Rapper Desiigner is opening up about his mental health struggles after he reportedly exposed himself on a plane.
Taking to Instagram Stories Thursday night, the “Panda” rapper admitted, “For the past few months I have not been OK, and I have been struggling to come to terms with what is going on.”
“While overseas for a concert I performed at, I had to be admitted [into] a hospital, I was not thinking clearly. They gave me meds, and I had to hop on a plane home,” he continued. “I am ashamed of my actions that happened on that plane.”
“I landed back to the States, and am admitting myself in a facility to help me. I will be cancelling all of my shows and any obligations until further notice,” he added. “Mental health is real guys, please pray for me. If [you’re] not feeling like yourself please get help.”
Desiigner, 25, performed at 2023 Rolling Loud Thailand on April 14. According to TMZ, on his flight home, he exposed himself to a flight attendant. He was reportedly greeted by police officers and questioned about the incident when the plane landed in Minneapolis on April 20. He was then released.
Arnold Jerocki/Getty Images for Robert Gillings Productions / JOPR
Three years after leaving The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Denise Richards is returning to Bravo franchise in a guest-starring role.
“I have filmed some episodes,” Richards told Variety while in Cannes to promote her new drama series, Paper Empire. “And it’s been fun. And you know, I’m a big fan of the show, so it was fun to go back and film a lot of stuff with them.”
“This all just happened recently on the spur of the moment,” said Richards, who attended a screening hosted by RHOBH‘s Garcelle Beauvais “like a real friend.”
“I didn’t tell anyone I was gonna be there. Production didn’t know. I just showed up…” she added. “The next day, I was asked to go to some events — and so it’s been actually fun.”
Richards left the show after two seasons amid a fight with Brandi Glanville and Lisa Rinna — who has since been ousted from from the show.
“When I left after my second season, I just felt as though some of the women were very toxic and they played so dirty,” Richards explained. “I understand there has to be drama, but I also think it’s fun to see women having fun, especially this age group.”
However, notes Richards, “I don’t think it’s a positive message to try and tear people down. You can have your opinions, but don’t try to tear people down. I don’t think it’s right. I mean, that part I don’t like.”
Richards’ says her game plan this second go-round is to just be herself. “You get a group of six to eight [to] 10 women together, your drama will come up, authentically. Leave it at that and have fun with it.”
(NEW YORK) — A Texas mom whose two kids have autism is challenging others to learn about autism spectrum disorder this April, which happens to be Autism Acceptance Month.
It’s an issue close to Tiffany Hammond’s heart, not only because the condition affects her family, but also herself.
The 38-year-old told Good Morning America she received a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome when she was 18 and in college. Nowadays, doctors no longer use the Asperger’s syndrome classification. Instead, people who were given that diagnosis in the past are now understood to have a form of autism.
“In college, I was just like, I don’t want to tell anybody this,” Hammond told GMA. “So I didn’t really think about it. I kind of took the [diagnosis] papers and hid them in my drawers in my dorm and tried to basically go about life as I always was going about it.”
But in the last two decades, Hammond’s perspective has shifted dramatically and she’s now on a mission to tell the stories of her family through her “Fidgets and Fries” website and social media platform and through her upcoming children’s book, A Day With No Words, out May 9.
“[I] try to create something based on my own life that I can share with someone else so that they can get a deeper understanding of what someone else might be going through,” Hammond said, adding that she feels “stories are our greatest teachers.”
Hammond said her older son Aidan, 16, doesn’t speak and her younger son, Josiah, 14, does speak, but only in some situations.
“One of the things that people will tell me after they learn that my son doesn’t speak is, they’ll say, ‘So he doesn’t know words?’ or ‘Does he not understand anything that we’re saying?'” Hammond said.
The mom of two however, said others’ assumptions are often far from reality. Hammond said Aidan does understand words and one of the ways he communicates is by using an iPad with an augmentative and alternative communication app, or AAC app, that lets him tap symbols, pictures and words.
Aidan’s communication method is featured prominently in A Day With No Words. Hammond said the children’s book is not just about Aidan but dedicated to him and his younger brother.
“I wanted to honor my son in every possible way that I could and then I wanted to challenge the reader, so I wanted to entertain them and also challenge them,” Hammond said.
“When I was thinking about it, I was like, this book is not for the autism community, specifically. It has to address those outside of it, because we will not make a more equitable and accessible world if we do not bring in other people,” she added.
With the book, which is also vividly illustrated by artist Kate Cosgrove, Hammond hopes to make readers “think more deeply about their own communication and their own interactions with one another” and “[apply] that to everyone and especially to people like my son.”
