Music

Filmmaker Ava DuVernay paid tribute to actress Suzzanne Douglas, who passed away Tuesday at age 64. The two worked together on Netflix’s When They See Us, in which Douglas played Grace Cuffee.

“Suzzanne Douglas was a quiet, elegant force as we made When They See Us,” DuVernay wrote on Instagram, sharing a clip from the film. “A gentlewoman. A gem of a lady. A confident, caring actor who breathed life into the words and made them shimmer. I’m grateful that our paths in this life crossed. May she journey on in peace and love.”

News of Douglas’ passing was shared on Facebook by her cousin, Angie Tee.

“Suzzanne Douglas, a beautiful and talented actress, made her transition today,” the post reads. “She warmed our hearts on movie screens and television sets all over the world. This beautiful soul was my cousin. I can remember growing up, there weren’t very many black actresses who had starring roles, but there was my cousin with the lead role in Tap starring alongside great dancers such as Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis Jr.“

Tee continued, mentioning Douglas’ other roles in How Stella Got Her Groove Back, alongside Angela Bassett and Whoopi Goldberg, plus The Inkwell and Jason’s Lyric. “The world will miss your talent, but your soul will live on forever. Rest in Paradise, my beautiful cousin Suzzanne. You will be missed RIP,” Tee concluded.

Suzzanne Douglas is also known for starring alongside Robert Townsend in the family sitcom The Parent Hood, which ran from 1995-1999 on The WB. The cause of her death has yet to be disclosed.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Jennifer Lopez neither confirmed nor denied she and Ben Affleck are giving love another shot, but she did recently say she’s “never been better.”

After ending her engagement with Alex Rodriguez, the “On The Floor” singer caught up with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe and dished on her career and personal life.

Lopez, while plugging her new single “Cambia El Paso,” assured fans she’s in a good place.

“I’m super happy. I know people are always wondering, ‘How are you? What’s going on? Are you okay?’ This is it. I’ve never been better,” she grinned. “I want my people who care about me… to know that I’ve really gotten to a place in my life where I’m great on my own.”

The Grammy nominee continued, “I think once you get to that place, then amazing things happen to you that you never imagine in your life happening again. And so that is where I’m at.”

“I just want everybody to know that it’s… the best time of my life,” she maintained.

As for her new single, which translates to “Change the Step,” Lopez hinted the song may be about her recently called off engagement.

“It is about change and it is about taking a step… when things don’t feel right,” she explained. “To me that represents joy, happiness [and] life.”

“‘Cambia El Paso,’ where it says, ‘All she wants to do is just dance, dance, dance, dance.’ It’s really about all she wants to do is be happy. All she wants to do is live,” Lopez said.

Lopez and Affleck, who have recently been photographed canoodling together, first met in 2002 and broke up in 2004. 

Lopez later married singer Marc Anthony in 2004 while Affleck wed Jennifer Garner in 2005. Both respective marriages ended after 10 years.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Britney Spears‘ temporary conservator Jodi Montgomery is staying put in her role in the singer’s on-going conservatorship — and that’s apparently how Britney wants it.

In a statement obtained by Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday, Lauriann Wright, an attorney for Montgomery, says that the pop star requested that Montgomery “continue to serve” as conservator.  

“Ms. Montgomery has no plans to step down as Ms. Spears’ Temporary Conservator of the Person,” the statement began. “She remains committed to steadfastly supporting Ms. Spears in every way she can within the scope of her duties as a conservator of the person.”

The statement continued, “Ms. Spears as recently as yesterday has asked Ms. Montgomery to continue to serve. Ms. Montgomery will continue to serve as a conservator for as long as Ms. Spears and the Court desire her to do so.”

The statement comes the same day that Sam Ingham, who has been Britney’s court-appointed attorney during her conservatorship, filed a resignation request with the court and just one day after her longtime manager, Larry Rudolph, announced that he has resigned after 25 years. It also comes less than a week after Bessemer Trust’s request to resign as Britney’s co-conservator of her estate was approved. 

All of these developments occurred after Britney’s explosive testimony during her June 23 court hearing. 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

BTS is giving fans a taste of their new single “Permission to Dance.”

