(NEW YORK) — One of the coldest regions on the planet appears to be losing its ability to retain the frigid climate necessary to regulate temperatures in the rest of the world.
Scientists have determined that in the last 10 to 20 years of steady global warming, the ocean has played an “important role” in the evolution of glaciers, Eric Rignot, professor of system science at the University of California, Irvine, and author of the study, told ABC News.
Melting at the interface between ice sheets and the ocean in the Arctic is much more extensive than previously estimated, according to a study published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
What is happening at the grounding line — the junction between a grounded ice sheet and the ocean — led the researchers to discover much more melting that previously thought at Petermann Glacier in Greenland, according to the paper.
However, the researchers found that the seawater is “regularly’ intruding beneath the glacier for a sizeable distance that was initially assumed to be “very small,” Rignot said.
“What we found is that it extends over kilometers,” he said. “Not just a few meters, or a few 100 meters, but kilometers.”
Researchers found that the grounding line of the Petermann Glacier migrates with the tidal cycle over distances of 2 to 6 kilometers — or up to 3.7 miles — with the largest retreats occurring along preexisting subglacial outlet channels, according to the study.
Unlike previous models, the highest ice sheet melt rates recorded were within the zone of grounding line migration, which was estimated to be around 60–100 meters of ice melt per year — or up to 328 feet per year.
As ocean waters are getting warmer, they will affect a very large part of the measure as opposed to a “tiny, tiny” bit, showing how much more sensitive the glacier is from ocean activity, Rignot said.
“Suddenly, the warmer ocean water will attack the glacier of a much larger area, because the tidal cycle is intrusive for very long distances.
The researchers analyzed a time series of ice sheet motion and surface elevation data derived from satellite observations to estimate the grounding line migration and basal melt rates for glaciers since 1992.
The research, which was made possible now due to the additional satellite imagery available over the last decade, suggests the retreating grounding line formed a cavity under the center of the ice sheet of about 20 square kilometers in size and remained open throughout the tidal cycle in 2022, according to the study.
The Arctic is the frontline for climate change, experts said. Melting in the Arctic, widely considered by polar scientists as Earth’s refrigerator due to its role in regulating global temperatures, could have catastrophic effects on the rest of the world.
As the region warms, Arctic amplification causes the sea ice, which is white, to thins or disappear, allowing dark ocean or land surfaces to absorb more heat from the sun and release that energy back into the atmosphere.
The largest long-term effect of warming in the Arctic is sea level rise, which is already being experienced by coastlines around the world.
Incorporating the results of the study into ice sheet modeling would increase the sensitivity of glaciers to ocean warming and potentially double the projected sea level rise in those models, the authors said.
“If we model this interaction of ice and the ocean more accurately, the trajectory of sea level rise for the coming century could go up by a factor too,” Rignot said. “So that’s a big deal.”
(AUSTIN, Texas) — The rotunda of the Texas state Capitol echoed Monday morning with pleas from more than 160 activists who gathered in Austin to demand the legislature take action on gun reform.
Monday marked the last day the Texas legislature could vote on House Bill 2744 — which would raise the age to buy assault rifle-style weapons from 18 to 21 — out of committee to be heard for further discussion.
In the morning, the protesters chanted “raise the age” and “do your job” at lawmakers as they headed to their offices. By the afternoon, the bill passed the Community Safety Committee and is now on its way to the House Calendar Committee, marking a win for the advocates.
Fifteen of those protesters in the crowd were Uvalde families who lost children in the May 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary that killed 21 students and teachers.
The legislators “don’t care about missed birthdays or empty chairs at the dinner table,” Berlinda Arreola, step-grandmother of 10-year-old Uvalde victim Amerie Jo Garza, told ABC News Monday morning. “They don’t care about Amerie’s classmates or teachers. They don’t care about the lives lost in [mass shootings in the Texas cities of] Santa Fe, El Paso, Cleveland, Sutherland Springs, or even those lost on Saturday in Allen, Texas. They share their ‘thoughts and prayers.'”
“Here we are begging for a vote on the last day to make it happen,” she said, hours before the bill passed the Community Safety Committee. “They have chosen the NRA and their own interest over their constituents over and over again. You have no right to play Russian roulette with our lives. Our children are not safe. Our families are not safe. We are not safe. Prove me wrong.”
This weekend’s mass shooting at a mall in Allen, Texas was too much to comprehend for Kimberly Rubio, whose 10-year-old daughter, Lexi, was killed in Uvalde.
