M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold performs on Mundo Stage as part of the Rock In Rio Festival at Cidade do Rock on September 16, 2024 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Wagner Meier/Getty Images)
Avenged Sevenfold is featured on a new song from the Russian activist and punk rock collective Pussy Riot.
The track, “Candy Dopamine,” is from Pussy Riot’s debut album, CYKA, which will be released June 12.
“This song is kind of a love & hate song to prescription and designer drug culture,” Pussy Riot founder Nadya Tolokonnikova says. “It started with my dependence on anti depressants, but it’s also looking at everyone now mentalhealthmaxxing and looksmaxxing via pills and injections.”
She adds, “It’s not a judgement, it’s just an observation and my personal experience with these things is that I have to be in a long term relationship with them for my PTSD and depression.”
This isn’t the first time Avenged Sevenfold and Pussy Riot have collaborated on a song. In 2023 they teamed up for a new version of Avenged Sevenfold’s “We Love You,” from their album Life Is but a Dream… The new version was renamed “We Love You Moar.”
Violent Femmes will celebrate their 45th anniversary with four special shows in LA this summer.
The “Blister in the Sun” band will perform at LA’s The Bellweather on July 28, 29, 30 and 31. Tickets are on sale at TheBellweatherLA.com.
On July 28 and 29, the band will play both their 1983 self-titled debut album — featuring “Blister in the Sun,” “Add It Up,” “Gone Daddy Gone” and “Kiss Off” — and their 1984 sophomore album, Hallowed Ground, in full.
On July 30 and 31, the band will play selections from 1986’s The Blind Leading the Naked with special guest Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads, who produced that record. Greatest hits and fan favorites will be performed on all four nights.
Violent Femmes formed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1981. Their debut was RIAA-certified Gold and then Platinum. It finally made the Billboard 200 chart in 1991, peaking at 171.
Vivian Campbell, Joe Elliott, Rick Allen, Rick Savage and Phil Collen attend Def Leppard Honored With Star On Hollywood Walk Of Fame on October 09, 2025 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Def Leppard has extended their 2026 world tour.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have announced an Oct. 15 show in Hollywood, Florida. That will be followed by a tour of Mexico and South America, featuring special guests Extreme.
The Mexico dates kick off Oct. 17 in Querétaro, followed by stops in Mexico City and Guadalajara. The band then heads to San Salvador, El Salvador, on Oct. 24, followed by shows in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia and Argentina. The tour wraps Nov. 8 in Santiago, Chile.
A complete list of dates and ticket information can be found at DefLeppard.com.
Next up, Def Leppard will launch a European and U.K. tour starting June 13 in Rättvik, Sweden, and wrapping July 8 in Paris. They’re also booked to play Wacken Open Air 2026 in Wacken, Germany, which runs from July 29-Aug. 1
Backrooms, the psychological horror film from 20-year-old director Kane Parsons, has marked a new bright spot for the horror genre.
The film, which stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve and Mark Duplass, debuted May 29. It brought in more than $81 million at the domestic box office in its opening weekend, off a $10 million budget, according to The Numbers, a film industry data site that tracks box office revenue.
Backrooms not only routed at the box office but made history in the process, with Parsons becoming the youngest director to helm a #1 box office film globally, A24 confirmed to ABC News this week.
The film is also the largest original horror debut in history, according to the studio.
Additionally, Obsession, a horror film starring Inde Navarrette that debuted in May, has brought in more than $104 million in the weeks since its May 15 theatrical premiere, according to The Numbers.
According to a brief synopsis from A24, Backrooms centers around a “strange doorway” that “appears in the basement of a furniture showroom” one day.
A trailer for the film shows Ejiofor’s character, Clark, the furniture store owner, discovering the doorway before ending up in a large, dimly lit room with nothing but furniture piled up at the center and various voices speaking foreign languages over a fuzzy loudspeaker.
He later explains his confusion to his therapist, Dr. Mary Kline, played by Reinsve, before the trailer returns to the mysterious space, with Clark now exploring with some company. The trailer concludes with Reinsve entering the space as well.
Backrooms was written by Will Soodik, and was produced by horror filmmakers James Wan and Osgood Perkins, Arrival producer Shawn Levy and more. Finn Bennett and Lukita Maxwell also star in the film.
