It’s time to get weird! Weird: The Al Yankovic Story debuts streaming on the Roku Channel Friday, a very heightened version of the parody singer’s life story.
Weird Al tells ABC Audio he had second thoughts about putting the word “weird” in his name when he first started, but it turns out he made the right call.
“I’ve heard from so many people that the fact that I called myself Weird Al was empowering to them because they felt like they were outcasts or freaks or didn’t fit in in some way. And the fact that I was owning my weirdness meant a great deal to them,” he shares.
That acceptance didn’t come overnight for Al, who recalls, “…when I was growing up, it wasn’t cool to be a nerd. Now people are like bragging about their nerd cred, like, oh, I’ve always been a nerd. And I think that weirdoes, as it were, are maybe more accepted today. I think it’s okay to be different these days.”
Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Potter fame, stars as the world’s most famous accordion player in the comedy film, and says Weird Al left him to his own devices when it came to the portrayal, except for one thing.
“The only advice that he really gave and the only notes that he gave was about the accordion,” he reveals. “I think that was sometimes the thing he was most concerned about was that like, it’s my life story, can I please not look crap at playing the instrument that I’ve always played.”
So how does Al rate Daniel’s performance? “He nailed it. He was amazing.”
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story also stars Evan Rachel Wood and Rainn Wilson.
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump settled a civil lawsuit Wednesday that alleged his security guards violently assaulted protesters outside Trump Tower in 2015.
The case, brought by Efrain Galicia and four other protesters of Mexican origin against Trump and his head of security, Keith Schiller, was in the middle of jury selection in Bronx Supreme Court when the parties came to a confidential agreement.
Video from the September 2015 rally appeared to show Schiller smacking Galicia in the face after he reached for a sign that said “Trump: Make America Racist Again.”
“Defendants were staring down the barrel of a Bronx jury who were about to be presented with overwhelming evidence in support of plaintiffs’ claims,” Ben Dictor, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said in a statement to ABC News. “Nevertheless, plaintiffs are proud to have settled their claims and to have obtained written recognition by Donald Trump of their right to protest on the public sidewalk. Powerful men may put their names on buildings, but the sidewalk will always belong to the people.”
The settlement was announced in a stipulation that said the two sides agreed the matter should be “discontinued in its entirety.” The stipulation did not disclose terms.
“Although we were eager to proceed to trial to demonstrate the frivolousness of this case, the parties were ultimately able to come to an amicable resolution. We are very pleased with this outcome and are happy to finally put this matter to rest once and for all,” Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, said.
A joint statement from Trump, signed by Habba on his behalf, and the plaintiffs, said, “The parties all agree that the plaintiffs in the action, and all people, have a right to engage in peaceful protest on public sidewalks.”
Trump said Schiller “did nothing wrong” and called the protesters “troublemakers” during a deposition in October 2021.
“I think they were troublemakers, yes I do. I think they were,” Trump said, according to a transcript.
The protesters said they were lawfully on the public sidewalk outside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan when they were “attacked and their property destroyed.” Their lawsuit also alleged infringement on their free speech rights.
Two of the protesters wore Ku Klux Klan outfits to call attention to David Duke’s endorsement of Trump’s immigration policies during the campaign.
(EVANSVILLE, Ind.) — A deadly home explosion in southern Indiana in August has been ruled accidental, with no signs of foul play, authorities said Wednesday.
Three people died after a house exploded in Evansville on Aug. 10. Two of the victims were in the home where the blast occurred, while the third was not, authorities said.
Investigators discovered a leaking gas line in the basement of the home, according to Indiana State Fire Marshal Steve Jones, who conducted a joint investigation with the Evansville Fire Department.
The line was uncapped and the valve was in the open position, according to the fire marshal, who said he has ruled the cause of the explosion to be accidental.
“Meter data taken after the incident showed a sharp increase in gas usage beginning two days before the blast,” Jones said in a press release. “No additional evidence was found to determine how the valve was opened; however, there is no indication of foul play.”
The source of ignition could not be determined, though electrical devices and other appliances in the home could have served as an ignition source, the fire marshal noted.
Following the blast, the gas lines between the main and meter were determined to be working properly, Jones said.
Testing also confirmed that mercaptan, a foul-smelling additive, was present in the natural gas line leading to the home.
“It could not be determined how the occupants were unaware of the gas accumulating in the home,” the fire marshal said.
The home where the explosion occurred was destroyed and nearly a dozen other homes were uninhabitable after the blast, authorities said.
