Image of Fairy Godmother in Netflix’s ‘Steps’ (courtesy of Netflix)
Bette Midler is set to lend her voice to Netflix’s upcoming animated film Steps, which reimagines the classic fairy tale Cinderella.
Midler will voice Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother in the flick, which will also feature the voices of Amanda Seyfried as Cinderella and Ali Wong and Stephanie Hsu as her evil stepsisters Lilith and Margot.
“The beloved Fairy Godmother, the wholesome Fairy Godmother — the one with all the good intentions — has been around for a long, long time,” says Midler. “This particular version of the Fairy Godmother has good intentions, but she’s a little bit of a bumbler, and she’s a little bit of a schemer.”
She adds, “I’m thrilled to be part of this film! And I’m thrilled to be with this cast!”
The film reimagines the relationship between Cinderella and her stepsisters, who have to team up to save their kingdom after Lilith’s actions at the Royal Ball put their kingdom under the tyrannical rule of the villainous Priscilla, who has taken over the throne.
The film’s director Alyce Tzue notes, “This story is, at its core, about two very different sisters — one who fits perfectly into this fairy tale kingdom and one who doesn’t — realizing they’re more alike than different.”
Luigi Mangione (R) appears for a suppression of evidence hearing in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan Criminal Court on December 18, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Curtis Means-Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The judge overseeing Luigi Mangione’s state murder case ruled Monday that certain evidence seized from his backpack during a search at the Pennsylvania McDonald’s where he was arrested must be suppressed, while evidence seized at the stationhouse in Altoona, Pennsylvania — including the alleged murder weapon — will be allowed.
New York Judge Gregory Carro determined Mangione’s backpack was not in a “grabbable area” while he was detained by Altoona police in the McDonald’s.
“The search of the backpack at the McDonald’s was an improper warrantless search,” Carro said.
“Therefore, the evidence found during the search of the backpack at the McDonald’s must be suppressed, including the magazine, cellphone, passport, wallet and computer chip,” he said.
Carro decided the subsequent search of the backpack at the stationhouse “as a valid inventory search,” so the items discovered there, including the alleged 3D-printed gun used, a notebook and handwritten slips of paper with purported escape routes, will be allowed at trial.
Prosecutors have said Mangione’s notebook entries speak to motive.
“The target is insurance,” one entry said. “It checks every box.”
Certain statements Mangione made to Altoona officers will be suppressed, including his response when he was asked why he had initially given a false name.
Statements Mangione made to two Pennsylvania corrections officers are allowed, including a wide-ranging conversation about healthcare, overseas travel and literature. Mangione asked one of the officers how he was being perceived in the media for his alleged crime and expressed a desire to make a public statement.
Mangione attended Monday’s hearing wearing a dark suit. He sat at the defense table as two court officers stood behind him. A small group of Mangione’s supporters, some in “Free Luigi” shirts, watched from the back rows.
Mangione’s state trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 8 for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and Carro’s decision will help define the contours of the high-profile criminal trial.
Defense lawyers have argued that the search of the backpack without a warrant violated Mangione’s rights, and have repeatedly urged Carro to block prosecutors from using the evidence.
“At the hearing, Altoona law enforcement officers repeatedly attempted to justify their warrantless search of Mr. Mangione’s backpack … instead, all these officers demonstrated was an utter disregard for a defendant’s constitutional rights and a shocking ignorance of basic search and seizure caselaw,” Mangione’s attorneys wrote in a state court filing.
Lawyers from the Manhattan district attorney’s office pushed back on those claims, arguing the officers acted “in deliberate and painstaking fashion” when they searched the backpack.
“At every step, the Altoona officers responded to this unexpected and alarming situation reasonably,” Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann wrote in a court filing, adding that officers later obtained a warrant for the bag “establishing an independent source for recovering the backpack’s contents.”
Mangione pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges after he was arrested for allegedly gunning down Thompson, a husband and father of two, on a Midtown Manhattan street in December 2024.
As Mangione prepares for his upcoming state trial in September, his supporters continue to fund part of his legal defense. Earlier this month, on Mangione’s 28th birthday, his legal defense fund surpassed $1.5 million.
The Smashing Pumpkins perform onstage during a concert at Gunnersbury Park on August 10, 2025 in London, England. (Lorne Thomson/Redferns)
The Smashing Pumpkins have announced a U.S. tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of their 1995 album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.
