The estate of late singer Whitney Houston has expressed disappointment over a joke made by comedian Jerrod Carmichael at the Golden Globe Awards.
During the ceremony, which Carmichael hosted on Tuesday, he made a reference to Houston’s fatal overdose in 2012.
“So, we are here, live, from the hotel that killed Whitney Houston, the Beverly Hilton,” he said.
The Whitney Houston estate, which is run by the late icon’s longtime manager and sister-in-law Pat Houston, told TMZ via a rep that the estate is “disappointed in the joke and felt it was in poor taste.”
The incident has sparked a backlash on social media, with many people expressing support for the Houston estate and condemning Carmichael’s joke.
“It is always too soon for a joke about Whitney Houston’s death,” one user wrote.
Another tweeted, “I didn’t like that Whitney Houston joke at all. That was so tasteless and disrespectful to her.”
We’re nearly three weeks out from Christmas and the reviews are in at Jordan Davis‘ house.
There’s one toy that’s risen head and shoulders above the rest for his kids, 3-year-old Eloise and 1-year-old Locklan.
“The number one present from Santa this year was bumper cars,” Jordan reveals. “Like, we literally have these two bumper cars that Eloise and Lock like.”
“So Lock can only go backwards,” he explains. “He hasn’t quite figured out how to go forward. So what ends up happening is he locks himself in a corner and Eloise just berates him, just backs up, hammers him, just back and forth, just smoking him.”
Luckily, even that works out just fine.
“It’s awesome cause he thinks it’s hilarious,” Jordan smiles. “Like, he doesn’t quite get the [urge to] retaliate.”
“That’s the present this year that I wish I would have [gotten when I was a kid],” he reflects. “I wish they had those when me and Jacob were growing up, but we woulda killed ourselves.”
Jordan’s brother Jacob is one of the co-writers on his smash hit “Buy Dirt,” which is included on his Bluebird Days album, coming out February 17.
Next month, ABC TV will transport you back in time to the Saturday mornings of your childhood — when in between cartoons you’d learn about math, science and history thanks to the magic of Schoolhouse Rock.
The fifth installment of the network’s popular Singalong franchise is Schoolhouse Rock! 50th Anniversary Singalong, airing February 1 on ABC at 8 p.m. EST and streaming the next day on Hulu. It’ll air later on Disney+.
Ryan Seacrest will host the hourlong show, featuring musicians and entertainers singing some of the best-known songs from the educational cartoon series. You can sing along thanks to the lyrics on the screen.
Black Eyed Peas will take on “Three Is a Magic Number,” while Ne-Yo will sing the soulful “Verb: That’s What’s Happening.” Meanwhile, celebs ranging from DerekHough, Julianne Hough and The Muppets to Retta, Jason Biggs, Raven-Symoné, Kal Penn, Shaquille O’Neal and the casts of Disney’s Broadway and touring productions will try their hands at favorites like “Conjunction Junction,” “Figure 8,” “Interjections,” “I’m Just a Bill” and “Unpack Your Adjectives.”
Previous ABC singalongs have featured songs from Disney movies, songs by Queen and Christmas songs.
Schoolhouse Rock originally aired as interstitial programming on ABC from 1973 to 1984 and again from 1993 to 1996. More episodes were produced in 2009 for direct-to-video release. Topics included grammar, U.S. history, science, multiplication and, later, computers, money and the environment. If you’re a Disney+ subscriber, you can watch them all.
If you feel like this world is killing you, maybe Green Day covering “Alison” will help.
The “American Idiot” trio will release a rendition of the Elvis Costello classic this Friday, January 13. Billie Joe Armstrong and company’s recording of the 1977 tune dates back to the recording sessions for Green Day’s 1997 album, Nimrod.
The “Alison” cover will appear on the upcoming 25th anniversary edition of Nimrod, due out January 27. The expanded collection includes a host of previously unreleased demos, as well as a full live recording from a 1997 concert in Philadelphia.
The original Nimrod spawned the singles “Hitchin’ a Ride” and “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” and has been certified double-Platinum by the RIAA.
