Earlier this year, Def Leppard appeared in the feel-good movie Bank of Dave, which only aired on Netflix in the U.K. Well, it looks like U.S. fans are finally going to get to see what all the fuss was about.
Deadline reports that Samuel Goldwyn Films has landed the North American rights to the British comedy, and will release it in theaters and digitally later this year.
Bank of Dave tells the real-life story of a working-class, self-made millionaire named Dave Fishwick, who tries to set up a community bank to help his town’s local businesses survive. It stars actor Rory Kinnear, who’s been in Penny Dreadful, Black Mirror and James Bond films, including Quantum of Solace and Skyfall.
Def Leppard appear in a cameo in the film, performing at a charity fundraiser for the bank, and were so excited about their appearance they shared behind-the-scenes footage of the filming with fans back in January.
“What a special day,” drummer Rick Allenshared in the clip. “I’m really excited about how this turns out and I think it’s just really an honor to be involved with something like this, with such a fantastic story.”
(SAN FRANCISCO) — Police arrested a fellow tech executive for the killing of 43-year-old Cash App founder Bob Lee, the San Francisco Police Department said on Thursday.
Police identified the suspect as Nima Momeni, 38, who appears to be the owner of an Emeryville, California-based company called Expand IT.
Momeni previously knew Lee, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said.
“Mr. Momeni was taken into custody without incident in Emeryville and transported to San Francisco County jail and booked on a charge of murder,” Scott said at a briefing on Thursday. “Our investigators have been working tirelessly to make this arrest.”
Lee, an executive at cryptocurrency firm MobileCoin, was killed in the early morning hours on April 4 in the San Francisco neighborhood of Rincon Hillon, the San Francisco Police Department said last week.
He died after “apparent stab wounds,” the police said.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins on Thursday applauded the efforts of the SFPD.
“While in some cases we do immediately have as suspect, that was not the situation here,” she said. “Mr. Lee’s killer has been identified, arrested, and now will be brought to justice.”
London Breed, the mayor of San Francisco, previously said in a statement to ABC News last week that Lee’s death marks a “horrible tragedy.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(CHICAGO) — The Democratic National Committee’s decision to have Chicago host its 2024 convention caps a lengthy decision making process, leaving many Democrats pleased but others in rival cities wishing they had gotten the nod.
The DNC announced on Tuesday that the Windy City will hold the nominating convention, the party’s first full event since 2016, after the coronavirus pandemic rendered its 2020 bash, originally slated to be held in Milwaukee, a largely online affair. Chicago beat out Atlanta and New York City to win the confab, letting Illinois lawmakers take a victory lap due to the city’s progressive politics and strategic location in the hot regional battleground of the Midwest.
“It’s a testament to Chicago and Illinois’s priorities aligning with Joe Biden and the Democratic Party the past several decades. Abortion is legal and protected, assault weapons were recently banned, and Chicago is one of the strongest union towns in the country. We’re the complete package,” said Illinois Democratic strategist Tom Bowen.
Democrats who spoke to ABC News said Chicago checked several of the party’s most important boxes in terms of logistics, politics and policy. The city — home to 2.7 million people — is a travel hub and, having already hosted nominating conventions for both parties, has the existing infrastructure to absorb the tsunami of attendees.
It’s also a progressive city in a blue state situated in the middle of a national battleground. Illinois is located near Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, three competitive states that are at the heart of Democrats’ strategy to reelecting President Joe Biden next year.
“Illinois is the anchor of the blue wall states in the Midwest and the perfect place to springboard the reelection campaign’s work in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan,” Bowen said.
Coverage of the convention is likely to spill over into neighboring states, helping reach the kind of swing voters who may not live in Illinois itself.
The friendly politics of Chicago were underscored with last week’s election of progressive Brandon Johnson as mayor-elect over a more moderate Democrat with ties to conservative-aligned groups.
And on policy, having the party powwow in Illinois helps avoid awkward disagreements with a conservative state government. Biden and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker are largely aligned, and the state has adopted Democratic orthodoxy on both economic and hot-button social issues like abortion. The city also has a strong union presence in its hotels, something lacking in Atlanta.
