Due to overwhelming demand, 300 more theaters will be showing Billie Eilish‘s Live at the O2 movie, which airs one night only on January 27. Tickets are available on the movie’s website.
Pitbull has a new song out this Friday called “Right Or Wrong” that features AYYBO and ero808. He shared a teaser to Instagram that shows his head replaced by a disco ball. “Get ready to be hypnotized!” he warned.
Speaking of Pitbull, he’ll join Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Missy Elliott and others for Usher’s Lovers & Friends Festival in Las Vegas on May 6. Tickets go on sale this Friday, January 20, on the event’s official website.
Jennifer Lopez claims she was supposed to take part in that now infamous VMAs kiss with Madonna — not Christina Aguilera. She told E! Newsshe was invited to perform at the 2003 VMAs with Madge and Britney Spears, but she was busy shooting a movie, “So they got Christina to do it.”
Kelly Clarkson guest stars on Tuesday’s episode of The Rookie on ABC at 8 p.m. ET. She shared a teaser of her boarding a hospital elevator and dealing with the major annoyance of going nowhere because the cast keeps jumping in before the doors fully close.
Gavin DeGraw shared a video of him performing a duet of “Follow Through” with country singer Kelsea Ballerini. Posting to Instagram, he wrote, “Duet vibes. We should do this more.” Kelsea wrote back, “Yes, we’ve only been talking about it for years! let’s do it.”
Dua Lipa is again fanning theories she’s giving acting a go by sharing a photo of her with Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar. She shared the image as part of her “24hrs in Madrid” montage on Instagram.
Jennifer Lopez claims she was supposed to take part in that now infamous VMAs kiss with Madonna — not Christina Aguilera. She told E! News she was invited to perform at the 2003 VMAs with Madge and Britney Spears, but she was busy shooting a movie, “So they got Christina to do it.”
Speaking of Christina, she will be joining Boyz II Men, Mariah Carey, En Vogue, Blackstreet and other throwback artists for Usher‘s Lovers & Friends Festival in Las Vegas on May 6. Tickets go on sale this Friday, January 20, on the event’s official website.
Kelly Clarkson guest stars on Tuesday’s episode of The Rookie on ABC at 8 p.m. ET. She shared a teaser of her boarding a hospital elevator with balloons and flowers — and dealing with the major annoyance of going nowhere because the cast keeps jumping into the elevator before the doors fully close.
Gavin DeGraw shared a video of him performing a duet of “Follow Through” with country singer Kelsea Ballerini. Posting it to Instagram, he wrote, “Duet vibes. We should do this more.” Kelsea wrote back, “Yes, we’ve only been talking about it for years! let’s do it.”
Dua Lipa is again fanning theories she’s giving acting a go by sharing a photo of her with Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar. She shared the image as part of her “24hrs in Madrid” montage on Instagram.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday continued to avoid answering reporters’ questions on the ongoing classified document drama as the White House faces questions of transparency about what it’s told the American public as opposed to the Justice Department.
Face-to-face with reporters at an Oval Office meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte earlier in the day, Biden appeared to smile as a reporter shouted whether he would commit to speaking with the special counsel named to look into the case. Biden has not yet offered a public reaction since Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur last week to investigate the potential mishandling of classified documents.
White House difficulty dealing with the perception problem continued as press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, again, struggled at the podium when confronted with reporters’ questions in the first press briefing since news broke that Biden aides found five more classified documents — which Jean-Pierre did not mention at Friday’s briefing.
The documents were discovered on Thursday, according to the White House, which did not disclose the find until Saturday.
“On Friday, you stood here, though, and were asked about these documents, by our count, some 18 times,” said ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega. “At that point, the president’s lawyers had found these five additional pages of classified document — so did you not know, on Friday, that those documents had been found when you were at the podium, or are you being directed by someone to not be forthcoming?”
“I have been forthcoming from this podium,” Jean-Pierre replied, before later admitting that she “did not know” about the additional pages. “I had the information that you all had at the time.”
Jean-Pierre has, so far, referred all questions to the Justice Department.
“I’m just going to continue to be prudent here. I’m going to let this ongoing review that is happening — this legal process that is happening — let that process continue under the special counsel. We’re not — I’m not — going to comment from here,” Jean-Pierre said Tuesday.
“Look, guys, you guys can ask me this 100 times, 200 times, if you wish. I’m going to keep saying the same thing,” she added later on. “I hear your question. It’s been asked. It’s been answered. It’s been noted.”
Jean-Pierre told reporters that Biden’s mood has been “very clear,” despite reports he has been frustrated by how much this situation has overshadowed his agenda.
“The president has confidence — I can tell you this that the president and his team rightfully took action when they learned that the documents existed,” she insisted.
To help deal with the public relations problem, the White House counsel’s office spokesperson, Ian Sams, held his first on the record briefing call with reporters Tuesday afternoon to take questions on the matter ahead of Jean-Pierre’s briefing — but revealed very little new information.
