Following Amber Heard and Johnny Depp‘s contentious divorce battle, which unearthed unflattering accusations concerning them both, fans of the Aquaman franchise demanded the actress’ removal from the upcoming sequel. But don’t hold your breath waiting for it to happen.
A petition that was signed by over one million people said the actress needed to be removed because of previous allegations that she abused Depp during their marriage.
However, a producer of the upcoming Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom confirms Heard, 35, will not be cut from the movie and will reprise her role of Mera, the love interest of Jason Mamoa‘s Aquaman.
“I don’t think we’re ever going to react to, honestly, pure fan pressure,” producer Peter Safran told Deadline about the backlash. “You gotta do what’s best for the movie. We felt that if it’s [director] James Wan, and Jason Momoa, it should be Amber Heard. That’s really what it was.”
Insisting that Heard is an integral part of the Aquaman franchise, Safran said, “One is not unaware of what is going on in the Twitter-verse, but that doesn’t mean you have to react to it or take it as gospel or accede to their wishes.”
“You have to do what’s right for the film, and that’s really where we landed on it,” he concluded.
(NEW YORK) — A flurry of new scientific findings is prompting renewed concern among doctors about the long-term cognitive impacts of COVID-19 in some patients.
Several new studies presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, being held this week in Denver, have found that many COVID-19 patients experience “brain fog” and other cognitive impairments months after recovery. This adds to a growing body of research on COVID-19’s apparent long-haul symptoms, which can include confusion, forgetfulness and other worrying signs of memory loss.
“This research features the first data from an international consortium, which includes the Alzheimer’s Association, investigating the long-term consequences of COVID-19 on the brain,” Heather Snyder, the vice president of medical and scientific relations for the Alzheimer’s Association said in prepared remarks.
Not enough time has passed for researchers to know if these worrying symptoms eventually clear up. However, they’re pointing to these studies as renewed evidence that everyone — especially older people who are already vulnerable to cognitive decline — should get vaccinated.
“While we work together to further understand the lasting impacts of COVID-19 on the brain, the take home message is simple: don’t get COVID-19. And the best way to do that is by getting vaccinated,” Maria Carrillo, chief science officer for the Alzheimer’s Association, said in prepared remarks.
Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center studied the cognition and olfactory senses of 300 older adult Amerindians from Argentina who contracted COVID and found that 50% had persistent problems with forgetfulness and 25% had additional problems with language and executive dysfunction.
“A large portion of our patients in the COVID Recovery Program exhibit cognitive signs and symptoms long after the inflammatory phase of COVID has passed. We typically see many patients with naso-pharyngeal predominant illness come back to us with more neurocognitive deficits,” Dr. Thomas Gut, director of the Post-COVID Recovery Center at Staten Island University Hospital, told ABC News. Gut was not involved in any of the studies presented at the conference.
Researchers at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine studied blood samples of 310 patients admitted to NYU Langone Health with COVID for the presence of biomarkers that would indicate brain inflammation and damage. High levels of certain biomarkers were strongly associated with inflammation in the brain. Damage to the blood-brain barrier caused by inflammation can result in the brain’s inability to send messages from the brain to other parts of the body.
“So far, our efforts offering supportive therapies have shown improvement, but the recovery time is still measured in months. Finding a cause and mechanism for these inflammatory changes in the brain would be the first place to start in addressing how to reverse or prevent these inflammatory changes,” said Gut.
Researchers from the University of Thessaly reviewed the cognitive function and overall health of 32 patients with mild to moderate COVID infection two months post-hospitalization and found that more than 50% experienced cognitive decline, particularly with short-term memory. They also found that poorer memory and thinking scores were associated with lower level of oxygen saturation during a short walk test.
“Many of the cognitive changes that we see mirror in many ways Alzheimer’s disease or PTSD,” said Gut. “What is becoming clearer, is that the severity of acute infection does not directly predict neurocognitive changes after the acute phase has passed. We have many patients that had mild infection or illness struggle severely with memory or behavior changes.”
(NEW YORK) — As COVID-19 cases surge across much of the United States and many vaccinated people return to indoor masking, a pattern appears to be emerging — the same states that are seeing the biggest increases in COVID-19 infections also have high rates of residents who don’t have health insurance.
