Several performers for next month’s coronation of the U.K.’s King Charles were announced last week, including Lionel Richie and Katy Perry. Now Lionel says he thinks this is going to be a bigger deal than anything that Michael Jackson, Prince or Madonna ever did.
“I mean, you don’t get in the business and say, ‘You know what? I’ll be at the King’s coronation,'” Lionel told People. “You know, that just never comes up. [It’s] A, a surprise. B, what an honor. And C, the fact of all the names that are out there that he could have had for this, he called my name.”
Asked what he’s most looking forward to about the gig, Lionel said, “I want to see the pomp and circumstance because I don’t care what you thought Michael Jackson did. I don’t care what you thought Prince did. I don’t care what you thought Madonna did. Nothing’s going to be like this. This is the grandiose of grandiose right here.”
Lionel has actually known Charles “for a long time,” and in 2019, he was named the first global ambassador for The Prince’s Trust, which Charles established in 1976.
“I really do celebrate his now stepping into the king role,” Lionel told People. “He’s been in that prince role for a long time, but I’m anxious to see what he’s going to now change as far as his reign. And so I know him as a wonderful person.”
The coronation concert will take place May 7 at Windsor Castle and will be broadcast by the BBC.
It hasn’t even premiered yet, but The Weeknd‘s much anticipated HBO series The Idol has been the target of some negative press courtesy of Rolling Stone. The artist says he doesn’t really care what people say about him, but he’s upset on behalf of the hundreds of people who are working on the show with him.
“I’ve been judged since the beginning. My stuff’s always kind of been provocative,” Weeknd says in Interview magazine. He adds, “I have thick skin. I’m used to it … but it gets a little complicated for me when there’s more people involved. When it affects other people it hurts me a little bit.”
The singer explains that his experience in the movie business has taught him that “when people start rumors, it really does hurt a lot of other people.”
“A lot of people work hard on these projects. When I’m in my world, and you guys are coming at me, it’s like, alright, cool. I’m a big boy. I can figure it out,” he notes. “But you have 200 people working hard on a project like this, that hurts. Especially when what they’re saying is far from the truth, but, what can you do?”
The Weeknd also tells Interview magazine that in addition to being a TV series, The Idol will be an album, in the same way that Pink Floyd‘s The Wall and Prince‘s Purple Rain were both movies and albums.
Meanwhile, a sexy new trailer for The Idol, which debuts on HBO June 4, has arrived. The series stars Lily-Rose Depp as Jocelyn, a rising pop star who wants to be “the biggest touring act ever.” When she meets Weeknd’s character, cult leader Tedros, her career explodes, but the trailer hints at some dark consequences.
Country icon and superstar Reba McEntire joined NBC’s TODAY on April 17 to talk about her upcoming book and new album, both titled Not That Fancy.
During her stop, Reba chatted about what fans can expect from her lifestyle book.
“Well, the book is a fun book. Sometimes you have books [like] autobiographies that are really diving into stuff. This is just a fun book,” Reba says. “You can look through it, you can read it front to back. It’s got recipes, stories, new pictures people haven’t seen before, talking about my family, my faith, my friends, and then recipes that are from the restaurant in Atoka, Oklahoma, called Reba’s Place,” she adds.
And that’s not all. Reba’s also dropping a special companion album.
“It’s songs that I went into the studio with Dave Cobb and rerecorded. And then we’ve got four new songs, well, songs that we did later, like [“The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia”] and the duet with Ronnie and Kix, Brooks & Dunn,” the singer shares. “So, it’s great music along with a fun book.”
To celebrate Reba’s forthcoming projects, Garth Brooks will interview the fellow Oklahoma native on TalkShopLive on April 17 at 7 p.m. ET.
Visit TalkShopLive to tune in and order autographed copies of Not That Fancy: Simple Lessons on Living, Loving, Eating, and Dusting Off Your Boots and Reba’s new album.
Bob Dylan appears to be on a Grateful Dead kick lately. As previously reported, on Wednesday, April 12, Dylan performed the Dead classic “Truckin’” at one of his concerts at the Tokyo Garden Theater. Well, his tribute to the band continued at two more shows.
Rolling Stonereports that the next night Dylan started performing another Dead tune, “Brokedown Palace,” although he didn’t make it all the way through. Then on Saturday he performed another song associated with the Dead, “Not Fade Away.”
While “Not Fade Away” was actually written by Buddy Holly, the mag notes that it was often played by the Dead in concert. In fact, between 1969 and 1995 the band performed the track 566 times.
