Chappell Roan doesn’t think people should be bent out of shape over her Grammy red carpet look, which featured her topless, wearing a piece of fabric hanging from two prosthetic nipple piercings that had been applied to her breasts. “Giggling because I don’t even think this is THAT outrageous of an outfit,” Chappell wrote on Instagram. “The look’s actually so awesome and weird. I recommend just exercising your free will it’s really fun and silly :D. Thank you for having me @grammys and those who voted for me!!”
Gracie Abrams shared rare photos of herself smooching her boyfriend, Paul Mescal, in an Instagram post celebrating both his 30th birthday and the birthday of her childhood best friend Clementine. “P. Clemmy.” she captioned the post, adding a heart emoji after each of their names. “My whole heart!!!!!!!!! I love February 2… Happy birthday. I love you both more than words could ever describe. Thank you for making everything better.”
KATSEYE will be featured in a Super Bowl ad for State Farm Insurance, and a teaser is out now. Set to Bon Jovi‘s “Livin’ on a Prayer,” it stars Hailee Steinfeld attempting to hire a fictional insurance company called Halfway There, represented by Danny McBride and Keegan-Michael Key. The two sing the Bon Jovi hit, changing the lyrics to reflect all the ways in which their coverage is vastly inferior to State Farm’s. KATSEYE shows up to dance when they sing the chorus: “Whoa, oh, you’re livin’ on a prayer” — as in, you’ll be living on a prayer if you sign up for their terrible insurance. “Should’ve gone with State Farm,” says Hailee. Part two of the ad will debut Feb. 8 during the big game.
Chappell Roan doesn’t think people should be bent out of shape over her Grammy red carpet look, which featured her topless, wearing a piece of fabric hanging from two prosthetic nipple piercings that had been applied to her breasts. “Giggling because I don’t even think this is THAT outrageous of an outfit,” Chappell wrote on Instagram. “The look’s actually so awesome and weird. I recommend just exercising your free will it’s really fun and silly :D. Thank you for having me @grammys and those who voted for me!!”
Gracie Abrams shared rare photos of herself smooching her boyfriend, Paul Mescal, in an Instagram post celebrating both his 30th birthday and the birthday of her childhood best friend Clementine. “P. Clemmy.” she captioned the post, adding a heart emoji after each of their names. “My whole heart!!!!!!!!! I love February 2… Happy birthday. I love you both more than words could ever describe. Thank you for making everything better.”
KATSEYE will be featured in a Super Bowl ad for State Farm Insurance, and a teaser is out now. Set to Bon Jovi‘s “Livin’ on a Prayer,” it stars Hailee Steinfeld attempting to hire a fictional insurance company called Halfway There, represented by Danny McBride and Keegan-Michael Key. The two sing the Bon Jovi hit, changing the lyrics to reflect all the ways in which their coverage is vastly inferior to State Farm’s. KATSEYE shows up to dance when they sing the chorus: “Whoa, oh, you’re livin’ on a prayer” — as in, you’ll be living on a prayer if you sign up for their terrible insurance. “Should’ve gone with State Farm,” says Hailee. Part two of the ad will debut Feb. 8 during the big game.
Nancy Meyers speaks during the ‘North by Northwest’ screening at the 2024 TCM Classic Film Festival at TCL Chinese Theatre on April 20, 2024, in Hollywood, California. (Presley Ann/Getty Images for TCM)
A new Nancy Meyers movie is on the way.
Warner Bros. Pictures will release a brand-new film directed by Meyers in theaters on Christmas Day in 2027, ABC Audio has learned.
Meyers will write, direct and produce the currently untitled film, which is keeping its logline under wraps for the time being. Ilona Herzberg will also produce the movie, while Diana Pokorny will executive produce it.
A star-studded cast is currently in final negotiations to join the project, including Penélope Cruz, Kieran Culkin, Jude Law, Emma Mackey and Owen Wilson.
Meyers took to Instagram to celebrate the announcement of her upcoming film.
“Happy to share my new movie with this fantastic cast is in the works and will be released on Christmas Day 2027! See you at the movies!” she captioned a post.
This film will reunite Meyers with Law, who previously collaborated on her celebrated 2006 rom-com, TheHoliday.
Meyers’ last time helming a movie was the Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro comedy The Intern, which was released 11 years ago in 2015.
Rapper T.I. speaks onstage during the ‘Nothing To See Here: Watts’ red carpet screening and Q&A at College Football Hall of Fame on January 15, 2026, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
Though T.I. has previously said Kill the King will be his final album, he reiterated that decision at the Grammy Awards Sunday night.
When asked about his new music, T.I. mentioned his song “Let Em Know,” produced by Pharrell — this year’s Dr. Dre Global Impact recipient — and referred to it as the “first single off of my final album.”
“I’m gonna be done. They should know it. I’ve said it before. It’s time,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “I think I have many gifts that God has given me that I can spend more time and attention on, and spend more time at home with my family and my grandchildren.”
