Caleb Followill of Kings of Leon performs onstage for day one of the 2025 Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival at The Park at Harlinsdale Farm on September 27, 2025 in Franklin, Tennessee. (John Shearer/Getty Images for Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival)
If you’re thinking of covering Kings of Leon‘s “Sex on Fire,” maybe don’t slow it down.
Frontman Caleb Followill tells the Rolling Stone Nashville Now podcast that he’d prefer other artists’ renditions of the 2008 single stick to its original, faster tempo.
“Sometimes I hear it, and when it’s slowed down like a sultry version, I’m like, ‘Oh those lyrics …,'” Followill says. “It’s supposed to be dirty and raunchy and quick, and then the song is done.”
Of course, Followill wasn’t even a big fan of KoL’s own version of “Sex on Fire” — he wanted to keep it off the band’s Only by the Night album because he was afraid that “people are going to think it’s a pop song.”
“Thank goodness I got outvoted on that,” Followill says.
Indeed, “Sex on Fire” is now one of the biggest Kings of Leon hits and always gets a huge reaction live.
“We can play it at a funeral and the corpse would sit up,” Followill says.
Kings of Leon just released a new EP, EP #2, to follow their 2024 album, Can We Please Have Fun. In between, they put out two collaborations with country star Zach Bryan.
Lady Gaga performs onstage during The MAYHEM Ball Tour at Madison Square Garden on August 22, 2025 in New York City. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation)
The show must go on — but health and safety are more important than the show.
That’s the lesson that Lady Gaga imparted to her fans Tuesday night at her concert in Antwerp, Belgium. In a video posted on X, Gaga is seen singing “The Edge of Glory” solo at the piano, when she suddenly stops, alerted to cries in the audience for help.
“Stop, stop, stop. Is everyone OK?” she says in the video. She then gets up, walks to the edge of the stage and peers out into the audience as crew members rush back and forth. “Just wait one second, everyone. If everyone could wait patiently, just so we can make sure they’re OK,” she says.
After confirming that the fan is all right, Gaga says, “Let’s get her backstage and take care of her backstage,” calling once again for quiet. “I hope you feel better,” Gaga tells the fan as she’s led out of the crowd.
Sitting back down at the piano, Gaga starts singing “The Edge of Glory” again, but after the first two lines of the song, she stops and comments, “There’s a lot that’s more important than show business.”
The show was part of the European leg of Gaga’s tour; she heads to Australia in December and wraps things up for 2025 on Dec. 13. In January she’ll pick things up again with a run of shows in Asia.gaga
Graham Nash performs onstage during the FIREAID Benefit Concert for California Fire Relief at The Kia Forum on January 30, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for FIREAID)
Graham Nash has announced his first shows of 2026.
The new tour kicks off April 4 in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, with stops in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, South Carolina and more, before wrapping with a two-night stand in Ponte Vedra, Florida, May 1 and 2.
“Excited to be going out on the road again and doing what I love!” Nash writes on Instagram. “Looking forward to seeing you in the new year.”
A complete list of dates and ticket information can be found at GrahamNash.com.
Nash has only one more appearance set for 2025. He’ll perform at the 45th annual John Lennon Tribute, happening Dec. 12 at Town Hall in New York City.
Mario, Bowser and Luigi in ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,’ directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic. (Nintendo, Illumination)
Mario and Luigi are back in the official trailer for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
Nintendo, Illumination and Universal Pictures released the trailer for the sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie on Wednesday.
This new film is inspired by the Super Mario Galaxy video games, which find Mario and friends in the cosmos.
The voice actors from the previous film are returning to voice the roles they originated. Chris Pratt is back as Mario, Charlie Day returns to play Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy is voicing Princess Peach, Jack Black will voice Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key is back as Toad and Kevin Michael Richardson will voice Kamek.
There are also two new additions to the film’s cast. Brie Larson has been tapped to voice Princess Rosalina, while Benny Safdie will portray Bowser Jr.
The trailer finds a now-tiny Bowser inside the miniature version of his castle. He shows Mario and Luigi a new painting he’s made of himself and Princess Peach. While Luigi compliments the colors Bowser used, Mario calls the painting “trash.”
“How dare you look at my masterpiece and say that! I’ll burn the skin off your bones,” Bowser says, before realizing he’s taken things too far. “Wow, sorry about that. That’s the old Bowser talking. Still working through my demons, I suppose.”
We also see the first look at Bowser Jr. and Princess Rosalina. The former tells Mario and Luigi he’s come for his father, while the latter refuses to be captured, fighting back against her would-be kidnapper.
Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic will direct The Super Mario Galaxy Movie from a screenplay by MatthewFogel.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie arrives in theaters on April 3, 2026.