But this wasn’t the first time Dylan performed “Not Fade Away,” although it was the first time in his set in 14 years. Dylan played it for the first time in 1997, and then in 1999 he’d play it at shows to mark the 40th anniversary of Holly’s death. He also played it in 2009 during a show in Lubbock, Texas, which was Holly’s hometown.
Dylan remains in Japan for his Rough and Rowdy Ways tour, playing three nights in Nagoya April 18-20. Dylan returns to the road in June for a European tour that kicks off June 2 in Lisbon, Portugal. A complete list of dates can be found at bobdylan.com.
(WASHINGTON) — A group of Republican lawmakers on Monday called for a ban on the use of TikTok by their colleagues in Congress, escalating an attack on the China-based social media app over data security fears that has rapidly gained momentum on Capitol Hill.
Sen. Rick Scott and Sen. Thom Tillis are among 17 Republican lawmakers issuing the request to leaders of the Senate Rules Committee and the Committee on House Administration.
“We urge you to amend the House and Senate rules to bar members of Congress from continued use of TikTok and take any other appropriate measures to mitigate the risks of this de-facto, spyware app,” the elected officials said in a letter to committee leaders.
“Some members of Congress who regularly use the app have minimized the security threat to our nation, and their defense is not compelling, considering there are several popular social media apps that are not at the same risk for the potential transfer of sensitive, private information to an adversarial foreign government,” they added.
There is no evidence that TikTok has shared U.S. user data with the Chinese government or that the Chinese government has asked the app to do so, cybersecurity experts previously told ABC News.
Still, there’s reason to believe the Chinese government could compel the company to share data on U.S. users or manipulate content on the app to forward a pro-China agenda, the experts cautioned.
The letter from some conservative lawmakers arrives less than a month after TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew faced roughly five hours of bipartisan hostility during high-profile testimony before a House committee.
“It is clear from the testimony and comments from TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew, that all members of Congress must lead by example and immediately stop using the platform for official communications,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter.
In December, the U.S. enacted a law banning the use of TikTok on government devices by almost four million federal employees.
More than half of U.S. states have taken steps toward a partial or full ban of TikTok on government devices.
Some lawmakers and advocates, however, have sought to extend the ban to all U.S. users.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee voted last month to approve a bill that would give Biden the authority to ban TikTok.
The Biden administration last month endorsed a different bipartisan bill, which does not specifically target TikTok but empowers the federal government to ban electronics or software with foreign ties, such as TikTok.
A potential ban of TikTok, which counts more than 150 million U.S. users, raises concerns about limits placed on free speech and would likely face a legal challenge, some experts and civil liberties advocates told ABC News.
A group of federal lawmakers from across the political spectrum has taken up opposition to a TikTok ban, including conservative Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
The critics of a ban say such a move would be tantamount to censorship.
In the letter on Monday, proponents criticized some of their colleagues for continuing to use TikTok, though the letter did not identify any such members of Congress by name.
“It is troublesome that some members continue to disregard these clear warnings and are even encouraging their constituents to use TikTok to interface with their elected representatives,” the lawmakers said.
SEGA, the company that created Sonic the Hedgehog, has acquired Rovio, the company behind the Angry Birds phenomenon, in a deal worth $775 million.
That’s a lot of gold rings.
In a statement, Rovio CEO Alexandre Pelletier-Normand enthused, “I grew up playing Sonic the Hedgehog, captivated by its state-of-the-art design. Later, when I played Angry Birds for the first time, I knew that gaming had evolved into a true mainstream phenomenon, with the power to shape modern culture.”
What began as a mobile game in 2009, Angry Birds has since spawned a franchise of some 30 games, an animated series, a pair of feature films in 2016, and 2019, respectively, and scads of merchandise.
Sony Pictures is releasing The Angry Birds Movie 3: Tropi-Collapse in 2024.
For his part, Sonic became a movie star in 2020, and a sequel was released two years later. His next big screen bow is set for December 20, 2024 from Paramount Pictures — and don’t be surprised if his new angry avian co-workers make an appearance.
Paul McCartney released his self-recorded debut solo album, McCartney, after refusing to delay its release until after The Beatles’ Let It Be.
McCartney recorded the entire album alone, playing all the instruments and using home recording equipment at his house.
While the album did receive some negative criticism, it topped the U.S. charts for three weeks – until it was replaced by Let It Be. The one song that stood out on McCartney was the future classic “Maybe I’m Amazed.” A live version of that song, recorded with McCartney’s band Wings became a Top 10 hit in the U.S.
