title: Wyatt Earp

text: S. J. Reidhead, author of "Travesty: Frank Waters Earp Agenda Exposed", spent nearly a decade searching for Water's original manuscript, researching him, his background, and his bias against the Earps. In doing so the author discovered that the story Waters presented against the Earps was primarily fictitious. "Nothing is documented," she wrote. "There are no notes nor sourcing. There is only the original "Tombstone Travesty" manuscript and the final "Earp Brothers of Tombstone". Because of his later reputation, few writers, even today, dare question Waters's motives. They also do not bother fact checking the "Earp Brothers of Tombstone", which is so inaccurate it should be considered fiction, rather than fact."


title: Wyatt Earp

text: Writers and researchers opposing Earp use Frank Waters's "Earp Brothers of Tombstone" as their primary source for material that presents Wyatt Earp as something of a villainous monster, aided and abetted by his brothers who were almost brutes. Waters detested the Earps so badly that he presented a book that was terribly flawed, poorly edited, and brimming with prevarications. In his other work Waters is poetic. In the "Earp Brothers of Tombstone" he is little more than a tabloid hack, trying to slander someone he dislikes. To date, no reason has been uncovered for the bias Frank Waters exhibited against Wyatt Earp and his brothers.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: In 1963 Ed Bartholomew published "Wyatt Earp, The Untold Story" followed by "Wyatt Earp: Man and Myth" in 1964. His books were strongly anti-Earp and attacked Wyatt Earp's image as a hero. Bartholomew went about this by reciting snippets of accumulated anti-Earp facts, rumors, gossip, and innuendo. Bartholomew's books started a trend of debunking Earp, and the academic community followed his lead, pursuing the image of Earp as a "fighting pimp".


title: Wyatt Earp

text: In reviewing Allen Barra's "Inventing Wyatt Earp. His Life and Many Legends", William Urban, a professor of history at Monmouth College in Warren County, Illinois, pointed out a number of factual inaccuracies in the book. One inconsistency by Barra, pointed out by another reviewer, includes a description of the poker game the night before the shootout. Ike Clanton's account of the game (the only one that exists) gives the participants as John Behan, Virgil Earp, Ike Clanton, Tom McLaury, and a fifth man Ike did not recognize, while Barra wrote that Holliday had attended the game.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: He wrote a letter to John Hays Hammond on May 21, 1925, telling him "notoriety had been the bane of my life. I detest it, and I never have put forth any effort to check the tales that have been published in which my brothers and I are supposed to have been the principal participants. Not one of them is correct."


title: Wyatt Earp

text: The 1922 scandalous story in the Sunday "Los Angeles Times" by Scanland annoyed Earp. He was tired of all the lies perpetuated about him and became determined to get his story accurately told. Still, in 1924, a story in a San Francisco paper said that interviewing him was "like pulling teeth". Earp did not trust the press and preferred to keep his mouth shut.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: The many negative, untruthful stories bothered Earp a great deal, and he finally decided to tell his own story. Earp also tried to find J. M. Scanland, the author of the "LA Times" article, and extract a written retraction from him, which he finally did in 1927.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: In 1925 Earp began to collaborate on a biography with his friend and former mining engineer with John Flood to get his story told in a way that he approved.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: Unlike most legendary lawmen of the American West, Earp was relatively unknown until Stuart N. Lake published the first biography of Wyatt Earp, "" in 1931, two years after Earp died. Lake portrayed Earp as a "Western superhero" who single-handedly cleaned up a town full of Cowboy criminals. In fact, Earp had been a stagecoach guard for Wells Fargo, a full-time gambler, a regular associate of prostitutes, and, occasionally, a lawman.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: Lake wrote the book with Earp's input, but was only able to interview him eight times before Earp died, during which Earp sketched out the "barest facts" of his life. With very little information from Earp, Lake wrote the biography in the first person.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: Lake initially sought Earp out hoping to write a magazine article about him. Earp was also seeking a biographer at about the same time. Aged 80 years, Earp was concerned that his vantage point on the Tombstone story may be lost, and may have been financially motivated, as he had little income in his last years.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: During the interviews and in later correspondence, Josephine and Wyatt went to great lengths to keep her name out of Lake's book. Lake wrote Earp that he planned to send portions of the book to his New York agent, but Earp objected because he wanted to read it first. After Earp's death on January 13, 1929, Josephine continued to try to persuade Lake to leave her and Earp's former wife, Mattie Blaylock, out of the book, even threatening legal action. Lake finally published "Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal" in 1931, two years after Earp's death.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: Lake's creative biography portrays Earp as a "Western superhero", "gallant white knight", and entirely avoided mentioning Josephine Earp or Blaylock. A number of Hollywood movies have been directly and indirectly influenced by Lake's book and its depiction of Earp's role as a western lawman. The book drew considerable positive attention and established Lake as a western screenwriter for years to come. It also established the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in the public consciousness and Earp as a fearless lawman in the American Old West.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: The book "is now regarded more as fiction than fact", and "an imaginative hoax, a fabrication mixed with just enough fact to give it credibility".


title: Wyatt Earp

text: Josephine Earp worked hard to create an image of Wyatt as a teetotaler, but as a saloon owner and gambler, he drank occasionally. When Flood and Lake wrote their biographies, Prohibition was in force. Among the facts Josephine wanted scrubbed from Earp's history, was that he liked a drink. She persuaded biographers Flood, Lake, and Burns to write that Earp was a non-drinker. A good friend of Earp's, Charlie Welsh, was known to disappear for days at a time "to see property", the family euphemism for a drinking binge, and Earp was his regular partner. Director John Ford said that whenever Josephine left town for religious conventions, Earp would come into town, play poker, and get drunk with the cowboy actors.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: Lake wrote about the Colt Buntline Special, a variant of the long-barreled Colt Single Action Army revolver. According to Lake's biography, dime novelist Ned Buntline had five Buntline Specials commissioned. Lake described them as extra-long Colt Single Action Army revolvers with barrels. Buntline was supposed to have presented them to lawmen in thanks for their help with contributing "local color" to his western yarns. According to Lake, the revolver was equipped with a detachable metal shoulder stock. Lake wrote that Earp and four other well-known western lawmenBat Masterson, Bill Tilghman, Charlie Bassett and Neal Browneach received a Buntline Special. However, neither Tilghman nor Brown were lawmen then.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: Researchers have never found any record of such an order received by the Colt company, and Ned Buntline's alleged connections to Earp's have been largely discredited.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: After the publication of Lake's book, various Colt revolvers with long (10" or 16") barrels were referred to as "Colt Buntlines". Colt re-introduced the revolvers in its second generation revolvers produced after 1956. The Buntline Special was further popularized by "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" television series.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: Earp's reputation has been confused by inaccurate, conflicting, and false stories told about him by others, and by his own claims that cannot be corroborated. For example, in an interview with a reporter in Denver in 1896, he denied that he had killed Johnny Ringo. He then flipped his story, claiming he had killed Ringo. In 1888, he was interviewed by an agent of California historian Hubert H. Bancroft, and Earp claimed that he had killed "over a dozen stage robbers, murderers, and cattle thieves". In about 1918 he told Forrestine Hooker, who wrote an unpublished manuscript, and then Frank Lockwood, who wrote "Pioneer Days in Arizona" in 1932, that he was the one who killed Johnny Ringo as Ringo left Arizona in March 1882, almost four months before Ringo was found dead with a bullet wound to the temple. Earp also included details that do not match what is known about Ringo's death. Earp repeated that claim to at least three other people.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: At the hearing following the Tombstone shootout, Earp said he had been marshal in Dodge City, a claim he repeated in an August 16, 1896, interview that appeared in "The San Francisco Examiner". But Earp had only been an assistant city marshal there.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: During an interview with his future biographer Stuart Lake during the late 1920s, Earp said that he arrested notorious gunslinger Ben Thompson in Ellsworth, Kansas, on August 15, 1873, when news accounts and Thompson's own contemporary account about the episode do not mention his presence. He also told Lake that he had hunted buffalo during 1871 and 1872, but Earp was arrested three times in the Peoria area during that period for "keeping and being found in a house of ill-fame". He was arrested and jailed on a horse theft charge on April 6, 1871. However he was not convicted of the last charge and was released.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: In the same interview Earp claimed that George Hoyt had intended to kill him, although newspaper accounts from that time report differently. He also said he and Bat Masterson had confronted Clay Allison when he was sent to Dodge City to finish George Hoyt's job, and that they had forced him to back down. Two other accounts contradicted Earp, crediting cattleman Dick McNulty and Long Branch Saloon owner Chalk Beeson with convincing Allison and his Cowboys to surrender their guns. Cowboy Charlie Siringo witnessed the incident and left a written account.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: Wyatt outlived his brothers, and due to the fame Wyatt gained from Lake's biography and later adaptations of it, he is often mistakenly viewed as the central character and hero of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. In fact, Virgil Earp, as Deputy U.S. Marshal and Tombstone City Marshal, actually held the legal authority in Tombstone the day of the shootout. Virgil had considerably more experience with weapons and combat as a Union soldier in the Civil War, and in law enforcement as a sheriff, constable, and marshal than did Wyatt. As city marshal, Virgil made the decision to enforce a city ordinance prohibiting carrying weapons in town and to disarm the Cowboys. Wyatt was only a temporary assistant marshal to his brother.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: Earp's modern-day reputation is that of the Old West's "toughest and deadliest gunman of his day". He is "a cultural icon, a man of law and order, a mythic figure of a West where social control and order were notably absent". Due to Lake's fanciful biography and because Wyatt outlived all of his brothers, his name became famous and he is the primary figure in many movies, TV shows, biographies and works of fiction.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: One of the most well known, and for many years respected, books about Wyatt Earp was the book "I Married Wyatt Earp", originally credited as a factual memoir by Josephine Marcus Earp. Published in 1976, it was edited by amateur historian Glenn Boyer, and published by the respected University of Arizona Press. It was immensely popular for many years, capturing the imagination of people with an interest in western history, studied in classrooms, cited by scholars, and relied upon as factual by filmmakers.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: In 1998 writer Tony Ortega wrote a lengthy investigative article for the "Phoenix New Times" for which he interviewed Boyer. Boyer said that he was uninterested in what others thought of the accuracy of what he had written. "This is an artistic effort. I don't have to adhere to the kind of jacket that these people are putting on me. I am not a historian. I'm a storyteller."Boyer admitted that the book is "100 percent Boyer". He said the book was not really a first-person account, that he had interpreted Wyatt Earp in Josephine's voice, and admitted that he could not produce any documents to vindicate his methods.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: The credibility of Boyer and the University Press was severely damaged. In 2000 the university referred all questions to its lawyers who investigated some of the allegations about Boyer's work. Later that year, the Press removed the book from its catalog. The book has been discredited as a fraud and a hoax that cannot be relied on.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: As a result, other works by Boyer were subsequently questioned. His book, "Wyatt Earp's Tombstone Vendetta", published in 1993, was according to Boyer based on an account written by a previously unknown Tombstone journalist that he named "Theodore Ten Eyck", but whose identity could not be independently verified. Boyer claimed that the manuscript was "clearly authentic" and that it contained "fascinating revelations (if they are true) and would make an ace movie". Boyer later said the character was in fact a blend of "scores of accounts", but could not provide any sources.


title: Wyatt Earp

text: History professor William Urban also described "the questionable scholarship of Glenn Boyer, the dominant figure in Earpiana for the past several decades, who has apparently invented a manuscript and then cited it as a major source in his publications. This does not surprise this reviewer, who has personal experience with Boyer's pretentious exaggeration of his acquaintance with Warren County records."