T.I. previously told Baller Alert that Kill the King was his final album before retirement. “So my last album is Kill the King, which will be, you know, it’s gon’ be edgy, energetic,” he said. “It’s gon’ have a lot of Tip in it … but I’ve been making somewhat, I guess, more melodic, you know, more R&B vibes, Afrobeat-R&B vibe, party music.”
Kill the King will serve as the follow-up to 2020’s L.I.B.R.A. “Let Em Know” is now available on streaming services.
Rapper T.I. speaks onstage during the ‘Nothing To See Here: Watts’ red carpet screening and Q&A at College Football Hall of Fame on January 15, 2026, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
Though T.I. has previously said Kill the King will be his final album, he reiterated that decision at the Grammy Awards Sunday night.
When asked about his new music, T.I. mentioned his song “Let Em Know,” produced by Pharrell — this year’s Dr. Dre Global Impact recipient — and referred to it as the “first single off of my final album.”
“I’m gonna be done. They should know it. I’ve said it before. It’s time,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “I think I have many gifts that God has given me that I can spend more time and attention on, and spend more time at home with my family and my grandchildren.”
T.I. previously told Baller Alert that Kill the King was his final album before retirement. “So my last album is Kill the King, which will be, you know, it’s gon’ be edgy, energetic,” he said. “It’s gon’ have a lot of Tip in it … but I’ve been making somewhat, I guess, more melodic, you know, more R&B vibes, Afrobeat-R&B vibe, party music.”
Kill the King will serve as the follow-up to 2020’s L.I.B.R.A. “Let Em Know” is now available on streaming services.
Warren Haynes of Gov’t Mule performs at the Forum River Center on October 22, 2025, in Rome, Georgia. (Photo by R. Diamond/Getty Images)
Gov’t Mule has announced some new spring tour dates.
The band, led by Warren Haynes, has announced 11 new shows, featuring Larkin Poe and Maggie Rose on select dates.
The new dates begin April 14 in Kansas City, Missouri, and wrap April 28 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The shows extend the band’s already announced tour, which begins March 27 in Denver.
An artist presale for tickets to the newly added shows begins Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET, followed by local presales starting Thursday at 12 p.m. ET. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday at 12 p.m. ET.
A complete list of dates can be found at Mule.net.
Ahead of the Gov’t Mule run, Haynes will headline a new solo tour that runs from Feb. 12 in Grass Valley, California, to Feb. 26 in Pelham, Tennessee. He’ll then go on tour with the Warren Haynes Band, starting Feb. 27 in Live Oak, Florida. A full schedule can be found at WarenHaynes.net.
Brendan Banfield testifies in his own defense on Jan. 28, 2026, during his double murder trial in Fairfax County, Virginia. (Pool/ABC News)
(FAIRFAX, Va.) — A jury has reached a verdict in the double murder trial of a Virginia man accused of killing his wife and a stranger lured to their home under false pretenses in an elaborate plot to get rid of his spouse so he could be with his au pair, with whom he was having an affair.
Brendan Banfield, 40, is accused of stabbing his wife to death in their home in Fairfax County and fatally shooting a man he allegedly “catfished” on a fetish website. Prosecutors said he pretended to be his wife to lure the man to their home for what was believed to be a consensual fake rape scenario in order to frame that stranger for his wife’s murder.
The jury deliberated nearly nine hours over two days, starting Friday, before reaching a verdict Monday afternoon. The verdict is expected to be read in court at 5 p.m. ET Monday.
The former IRS agent was charged with aggravated murder in 2024 following a monthslong investigation into the deaths of his wife, 37-year-old nurse Christine Banfield, and the man, 39-year-old Joseph Ryan.
Prosecutors accused Brendan Banfield of plotting the murders with the family’s au pair, 25-year-old Juliana Peres Magalhaes, who was initially charged with second-degree murder in connection with the deaths.
Ahead of the trial, Peres Magalhaes pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Under the plea agreement with prosecutors, she will receive time served for testifying against Brendan Banfield.
During closing arguments on Friday, the prosecutor made the case that the murders were premeditated.
“He was in love with Juliana. He can pretend that this was a fling and affair — he’d had them before, no big deal. He was in love with Juliana,” prosecutor Jenna Sands said. “He was afraid of losing her. He needed to get rid of his wife so that they could be together, so that they could marry, so that they could have those babies that he was picking out names for.”
Sands said there was no evidence that Christine Banfield had previously used dating or fetish websites, argued that there were signs that the crime scene had been “manipulated,” and reminded jurors that during the au pair’s testimony, Peres Magalhaes “told us how the plan was crafted and how it played out.”
The defense, meanwhile, pushed back on the catfishing theory, questioned the thoroughness of the investigation and argued that there were conclusions made based on confirmation bias. The attorney, John Carroll, claimed that prosecutors pressured Peres Magalhaes to change her story and that she “secured herself a deal that benefited her.” Carroll also said Brendan Banfield didn’t have to testify, but he did as they sought “to get the truth out there.”