“It lines up with everything we’ve seen during the pandemic,” said John Brownstein, Ph.D., the chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. “Uninsured communities have less access to testing, less access to vaccines and less access to care. So of course, you’re going to have increased overall risk among those populations,” he added.
“It’s playing out as we would have anticipated in a pandemic.”
Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis has mocked the use of masks and issued an executive order to block government entities from requiring COVID-19 vaccines, has emerged as a cautionary tale. Along with Louisiana, Florida now has the country’s highest COVID-19 case rate, with more than 400 new cases per 100,000 residents as of Wednesday, according to CDC data.
“Florida is in the worst spot right now,” said David Radley, a senior scientist for The Commonwealth Fund, a New York City-based foundation that promotes better access to quality health care. “It has the highest emerging case rate and it has a high level of uninsured.”
Florida might hold the dubious distinction of having among the highest new COVID-19 case rates coupled with a 19% uninsurance rate, but a number of other states are struggling with increasing COVID burdens and a health system that’s not set up to easily handle — or pay for them.
Importantly, a correlation between high uninsurance rates and an increasing COVID-19 burden does not mean below-average insurance coverage is driving infections. Instead, a complex constellation of overlapping factors, including politics, might be at play.
“When we think about the policy choices states have made, which would leave a state in a place to have high uninsured rate — things like not expanding Medicare and Medicaid programs and having more restrictive Medicaid programs in the first place — are political choices that tend to align on the right side of the political spectrum,” Radley said.
“I think there are a lot of undercurrents that are driving high uninsured rates and the high case rate,” Radley added.
The reality of being uninsured during a pandemic
Having a high rate of uninsured residents is bad enough during normal times, experts say, but it’s especially harrowing during a pandemic.
Hospitals providing intense levels of COVID-19 care to uninsured patients won’t be reimbursed at the same rate that they would be for patients with insurance. Assuming they survive, those uninsured patients will likely face medical bills for their hospital stays, whether they can afford them or not, Radley explained.
There’s also a circular phenomenon in which people without insurance, or who are underinsured, may be less likely to seek timely care or get tested in the first place.
“I can see a scenario where it would create a spiral,” Radley said.
Compounding that delayed care is the fact that people who don’t have health insurance are more likely to be in high-risk groups, Brownstein explained. He pointed to a preprint study he worked on, which has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal, which found that “vaccine deserts have more residents with self-reported COVID-19 exposures and pre-existing conditions as well as more individuals who lack health insurance.”
“If you have increased risk in those populations, it’s not just about increased cases, it’s increased hospitalizations and deaths,” Brownstein said.
The most current data available on insurance rates from the American Community Survey data is from 2019, meaning it doesn’t include the pandemic. But while experts feared that job loss during the pandemic would lead to higher uninsurance rates, Radley said that based on informal surveys, it doesn’t appear that those fears have come to pass. He expects 2020 rates to reinforce similar patterns to the 2019 rates.
“I would bet you that these are vast underestimates, because those that are uninsured are unlikely to get testing — either have access or be able to get testing covered,” Brownstein said. “The patterns that you’re witnessing might be even stronger if testing was equitable.”
“If we’re not taking care of fundamental issues of access to care at the most basic levels, and then you have worse outcomes among those patients because they didn’t have that care or access to testing, and they end up in hospitals,” Brownstein said. The end result: overflowing hospitals, which impact patients of all socioeconomic groups.
“Everyone suffers when you don’t do the right thing in terms of equitable access to care.”
The big-screen adaptation of Disney’s iconic Jungle Cruise ride opens in theaters today. The film stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as wise-cracking riverboat captain Frank Wolff, who is tasked with taking Emily Blunt‘s Dr. Lily Houghton into the heart of the Amazon so she can find a legendary tree with “unparalleled healing powers.”
For Johnson, who was also a producer on the film, getting Quiet Place star Blunt in the film was key — so important that he sent a personal video to her imploring her to join. “I said ‘Emily, you are the only one who can do this movie,'” Johnson recalled at a recent press gathering of the cast.
The pair’s onscreen chemistry was evident during the sit-down, which was also attended by Jack Whitehall, who plays Blunt’s onscreen brother, and Edgar Ramirez, who plays one of the heavies, Aguirre. Each took turns poking fun at Johnson and his video. “Jack can attest to this as a British person,” Blunt laughed, “if someone comes on too strong…It’s just better to go. ‘OK, just tone it down.'”