The 2000 United States presidential election was the 54th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 2000. Republican candidate George W. Bush, the governor of Texas and eldest son of the 41st president, George H. W. Bush, won the election, defeating incumbent Vice President Al Gore. It was the fourth of five American presidential elections, and the first since 1888, in which the winning candidate lost the popular vote, and is considered one of the closest elections in US history, with longstanding controversy surrounding the ultimate results.


title: 2000 United States presidential election

text: Incumbent Bill Clinton was ineligible for a third term, and Gore secured the Democratic nomination with relative ease, defeating a challenge by former Senator Bill Bradley. Bush was seen as the early favorite for the Republican nomination and despite a contentious primary battle with Senator John McCain and others, secured the nomination by Super Tuesday. Bush chose former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney as his running mate, while Gore chose Senator Joe Lieberman.


text: Both major-party candidates focused primarily on domestic issues, such as the budget, tax relief, and reforms for federal social insurance programs, although foreign policy was not ignored. Due to President Bill Clinton's sex scandal with Monica Lewinsky and subsequent impeachment, Gore avoided campaigning with Clinton. Republicans denounced Clinton's indiscretions, while Gore criticized Bush's lack of experience. On election night, it was unclear who had won, with the electoral votes of the state of Florida still undecided. The returns showed that Bush had won Florida by such a close margin that state law required a recount. A month-long series of legal battles led to the highly controversial 5–4 Supreme Court decision "Bush v. Gore", which ended the recount.


text: The recount having been ended, Bush won Florida by 537 votes, a margin of 0.009%. The Florida recount and subsequent litigation resulted in major post-election controversy, and with speculative analysis suggesting that limited county-based recounts would likely have confirmed a Bush victory, whereas a statewide recount would likely have given the state to Gore. Ultimately, Bush won 271 electoral votes, one vote more than the 270-to-win majority, despite Gore receiving 543,895 more votes (a margin of 0.52% of all votes cast). Bush flipped 11 states that had voted Democratic in 1996: Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia.


text: of the United States Constitution dictates that the President and Vice President of the United States must be natural-born citizens of the United States, at least 35 years old, and residents of the United States for a period of at least 14 years. Candidates for the presidency typically seek the nomination of one of the political parties, in which case each party devises a method (such as a primary election) to choose the candidate the party deems best suited to run for the position. Traditionally, the primary elections are indirect elections where voters cast ballots for a slate of party delegates pledged to a particular candidate. The party's delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the party's behalf. The general election in November is also an indirect election, where voters cast ballots for a slate of members of the Electoral College; these electors in turn directly elect the president and vice president.


text: President Bill Clinton, a Democrat and former Governor of Arkansas, was ineligible to seek reelection to a third term due to the Twenty-second Amendment; in accordance with Section1 of the Twentieth Amendment, his term expired at noon Eastern Standard Time on January 20, 2001.


text: Bush became the early front-runner, acquiring unprecedented funding and a broad base of leadership support based on his governorship of Texas and the Bush family's name recognition and connections in American politics. Former cabinet member George Shultz played an important early role in securing establishment Republican support for Bush. In April 1998, he invited Bush to discuss policy issues with experts including Michael Boskin, John Taylor, and Condoleezza Rice, who later became his Secretary of State. The group, which was "looking for a candidate for 2000 with good political instincts, someone they could work with", was impressed, and Shultz encouraged him to enter the race.


text: Several aspirants withdrew before the Iowa Caucus because they did not secure funding and endorsements sufficient to remain competitive with Bush. These included Elizabeth Dole, Dan Quayle, Lamar Alexander, and Bob Smith. Pat Buchanan dropped out to run for the Reform Party nomination. That left Bush, John McCain, Alan Keyes, Steve Forbes, Gary Bauer, and Orrin Hatch as the only candidates still in the race.


text: On January 24, Bush won the Iowa caucus with 41% of the vote. Forbes came in second with 30% of the vote. Keyes received 14%, Bauer 9%, McCain 5%, and Hatch 1%. Two days later, Hatch dropped out and endorsed Bush. The national media portrayed Bush as the establishment candidate. With the support of many moderate Republicans and Independents, McCain portrayed himself as a crusading insurgent who focused on campaign reform.


text: On February 1, McCain won a 49–30% victory over Bush in the New Hampshire primary. Bauer subsequently dropped out, followed by Forbes, who came in third in the Delaware primary. This left three candidates. In the South Carolina primary, Bush soundly defeated McCain. Some McCain supporters accused the Bush campaign of mudslinging and dirty tricks, such as push polling that implied that McCain's adopted Bangladeshi-born daughter was an African-American child he fathered out of wedlock. McCain's loss in South Carolina damaged his campaign, but he won both Michigan and his home state of Arizona on February 22.


text: On February 24, McCain criticized Bush for accepting the endorsement of Bob Jones University despite its policy banning interracial dating. On February 28, McCain also referred to Jerry Falwell and televangelist Pat Robertson as "agents of intolerance," a term he distanced himself from during his 2008 bid. He lost Virginia to Bush on February 29. On Super Tuesday, March 7, Bush won New York, Ohio, Georgia, Missouri, California, Maryland, and Maine. McCain won Rhode Island, Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts but dropped out of the race. McCain became the Republican presidential nominee 8 years later, but lost the general election to Barack Obama. On March 10, Keyes got 21% of the vote in Utah. Bush took the majority of the remaining contests and won the Republican nomination on March 14, winning his home state of Texas and his brother Jeb's home state of Florida, among others. At the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Bush accepted the nomination.


text: Bush asked former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney to head up a team to help select a running mate for him, but ultimately chose Cheney himself as the vice presidential nominee. While the U.S. Constitution does not specifically disallow a president and a vice president from the same state, it prohibits electors from casting both of their votes for persons from their own state. Accordingly, Cheney—who had been a resident of Texas for nearly 10 years—changed his voting registration back to Wyoming. Had Cheney not done this, either he or Bush would have forfeited his electoral votes from Texas.


text: Al Gore from Tennessee was a consistent front-runner for the nomination. Other prominent Democrats mentioned as possible contenders included Bob Kerrey, Missouri Representative Dick Gephardt, Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone, and actor and director Warren Beatty. Of these, only Wellstone formed an exploratory committee.


text: Running an insurgency campaign, Bradley positioned himself as the alternative to Gore, who was a founding member of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council. While former basketball star Michael Jordan campaigned for him in the early primary states, Bradley announced his intention to campaign "in a different way" by conducting a positive campaign of "big ideas." His campaign's focus was a plan to spend the record-breaking budget surplus on a variety of social welfare programs to help the poor and the middle class, along with campaign finance reform and gun control.


text: Gore easily defeated Bradley in the primaries, largely because of support from the Democratic Party establishment and Bradley's poor showing in the Iowa caucus, where Gore successfully painted Bradley as aloof and indifferent to the plight of farmers. The closest Bradley came to a victory was his 50–46 loss to Gore in the New Hampshire primary. On March 14, Gore clinched the Democratic nomination.


text: None of Bradley's delegates were allowed to vote for him, so Gore won the nomination unanimously at the Democratic National Convention. Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman was nominated for vice president by voice vote. Lieberman became the first Jewish American ever to be chosen for this position by a major party. Gore chose Lieberman over five other finalists: Senators Evan Bayh, John Edwards, and John Kerry, House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, and New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen.


text: The nomination went to Pat Buchanan and running mate Ezola Foster from California over the objections of party founder Ross Perot and despite a rump convention nomination of John Hagelin by the Perot faction. In the end, the Federal Election Commission sided with Buchanan, and that ticket appeared on 49 of 51 possible ballots.


text: The Greens/Green Party USA, the then-recognized national party organization, later endorsed Nader for president and he appeared on the ballots of 43 states and DC.


text: The Libertarian Party's National Nominating Convention nominated Harry Browne from Tennessee and Art Olivier from California for president and vice president. Browne was nominated on the first ballot and Olivier received the vice presidential nomination on the second ballot. Browne appeared on every state ballot except Arizona's, due to a dispute between the Libertarian Party of Arizona (which instead nominated L. Neil Smith) and the national Libertarian Party.


text: The Constitution Party nominated Howard Phillips from Virginia for a third time and Curtis Frazier from Missouri. It was on the ballot in 41 states.


text: The Natural Law Party held its national convention in Arlington, Virginia, on August 31–September 2, unanimously nominating a ticket of Hagelin/Goldhaber without a roll-call vote. The party was on 38 of the 51 ballots nationally.


text: Although the campaign focused mainly on domestic issues, such as the projected budget surplus, proposed reforms of Social Security and Medicare, health care, and competing plans for tax relief, foreign policy was often an issue.