“There are a lot of us out there and just learning just a little bit can go a long way — just opening up your understanding and your eyes a little bit more and inviting yourself to learn about an experience that you do not know yet, that helps so much,” Hammond said.
“Even if you never ever in your entire life come across another or a single person that has autism, [learning about autism] still helps you to be a better human, it still helps you to be more compassionate and more understanding, just to learn about the many different ways that we can be human,” she added.
Ted Lasso‘s Hannah Waddingham will celebrate the holidays with her own Apple Original musical special, Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas, premiering later this year. The special, recorded live in front of an audience at the London Coliseum, will feature performances and musical numbers from the Emmy-winning actress, as well as special surprise guests…
Speaking of Ted Lasso, with the show reportedly about to end its run after three seasons, series star Juno Temple is already close to lining up her next big role. Sources tell Deadline she is in talks to co-star in Sony/Marvel’s Venom 3. Tom Hardy is set to return as the titular character, but that’s all that’s known about the project thus far. The first two films grossed a combined $1.36 billion worldwide…
Station 19 has been renewed for a seventh season at ABC, the network announced on Thursday. The Grey’s Anatomy spinoff, which follows a group of heroic Seattle firefighters as they put their lives and hearts on the line, stars Jaina Lee Ortiz, Jason George, Boris Kodjoe, Grey Damon, Barrett Doss, Jay Hayden, Okieriete Onaodowan, Danielle Savre and Miguel Sandoval. Station 19 airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC…
A modern-day remake of Girls Just Want to Have Fun, the cult 1985 romantic comedy dance movie that starred Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt, is in the works with Elizabeth Banks producing, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The original film centered on Janey and her new best friend Lynne — played by Parker and Hunt, respectively — who share a passion for dancing and the TV show “Dance TV.” They enter a competition to be a new “Dance TV” regular couple, although Janey’s father doesn’t approve. the cast also included Lee Montgomery, Jonathan Silverman, Ed Lauter and Shannen Doherty…
(LONDON) — Deadly clashes in Sudan between forces loyal to two rival generals appeared to continue Friday, despite one side’s pledge to adhere to a three-day truce on humanitarian grounds.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful Sudanese paramilitary group, released a statement on Friday morning announcing that it has agreed to a 72-hour cease-fire from 6 a.m. local time, coinciding with the religious holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. However, in the hours since the truce was due to begin, there has been reports of gunfire, shelling and bombing in several areas of the capital, Khartoum, and other parts of Sudan.
Earlier Friday, the commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, delivered a speech declaring the military’s commitment to a civilian-led government but made no mention of a cease-fire.
“We are confident that we will overcome this ordeal with our training, wisdom and strength in a way that preserves the security and unity of the state and enables us to secure a safe transition to civilian rule,” Burhan said.
It was Burhan’s first speech since the fighting erupted in Sudan on April 15 in a culmination of weeks of tensions between the Sudanese Armed Forces commander and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of the RSF. The two men were once allies who had jointly orchestrated a military coup in 2021 that dissolved Sudan’s power-sharing government and derailed its short-lived transition to democracy, following the ousting of a long-time dictator in 2019. Now, they are battling for control of the resource-rich North African nation and neither has shown any real indication of backing down, as proposed pauses in the fighting have persistently collapsed over the past week.
The clashes started in Khartoum and quickly spread to other Sudanese cities, though “the heaviest concentration of fighting” remains centered in the densely populated capital, according to the World Health Organization, the global health arm of the United Nations. The international community has repeatedly called on Sudan’s warring parties to immediately lay down their arms and engage in dialogue.
There has been a wide range in the reported number of casualties and an expectation that the figure will continue to climb with the ongoing violence. Sudanese Health Minister Haitham Mohamed told Arabic news television channel Al Arabiya on Thursday that more than 600 deaths have been recorded in hospitals across the country since the conflict began. WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said during a press briefing in Geneva on Friday that at least 413 people have died while 3,551 others have been wounded. The Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate, a pro-democracy group monitoring casualties, put the civilian death toll at 243 and said 1,335 others were injured as of Thursday. Catherine Russell, executive director of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), said Thursday that at least nine children have been killed in Khartoum and more than 50 children have been wounded.
At least one American citizen is among the dead in Sudan, according to the U.S. Department of State.
The United States is sending additional military forces and equipment to a base in Djibouti, a country on the Horn of Africa, south of Sudan, to pre-position in case they are needed for the possible evacuation of Americans from Sudan, two U.S. officials told ABC News on Thursday. White House spokesperson John Kirby said during a press briefing in Washington, D.C. on Thursday that U.S. President Joe Biden had “authorized the military to move forward with prepositioning forces and to develop options in case — and I want to stress right now — in case there’s a need for an evacuation.”