“I’m so sorry I’m not strong today. Maybe that’s what y’all need to see. Because at the end of the day, I’m just a mom who wants my daughter back who doesn’t want another mom to know my pain,” said Rubio, a journalist and a mom of six, as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Now that the bill has passed the Community Safety Committee, it will head to the House floor for further discussion and debate before being voted on there. No date has been set for the House to vote. If HB 2744 passes the House, it would then have to pass the Texas Senate by the end of May.
Texas state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who has been an outspoken advocate for the Uvalde families and was among the protesters Monday, tweeted after the bill passed the Community Safety Committee, “Our voices are making a difference. The push to bring this bill to the House floor continues.”
Jerry Mata, whose 10-year-old daughter Tess was killed in Uvalde, said he jumped for joy once the bill passed the committee.
“I consider it a big step,” he told ABC News. “So now, the fight continues.”
Tess’ mom, Veronica Mata, added, “I think this was a sign from our babies, that, you know, we’re doing the right thing. We’re helping protect other children.”
On social media, FX revealed that its acclaimed series The Bear will be cooking again on Hulu on June 22.
The show stars newly minted Golden Globe winner Jeremy Allen White as chef and restaurateur Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, who ended the show’s first season by shuttering his beleaguered family-run eatery and fulfilling his goal of opening a new dining establishment in its place that bears his nickname — and shares the title of the show.
The reveal came with a poster for the series, with Carmy using a pair of tweezers to apply a garnish. He’s surrounded by the other cast members, including scene stealer Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Carmy’s cousin Richie; Ayo Edebiri as Carmy’s driven chef Sydney; and Abby Elliott as Carmy’s sister Natalie aka Sugar.
Fans will be able to gorge themselves: All episodes of the second season will drop on its aforementioned debut date.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Department of Education has approved $42 billion dollars in student loan forgiveness for more than 615,000 public service workers since October 2021, the agency said Monday, touting what it described as Biden administration changes to encourage wider use of a particular debt cancellation program.
Amid legal challenges and sharp GOP criticism over President Joe Biden’s broader push to forgive $400 billion in federal student loans — with up to $20,000 canceled for each borrower — the government’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program is increasingly being advertised as a secondary option, along with income-driven repayment plans, that the White House is trying to make more accessible.
The PSLF program was first congressionally authorized in 2007 to cancel student debt for government employees (like educators, firefighters, police officers, those in the military) as well as not-for-profit employees and others providing public services who make at least 10 years of payments on their loans.
However, the original PSLF program was “poorly implemented” and many borrowers weren’t successfully able to receive forgiveness, according to U.S. Education Undersecretary James Kvaal.
Kvaal told ABC News that some public servants had the “wrong type” of loans or were using ineligible repayment plans, like bank-based loans made with federal subsidies.
For years, Kvaal said, student loan borrowers were making payments under PSLF, thinking they were getting closer to debt cancellation, to no avail.
“When Secretary [Miguel] Cardona got here, he found that only 7,000 people had ever gotten forgiveness in the history of the program. And in many cases, that’s because of the fine print in the program,” Kvaal said.
In October 2021, for one year, the Biden administration issued what it called a limited waiver temporarily changing the rules of PSLF. On Monday, at the start of Public Service Recognition Week, the Department of Education credited those changes and others with greatly expanding the use of the program.
“The difference that Public Service Loan Forgiveness is making in the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans reminds us why we must continue doing everything we can to fight for borrowers and why families cannot afford to have progress derailed,” Cardona said in a statement.
Kvaal likened the administration’s changes to a “reset” of a flawed system.
“We [the department] were able to do a one-time reset on public service loan forgiveness to say: Everyone out there who was eligible for the program but didn’t file the right form at the right time — we’re going to count all of those old payments,” he said. “We’re going to count the years you spent in public service while making payments on your student loans and recognize that progress.”
Beyond the yearlong waiver, the Department of Education is also set to implement similar regulatory changes starting in July, such as allowing payment credits under PSLF even for payments that are made late or in installments and crediting certain periods of forbearance and deferment (such as for military service or cancer treatment) toward the 10-year payment threshold.
Student debt forgiveness was one of President Biden’s signature campaign promises, and he initially rolled out his major loan cancellation plan in August 2022, intending to begin forgiving loans last October. (Federal student loan repayments have been paused since 2020 and the onset of COVID-19.)