text: Bush criticized the Clinton administration's policies in Somalia, where 18 Americans died in 1993 trying to make peace among warring factions, and in the Balkans, where United States peacekeeping troops perform a variety of functions. "I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation-building", Bush said in the second presidential debate. Bush also pledged to bridge partisan gaps, claiming the atmosphere in Washington stood in the way of progress on necessary reforms. Gore, meanwhile, questioned Bush's fitness for the job, pointing to gaffes Bush made in interviews and speeches and suggesting he lacked the necessary experience to be president.


text: Bill Clinton's impeachment and the sex scandal that led up to it cast a shadow on the campaign. Republicans strongly denounced the Clinton scandals, and Bush made a promise to restore "honor and dignity" to the White House a centerpiece of his campaign. Gore studiously avoided the Clinton scandals, as did Lieberman, even though Lieberman had been the first Democratic senator to denounce Clinton's misbehavior. Some observers theorized that Gore chose Lieberman in an attempt to separate himself from Clinton's past misdeeds and help blunt the GOP's attempts to link him to his boss. Others pointed to the passionate kiss Gore gave his wife during the Democratic Convention as a signal that despite the allegations against Clinton, Gore himself was a faithful husband. Gore avoided appearing with Clinton, who was shunted to low-visibility appearances in areas where he was popular. Experts have argued that this could have cost Gore votes from some of Clinton's core supporters.


text: Ralph Nader was the most successful of the third-party candidates. His campaign was marked by a traveling tour of large "super-rallies" held in sports arenas like Madison Square Garden, with retired talk show host Phil Donahue as master of ceremonies. After initially ignoring Nader, the Gore campaign made a pitch to potential Nader supporters in the campaign's final weeks, downplaying his differences with Nader on the issues and arguing that Gore's ideas were more similar to Nader's than Bush's were and that Gore had a better chance of winning than Nader. On the other side, the Republican Leadership Council ran pro-Nader ads in a few states in an effort to split the liberal vote. Nader said his campaign's objective was to pass the 5-percent threshold so his Green Party would be eligible for matching funds in future races.


text: Vice-presidential candidates Cheney and Lieberman campaigned aggressively. Both camps made numerous campaign stops nationwide, often just missing each other, such as when Cheney, Hadassah Lieberman, and Tipper Gore attended Chicago's Taste of Polonia over Labor Day Weekend.


text: After the 1996 presidential election, the Commission on Presidential Debates set new candidate selection criteria. The new criteria required third-party candidates to poll at least 15% of the vote in national polls in order to take part in the CPD-sponsored presidential debates. Nader was blocked from attending a closed-circuit screening of the first debate despite having a ticket, and barred from attending an interview near the site of the third debate (Washington University in St. Louis) despite having a "perimeter pass". Nader later sued the CPD for its role in the former incident. A settlement was reached that included an apology to him.


text: With the exceptions of Florida, Maryland, and Gore's home state of Tennessee, Bush carried the Southern states by comfortable margins (including Clinton's home state of Arkansas) and also won Ohio, Indiana, most of the rural Midwestern farming states, most of the Rocky Mountain states, and Alaska. Gore balanced Bush by sweeping the Northeastern United States (with the exception of New Hampshire, which Bush won narrowly), the Pacific Coast states, Hawaii, New Mexico, and most of the Upper Midwest.


text: As the night wore on, the returns in a handful of small-to-medium-sized states, including Wisconsin, Iowa, Oregon and New Mexico (Gore by 355 votes) were extremely close, but the election came down to Florida. As the final national results were tallied the following morning, Bush had clearly won 246 electoral votes and Gore 250, with 270 needed to win. Two smaller states—Wisconsin (11 electoral votes) and Oregon (7)—were still too close to call, but Florida's 25 electoral votes would be decisive regardless of their results. The election's outcome was not known for more than a month after voting ended because of the time required to count and recount Florida's ballots.


text: Between 7:50 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. EST on November 7, just before the polls closed in the largely Republican Florida panhandle, which is in the Central time zone, all major television news networks (CNN, NBC, FOX, CBS, and ABC) declared that Gore had won Florida. They based this prediction substantially on exit polls. But in the vote, Bush began to take a wide lead early in Florida, and by 10 p.m. EST, the networks had retracted their predictions and placed Florida back in the "undecided" column. At approximately 2:30 a.m. on November 8, with 85% of the vote counted in Florida and Bush leading Gore by more than 100,000 votes, the networks declared that Bush had carried Florida and therefore been elected president. But most of the remaining votes to be counted in Florida were in three heavily Democratic counties—Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach—and as their votes were reported Gore began to gain on Bush. By 4:30 a.m., after all votes were counted, Gore had narrowed Bush's margin to under 2,000 votes, and the networks retracted their declarations that Bush had won Florida and the presidency. Gore, who had privately conceded the election to Bush, withdrew his concession. The final result in Florida was slim enough to require a mandatory recount (by machine) under state law; Bush's lead dwindled to just over 300 votes when it was completed the day after the election. On November 8, Florida Division of Elections staff prepared a press release for Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris that said overseas ballots must be "postmarked or signed and dated" by Election Day. It was never released. A count of the overseas ballots later boosted Bush's margin to 930 votes. (According to a report by "The New York Times", 680 of the accepted overseas ballots were received after the legal deadline, lacked required postmarks or a witness signature or address, or were unsigned or undated, cast after election day, from unregistered voters or voters not requesting ballots, or double-counted.)


text: Most of the post-electoral controversy revolved around Gore's request for hand recounts in four counties (Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach, and Volusia), as provided under Florida state law. Harris, who also co-chaired Bush's Florida campaign, announced she would reject any revised totals from those counties if they were not turned in by 5 p.m. on November 14, the statutory deadline for amended returns. The Florida Supreme Court extended the deadline to November 26, a decision later vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court. Miami-Dade eventually halted its recount and resubmitted its original total to the state canvassing board, while Palm Beach County failed to meet the extended deadline, turning in its completed recount results at 7 p.m., which Harris rejected. On November 26, the state canvassing board certified Bush as the winner of Florida's electors by 537 votes. Gore formally contested the certified results. A state court decision overruling Gore was reversed by the Florida Supreme Court, which ordered a recount of over 70,000 ballots previously rejected as undervotes by machine counters. The U.S. Supreme Court halted that order the next day, with Justice Scalia issuing a concurring opinion that "the counting of votes that are of questionable legality does in my view threaten irreparable harm to petitioner" (Bush).


text: On December 12, the Supreme Court ruled in a per curiam decision (asserted as a 7–2 vote) that the Florida Supreme Court's ruling requiring a statewide recount of ballots was unconstitutional on equal protection grounds, and in a 5–4 vote reversed and remanded the case to the Florida Supreme Court for modification before the optional "safe harbor" deadline, which the Supreme Court argued that Florida court had said the state intended to meet. With only two hours remaining until the December 12 deadline, the Supreme Court's order effectively ended the recount, and the previously certified total held.


text: Even if the Supreme Court had decided differently in "Bush v. Gore", the Florida Legislature had been meeting in Special Session since December 8 with the purpose of selecting of a slate of electors on December 12 should the dispute still be ongoing. Had the recount gone forward, it would have awarded those electors to Bush, based on the state-certified vote, and Gore's likely last recourse would have been to contest the electors in the United States Congress. The electors would then have been rejected only if both houses agreed to do so.


text: Though Gore came in second in the electoral vote, he received 543,895 more popular votes than Bush, making him the first person since Grover Cleveland in 1888 to win the popular vote but lose in the Electoral College. Gore failed to win the popular vote in his home state, Tennessee, which both he and his father had represented in the Senate, making him the first major-party presidential candidate to have lost his home state since George McGovern lost South Dakota in 1972. Furthermore, Gore lost West Virginia, a state that had voted Republican only once in the previous six presidential elections.


text: Before the election, the possibility that different candidates would win the popular vote and the Electoral College had been noted, but usually with the expectation of Gore winning the Electoral College and Bush the popular vote. The idea that Bush could win the Electoral College and Gore the popular vote was not considered likely.


text: This was the first time since 1928 when a non-incumbent Republican candidate won West Virginia. The Electoral College results were the closest since 1876, making this election the second-closest Electoral College result in history and the third-closest popular vote victory. Gore's 266 electoral votes is the highest for a losing nominee.


text: Bush was the first Republican in American history to win the presidency without carrying Vermont, Illinois, or New Mexico, as well as the second Republican to win the presidency without carrying California after James A. Garfield in 1880, and Pennsylvania, Maine, and Michigan after Richard Nixon in 1968, as well as the first winning Republican not to receive any electoral votes from California as Garfield received one electoral vote in 1880. Bush was the first Republican to win without New Jersey, Delaware, or Connecticut since 1888. As of 2020, Bush is the last Republican nominee to win New Hampshire. No state in the Northeast has voted Republican since except for Pennsylvania in 2016. This marked the first time since Iowa entered the union in 1846 in which the state voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in four elections in a row and the last time until 2020 that Iowa did not vote for the overall winner.


text: This election was the first time since 1976 that New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine, Illinois, New Mexico, Michigan, and California voted for the losing candidate, as well as the first since 1980 that Maryland did so, the first since 1948 that Delaware did so, and the first since 1968 that Pennsylvania did so.


text: There were two counties in the nation that had voted Republican in 1996 and voted Democratic in 2000: Charles County, Maryland, and Orange County, Florida, both rapidly diversifying counties. The 2000 election was also the last time a Republican won a number of populous urban counties that have since turned into Democratic strongholds. These include Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (Charlotte); Marion County, Indiana (Indianapolis), Fairfax County, Virginia (DC suburbs), and Travis County, Texas (Austin). In 2016, Republican Donald Trump lost Mecklenburg by 30%, Marion by 23%, Fairfax by 36%, and Travis by 38%. Conversely, as of 2020, Gore is the last Democrat to have won any counties at all in Oklahoma.


text: <nowiki>*</nowiki>The Libertarian Party of Arizona had ballot access but opted to supplant Browne with L. Neil Smith. In Arizona, Smith received 5,775 votes, or 0.38% of the Arizona vote. Adding Smith's 5,775 votes to Browne's 384,431 votes nationwide, the total votes cast for president for the Libertarian Party in 2000 was 390,206, or 0.37% of the national vote.