The widespread clashes have left dozens of hospitals across Sudan either damaged or destroyed, according to the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate, which called the issue “a clear violation of international humanitarian law.” As of Thursday, approximately 70% of hospitals in and around the conflict zones were out of service after being bombed, while others were under threat of closure due to a lack power, staffing, medical supplies, food and water. In Khartoum alone, 125 hospitals have been affected by the fighting, according to Mohamed, the Sudanese health minster.
ABC News’ Ayat Al-Tawi, Shannon Crawford, Luis Martinez and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
(DENVER) — Alexa Bartell spoke to a friend over the phone while driving Wednesday night near Denver when the line suddenly dropped.
Concerned about Bartell’s well-being, her friend eventually tracked Bartell’s phone to a field in Jefferson County, Colorado, where she found a damaged yellow Chevy Spark. According to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, a large rock had broken through the car’s windshield, striking and killing the 20-year-old Bartell — one of at least five similar incidents in Colorado over three hours on Wednesday evening.
“This is the most tragic of a series of similar crimes that happened overnight throughout Jefferson and Boulder counties,” the press release noted about the homicide.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has been unable to identify any suspects associated with the crime spree, including the homicide. Investigators also believe there may have been more than five incidents and have asked victims to come forward.
Law enforcement initially believed the incidents were associated with a 2003-2005 Dodge Ram pickup truck and asked the public to help identify its owners. However, investigators later confirmed the owner of the car was not “involved in the crime series related to the death of Alexa Bartell,” leaving no suspects.
“[Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office] continues to urge anyone with information about the crime to call our tip line at 303-271-5612,” the press release read.
Based on a timeline released by the sheriff’s office, the incidents began around 10 p.m. Wednesday when the suspect or suspects threw a rock through a car’s windshield in Westminster, CO. The driver was uninjured by the incident.
Thirty minutes later and roughly ten miles away, another rock was thrown through a windshield, injuring the driver. A minute later, at the same location, the suspects threw a rock at Toyota SUV, damaging the vehicle’s body but leaving the driver unscathed.
The event that resulted in Bartell’s death was the fourth such recorded incident Wednesday evening. At 10:45 p.m., Bartell was driving down Indiana Street in Jefferson County, CO, when a large rock broke her windshield and fatally wounded her.
Nearly two hours after striking Bartell’s car, the suspects allegedly struck their final car of the evening in Arvada, CO – more than 25 miles from the scene of the fatal incident. The last incident injured the car’s driver.
“We believe there may be more victims,” the sheriff’s office’s release noted, urging the public to come forward if they have any information or dash camera video from the evening that might offer insights into the deadly incident. With incidents crossing multiple counties in the Denver metropolitan area, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is working with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, Arvada Police, and Westminster Police.
As of Thursday evening, the Sheriff’s office has been unable to identify any new suspects.
(BLOOMINGTON, Ind.) — An Indiana woman has been charged with a federal hate crime for a racially motivated attack and stabbing of a woman of Chinese descent on a public transit bus.
The incident occurred on Jan. 11, 2023 when 56-year-old suspect Billie Davis “willfully caused bodily injury to the victim and attempted to do so using a knife because of the victim’s race and national origin” on a public bus in Bloomington, Indiana, the Department of Justice said in a statement detailing the charge against Davis.
“The victim reported to investigators that she had been riding the Bloomington Transit bus and had stood up to exit the bus,” the Bloomington Police Department said at the time of the attack. “She said that as she was standing and waiting for the bus doors to open, another passenger on the bus began to strike her repeatedly in the head, which resulted in immediate pain.”
Davis was originally transported to the Monroe County Jail and booked in for the charge of Battery, level 5 felony, according to authorities. But once it was determined that the victim had multiple stab wounds to her head, investigators accessed camera footage from inside the bus which captured the assault and saw that the suspect and victim had no prior interactions prior to the suspect stabbing the victim multiple times in the head as the victim waited for the bus doors to open.
“Billie Davis was then re-interviewed by investigators at the Monroe County Jail,” the Bloomington Police Department said. “At the conclusion of the interview, her charge was amended to Attempted Murder, level 1 felony.”
It was announced on Thursday by the Department of Justice that a federal grand jury in Evansville, Indiana, returned a single-count indictment charging Davis with committing a hate crime for her racially motivated attack and alleges that the offense included an attempt to kill the victim.