And to top it all off, Pritzker, himself wildly wealthy with a deep fundraising network, personally assured national Democrats that they wouldn’t go into debt if they hosted the convention in Chicago.
“It’s no secret that the Midwest is key to holding the White House and electing Democrats up and down the ticket in 2024. Now, after all, Chicago and the entire Midwest looks like America and is the capitol at the heart of the nation,” Pritzker said in a victory lap on Tuesday.
“Illinois is home to a bustling metropolis, a strong rural tradition, thriving suburbs, not to mention a long-standing history rooted in civil rights and workers’ rights and reproductive rights,” he added.
Still, while picking Chicago may not have burned bridges in either New York or Atlanta, the decision ruffled some feathers in both cities, which would have enjoyed a surge of attention and a potential economic windfall if selected.
“The city would have received a significant benefit from the convention monetarily, from a tax perspective and from an image perspective,” said New York City-based Democratic Hank Sheinkopf, referencing ongoing concerns about crime. “The best cure for crime is people walking around, people believing there is no crime, that it’s overrated, [and] it’s not as bad as people think.”
And supporters in Atlanta pushed back on Democrats’ worries about unions’ smaller footprint compared to Chicago, saying the city’s role in delivering the Senate and White House for the party should have outweighed those concerns.
“Name the state that gave you the Senate, and a margin this time: Georgia. Name the state that put 2020 out of reach for Trump: Georgia. Shouldn’t the Democrats in those states see the Democratic convention in their state? We can’t always say we can only have conventions in states that only have x-number of labor hotels,” said Jarrod Loadholt, a partner in the Ice Miller law firm’s public affairs branch who lives in Georgia.
Still, strategists in other cities said any perceived snub wouldn’t harm cooperation with the national party moving forward.
“We couldn’t compete financially. There’s no shame in that,” said one Georgia Democratic strategist, referencing Pritzker’s financial assurances.
“We made a very good presentation. They took us seriously. And the Biden administration has someone in Georgia every week, so they are certainly not ignoring us. We are grateful to them. We look forward to continue working for them and reelecting them. There is zero anger and zero bitterness,” the strategist added.
While Biden himself has not officially declared his reelection campaign, he and members of his administration are fanning out across the country to tout the record of his first two years in office, including a bipartisan infrastructure bill and an effort to boost the domestic semiconductor industry.
“The period leading up to and through the convention also creates a unique opportunity to engage people throughout the region and to highlight the positive impact of Biden-Harris economic policies like the Infrastructure Act,” said Karen Finney, a former DNC official and a Democratic strategist with ties to the White House.
So far, Biden’s only challengers are self-help author Marianne Williamson and attorney and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who filed paperwork to run and is expected to announce his bid on April 19.
(WASHINGTON) — The Florida House of Representatives on Thursday passed a six-week abortion ban that would replace the state’s 15-week ban. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk for his signature.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said he would sign a six-week ban should it be sent to his desk.
The ban would prohibit all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before most women know they are pregnant. The ban makes exceptions for when the woman’s life or health is at risk and cases of rape or incest, under certain conditions. Even with its current ban in place, Florida has fewer restrictions compared to nearby states.
The bill passed by a vote of 70 to 40. It passed in the Senate last week.
There are four conditions in which physicians can provide abortions under the ban.
To provide abortion care under the law’s exceptions, two physicians would have to certify in writing that the termination of the pregnancy is necessary to save the woman’s life or avert a serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman, according to the law. This does not including psychological conditions.
If two physicians are not available, one physician would have to certify in writing that there is a medical necessity for the legitimate emergency medical procedure to save the pregnant woman’s life or avert irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function and certify another physician is not available for consultation, the law states.
Abortions will also be permitted in cases where the pregnancy has not progressed to the third trimester and two physicians certify in writing that the fetus has a fatal fetal abnormality, according to the law.
The fourth condition according to the law in which physicians can provide abortions is if the pregnancy is as a result of rape or incest and the gestational age of the fetus is not more than 15 weeks, as determined by a physician. At the time the woman schedules or arrives for her abortion appointment, she must provide a copy of a restraining order, police report, medical record or other court order or documentation proving that she is a victim of rape or incest.
