A familiar face will host next year’s 64th Annual Grammy Awards. The Daily Show‘s Trevor Noah will return in the role and induct a new class of Grammy winners on January 31.
Next year’s award show will be held at the newly renamed Crypto.com Arena — formerly the Staples Center — in Los Angeles, California.
Trevor last held down the fort for the pandemic-delayed 63rd Grammy Awards on March 14. This continues a streak LL Cool J started in 2012, where every host has returned for at least two consecutive stints. James Corden hosted both the 2017 and 2018 ceremonies, followed by AliciaKeys‘ back-to-back appearances in 2019 and 2020.
Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement, “We’re so excited to welcome Trevor back to the GRAMMYs stage and feel fortunate to once again have him hosting what we believe will be an unforgettable evening.” He also called Trevor an “amazing” host and said he garnered “praise from the music community, music fans and critics” during 2021’s socially-distanced ceremony.
Although the host will remain the same, things will run a little differently for next year’s nominees. Last week, the Recording Academy announced some changes in the so-called Big Four categories. For first time in Grammy history, there are 10 nominees up for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist.
Artist Jon Batiste heads into the ceremony with a leading 11 nominations. Justin Bieber, Doja Cat and H.E.R. are also top nominees, with eight nods each.
The 64th Annual Grammy Awards will air January 31 starting at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
On Good Morning America Wednesday, George Stephanopoulosrevealed that he sat down with Alec Baldwin for a “raw, intense” interview airing on ABC Thursday evening, about the deadly shooting on the set of Baldwin’s Western film, Rust.
It will be Baldwin’s first formal interview since he fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza on October 21, when the actor and producer fired a pistol he claims he was told was “cold,” meaning safe.
“I’ve done thousands of interviews in the last 20 years at ABC, this was the most intense I’ve ever experienced…So raw. He’s devastated,” Stephanopoulos says of Baldwin, adding, “but he was also candid, very forthcoming…[and] went through in detail what happened on the set that day.”
The interview, recorded Tuesday, will air at 8 p.m. on ABC Thursday and stream later that day on Hulu.
News of the interview comes as investigators revealed for the first time that they may be closer to understanding how live ammunition ended up on Rust‘s New Mexico set. One of those bullets ended up in the chamber of Baldwin’s gun, instead of an inert, “dummy” bullet used for close-ups.
Authorities have said “a mix” of hundreds of blank rounds, dummy rounds and live ammunition rounds had been recovered from the set.
As previously reported, the set employed neophyte Hannah Gutierrez Reed, 24, as the movie’s armorer, who is the daughter of Thell Reed, an experienced armorer and veteran of hundreds of productions.
ABC News has learned that, according to a search warrant dated November 30, Mr. Reed told investigators that another that man, Seth Kenney, requested in August/September that Mr. Reed bring live ammunition to a set in order to train the actors on a firearms range. Reed says he subsequently provided 200-300 rounds in an ammo can, and that the “ammunition was not factory made rounds.” Reed further told investigators, “this ammunition may match the ammunition found on the set of Rust,” as each reloaded shell casing bore a distinct company design that could match the spent one recovered from Baldwin’s chamber.
The warrant states Reed further told investigators that when the production ended, Kenney took the ammo can and remaining ammunition back to New Mexico. Reed says when he attempted to get Kenney to return the can and unused ammunition rounds, Kenney told Reed to “write it off.”
According to the warrant, Kenney told detectives on October 27 that he provided the Rust production with dummy rounds and blanks from a manufacturer identified as Starline Brass. Two days later, Oct 29, Kenney called detectives again and, “advised he may know where the live rounds came from.”
The search warrant details, “[Kenney] described how a couple years back he received ‘reloaded ammunition’ from a friend” with the Starline Brass logo on it. But he didn’t support Thell Reed’s other allegations.
Additionally, attorneys for Hanna Gutierrez Reed, who weeks ago declared, without providing proof, that Baldwin’s pistol was intentionally sabotaged, labeled Kenney an “armorer-mentor” for the 24-year-old.
Through his attorney, Kenney took issue with the allegation from Reed’s camp. “Mr. Kenney is fully-cooperating with the authorities, as he has been since the tragic incident took place,” Kenney’s attorney, Adam Engelskirchen, said in a statement provided to ABC News. “Neither Mr. Kenney nor PDQ Arm & Prop, LLC provided live ammunition to the Rust production.”
Further, Engelskirchen said the search warrant affidavit “includes material misstatements of fact, particularly with regard to statements ascribed to Mr. Kenney.”
“Reports in other media outlets that Mr. Kenney was part of the crew of Rust or was employed by the production to provide any sort of supervisory services are patently false,” he added.
Officially, authorities have not ruled out criminal charges in the case as the investigation continues.
Following the streaming release of her directorial debut, Bruised, on Netflix, Halle Berry has inked a multi-film deal with the service, serving as both producer and star, according Variety.
