketball's first undefeated champion in 39 years, advanced to the Final Four in Indianapolis next week, where they will meet Wisconsin -- a rematch of last year's semifinal.
"We know our will to win," said Aaron Harrison, who hit a crucial 3-pointer. "And it just showed us we never give up, and we fight to the end just like any other team."
These Wildcats are not like any other team.
The Fighting Irish (32-6) came within seconds of shocking the tournament's overwhelming favorite. Notre Dame, with a rich history of stunning upsets in football and basketball, wasn't done until Jerian Grant's double-clutch 3-pointer from the left corner was long.
When the ball harmlessly hit the floor and the horn sounded, Kentucky's players hugged in celebration knowing they had ducked disaster. The Cats had used up one of their nine lives.
"We didn't play very well and Notre Dame, I thought, controlled the whole thing, but we made the plays," Kentucky coach John Calipari said. "We figured out a way to win it. We've had other tests, but we have a will to win."
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 25 -- 17 after halftime -- to lead Kentucky.
Zach Auguste scored 20, Steve Vasturia 16 and Grant 15 for the third-seeded Fighting Irish, playing in their first regional final in 36 years.
There was no doubt Notre Dame belonged. The ACC tournament champions controlled the tempo and weren't intimated by the Wildcats and their collection of high school All-Americans and soon-to-be NBA millionaires.
The Fighting Irish took the fight to Kentucky and nearly pulled off another one of those shockers.
"We really thought we had a great chance of beating them, and I thought we displayed that," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. "But I think you've got to give them credit. They made some big plays. They made some timely 3-point shots at key times."
Calipari insisted on Friday his team was not perfect, only unbeaten, and that any team left in the tournament was capable of toppling the top Cats.
Notre Dame was right there.
"It's tough," said Grant, who returned to Notre Dame this season after being dismissed for academics. "Just to be so close to making history, from doing something so special, and just like that, it's over. We felt we played well enough to win."
Following a brief award ceremony, Kentucky's players cut down the nets as Prince's "Party Like It's 1999" blared through the speakers inside Quicken Loans Arena, which rocked for more than two hours as Notre Dame and Kentucky traded baskets. The game featured 20 lead changes and 12 ties.
Down six with 5:22 left after Auguste's three-point play, Kentucky roared back and took a 64-63 lead on Aaron Harrison's 3-pointer with 3:14 left. The sophomore, who hit two big last-second shots in last year's tournament to get Kentucky to the title game, stared into the crowd of delirious Wildcats fans, including actress Ashley Judd, who spent most of the night jumping out of her seat.
Notre Dame's Grant responded with a 3 to put the Irish ahead 66-64, but the Wildcats again went inside to the 6-foot-11 Towns, who backed down Auguste to drop in another layup.
The Fighting Irish ran as much clock out as possible, but Grant had his shot blocked by Willie Cauley-Stein
and the ball went back to Kentucky on a 35-second violation -- Notre Dame's only turnover of the second half. Kentucky then put the ball in Andrew Harrison's hands, and he drew a foul before knocking down his free throws.
Grant pushed the ball up, but with several Kentucky players in his face, his last-second heave was way off.
Before the game, Brey said his players would have the nation's support, believing the Fighting Irish would be adopted by the nation and take the floor as "America's team."
With a fan holding as sign that said: "Miracles Happen," Notre Dame didn't shy away from driving the ball at Kentucky's front line in the first half, getting several putback dunks.
For a long stretch of the second half it appeared the Fighting Irish would add another upset to their roster of stunners, none bigger than ending UCLA's 88-game winning streak in 1974.
But this Kentucky team wouldn't have it and is now on history's doorstep.
"We know we're not perfect," Calipari said.
And not done, either.
TIP-INS
Notre Dame: The last time the Fighting Irish played in a regional final (March 18, 1979) they lost to eventual national champion Michigan State, led by Magic Johnson. ... Grant is the only player in school history with at least 1,700 points, 600 assists, 150 steals and 30 blocks.
Kentucky: The Wildcats have made a 3-pointer in 938 consecutive games, the nation's second-longest streak. UNLV has dropped a 3 in 941 straight.

'Walking Dead' Ends Season With Bloodshed and Long-Awaited Reunion

AMC's The Walking Dead ended its fifth season with a bloody finale that was capped by a long-awaited reunion as a new group of villains were officially introduced.
The zombie drama, based on Robert Kirkman's best-selling comics, started season five with its largest cast to date and featured the loss of four series regulars (Emily Kinney's Beth, Andrew J. West's Gareth, Larry Gilliard Jr.'s Bob and Chad Coleman's Tyreese as well as recurring player Tyler James Williams' Noah) as this season explored if the survivors had lost their humanity and were too far gone to return to life in a somewhat normal world.
Watch 'Walking Dead' Spinoff Debuts First Footage
Sunday's finale answered that question when Rick (Andrew Lincoln) — following his outburst in the penultimate episode — was finally given the authority to execute a member of the Alexandria Safe Zone. After the abusive/semi-banished Pete (Corey Brill) accidentally killed Reg (Steve Coulter) in a confrontation with Rick, Alexandria leader Deanna (Tovah Feldshuh) gave Rick — whom she was considering exiling — the authority to ultimately determine who lives and dies within the community. Rick then executes Pete as payback for being an abusive husband to Jessie (Alexandra Breckenridge) and killing Deanna's husband. (This follows a similar story in the comics in which Alexandria leader Douglas' wife is killed by Pete, who is subsequently taken out by Rick.) That execution came after Rick — determined to protect the community — arrived to the meeting in which Deanna was considering banishing him with a dead walker who had snuck into the gated sanctuary when Father Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) failed to properly close the gates.