Biden’s plan would have forgiven up to $10,000 of federal student loan debt per borrower, so long as they annually made under $125,000 or $250,000 as a married couple, with an additional $10,000 canceled for people who received Pell grants, which are given to low-income families.
But the sweeping proposal, which the White House has said could be used by more than 40 million Americans, was soon halted by lawsuits and the Supreme Court heard arguments on its legality in February. A decision is expected by the summer.
More than 170 Republican lawmakers oppose the president’s plan, filing amicus briefs with the Supreme Court.
“Joe Biden had no legal authority whatsoever. I think the larger issue is it’s unfair to people who paid off their loans. It’s unfair to people who didn’t take out loans,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, Missouri’s Republican former attorney general who first brought the case before the Supreme Court, previously told ABC News in an interview.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chairs the House Education and the Workforce Committee and co-authored the House Republican brief. Foxx believes the president is scamming the American people and rejects both forms of student debt forgiveness.
“The Biden administration is breaking the law to achieve its goal of blanket loan cancelation – celebrating this effort is a slap in the face to taxpayers and ignores the underlying drivers of college costs,” Foxx said in a statement.
As the debate plays out around the bigger forgiveness program, other initiatives like PSLF remain legal, allowing some of the millions of borrowers who carry more than $1 trillion in student debt to see those sums canceled.
Pennsylvania social worker Colleen Cox, 61, received a letter in late February with a zero balance on her roughly $85,000 in student loans.
Cox said the PSLF cancellation was an “unbelievable gift,” but the system as a whole must be fixed.
“The most vicious way of people making money is on the backs of our students,” Cox told ABC News. “They just shouldn’t be saddled with this kind of usury and horrible debt just to get their education.”
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — In the wake of the racially motivated mass shooting at a Buffalo grocery store a year ago this week, there was an outpouring of sympathy and support.
Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the funeral for Ruth Whitfield, at 86 the oldest of the 10 Black victims, decrying the “epidemic of hate” in America and saying “no one should ever be made to fight alone.”
But 10 days after the May 14, 2022, attack, the national spotlight shifted to Uvalde, Texas, where 19 students and two teachers were gunned down at an elementary school. A number of mass shootings followed, drawing attention away from Buffalo, leaving survivors, loved ones and the community where the massacre occurred, saying, once again, they felt on their own to pick up the pieces.
“We keep looking for somebody, but nobody’s coming in to save us,” said Garnell Whitfield Jr., the retired Buffalo fire commissioner, and Ruth Whitfield’s son. “This is about looking inwardly. Any changes that have ever happened in the world are because humans got together and connected in some way.”
While some residents say they have started fending for themselves, elected leaders argue that this is a turning point, a moment of urgency to help save the east side from decades of neglect, segregation and the numerous underlying inequalities government has failed to fix and made it a target of hate.
$1.1 billion in funds
At least $1.1 billion in state and federal funds have been earmarked for east side improvements, but citing a history of broken promises and indifference, some longtime residents say they won’t believe the money will make it to where it’s supposed to go until they see results.
About a week before the deadly rampage last May, state and local elected leaders announced a $1 billion commitment to construct a park-like cover over the Kensington Expressway, which was built decades ago and divided the east side community.
In June, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced $50 million of targeted investments as part of the state’s effort to address the immediate needs on Buffalo’s east side, acknowledging that the neighborhood “for decades suffered from significant disinvestment, neglect, and the failure of government policy.”
The funds include the state’s first-ever investment in a community-led initiative to fight food insecurity on the east side, which has one grocery store, the Tops where the shooting occurred.
Hochul said money is also going to support small businesses, job training programs and to assist first-time homebuyers and east side homeowners facing foreclosures.
In March, Hochul announced $2.5 million in additional funding, specifically to help individuals affected by the shooting. Money, she said, was to be immediately distributed to boost staffing at the Buffalo United Resiliency Center, a place of healing for those affected by the massacre, including Tops employees and shooting survivors.
“The racist policies that contributed to the mass shooting did not happen overnight, and the difficult essential work to heal and correct the harms won’t either,” Rep. Brian Higgins, whose congressional district includes Buffalo, said in a statement to ABC News, adding the east side neighborhood “will not be forgotten.”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said she has worked to get her “Build Local, Hire Local” legislation passed, prioritizing training and hiring of local workers on government-funded projects, including those impacting the east side community.
