By JANIE McCAULEY

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A beloved therapy bunny named Alex The Great, who provided snuggles and comfort from ballparks to NBA arenas, airports, farmers markets and even Easter egg hunts and NASCAR races, has died. He was 4.

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A floppy-eared Flemish giant who was larger than life in both size and spirit, Alex suffered complications from cancer treatment and died early Monday, his owners said. The rabbit had undergone care at the renowned UC Davis Veterinary Hospital in recent days.

Alex appeared June 4 sporting his signature cap for Padres-Giants at Oracle Park. At 4 months old, he attended his first Giants game in April 2021 — believed to be the first bunny in the stands at the waterfront ballpark.

He loved wearing bow ties and riding in his remote-controlled car, which Alex did in November 2021 following an Arizona Fall League appearance at Scottsdale Stadium where he saw now-Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe as a rising prospect.

Owners Kei Kato and Josh Row saved Alex from a slaughterhouse — but, really, it was the bunny who saved them. They took Alex on all their trips and he spent hours at San Francisco International Airport with a golden retriever friend offering travelers emotional support.

FILE – Kei Kato, left, and her fiance, Josh Row, hold a therapy bunny named Alex during a baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the Miami Marlins in San Francisco, Thursday, April 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Janie McCauley, File)

“He saved us and saved so many people,” Kato said via text message Monday. “All the stories people are sharing are so overwhelming.”

Fans stopped in awe when they saw Alex The Great wherever he went, often surprised by his size and always eager to snap a photo or selfie. Kato and Row were thrilled to share him with the world because Alex had brought them so much love and joy and they wanted to spread that to anyone who might need a lift or a smile. Or provide a chance to pet Alex’s soft orange fur or give him a hug.

“We remember him well for his surprise frequent visits to the ballpark,” Giants CEO Larry Baer said in a text message. “We remember the comfort he brought those who loved him and the joy he brought so many.”

Kei Kato and Josh Row pose with their therapy bunny Alex The Great during an Arizona Fall League Game at Scottsdale Stadium, Nov. 6, 2021, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Janie McCauley)

Kato lost her brewery restaurant during the pandemic and adopting Alex provided her with a new purpose. He helped Kato deal with the anxiety and stress of no longer having her main source of income and the fulfillment her business brought.

“I lost it all because of COVID, so I’ve been really stressed a lot,” Kato said at the ballpark that spring night in 2021. “We support local. I was a local. He’s well trained, too.”

When Alex became such a hit on the big screen, quick-thinking Daniel Kurish of the Marlins’ media relations staff went to find the bunny in the seventh inning to deliver some Miami gear.

Less than a month later, in May 2021, Alex appeared at a Suns-Warriors game at Chase Center. Of course, they loved him there, too. He’d also pop up outside the arena in Thrive City every now and then to greet fans before games.

“Let his legend continue,” Kato and Row wrote on Alex’s social media, “he was very loved.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

By COREY WILLIAMS

DETROIT (AP) — For Black youth and teens growing up in the mid-1980s, “The Cosby Show” offered something rarely seen on television up until that time: a sitcom that placed characters who looked like them in a positive light.

And Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s Theo Huxtable was the character Generation X most related to. Fans took quickly to social media on Monday as news of Warner’s accidental drowning in Costa Rica spread.

“It’s like losing one of us,” said Harriet Cammock, a 58-year-old Detroit author and speaker. “This is the thing with television. When you’re watching people every week on television, you think you know them and you’re related to them.”

Warner was swimming Sunday afternoon at Playa Cocles in Costa Rica’s Limon province when a current pulled him deeper into the Caribbean, according to that country’s Judicial Investigation Department.

First responders found him without vital signs.

Cori Murray, executive vice president of content at Ebony Magazine, was saddened upon hearing about Warner’s death. She said his Theo character mirrored the everyday Black teenager, which was rare to see on TV at the time.

While so many portrayals of young Black teenagers leaned negative, “The Cosby Show,” especially Theo, showed warmth, joy and relatability.

“He wasn’t just a character. We saw ourselves in him,” Murray said. “You know how Kendrick Lamar has the song ‘Not Like Us’? Well, Theo was one of us. He was like us.”

Murray, who met Warner a few times, recalled his character off-screen matched the warmth he exuded on television. She called him respectful and pleasant and said he had a “megawatt smile” that lit up the room.

“His energy stayed with you,” Murray said. “You don’t have a bad memory when it comes to Theo or Malcolm-Jamal Warner. As much as we loved the character, we also watched Malcolm grow up in real life. No scandals. No mess. Just a talented young man who matured into an upstanding, handsome adult.”

FILE – Malcolm-Jamal Warner speaks on stage at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)

“The Cosby Show” was groundbreaking and a ratings giant, drawing in viewers across racial, cultural and economic backgrounds. The show ran for 197 episodes from 1984 to 1992. In 1986, Warner earned an Emmy nomination for supporting actor in a comedy.