Physicians will be required to report incidents of rape or incest in minors to the central abuse hotline, according to the law.
Only physicians will be allowed to provide abortion services.
Anyone who performs or actively participates in an abortion outside these rules commits a felony of the third degree. If the abortion results in the death of the woman, the crime becomes a second-degree felony.
Abortion pills must also be disbursed in person by physicians, prohibiting abortions over telehealth visits and prohibiting the delivery of abortion pills by mail. Physicians must also be physically present in the same room as the woman when the termination of pregnancy is performed or when dispensing abortion pills.
New data shared with FiveThirtyEight indicates that over 66,000 people couldn’t get an abortion in their home state after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last June. Florida, however, surged in abortions in the wake of the ruling with people from other Southern states visiting, according to the data.
In anticipation of the ban passing, abortion providers in the Florida told ABC News they’ve seen a flood of patients from other states.
“Literally every clinic session we are seeing patients from other states. Every time I’m in the health center, there is a patient — at least one if not multiple — from Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, all over the Southeast, who traveled hundreds of miles to get their health care,” Dr. Sujatha Prabhakaran told ABC News.
In turn, it’s created a domino effect where women in Florida are unable to get appointments in their home state.
“That means that patients in those centers are having to travel,” Prabhakaran said. “They’re not able to access care in a timely way in their own communities. So, then they’re having to travel further south to access care in Florida.”
ABC News’ Rachel Scott and Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.
John Fogerty was honored Thursday with the National Association of Music Merchants’ Music for Life Award, which is the organization’s highest honor. Fogerty was celebrated for his contributions to music and for inspiring artists everywhere.
“To get a lifetime achievement-type award is always very satisfying,” Fogerty tells ABC Audio. “It’s nice to be recognized for things that you’ve accomplished in your career.” A fire alarm interrupted his celebration, prompting Fogerty to joke about his award, “I hardly got a chance to hold it.”
Fogerty joins a prestigious list of past Music for Life winners, including Graham Nash, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Bob Weir, Melissa Etheridge and Kenny Loggins.
Next up for Fogerty, he’s set to hit the road for his Celebration Tour, which kicks off April 27 in Uncasville, Connecticut. A complete list of dates can be found at JohnForgerty.com.
Their upcoming Apple TV+ comedy show is called Brother from Another Mother, but it turns out it might not be just a clever title: Best buds and co-stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson very well could be actual brothers.
In a chat with Kelly Ripa on her Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast, McConaughey expressed, “You know, where I start and where he ends, and where he starts and I end, has always been like a murky line, and that’s part of our bromance, right?”
He continues, “In Greece a few years ago, we’re sitting around talking about how close we are and our families,” McConaughey continued. “And my mom is there, and she says, ‘Woody, I knew your dad.’ Everyone was aware of the ellipsis that my mom left after ‘knew.’ It was a loaded K-N-E-W.”
McConaughey did some investigating “to unpack what this ‘knew’ meant,” and “did some math and found out that [Woody’s] dad was on furlough at the same time that my mom and dad were in their second divorce. Then there’s possible receipts and places out in West Texas where there might have been a gathering, or a meeting, or a ‘knew’ moment.”
McConaughey said they haven’t decided to take a DNA test, noting, “It’s a little harder for me because he’s asking me to take a chance to go, ‘Wait a minute, you’re trying to tell me my dad may not be my dad after 53 years of believing that?’ I got a little more skin in the game.”
Brother from Another Mother, what Apple TV+ says will be a 10-episode, “heartfelt odd couple love story revolving around the strange and beautiful bond between Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson,” comes from Emmy-winning Schitt’s Creek alum David West Read.
When Billy Joel first released his #1 hit “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” he could’ve created a video that included an image of every single event and person he mentioned, from Marilyn Monroe to Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan. He didn’t, but now we’ve got one, thanks to the magic of AI, aka artificial intelligence.
A TikTok content creator who goes by the handle @digitalresonator has used a popular AI program called Midjourney — which creates images from descriptions you feed into it — to craft an entirely new video for “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”
“Lots of requests for this one,” the creator wrote. “I hope you guys like this one. It took a long time between the research, the length, and the number of images.” Responding to comments, they said it took “four or five hours” to do.