text: Maine and Nebraska each allow for their electoral votes to be split between candidates. In both states, two electoral votes are awarded to the winner of the statewide race and one electoral vote is awarded to the winner of each congressional district. The votes for each candidate are only singly counted in the column totals.


text: Although the Libertarian Party had ballot access in all fifty United States plus D.C., Browne's name only appeared on the ballot in forty-nine United States plus D.C. The Libertarian Party of Arizona opted to place L. Neil Smith on the ballot in Browne's place. When adding Smith's 5,775 Arizona votes to Browne's 384,431 votes nationwide, that brings the total presidential votes cast for the Libertarian Party in 2000 to 390,206.


text: After Florida was decided and Gore conceded, Texas Governor George W. Bush became the president-elect and began forming his transition committee. In a speech on December 13, in the Texas House of Representatives chamber, Bush stated he was reaching across party lines to bridge a divided America, saying, "the President of the United States is the President of every single American, of every race, and every background."


text: On January 6, 2001, a joint session of Congress met to certify the electoral vote. Twenty members of the House of Representatives, most of them members of the all-Democratic Congressional Black Caucus, rose one by one to file objections to the electoral votes of Florida. But pursuant to the Electoral Count Act, any such objection had to be sponsored by both a representative and a senator. No senator co-sponsored these objections, deferring to the Supreme Court's ruling. Therefore, Gore, who presided in his capacity as President of the Senate, ruled each of these objections out of order. Subsequently, the joint session of Congress on January 7, 2001, certified the electoral votes from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.


text: Bush took the oath of office on January 20, 2001. He served for the next eight years. Gore has not, as of 2021, considered another presidential run, endorsing Howard Dean's candidacy during the 2004 Democratic primary and remaining neutral in the Democratic primaries of 2008, 2016 and 2020.


text: The first independent recount of undervotes was conducted by the "Miami Herald" and "USA Today". The commission found that under most scenarios for completion of the initiated recounts, Bush would have won the election, but Gore would have won using the most generous standards for undervotes.


text: Ultimately, a media consortium—comprising "The New York Times", "The Washington Post", "The Wall Street Journal", Tribune Co. (parent of the "Los Angeles Times"), Associated Press, CNN, "The Palm Beach Post" and the "St. Petersburg Times"—hired NORC at the University of Chicago to examine 175,010 ballots collected from the entire state, not just the disputed counties that were recounted; these ballots contained undervotes (ballots with no machine-detected choice made for president) and overvotes (ballots with more than one choice marked). Their goal was to determine the reliability and accuracy of the systems used for the voting process. Based on the NORC review, the media group concluded that if the disputes over all the ballots in question had been resolved by applying statewide any of five standards that would have met Florida's legal standard for recounts, the electoral result would have been reversed and Gore would have won by 60 to 171 votes. (Any analysis of NORC data requires, for each punch ballot, at least two of the three ballot reviewers' codes to agree or instead, for all three to agree.) For all undervotes and overvotes statewide, these five standards are:


text: Such a statewide review including all uncounted votes was a tangible possibility, as Leon County Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis, whom the Florida Supreme Court had assigned to oversee the statewide recount, had scheduled a hearing for December 13 (mooted by the U.S. Supreme Court's final ruling on the 12th) to consider the question of including overvotes as well as undervotes. Subsequent statements by Lewis and internal court documents support the likelihood of including overvotes in the recount. Florida State University professor of public policy Lance deHaven-Smith observed that, even considering only undervotes, "under any of the five most reasonable interpretations of the Florida Supreme Court ruling, Gore does, in fact, more than make up the deficit". Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting's analysis of the NORC study and media coverage of it supports these interpretations and criticizes the coverage of the study by media outlets such as "The New York Times" and the other media consortium members.


text: Further, according to sociologists Christopher Uggen and Jeff Manza, the 2000 election might have gone to Gore if the disenfranchised population of Florida had voted. Florida law disenfranchises convicted felons, requiring individual applications to regain suffrage. In a 2002 "American Sociological Review" article, Uggen and Manza found that the released felon vote could have altered the outcome of seven senatorial races between 1978 and 2000, and the 2000 presidential election. Matt Ford noted their study concluded, "if the state's 827,000 disenfranchised felons had voted at the same rate as other Floridians, Democratic candidate Al Gore would have won Florida—and the presidency—by more than 80,000 votes." The effect of Florida's law is such that in 2014, purportedly "[m]ore than one in ten Floridians—and nearly one in four African-American Floridians—are shut out of the polls because of felony convictions."


text: Because the 2000 presidential election was so close in Florida, the federal government and state governments pushed for election reform to be prepared by the 2004 presidential election. Many of Florida's 2000 election night problems stemmed from usability and ballot design factors with voting systems, including the potentially confusing "butterfly ballot." Many voters had difficulties with the paper-based punch card voting machines and were either unable to understand the voting process or unable to perform it. This resulted in an unusual number of overvotes (voting for more candidates than is allowed) and undervotes (voting for fewer than the minimum candidates, including none at all). Many undervotes were caused by voter error, unmaintained punch card voting booths, or errors having to do merely with the characteristics of punch card ballots (resulting in hanging, dimpled, or pregnant chads).


text: A proposed solution to these problems was the installation of modern electronic voting machines. The 2000 presidential election spurred the debate about election and voting reform but did not end it.


text: In the aftermath of the election, the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) was passed to help states upgrade their election technology in the hopes of preventing similar problems in future elections. But the electronic voting systems that many states purchased to comply with HAVA actually caused problems in the 2004 presidential election.


text: The Voter News Service's reputation was damaged by its treatment of Florida's presidential vote in 2000. Breaking its own guidelines, VNS called the state as a win for Gore 12 minutes before polls closed in the Florida Panhandle. Although most of the state is in the Eastern Time Zone, counties in the Panhandle, in the Central Time Zone, had not yet closed their polls. Discrepancies between the results of exit polls and the actual vote count caused the VNS to change its call twice, first from Gore to Bush and then to "too close to call." Due in part to this (and other polling inaccuracies) the VNS was disbanded in 2003.


text: According to Bush adviser Karl Rove, exit polls early in the afternoon on election day showed Gore winning by three percentage points, but when the networks called the state for Gore, Bush led by about 75,000 votes in raw tallies from the Florida Secretary of State.


text: Charges of media bias were leveled against the networks by Republicans, who claimed that the networks called states more quickly for Al Gore than for George W. Bush. Congress held hearings on this matter, at which the networks claimed to have no intentional bias in their election night reporting. A study of the calls made on election night 2000 indicated that states carried by Gore were called more quickly than states won by Bush; however, notable states carried by Bush, such as New Hampshire and Florida, were very close, and close states won by Gore, such as Iowa, Oregon, New Mexico and Wisconsin, were called late as well.


text: The early call of Florida for Gore has been alleged to have cost Bush several close states, including Iowa, New Mexico, Oregon, and Wisconsin. In each of these states, Gore won by less than 10,000 votes, and the polls closed after the networks called Florida for Gore. Because the Florida call was widely seen as an indicator that Gore had won the election, it is possible that it depressed Republican turnout in these states during the final hours of voting, giving Gore the slim margin by which he carried each of them. The call may have also affected the outcome of the Senate election in Washington state, where incumbent Republican Slade Gorton was defeated by approximately 2,000 votes.


text: Many Gore supporters claimed that third-party candidate Nader acted as a spoiler in the election, under the presumption that Nader voters would have voted for Gore had Nader not been in the race. Nader received 2.74 percent of the popular vote nationwide, getting 97,000 votes in Florida (by comparison, there were 111,251 overvotes) and 22,000 votes in New Hampshire, where Bush beat Gore by 7,000 votes. Winning either state would have won the general election for Gore. Defenders of Nader, including Dan Perkins, argued that the margin in Florida was small enough that Democrats could blame any number of third-party candidates for the defeat, including Workers World Party candidate Monica Moorehead, who received 1,500 votes.


text: Nader's reputation was hurt by this perception, which may have hindered his goals as an activist. For example, "Mother Jones" wrote about the so-called "rank-and-file liberals" who saw Nader negatively after the election and pointed out that Public Citizen, the organization Nader founded in 1971, suffered a drop in contributions. "Mother Jones" also cited a Public Citizen letter sent out to people interested in Nader's relation with the organization at that time, with the disclaimer: "Although Ralph Nader was our founder, he has not held an official position in the organization since 1980 and does not serve on the board. Public Citizen—and the other groups that Mr. Nader founded—act independently."


text: Democratic party strategist and Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) chair Al From expressed a different view. In the January 24, 2001, issue of the DLC's "Blueprint" magazine he wrote, "I think they're wrong on all counts. The assertion that Nader's marginal vote hurt Gore is not borne out by polling data. When exit pollers asked voters how they would have voted in a two-way race, Bush actually won by a point. That was better than he did with Nader in the race."


text: In an online article published by "Salon.com" on Tuesday, November 28, 2000, Texan progressive activist Jim Hightower claimed that in Florida, a state Gore lost by only 537 votes, 24,000 Democrats voted for Nader, while another 308,000 Democrats voted for Bush. According to Hightower, 191,000 self-described liberals in Florida voted for Bush, while fewer than 34,000 voted for Nader.


text: In their 2007 book "The Nightly News Nightmare: Network Television's Coverage of US Presidential Elections, 1988–2004", professors Stephen J. Farnsworth and S. Robert Lichter said that most media outlets influenced the outcome of the election through the use of horse race journalism. Some liberal supporters of Al Gore argued that the media had a bias against Gore and in favor of Bush. Peter Hart and Jim Naureckas, two commentators for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), called the media "serial exaggerators" and took the view that several media outlets were constantly exaggerating criticism of Gore: they further argued that the media falsely claimed Gore lied when he claimed he spoke in an overcrowded science class in Sarasota, Florida, and that the media gave Bush a pass on certain issues, such as Bush allegedly exaggerating how much money he signed into the annual Texas state budget to help the uninsured during his second debate with Gore in October 2000. In the April 2000 issue of "Washington Monthly", columnist Robert Parry wrote that media outlets exaggerated Gore's supposed claim that he "discovered" the Love Canal neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York during a campaign speech in Concord, New Hampshire on November 30, 1999, when he had only claimed he "found" it after it was already evacuated in 1978 because of chemical contamination. "Rolling Stone" columnist Eric Boehlert also alleged media outlets exaggerated criticism of Gore as early as July 22, 1999, when Gore, known for being an environmentalist, had a friend release 500 million gallons of water into a drought-stricken river to help keep his boat afloat for a photo shoot; Boehlert claimed that media outlets exaggerated the actual number of gallons that were released, as they claimed it was 4 billion.