The trek, dubbed The Rats in a Cage tour after the lyric from the song “Bullet with Butterfly Wings,” will kick off Sept. 30 in Columbus, Ohio, and concludes Nov. 12 in Los Angeles.
Each show will consist of two sets. The first will feature a full-album performance of Mellon Collin and the Infinite Sadness, and the second will include songs from throughout the Pumpkins’ four-decade career.
“Staging a Mellon Collie-themed show is something we’ve discussed for over a decade, and finally the stars have aligned and exactly on the terms I’d set: which was to build a special night around its most enduring aspirations and ideas,” frontman Billy Corgan says in a statement.
Presales begin Tuesday at 10 a.m. local time, and tickets go on sale to the general public on Thursday at 10 a.m. local time. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit SmashingPumpkins.com.
Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness marked the third Pumpkins album and spawned the singles “Bullet with Butterfly Wings,” “1979,” “Tonight, Tonight” and “Zero.” It’s been certified Diamond by the RIAA, signifying 10 million units certified.
The Pumpkins teased the tour announcement with a livestreamed concert Sunday, which served as a “funeral” for Corgan’s “Zero” character.
Representative Jim Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, during the National Action Network (NAN) 35th Anniversary Convention in New York, US, on Friday, April 10, 2026. (Photographer: Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, the longtime Black representative from South Carolina whose seat could be at stake in mid-decade congressional redistricting, told ABC News that he sees the redrawing of congressional seats held by Black lawmakers as part of a larger history of discrimination and disenfranchisement against Black Americans.
“I don’t know why it’s so hard for people to understand this. The country is attempting what I call ‘Jim Crow 2.0.’ It’s just that simple,” Clyburn said.
Some experts have told ABC News that the redistricting in the South could wipe out up to a third of seats in Congress held by African American legislators, and Black lawmakers have been expressing similar concerns ever since the mid-decade redistricting push by Republicans kicked off last year.
Republicans have argued that they are redrawing congressional maps to comply with the Supreme Court or to remedy unfairly-drawn districts, and that the districts that could be changed may still elect Black representatives to Congress.
But Clyburn told ABC News that if the focus remains solely on redistricting, the bigger picture is being missed.
“When I released the book [“The First Eight”], and that’s the whole thing my book was about. I think a lot of people thought I was just whistling Dixie. But no,this is real. It’s as real as anything can be. And we got to come to grips with that. So it’s not just about congressional districts. It’s affirmative action, closing colleges and universities to ordinary Blacks, it’s about we’re not able to get a job in the federal government, state government,” Clyburn said.
“They want to take away federal jobs in the federal government, remove that protection … getting rid of any kind of diversity and inclusion. So this is a very comprehensive thing.”
Clyburn was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1992, the first Black member of Congress from South Carolina in a century, after previously teaching high school history and being involved in political activism.
He spoke with ABC News just hours before South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced Thursday evening in an executive order that he would call the state legislature in for an “extra” session to consider mid-decade redistricting.
McMaster’s announcement came amid other states redrawing maps after the Supreme Court’s recent ruling against Louisiana’s congressional map. It also came just two days after, even in the face of pressure from President Donald Trump, the state Senate rejected a key bill that would have let the legislature consider mid-decade redistricting even after formally adjourning.
However, that specific, specialized bill needed a two-thirds majority to pass. In the extra session, a bill that could redraw the congressional map would only need a simple majority.
In a statement celebrating McMaster’s announcement, South Carolina Republican Party Chair Drew McKissick wrote, “Thanks to the Supreme Court ruling, Republicans have an opportunity to get this done, and we should maximize it. Now is the time for lawmakers to stand with President Trump, defend the Constitution, and finish the job.”
Clyburn, speaking before the special session became official, told ABC News he saw the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana vs. Callais, which struck down Louisiana’s congressional map, as the continuation of a long line of other Supreme Court decisions he sees as detrimental – including the Citizens United v FEC ruling that unleashed billions of dollars from corporations, labor unions and other groups into American campaigns as a protected form of free speech; as well as the Dred Scott decision, which in 1857 held that Black Americans could never be citizens.
The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified 11 years after Dred Scott, was drafted to repudiate that decision and to prevent the creation of a hereditary class of noncitizens within the United States.