He starts the video by taking a sip of what seems to be Hennessy, before showing off his moves in the kitchen. Dancer Janeeva Pettway then joins him on the floor, where they perform choreography while going back and forth between arguments and more loving moments.
The video brings to life the lyrics of the song, which is an “anthem for the warriors who fight with heart, not ego,” O previously said in a press release. “Some fight for fame, some fight for love — but ‘For War’ reminds you the real battle is keeping your peace when the world tests your soul.”
The music video for “For War” was released Wednesday, on Omarion’s 41st birthday, and continues the rollout to his upcoming album, O2. A tribute to his debut solo album, O, it is set to arrive in February 2026.
Omarion will then hit the road with his fellow B2K members in the spring for their 2026 B2K Boys 4 Life Tour.
LOCASH is getting romantic — just in time for the Christmas season — with their new holiday song, “Snow Angel.”
“Personally, I’m a traditional Christmas song guy, and I know there’s a lot of people just like me,” Chris Lucas says. “But this one is something special – it’s the ‘Hometown Home’ of Christmas songs! We felt good writing it and feel even more amazing singing it.”
“Hometown Home” topped the chart for multiple weeks in April, a milestone for the duo since they released it via their own label.
“For years, everyone’s been asking us to write and record Christmas songs,” Preston Brust adds. “Since it is our favorite holiday, and with all the momentum around Galaxy Label Group snowballing, we decided this was finally the time to do it.”
The new single from Bet the Farm, “Wrong Hearts,” continues its climb in country’s top 40.
(NEW YORK) — Cleveland Guardians pitcher Luis Ortiz pleaded not guilty to several conspiracy charges accusing him of rigging pitches he through so sports bettors could take home a windfall.
Appearing in a Brooklyn court on Wednesday, Ortiz appeared in a leather jacket and his long dreadlocks pulled into a loose ponytail.
Magistrate Judge Joseph Marutollo ordered Ortiz released on a $500,000 bond secured by his wife and a second surety to be named by next week.
He must stay in Boston, where he has a residence, but is permitted to travel to New York for court and Ohio to meet with his attorneys there.
Ortiz is an “enormous risk of flight,” the judge said.
“The defendant has significant monetary resources and, importantly, has close connections in the Dominican Republic,” Marutollo, who imposed location monitoring, said.
Over the objection of the defense, the judge also imposed a gambling restriction, because, he said, “these allegations here relate to conspiracy to influence sports contests by bribery.”
Ortiz is due back in court on Dec. 2.
Emmanuel Clase, likewise a pitcher for the Guardians, was also indicted in connection to this sports gambling scheme, but is still not in custody. Clase is expected to surrender Thursday and appear for arraignment in Brooklyn federal court that afternoon.
According to the indictment, the pitchers started conspiring with sports bettors in 2023 on specific pitches they would throw during MLB games. The bettors then used that information to place prop bets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, the indictment said.
The bettors wagered on the speed and type of Clase’s pitches based on information they knew in advance by coordinating with Clase, sometimes even during MLB games, prosecutors said. Clase often threw these allegedly rigged pitches on the first pitch of an at-bat, investigators said. To ensure certain pitches were called as balls, Clase threw many of them in the dirt, well outside the strike zone, according to investigators.
In exchange, Clase received bribes and kickbacks, prosecutors said.
The indictment includes numerous examples of pitches Clase allegedly rigged, including one in a game against the New York Mets. In total, by rigging pitches, Clase caused his co-conspirator bettors to win at least $400,000 in fraudulent wagers, according to investigators.
Ortiz allegedly joined the scheme this year, according to the indictment, and allegedly agreed in advance to throw balls instead of strikes on pitches in two games in exchange for bribes and kickbacks. Before an MLB game on June 15, Ortiz agreed with his co-conspirators to throw a ball on a particular pitch in exchange for bribes, the indictment alleges. The bettors agreed to pay Ortiz a $5,000 bribe for throwing the rigged pitch and Clase a $5,000 bribe for arranging the rigged pitch, also according to the indictment.
“Through this scheme, the defendants defrauded betting platforms, deprived Major League Baseball and the Cleveland Guardians of their honest services, illegally enriched themselves and their co-conspirators, misled the public, and betrayed America’s pastime,” the indictment said.
The criminal investigations into Clase and Ortiz began after betting platforms noticed unusual activity during certain games or moments and/or after referrals from various professional sports leagues, the source told ABC News.
The news of this MLB betting probe comes after the Department of Justice recently unsealed an indictment accusing three current and former National Basketball Association coaches and players of participating in an illegal sports gambling scheme.
A source familiar with the investigation told ABC News that the case against Clase and Ortiz is not connected to the NBA indictment, and is also separate from an NCAA disclosure about six former college basketball players accused of allegedly rigging games.