The FBI Indianapolis Field Office and Bloomington Resident Agency led the investigation on this case along with assistance from the Bloomington Police Department.
Indiana University in Bloomington’s Asian Culture Center issued a statement following the attack in January and said it was “outraged and heartbroken by this unprovoked act of violence.”
“Our thoughts go out to the victim of this horrendous act, to her family, and to everyone in the community who is affected by this racial violence,” said the Asian Cultural Center in response to the stabbing.
The Department of Justice announced on Thursday that assistant U.S. attorney Peter A. Blackett for the Southern District of Indiana and Trial Attorney Anita Channapati of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section are prosecuting the case against Davis but reiterated that “an indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Boston 11, Minnesota 5
NY Yankees 9, LA Angels 3
NATIONAL LEAGUE
San Diego 7, Arizona 5
Pittsburgh 4, Cincinnati 3
Colorado 5, Philadelphia 0
LA Dodgers 6, Chi Cubs 2
NY Mets 9, San Francisco 4
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Golden State 114, Sacramento 97 (Sacramento leads 2-1)
Phoenix 129, LA Clippers 124 (Phoenix leads 2-1)
Philadelphia 102, Brooklyn 97 (Philadelphia leads 3-0)
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Vegas 5, Winnipeg 2 (Series tied 1-1)
Toronto 7, Tampa Bay 2 (Series tied 1-1)
NY Rangers 5, New Jersey 1 (New York lead 2-0)
Colorado 3, Seattle 2 (Series tied 1-1)
Twenty years ago — April 21, 2003 — Madonna released her ninth album, American Life. While it debuted at number one and earned two Grammy nominations, it’s probably better remembered for the live performances Madonna did to support it, including that infamous night at the MTV VMAs.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Madonna decided to get more serious on her next project and wrote songs about the changing values in America, and the country’s obsession with fame and materialism. She told MTV at the time, “I do think that we’ve become completely consumed with being rich and famous, our society has. And I just want to tell people, take it from me, I have all those things and none of them ever brought me one minute of happiness.”
Musically, American Life reunited Madonna with Mirwais, the producer she’d worked with on her 2000 album Music, and they came up with a sound dubbed “folktronica.” It received mixed reviews, and none of its four singles were big hits. The title track, which featured Madonna’s attempt at rapping, was the most successful, but only reached #37 on the Billboard Hot 100. Blender magazine ranked it #9 on its list of the Top 50 Worst Songs Ever.
In August, Madonna performed a medley of “Like a Virgin” and “Hollywood” to open the MTV Video Music Awards, but all anyone could talk about was her kissing her fellow performers — Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera — onstage.
In 2004, she promoted the album with her Re-Invention World Tour, which was a huge success: the top-grossing tour of the year, it raked in over $125 million.
Years after the album’s release, critics reevaluated American Life, and praised it for its political themes and adventurous sound. It eventually sold 5 million copies.
Record Store Day is happening Saturday, April 22, and music fans are going to want to be prepared before they head out to shop at their local independent record store this weekend.
A whole lot of exclusive releases will be available, and here are some to be on the lookout for:
The 2020 John Lennon compilation Gimme Some Truth is being released as a box set consisting of nine 10-inch vinyl EPs. Meanwhile, Paul McCartney is contributing a 50th anniversary reissue of the 1973 Wings album Red Rose Speedway, while fellow surviving Beatle Ringo Starr is putting out a reissue of his 1981 solo effort, Stop and Smell the Roses.
Keith Richards‘ long out-of-print Vintage Vinos collaboration will be out as a two-LP set, while TheRolling Stones‘ 1968 classic Beggars Banquet is being reissued on vinyl with its original artwork.
Stevie Nicks‘ Bella Donna Live1981, capturing a 1981 live show supporting the Fleetwood Mac star’s first solo album, is making its vinyl debut. Fleetwood Mac’s early single “Albatross” is also getting a vinyl reissue.
And U2 is celebrating the 40th anniversary of their album War with a 12-inch EP featuring remixed versions of “Two Hearts Beat As One” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” as well as two versions of the same songs from their recently released Songs of Surrender album. The EP will be released on 180g white vinyl.
RSD 2023 will also feature exclusive releases from Duran Duran, Pearl Jam, The Allman Brothers Band, David Byrne, The Cranberries, The Cure, The Doors, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Jerry Garcia Band, The Grateful Dead, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Billy Joel, Elton John, Todd Rundgren, T. Rex, Van Halen, Yes and Warren Zevon.
For the full list of releases and participating stores, visit RecordStoreDay.com.