Aside from busting Johnson’s chops, Blunt admitted of the star, “We were pals for life immediately. It was like I knew when we met, we had this rapport that like ping pong back and forth so quickly and I just thought we could have a good time.”
“It’s very true,” Johnson agreed. “And then, you know, you look you hope to get lucky, you know, with your cast and you like to try to have some chemistry and this and a lot of times you at times you fake it…”
Blunt quickly added, “He’s been faking it for years,” which cracked Johnson up, adding, “I have and I will continue to fake it. Big faker!”
Following the resounding success of her debut studio album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?, Billie Eilish has embarked on her new era in music with her sophomore release, Happier Than Ever. And she’s definitely very proud of it.
“I can’t even process it. this was the most fulfilling most satisfying and profound experience i’ve ever had with my music,” the 19-year-old Grammy winner posted on Instagram early Friday morning. “finneas and i were just on cloud 9 making this album i feel.. i love every song on this project so so much it literally scares me thinking about putting it out into the world for anyone to listen to. i feel like crying.”
Happier Than Ever, which boasts 16 tracks that dive into the singer’s most vulnerable thoughts, slides effortlessly between a range of complex emotions. In the deceptively upbeat “Getting Older,” Eilish relives the abuse she suffered that she was unable to confront or tell anyone out of fear. By comparison, her track “Lost Cause” is a ferocious takedown of one of her exes, whom she’s relieved is out of her life.
“I grew so much in the process of making this album and experienced so much self realization and self reflection. i wish i could go back and make this album all over again because it was some of the best nights in my life,” says Billie.
“Please take care of this project, it means the world to me,” she closed in the emotional post.
Happier Than Ever is available to purchase and stream now.
(NEW YORK) — It’s a simple device that can save lives and keep people out of emergency rooms.
But masks are once again a flashpoint after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended this week that everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission, regardless of their vaccination status, return to wearing a mask in public, indoor settings and in schools, amid a concerning rise in the delta variant.
Despite a rise in cases and hospitalizations, several states are pushing back against the CDC’s new guidelines — which have changed dramatically over the past few weeks. Some governors have balked at what they’ve criticized as a whiplash reversion to overly draconian measures, vowing no mask mandate would succeed in their state.
The CDC’s reversal comes just two months after it announced it would no longer recommend masking for vaccinated Americans, and just as the nation was breathing a collective sigh of relief at the precipitous fall of cases and hospitalizations due to the rollout of mass vaccinations.
Here are some of the states battling back against the changing guidance, and why.
No ‘one size fits all’
“The time for government mask mandates is over,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted after the CDC’s announcement on Tuesday, adding that “now is the time for personal responsibility.”
Texas’ COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have seen a dramatic rise, with daily case averages roughly doubling in recent weeks. COVID-19 deaths in the state are also ticking up.
On Thursday, Abbott criticized President Joe Biden for the length of time it’s taking the Food and Drug Administration to upgrade the vaccines to a permanent authorization from their current emergency authorization — a concern often cited by those who are hesitant to get the shot.
For states like Texas and Iowa that have either passed laws or issued executive orders banning mask mandates, the latest CDC guidance is “counterproductive to vaccination efforts,” said Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds.
Reynolds called the CDC’s recommendation “not grounded in reality or common sense,” and praised herself for leading one of several states that have passed laws restricting mask mandates
“I’m concerned that this new guidance will be used as a vehicle to mandate masks in states and schools across the country, something I do not support,” Reynolds tweeted.
In Arizona, another state where mask mandates are banned by law, Gov. Doug Ducey used the CDC’s recommendations to criticize Biden, saying that the new mask guidance is an example of the Biden administration’s “inability to effectively control the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Alabama officials also said they would not be following the CDC’s updated guidance. A spokesperson for Gov. Kay Ivey said the current circumstances do not warrant a “blanket one-size-fits-all” approach.
“The state of emergency has ended, and Alabama is moving forward,” the spokesperson told ABC News.
‘The vaccine works’
Following the CDC’s announcement this week, Biden said the decision was not a relapse but “another step on our journey to defeating the virus.”
“Unlike 2020, we have both the scientific knowledge and the tools to prevent the spread of this disease,” Biden said. “We are not going back to that.”