(WASHINGTON) — Top administration officials met with Rep. Lauren Boebert Wednesday morning about the effort to force a House vote on the release of Justice Department’s Epstein files, multiple sources told ABC News.
The meeting, with top White House and Justice Department officials, was part of an effort to get Boebert to remove her name from the petition to release the files, the sources said.
It came just hours before House Speaker Mike Johnson was to swear in Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva, who has said she intends to add the final signature to that petition to force a vote on the release of the files.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy AG Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel were among those present for the meeting, which occurred at the White House, the sources said.
It wasn’t immediately clear following the meeting whether Boebert had decided to remove her name, the sources said. Boebert is among four Republicans who have signed onto the petition. The others are Reps. Thomas Massie, Nancy Mace and Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The White House and Boebert’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
CNN was first to report that a meeting was planned for Wednesday.
The Trump administration has been dealing with the fallout from its decision not to release materials related to the investigation into Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide in jail in 2019, following the blowback it received from MAGA supporters after it announced in July that no additional files would be released.
Travelers walk through Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Nov. 11, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — At least 893 flights were canceled in the United States on Wednesday morning, with departures from the busy hubs of Chicago, Denver and Atlanta leading the list of the most cancellations, according to FlightAware.
Another 1,117 flights had been delayed as of about 1 p.m. ET, according to FlightAware.
Chicago O’Hare International topped the tracker’s list of cancellations, with 45 as of about 1 p.m. local time. Next was Denver with 43 and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson with 37.
Wednesday’s flight cancellations appeared set to continue a dayslong streak of headaches at American airports, which were operating under duress amid a federal government shutdown.
The cancellations and delays have slowly crept down throughout the week, however, as Congress appeared ready to end the shutdown. The House of Representatives was set to vote on the bill Wednesday night.
As of 8:30 a.m. ET, there were no staffing issues with the exception of the ongoing shortage unrelated to the shutdown at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company.
More than 1,200 flights in the U.S. were canceled on Tuesday, while another 2,600 were delayed. Winter weather that caused headaches in the Midwest and East on Monday and Tuesday were also no longer a factor for airports on Wednesday.
The Federal Aviation Administration continues to limit capacity at 40 major U.S. airports. Many federal employees, including Transportation Security Administration staffers, were working without pay as the partisan impasse dragged on in Washington.
And while things have improved, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned the cancellations could cause major issues this weekend if the shutdown does not come to an end.
“If the government doesn’t open, it’s going to radically slow down,” Duffy said during a press conference on Tuesday. “If this doesn’t open, you might have airlines that say, ‘We’re going to ground our planes.’ That’s how serious this is.”
Airlines have not received any guidance on whether flight reductions will be adjusted once the shutdown ends, according to Chris Sununu, the president and CEO of Airlines for America, a trade association representing U.S. carriers.
Unless another directive is issued by the FAA, airlines plan to implement an 8% flight reduction on Thursday and a 10% reduction on Friday, Sununu said.
Once the government shutdown ends, it will take about a week before air travel operations return to normal, Sununu said. If the shutdown ends this week, smooth travel is expected over the Thanksgiving holiday, he said.
“There’s still plenty of time to make sure that everything over the Thanksgiving week goes off as originally planned,” Sununu said during a press conference on Wednesday.
(SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif.) — Authorities said they are searching for an at-risk woman who was last seen at a bonfire on a California beach.
Danielle Staley, 35, of Utah, went missing while visiting the California Central Coast with a friend, according to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office.
She was last seen with a group of people at a bonfire on Rio Del Mar State Beach in Aptos shortly before midnight on Nov. 6, according to the sheriff’s office.
She was reported missing the following day, the sheriff’s office said.
Investigators have not ruled out foul play, and Staley is considered at-risk due to the circumstances of her disappearance, according to the sheriff’s office.
“Staley’s personal belongings were found on the beach, and she has not been in contact with her family — behavior that is uncharacteristic and has raised additional concern,” the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “At this time, investigators are not ruling out foul play; however, the case is being treated as a missing person at risk due to the circumstances.”
Staley has been visiting the area with a friend, and they had been staying in a camper van near Rio Del Mar State Beach, according to the sheriff’s office.
The friend is cooperating with authorities, the sheriff’s office said.
Residents and businesses with surveillance video in the areas of Rio Del Mar Beach, Beach Drive, Treasure Island and Spreckels Drive have been asked to contact the sheriff’s office so deputies can review the footage.
“Detectives have been diligently working to track down any information and continue to do so,” the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities described Staley as 5’6″ and 120 pounds with blonde hair. She was last seen wearing a dark, hooded sweatshirt and leopard print leggings.
Anyone with information on Staley is urged to contact the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office at 831-471-1121.