For the first time, Sams explained why Biden’s personal lawyers were cleaning out his office at the Penn Biden Center in the first place, saying “trusted aides” were involved since “this is the president of the United States, and these are personal materials.”
Sams also faced questions about why the White House did not disclose the discovery of five additional pages until news broke on Saturday morning and offered one justification for withholding information on the investigation to the public. He said releasing incomplete information could do a disservice to the public — and appeared to acknowledge more materials could be discovered.
“The investigation may uncover additional information,” Sams said. “It may reveal additional facts…But when you are releasing impartial or periodic information … you run the risk that the public isn’t served by incomplete information at times. And so we understand that there’s a tension here and we’ve been trying to balance that tension while being totally cooperative with the Justice Department.”
“On Saturday, the president’s personal attorneys, the White House counsel’s office, we released additional statements. We thought it was important to address information that we had put out previously in the week, but we also wanted to make sure that you all had a fulsome explanation of the process so far,” Sams said, not acknowledging the host of additional questions Saturday’s statement dredged up.
While Sams, nor any of the president’s lawyers, have appeared at a White House press briefing, he has released statements taking on Republicans’ attacks.
“House Republicans have no credibility,” he said in a statement on Monday. “Their demands should be met with skepticism and they should face questions themselves about why they are politicizing this issue and admitting they actually do not care about the underlying classified material.”
“As President Biden has said repeatedly, he takes classified information seriously, which is why he immediately directed his team to ensure the documents were sent back to the government. President Biden is doing the right thing and is cooperating fully with a thorough review, but House Republicans are playing politics in a shamelessly hypocritical attempt to attack President Biden,” Sams added.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday afternoon punched back at the White House and said Democrats were the hypocrites.
“They found out President Biden had these documents, not under lock, but a simple push of a button that could open a garage door … prior to an election, they kept it secret,” the top House Republican told reporters on Capitol Hill. “And no time did he get raided by the FBI. At no time did they come forward and say who was there could actually see these documents that are sitting in the garage behind a corvette.”
McCarthy said House Republicans plan to look into both Trump and Biden’s special counsel investigations. This comes after House Oversight chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., requested visitor logs and communications from the Biden White House but said investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents was not a priority.
“My concern is how there’s such a discrepancy in how former President Trump was treated, by raiding Mar-a-Lago, getting security camera, taking pictures of documents on the floor, going through Melania’s closet, versus Joe Biden, your personal lawyers who don’t have security clearance, they can go through, they can just keep looking and keep looking and determine whatever is there,” Comer said Sunday on CNN.
Some outstanding questions
There are still several outstanding questions the White House has not answered.
One primary question is why wasn’t the DOJ investigation wasn’t made public until two months after the first documents were found. Another is what prompted the president’s personal lawyers to go back to his Wilmington Home on Jan. 11, after document discoveries in November, before the midterms, and in December.
Reporters have also asked Biden whether he will agree to sit down for an interview with the special counsel but, so far, have no answers.
Finally, the question as to what exactly is in the classified documents has not been answered by the White House.
ABC News’ Molly Nagle and Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.
(WINDSOR, Va.) — A Black soldier in uniform who was pepper-sprayed in his car by Virginia police officers during a traffic stop has been awarded less than $4,000 in a million-dollar lawsuit against the two officers.
The jury awarded 2nd Lt. Caron Nazario a total of $3,685 in the lawsuit against Windsor, Virginia, police officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker.
The officers faced four counts: assault, battery, false imprisonment and illegal search.
Gutierrez was ordered to pay $2,685 in damages, no malice, under liability for assault. He was cleared of all other charges.
Crocker was liable for an illegal search, no malice. He was ordered to pay $1,000 in damages. He was cleared of all other charges.
Nazario’s lawyer, Tom Roberts, said it was a “sad day” and that the verdicts fail to send the message to other police officers that “this conduct is unacceptable.”
“It is open season on citizens in Virginia and across the county,” Roberts said in a statement. “Citizens will not rest assured that scenes like this are not repeated with impunity.
The officers pulled over Nazario on the evening of Dec. 5, 2020. Body-camera footage showed Gutierrez pepper spray Nazario when he would not get out of the car.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Taylor Swift had a memorable reaction when she found out “Anti-Hero” scored another week atop the Billboard Hot 100, thus becoming her longest-running #1 song.
Taking to her Instagram Story, the hitmaker wrote in all capital letters, “What on earth. I love you guys.” She reposted the official Billboard announcement that crowned her record-making song.
The singer also sent love to fellow artist SZA, who recently released her new #1 album SOS. Rumors had sparked that she and Taylor were locked in a bitter rivalry after SOS knocked Midnights to second place on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
SZA was first to shut down the feud rumors by tweeting out earlier this month, “I don’t have beef w ANYONE especially not Taylor lmao I genuinely loved her album and the writing!”
