Letitia Wright was injured Wednesday during an overnight shoot in Boston for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
She “sustained minor injuries today while filming a stunt,” a Marvel spokesperson tells Deadline. “She is currently receiving care in a local hospital and is expected to be released soon.”
The NAACP Image Award and SAG Award winner is reprising her role as Shuri from Black Panther, a science and technology wizard who’s the sister of T’Challa, also known as Black Panther, who was played by the late Chadwick Boseman.
While Wright shot her scene in Boston, primary production for the sequel is taking place in Atlanta.
Incidentally, Wright was spotted yesterday at MIT, along with co-star Danai Gurira. The location is important to Marvel Comics fans: not only is it Tony Stark’s alma mater, but the school is also attended by Riri Williams, who in the comics creates her own Iron Man-like suit and becomes Iron Heart. Actress Dominique Thorne has already been confirmed to be playing Williams in Wakanda: Forever, before the character is spun off into her own show on Disney+.
Gurira, Angela Bassett, Daniel Kaluuya,Winston Duke, Lupita Nyong’o,and director Ryan Coogler are also returning from the 2018 film, which has grossed over $1 billion worldwide.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to open July 8, 2020.
Marvel is owned by Disney, parent company of ABC News.
Megan Thee Stallion‘s legal request to drop her “Butter” remix with the South Korean pop group BTS was granted Tuesday.
A Texas judge ruled in Megan’s favor and extended a temporary restraining order allowing her to release new music, according to Billboard.
“LOVE YOU ALLL,” the “Hot Girl Summer” rapper wrote in response on Instagram, announcing the track will be drop Friday.
Megan has been in a long battle with her distributor, 300 Entertainment, and record label 1501 Certified Entertainment. She says 1501’s CEO, former Major League baseball star Carl Crawford, and his partner, J. Prince, have blocked her from releasing new music, and did not approve the “Butter” remix.
Billboard reports that the court ruled that Crawford, 1501 Certified Entertainment, J. Prince and 300 Entertainment “have recently engaged and will continue to engage in conduct preventing the release of [Megan’s] new music, which would irreparably damage her goodwill, reputation, and overall music career and infringes on her rights to self-expression through her music.”
The three-time Grammy winner previously filed a lawsuit and requested a restraining order against 1501 Certified Entertainment in 2020. A judge ruled in her favor and ordered 1501 Entertainment “to do nothing to prevent the release, distribution, and sale” of her music.
In her legal documents, Megan said her contract with 1501 was “unconscionable,” claiming she was only paid $15,000 after earning more than one billion streams and selling over 300,000 individual track downloads, said to be worth an estimated $7 million.
Megan is seeking a new contract. A hearing on her restraining order is set for September 10.
Megan’s up for six MTV VMAs, and BTS has five nominations, so they might perform “Butter” together at the show September 12 at Barclays Center in New York City.
Gene Simmons has apologized to David Lee Roth after making some insulting comments about founding Van Halen frontman during a recent Rolling Stone interview while discussing why Roth, who was KISS‘ 2020 support act, wasn’t opening for them on the band’s 2021 U.S. tour.
In the Rolling Stone interview, Simmons seemingly negatively compared Roth’s career to the late Elvis Presley‘s. Iin response, Diamond Dave posted a photo on his social media sites of a boy holding up his middle finger with the caption “Roth to Simmons.”
Now, in a new video interview with US Weekly, Simmons says, “I am so sorry and ashamed…that I hurt David’s feelings,” adding, “I don’t mean to hurt people’s feelings, and every once in a while, diarrhea of the mouth comes out.”
In the Rolling Stone interview, Simmons began by saying that during Roth’s heyday he was “the ultimate frontman,” but then said, “I don’t know what happened to him…I prefer to remember Elvis Presley in his prime. Sneering lips, back in Memphis…I don’t want to think of bloated naked Elvis on the bathroom floor.”
Simmons tells US Weekly, “I read that quote, and somehow the way they put it together…there was a segue to Elvis bloated on the ground and fat and naked and I don’t wanna see that. I wasn’t talking about David, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is I hurt David’s feelings, and that’s more important than the intent. So I sincerely apologize for that.”
Simmons also discussed with US Weekly how he signed Van Halen to his production company early in their career, then “produced their first 24-track 15-song demo and championed the band.”
On FXX tonight at 10 p.m. ET, the four-time Emmy-winning animated spy series Archer kicks off its twelfth season with two back-to-back episodes.
Amber Nash, who plays hard-drinking, hedonistic H.R. rep Pam Poovey on the show, tells ABC Audio of the show’s longevity, “God, it doesn’t seem real!”