Backrooms is the debut film from director Parsons, who came to prominence via a series of wildly popular YouTube videos exploring a similar premise, most of the videos garnering millions of views apiece.
His most popular video, simply titled The Backrooms (Found Footage), has accumulated more than 81 million views since it was shared on Jan. 7, 2022.
The E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Court House, home of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, DC (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A federal appeals court on Monday concluded that the Trump administration’s transgender military ban is likely unconstitutional and “appears to be driven by the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group.”
In a 2-1 decision, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s decision blocking the Department of Defense from removing current servicemembers because of their gender dysphoria.
“At this preliminary stage, I conclude that the Hegseth Policy is both arbitrary and based upon animus, and for those reasons the Policy violates Plaintiff-Appellees’ constitutional right to equal protection of the law,” wrote Judge Robert Wilkins, referring to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The decision only applies to the service members who sued the administration and does not bar the Pentagon from blocking transgender people from joining the military.
According to the court, prospective military members can seek relief after the case has completely moved through the courts, while active service members face a more serious hardship by being expelled from the military.
“For those servicemembers facing expulsion, it is not clear how easily they can be reinstated and made whole. But even if they can be reinstated after being separated, it appears to us to be a much greater hardship to end a military career than to delay the start of one,” Judge Wilkins wrote.
Judge Justin Walker — the sole judge on the panel appointed to the bench by a Republican president — dissented and said members of the military could be deprived of certain rights guaranteed to the civilians.
“Like today’s majority, I cherish those rights, and so I understand the impulse behind the majority’s unprecedented intervention into military affairs. But because the plaintiffs are service members not civilians, and because we are judges not generals, I respectfully dissent,” he wrote.
“We have neither the expertise nor the authority to decide whether the military can exclude the plaintiffs from its ranks. The Constitution assigns that authority to Congress and the Commander in Chief,” he added.
Anna Kendrick attends the Tiffany & Co. celebration of Amanda Seyfried’s Golden Globe nomination for ‘The Testament of Ann Lee’ at Chateau Marmont on Jan. 9, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. (Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Searchlight)
Anna Kendrick is directing the new film The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo.
The actress and director is set to helm the film adaptation of the bestselling Taylor Jenkins Reid novel for Netflix, ABC Audio has confirmed.
Kendrick will direct from a script written by Little Fires Everywhere scribe Liz Tigelaar, with current revisions by Francesca Sloane. Reid is executive producing the film.
The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo follows “a young journalist’s long-awaited interview with Evelyn Hugo, an aging Hollywood starlet, who pulls back the curtain on her seven marriages. As she tells tales of Hollywood scandals, betrayals, and woe, she unveils shocking truths about her own life and the lives of everyone around her,” according to an official description from Netflix.
At this time, none of the film’s roles have been cast. Netflix says the adaptation is getting ready to enter production and that fans should stay tuned for more soon.
This marks Kendrick’s second time directing a film for Netflix, after her 2023 directorial debut crime thriller Woman of the Hour.
The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo was published in 2017. Netflix first announced plans to adapt the novel for its streaming service back in March 2022.
Reid’s novel Daisy Jones & The Six was previously adapted into a limited TV series for Prime Video. It released in 2023, and starred Riley Keough and Sam Claflin.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
(LAS VEGAS) — A teenage girl has been arrested for allegedly injuring three horses at an equestrian competition, officials said.
Officers responded to a barn in Las Vegas early Saturday and found three horses “intentionally injured with a sharp object,” Las Vegas police said.
A teenage girl was identified as a possible suspect, police said. She allegedly had access to the barn and authorities believe she may have used a knife to wound the horses, police said.
The horses’ injuries were not life-threatening, but they were expected to keep the animals from competing at this weekend’s event, police said in a statement.
The teen, who was at a nearby hotel, was taken into custody and booked for 12 counts of willful/malicious kill/maim/torture animal – horse and three counts of felony malicious destruction of private property over $5,000, police said.
The suspect was a competitor in the National Barrel Horse Association’s Professional’s Choice Vegas Super Show this weekend, according to the NBHA.
“The situation was addressed immediately in coordination with the National Barrel Horse Association, the South Point Hotel & Casino Security, Metro Police, and all appropriate parties,” the NBHA said in a statement.
“All appropriate steps have been taken to ensure the well-being of all horses,” the organization added.