The worldwide sensations dropped the trailer for their upcoming track on Tuesday and it’s channelling all of the Wild Wild West vibes. 

The 32-second clip begins with Suga reading a tabloid newspaper before strutting over to meet his fellow bandmates as the melody begins to play. Once united the boy band dances in unison, rocking side-to-side and snapping their fingers, while adorned in matching denim outfits. The teaser ends with them singing, “we don’t need permission to dance,” as the camera pans out to show the septet in the middle of a desert. 

Co-written by fellow pop star Ed Sheeran, “Permission to Dance,” is set to be released on July 9.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Tank is putting the finishing touches on his 10th album, R&B Money. As a preview, the R&B singer released his vulnerable single “Can’t Let It Show,” where he talks about love and heartbreak from a woman’s perspective.

Despite similarities in the song’s message to his 2001 single “Maybe I Deserve,” Tank says he didn’t consider sampling the older tune for his new track.

“I don’t even think that far back into time,” he tells ABC Audio. “I just kind of move forward, and if something connects to something from then or from there, that’s great. Let’s bring it all full circle.”

Tank adds, “I don’t think men do enough of understanding from a woman’s perspective. So [I’ll] always have that conversation.” 

“Maybe I Deserve” — from Tank’s debut album, Forces of Nature — was his first single to chart on theBillboard Hot 100. The 45-year-old artist reveals that he plans to continue speaking from a woman’s perspective by including a sample of his hit record on the upcoming track “I Deserve.”

“R&B Money album sneak peek!” Tank wrote Monday on Instagram. “What if I told you 21 years ago that I’m going to sample myself 21 years in the future and make a new hit record? Would you have believed me?”

R&B Money arrives this summer. 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Back in May, Joe Jonas teamed up with the travel site Expedia to give away some unusual promotional items: 550 3-D printed, limited-edition autographed replicas of his hand.  But now one man in Florida is annoyed that he’s received two of Joe’s hands in the mail — and he didn’t even enter the contest to win them.

The Washington Post reports that the man,  56-year-old retiree Sean O’Farrell, had no idea what the hand was, until he did a Google search and found out about the giveaway.  The only problem is that he hadn’t logged into his Expedia account in five years, and he certainly hadn’t given the company his information in hopes of receiving a hand.

Sean shrugged it off and forgot about it — until he received yet another hand a few weeks later.

“I’m like, ‘You have got to be kidding me,'” he told The Post, the publication in which he first read about the contest.  In fact, he tweeted The Post after receiving the first hand and wrote, “Expedia keeps sending me Joe’s hands. Up to 2 so far. I’m 56, a dude, and haven’t done business with Expedia in 5 years. Any ideas?”

Expedia told The Post that starting in mid-June, it began shipping 550 of the hands to the U.S., U.K. and Canada, but only to those who’d entered their name, address, phone number and email address into a dedicated site.

Expedia thought maybe someone O’Farrell knows entered his info, but Sean said he’s asked everyone  and nobody has ‘fessed up.  For now, O’Farrell is keeping the hands in a closet, and he said he’d only sell them in order to give the money to charity.

“If I get a third one, I’m gonna lose my mind,” he declared.

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Expedia (@expedia)

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Megan Thee Stallion had a ball hosting a ‘Hottie Party’ at OMNIA nightclub in Las Vegas on Saturday.

The “Savage” rapper on Tuesday shared a video recap of her party, including clips of her in her hotel room, pouring shots from a bottle of D’ussé cognac, and two girls making out.

“Vegas was lit. This whole weekend was lit, lol. We back in Vegas again on the 10th,” Megan wrote on Instagram. “You don’t want to miss thee next hottie party.”

“Cause it’s not going down. It’s going dine,” said Megan in the video, which features her single, “Thot S***.”

Megan’s boyfriend Pardi Fontaine was also spotted in the video showing support for his favorite hot girl while she performed on stage.  “We won’t want no bougie girl s***. We want real hot girl s***,” Megan says to the crowd in the video. 

Megan Thee Stallion’s encore Hottie Party will be held at Hakkasan Nightclub in Las Vegas on Saturday, July 10th — the same night as the UFC fight between Dustin Porter and Conor McGregor. For ticket and booth information, visit HakkasanGroup.com.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.