All the events and people Billy names in the song are depicted via AI-created images, including more generic ones like “hypodermics on the shore,” “Rock ‘n Roller cola wars” and “British politician sex.”
So far, the video has racked up 91,000 likes, and as one fan put it, “I feel like this is the video Billy Joel wanted to do. This is perfection!!”
“This was just beautiful to experience. Really stunning,” another wrote. “Thank you for putting the effort in.”
“That’s incredible! I wish Billy Joel would write the sequel,” one fan chimed in, with many others agreeing that Billy should do an update that covers the 1990s through today. The original covered the year of his birth, 1949, through 1989, when he turned 40.
Years later, Billy admitted, “The melody is horrendous. It’s like a mosquito droning. It’s one of the worst melodies I’ve ever written. I kind of like the lyric though.”
(NOTE LANGUAGE)“Your life is fascinating. I don’t know what it’s like to live it, but … do we have fun watching it,” John Mulaney tells Pete Davidson in the new trailer to the latter’s semi-autobiographical Peacock comedy series Bupkis.
Set to My Chemical Romance‘s “Welcome to the Black Parade,” the snippet opens with the former SNL star confessing to his grandfather, played by Oscar winner Joe Pesci, that he’d been Googling himself. “People think that I’m a joke.”
“That’s because you are a joke,” Pesci warns him.
The show, said to contain “absurd elements from the unfiltered and completely original worldview for which Pete is well known,” also stars Emmy winner Edie Falco as Pete’s mom, trying, as the rest of his family is, to get him on the straight and narrow.
Pete apparently skirts the line between sobriety and sanity in the clip, with his well-advertised reputation as a ladies man getting a mention. “Every guy fantasizes about having your life. That’s why we all hate you,” Bobby Cannavale expresses as his Uncle Tommy.
Later, both Ray Romano and Jon Stewart separately make mention of Davidson’s rumored endowment, with the former directly referring to it and calling Pete “P**** Thanos.”
Other faces that pop up in the trailer include co-stars Simon Rex, and Pete’s latest rumored girlfriend Chase Sui Wonders, as well as comic Dave Attell, Charlie Day and former Vice President Al Gore.
The show debuts on Peacock May 4, two days before Davidson returns to Saturday Night Live as host.
Theo Wargo/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
If you ever wanted to play bass like Duran Duran‘s John Taylor, now’s your chance. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer has teamed up with Dingwall Guitars for a new signature bass, which they say “embodies the personality and stylistic range of the band’s 1982 multi-platinum record,” Rio.
The John Taylor Signature Model Rio Dream Bass launched with a numbered, limited-edition cranberry pearl colored bass, mimicking the colors on the cover of the hit album. It features a special string pack, a “Rio Eye” inlaid in the 12th fret of the fingerboard, a custom guitar hanger and more.
“This bass felt so intuitive to me from the moment I picked it up, and immediately made me wonder why all bass guitars aren’t made like this,” Taylor shared.
With only 83 initially available, Taylor’s bass quickly sold out. Luckily, if you missed out on the initial batch, there will be more to come, with black, vintage white and seafoam models in the works.
If you didn’t get to see Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington on Broadway in their acclaimed turns in The Piano Lesson, you’re in luck.
Netflix has announced it is bringing a film adaptation of the August Wilson play to the streaming service, co-produced by John David’s Broadway vet dad, Oscar winner Denzel Washington.
The production will also star Justice League‘s Ray Fisher, Till‘s Danielle Deadwyler, Straight Outta Compton‘s Corey Hawkins and Michael Potts, who appeared in the Netflix adaptation of another August Wilson work, the Oscar-winning Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
The Piano Lesson takes place in 1936 Pittsburgh, and centers on the Charles family and their heirloom, a piano that was decorated by an enslaved ancestor.
Starring Jackson and Washington,The Piano Lessonrecently concluded its run at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, having played 27 previews and 124 regular performances.It wasthe highest-grossing revival of a play on Broadway and the highest-grossing Wilson production on Broadway ever.
