Bruno Mars‘ latest project Silk Sonic, featuring himself and Anderson. Paak, has only released two singles, but both have been quite successful. Now, Anderson has found the perfect place to park all the cash he’s been raking in.
The “Leave the Door Open” singer posted a photo of himself at a restaurant called Taisho, and captioned the image, “The boy done invested his #silksonic money in the best sushi in town! The foodies are calling it ‘BUSSIN!!’ Come see for yourself!”
The restaurant is located in Sherman Oaks, California, and Anderson, a California native, joked in his caption, “Tell them you know AP and they will charge you full price with no hesitation! God is the greatest!”
He also jokingly added the hashtag “#DontAskForNoDiscounts.”
As for Bruno, he’s got his own food and beverage side hustle going as one of the co-owners of Selva Rey Rum.
Silk Sonic’s latest single and video is “Skate,” and fans aren’t the only ones who are getting impatient for the duo’s debut album, which still doesn’t have a release date. Last month, when Bruno posted childhood photos of himself and Anderson, Anderson himself jumped in the comments and wrote, “WE WANT THE ALBUM!!!“
(LONDON) — The head of London’s Metropolitan Police, Dame Cressida Dick, was asked on Thursday about the new civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew filed Monday in a New York court by Virginia Giuffre, an alleged victim of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Giuffre is accusing Prince Andrew of sexually abusing her at locations including Epstein’s Manhattan mansion before she turned 18.
London’s chief of police said her team was “open to working with authorities from overseas” and are themselves reviewing their position, saying that “no one is above the law.” She also confirmed that there’s currently no investigation open.
Dick was speaking on her monthly radio phone-in program on LBC, a London radio station.
Nick Ferrari, the interviewer, asked her, “What investigation is taking place into the allegations of Virginia Roberts concerning Prince Andrew?”
She replied: “I’m not going to talk about individuals, but what I can say is that I think what you’re referring to is associated with Jeffrey Epstein, who I will talk about since he is deceased.
“The position there is that we have had more than one allegation that is connected with Mr. Epstein, and we have reviewed those, assessed those and we have not opened an investigation.”
Ferrari replied: “If there are reports of underage girls being trafficked to London to have sex with the Duke of York, isn’t that something you’d want to take a look at?”
Dick explained she’d reviewed the evidence twice and concluded that “that there is no investigation to open.”
“What we will look at is, is there evidence of a crime? Is this the right jurisdiction for it to be dealt with? And is the person against whom the crime alleged still alive?” she responded. “Those are the three things that we do look at and have looked at in these cases. And we have concluded that there is no investigation to open, and we haven’t.
“I’m aware that there’s been a lot of commentary in the media and an apparent civil case going on in America and we will again, of course, review our position.”
When asked for further explanation as to what the commissioner meant by “review our position,” the Metropolitan Police said in a following statement to ABC News: “We do not comment on named individuals who are alive unless they have been charged with an offence.”
In her interview with LBC, Dick also refused to comment on whether she’s seen the testimony from Prince Andrew’s police protection officers.
Ferrari quizzed her, “Have you seen the testimony from the Duke of York’s royal protection team pertaining to the night of the allegations which he strenuously denies what took place in a London apartment?”
Dick replied: “I’m not going to comment any further. … It’s been reviewed twice before, we’ve worked closely with the CPS, we are of course open to working with authorities from overseas, we will give them every assistance if they ask us for anything — within the law, obviously — and as a result of what’s going on I’ve asked my team to have another look at the material.”
“No one is above the law,” she added.
The Met police do not comment on security but there has been much speculation that their records could help to establish Prince Andrew’s movements on the night that Virginia Giuffre alleges he sexually assaulted her.
Prince Andrew has consistently denied these allegations. In a 2019 interview with the BBC, he said, “I’ve said consistently and frequently said that we never had any sort of sexual contact whatever.”
He claimed to have no memory of ever meeting her and suggested that a widely circulated photograph of him with his arm around the waist of the then-17-year-old Giuffre, allegedly taken by Epstein in the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001, might have been doctored.
“I don’t believe that photograph was taken in the way that has been suggested,” he said. “I think it’s, from the investigations that we’ve done, you can’t prove whether or not that photograph is faked or not, because it is a photograph of a photograph of a photograph. So it’s very difficult to be able to prove it, but I don’t remember that photograph ever being taken.”
The prince also contended that he had an alibi for the date of the alleged encounter, claiming he was home with his daughter, Beatrice.
“I was at home,” the prince said. “I was with the children, and I’d taken Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking for a party at, I suppose, sort of 4 or 5 in the afternoon. And then, because the duchess was away, we have a simple rule in the family that when one is away the other one is there. I was on terminal leave at the time from the Royal Navy, so therefore I was at home.”