Meanwhile, Green Day recently confirmed that they’ve been working on a new album to follow their latest effort, 2020’s Father of All…
Hip-hop turns 50 this year, so in honor of the milestone anniversary, Billboard/Vibe has created a list of their picks for the 50 greatest rappers of all time. They unveiled the first 10 rappers on Wednesday, starting with #50: Rick Ross, who was followed by Run-DMC‘s Rev. Run, Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, MC Lyte and Jadakiss, respectively.
Ice-T occupies the 45th spot, Queen Latifah is #44 and #43 through #41, listed in their respective order, went to Bun B, Redman and E-40.
According to Billboard/Vibe, their GOAT list was based on the following criteria: “body of work/achievements (charted singles/albums, gold/platinum certifications), cultural impact/influence (how the artist’s work fostered the genre’s evolution), longevity (years at the mic), lyrics (storytelling skills) and flow (vocal prowess).”
The list also only ranked rappers in North America, and excluded reggaeton and dancehall MCs.
Each week, the outlets will reveal 10 more rappers from the list until all of them are announced. The final 10 will be unveiled during the week of February 6.
The Black Keys will be heading to Europe later this year, but before they do, they’ll play a one-off U.S. headlining date in Santa Barbara, California.
The show takes place May 4 at the Santa Barbara Bowl. Tickets go on sale this Friday, January 13, at 10 a.m. local time.
You can also catch The Black Keys play the 2023 BeachLife Festival on May 5 in Redondo Beach, California. The European tour begins in June.
The Black Keys spent much of 2022 touring the U.S. in support of their new album, Dropout Boogie, which dropped last May. Dropout Boogie is nominated for Best Rock Album at the 2023 Grammys, while lead single “Wild Child” is up for Best Rock Performance.
Guitarist Jeff Beck‘s death Tuesday from bacterial meningitis at the age of 78 was certainly a shock. Upon hearing the news, several artists, including many of his fellow rockers, took to social media to pay tribute to the rock legend.
Beck contributed to two songs on Ozzy Osbourne’s Grammy-nominated album Patient Number 9, and Ozzy shared a tribute on Instagram Wednesday: “I can’t express how saddened I am to hear of @JeffBeckOfficial’s passing. What a terrible loss for his family, friends and his many fans,” adding, “It was such an honor to have known Jeff and an incredible honor to have had him play on my most recent album, Patient Number 9. I’ll remember him fondly. Long live #JeffBeck.”
Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Woodshared, “Now Jeff has gone, I feel like one of my band of brothers has left this world, and I’m going to dearly miss him. I’m sending much sympathy to Sandra, his family, and all who loved him. I want to thank him for all our early days together in Jeff Beck Group, conquering America.” Mick Jaggeradded, “With the death of Jeff Beck we have lost a wonderful man and one of the greatest guitar players in the world. We will all miss him so much.”
And fellow guitar great Jimmy Page, who was Beck’s former Yardbirds bandmate, offered, “His technique unique. His imaginations apparently limitless. Jeff I will miss you along with your millions of fans. Jeff Beck Rest in Peace.”
Among the other tributes:
Pink Floyd‘sDavid Gilmour– “I am devastated to hear the news of the death of my friend and hero Jeff Beck, whose music has thrilled and inspired me and countless others for so many years. Polly‘s and my thoughts go out to his lovely wife Sandra. He will be forever in our hearts.”
KISS‘Paul Stanley – “WOW. What awful news. Jeff Beck, one of the all time guitar masters has died. From The Yardbirds and The Jeff Beck Group on, he blazed a trail impossible to follow. Play on now and forever. @jeffbeckmusic.”
KISS’ Gene Simmons called the news of Beck’s death “heartbreaking,” adding, “No one played guitar like Jeff. Please get ahold of the first two Jeff Beck Group albums and behold greatness. RIP.”
Black Sabbath’sTony Iommi – “Jeff was such a nice person and an outstanding iconic, genius guitar player – there will never be another Jeff Beck. His playing was very special & distinctively brilliant! He will be missed.”