The victims were identified by the coroner’s office as Charles Hite, 43, and Martina Hite, 37, who both lived in the home, and their next-door neighbor, 29-year-old Jessica Teague.
(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it was raising its short-term borrowing rate another 0.75% to slow key areas of the economy and tame inflation, which is at a 40-year high.
The central bank said its new target range is 3.75%-4%, the highest level since January 2008.
The aggressive move is the latest in a string of borrowing cost increases imposed by the Fed in recent months as it tries to slash price increases by cooling the economy and choking off demand. The approach, however, risks tipping the U.S. into a recession and putting millions out of work.
The fourth rate hike of 2022 also arrives less than a week before the midterm elections.
“Russia’s war against Ukraine is causing tremendous human and economic hardship. The war and related events are creating additional upward pressure on inflation and are weighing on global economic activity. The Committee is highly attentive to inflation risks,” Fed officials said in a statement. “The Committee anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time.”
Data on consumer prices released last month showed that costs rose 0.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis in September, defying efforts to bring prices down. Consumer prices overall rose 8.2% over the 12 months ending in September, exceeding economists’ predictions.
The Federal Reserve is expected to raise the benchmark interest rate by 0.75%, repeating the same hike it imposed at each of the last three meetings, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. Prior to this year, the Fed last matched a hike of this magnitude in 1994.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on several occasions has reiterated the central bank’s commitment to bring inflation down to a target rate of 2%, saying in September the Fed expects to put forward “ongoing increases” to its benchmark interest rate.
The personal consumption expenditures price index – the inflation measure preferred by the Fed – stands at a year-over-year growth rate of 5.1%, government data showed last week.
“Powell has been very clear that inflation is unacceptably high and we have to stay the course to get it down,” Anne Villamil, an economist at Iowa University, told ABC News. “Markets have been a little hopeful that we could have a pause – I don’t see that happening.”
Despite persistent inflation, growing evidence suggests that the Fed’s moves have put the brakes on some economic activity.
Mortgage rates reached a 20-year high last week, as the U.S. faces an ongoing slowdown in home sales and housing construction.
Job growth has persisted at a strong rate but has shown signs of moderating.
U.S. employers added 263,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate fell slightly to 3.5% from 3.7%, exceeding expectations and demonstrating the continued strength of the labor market.
But the total came in well below the typical jobs added over a given month in 2022. Monthly job growth has averaged 420,000 so far this year versus 562,000 per month in 2021, according to the Department of Labor.
Meanwhile, hires and quits fell slightly in September, suggesting that the demand for labor from employers has begun to ebb, government data released on Tuesday showed. The number of job openings, however, increased in September, a sign that the need for workers remains robust.
While some data points to an economic slowdown, a government report released last month showed significant economic growth over three months ending in September. U.S. gross domestic product grew 2.6% over that period; by contrast, economic activity shrank a combined 2.2% over the first six months of the year.
“We’re getting these very conflicting signals,” Villamil said. “That’s why the Fed has a tough job.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden, with less than a week to go until the midterms, delivered a speech Wednesday night condemning political violence and urging voters to protect democracy.
“We must with an overwhelming voice stand against political violence and voter intimidation, period,” he said. “Stand up and speak against it. We don’t settle our differences in America with a riot, a mob, or a bullet or a hammer. We settle them peacefully at the ballot box.”
Speaking from Union Station in Washington, a short distance from the U.S. Capitol, Biden began by addressing the attack against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband last week, detailing how an intruder broke into their California home and assaulted Paul Pelosi with a hammer.
“The assailant entered the home asking, ‘Where’s Nancy? Where’s Nancy?’ Those are the very same words used by the mob when they stormed the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, when they broke windows, kicked in the doors,” Biden said.
Biden then went on to denounce the Jan. 6 attackers as a mob “whipped into a frenzy” by former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election. Those falsehoods, Biden said, are still pervasive this election cycle with some Republican candidates espousing Trump’s lies about the 2020 race and are preemptively sowing doubt about the outcome in the races they’re running in this fall.
“American democracy is under attack because the defeated former president of the United States refuses to accept the results of the 2020 election,” Biden said. “He refuses to accept the will of the people, he refuses to accept the fact that he lost.”
Biden also addressed vote tallies, trying to temper Election Day expectations by reminding the public that it may take a few days before full results are announced.
More than 28 million people have voted early in the 2022 general election, according to data analyzed by the University of Florida’s U.S. Elections Project.
“It takes time to count all legitimate ballots in a legal and orderly manner,” he said.