The prince’s interview was harshly criticized in the British press and, within days, he released a new statement conceding that his “former association” with Epstein had become a major distraction for the royal family, and he stepped back from official duties.
He vowed in that statement that he would be willing “to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations.”
But since then there have been complaints from the Southern District of New York that the prince has not cooperated with their requests to interview him as a witness for the federal investigation into sex trafficking by Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.
Prince Andrew’s lawyers, Blackfords LLP, however denied this, issuing a statement in June 2020 saying the prince had offered “his assistance as a witness to the DOJ” several times.
The beleaguered royal was last seen Tuesday arriving at his mother’s Scottish home, Balmoral Castle, accompanied by ex-wife Sarah Ferguson. Several UK newspapers are reporting that they are holding crisis talks, deliberating the best response to this lawsuit.
“Now that this lawsuit has been filed, unless it is stopped in its tracks, it doesn’t seem that any of the options for Prince Andrew and his legal team will be particularly palatable to him,” said ABC News Royal Contributor Victoria Murphy.
Legal opinions vary as to what the prince might do, but his options appear to be fourfold.
Firstly, he could ignore the entire thing, the case could go ahead without him and a possible default judgment and damages could be entered against him.
Secondly, he could instruct lawyers to argue that the case is spurious and lacking in evidence in the hopes it would be thrown out before trial.
Thirdly, he could agree to answer questions under oath, attend the trial and defend himself.
And lastly, he could agree to settle the claims out-of-court.
Each option has its own pitfall.
“No one could have predicted just how low Prince Andrew’s reputation could have plummeted in the last two to three years,” Murphy added. “The accusations that have been leveled against him, the fact they’ve been so widely reported and his attempts to draw a line under them spectacularly backfiring have all left his reputation in tatters — and has the potential to seriously impact people’s perception of the monarchy.”
No member of the royal family has made a public comment about the latest developments, and Buckingham Palace told ABC News that this was a legal matter and for Andrew’s lawyers to respond. A spokesman for Prince Andrew said there would be no comment on the new lawsuit.
The Times of London, however, quotes a source close to Prince Charles as saying, “This will be unwelcome reputational damage to the institution. [Prince Charles] has long ago concluded that it is probably an unsolvable problem. This will probably further strengthen in the prince’s mind that a way back for the duke is demonstrably not possible, because the spectre of this [accusation] raises its head with hideous regularity.”
The source also said, “The prince loves his brother and has the ability to have sympathy for the slings and arrows that his brother endures, whatever the reasons may be. His ability to support and feel for those having a tough time is well known.”
It is a difficult position for the family to be in, Murphy explains, as they may be tainted by association whatever they do.
“The monarchy has done everything they can to distance itself officially,” she said. “He has stepped down from official duties, Buckingham Palace no longer speaks for him and he’s not being represented by royal lawyers, but the fact is, he is still the queen’s son. He’s at Balmoral now. There’s no avoiding that this will continue to damage the image of the monarchy and could even affect the standing of other royals.”
Billy Idol became a grandfather for the first time last year, and the 65-year-old pop-punk singer tells People that the experience has enriched his life.
“It opens you up emotionally,” he says. “Everything is a new experience for her. In a way, I’m reliving those experiences myself.”
Idol’s daughter, Bonnie Broad, gave birth to a daughter of her own in May 2020. Billy says his one-year-old grandkkid, who’s named Poppy Rebel, is already a fan of his music.
“The other day she was bouncing up and down to ‘Rebel Yell,'” he says of his 1983 hit. “But of course, she also loves ‘Baby Shark.'”
The rocker, who just announced that he’ll be releasing a four-song EP next month titled The Roadside, says the downtime he had during the COVID-19 pandemic gave him the chance to spend some quality time with his granddaughter. He tells People that he’s been teaching the little one how to talk and walk.
“She can say ‘dude,’ ‘duck’ and ‘fish,'” he reports.
Last month, Billy posted an adorable video on his Instagram of Poppy feeding him blueberries.
Idol recently launched a run of 2021 U.S. tour dates that continues tonight with a show in Airway Heights, Washington. The trek winds down with a four-show Las Vegas residency in October.
The first trailer has been released for Introducing, Selma Blair, a Discovery+ documentary about actress Selma Blair‘s battle with multiple sclerosis.
The trailer shows raw and emotional moments of Selma dealing with symptoms of the illness and treatments for it, including chemotherapy. We see glimpses of the actress at some of her lowest points, as well as more joyful times spent her 10-year-old son, Arthur.