McCartney later revisited this DIY-type of recording for two more albums, 1980’s McCartney II and 2020’s McCartney III. In 2022, all three albums were released together as a box set.
(NEW YORK) — House Republicans have taken their attack on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to New York City, holding a hearing on what they say is a local crime crisis, a move Democrats have lambasted as a “political stunt.”
GOP Rep. Jim Jordan convened the House Judiciary Committee Monday morning at the Jacob Javits Federal Building — just around the block from the Bragg’s office.
Earlier this month, he brought up former President Donald Trump on a 34-count indictment, drawing fire from Republicans who claimed he should be focused on city crime instead.
The committee said witnesses would tell lawmakers how “Bragg’s pro-crime, anti-victim policies have led to an increase in violent crime and a dangerous community for New York City residents.”
Among the announced witnesses are Jose Alba, a former bodega clerk who faced a murder charge after fatally stabbing an attacker in 2022; Joseph Borgen, the victim of an antisemitic attack in Times Square; as well as Madeline Brame and Jennifer Harrison, two women impacted by violent crime who’ve become advocates for victims rights in New York. Harrison recently told Fox News that crime victims are “distraught” over Bragg’s leadership.
Robert Holden, a Democratic New York City councilman, and Paul DiGiacomo, the president of the New York City’s Detectives’ Endowment Association, are also set to appear before the committee.
Bragg’s record as district attorney is a frequent target of Republicans, but the issue intensified in recent weeks over his prosecution of Trump. Jordan in particular has emerged as one of Bragg’s biggest foes on Capitol Hill as he leads a congressional probe into Bragg’s investigation of Trump.
Tensions boiled over last week when Bragg suedJordan for what he called an “unprecedentedly brazen and unconstitutional attack by members of Congress.”
The House Judiciary Committee’s hearing has prompted fierce debate over crime in Democratic and Republican areas, with each side pointing to various statistics to make its case.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, during a recent press conference, said the House GOP’s field hearing made “no sense.”
“I’m a little disappointed that they’re coming here complaining about crime here when per capita, their crime is through the roof,” Adams said.
“Don’t be fooled, the House GOP is coming to the safest big city in America for a political stunt,” a spokesperson for Bragg’s office quickly fired back after the hearing was announced.
Bragg’s office also took aim at Jordan specifically, pointing to one analysis which found the murder rate in New York City is lower than that of Columbus, Ohio.
Jordan responded on Twitter, “If New York City is the ‘safest big city in America,’ then why are so many people leaving?”
While New York County had a population decline of 98,505 in 2021 mostly attributable to net domestic outmigration, the county — home to Manhattan — had population growth of 17,472 in 2022, according to data released last month by the United States Census Bureau.
The GOP caucus of the House Judiciary Committee pointed to a website that provides neighborhood statistics called NeighborhoodScout.com, which showed that the violent crime rate for Manhattan was 5.21 per 1,000 residents, compared to 4.26 for Mansfield — though both cities had higher rates than most U.S. cities.
The New York Police Department recently announced violent crime decreased during the first three months of this year, with shootings falling by 23% and homicides falling by 12.7% in the first quarter compared to the same period last year.
The inaugural American Music Honors took place in New Jersey this weekend, but it was missing two of its big stars.
Variety reports the event, a fundraiser for the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University, went on as planned April 15, although Springsteen and wife Patti Scialfa had to miss it after testing positive for COVID-19. Springsteen, wrapped the first leg of his tour with a show at Newark’s Prudential Center on April 14, did appear via video to celebrate this year’s honorees.
“It broke our hearts around 6 a.m. this morning when I got a call that two of the most important people who were supposed to be here, Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa, unfortunately came down with COVID,” Bob Santelli, the Archives’ executive director, told the disappointed crowd. Host Jon Stewart later joked, “They’re alive. Don’t overreact. You can still see them in concert. They’re home sitting by the fire eating French onion soup.”
The inaugural award show honored E Street Band guitarist Steve Van Zandt, Sam& Dave‘s Sam Moore, Darlene Love and Steve Earle for their musical contributions. The night’s house band, the Disciplesof Soul, performed a medley of tunes,including Love’s “A Fine, Fine Boy,” the Sam & Dave hit “Soul Sister, Brown Sugar,” Earle’s “Hard-Core Troubadour” and Van Zandt’s “I Am a Patriot.”