Bruised, in which Berry plays an MMA fighter who reclaims her power both in the ring and in her life, was rated as the streamer’s top film in the United States this week, according to Netflix.
Berry will next be seen in two Netflix originals, neither of which is part of the new deal, including the sci-fi project The Mothership, which she’ll executive-produce and star in, and Our Man from Jersey, opposite Mark Wahlberg.
Clayton Echard has been tapped as the new Bachelor for the show’s upcoming 26th season.
Echard, a 28-year-old medical sales rep from Missouri, was a contestant on The Bachelorette‘s current 18th season, making it to Michelle Young‘s top eight suitors before getting eliminated.
On his final date with Young, Echard opened up about having been focused on being considered “good enough” to others by chasing things he thought would bring him happiness for the past few years. When breaking up with him on their one-on-one date, Young told Echard “you are enough” in one of the season’s most heartfelt moments.
“I just wanna find love so badly. And have a family. And start that chapter of my life,” Echard said in his tearful exit. “I want it more than anything else. And I’ll do whatever it takes to get that. Whatever it takes.”
Echard graduated with a bachelor’s degree in health science and minors in business and Spanish from the University of Missouri. Having played college football, Echard had a brief stint in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks in 2016. He is now pursuing his MBA and hopes to start his own business one day.
Echard has two younger brothers and his parents have been married for 29 years. In his spare time, he likes to go tubing, fishing and play cornhole with his friends and family, according to his ABC bio.
The Bachelor season 26 premieres January 3 on ABC.
It was time for hometowns on Tuesday’s episode of The Bachelorette, and with just four men left, Michelle faced her most difficult rose ceremony yet, which ended with Rodney being sent home.
Rodney — along with Brandon, Joe and Nayte — were unable to show off their real hometowns due to COVID-19 protocols, but each did their best to show off their own hometown stories with a series of fun dates that included skateboarding, paddleboarding, apple-picking and a romantic prom.
Of course, each date ended with Michelle meeting the guys’ families, which mostly went well. However, Michelle’s conversations with Nayte’s mother and stepfather, raised some red flags when they expressed doubt as to whether the 27-year-old sales executive — who would later profess his love for Michelle — was really ready for a lifetime commitment.
Luckily, two of Michelle’s best friends — Bri and Serena P., with whom she formed a bond while competing together on Matt James‘ season of The Bachelor — paid Michelle a surprise visit, after which she had the clarity to decide which of the men she would send home.
Ultimately, Michelle followed her heart, picking Nayte, along with Joe and Brandon. Martin ended up being the odd man out.
After assuring Rodney that, contrary to previous conversations between them in which he’d described himself as an “underdog,” that wasn’t the case and “who you are is enough.”
Rodney, in turn declared that in spite of being sent home, he was still “falling in love” with her, adding, “I’m always gonna care about you Michelle…forever.”
Here are the men going to fantasy suites:
Brandon J., 27, a traveling nurse recruiter from Portland, Ore.
Joe, 28, a real estate developer from Minneapolis, Minn.
Nayte, 27, a sales executive from Austin, Texas
The Bachelorette returns with a special “Men Tell All” episode on Monday, 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
(NOTE LANGUAGE) AMC was quick to renew its off-beat dramedy series Kevin Can F*** Himself for a second season, but the network just raised eyebrows with an announcement that the show’s second season would be its last, Variety reports.
The series stars Schitt’s Creek Emmy winner Annie Murphy as Allison McRoberts and Eric Petersen as her titular husband. The show’s conceit is that it plays out as a stereotypical sitcom focusing on a married couple in scenes where Allison is with Kevin, and then takes a dark turn when Annie’s character is by herself, showing that she’s plotting to kill her schlubby dope of a hubby.
The show had an 81% positive rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. A few weeks ago, Petersen told ABC Audio that he was psyched to start work on the second season.
“Any time you do something new — and this show truly is something new — I mean, that just in and of itself is an accomplishment to get something on the air that really is not like anything that’s been done before,” the actor said. “And then you sort of cross your fingers that people get what we’re trying to do with it, that they enjoy it, that they find it funny and engaging and interesting. And people have, which is awesome.”
He adds, “So we’re so excited that we got season two. We’re going to start filming here in January, so it’ll be coming out next year. And I’ve already seen a few of the scripts and they’re very good, so [I’m] very excited to get going.”
Following weeks of speculation, Dr. Mehmet Oz officially declared his candidacy for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday.
In a Washington Examiner opinion column announcing the run, Oz highlighted his medical experience as the undercurrent for his campaign launch, while also indicating a policy focus on the ongoing national pandemic response.
“During the pandemic, I learned that when you mix politics and medicine, you get politics instead of solutions. That’s why I am running for the U.S. Senate: to help fix the problems and to help us heal,” Oz said.
On his website, Oz added in his announcement, “Covid-19 became an excuse for government and elite thinkers who controlled the means of communication, especially social media and our major news agencies, to suspend debate. Dissenting opinions from leading scholars, even Nobel Laureates, were cancelled and ridiculed so their ideas could not be disseminated.”