“I always thought I was on a reality show,” Selma says at the beginning of the trailer. “Like, I was in a documentary but only God would see it…and disapprove.”
The Cruel Intentions actress revealed her diagnosis in 2018. Earlier this week, she showed her love and support for her The Sweetest Thing co-star Christina Applegate after Applegate revealed her own MS diagnosis.
The Mayo Clinic describes MS as “a potentially disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord.” Currently, there is no known cure, but there are treatments available that may alleviate some of the symptoms.
Introducing, Selma Blair will open in select theaters on October 15 and launch on Discovery+ on October 21.
The Chicago Health Commissioner has found that there’s been “no evidence” that Lollapalooza was a “super-spreader event” for COVID-19.
Speaking with media Thursday, Dr. Allison Arwady said that the department has “had no unexpected findings” in regards to COVID numbers 14 days after the start of Lollapalooza. The festival had required attendees to either be fully vaccinated, or show proof of a negative COVID test obtained within 72 hours of entering the grounds.
Arwady said that 203 people that attended Lollapalooza have tested positive for COVID-19, which is in line with the expectation of around 200 cases. Fifty-eight of those were Chicago residents, 138 were from Illinois but not Chicago, and seven came in from out of state.
Arwady estimates that about 90 percent of Lolla attendees were vaccinated. Of those vaccinated, .0004 percent, or four in 10,000, tested positive. The unvaccinated positivity rate was .0016 percent, or 16 in 10,000. As of Wednesday, August 11, no hospitalizations or deaths have been reported.
Lollapalooza took place from July 29 to July 1. Performers included Foo Fighters, Limp Bizkit, Journey, Black Pumas, All Time Low, Angels & Airwaves, Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Tyler, the Creator, Marshmello, Megan Thee Stallion and Jimmy Eat World.
Also on August 12, the nation’s second-largest events promoter, AEG, announced that come October 1, all ticket holders at its events will need to show proof of vaccination. That’s a step further than the largest promoter, Live Nation, which said it’d be up to the artists to the decide if audiences at their shows must test negative or be vaccinated.
Who will be the next group of musical legends to join the Country Music Hall of Fame? Fans can find out soon. An inductee announcement will take place next week, hosted by Reba McEntire.
The Country Music Association will livestream the event on their YouTube page at 10 a.m. CT on August 16. Reba, who’s making the announcement, has been a member of the Hall of Fame since 2011; she was inducted via the “Modern Era Artist” category.
Each year, the Country Music Hall of Fame selects a new class of members across three different categories: “Modern Era Artist,” “Veteran Era Artist” and “Songwriter.” Last year, the three incoming acts were Dean Dillon (as a Songwriter), Marty Stuart (as a Modern Era Artist) and Hank Williams, Jr. (as a Veteran Era Artist.)
After the new class is announced, they’ll be inducted into the Hall of Fame in a formal Medallion Ceremony.
Reba’s no stranger to that event, either: In addition to receiving a medallion of her own when she became a Hall of Famer in 2011, she returned to the ceremony in 2019 to help induct her longtime friends and frequent collaborators, Brooks & Dunn, who were that year’s Modern Era inductees.
(KABUL, Afghanistan) — As Taliban forces advance on more provincial capitals, the U.S. is warning that its fighters are committing atrocities that could amount to war crimes and the State Department will soon announce that it is significantly reducing its staff levels at the U.S. embassy in Kabul, according to a U.S. official.
State Department Spokesman Ned Price said that while the embassy in Kabul will remain open, they will be reducing their civilian footprint due to the “evolving security situation.” He added that they expect to draw down to a core diplomatic presence in Afghanistan.
To facilitate this decision, the Pentagon “will temporarily deploy additional personnel to Hamid Karzai International Airport.”
Price said they will continue to relocate qualified Afghans who assisted the American mission, such as interpreters and others who worked for the U.S. government, and flights will ramp up in the coming days.
The U.S. embassy in Kabul has also urged Americans to evacuate Afghanistan immediately, amid fears that the capital could fall into Taliban hands in a matter of weeks.
A military analysis said the city could be isolated in 30 to 60 days and be captured in 90 days, a U.S. official told ABC News, but that timeline seemed even more accelerated Thursday as the Taliban claimed Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city.
While the Taliban have previously denied reports that its fighters have executed Afghan troops, the U.S. embassy said Thursday it was “hearing additional reports of Taliban executions of surrendering Afghan troops” and said they were “deeply disturbing and could constitute war crimes.”
Extrajudicial killings are a war crime according to international law.
In addition, the Taliban have detained “several members of the Afghan government, including both civilian leaders and officers of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces … in several locations,” the embassy said in a statement Thursday.