“Is it reasonable, after a six- to eight-week affair, that someone is going to try to get rid of their companion of 19 years, wife of 12 years? Is that reasonable?” Carroll asked the jury. “You heard from my client: He thinks it’s absurd.”
During his testimony, Brendan Banfield called the allegations “absolutely crazy” and said his affair with Peres Magalhaes was just that and nothing more.
He said he came home on Feb. 24, 2023, after the au pair called to alert him about a stranger in the home. He said he went up to his bedroom with his gun drawn and found his wife naked with Ryan and that she called out, “Brendan, he has a knife!”
“I was extremely terrified,” Brendan Banfield told the jury. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more panicked in my life.”
He said he fired his government-issued firearm, striking Ryan in the head, after the man appeared to stab his wife.
Prosecutors said Christine Banfield was stabbed seven times in the neck.
Peres Magalhaes testified that Brendan Banfield expressed his desire to “get rid of” his wife in October 2022, saying, “At first, I thought he was joking.”
She testified that she had helped Brendan Banfield catfish Ryan on the fetish website to lure Ryan to the home.
Peres Magalhaes told the court that Brendan Banfield told her he wanted to marry her and have children with her, and that he didn’t want to divorce his wife because “she would have more money than he would” and because he wanted custody of the couple’s daughter.
Brendan Banfield was additionally charged with using a firearm while committing or attempting to commit murder and child endangerment. The couple’s then-4-year-old daughter was in the house at the time of the killings, in the basement.
“He left her in the basement, knowing that Joe Ryan was upstairs,” Sands said during her closing argument. “He left her in the basement while he shot and killed Joe Ryan. He left her in the basement while he stabbed his wife.”
John McCarthy, the state’s attorney for Montgomery County speaks during a press conference at the Montgomery County Police Department in Gaithersburg, Md., Feb. 2, 2026. (Montgomery County Police Department)
(MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md.) — Maryland and federal authorities announced Monday that they have shut down three Indian call centers linked to a gold bar scam that stole millions of dollars from American consumers.
Authorities said the operation netted almost $50 million from more than 600 victims across the U.S. through wire transfer, cryptocurrency and gold bar schemes.
The six alleged leaders of the scheme were also arrested, authorities said.
An ABC News investigation previously found that as the value of gold surged, grifters posing as federal agents convinced people — mostly older Americans — to convert their life savings into gold bars.
As part of the scheme, scammers sent “couriers” to pick up the bars in person to allegedly keep them in a secure location.
Last year, ABC News interviewed a suspected courier from jail as he faced charges in two states for his alleged involvement in the scam. He claimed he was hired by an individual in India and paid between $800 and $4,000 per job to pick up packages, some of which contained gold bars.
John McCarthy, the Maryland state attorney for Montgomery County, announced Monday that his office had indicted 10 couriers accused of collecting money from victims, and said that several of those cases have already resulted in convictions.
“They’re targeting people who have retirement money, who have pensions, who have investments, who’ve maybe sold their homes and have that money in reserve,” McCarthy said.
At the end of her Grammys production number for “Manchild” on Sunday night, Sabrina Carpenter held a live bird — a white dove — in her hand, and now the folks at PETA are crying “fowl.”
In social media posts, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wrote, “Did @sabrinacarpenter really just bring a bird on stage in 2026?! The Manchild singer is giving childlike behavior. Leave animals out of the #GRAMMYs!”
The post explains PETA’s stance against the use of the dove by quoting the lyrics of “Manchild”: “Bringing a live bird onto the Grammys stage is stupid, slow, useless … and cruel! Bright lights, loud noise and handling cause fear and distress for a bird who belongs flying free in the open sky.”
ABC Audio has reached to Sabrina’s reps for comment. So far, the singer hasn’t responded on social media or otherwise.
Roger Taylor of Queen + Adam Lambert performs at Little Caesars Arena on October 10, 2023 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Scott Legato/Getty Images)
Queen’s Roger Taylor has something to get off his chest. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer just dropped a new song, “Chumps,” letting fans know in the description why he did it: “Gotta say something.”
Although he offered no further info on the song, including who he may be singing about, the lyrics have him singing of “a man of no morality, of no real quality, a shallow man.”
The lyrics also call out “a man devoid of empathy, no trace of sympathy, of endless vanity,” and one with “no humanity” and “no trace of sanity.”
“We’re drowning in your self regard. We’re drowning in your lies. We drown in your pomposity, in your atrocities. We drown,” he sings. The song ends with, “You men of no morality. Your popularity, an endless mystery.”
The song drop comes just a week after Taylor posted a poem titled “Gangsters Are Running This World” on Instagram.
“Gangsters are running this world. You can shout but never be heard,” read the last lines of the poem. “Gangsters are running this world. All the while. Gangsters are running this world.”
