Time USA (2022-02-28)

DIED

>

celebrated funk
singer-songwriter, at
77, on Feb. 9.

Lata Mangeshkar,
playback singer
known as India’s
“Queen of Melody,”
at 92, on Feb. 6.

P.J. O’Rourke,

conservative

author, satirist,

and political

commentator, o n

RECORDED

The Cook Islands’

DISMISSED

Former Alaska

Governor Sarah

Palin’s defamation

case against the

New York Times,by

a district judge on

Feb. 15. (A jury

later also ruled in

the Times’ favor.)

RESIGNED

Cressida Dick,

London’s police

commissioner,

on Feb. 10, after

a recent report

found widespread

misogyny and

racism within the

city’s police force.

ARRESTED

FormerHonduran

President Juan

Orlando Hernández,

on Feb. 15, on drug-

traffi cking charges.

RENAMED

Facebook’s News

Feed on Feb. 15—

as, simply, “Feed.”

SETTLED

Sandy Hook suit

A historic victory

REMINGTON ARMS HAS SET-

tled a wrongful-death lawsuit

with nine families who lost loved

ones in the Sandy Hook Elemen-

tary School shooting for $73 mil-

lion, attorneys announced on

Feb. 15. The settlement ends a

long-running legal battle over

how Remington marketed the

rifl e used in the 2012 massacre.

Though it means the suit

ended without a verdict, it’s the

fi rst time a U.S. gun manufac-

turer has been held liable in a

mass shooting, the plaintiff s’

lawyers said, and could open the

door to future lawsuits against

gunmakers.

Josh Koskoff , an attorney

representing the families, says

it should be a “wake-up call” to

the fi rearms industry, which is

largely immune to lawsuits under

federal law.

“Our hope is that this victory

will be the fi rst boulder in the av-

alanche that forces that change,”

he says. “These nine families

have shared a single goal from the

very beginning: to do whatever

they could to help prevent the

next Sandy Hook.”

While the families remem-

bered those they lost, they ex-

pressed relief at the outcome.

“Today is about what is right

and what is wrong,” says Francine

Wheeler, whose 6-year-old son,

Ben, was killed in the shooting.

—MELISSA CHAN

DIED

Ivan Reitman

Comedic auteur

BY ERNIE HUDSON

IVAN REITMAN WASN’T ALWAYS THE

funniest guy in person, but in his body

of work, he was one of the greatest co-

medic geniuses of our time. He directed

and produced so many beloved fi lms,

including National Lampoon’s Animal

House, Space Jam, Kindergarten Cop,

and Ghostbusters, which I starred in.

Reitman, who died on Feb. 12 at 75,

knew what was funny, and he had the

ability to bring it out on screen.

In 1982, I ran into Reitman by ac-

cident on an elevator while shooting a

movie. That’s when he fi rst mentioned

Ghostbusters—and that there was noth-

ing in it for me. So I said, “Good luck

with that.” But then I auditioned any-

way and they loved me.

My career would not have been the

same if it weren’t for Reitman. Ghost-

busters didn’t launch my career, but the

movie resonated with so many people.

It amazed me just how popular it be-

came. The fandom grew in the weirdest

ways and crossed generations.

So many directors get in the way;

I really admired that Reitman knew

how not to. He didn’t interfere, and

he trusted talent. I wonder how many

comedians became comedians after

watching his movies.

There’s a humanity that’s vibrant and

alive in Reitman’s work. That is rare,

and very special. And he showed over

and over again that he had an intuitive

understanding of what brought people

together—and what people would re-

spond to.

Losing him feels like losing family.

Hudson is an actor

12

THE BRIEF MILESTONES

REITMAN: MCA UNIVERSAL/EVERETT COLLECTION; DAVIS: ANTHONY BARBOZA—GETTY IMAGES