The artists themselves also performed, with Earle singing “Copperhead Road,” Love performing “River Deep Mountain High,” Moore performing “I Thank You,” and Van Zandt performing “Bitter Fruit.” The night ended with all four honorees onstage for a jam that included “It’s Been a Long Time,” “Hungry Heart,” “Soul Man,” “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out” and “I Don’t Want to Go Home.”
(WASHINGTON) — A convicted stalker from Colorado is asking the Supreme Court this week to toss out the law that put him in prison for sending hundreds of messages on social media to a singer-songwriter who felt threatened by the contact.
Billy Raymond Counterman, who spent four-and-a-half years behind bars, says he never intended to harm rising-star performer Coles Whalen, whom he’d never met, and that the First Amendment protects his ability to communicate with a public figure.
Whalen said she feared for her life and that the years of incessant messages from Counterman on Facebook inflicted significant emotional distress and sent her into hiding. She no longer performs openly in public.
“It’s very unfortunate that another individual, completely unprovoked, would be able to take that opportunity from her, to live the life that she wanted to live,” Marita Whalen, Coles’ younger sister and former roommate, said in an interview with ABC News.
The First Amendment protects most speech but not libel, obscenity or what the Supreme Court has called “true threats.” Those can result in prosecution.
In taking up Counterman’s appeal, the justices are set to clarify when a threat becomes a crime.
“The question here is whether you have to prove intent before you can put someone in prison for making a ‘true threat,'” said Jay Schweikert, a research fellow at the Cato Institute, one of several groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, that say punishing Counterman was wrong.
“No one’s here defending the messages that he was sending as model behavior for how to communicate with a public figure,” Schweikert told ABC News. “It’s whether it constituted a threat for which he could be put in prison for four and a half years.”
“We have a lot of heated speech online,” he added, “and the First Amendment does not allow the government to make that a crime.”
Counterman first made contact with Whalen in 2010, but the tone and frequency of his messages evolved over the six years that followed.
Though Whalen never responded, Counterman’s communications ranged from the familiar — “I’m going to the store would you like anything?” — to the unsettling: “I’m currently unsupervised. I know, it freaks me out too, but the possibilities are endless.”
Some messages, Marita Whalen said, were downright alarming.
“You’re not being good for human relations. Die. Don’t need you,” Counterman wrote Coles Whalen in one missive.
“There were messages where Mr. Counterman would reference details about where [Coles] had been or the vehicle she was driving, who she was hanging out with,” Marita Whalen said. “It had a significant impact on her — that lightheartedness that she used to always carry, sharing that joy with other people, it really got dampened. She became much more protective and afraid.”
Coles Whalen was so afraid, her sister said, that she got a permit to carry a gun, hired a bodyguard for some concerts and went to court to obtain a restraining order against Counterman even though she had never seen him in person.
Coles Whalen declined ABC News’ request for an interview to protect her privacy and security.
“We were convinced that he was an unstable individual and his actions would be unpredictable. We felt that he was very dangerous, and law enforcement agreed,” Marita Whalen said.
Colorado law says threats become illegal when a “reasonable person” would suffer “serious emotional distress” from the communications.
In 2016, authorities arrested and charged Counterman with “stalking — serious emotional distress.” A jury later convicted him, and a judge imposed a sentence of four-and-a-half years behind bars.
“Under Colorado law, the specific intent of the stalker, in this case, is not the relevant factor,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser told ABC News. “It’s whether the victim would reasonably experience the fear of physical violence because of the nature of the threats.”
Counterman, who has already completed his sentence, argues in court documents that not having to prove intent risks “essentially criminalizing misunderstandings.”
“If the Supreme Court upholds this conviction, then a huge swath of online speech is open to potential criminal prosecution,” Schweikert said.
But experts say a balancing act is required in the digital age and that law enforcement is in a tough spot.
“In a case of stalking, stalkers are often oblivious to reality. And if you require the state to have to show that they understood that their words were threatening and creating this fear of physical violence, you could actually let a lot of stalkers go,” Weiser said.
“This case is about establishing a precedent that will govern not just the law of stalking, but cases of domestic violence, threats against schools or houses of worship and many other contexts,” the attorney general added.
As the high court now takes up the debate, the Whalen family said they hope the justices don’t reopen old wounds with a decision overturning Counterman’s conviction.
“It’s terrifying, honestly, to think that we might go back to a place where a victim might feel that they’re not going to believe me that this is truly threatening when clearly she felt that her life was at stake,” Marita Whalen said.
As for Coles Whalen: “She is incredibly resilient and a very strong person,” Marita Whalen added. “She has that inherent spark of joy within her, and really there’s no life circumstance or individual that can take that from her.”