“We will never forget the ten innocent lives we lost last year, and I promise to never stop fighting in Congress to honor their memory and strengthen this community,” Gillibrand said in a statement to ABC News.
And Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he is pushing to establish an innovation and manufacturing hub in Buffalo, “to build new economic opportunities for workers across the city.”
“Though we have made strides since that awful day, there is much work to be done, and I will stand with community leaders every step of the way to build a safer and more equitable Buffalo for all.” Schumer said in a statement to ABC News.
Inequity in development
Following the shooting, people across the nation donated $6.4 million to the Buffalo 5/14 Survivors Funds, which by November was dispersed to 169 individuals directly affected by the shooting, with most of the money going to the families of those killed and the three people wounded. But others survivors who were not physically injured but were traumatized by the horrific episode said the $9,500 many of them received wasn’t enough to get them back on their feet.
Despite the pledges of support, some neighborhood advocates allege little of the funding delivered to Buffalo in the decades prior the store shooting has gone to the east side.
Since 2012, more than $8 billion in economic investment has been made citywide in Buffalo, according to the Mayor’s Office of Strategic Planning. While such neighborhoods as Elmwood Village in the central part of the city, picked as one of America’s 10 Great Neighborhoods by the American Planning Association, and Hertel Avenue in North Buffalo boasts bustling shopping areas and major projects, the east side residents say they’ve been mostly shunned.
“What you have is a lot of big projects going on all over the place. And we believe as a consequence, white business owners will get most of the contracts and workers on the projects will be mostly white,” Dr. Henry Louis Taylor, director of the Center for Urban Studies at the University at Buffalo, told ABC News.
Taylor said he’s skeptical east side residents will benefit in any substantial way from the post-shooting infusion of funds, saying, “Those millions and billions of dollars will flow through the east side like water through a sieve en route to suburban communities and upscale Buffalo neighborhoods.”
But Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, elected the city’s first Black mayor in 2006, told ABC News he disagrees, saying, “millions and millions of dollars” have been invested in the east side community during his administration. He said in many ways the neighborhood is still struggling to recover from the widespread damage left by a 1967 race riot that required thousands of abandoned and crumbling homes to be torn down and have never been replaced.
“When you talk about Elmwood Village, when you talk about Hertel Avenue, that kind of unrest never occurred in that part of the city. So, the neighborhood fabric, the commercial fabric was completely intact,” Brown said.
In the meantime, east side residents said they are doing what they can to save themselves.
‘Life is good on Cherry Street’
Katherine “Kat” Massey lived on Cherry Street in a house once belonging to her parents just feet from the Kensington Expressway. Among her neighbors were her sister, Barbara Massey Mapps, and her brother, Warren Massey. When she felt happy, she would often tell her family, “life is good on Cherry Street,” her sister told ABC News.
Kat Massey, according to Mapps, was involved in up to 20 community groups and was the Cherry Street Block Club president. Following Kat Massey’s death in the Tops shooting, her loved ones have kept caring for city-owned empty lots on their street, beautifying them with trees.
“He took a real beautiful person from us. Not just us, but from the other people on the street,” Damone Mapps, Kat Massey’s nephew, said of the killer, 19-year-old Payton Gendron, who pleaded guilty to committing the mass shooting and was sentenced in February to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
During Gendron’s sentencing hearing, Damone Mapps, 46, attempted to take justice into his own hands. While his mother, Barbara Massey Mapps, was delivering an emotional victim impact statement, he suddenly lunged at Gendron, prompting court officers to restrain him.
“I wanted to kill him. I’m thinking, we’ve got to do something to this man for all the pain,” he told ABC News.
Following his Aunt Kat’s example, Damone Mapps said he maintains the empty city-owned lots on his streets, several blocks from Cherry Street.
“It doesn’t stop the movement for us,” he said of his aunt’s murder.
Samantha’s Garden
As the city works on plans for a permanent memorial for those killed in the mass shooting, deep-rooted east side resident Walter Myles has already erected one in the front yard of his century-old Victorian home. Among the chrysanthemums, sunflowers and morning glories are photos encased in clear acrylic sheets of the 10 Black residents killed in the Tops massacre.
“It shows people care. We care,” the 72-year-old retired railroad conductor told ABC News.
He said he holds a bond with those grieving their loved ones a year later. His garden is dedicated to the memory of his 23-year-old niece, Samantha Cothran, who was fatally shot in a separate incident on May 13, 2012, outside a house party in Buffalo.
