Another John Fogerty tune has joined Spotify’s Billions Club.
The singer’s Creedence Clearwater Revival hit “Fortunate Son” has now been streamed on the service 1 billion times. It is his second tune to achieve the milestone, following CCR’s “Have You Ever The Rain,” which reached 1 billion streams in March.
“I am humbled and honored to have my song ‘Fortunate Son’ achieve one billion streams [on Spotify],” Fogerty shares. “I wrote this song to express my outrage about the unequal treatment of people in our culture. These words came straight from my heart, and I still feel the same today. I am looking forward to celebrating this song with my fans.”
Released in October 1969, “Fortunate Son” appeared on CCR’s album Willy and the Poor Boys. The track peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts and wound up becoming an anti-war movement anthem during the Vietnam War. In 2013 it was chosen by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Recording Registry.
And speaking of that celebration with fans, Fogerty is set to kick off a new leg of his North American tour on July 9 in Ravinia, Illinois. A complete list of tour dates can be found at Fogerty.com.
Santana released their 18th studio album, Supernatural, featuring collaborations with Lauryn Hill, EricClapton, Dave Matthews Band and, most famously, Rob Thomas.
The album reached number one in 11 countries and topped the Billboard 200 for 12 nonconsecutive weeks, reviving Santana’s career. It featured his first-ever U.S. #1 song, “Smooth,” featuring Thomas, which spent 12 weeks at number one. “Maria Maria,” featuring TheProduct G&B, went to #1 as well, spending 10 weeks on top.
The album, which sold 30 million copies, went on to win nine Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, making Carlos Santana the first Hispanic artist to win the award.
A new documentary about Wham! is set to debut on Netflix in July and we are now getting our first peek at it.
The streaming service just released a trailer for the doc, aptly titled Wham!, which gives fans insight into the hit pop group made up of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley.
The film is helmed by Fyre director Chris Smith, who earns praise from Ridgeley, telling Rolling Stone, “He has come as close as anyone might to making tangible that which is the essence of Wham! and has done so with veracity and affection.”
The trailer features archival footage of the duo, home movies, interviews and more, and includes clips of Michael and Ridgeley discussing how they met, how they created the band and how stardom affected them.
“The documentary is a genuinely authentic representation of Wham!’s ascent to worldwide success and a place in the hearts of many,” Ridgeley shares. “And I have no doubt that George would recognize [it] as being as close to our experience of that wonderful chapter in our lives, as any account might be.”
While most movie stars don’t want you falling asleep while watching their efforts on-screen, Ryan Reynolds apparently isn’t one of them — at least when it comes to his new project.
On Thursday, June 15, Reynolds took to social media to tease Bedtime Stories, an offering coming to his Maximum Effort channel on FubuTV on Tuesday, June 20.
The teaser opens with a title card reading, “From an anxious mind, comes a restful show.”
The snippet shows the camera tracking through a cozy home at night, while the Deadpool star provides the gentle voice-over. “You know the best part about stories?” he begins. “You remember them.”
Reynolds changes into pajamas behind a screen as he continues, sitting and opening a book for a pair of sheep all tucked in. “And I wanna tell you a bedtime story,” he whispers.
He then shushes the camera and walks out a window to look at the night sky as he sits on the roof.
“Now: Rest your tired bones, and remember … whatever you do, don’t fall asleep,” he says.
The actor captioned the new tease by saying, “The idea for a show made to help everyone fall asleep was born the same day as my fourth child.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, hit a milestone on Thursday, 11 years after it first began.
As the White House touts how DACA has helped support young immigrants who they say have become valuable members of society, some of those same DACA recipients are speaking out as their fate remains in limbo, given the years of legal challenges and controversy around the program.
In written and taped statements first shared with ABC News, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris marked the DACA anniversary by praising the contributions of the young immigrants, sometimes referred to as “Dreamers,” who were shielded from deportation.
Biden and Harris also again called on Congress to provide those people with long-term protections through immigration reform — something Congress has been unable to agree on for years, despite bipartisan interest in the issue.
Under DACA, young people without legal authorization to be in the U.S. were able to work in the country without imminent threat of removal.
“Dreamers are Americans. Many have spent the majority of their lives in the United States. They are our doctors, our teachers, and our small business owners. Dreamers strengthen our economy, enrich our workplaces, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, many served their communities on the frontlines,” Biden said in his statement.
On Thursday night, Biden plans to host a film screening for DACA recipients, lawmakers, civil rights leaders and others and will give remarks “celebrating the contributions and culture of the Latino community” while “once again call[ing] on Congress to send him a bill that creates a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers,” a White House official said.
DACA began in 2012, during the Obama administration, and has since covered more than 800,000 immigrants. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, there are nearly 600,000 current DACA holders.
In her video released on Thursday, Harris said “the story of Dreamers is the story of America.”