Those arrests “contradict the Taliban’s claim to support a negotiated settlement” and “contrast the Taliban’s own rhetoric providing for the safety of Afghan leaders and troops in areas recently seized by the Taliban,” the embassy added.
Critics have condemned the Biden administration for putting any stock in what Taliban leaders say or do in Doha, Qatar, where the militant group’s political leadership is based. Negotiations there with the Afghan government have been all but dead since they launched last September, but U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is there this week in a last-ditch effort to revitalize them.
Khalilzad was meeting separately with Taliban and Afghan government negotiators Thursday, according to a State Department spokesperson.
But critics said the administration should not put faith in a group that the U.S. says is actively committing atrocities.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC News those reported atrocities were “deeply, deeply troubling,” but the administration has not taken any action to punish the group for them.
The Taliban have previously denied reports that they have killed Afghan troops — but CNN obtained video last month showing 22 Afghan commandos being executed after they’d surrendered.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday that the administration has “not taken any tool off the table except for this military presence on the ground,” but would use them “if it’s appropriate.”
It’s unlikely that the tools Price referenced — including U.S. sanctions — would have any impact at this point.
In the meantime, the U.S. embassy issued its second alert to urge all American citizens left in Afghanistan to immediately evacuate the country.
“Given the security conditions and reduced staffing, the Embassy’s ability to assist U.S. citizens in Afghanistan is extremely limited even within Kabul,” the embassy said in its alert.
Just like in a similar alert Saturday, the embassy reiterated Thursday that U.S. citizens should enroll in its emergency notification system “in the event of a future official evacuation flight.”
Like any new parents, Ed Sheeran and his wife Cherry want to spend as much time as possible with their baby daughter, Lyra, but Ed says they also make sure to take time for themselves, too.
Appearing on Apple Music 1’s The Rebecca Judd Show, Ed says, “Me and my wife have a date night. It’s a strict date night every single week. And no matter who’s in town or who wants to see us, it’s always this one night in the week and we go out and our rule is we can’t talk about our baby. We have to talk about each other and catch up.”
“As a parent, you spend so much time discussing being a parent that you kind of forget who you were before,” he notes. “So we have one night a week where we are who we were before.”
Ed also revealed that he hasn’t listened to his debut album + (Plus) since it came out, so for the 10th anniversary concert he’s doing next month — in which he’ll play the album in its entirety — he’s literally having to relearn his own songs. As he explains, “I wouldn’t have played [some of the songs] since the tour in 2011,”
In addition, Ed also sang Judd the first song he ever wrote: “Typical Average Teen.”
“The creator of The Simpsons was doing a show, my cousin knew him,” Ed recalls. “And…they were doing this show about a typical average teen. And he was like, ‘My cousin wrote something like that!’ So it was actually going to be the soundtrack to this thing for a while.”
Ed continues. “I don’t know what happened, but it would have been so weird to have my first song end up being the soundtrack of a TV show.”
Chris Stapleton lends his powerful voice to a heavy metal classic on “Nothing Else Matters,” the country star’s submission to an upcoming Metallica tribute album.
The project — which also features cover songs from country performers like Jon Pardi, Darius Rucker and Mickey Guyton — is called The Metallica Blacklist, and celebrates the 30th anniversary of the release of the band’s career-defining, Grammy-winning self-titled project, also called The Black Album.
It arrives in full on September 10, but fans can hear Chris’ rendition of “Nothing Else Matters” now. If you pre-order Blacklist you’ll automatically receive the song, along with a cover of “Nothing Else Matters” from singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers, as well as an alternate mix of the song from Metallica themselves.
Proceeds from all the songs on Blacklist benefit Metallica’s All Within My Hands Foundation, with each participating artist also selecting a charity that their song will support. In Chris’ case, that’s Outlaw State of Kind, a charitable fund he and his wife Morgane established in 2016.
Summer Walker landed herself in hot water on Wednesday when sharing her thoughts about the COVID-19 vaccine and asked those who got it to keep their distance from her.
This isn’t the first time Walker, 25, has been called out for spreading conspiracy theories about the vaccine. Most recently, she took to her Instagram side account and expressed in a Wednesday story, “If u vaccinated please stay away from me.”
The remarks didn’t go over too well on Twitter, causing #SummerWalker to start trending. While most fans lamented they are having a harder and harder time defending her, one joked the “Over It” singer is “trying to make sure her next tour has no guests.”
In March, the R&B singer wiped her official Instagram account after sharing a hoax video that contained lies about how the coronavirus spread.
She then peddled more false COVID-19 theories on her side account. Those posts have also been deleted.