She continues, “When we first started, we were like, ‘Is this show going to fly? Like, are we going to get away with all this stuff?’ And then once, like, season two hit and people were kind of all about it, it was like, ‘Oh, my God, this is so crazy.’ I still can’t believe it’s been going on for 12 years.”
Lucky Yates, who plays the spy show’s morally flexible mad scientist Algernop Krieger, agrees. “It’s nuts.”
He says of his dark alter-ego, “Getting to play the wild card type character in anything is the dream for me.”
Nash credits the show’s cast — which also includes the voices of H. Jon Benjamin as Sterling Archer, SNL vet Chris Parnell as Cyril, Aisha Tyler as Lana, Judy Greer as Cheryl/Carol, and the late Jessica Walter as Archer’s boozy mom, Malory — with its long life.
“The casting was so great that even though we’ve never, I mean…Lucky and I didn’t meet everybody until a few seasons in, like it still felt like everybody was in the same room together.”
She added, “It was really kind of magical how it all worked out.”
Yates teases tonight’s installments, saying, “The first episode, I laughed all the way through it…The action is amazing. There’s so much packed into the first episode, it feels like an hour-long thing. And then the second episode is almost brilliant slapstick.”
(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday sharply criticized two House members for taking an unauthorized trip to Afghanistan, and the Pentagon said their unexpected visit took time away from its urgent military mission at the Kabul airport.
Rep. Peter Meijer, a Michigan Republican, and Rep. Seth Moulton, a Massachusetts Democrat — both Iraq War veterans — said they traveled to Kabul on Tuesday to review the situation at the Hamid Karzai International Airport — and have since defended the trip amid criticism that they distracted from the evacuation effort.
Pelosi on Wednesday chastised the two and warned other lawmakers not to try the same thing.
“There’s a real concern about members being in the region,” Pelosi said at a Capitol Hill press conference Wednesday. “This is deadly serious. We do not want members to go.”
Their trip, first reported by The Washington Post, prompted a letter to lawmakers from Pelosi on Tuesday evening, telling lawmakers not to travel to Kabul because it would distract from the ongoing evacuation and take up resources and that the Pentagon and State Department are adamantly against any external visitors.
She said at Wednesday’s press conference there was an “opportunity cost” of protecting the two congressmen in the region.
“It’s not just about them going to Afghanistan, but in going to the region, because there’s a call on our resources diplomatically, politically, militarily in the region as well, so this is deadly serious,” Pelosi said. “The point is, is that we don’t want anybody to think this was a good idea and that they should try to follow suit.”
“It was not, in my view, a good idea,” she added.
While Pelosi said she has not spoken to either Meijer or Molton since they returned, she noted that trips like this would require the approval of committee chairs — and it was not approved by the Democratic side.
“We put out the word to committee chairs, there ain’t going to be no planes or this or that for people going to the region,” Pelosi said.
The Pentagon echoed Pelosi’s sentiment in a briefing later Wednesday, saying that it had not been aware in advance of the visit and that it “took time away” from the military operations.
“They certainly took time away from what we had been planning to do that day,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
He said there was “a need to flex and to — to alter the day’s — the day’s flow, including — including, you know, the need to have protection for these members of Congress.”
“There was certainly a pull-off of the kinds of missions we were trying to do to be able to accommodate that visit,” Kirby added.
Like Pelosi, Kirby also took a chance to deter others from heading to Kabul.
“We are obviously not encouraging VIP visits to a very tense, dangerous, and dynamic situation at that airport and inside Kabul generally. And the secretary, I think, would have appreciated the opportunity to have had a conversation before the visit took place,” he said, referering to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Colleagues in Congress, too, piled on the criticism.
Prominent Republicans and Democrats alike blasted Meijer and Moulton for their secretive and unauthorized trip during the last week of evacuations, calling it selfish and irresponsible.
“I was surprised and shocked,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y. “I want to stay focused on the mission of bringing back our American citizens and our SIV’s and the Afghans who are in danger.I don’t think it helps necessarily for us to keep going over there, when we try to get people out of there was irresponsible for them to do that …it does not help.”
“I don’t think it’s the best decision, you put people at jeopardy,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said on Fox News on Wednesday morning. “But I understand why they wanted to go.”
Rep. Madeline Dean, D-Penn., called it “troubling” on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that “anybody, such as a congressperson, would come in, A, without telling the admin, but B, knowing that they will take resources from people who desperately need it.”
Meijer and Moulton said in a joint statement Tuesday evening that the purpose of their travel was “to conduct oversight on the mission to evacuate Americans and our allies.”
The statement said the lawmakers conducted the visit in secret to gather information about operations there, not disrupt them.
“We left on a plane with empty seats, seated in crew-only seats to ensure that nobody who needed a seat would lose one because of our presence,” they said.