The speech came just six days out from the Nov. 8 elections, where Democrats are defending their slim majorities in Congress.
Forecasts from FiveThirtyEight point to a potential Republican takeover of the House, while the Senate is in flux.
Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Barack Obama and other political heavyweights have been hitting the campaign trial these final days to shore up voter enthusiasm in contentious races across the country.
Biden’s hoped to cast the 2022 cycle not as a referendum on his presidency but as a choice between Democrats and “MAGA Republicans” who he describes as extremists that threaten rights to abortion, privacy and same-sex marriage.
“I appeal to all Americans, regardless of party, to meet this moment of national and generational importance,” Biden said. “We must vote, knowing what’s at stake and not just the policy of the moment.”
But polling has shown kitchen-table issues are top of mind for a majority of voters. The latest survey from ABC News and Ipsos found 26% of Americans identify the economy as their single most important issue determining their vote while 23% cite inflation.
“People are worried about disorder. And whenever there’s disorder — in this case in crime and economic news — they tend to vote for the opposition,” Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic strategist, told ABC News.
Sheinkopf said it’s “hard to imagine” Biden’s message on democracy will move the needle before next week’s elections.
“[Biden] has to show that he is a unifier at a time of great division, but is it really going to move voters?” Sheinkopf questioned.
Stevie: Erika Goldring/WireImage; Billy: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Ever since he stopped doing joint tours with Elton John a while back, Billy Joel has rarely shared the stage with anyone: It’s unusual for him to even have an opening act. But next year, he plans to team up for a double bill with a performer as equally legendary as he is.
Billy will perform a show on April 8, 2023 with none other than Stevie Nicks. The pairing will take place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. The show is appropriately billed as “Two Icons, One Night.” Tickets will go on sale November 11 at 10 a.m. LiveNation.com or SeatGeek.com.
On Instagram, Stevie wrote, “excited to hit the road with the amazing @billyjoel in 2023.” Her use of the phrase “hit the road” makes it sound as though they might perform together at additional dates, but so far, this is the only one that’s been announced.
The show is Stevie’s first announced performance for 2023; she’ll complete her fall tour this weekend. As for Billy, he’ll continue his Madison Square Garden residency, and next year, he has additional dates booked in Atlanta, Florida, London, New Zealand and Australia.
(NEW YORK) — CBS and its senior leadership knew about multiple allegations of sexual assault against former chief executive Les Moonves but intentionally concealed them from shareholders, regulators and the public, according to an investigation by the New York attorney general’s office that alleged insider trading and violations of consumer protection law that are now part of a $30 million settlement.
A senior CBS executive who knew about the allegations, former chief communications officer Gil Schwartz, sold millions of dollars in company stock in the weeks before the allegations became public, the attorney general’s office said.
The network fired Moonves in December 2018 after two law firms conducted an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations. That triggered a lawsuit by shareholders who alleged CBS and some of its current and former executives made false statements or failed to disclose material information about how the company handles sexual harassment complaints in the workplace.
The attorney general’s investigation also accused a captain of the Los Angeles Police Department of “direct and repeated interference” and violating confidentiality rules when the captain informed CBS about one complaint against Moonves and worked with network executives to prevent the complaint from becoming public.
“Hopefully we can kill media from PD. Then figure [sic] what [Complainant #1] wants,” the attorney general’s office quoted a text message from Moonves as saying.
The New York attorney general’s office said it has referred the matter involving the LAPD captain to the California attorney general.
The LAPD released a statement Wednesday acknowledging the New York attorney general’s investigation “involving the actions of a former command officer of the Department while assigned as a Captain to Hollywood Division.”
“We are fully cooperating with the New York and California Attorney General offices and have also initiated an internal investigation regarding the conduct of the retired command officer as well as to identify any other member(s) of the organization that may have been involved,” the statement said.
LAPD Police Chief Michel Moore added, “What is most appalling is the alleged breach of trust of a victim of sexual assault, who is among the most vulnerable, by a member of the LAPD. This erodes the public trust and is not reflective of our values as an organization.”
According to the attorney general’s office, the same day an individual filed a confidential criminal sexual assault complaint against Moonves at an LAPD station in Hollywood, the former LAPD captain informed a CBS executive of the confidential complaint. The LAPD captain shared an unredacted police report with the executive, who shared it with Mr. Moonves and other executives at CBS, the AG’s investigation found.