The show starring Bill Cosby as Cliff Huxtable and Phylicia Rashad as his wife, Clair, “made the wider society aware that there are Black people who live like white people do,” said Cammock, who is Black. “The perception that we don’t live like they do was hurtful.”

Gil Robertson, co-founder and president of the African American Film Critics Association, reflected on Warner’s rare path in the entertainment industry.

“There was never any scandal, no controversy,” said Robertson. “He transitioned from a teen star to a respected adult without the baggage we often see from others in his generation. That’s no small feat.”

Robertson added: “The legacy of Theo Huxtable — and Malcolm’s performance — will live on. It left an imprint that will continue to resonate in our culture for generations.”

Lynn Reasonover, 62, of Oak Lawn, Illinois, began receiving messages Monday afternoon about Warner’s death. Her initial thoughts were “Nope, didn’t happen.”

“Then, I kept seeing the news flashes and friends started sending texts,” Reasonover said. “So, it’s sinking in. Makes you realize how much some celebrities help shape our memories. His work had such a huge impact. I’m feeling a personal loss because we grew up with him. It’s like losing a part of our childhood.”

Reasonover saw much of her family in the Huxtables, where both parents were professionals who valued education and handled family issues with understanding and love.

“They had similar problems to what we experienced growing up,” she said. “We could relate and that’s why we laughed.”

Rasheda Williams, 46, of Detroit was about the same age as Rudy, the youngest character on “The Cosby Show” and Theo’s little sister. Williams said she and others are mourning Warner’s passing because of what they saw in the character he played.

“He’s like the ideal cousin you wish you had,” Williams said. “Hearing the news has really affected some of us. It was unexpected. He wasn’t sick. That makes it even more tragic.”

“He wasn’t just an actor,” she said. “He was also an activist, a positive role model, not just for young Black men, but for young Black women as well.”

AP Entertainment Writer Jonathan Landrum Jr. in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

By BERNARD CONDON and DAVID FISCHER

MIAMI (AP) — Elon Musk fought court cases on opposite coasts Monday, raising a question about the billionaire that could either speed his plan to put self-driving Teslas on U.S. roads or throw up a major roadblock: Can this wildly successful man who tends to exaggerate really be trusted?

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In Miami, a Tesla driver who has admitted he was wrong to reach for a dropped cell phone moments before a deadly accident, spoke of the danger of putting too much faith in Musk’s technology — in this case his Autopilot program.

“I trusted the technology too much,” said George McGee, who ran off the road and killed a woman out stargazing with her boyfriend. “I believed that if the car saw something in front of it, it would provide a warning and apply the brakes.”

In unusual coincidence, regulators arguing an Oakland, California, case tried to pin exaggerated talk about the same Tesla technology at the center of a request to suspend the carmaker from being able to sell vehicles in the state.

Musk’s tendency to talk big — whether its his cars, his rockets or his government costing-cutting efforts — have landed him in trouble with investors, regulators and courts before, but rarely at such a delicate moment.

After his social media spat with President Donald Trump, Musk can no longer count on a light regulatory touch from Washington. Meanwhile, sales of his electric cars have plunged and so a hit to his safety reputation could threaten his next big project: rolling out driverless robotaxis — hundreds of thousands of them — in several U.S. cities by the end of next year.

The Miami case holds other dangers, too. Lawyers for the family of the dead woman, Naibel Benavides Leon, recently convinced the judge overseeing the jury trial to allow them to argue for punitive damages. A car crash lawyer not involved in the case, but closely following it, said that could cost Tesla tens of millions of dollars, or possibly more.

“I’ve seen punitive damages go to the hundreds of millions, so that is the floor,” said Miguel Custodio of Los Angeles-based Custodio & Dubey. “It is also a signal to other plaintiffs that they can also ask for punitive damages, and then the payments could start compounding.”

Tesla did not reply for a request for comment.

That Tesla has allowed the Miami case to proceed to trial is surprising. It has settled at least four deadly accidents involving Autopilot, including payments just last week to a Florida family of a Tesla driver. That said, Tesla was victorious in two other jury cases, both in California, that also sought to lay blame on its technology for crashes.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the Miami case argue that Tesla’s driver-assistance feature, called Autopilot, should have warned the driver and braked when his Model S sedan blew through flashing lights, a stop sign and a T-intersection at 62 miles-an-hour in an April 2019 crash. Tesla said that drivers are warned not to rely on Autopilot, or its more advanced Full Self-Driving system. It say the fault entirely lies with the “distracted driver” just like so many other “accidents since cellphones were invented.”

Driver McGee settled a separate suit brought by the family of Benavides and her severely injured boyfriend, Dillon Angulo.