text: A number of subsequent articles have characterized the election in 2000, and the Supreme Court's decision in "Bush v. Gore", as damaging the reputation of the Supreme Court, increasing the view of judges as partisan, and decreasing Americans' trust in the integrity of elections. The number of lawsuits brought over election issues more than doubled following the 2000 election cycle, an increase Richard L. Hasen of UC Irvine School of Law attributes to the "Florida fiasco".


title: Frank Ocean

text: Christopher Francis "Frank" Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987), is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper. His works are noted by music critics for featuring avant-garde styles and introspective, elliptical lyrics. Ocean has won two Grammy Awards and a Brit Award for International Male Solo Artist among other accolades, and his two studio albums have been listed on "Rolling Stone"s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2020).


title: Frank Ocean

text: Ocean began his musical career as a ghostwriter, prior to joining the hip hop collective Odd Future in 2010. The following year, he released his first mixtape, "Nostalgia, Ultra", and subsequently secured a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings. His first studio album, the eclectic "Channel Orange" (2012), incorporated R&B and soul styles. At the 2013 Grammy Awards, "Channel Orange" was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Urban Contemporary Album; one of its singles, "Thinkin Bout You", was nominated for Record of the Year. He was named by "Time" as one of the world's most influential people in 2013.


title: Frank Ocean

text: After a four-year hiatus, Ocean released a visual album titled "Endless" in 2016 to fulfill contractual obligations with Def Jam. Ocean self-released his second studio album, "Blonde", a day after "Endless" release. "Blonde" expanded on Ocean's experimental musical approach and ranked first on "Pitchfork" list of the best albums of the 2010s decade. It was his first number-one album on the US "Billboard" 200 and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). From 2017 onwards, Ocean released sporadic singles, worked as a photographer for magazines, and launched the fashion brand Homer.


title: Frank Ocean

text: Ocean was born on October 28, 1987, in Long Beach, California. When he was five years old, he and his family relocated to the New Orleans area. After graduating from John Ehret High School in Marrero, Louisiana in 2005, Ocean enrolled in the University of New Orleans to study English. However, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005, destroying his home and personal recording facility and forcing him to transfer to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He stayed there for a brief time before dropping out to focus on his music career.


title: Frank Ocean

text: In 2006, Ocean moved to Los Angeles to pursue his music career, working at various fast-food and service jobs to support himself. In less than three years, he established himself as a songwriter under the name Lonny Breaux, getting the first name 'Lonny' after his grandfather named Lionel, whom Ocean hung out with often in his childhood. After getting a songwriting deal, Ocean wrote songs for artists including Justin Bieber, Beyonce, John Legend, and Brandy. Ocean later said of his work at the time, "There was a point where I was composing for other people, and it might have been comfy to continue to do that and enjoy that income stream and the anonymity. But that's not why I moved away from school and away from family."


title: Frank Ocean

text: He adopted the stage name Frank Ocean, getting the name from Frank Sinatra and the 1960s film Ocean's 11, which Sinatra starred in. Soon after, he joined Los Angeles-based hip hop collective Odd Future, whom he had met in 2009. His friendship with Odd Future member Tyler, the Creator reinvigorated Ocean's songwriting. In late 2009, he met Tricky Stewart, who helped him sign a writing contract with Def Jam Recordings. Ocean felt neglected by the label, and began working on a mixtape on his own without their input. On February 16, 2011, Ocean self-released the resulting mixtape, "Nostalgia, Ultra" online for free. The mixtape received critical acclaim. The mixtape focuses on interpersonal relationships, personal reflection and social commentary. NPR's Andrew Noz said Ocean's songwriting is "smart and subtle...setting him apart from the pack". "Rolling Stone" magazine's Jonah Weiner wrote that Ocean was a "gifted avant-R&B smoothie".


title: Frank Ocean

text: In April 2011, Ocean stated that his relationship with Def Jam had strengthened since the release of the "Nostalgia, Ultra". The mixtape made Ocean widely known and led to his collaborations with rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West.


title: Frank Ocean

text: Ocean first appeared in Tyler, the Creator's music video for the single "She", from Tyler's debut studio album "Goblin" (2011). His first performance was in collaboration with Odd Future at the 2011 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, where he later joined them for their first tour across the east coast of the United States. On May 19, 2011, Ocean's record label Def Jam announced its plans to re-release "Nostalgia, Ultra" as an EP. The single "Novacane" was released to iTunes in May 2011, and the EP originally was set to be released the next month, but was delayed.


title: Frank Ocean

text: In June 2011, Ocean revealed that he would work on the upcoming Kanye West and Jay-Z collaborative album, "Watch the Throne". Ocean co-wrote and featured on two tracks: "No Church in the Wild" and "Made in America".


title: Frank Ocean

text: On July 28, 2011, a song titled "Thinkin Bout You", leaked on the internet. It was later revealed the song was a reference track, written by Ocean, for Roc Nation artist Bridget Kelly's debut studio album. Kelly renamed the song 'Thinking About Forever'. In September 2011, a music video directed by High5Collective for Ocean's version was released, yet the song still appeared on Kelly's debut EP "Every Girl". In August 2011, Frank Ocean made his first appearance on the cover of the publication "The Fader", in its 75th issue.


title: Frank Ocean

text: Ocean released the cover art for his debut studio album's lead single, titled "Thinkin Bout You", revealing the song would be released to digital retailers on April 10, 2012. However, a month earlier, a re-mastered version of the song had already leaked. About the prospective single he said: "It succinctly defines me as an artist for where I am right now and that was the aim," he said of the follow-up to his acclaimed "Nostalgia, Ultra". "It's about the stories. If I write 14 stories that I love, then the next step is to get the environment of music around it to best envelop the story and all kinds of sonic goodness."


title: Frank Ocean

text: In 2012, Ocean released his debut studio album "Channel Orange" to universal acclaim from critics, who later named it the best album of the year in the HMV's Poll of Polls. It also earned Ocean six Grammy Award nominations and was credited by some writers for moving the R&B genre in a different, more challenging direction. Considered as Ocean's first commercial release on a traditional record label, "Channel Orange" featured unconventional songs that were noted for their storytelling and social commentary, and a dense musical fusion that drew on jazz, soul, and R&B. Funk and electronic music also influenced his album. The songs about unrequited love in particular received the most attention, partly because of Ocean's announcement prior to the album's release, when he revealed that his first love was a man. The announcement made global headlines, and some critics compared its cultural impact to when David Bowie revealed that he was bisexual in 1972.


title: Frank Ocean

text: "Channel Orange" debuted at number two on the "Billboard" 200 and sold 131,000 copies in its first week. The majority of its first-week sales were digital copies from iTunes, while approximately 3,000 of the sales were physical copies. On January 30, "Channel Orange" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). By September 2014, it had sold 621,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Ocean promoted the album with his 2012 Summer Tour, which featured final appearances at the Coachella and Lollapalooza festivals. At the 2013 Brit Awards, Ocean won the Brit Award for International Male Solo Artist.


title: Frank Ocean

text: On May 28, 2013, Ocean announced the You're Not Dead ... 2013 Tour; a fourteen-date European and Canadian tour that began on June 16, 2013, in Munich. He had been scheduled to perform at the first night of OVO Fest on August 4, 2013; however he was forced to cancel his appearance due to a small vocal cord injury. The first night of the music festival was subsequently cancelled and James Blake was booked to appear during the second night as Ocean's replacement. Ocean appeared on John Mayer's album "Paradise Valley", as a featured artist on a song called "Wildfire".


title: Frank Ocean

text: In February 2013, Ocean confirmed that he had started work on his second studio album, which he confirmed would be another concept album. He revealed that he was working with Tyler, the Creator, Pharrell Williams, and Danger Mouse on the record. He later stated that he was being influenced by The Beach Boys and The Beatles. He stated he was interested in collaborating with Tame Impala and King Krule and that he would record part of the album in Bora Bora.


title: Frank Ocean

text: On March 10, 2014, the song "Hero" was made available for free download on SoundCloud. The song is a collaboration with Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Diplo and is a part of Converse's Three Artists. One Song series.


title: Frank Ocean

text: In April 2014, Ocean stated that his second album was nearly finished. In June, "Billboard" reported that the singer was working with a string of artists such as Happy Perez (whom he worked with on "nostalgia, ULTRA"), Charlie Gambetta and Kevin Ristro, while producers Hit-Boy, Rodney Jerkins and Danger Mouse were also said to be on board. On November 29, 2014, Ocean released a snippet of a new song supposedly from his upcoming follow-up to "Channel Orange" called "Memrise" on his official Tumblr page. "The Guardian" described the song as: "...a song which affirms that despite reportedly changing labels and management, he has maintained both his experimentation and sense of melancholy in the intervening years". On April 6, 2015, Ocean announced that his follow-up to "Channel Orange" would be released in July. The album was ultimately not released in July, with no explanation given for its delay. The publication was rumoured to be called "Boys Don't Cry", and the album was slated to feature the aforementioned "Memrise". In February 2016, Ocean was featured on Kanye West's album "The Life of Pablo" on the track "Wolves" along with Vic Mensa and Sia. A month later, the song was re-edited by West, and Ocean's part was separated and listed on the track list as its own song titled "Frank's Track".


title: Frank Ocean

text: In July 2016, he hinted at a possible second album with an image on his website pointing to a July release date. The image shows a library card labeled "Boys Don't Cry" with numerous stamps, implying various due dates. The dates begin with July 2, 2015, and conclude with July 2016. Ocean's brother, Ryan Breaux, further suggested this release with an Instagram caption of the same library card photo reading BOYS DON'T CRY #JULY2016.