But some states’ leaders are pointing to the vaccines’ efficacy as a reason not to re-enforce masking.
“The vaccine works,” said Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina, where a state law prohibits school administrators from requiring students to wear a mask.
Health officials stress that while the vaccines are indeed safe and effective, many states still have a substantial number of residents who are unvaccinated — and with the exponential spread of the highly transmissible delta variant, a mask is meant to protect both wearer and bystander.
In Maryland, a health department spokesperson told ABC News that the state isn’t affected by the new CDC guidance because it’s not among the areas showing “high or substantial community transmission.” The spokesperson said that Maryland is one of the most vaccinated states in the country, and that “blunts the impact of the delta variant.”
For health experts like University of Washington professor of global health Ali Mokdad, who believes the CDC was late in reversing its guidance, the political debate over masks is “hurting our ability to contain COVID-19.”
“I do not understand how masks and vaccines could be a political statement,” Mokdad said. “Look at the new admissions in Florida for COVID-19 confirmed patients — if this will not make governors pause and take this virus seriously, what will?”
Some states, like California, New Mexico and New Jersey, have welcomed the latest mask guidance.
“It’s clear that the nation is at a critical moment in this COVID crisis,” said Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, lauding the CDC for “a hard look at where we are.”
“Illinois will follow this guidance, as we always have,” he said.
Left vs. right
Like other coronavirus issues, the updated mask guidance has divided parts of the country along largely political lines — even within states.
The attorney general of Missouri, where coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to rage, has announced that the state government is suing St. Louis city and county for bringing back mask mandates. But that didn’t stop Kansas City, on the other side of the state, from announcing Wednesday that it was also reinstating an indoor mask mandate.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, called the new CDC guidance “disappointing” and “concerning” Wednesday, adding that “it only serves to disrupt” the state’s slow uptick in vaccination.
In Atlanta, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat, on Wednesday issued an executive order requiring masks in public indoor spaces — despite Gov. Brian Kemp’s longstanding opposition to any mask mandate.
“We don’t need mandates,” Kemp, a Republican, told ABC affiliate WSB-TV this week. “We need to continue to share the data and the facts.”
Georgia’s cases and hospitalizations are both at more than 10% and rising.
In Florida, a spokesperson for Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, told ABC News that imposing mask mandates would discourage people from getting vaccinated.
But Miami-Dade, the state’s most populous county, is pushing back against the governor’s ban on masks after reporting 11,000 new coronavirus infections in one day.
“When the health care system is overwhelmed, that is extremely dangerous for all of us, so we must do our part to keep people out of the hospital,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. a Democrat, said Wednesday.
Dr. Rich Besser, former acting CDC director and president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, told ABC News that the pandemic is far from over and that “we do need to do more.”
“We’re in a very fluid situation,” Besser said. “You know, there are many who wanted to declare victory over this pandemic several months ago, but it’s far from over.”
“We will see the end of this pandemic,” said Besser, who supports a “layered approach” out of the crisis. “But until that time, we are all at risk.”
(NEW YORK) — Pro golfer Max Homa added his name to those supporting Simone Biles’ decision to withdraw from the women’s all-around competition at the Olympics.
The 30-year-old Genesis Invitational winner took to Twitter on Wednesday to tell people to “cool it with the judgement and anger” because “we’re all battling something internally.”
Homa later told ABC Audio what went through his mind when he first heard Biles would not be competing in the Olympic event that she was predicted to win.
“I think that the moment it dropped, I knew it was going to be crazy, but at the same time, I knew that there’s got to be something big going on in her head if she doesn’t want to compete,” he declared. “So if she said she couldn’t do it, there’s a big reason [why].”
“I don’t think it’s up to all of us to judge… Basically, she knows there’s going to be a lot of people not happy with that,” he continued. “I don’t think that you need to start calling her a quitter and getting angry with her and saying that she’s letting people down because nobody around her has said that!”
“Not everybody can feel cool, calm and collected at all times… even people like Simone Biles who is amazing at what she does,” Homa explained. “I think people forget that she wants to compete and she wants to get gold medals and she wants to win and she wants to be with her team.”
Saying Biles is “doing what’s right” for her, Homa said that a reliable way athletes recharge is by “listening to their friends and family” who have their best interest at heart — not to the “random people on TV” telling them otherwise.