His garden also features photos of firemen and police officers who perished in the line of duty, and historical African American figures, including Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall. It makes him “feel strong,” he said, when people pass his house and smile.
“That’s what flowers do to people, it brings out the best of us,” Myles said.
Fighting white supremacy
Relatives of other victims of the Buffalo mass shooting have formed or are working on their own grassroots groups.
Whitfield and his brother, Raymond Whitfield, have launched the nonprofit Pursuit of tRuth to fight white supremacy in honor of their murdered mother.
Mark Talley, whose 62-year-old mother, Geraldine Talley, was killed, also launched a nonprofit, Agents for Advocacy, to fight injustice and promote socioeconomic equity in Buffalo. And Wayne Jones, who lost his 65-year-old mom, Celestine Chaney, said he is planning to start a nonprofit to support children whose parents are killed as a result of violent crime.
Solving the ‘food apartheid’ problem
The east side Tops, which reopened two months after the mass shooting, remains the only supermarket in the neighborhood — for now, serving the 68,000 residents of the east side, which five decades ago boasted numerous grocery stores and businesses.
The African Heritage Food Co-op is working to convert an old grocery store about a mile from the Tops market into a 5,000-square-foot co-op to offer fresh food from regional farms, several owned by Black farmers.
“Food is control. If someone controls your food, they can control where you go, they can control how you vote,” Alexander Wright, the founder of the program, told ABC News.
Wright said he has secured more than $3 million in private donations and grants from the state of New York, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Buffalo Bills Foundation to construct the new store with tentative plans to open it this year, staffed with employees from the east side.
“We’re not about access, we’re about ownership,” Wright said. “Anything less than ownership is unacceptable.”
Tackling racial inequities
The Tops tragedy has moved some east side leaders to double down on efforts to achieve racial justice and equity in education, employment, health and homeownership, saying they’re determined to make the victims of the shooting catalysts for change.
The racial justice group Open Buffalo’s office sits a few minutes from the Tops supermarket where the shooting happened and sprang into action right away to help the neighborhood in its darkest days.
“Everyone just showed up and just started doing,” Franchelle Parker, executive director of Open Buffalo, told ABC News.
Among the organization’s most prominent efforts to break the cycle has been its Emerging Leaders program, which seeks to identify future local leaders and teach them organizing and networking skills to affect meaningful change in their communities.
Michelle Jones, director of the Liberty Partnerships Program in Buffalo, a group funded by the New York State Department of Education that works with students in grades 5-12 to curb the school dropout rate and prepare them for college or careers, was among the first graduates of the Emerging Leaders program.
“My hope is that with the tools and the networking I have done, I can translate that into helping students be community organizers,” Jones said. “I can help them to advocate for themselves and give them access to different spaces outside their neighborhood, so they can become successful and meaningful contributors to their neighborhoods and beyond.”
ABC News’ Kiara Alfonseca contributed to this report.
(BROWNSVILLE, Texas) — A makeshift altar marks the spot where multiple migrants were struck and killed by a vehicle on Sunday. People have been trickling in and paying respect.
“¡Arriba Venezuela!,” a passerby yelled.
Sofía Nuñez, who lives right around the corner, was fighting back tears as she lit the candles in honor of the victims. With each candle that she lifted she whispered a little prayer.
The bus stop where the migrants were waiting is non-descript. Signs marks it as an area where migrants gather were difficult to see in the dark. But it’s known to the locals, including Sofía, as a place where migrants who’ve been processed by CBP go to wait for buses that will take them to their next destination.
With Title 42 expected to expire this week, border towns will likely see bigger groups at similar bus stops throughout the southern border.
“They had plans to see their families and look what happened … dead in the street,” Sofía told me in Spanish.
Sofía was a nurse for 35 years in Matamoros, one of the most violent towns just south of the border, but she says she has never seen as much carnage as she saw today.
She walked to the end of the block and pointed at the spot in the middle of the road where she saw a man’s lifeless body just hours before.
It’s common for migrants to gather in the area and they sometimes knock on her door asking for help. She has happily given them food, water, and directions.
“This is a sanctuary city, this is not supposed to happen here,” she said.
(ALLEN, Texas) — Eight victims were killed when a gunman opened fire at shoppers at the Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, Texas, on Saturday.