title: Frank Ocean

text: By August 1, 2016, at approximately 3 am, an endless live stream shot in negative lighting in what is allegedly a Brooklyn warehouse, sponsored by Apple Music began to surface on boysdontcry.co which appeared to show Ocean woodworking and sporadically playing instrumentals on loop. It later became clear that these instrumentals were from his upcoming visual album "Endless"; the full version is estimated to be 140 hours long. That same day, many news outlets reported that August 5, 2016, could be the release date for "Boys Don't Cry". That date also turned out to be inaccurate, though in a Reddit AMA session, his collaborator Malay said that Ocean is a perfectionist, constantly tweaking things, and that his art cannot be rushed.


title: Frank Ocean

text: On August 18 and 19, 2016, the live stream was accompanied with music and at midnight an Apple Music link was directed to a project called "Endless". "Endless" would be Ocean's last album with Def Jam Recordings to fulfill his contract with the record label. Before the visual album's release on Apple Music, Ocean had already begun making efforts to part ways with Def Jam, who signed the artist in 2009. He describes his negotiations with the label as a "seven-year chess game", while adding that he had replaced many of his representatives (including his lawyer and manager) during the process, as well as having to buy back all of his master recordings that previously belonged to Def Jam.


title: Frank Ocean

text: At midnight Pacific time on August 20, 2016, a music video for a song titled "Nikes" was uploaded to Ocean's Connect page on Apple Music and later to his own website. Also on August 20, Ocean announced pop-up shops in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and London for his magazine "Boys Don't Cry", and released his second studio album "Blonde" to widespread acclaim. "Blonde" debuted at number one in several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, and recorded sales of 232,000 copies (275,000 with album-equivalent units) in its first week. Rather than going on a typical promotional tour playing radio festivals and appearing on television shows, Ocean spent a month after the release of "Blonde", traveling to countries such as China, Japan and France. He also chose not to submit "Blonde" for consideration at the Grammy Awards, stating "that institution certainly has nostalgic importance; it just doesn't seem to be representing very well for people who come from where I come from, and hold down what I hold down." "Time" ranked it as the best album of 2016 on its year-end list. "Forbes" estimated that "Blonde" earned Ocean nearly one million in profits after one week of availability, attributing this to him releasing the album independently and as a limited exclusive release on iTunes and Apple Music. On July 9, 2018, "Blonde" was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).


title: Frank Ocean

text: On February 21, 2017, Scottish DJ and producer Calvin Harris announced his single "Slide", in which Ocean and hip-hop trio Migos were featured. The single was released two days later and is from Harris' fifth studio album "Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1". Ocean and Migos are credited with featured vocals and Ocean and Migos members, Quavo and Offset are credited songwriting, while production is handled by Harris. The other Migos member, Takeoff is not in the song. The song was released on February 23, 2017, and featured on the first episode of Ocean's Beats 1 radio show, "Blonded Radio". It is also Ocean's first recorded collaboration since leaving Def Jam, with Ocean being listed in the liner notes as "appear[ing] courtesy of Frank Ocean". The song went on to be certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and became Ocean's first top ten single on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart, peaking at No. 9. On March 10, 2017, Ocean released a new single "Chanel" on the second episode of "Blonded Radio", as well as playing an alternate version featuring American rapper ASAP Rocky. The song was his first solo effort to be released after "Blonde" and "Endless" in 2016. On subsequent episodes of "Blonded Radio" in April, Ocean premiered "Biking" featuring Jay-Z and Tyler, the Creator, "Lens", as well as an alternate version featuring Travis Scott, and a remix of "Endless" track "Slide On Me" featuring Young Thug. On May 15 Ocean was featured on ASAP Mob's "Raf", premiered on "Blonded" alongside a solo version of "Biking". On August 28, Ocean released another single, "Provider", on "Blonded Radio".


title: Frank Ocean

text: In October 2017, Ocean published a photo essay titled "New 17" to British magazine "i-D". In the essay, Ocean said "If you liked two thousand and seventeen then you'll love two thousand and eighteen". In November 2017, Ocean hinted via Tumblr that his fifth project was complete. However it is unknown when or if it will be released. Ocean's voice appears in the video game "Grand Theft Auto V", as he plays himself hosting an in-game radio station called Blonded Los Santos 97.8 FM. He also lent the songs "Provider", "Ivy", "Crack Rock", "Chanel", "Nights" and "Pretty Sweet" to the game, and sings the radio station jingles.


title: Frank Ocean

text: On February 14, 2018, Ocean released "Moon River", a cover of the song performed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film, "Breakfast at Tiffany's". In May 2018, Ocean was featured on the tracks "Brotha Man" and "Purity" from ASAP Rocky's third studio album "Testing". In August 2018, Ocean featured on the song "Carousel" from Travis Scott's third studio album "Astroworld", which released on the same day. In September 2018, it was reported that Ocean took legal action against Scott through a cease and desist letter. Ocean later confirmed through a Tumblr post that the dispute was about social issues, not music, and had since been resolved between the two artists. On November 6, 2018, three midterm specials of "Blonded Radio" were aired throughout the day, in collation with the Midterm elections that were held in the US, as well as the release of new merchandise given to those with proof of voting for free in Houston, Atlanta, Miami, and Dallas. The shows themselves did not include any new songs by Ocean, but included various political discussions including a discussion about Ocean being an 'openly queer' black man in contemporary rap music.


title: Frank Ocean

text: On February 5, 2019, Ocean's Tumblr account was hacked hinting info about more of Ocean's material. The posts have since been deleted. On October 19, 2019, Ocean released a new song titled "DHL" on his Beats 1 radio show Blonded Radio and announced 7-inch vinyl singles of two new songs on his website titled "Dear April" and "Cayendo", originally available only as physical singles featuring B-side remixes from Justice and Sango, respectively. On November 1, 2019, Ocean followed up "DHL" with a new song titled "In My Room", which was premiered on "Blonded Radio", and soon after on November 3 posted online another vinyl single of a new song titled "Little Demon" featuring a B-side remix by Arca. However, on February 25, 2020, Ocean announced that he will replace "Little Demon" with an unreleased song which would be released on February 28, 2020. The vinyl for "Little Demon" was canceled and refunds were provided.


title: Frank Ocean

text: Ocean was set to headline at Coachella in October 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival was initially postponed until October 9–11 and October 16–18, but in June, Riverside County public health officers announced it and Stagecoach had been cancelled altogether. In August 2021, Coachella co-founder Paul Tollett confirmed that Ocean will headline the festival in 2023. From March 25, 2020, Ocean's website started shipping the vinyl singles for "Dear April" and "Cayendo", as well as the previously released "In My Room", although many reported later having issues in receiving vinyl orders or receiving refunds for canceled orders. Remixes of the two tracks had previously been teased during his club night DJ set PrEP+. The vinyl issues and exclusivity encouraged listeners to leak these two songs onto sites like Twitter and SoundCloud, and the two songs were officially released digitally on April 3.


title: Frank Ocean

text: On August 8, 2021, Frank Ocean officially revealed his first fashion project, "Homer", initially announced by the singer in a Financial Times interview. In a Q&A sent in the press release, Homer was simply stated as "an independent American luxury company founded by Frank Ocean". In an Instagram story, Frank wrote: "This project has kept my mind moving and my imagination turning throughout it all. (...) My hope is to make things that last, that are hard to destroy, see it in stone. (...) This is 3 years in the making and there is so much I'm excited to share with all you strangers. Love". The jewelry company, which has already collaborated with Prada, cites inspiration from "childhood obsessions" and "heritage as a fantasy".


title: Frank Ocean

text: On September 13, 2021, New York, Frank attended the Met Gala. The singer surprised everyone by coming to the event holding a robotic green baby (the same color as his hair), which he took care as if it was real, cooing and cradling it. On the red carpet, in an interview with Keke Palmer, when asked about the hardwired child, Frank answered: “He’s starstruck, I’m starstruck”. The creature wore a galactic-printed onesie and could raise its limbs, making it seem almost lifelike. Ocean, on the other hand, opted for a black suede three-piece suit by Prada and a white T-shirt underneath. His accessories included a hat embroidered with “Dreamcore”, a play on the animation company DreamWorks, and a necklace by his luxury jewelry label, Homer. "In America... I feel like we do kinda make, set some trends in general, especially in music", he said about the evening's theme of "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion".


title: Frank Ocean

text: On December 25, 2021, Ocean released a new 9-minute untitled song on his Beats 1 radio show Blonded Radio featuring music contribution from Cory Henry.


title: Frank Ocean

text: In June 2022, it was announced that Ocean was in talks to direct his first feature film, with A24 producing.


title: Frank Ocean

text: Ocean's music has been characterized by music writers as idiosyncratic in style. His music generally includes the electronic keyboard, often performed by Ocean himself, and is backed by a subdued rhythm section in the production. His compositions are often midtempo, feature unconventional melodies, and occasionally have an experimental song structure. In critical commentaries, he has been characterised as an "avant-garde R&B artist", an "avant-soul singer", and a "pop musician". Steven Hyden called him "an introspective psych-soul balladeer".


title: Frank Ocean

text: In Ocean's songwriting, Jon Pareles of "The New York Times" observes "open echoes of self-guided, innovative R&B songwriters like Prince, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Maxwell, Erykah Badu and particularly R. Kelly and his way of writing melodies that hover between speech and song, asymmetrical and syncopated." Jody Rosen of "Rolling Stone" calls him a torch singer due to "his feel for romantic tragedy, unfurling in slow-boiling ballads". Ocean's stage presence during live shows has been described by Chris Richards of the "Washington Post" as "low-key". While "nostalgia, ULTRA" featured both original music by Ocean and tracks relying on sampled melodies, "Channel Orange" showcased Ocean as the primary musical composer, of which music journalist Robert Christgau opines, "when he's the sole composer Ocean resists making a show of himself—resists the dope hook, the smart tempo, the transcendent falsetto itself."