Twenty-five years after its release, no album is as well-qualified to represent the L.B.C. as Sublime‘s self-titled swan song.
The third and final record from trio — featuring frontman Bradley Nowell, bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh — celebrates its silver anniversary today.
Leading up to Sublime‘s release, the band was already primed to hit it big. They’d amassed a dedicated local following in their hometown of Long Beach, California, and after dropping two albums, 1992’s 40oz. to Freedom and 1994’s Robbin’ the Hood, they signed with MCA Records to record their major label debut.
Tragedy then struck when Nowell died in May 1996 of a heroin overdose while Sublime was on tour. He was 28. Wilson and Gaugh disbanded Sublime, but still decided to release the album they’d completed. The self-titled record dropped July 30, 1996, just two months after Nowell’s passing.
Sublime became a major success, and is now considered one of the most defining albums of the ’90s. It’s been certified five-times Platinum by the RIAA, and spawned hit singles in “Santeria,” “Wrong Way” and “What I Got.”
Another single, the George Gershwin-sampling “Doin’ Time,” received a second life when Lana Del Rey covered it in 2019. Her version hit number one on Billboard‘s Alternative Airplay chart.
Following Sublime‘s release, Wilson and Gaugh continued to play together in different projects before reforming Sublime in 2009 with new lead singer Rome Ramirez. Due to legal reasons, they changed their name to Sublime with Rome.
Gaugh has since left Sublime with Rome, although Wilson remains in the band. The group has released three albums, the most recent of which being 2019’s Blessings.
Just as Journey starts playing live again for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, the band has announced that Deen Castronovo, who was the group’s drummer from 1998 to 2015, has rejoined its lineup as a second drummer alongside Narada Michael Walden.
On Wednesday, Journey guitarist Neal Schon and Castronovo hinted at Deen’s return in a series of Twitter posts promoting the band’s Chicago concerts this week, on Thursday at the Aragon Ballroom and Saturday at the Lollapalooza festival.
Schon’s post featured the Twitter tags of the Aragon Ballroom and most of Journey’s current members, plus Marco Mendoza — who will be filling in on bass for Randy Jackson this week — and Deen.
Also, Castronovo tweeted on Wednesday a message that reads, “It’s ON!! STOKED to be playing with my brothers in Journey this weekend!! Let’s DO THIS!,” along with the hashtags #deencastronovo, #teamdeeno, #lollapalooza, #aragonballroom, #journeyband and #journeyfamily. The post also featured photos apparently taken at the group’s rehearsals for the concerts.
Then, on Thursday, Schon chatted with fans via a Facebook thread and was asked if Castronovo was back as an official member of Journey, to which he replied, “Yes.” He also noted that both Deen and Narada will be playing drums, adding, “JOURNEY AS YOU’VE NEVER HEARD US BEFORE!!!!”
Castronovo was fired from Journey in 2015 after he was arrested on domestic violence charges involving his then-girlfriend, to whom he’s now married.
In 2019, Castronovo took part in Schon’s short-lived Journey Through Time project, which celebrated Journey’s early music and also featured founding Journey singer/keyboardist Gregg Rolie and, interestingly, Mendoza.
Walden, Jackson and keyboardist/backing singer Jason Derlatka all joined Journey in 2020 after drummer Steve Smith and bassist Ross Valory were fired from the band.
The second episode of Ted Lasso season two is out today, and Apple revealed earlier this week that last week’s premiere was the most watched of anything so far on Apple TV+’s impressive roster.
Hannah Waddingham who plays Lasso’s boss, tells ABC Audio why the news had her breathing a sigh of relief.
“I’ve never been so invested in something ever, of hoping that people who fell in love with it before will still be in love with it,” she says. “It’s crazy.”
The fish-out-of-water comedy, which stars Jason Sudeikis as an incredibly chipper college football coach who’s hired to lead a mediocre English Premier League team, was recently nominated for 20 Emmy Awards. Waddington, reacting to the Emmy nods, explained why she thinks people are so obsessed with the show.
“I think everyone loves that it shows everyone… warts and all and the fact that everybody just wants to have hope and love in their lives and to find people that will think well of them,” says the 47-year-old British actress. “And even if somebody is having a bit of a s*** time, people will put their arm around you and go, you’re being a s***, but here’s how we’re going to get out of it.”