Here is what we know about the lives lost:
Christian LaCour
Christian LaCour, 20, died during the Allen, Texas shooting, his sister, Brianna Smith, confirmed to ABC News.
LaCour was an on-duty security guard at the outlet mall where the shooting occurred, his sister said.
“He was a really sweet kid,” Brianna Smith told ABC News over the phone. “I’m sad that he’s gone.”
Christian’s mother, Tracye LaCour, asked for privacy, telling ABC News they are praying for the families of the other victims.
Daniela Mendoza and Sofia Mendoza
Daniela Mendoza, a fourth grader, and sister Sofia Mendoza, a second grader, were both killed in the shooting, Wylie Independent School District Superintendent David Vinson said in a statement.
“Daniela and Sofia were the kindest, most thoughtful students with smiles that could light up any room,” their principal, Krista Wilson, said in a statement. “Our hearts are broken and words cannot express how deeply they will be missed.”
Daniela and Sofia’s mom, Ilda, is in critical condition from the shooting, Vinson said.
“Words cannot express the sadness we feel as we grieve the loss of our students. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Mendoza family, the families of the victims, and all those affected by this senseless tragedy,” Vinson said.
“We are not announcing the news to students, as we want our parents to be able to have those conversations,” Vinson added. “Every school’s counseling team is equipped to support those who may be struggling, so please do not hesitate to reach out.”
Aishwarya Thatikonda
Aishwarya Thatikonda, an engineer who lived in McKinney, Texas, was also among the victims, Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA reported.
She was at the mall with a friend, who was injured and hospitalized, a family representative told WFAA
Thatikonda’s family plans to have her body sent to India, where her relatives are located, WFAA reported.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Miles Cohen and Alyssa Pone contributed to this report.
Garth Brooks‘ highly anticipated Las Vegas residency, Garth Brooks/Plus ONE, kicks off May 18.
With the opening night close in sight, the global superstar recently shared what fans can expect from his long-awaited residency.
“Who knows! Sometimes it’s going to be you!” Garth says, noting the indispensable role his fans play at live shows. “And then sometimes it’s going to be one of the band members or the whole band. And then sometimes it might be Miss Yearwood,” he continues, hinting at the possibility of his wife and fellow country star Trisha Yearwood making an appearance.
“This is a lot of fun,” adds Garth. “I’m excited at what the possibilities are going to be.”
But before Garth heads to Las Vegas, he’ll co-host the 58th Academy of Country Music Awards with Dolly Parton. Stream it live on Prime Video May 11 at 8 p.m. ET.
Garth Brooks/Plus ONE will take place at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. For a full list of dates and to grab tickets, visit Ticketmaster.
James Gunntook to Twitter Sunday to confirm that fans who spotted Pete Davidson‘s name among the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 weren’t seeing things.
Writer-director Gunn, who cast the SNL veteran for the ultimately doomed character Blackguard in 2021’s The Suicide Squad, posted a photo of Pete on the GOTG 3 set, smiling with Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña and some of the movie’s kid actors, all in costume.
Gunn explained, “my friend Pete not only voiced but actually came to visit us in Atlanta for a day and played Phlektik on set.”
The alien gunman is part of a group that Pratt’s Peter Quill/Star-Lord and Vin Diesel‘s Groot deal with during one of the movie’s action scenes. Thanks to prosthetics, you’d never know it was The King of Staten Island star inside the big-eyed, green-skinned alien mask.
For his part, Gunn explained why he was also listed in the credits, adding, “I voiced the beautiful Lambshank. I don’t want to show her here because she’s too gorgeous & I don’t want folks to feel bad about themselves in comparison.”
He’s being facetious: The character is one of the hideous animal hybrids created by Chukwudi Iwuji‘s cruel High Evolutionary in the movie.
Alicia Keys‘ reimagined version of 2003’s “If I Ain’t Got You” features a global orchestra comprised of women of color appearing alongside her in the new music video. The singer tapped original director Diane Martel to recreate the new clip, which sees a slew of international musicians, including South Africa’s first Black female conductor, Ofentse Pitse; Amel Bent from France; and Germany’s Alicia Awa.
The video celebrates the 20th anniversary of Alicia’s album and the newly released Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.
Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You (Orchestral Version)” featuring Queen Charlotte‘s Global Orchestra appears on Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (Covers from the Netflix Series) soundtrack, released on Friday. The project also includes covers of songs from Whitney Houston and Beyoncé.