McGee was clearly shaken when shown a dashcam video Monday of his car jumping a Key West, Florida, road and hitting a parked Chevrolet Tahoe which then slammed into Benavides and sent her 75 feet through the air to her death. Asked if he had seen those images before, McGee pinched his lips, shook his head, then squeaked out a response, “No.”

Tesla’s attorney sought to show that McGee was fully to blame, asking if he had ever contacted Tesla for additional instructions about how Autopilot or any other safety features worked. McGee said he had not, though he was heavy user of the features. He said he had driven the same road home from work 30 or 40 times. Under questioning he also acknowledged he alone was responsible for watching the road and hitting the brakes.

But lawyers for the Benavides family had another chance to parry that line of argument and asked McGee if he would have taken his eyes off the road and reached for his phone had he been driving any car other than a Tesla on Autopilot.

McGee responded, “I don’t believe so.”

The case is expected to continue for two more weeks.

In the California case, the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles is arguing before an administrative judge that Tesla has misled drivers by exaggerating the capabilities of its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features. A court filing claims even those feature names are misleading because they offer just partial self-driving

Musk has been warned by federal regulators to stop making public comments suggesting Full Self-Driving allows his cars to drive themselves because it could lead to overreliance on the system, resulting in possible crashes and deaths. He also has run into trouble with regulators for Autopilot. In 2023, the company had to recall 2.3 million vehicles for problems with the technology and is now under investigation for saying it fixed the issue though it’s unclear it has, according to regulatory documents.

The California case is expected to last another four days.

Condon reported from New York.

By DAVID BAUDER

President Donald Trump on Monday followed up his lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over last week’s Jeffrey Epstein story by banishing one of the newspaper’s reporters from Air Force One for an upcoming Scotland trip.

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The moves reflect Trump’s aggressiveness toward media who displease him — even a media magnate, Rupert Murdoch, with outlets that have been friendly to him in the past.

Trump filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Journal and Murdoch on Friday because of the newspaper’s article about a sexually suggestive letter bearing Trump’s name that was included in a 2003 album compiled for alleged sex trafficker Epstein’s birthday. The president has denied having anything to do with it.

On Monday, the White House said it was removing a Journal reporter from the pool covering the president’s trip this weekend to his golf courses in Turnberry and Aberdeen in Scotland. The Journal’s Tarini Parti had been scheduled to cover him on the trip.

“Due to the Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

The Journal declined comment on the action.

Aggressiveness with the press is in the Trump playbook

It’s a tactic the Trump White House has used before. It restricted the access of journalists from The Associated Press to press events when the news outlet would not change its style guidelines to reflect Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico. That launched a legal battle that is wending its way through the courts.

The defamation lawsuit is another tool Trump has used against media outlets. He has sued CBS News for its editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with former opponent Kamala Harris; ABC News for a false statement made by George Stephanopoulos in a story regarding a New York writer who had accused Trump of sexual abuse; and Meta after it removed Trump’s social media accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

In each of those cases, Trump won multimillion-dollar settlements. But in those instances, news was only one part of a major corporation’s business. In the case of Murdoch and News Corp., news is the chief part of his business. The Journal has vowed to fight.

It’s also the first time Trump has sued for defamation as a sitting president, and it’s not clear whether any president has done that in the past.

“There’s nothing inherently wrong with a president bringing a libel suit,” said noted free speech attorney Floyd Abrams. “But this claim certainly seems like nothing more or less than an effort to suppress speech that our president finds discomforting. That’s not why we have libel law. It’s why we have a First Amendment.”

News organizations have reacted in varied ways

It’s all part of a broader pattern of trying to intimidate news organizations that report stories Trump does not like, said Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.

“These are lawsuits that have no hope of actually succeeding as lawsuits, but nevertheless have the potential to chill media organizations from doing what all of us need them to do,” Jaffer said.

Not every news organization has bowed down; “60 Minutes,” in fact, did some notably tough stories about the early days of Trump’s second administration. But it’s impossible to quantify stories that weren’t done because of fear of a fight with the White House, he said.

The Wall Street Journal leans conservative editorially, but hasn’t been afraid to take Trump on in both its opinion and news sections. Other Murdoch outlets — Fox News Channel and the New York Post — are much friendlier to him.

Ever since the administration announced that it would not be releasing additional government files from the case against Epstein, factions of Trump’s base supporters have turned on him. That has put some normally supportive news outlets in a difficult position.

Fox News largely avoided the story after Trump suggested his allies stop wasting time on it. But Fox’s Howard Kurtz reported on The Wall Street Journal lawsuit on his “Media Buzz” show Sunday, saying that by doing so, “the president has drawn extra attention to the Journal’s reporting.”

The president’s battle with the press has taken on several dimensions. He has been fighting to take away government support for news organizations like Voice of America, and last week the Republican-controlled Congress voted to take away federal funding from NPR and PBS because the president says their news programming is biased against conservatives.

David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.