“The DACA program has made it possible for hundreds of thousands of Dreamers to live, work and thrive in America. For the benefit of America. So, today, on the 11th anniversary of DACA. President Biden and I again declare: We will not rest until Congress provides all Dreamers permanent protections, including a pathway to citizenship,” Harris said in the video, which also features several DACA recipients.
Requirements for obtaining DACA include having entered the country before age 16 and having lived in the U.S. prior to 2007. Passing a background screening, fingerprint and other education and identity requirements is also necessary. Applicants must re-register for the program every two years.
Since its inception, DACA has faced a barrage of challenges and current recipients are bracing for an imminent federal court ruling out of Texas that could upend their lives.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, who previously ruled that DACA is unlawful, is expected to once again rule on the legality of the program after the Biden administration took steps to codify it into administrative law in order to better protect it from lawsuits.
A coalition of mostly Republican-led states have challenged the program, arguing in part that it imposes economic harm and that DACA being initiated by a president exceeded the White House’s power.
“Our lawsuit is about the rule of law, not the wisdom of any particular immigration policy … Left intact, DACA sets a dangerous precedent by giving the executive branch sweeping authority to ignore the laws enacted by Congress and change our nation’s immigration laws to suit a president’s own policy preferences,” the Texas attorney general has said.
Hanen sided with the states in 2021, citing “the hardship that the continued operation of DACA has inflicted on them.”
However, Hanen allowed current recipients to continue their status while the appeals process plays out but barred new applicants from joining.
Aurora Chavez, 24, was brought to the U.S. when she was 10 months old and was in the process of applying for DACA when Hanen issued his 2021 ruling. She told ABC News that without the ability to legally work without a fear of deportation, she has been unable to provide for her siblings, one of whom has leukemia.
“I am physically able to do many things, and I can’t even do it because I feel held back from many opportunities,” she said.
At a hearing in early June, lawyers representing DACA recipients argued that the states challenging the program were not accounting for the economic contributions that hundreds of thousands of “Dreamers” have made after being able to enter the workforce, become homeowners and integrate into society. The attorneys also argued the program is lawful because of executive discretion.
Attorneys for MALDEF, one of the co-litigators in the case representing DACA recipients, told reporters in late May that they expect Hanen’s ruling to be appealed and that the case may end up before the Supreme Court.
As federal authorities continue a crackdown on unauthorized immigration to deter many asylum-seekers at the southern border, the population of immigration detention centers has more than doubled since Biden took office. The number of people in immigration detention recently hit about 30,000, marking a 40% increase since the end of pandemic-era measures used to justify fast-track border protocols to remove migrants.
The state of immigration detention underscores the stakes for those who could face deportation if DACA ends.
ABC News spoke with two of the defendant-intervenors in the DACA case who say the anniversary is a bittersweet celebration: a chance to reflect on their accomplishments while facing the possibility that the program will go away.
Jung Woo Kim, co-director of the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium, arrived in the U.S. from Korea when he was 15 years old. He said he chose to get involved in the case because of his sense of obligation to himself and to other recipients whose livelihoods are now at risk.
“If someone tries to take away what you have, what are you going to do? You’re going to do your best to defend it,” he said.
Jung Woo, now 38, said the fear of losing his DACA status has prevented him from starting a family. His mother also suffers from a disability and his ability to financially provide for her is on the line if DACA ends, he said.
Karina Ruiz, also 38, is the executive director of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition. She said she’s fighting for the program that has allowed her “to take a breath in the middle of a storm.”
As a young grandmother, she said her fight is not only about her but the generations that follow.
“It shouldn’t matter where you were born,” she said. “That’s something we can’t control.”
(NEW YORK) — A New Jersey jury ruled unanimously in favor of a former Starbucks employee who sued the company for wrongful termination, claiming that she was fired for being white.
Shannon Phillips, a former regional director for the chain, claimed in a lawsuit first filed in 2019 that “her race was a determinative factor” in Starbucks’ decision to fire her in the wake of a 2018 racial firestorm.
After a six-day trial, the jury returned a verdict, ordering the coffee giant to pay $25.6 million in settlement money, including punitive and compensatory damages, according to Phillips’ attorneys.
In April 2018, two Black men — Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson — were arrested while waiting for a business meeting after an employee called 911 and accused the men of trespassing after they refused to make a purchase or leave the store. The arrests sparked nationwide protests and prompted Starbucks to close some of its stores for a day for racial bias training.
Robinson and Nelson reached a private settlement with Starbucks, as well as with the city of Philadelphia, which vowed to pay the men each $1 and promised a $200,000 investment into programs that support aspiring young entrepreneurs, according to the Philadelphia Mayor’s Office.
Less than a month after the arrests, Phillips was notified of her termination, despite claiming that she wasn’t at the store that day and was not involved in the arrests in any way.
According to court documents, Starbucks claimed Phillips “appeared overwhelmed, frozen and lacked awareness of how critical the situation was for Starbucks and its partners” and that “all actions taken by Starbucks with respect to Ms. Phillips were for legitimate, nondiscriminatory, non-retaliatory reasons.”