It was Taylor’s turn to prove there was no ax to grind. She wrote in an Instagram Story, “PS – Been listening to @SZA’s album nonstop. Absolutely adore her music. So much love and respect for her!!”
Keith Emerson in 1977; Ed Perlstein/Redferns/Getty Images
A new book dedicated to the late ELP keyboardist Keith Emerson has just been released. The book, Emerson: The Official Illustrated Story, features never-before-seen photos of the rocker from the private Emerson family archives, along with live performance photographs and more.
The book also features new interviews with Keith’s friends and family sharing their favorite memories of him. There are also interviews with fellow artists, such as ex-ELP member Carl Palmer, Rick Wakeman, ex-Doobie Brothers guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter and many others.
The book has been released in two versions, the Classic and the Signature, the latter of which is signed by author Chris Welch and Keith’s son Aaron Emerson. It features a CD of an unheard Emerson interview, an exclusive art print portrait of Keith and sheet music for a song called “Quatermass Boogie Woogie,” the first piece Emerson composed at just 12 years old.
In a behind-the-scenes post to Instagram, Selena Gomez revealed that none other than Oscar winner Meryl Streep has joined the cast of Hulu’s hit Only Murders in the Building.
The bit opens with Selena flanked by cast members Steve Martin and Martin Short. “What are we shooting?” she asks, smiling, before answering: “Season 3!”
“The gang is back,” she continues, panning her selfie video to reveal fellow cast member Andrea Martin waving her hellos.
“Can this honestly get any better?” Selena asks, to which another pan reveals Paul Rudd, who says, “Well, I do think it can get a little bit better.”
Selena answers, “What do you mean?” before Streep pops up behind her.
“Steve, do you need a pillow?” she asks Martin, who graciously accepts some support behind his back. “Marty, do you need anything?” the legendary actress asks, to which Short replies, “Just the tea I asked for a half hour ago.”
Selena says she’s fine, then finishes the video with a genuine OMG face.
There’s no debut date yet for the third season of the Emmy-nominated show, but it should drop later this year.
Zachary Levi opened up to fans on social media about his father’s battle with thyroid cancer.
The Shazam! actor, 42, took to Twitter on Monday to respond to a fan who had asked where he was. He said he was at his dad’s side in a hospital room.
“He’s not doin so hot right now. The thyroid cancer just won’t quit, and is slowly overtaking his trachea,” Levi shared, adding, “Papa D is not long for this world.”
The Tangled actor told a fan who inquired about his own well-being that he was “doin just fine” and spoke frankly about the reality of his father’s situation.
“Death does not sadden or frighten me,” he wrote. “It’s actually an incredibly powerful part of life. One that we’ll all reach one day. Where we get to go back to God, the source, and be surrounded by the highest vibration of energy, love.”
In a separate tweet, the Chuck alum asked fans to send prayers for his family, especially his dad.
“But for anyone out there that feels like rollin up some spiritual sleeves and prayin, send some up for my pops,” he tweeted. “Pray that he be as comfy and at peace as a man could get. And that he head home with no fear or regrets, knowing how loved he is.”
Levi’s tweets drew support from fans, as well as The Vampire Diaries co-creator Julie Plec, talk show host Sherri Shepherd, Glee favorite Jane Lynch and more.
Jimmy Buffett is all about the sun and sand, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that he’s spending some more time onstage in Florida this year. The singer just announced three new shows in the Sunshine State for his 2023 Second Wind Tour with his Coral Reefer Band.
The new dates include February 9 and 11 in Key West, Florida, and February 15 in Hollywood, Florida. Tickets for the new shows go on sale January 20 at 10 a.m. ET.
The February 9 show actually kicks off Buffett’s Second Wind Tour, which currently has dates confirmed through May 6 in San Diego, California. Click here for a complete list of dates.
Ed Sheeran is back with a touching tribute to his friend Jamal Edwards.
“Thursday 8pm GMT,” Ed cryptically captioned an Instagram announcement, which sees him rapping in honor of his late friend.
The teaser video includes the lyrics, “Yo, Jam, this is a letter to you/ It’s been a while but it’s been hard for me to get in the booth/ Since we last spoke, I’ve become a father of two/ Trying to live life with a smile but that’s been harder to do/ Cuz all I wanna do is talk about you/ But these tears won’t let me talk about you/ Wish I had known that we’d be lost without you/ Therapy sessions digging deep in depression/ I’ve got a life full of blessings, but this just breaks my f***ing heart.”
The video, which sees Ed performing in an empty soccer stadium, abruptly cuts off. The audio is currently titled “F64 for SBTV.”
SBTV also shared the video announcement and wrote, “F64’s are back!!! Loading.. This is just the beginning.”
Edwards, a British music entrepreneur, died last year at age 31. He is credited with launching Ed’s career after featuring him on an acoustic A64 session on his SBTV channel in February 2010. The two had remained friends.