“I’ve been saying this about five or six years. Back when the Supreme Court made a decision … a lot of people look at me like I was some drunken sailor,” Clyburn said. “I said, when the Supreme Court handed down the decision in the so-called Citizens United case, and that is when they created dark money. And I said at the time, I said, this Supreme Court decision will take its place along — will compete with Dred Scott as one of the worst decisions ever made by the Supreme Court.”
“Now, people couldn’t see what I was saying at the time, but I’ve been studying history all my life. And when I saw that [Citizens United] decision, I knew that the foundation was being laid for taking over this country,’’ Clyburn said.
But Clyburn told ABC News that despite all of that, he does have hope for the nation’s future.
“I’m a South Carolinian. Do you know what our state motto is? ‘While I breathe, I hope.’ I’m a real South Carolinian. Breathing and hoping,” he said.
ABC News’ Devin Dwyer and ABC News legal contributor James Sample contributed to this report.
R.E.M. hit #1 with their seventh studio album, Out of Time. The record, their first-ever #1, spent two weeks atop the Billboard 200 Albums chart, and 109 weeks on the chart overall.
Out of Time’s success was aided by two hit singles: “Losing My Religion,” which peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the band’s highest charting single, and “Shiny Happy People,” featuring The B-52’s Kate Pierson, which peaked at #10.
Out of Time would go on to sell over four million copies in the U.S. and earn R.E.M. three Grammys, including best alternative music album, and two for “Losing My Religion.”
In 2017, “Losing My Religion” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2020, it became the first R.E.M. video to reach one billion views on YouTube.
Selena Gomez attends the 2025 Academy Awards (Disney/Scott Kirkland)
Selena Gomez is moving deeper into Oscar territory.
After appearing in the Oscar-winning film Emilia Pérez, Varietyreports that Selena will star in a new movie from Brady Corbet, director of the Oscar-winning film The Brutalist. Also starring is Oscar winner Cate Blanchett and Oscar nominee Michael Fassbender.
ABC Audio has reached out to Selena’s reps.
Plot details for the film are still under wraps. Last year, Brady toldThe Hollywood Reporter that his next film would be “an X-rated movie” that “takes place mostly in the 1970s,” adding that it also “spans from the 19th century into the present day.” He added, “The film is really, really genre-defying.”
Over the years, Selena has been nominated multiple times for a Golden Globe Award, and has also received nominations for an Emmy and a BAFTA. She’s also won an Actor Award, formerly known as a SAG Award, and shared a Cannes Film Festival award for best actress with her Emilia Pérez co-stars.
Noah Kahan’s new album The Great Divide is making great strides on top of the chart.
The new album from the “Stick Season” singer is spending a third week at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. It’s the first rock album to spend that many weeks on top since 2013, when Noah’s friends Mumford & Sons spent five weeks on top with Babel.
But when it comes to solo artists, Noah’s feat is even more impressive: The last rock album by a solo artist to top the charts for that long was Sleep Through the Static by Jack Johnson, back in 2008.
Noah’s project counts as a rock album because it is eligible for and charted on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart. The songs from the album have also appeared on Billboard’s various pop charts, as well as the Hot 100.
On his Instagram Story, Noah complained that he’d just gotten his “a** kicked” on the soccer field by a “bunch of 47-year-old guys.” But, he noted, “Third week at #1 on the Billboard 200! So, y’know, all is well. I’ll take that. Very, very grateful. Very excited, can’t believe I’m still at #1. It’s f****** crazy.”
“You guys are amazing,” he continued. “It’s all ’cause of you guys streaming and buying s*** and just being dope. So I love you, still grateful … thank you so much.”
He added that he’ll have to “hit the treadmill” this week to get back into “soccer shape.”
(WASHINGTON) — Attorneys representing the Department of Justice and Donald Trump informed a federal judge on Monday that the president plans to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.
ABC News has reported that Trump was planning to drop the suit in exchange for the creation of a $1.776 billion compensation fund for those who allege they were wrongly targeted under the Biden administration.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana and chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, during a confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Two Republican challengers, Rep. Julia Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming, will advance to a runoff election in Louisiana’s closely watched GOP primary, The Associated Press projected Saturday — a defeat for Sen. Bill Cassidy who had drawn the ire of President Donald Trump.
Letlow had been endorsed by Trump in a three-way race that was seen as a test of the president’s influence among Republicans.
Letlow and Fleming will face off again in the runoff on June 27.
With nearly 100% of the estimated vote counted, Letlow led with about 45% of the vote, followed by Fleming with about 28%, according to the AP. Cassidy trailed with about 25% of the vote.