Phillips, who had been employed by Starbucks for nearly 13 years at the time of her termination, claims she “actively worked” on “crisis management” efforts and “took steps to ensure that the retail locations within her area were a safe and welcoming environment for all customers, regardless of race,” according to her 2019 civil complaint.
Attorney Channa Lloyd, an ABC News contributor and a managing partner of The Cochran Firm, told ABC’s Good Morning America, “Starbucks wasn’t necessarily under legal pressure but they were under public pressure to act and to show that they were open to everyone of every race and origin and to show that they were not going to allow racism to foster within their organization.”
During the trial, key testimony came from a Black district manager at Starbucks who testified via Zoom that he thought Phillips’ race played into Starbucks’ decision to fire her and that his race was a reason why he was not terminated, according to a statement provided to ABC News from Phillips’ attorney.
Phillips’ attorney also told GMA, “Starbucks chose not to terminate the District Manager of the store where the arrests took place, who was Black, but instead terminated his White supervisor, Ms. Phillips.”
“Other companies are definitely going to have to be much more thoughtful and clear about why they’re exercising terminations when they’re faced with this type of situation,” Lloyd added about the impact of the settlement decision.
ABC News reached out to Starbucks but the company declined comment.
A week after sharing footage from a January brain scan and explaining to her followers that her stage 4 breast cancer has migrated to her brain, Shannen Doherty has posted another throwback video from her ongoing battle.
“January 16, 2023. Surgery. I had a tumor in my head they wanted to remove and also biopsy,” the former Beverly Hills, 90210 star captioned a video of herself in her hospital bed.
The actress is seen joking with a nurse during a pre-op check-up.
“I am clearly trying to be brave but I am petrified,” the 52-year-old actress explained in the caption, adding, “The fear was overwhelming to me. Scared of all possible bad outcomes, worried about leaving my mom and how that would impact her. Worried that I would come out of surgery not me anymore.”
Revisiting a refrain she made in the previous post, Shannen said, “This is what cancer can look like.”
Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, and after entering remission, she revealed in 2020 that the disease had spread and returned as stage 4.
In an interview with Good Morning America, the actress said the diagnosis was “a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways.”
“I definitely have days where I say, ‘Why me?’ And then I go, ‘Well, why not me?’ Who else? Who else besides me deserves this? None of us do,” she said at the time.
(NEW YORK) — More severe weather is slamming the U.S. on Thursday, with residents from Florida to Kansas bracing for impact.
The states in the bull’s-eye are Kansas and Oklahoma, where extreme winds, huge hail and a few tornadoes are possible.
Other cities bracing for storms Thursday include Dallas; Jackson, Mississippi; Mobile, Alabama; and Tallahassee, Florida.
A tornado watch has been issued in southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.
This comes after Wednesday storms brought massive hail and powerful winds to Mississippi and at least 10 reported tornadoes to Texas, Alabama and Georgia.
And on Friday, a threat of hail and damaging winds will stretch from Colorado to Florida, including Little Rock, Arkansas; Jackson; and Montgomery, Alabama.
Sinéad O’Connor brought Outlander star and fellow Ireland native Caitriona Balfe to tears with her new rendition of the show’s theme song.
The singer lent her voice to “The Skye Boat Song” for season 7 of the Starz hit series, which premieres on Friday, June 16.
“First of all, I cried. Not going to lie. I did,” Balfe, who stars as Claire Fraser, tells ABC Audio about hearing O’Connor’s version. “And I think it’s the most amazing thing ever. She’s an icon. She is somebody who is such a legend and she sounds just amazing. And that voice is just so powerful and so full of emotion.”
Sam Heughan, who plays Jamie Fraser, adds, “Absolutely. It’s a great, great fit for the show.”
The song marks the first new recording from O’Connor since she announced her intention to retire from music after the release of her 2021 memoir. She later said she had changed her mind about retirement.
At the the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles Wednesday, June 14, fans and stars in attendance at the premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny got a special show before the show.
Oscar-winning composer John Williams, along with an orchestra, performed selections of the new movie’s score, live.
Steven Spielberg, the director of all the Indiana Jones movies except this last chapter, which was directed by James Mangold, introduced the maestro to a standing ovation.
Williams led the musicians through several compositions from the new film, including its main title theme, as well as “Helena’s Theme,” the song Williams wrote for Phoebe Waller-Bridge‘s heroine.
Earlier on the red carpet, there was a sweet moment when newly-minted Everything Everywhere Oscar winner — and former Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom star — Ke Huy Quan surprised his former co-star Harrison Ford as he was giving an interview.
Quan sneaked up behind the star, animatedly hopping towards him, before placing his hand on Ford’s shoulder to get his attention. This led to a warm hug between the two, with Quan kissing him on the cheek and calling him “Dr. Jones.”
Smiling, Ford thundered, “You’re all grown up!” to the guy who played sidekick Short Round as a kid.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny swings into theaters June 30, from Lucasfilm, which like ABC News is a subsidiary of Disney.