Moulton, a former candidate for the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, tweeted out an image from the airport following their visit, calling the scenes he saw there “indescribable.”
ABC News’ Conor Finnegan and Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.
Sony’s release of the teaser trailer to Spider-Man: No WayHome topped a high-water mark set by collaborator Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame back in 2019.
The peek of Tom Holland‘s next adventure as the web-slinger broke the all-time 24-hour record for most global trailer views with 355.5 million, compared to Avengers: Endgame’s, 289 million views.
No Way Home‘s trailer scored double the viewership for its previous entry, Spider-Man: Far from Home, and also shattered Endgame‘s record for the largest 24-hour “social media conversation,” with 4.5 million mentions around the world.
Stateside, Far from Home generated 2.91 million mentions in 24 hours, while in just 12 hours, the new Spider-Man adventure was mentioned 1.96 million times in the U.S. alone.
Starring Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Alfred Molina, Marisa Tomei and Jon Favreau — and a host of still-secret co-stars — Spider-Man: No Way Home swings into theaters December 17, 2021 from Columbia Pictures and co-producer Marvel Studios.
Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
Last month, Harry Styles announced his rescheduled U.S. tour dates. Now, he’s making sure fans can enjoy the shows safely.
At his upcoming Love On Tour shows, ticket holders will be required to provide proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or proof of a negative COVID-19 diagnostic test within 48 hours prior to entry. There will also be mandatory mask-wearing in effect.
As per the guidelines, children under the age of 12 can attend the concert if they provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 48 hours of the show.
Venue staff will be following the same protocols and will be wearing masks at all times.
“We are looking forward to seeing everyone as we return to the road!” reads a statement posted to Harry’s Instagram Story. “Please know our band and crew will be taking every possible precaution to protect each other so we can bring the show to everyone who wants to attend and we ask you to do the same.”
Harry’s Love On Tour shows kick off in Las Vegas on September 4 and run through November 20 in Los Angeles.
Doja Cat‘s “Kiss Me More” collaboration with SZA is a certified summer smash, but in a new interview with Missy Elliott, the 25-year-old opened up about balancing her authentic self and her exploding popularity.
Speaking to the “Lose Control” rapper for Interviewmagazine, Doja reflected on her start in music and how her rising star status presented new challenges. Noting she used to spend her time on social media “making beats” and “yelling at and roasting people,” the artist admits that’s no longer a healthy way to spend her time.
“I love going in on people, but I stopped because with a big platform, you don’t want to hurt anybody,” Doja told Elliott. “You have power and you’re looked at a certain way, and if you go in on people and s***, it doesn’t help you or them, and they can tear you down more than you can tear them down.”
Missy noted that being an artist has changed in the era of social media, saying, “When I was coming up we didn’t have social media, so we could turn off the artistry when we finished our interviews and went home. Now you have to be in artist mode at all times.”
Concerning her craft, Doja said she wants to improve her rapping. “When it comes to rap I could be better. I think everybody feels that way with their own art, in all kinds of ways,” she mused. “I see all these incredibly talented rappers around me, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m doing pop, but I should focus on my pen now more than ever.'”
Doja also revealed she wants to “talk about my life more” in her music, which Missy supported.
Chase Rice just might be coming to a bar or other pint-sized venue near you this fall. This week, he announced his six-date Bud Light Seltzer Sessions tour, which will find him playing dates on a selection of small stages.
Things kick off in Columbus, Ohio on September 8, and the tour runs through October. In the meantime, Chase will make stops in Illinois, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Michigan.
“When I first started playing with just me and a guitar, it was sitting on barstools in venues like these,” he explains. “There’s something really special about stripping it back to how these songs were written, to how I got started. No show will be the same as we’re making it up as we go, but that’s what I love: hearing y’all yell songs from the crowd and us singing them together.”
For more opportunities to catch Chase on the road this year, check out his current tour calendar.
The singer is currently riding the momentum of his latest two-week number-one hit, a collaboration with Florida Georgia Line called “Drinkin’ Beer. Talkin’ God. Amen.”
BTS’ “Butter” remix featuring Megan Thee Stallionis dropping this Friday.
The good news comes after Megan was involved in a complicated legal battle in order to get the song released. Billboard reports a Texas judge ruled in Megan’s favor and extended a temporary restraining order against her record label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, allowing her to release new music.
“Y’all don’t even understand how excited I am,” Megan tweeted following the news. BTS shared their excitement over the announcement as well, writing, “Yes, ‘Butter’ is back!”
The “WAP” rapper has been in a long battle with her record label and distributor, 300 Entertainment, over releasing new music. The label and distributor were trying to block the release of the “Butter” remix.
Megan is seeking a new contract. The next hearing on her restraining order is set for September 10.