The primary defeat marks a stunning loss for Cassidy and a potential warning to other Republicans who risk defying the president, as Trump has sought to oust those he views as disloyal. Trump-backed candidates recently defeated several Indiana state senators who opposed his redistricting plans.
Cassidy’s defeat makes him the first sitting senator to lose a primary since 2017 and the first elected incumbent senator to lose a primary since 2012 — when Indiana GOP Sen. Richard Lugar lost his race to a Tea Party challenger.
Cassidy expressed gratitude for his time in office and acknowledged the race didn’t go like he would have liked.
“But you don’t pout, you don’t whine, you don’t claim the election was stolen,” he said. “You don’t manufacture some excuse –you thank the voters for the privilege of representing the state or the country for as long as you’ve had that privilege, and that’s what I’m doing right now.”
He also took a thinly veiled jab at Trump without naming him.
“Our country is not about one individual, it is about the welfare of all Americans, and it is about our Constitution,” he said. “And it is the welfare of my people and my state and my country and our Constitution, to which I am loyal.”
Trump celebrates
In a post on his social media platform, Trump celebrated Cassidy’s projected defeat and congratulated Letlow.
“Julia Letlow is a fantastic person and, after taking care of some additional business, will make a brilliant Senator for the Great People of Louisiana,” Trump said in the post.
In speech to supporters in Baton Rouge on Saturday night, Letlow opened her remarks thanking Trump.
“I want to say thank you to a very special man, who you all know – the best president this country has ever had: President Donald Trump,” Letlow said.
“When he endorsed me in January, I knew this was going to be a tough race, but tonight Louisiana sent a clear message — that they want a candidate to represent them in the Senate who will always put America first and never turn her back on Louisiana voters,” Letlow continued.
Fleming expressed full confidence he will win the runoff.
“I embrace this challenge enthusiastically. The runoff starts today, and I could not be more energized,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
“The people of Louisiana deserve a senator who cannot be bought, will not be bossed, and will never back down,” Fleming said.
On the campaign trail
On the campaign trail, Letlow, a three-term congresswoman, was anything but shy about Trump’s endorsement, casting Cassidy as disloyal and Fleming as out of touch with the president. Her campaign messaging focused in part on defending parental rights and securing the border.
Fleming, a former congressman who later served in various roles in the first Trump administration, pitched himself to voters as the most staunch conservative, though he did not receive a public endorsement from Trump.
For his part, Cassidy, a physician who was first elected to the Senate seat in 2014, argued his record proved he delivered for Louisianans and sought to tie himself to Trump — campaigning on a conservative agenda, arguing against abortion, supporting “strong borders” and co-sponsoring the SAVE America Act, a legislative priority for Trump.
Trump’s endorsement
Trump upended Cassidy’s reelection bid in January when he encouraged Letlow to enter in hopes of defeating Cassidy.
Trump sought to punish Cassidy, who broke with the party as one of seven senators to vote to convict Trump for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The 57-43 vote fell shy of the 67 vote threshold needed to convict Trump.
In a Saturday morning social media post — roughly two hours after polls opened –Trump again ripped on the two-term incumbent while endorsing Letlow. He called Cassidy “disloyal” and castigated him for using his name throughout the campaign.
Despite their fraught relationship, Cassidy has, at times, supported Trump’s agenda. Cassidy, a physician and longtime proponent of vaccines, grilled Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a vaccine skeptic — during his confirmation hearing but cast the deciding vote to advance his nomination.
Yet for some, Cassidy’s vote to convict Trump may have been enough to do him in.
Robert Hogan, a political science professor at Louisiana State University, told ABC News ahead of the primary that some voters still had a “visceral” reaction to Cassidy’s vote to convict the president.
“The Republican activists have been unforgiving,” Hogan said. “This says less about Cassidy, I would say, than it says about the nature of the attraction that voters have towards Trump.”
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Here comes The Bride! The Warner Bros. Pictures film by director Maggie Gyllenhaal has set its streaming debut. It will be available to watch on HBO Max on May 22. The movie stars Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale and also features Annette Bening, Jake Gyllenhaal and Penélope Cruz …
The final week of guests for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert have been announced. Jon Stewart and Steven Spielberg will appear as guests on the May 19 show, while Colbert himself will take “The Colbert Questionert,” a segment which will feature special guests, on the May 20 episode, according to a press release. The series finale of the show will air on May 21 …