Sabbath’s Geezer Butler – “Shocked to hear of the sudden death of Jeff Beck. Truly one of the greats. First time I saw him was in 1966 with the Yardbirds. Brilliant, unique guitarist. RIP.”
Sammy Hagar– “Absolutely one of my favorite guitarist of all time! The ‘Truth’ album changed my life. As a singer and guitarist, I wanted to be Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart rolled into one— we all did. What a loss. We will all miss Jeff. My love and condolences to his family and loved ones.”
The Kinks‘Dave Davies – “I’m heartbroken he looked in fine shape to me. Playing great he was in great shape. I’m shocked and bewilderedDeepest sympathy to his wife friends close ones I’m bewildered Jeff Beck it don’t make sense I don’t get it. He was a good friend and a great guitar player.”
Paul Young– “Devastated to hear of the sudden and tragic death of legendary guitarist Jeff Beck. He was loved by everyone in the know; the guitarists guitarist! My condolence to his family & friends RIP.”
Spandau Ballet’sGary Kemp – “An absolute god of guitar. No one can replace him. From rock to soul to jazz he was the greatest player in all genres. Unique. Such awful news but thank you Jeff for all you gave us”
Whitesnake’s David Coverdale – “Oh, My Heart…RIP, Jeff…I miss you already…💔💔💔💔💔”
Steve Hackett – “Devastating news about the loss of much loved, influential guitar legend Jeff Beck. He made the electric guitar sing… a powerful influence on myself and many others.”
Taylor Swift made a cameo during Tuesday’s Golden Globes. Her song “Mastermind” was playing before director Ryan Murphy accepted the Carol Burnett Award. This has fans buzzing that the Glee creator and Taylor potentially have something planned. Her song “Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing was up for Best Original Song, but she lost to RRR’s “Naatu Naatu.”
Get ready to see more Harry Styles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Harry was cast as Eros, the half-brother of mad titan Thanos, and made his debut in the 2021 Eternals movie. Nate Moore, a Marvel exec, told Deadline’s Crew Call podcast, “There are more stories to be told with that character.” Added Moore, “I think there’s no limit to how popular that character’s gonna be once we get to bring [Harry] back.” Marvel is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
Sam Smith released “Gimme,” which features reggae star Koffee and singer Jessie Reyez. Sam said of the song, “I’m a sexual person, I like sex. It’s something I’m teaching myself to not be ashamed of.” The official music video is due out at a later date. “Gimme” is the latest song off their upcoming Gloria album, which arrives January 27.
Kevin JonasconfirmedClaim to Fame has been renewed for a second season on ABC. Kevin hosts the show with his little brother Frankie Jonas. The show pits people with famous relatives against each other to guess who they’re related to. The last person standing wins the $100,000 jackpot.
Alison Krauss duets with High Valley on the new track “Do This Life,” which will be available to stream or download on Thursday.
Luke Combs previewed the new track “Love You Anyway” on Instagram. It’s likely one of the cuts on his new 18-song album, for which a name hasn’t been revealed yet. The project is set to arrive March 24.
The Netflix movie about an all-Black, all-female World War II battalion sent overseas has just snagged two five-star actresses.
Kerry Washington and Oprah Winfrey have enlisted in Tyler Perry‘s Six Triple Eight, along with Law & Order and the Kominsky Method vet Sam Waterston, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The based-on-real-life film is already underway, with a cast that includes Milauna Jackson, Ebony Obsidian, Kylie Jefferson, Shanice Shantay, Jay Reeves and Sarah Jeffery.
Officially, the real-life group was known as the U.S. Army’s 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion; 855 Black women, both enlisted and officers, were deployed to Europe after combat training to deal with a massive backlog of letters and packages sent back and forth between millions of the country’s fighting men and their loved ones back home.
Their diligence and a unique organizational system they created to track each soldier in theater was considered key to the morale of American GIs, and therefore the overall war effort.
Maj. Charity Adams was the group’s commanding officer, and when the war was over, she’d achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel — at the time the highest-ranking Black woman in the Army.