title: Frank Ocean

text: Ocean's lyrics deal with themes of love, longing, misgiving, and nostalgia. His debut single "Novacane" juxtaposes the numbness and artificiality of a sexual relationship with that of mainstream radio, while "Voodoo" merges themes of spirituality and sexuality, and is an eccentric take on such subject matter common in R&B. The latter song was released by Ocean on his Tumblr account and references both the traditional spiritual "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and the female anatomy in its chorus: "she's got the whole wide world in her juicy fruit / he's got the whole wide world in his pants / he wrapped the whole wide world in a wedding band / then put the whole wide world on her hands / she's got the whole wide world in her hands / he's got the whole wide world in his hands." According to Corbon Goble of "Stereogum", the lyrical "moods" of "Voodoo" are indicative of Ocean's "sometimes-bleak, depressive lyrical tendencies", while "MTV News" writer Tirhakah Love such songs are among Ocean's most distinctive for how they transfigure the meaning behind short-term and long-term memory, and "disrupt the flow of linear time by prompting us to dive deep into our own memories and feel something indelibly real". Certain songs on "Channel Orange" allude to Ocean's experience with unrequited love.


title: Frank Ocean

text: Ocean is among the most acclaimed artists of his generation. Music critics have credited him with revitalizing pre-contemporary R&B, as well as approaching the genre differently to his contemporaries through his use of other genres, including experimental, electro, rock and psychedelic. His distinctive sound and style have influenced numerous artists of various music genres. Both "Insider" and "The Wall Street Journal" regarded Ocean as the most dominant artist of the 2010s decade. He was included in the 2013 edition of the "Time"s list of the 100 most influential people in the world and the 2017 edition of the "Forbes" 30 Under 30.


title: Frank Ocean

text: Andy Kellman of AllMusic wrote,Frank Ocean has been one of the more fascinating figures in contemporary music since his early-2010s arrival. A singer and songwriter whose artful output has defied rigid classification as R&B, he has nonetheless pushed that genre forward with seemingly offhanded yet imaginatively detailed narratives in which he has alternated between yearning romantic and easygoing braggart.Culture critic Nelson George asserts that, along with Miguel, Ocean has "staked out ground where [he is] not competing with those hit-driven [commercial R&B] acts" and is "cultivating a sound that balances adult concerns with a sense of young men trying to understand their own desires (an apt description of Ocean, particularly)." Writing for "Insider", Callie Ahlgrim said that Ocean "changed our very understanding of modern music", and that he discusses themes like youth, innocence, lost love, loneliness, desire, and mortality in his music in a way that "feels fresh and extraordinary [and] makes the introspective sound universal and transcendent [which] is why he's one of the defining artists of our time." Jacob Shamsian of "Business Insider" said that Ocean "isn't just one of the most important artists in pop, he's one of the most important artists in all of music." In a "GQ" article titled "Why Frank Ocean is a musical icon", Jon Savage described Ocean as "one of the pop elite", a "true pop star of today", and a "consummate contemporary artist in every sense who is immersed in new sonic possibilities, one who is deeply committed to artistic exploration in the most profound sense." Savage praised Ocean for taking R&B to a "new level [through] constructing startling sound pictures that fit his lyrics." "Pitchfork" regarded Ocean as a "master of confessional songwriting, earning a cult-icon status with his enigmatic persona and idiosyncratic approach to pop."


title: Frank Ocean

text: On August 20, 2016, Ocean released a 360-page magazine, "Boys Don't Cry", alongside his second album "Blonde". The fashion and automobile-themed publication contains the photo projects from Wolfgang Tillmans, Viviane Sassen, Tyrone Lebon, Ren Hang, Harley Weir, Michael Mayren and Ocean himself. Four months later, British magazine "Print" published another photowork from Frank Ocean.


title: Frank Ocean

text: On May 1, 2017, Ocean attended annual Met Gala as a special photographer for "Vogue". On October 23, 2017, he made two covers and a visual essay for British fashion magazine, "i-D".


title: Frank Ocean

text: Ocean wrote an open letter, initially intended for the liner notes on "Channel Orange", that preemptively addressed speculation about his attraction in the past to another man. Instead, on July 4, 2012, he published the open letter on his Tumblr blog recounting unrequited feelings he had for another young man when he was 19 years old, citing it as his first true love. He used the blog to thank the man for his influence, and also thanked his mother and other friends, saying, "I don't know what happens now, and that's alright. I don't have any secrets I need kept anymore... I feel like a free man." Numerous celebrities publicly voiced their support for Ocean following his announcement, including Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Members of the hip hop industry generally responded positively to the announcement. Tyler, the Creator and other members of OFWGKTA tweeted their support for Ocean. Russell Simmons wrote a congratulatory article in "Global Grind" in which he said, "Today is a big day for hip-hop. It is a day that will define who we really are. How compassionate will we be? How loving can we be? How inclusive are we? [...] Your decision to go public about your sexual orientation gives hope and light to so many young people still living in fear." When asked if he considers himself bisexual in a 2012 interview, Ocean stated: "I'll respectfully say that life is dynamic and comes along with dynamic experiences, and the same sentiment that I have towards genres of music, I have towards a lot of labels and boxes and shit."


title: Frank Ocean

text: In June 2016, following the Orlando nightclub shooting that killed 49 people, Ocean published an essay expressing his sadness and frustration. He mentioned that his first experience with homophobia and transphobia was with his father when he was six years old, and related how many people pass on their hateful values to the next generation and send thousands of people down suicidal paths. In 2017, Ocean's father subsequently sued him for defamation and requested $14.5 million. On October 17, 2017, after a hearing that saw Ocean and both of his parents taking the stand, the presiding judge ruled in favor of Ocean, stating that his father had not provided sufficient evidence of defamation.


title: Frank Ocean

text: In a 2011 interview, Ocean stated that he had attempted to change his name to Christopher Francis Ocean through a legal website on his 23rd birthday. The change was reportedly partly inspired by the 1960 film "Ocean's 11". In March 2014, it was reported that he was legally changing his name to Frank Ocean. In November 2014, it was revealed that the name change had not been legalized due to multiple speeding offenses. It was finally legalized on April 23, 2015.


title: Frank Ocean

text: Ocean sampled The Eagles' 1977 "Hotel California" on his track "American Wedding", which was featured on his debut mixtape "Nostalgia, Ultra". Ocean made no secret of the fact that he "loved Don Henley...the Eagles...and Joe Walsh's immaculate guitar playing". Although the track's unveiling led to controversy, ultimately it was never commercially released and no legal action ensued. It was noted that Ocean made no money off the track, with the artist himself stating that he was "paying homage" to The Eagles' Don Henley with the release. "I didn't make a dime off that song. I released it for free. If anything, I'm paying homage".


title: Frank Ocean

text: On January 27, 2013, in the parking lot of a Los Angeles recording studio, an altercation occurred between Frank Ocean and Chris Brown. An incident report stated that Brown threw a punch at Ocean, after Ocean accused Brown of having taken his designated parking bay. Ocean's cousin claimed that he was also attacked by a member of Brown's entourage during the incident. Charges were dropped, with Ocean stating via Tumblr that he was choosing "Sanity. No criminal charges. No civil lawsuit".