Michael Stipe attends Apple TV’s “Shrinking” special FYC event at Quality Italian on May 02, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by John Nacion/Getty Images)
Michael Stipe is headed to late-night TV.
The R.E.M. frontman is set to be the musical guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Tuesday night, where he’ll be joined by producer Andrew Watt.
Stipe and Watt recently teamed up to record the song “I Played the Fool,” which served as the theme to Steve Carell’s HBO series The Rooster. The song featured blink-182’s Travis Barker on drums and former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer on guitar and piano.
Back in April, Stipe made an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where he debuted an unreleased song, “The Rest of Ever,” from his upcoming debut solo album. During the appearance he revealed that the long-in-the-works album, which Stipe’s been teasing since at least 2022, will finally be released at the end of 2026.
Taylor Swift, ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’ from ‘Toy Story 5’ (Walt Disney Records)
It’s official: Taylor Swift is joining Woody, Buzz and the gang in Toy Story 5.
She’s written and recorded a song for the film called “I Knew It, I Knew You.” You can preorder the single now from her website; it’s set to ship on or around June 19, which is when the film hits theaters. However, the singles are only available until Wednesday at 1:59 p.m. ET or while supplies last.
There are three different versions of the song available: the standard version, a piano version and an acoustic version. All are available as CD singles with different artwork. The song itself will be out on Friday.
Taylor wrote on Instagram, “You knew it! My new original song ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’ for Disney and @pixar’s @toystory 5 will be yours on June 5th. I’ve always dreamed of getting to write for these characters who I’ve adored since I was a 5 year old kid watching the first Toy Story movie.”
She continues, “I fell instantly in love with Toy Story 5 when I was lucky enough to see it in its early stages, and I wrote this song as soon as I got home from the screening. Sometimes you just know, right?”
According to a press release, the song is inspired by the journey of Toy Story character Jessie and “marks a return to Taylor’s country roots.” Director and screenwriter Andrew Stanton said in a statement, “[Taylor’s] connection to Jessie and the immediate way she understood what the character was going through was undeniable.”
As previously reported, fans first suspected Taylor was involved in the film on April 30, when she posted — and then removed — a Toy Story-coded countdown on her website.
Former Shelby police officer Karson Hyder is seen in a booking photo released by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. (North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation)
(SHELBY, N.C.) — A former North Carolina police officer who was seen in a viral doorbell camera video repeatedly punching a woman during an arrest has been charged with assault, authorities said.
Former Shelby Police Officer Karson Hyder, 22, turned himself in on Monday, according to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, which said it has charged him with one count of assault inflicting serious injury in connection with Friday’s incident.
He was processed at the Cleveland County Detention Center and released on a $10,000 secured bond, the bureau said. It is unclear if he has an attorney at this time.
The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation said it initiated an investigation that “examined an allegation of excessive use of force” at the request of the Shelby police chief and the Cleveland County District Attorney.
Hyder was fired Saturday after the Shelby Police Department completed an administrative investigation into the incident, according to Shelby Police Chief Brad Fraser.
“While this incident does not reflect the values of the Shelby Police Department, it does reinforce the importance of holding ourselves to the highest standards of conduct,” Fraser said during a press briefing on Saturday, calling the former officer’s actions “disturbing and inappropriate.”
Officers were conducting a criminal investigation in Shelby on Friday when they encountered a “suspicious female,” Fraser said.
The doorbell video appears to show an officer repeatedly punching a woman, identified as 34-year-old Cherrie Moore, during an arrest before another officer appears to intervene. It is unclear what happened before the video.
Hyder did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
Moore’s family, who had called for the officer to be charged, told ABC News on Monday that they “feel great” about the charging decision. Her uncle said she suffered a broken nose in the incident but the extent of her injuries was not clear.
“We just want the right thing done, and I think the first right thing is that he be charged,” Moore’s uncle, Michael Moore, previously told ABC News. “Once he’s charged, then we can move forward.”
Moore has mental health issues and is homeless, her uncle said.
She was initially charged with misdemeanor breaking and entering, resisting arrest and assault on a government official, which were ultimately dropped, according to her family.
Moore was charged with resisting a public officer in August 2025 in an incident that also involved Hyder, court documents obtained by ABC News show. She pleaded guilty the following month and was sentenced to time served, according to the filings.
ABC News’ Nadine El-Bawab, Matt Foster and Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