The settlement requires Moonves and CBS to pay $30.5 million to shareholders. CBS must reform its human resources practices around sexual harassment and provide biannual reports to the attorney general’s office.
“CBS and Leslie Moonves’ attempts to silence victims, lie to the public, and mislead investors can only be described as reprehensible,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James. “As a publicly traded company, CBS failed its most basic duty to be honest and transparent with the public and investors. After trying to bury the truth to protect their fortunes, today CBS and Leslie Moonves are paying millions of dollars for their wrongdoing.”
As CBS tried to hide these allegations, the company authorized its former chief communications officer, Schwartz, who was one of the few people with information about the allegations and the LAPD police report, to sell his shares, the attorney general’s office said. Schwartz died in May 2020.
Six weeks before the first article about the allegations became public, Schwartz sold 160,709 shares of CBS stock at an average weighted price of $55.08 for a total of $8,851,852. The stock dropped 10.9% from the day before the news broke to the trading day after, according to the attorney general’s office.
“We have reached an agreement in principle to resolve the matter with the Investor Protection Bureau of the New York State Attorney General’s Office,” Paramount Global, CBS’s parent company, said in filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday. “The resolution includes no admission of liability or wrongdoing by the Company.
Moonves agreed to pay $2.5 million, and CBS will pay the rest of the settlement, according to a letter filed Wednesday with the federal judge in Manhattan handling the case.
Taylor Swift revealed at least one song she’ll definitely perform during her Eras Tour, her 2017 track “Delicate.” A fan begged Taylor on TikTok to include it on the set list, and she wrote back with an affirmative, “Done.” Apparently fans scream “1, 2, 3, let’s go, b****!” between the song’s intro and the opening verse.
Justin Bieber and wife Hailey Bieber added a new member to their family — a puppy named Piggy Lou. Justin showed off the new pup when sharing photos of his Halloween costume. Hailey later took to her Instagram Story to reveal Piggy is her dog Oscar‘s “new baby sister.”
Speaking of Hailey, she made waves when she posed with Selena Gomez for a photo last month. Selena, who dated Justin until 2018, told Vulturethe two posing together was “not a big deal” and “not even a thing.” Both have made it clear they are done with fans who are still mad Selena and Justin broke up.
Jennifer Lopez stars in Coach’s new holiday campaign “Feel the Wonder.” She also helped introduce the luxury brand’s first virtual shopping destination, which operates as an immersive experience.
After lavishing Lil Nas X with praise, Adam Lambert revealed he invited him to his famous Halloween party — and he showed up! The pair, who have openly spoken about their respect and admiration for one another, posed together for photos.
Maroon 5’s “One More Night” has surpassed 1 billion YouTube views, making it their third video to hit that number, behind “Sugar” and “Girls Like You.”
The nominees for the 65th Grammy Awards will be announced Tuesday, November 15, at 12 p.m. ET. Nominees for all 91 categories will be announced and the event will be streamed on the official Grammy website, as well as its social media accounts. Presenters will be revealed shortly.
Rick Springfield is coming to Las Vegas for his own residency this spring.
The hitmaker will take over The STRAT Hotel, Casino & SkyPod theater for a pair of weekend dates on Friday, March 24, and Saturday, March 25. More dates are expected to be announced at a later time.
According to an official release, the shows will “focus on Rick’s anthemic hits and deep cuts.” A few songs slated to appear on Rick’s set list include “Jessie’s Girl,” “Don’t Talk to Strangers,” “Love Somebody” and “State of the Heart.”
Fans can start buying tickets on Thursday, November 3, at 10 a.m. PT on the venue’s official website. VIP packages will also be available.
Prices start at $75, and the venue accommodates up to 900 people.
In Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, lawyers for Alec Baldwin were unsuccessful in trying to remove the star and producer of the Western Rust from a negligence lawsuit stemming from the film.
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed, and director Joel Souza injured, when a Colt-style pistol brandished by Baldwin discharged a live round.
According to Deadline, Rust script supervisor Mamie Mitchell had sued Baldwin, and the other producers of the film, claiming she sustained injuries in the incident.
The trade quoted Gloria Allred, one of Mitchell’s attorneys in the case, as saying, “We are very happy that we won, and that the Court today permitted us, over the objection of Alec Baldwin, to proceed in our lawsuit against him on our theories of assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence. In addition, the Court, over Mr. Baldwin’s objection, allowed us to proceed against him for punitive damages.”
Recently the Santa Fe, New Mexico, District Attorney’s Office began its examination of the police report into the deadly incident that took place October 21, 2021.