title: Frank Ocean

text: In March 2014, Ocean was set to perform a cover of the song "Pure Imagination" in a Chipotle Mexican Grill commercial which was due to promote responsible farming. Following a review of the final storyboard, Ocean's legal team sent Chipotle a letter, explaining that he felt obliged to withdraw from the arrangement, noting that "When Frank was asked to participate in this project, Chipotle's representatives told him that the thrust of the campaign was to promote responsible farming. There was no Chipotle reference or logo in the initial presentation, and Chipotle told Frank that was an intentional element of the campaign". Ocean effectively honoured the arrangement by repaying Chipotle via cashier's check in the sum of $212,500.00. The commercial, titled "The Scarecrow", was subsequently released with Fiona Apple performing the song.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was directed by Sam Raimi from a screenplay by Raimi, his older brother Ivan and Alvin Sargent. It is the final installment in Raimi's "Spider-Man" trilogy, and the sequel to "Spider-Man" (2002) and "Spider-Man 2" (2004). The film stars Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, James Cromwell, Rosemary Harris, and J. K. Simmons. The film also marks the final film appearance of Cliff Robertson before his retirement and death in 2011. Set a year after the events of "Spider-Man 2", the film follows Peter Parker as he prepares for his future with Mary Jane Watson, while facing three new villains: Uncle Ben's true killer, Flint Marko, who becomes The Sandman after a freak accident; Harry Osborn, his best friend, who is now aware of Peter's identity and seeks to avenge his father; and Eddie Brock, a rival photographer who subsequently transforms into Venom. Peter also faces his greatest challenge when he bonds with an extraterrestrial symbiote that increases his abilities but amplifies his anger and other negative traits.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: Development of "Spider-Man 3" began immediately after the successful release of "Spider-Man 2" for a 2007 release. During pre-production, Raimi originally wanted two villains, Harry Osborn and Sandman. At the request of producer Avi Arad, he added Venom to the list, and the producers also requested the addition of Gwen Stacy. Principal photography for the film began in January 2006 and took place in Los Angeles and Cleveland before moving to New York City from May until July 2006. Additional pick-up shots were made after August and the film wrapped in October 2006. During post-production, Sony Pictures Imageworks created over 900 visual effects shots. With an estimated production budget of $258–350 million, it was the most expensive film ever made at the time of its release.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: "Spider-Man 3" premiered on April 16, 2007, in Tokyo, and was released in the United States in both conventional and IMAX theaters on May 4, 2007. The film grossed $894.9 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of the trilogy, the third-highest-grossing film of 2007 and was the highest-grossing "Spider-Man" film until it was surpassed by "" in 2019. Unlike the previous installments, "Spider-Man 3" received generally mixed reviews from critics, who praised the performances, Christopher Young's musical score, the action sequences and visual effects, but were polarized over the plot and pacing, while criticizing the film's sheer number of villains, lack of proper narrative balance and deemed "3" to be inferior to the two preceding installments in Raimi's trilogy.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: A fourth installment, titled "Spider-Man 4", was set to be released on May 6, 2011, followed by a "Venom" spin-off film, along with a fifth and sixth installment, titled "Spider-Man 5" and "Spider-Man 6" respectively, but all were canceled. The "Spider-Man" film series was rebooted twice; first with "The Amazing Spider-Man" (2012) by Marc Webb and starring Andrew Garfield; and later a new film series set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) directed by Jon Watts and starring Tom Holland, beginning with "" (2017). "" (2021) explored the concept of the multiverse to connect the previous films and characters to the MCU with Maguire and Church reprising their roles in the film.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: About two years after the sacrifice of Otto Octavius' , Peter Parker plans to propose to Mary Jane Watson, who has made her Broadway musical debut. In Central Park, a meteorite lands near the two, and an extraterrestrial symbiote follows Peter to his apartment by attaching to his motorbike. Harry Osborn, knowing Peter is Spider-Man, seeks to avenge his father's death. Using his father's performance-enhancing gas and Green Goblin technology, he battles Peter to an eventual stalemate, developing partial amnesia. Meanwhile, police pursue escaped convict Flint Marko, who visits his wife and sick daughter before fleeing. Falling into an experimental particle accelerator that fuses his body with the surrounding sand, he gains the ability to control and reform his body with sand, becoming Sandman.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: During a festival honoring Spider-Man for saving Gwen Stacy's life, Peter kisses her to please the crowd, angering Mary Jane. Marko then robs an armored truck and escapes after defeating Spider-Man. NYPD Captain George Stacy, Gwen's father, informs Peter and his aunt May that Marko is uncle Ben's true killer; the deceased Dennis Carradine was Marko's accomplice. At the apartment, the symbiote assimilates the Spider-Man suit as Peter sleeps in it while waiting for Marko to come out of hiding. Peter awakens on top of a building, discovering that the symbiote has colored his suit black and enhanced his powers; however, it also brings out darker parts of his personality.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: Peter locates and battles Marko in a subway tunnel. Discovering that water is his weakness, he opens a pipe, releasing water that reduces Marko to mud and washes him away in a sewer. Peter's changed demeanor alienates Mary Jane, who also receives negative reviews from critics. She shares a tender moment with Harry but leaves in regret. Urged by a hallucination of his father, Harry recovers from his amnesia and forces Mary Jane to break up with Peter. Harry later meets up with Peter and tells him that Mary Jane loves him. Under the symbiote's influence, Peter confronts Harry and spitefully claims that his father never loved him. As Peter leaves after an ensuing fight, Harry throws a pumpkin bomb at him; Peter deflects it back, disfiguring Harry's face.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: At the "Daily Bugle", Peter exposes rival photographer Eddie Brock, whose fake photos incriminate Spider-Man. Publisher J. Jonah Jameson fires Brock and promotes Peter to staff photographer. Later, Peter brings Gwen to a jazz club where Mary Jane now works. In an attempt to make her jealous, Peter interrupts Mary Jane's performance and dances with Gwen in front of her. Upon realizing Peter's true intentions, Gwen apologizes to Mary Jane and leaves. After assaulting the bouncers and accidentally hitting Mary Jane, Peter realizes that the symbiote is corrupting him. Retreating to a church's bell tower and discovering that the sounds of clanging metal weaken the creature, Peter removes the symbiote. Brock is at the same church and becomes the symbiote's new host.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: As Venom, Brock locates a still-living Marko and convinces him to join forces to kill Spider-Man. Brock abducts Mary Jane and holds her captive from a web at a construction site, intending to kill her in revenge for Peter ruining him, while Marko keeps the police at bay. After Harry declines to help Peter, Harry's butler reveals that Norman's death was not Spider-Man's fault. While Brock and Marko pin Peter down, Harry arrives to help Peter and save Mary Jane. Brock attempts to impale Peter with Harry's glider, but Harry jumps in and is impaled instead. While remembering the symbiote's weakness, Peter assembles a perimeter of metal pipes to create a sonic attack, weakening it and allowing Peter to separate Brock from the symbiote.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: Peter activates a pumpkin bomb and throws it at the hostless symbiote. Having become addicted to its influence, Brock attempts to save the symbiote, but they both end up killed in an explosion. Marko explains that Ben's death was an accident that has haunted him and that everything he has done was to help his daughter; Peter forgives Marko, allowing him to escape. Peter and Harry reconcile before the latter dies from his injuries. Sometime after Harry's funeral, Peter visits Mary Jane at the jazz club, where they embrace and share a dance.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: Several actors reprise their roles from the previous films. Dylan Baker portrays Dr. Curt Connors, a college physics professor under whom Peter Parker studies, while Willem Dafoe portrays Norman Osborn / Green Goblin, Harry's late father, who returns as a hallucination to encourage his son to destroy Spider-Man, and Cliff Robertson appears as Ben Parker, Peter's deceased uncle in his final acting appearance before his retirement and death in 2011. Bill Nunn, Ted Raimi, Michael Papajohn, John Paxton, and Elizabeth Banks return as Joseph "Robbie" Robertson, a longtime employee at the "Daily Bugle"; Ted Hoffman, also a longtime employee of the "Daily Bugle"; Dennis "Spike" Carradine, the carjacker who was believed to have murdered Uncle Ben; Bernard Houseman, butler to the Osborn family; and Betty Brant, the receptionist at the "Daily Bugle" for J. Jonah Jameson, respectively. Elya Baskin additionally reprises his role as Mr. Ditkovitch, Peter's landlord while Mageina Tovah reprises her role as his daughter Ursula. Joe Manganiello reprises his role as Flash Thompson from the first film in a cameo appearance. Becky Ann Baker appears as Mrs. Stacy. Theresa Russell and Perla Haney-Jardine appear as Emma and Penny Marko, Sandman's wife and daughter respectively.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee has a cameo in "Spider-Man 3", as he did in the previous Spider-Man films, which he referred to as his "best cameo". Actor Bruce Campbell, who had cameo roles as a wrestling ring announcer in "Spider-Man" and as a rude usher in "Spider-Man 2", returns in "Spider-Man 3" with a new cameo as a French maître d'. Originally his character, who helps Peter try to propose, was much more antagonistic. Composer Christopher Young appears in the film as a pianist at Mary Jane's theater when she is fired, while producer Grant Curtis cameoed as the driver of an armored car that Sandman attacks. Comedian Dean Edwards played one of the newspaper readers who badmouth Spider-Man. 75-year-old newscaster Hal Fishman appears as himself anchoring the saga of Mary Jane's kidnapping by Venom; he died just fourteen weeks after the movie opened. Actress Lucy Gordon appeared as newscaster Jennifer Dugan.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: In March 2004, with "Spider-Man 2" being released the coming June, Sony announced that "Spider-Man 3" was already in development for a release in summer 2007. By the release of "Spider-Man 2", a release date for "Spider-Man 3" had been set for May 2, 2007 before production on the sequel had begun. The date was later changed to May 4, 2007. In January 2005, Sony Pictures completed a seven-figure deal with screenwriter Alvin Sargent, who had penned "Spider-Man 2", to script "Spider-Man 3" with an option to script a fourth film.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: Immediately after "Spider-Man 2"s release, Ivan Raimi wrote a treatment over two months, with Sam Raimi deciding to use the film to explore Peter learning that he is not a sinless vigilante, and that there also can be humanity in those he considers criminals. Harry Osborn was brought back as Raimi wanted to conclude his storyline. Raimi felt that Harry would not follow his father's legacy, but be instead "somewhere between." Sandman was introduced as an antagonist, as Raimi found him a visually fascinating character. While Sandman is a petty criminal in the comics, the screenwriters created a background of the character being Uncle Ben's killer to increase Peter's guilt over his death and challenge his simplistic perception of the event. Overall, Raimi described the film as being about Peter, Mary Jane, Harry, and the Sandman, with Peter's journey being one of forgiveness.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: Raimi wanted another villain, and Ben Kingsley was involved in negotiations to play the Vulture before the character was cut. Thomas Haden Church revealed in a 2018 interview with "JoBlo" that the character of Vulture was considered to be an accomplice of Marko in the script. Producer Avi Arad convinced Raimi to include Venom, a character whose perceived "lack of humanity" had initially been criticized by Sam Raimi. Venom's alter-ego, Eddie Brock, already had a minor role in the script. Arad felt the series had relied too much on Raimi's personal favorite Spider-Man villains, not characters that modern fans were actually interested in, so Raimi included Venom to please them, and even began to appreciate the character himself. The film's version of the character is an amalgamation of Venom stories. Eddie Brock, Jr., the human part of Venom, serves as a mirror to Peter Parker, with both characters having similar jobs and romantic interests. Brock's actions as a journalist in "Spider-Man 3" also represent contemporary themes of paparazzi and tabloid journalism. The producers also suggested adding rival love interest Gwen Stacy, filling in an "other girl" type that Raimi had already created. With so many additions, Sargent soon found his script so complex that he considered splitting it into two films, but abandoned the idea when he could not create a successful intermediate climax.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: Camera crews spent 2 weeks from November 5–18, 2005 to film sequences that would involve intense visual effects so Sony Pictures Imageworks could begin work on the shots early in the project. The same steps had been taken for "Spider-Man 2" to begin producing visual effects early for sequences involving the villain Doctor Octopus.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: Principal photography for "Spider-Man 3" began on January 16, 2006 and wrapped in July 2006 after over 100 days of filming. The team filmed in Los Angeles until May 19, 2006. In spring 2006, film location manager Peter Martorano brought camera crews to Cleveland, Ohio, due to the Greater Cleveland Film Commission offering production space at the city's convention center at no cost. In Cleveland, they shot the battle between Spider-Man and Sandman in the armored car. Afterwards, the team moved to Manhattan, where filming took place at various locations, including One Chase Manhattan Plaza, from May 26, 2006, until July 1, 2006. Shooting placed a strain on Raimi, who often had to move between several units to complete the picture. Shooting was also difficult for cinematographer Bill Pope, as the symbiote Spider-Man, Venom, and the New Goblin were costumed in black during fight scenes taking place at night.


title: Spider-Man 3

text: After August, pick-ups were conducted as Raimi sought to film more action scenes. The film then wrapped in October, although additional special effects shots were taken to finalize the production a month later. In early 2007, there were further pick-up shots regarding the resolution of Sandman's story, amounting to four different versions.