He continued, “Doctors were forbidden from prescribing legal medications for the first time in our nation’s history. I tried to fund clinical trials to re-purpose an already widely used drug for possible benefits against Covid-19, but they were banned. Instead, government mandated policies that caused unnecessary suffering.”
In a video posted to Twitter, Oz said he is running as a Conservative Republican.
Oz joins a crowded Republican primary in what is shaping up to be one of the nation’s most-watched midterm races. As a pivotal 2020 campaign battleground that tipped the scales for President Joe Biden, Pennsylvania’s Senate race is now slated to help determine which party controls the Senate in 2022.
The current field of leading Democratic candidates includes Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, Rep. Conor Lamb, state representative Malcolm Kenyatta and Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh, who is also a physician.
Would you’d like to stay in a real-life location of a Christmas classic, or perhaps you just want to escape from all the noise, noise, noise, noise, noise, noise of the holidays?
In either case, Dr. Seuss Enterprises and the vacation rental platform Vacasa have your back: You and your friends — provided you have any, other than a dog named Max — can soon stay in the Grinch’s cave.
Located “Three thousand feet up, Up the side of Mt. Crumpit,” according to How the Grinch Stole Christmas — but in reality, carved into a stone mountain outside of Boulder, Utah — the home has been meticulously created to mimic the crib of the Christmas curmudgeon.
“There’s a kitchen stocked with roastable beast, Who-pudding, and an emergency stash of Who-hash,” Vacasa says of the 5,700-square foot lodging.
“A music room includes the Grinch’s organ alongside Max’s drum set leading into the study, main bedroom, guest bedroom, and more,” the booking platform promises.
Bookings will be taken starting Dec. 3 for stays Dec. 13 – 23 — all for the nightly rate of $19.57, in honor of the classic book’s 1957 release date.
So if your heart is three sizes too small — or once was — feel free to check it out, or at least take a 3D virtual tour of the Grinch’s digs.
Michael J. Fox covers the December-January issue ofAARP the Magazine, as the now-60-year-old actor-turned activist nears the 30-year anniversary of his Parkinson’s diagnosis.
As previously reported, Fox underwent surgery in 2018 to have a benign tumor removed from around his spinal cord. During his recovery, he fell at home, crushing the bones in his left arm and requiring extensive surgery.
That episode led him into “darkness” — and then out the other side. “I started to notice things I was grateful for…I concluded that gratitude makes optimism sustainable,” he tells the magazine.
Fox officially retired from acting in 2020. “When…I reached the point where I couldn’t rely on my ability to speak on any given day, which meant I couldn’t act comfortably at all anymore. So, last year I gave it up,” he says.
The actor remains a tireless advocate for Parkinson’s research, through his eponymous foundation. “We created what has become this giant network of patients, scientists and institutions. We’ve put more than a billion dollars into it…” he says.
About seeing a cure in his lifetime, Fox says he’s “blunt”: “I’m 60 years old, and science is hard. So, no.”
That still hasn’t dampened his optimism, however. Fox said watching, of all things, the fan-favorite Back to the Future, also taught him to lighten up.
“…I came across it on TV last Christmas. And I thought I was really good in it, better than I thought I’d been. More important, I got the spirit of the movie. I understood…that we all need…to take credit for what we’ve done and the lives we’ve touched and to occasionally step back a bit and appreciate that much of life has been great and that there’s a lot more to live.”
Taraji P. Henson as Miss Hannigan in “Annie Live!”; Paul Gilmore/NBC
Taraji P. Henson is one of the stars of Annie Live!airing Thursday, and she’s enjoying being cast in the role of Miss Hannigan, which was was portrayed by Carol Burnett in the 1982 Annie film.
“As a young, Black artist, studying in college all those years ago, and wanting to be, dreaming to be, I never saw myself as Miss Hannigan because back then, we weren’t into this nontraditional casting that we’re doing nowadays, which is so beautiful,” the 10-time NAACP Image Award winner tellsExtra.
Annie Live!, which also stars Harry Connick Jr., Nicole Scherzinger and 13-year-old Celina Smith in the title role, airs Thursday, December 2 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on NBC.
In other news, Kevin Hart is making it a merry holiday season by donating $100,000 each to youth organizations in Houston, Orlando, Oklahoma City, Los Angeles, and Springfield, Missouri for a total of $500,000.
“One of the best things you can do for yourself is believe in other people,” the True Story star said in a statement. “I’ve always had people in my life that believed in me, and I believe in the power of passing that onto others. The donations we made went to organizations that believe in the future of kids and their families. I’m proud we were able to work together to make a big impact.”
Finally, Issa Rae is dropping the soundtrack for the final season of Insecure on Friday, according to Variety. “Music has always been an essential part of every project I do and working with emerging talent is a personal passion,” Rae said. The 12-track album features Saweetie, Nnena, Thundercat and more.
