(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Orlando 116, LA Clippers 111 (OT)
Brooklyn 122, Charlotte 116
Toronto 126, LA Lakers 113
New York 113, Atlanta 89
Memphis 123, Oklahoma City 102
Milwaukee 126, Sacramento 113
New Orleans 104, Detroit 98
Chicago 115, Washington 111
Minnesota 121, Indiana 115
Utah 124, Golden State 123
Boston 125, Phoenix 98
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Washington 4, Philadelphia 1
Buffalo 9, Columbus 4
Calgary 5, Minnesota 3
Boston 4, Colorado 0
Edmonton 8, Arizona 2
NY Rangers 5 Vegas 1
Vancouver 6, San Jose 5 (OT)
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Purdue 85, Hofstra 66
UConn 75, Florida 54
Tennessee 84, E. Kentucky 49
Indiana 81, Nebraska 65
(WASHINGTON) — Second gentleman Doug Emhoff hosted a roundtable at the White House on Wednesday about antisemitism, saying he was compelled to use his “microphone” to address the issue.
“There’s an epidemic of hate facing our country,” he said, kicking off his remarks. “We’re seeing a rapid rise in antisemitic rhetoric and acts.”
“Let me be clear: Words matter,” continued Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris and the first Jewish spouse of a president or vice president. “People are no longer saying the quiet parts out loud. They are literally screaming them.”
The roundtable, which was attended by Jewish leaders, dignitaries and advocates, was organized amid high-profile antisemitic controversies including former president Donald Trump; Kyrie Irving, a star basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets; and Ye, the rapper and designer formerly known as Kanye West.
Police in some parts of the country have also noted increasing violence against Jews.
Last month, Irving shared an antisemitic film on Twitter and later said, after being suspended by his team, “I don’t stand for anything close to hate speech or antisemitism or anything that is going against the human race.” In November, Trump dined at his Mar-a-Lago resort with Ye and Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist. During a subsequent interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on InfoWars, Ye said, “I like Hitler” and later tweeted an image of a swastika combined with the Star of David.
In November, law enforcement alerted the public to threats made against the New York City and New Jersey Jewish communities, which officials later said were mitigated without incident.
Hate crimes also rose 70% last month in New York City compared to the same month a year earlier, led by a surge in antisemitic attacks, which rose 125%, according to the New York Police Department.
During Wednesday’s roundtable, Emhoff described his anguish over antisemitism and urged people to speak out against it.
“I’m in pain right now. We’re all in pain right now. Our community’s in pain,” he said. “It hurts me to see what we’re going through right now. What all people are going through right now. Antisemitism is dangerous. We cannot normalize this. We all have an obligation to condemn these vile acts.”
“We know when people refuse to condemn this vile speech and these vile acts … it only serves to ignite violence, violence among extremists,” he said.
Emhoff said his great-grandparents fled persecution over their Jewish identity in current-day Poland and recalled viewing their names on the ship manifest on Ellis Island and in early census reports.
“Those images, they just live on in my mind,” he said.
Emhoff also vowed to keep using his role to amplify important topics, calling the roundtable only the beginning of the conversation.
“As long as I have this microphone, I’m going to speak out against hate, bigotry, lies,” he said. “I’m going to speak out against those who praise fascist murders and idealize extremists. I’m going to speak out against Holocaust deniers. I’m going to call those out who won’t do it.”
The White House’s top domestic policy adviser, Susan Rice, and Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt also spoke during the event.
Rice, who is Black and who grew up in a predominately Jewish neighborhood and attended friends’ Passover Seders, said she has understood what it was like to be hated for who you are, “but there’s nothing more vicious than what we are seeing today — out of the mouths of our leaders, of our public figures, our celebrities, our elected officials.”
Lipstadt said “for too long” people have failed to take antisemitism seriously.
“Jew hatred has been belittled or discounted because Jews have erroneously been considered white and privileged,” she said. “This is a very real threat to Jews, and that alone would make it worth fighting with all our soul and with all our might.”
But antisemitism threatens more people than just Jews, Lipstadt said. It is linked to other forms of prejudice and hate and is “the death knell of democracy. The antisemite believes Jews control the government, the press, the media and therefore democracy is an illusion.”
“I will not remain silent,” Emhoff said. “I’m proud to be Jewish. I’m proud to live openly as a Jew, and I’m not afraid. We cannot live in fear. We refuse to be afraid.”
None of the speakers during the opening part of the roundtable, which was the only part open to press, mentioned Ye, Irving, or Trump by name.
The organizations that participated in the roundtable included the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Jewish on Campus, Religious Action Center and Anti-Defamation League, according to a White House official. The groups spanned across different Jewish denominations and movements.
Thursday night, Carly Pearce returns to host the annual CMA Country Christmas special for the second year in a row. She’s flying solo for 2022, since her partner from last year, Gabby Barrett, is home taking care of her second baby.
“I was so excited to get to host,” Carly tells ABC Audio. “I get to host it by myself, which feels really, really awesome, and I feel really lucky to get to do that.”
“We had such a good time,” she continues. “I feel like country fans are just going to get to learn a little bit more about me and my family and our loves of Christmas.”
In addition to welcoming guests like Maren Morris, Old Dominion, Dan + Shay and Scotty McCreery, Carly will step up to the mic.
“I get to sing a lot of songs,” she reveals. “I think the one that I was the most excited about, I do kind of a Lee Ann Womack-esque version — her version — of ‘Man with the Bag.'”
The “What He Didn’t Do” hitmaker also performs “Here Comes Santa Claus” and helps out bluegrass sensation Molly Tuttle on a medley of five holiday favorites.
If you’re waiting for a full-on yuletide effort from last year’s CMA Female Vocalist of the Year, you can rest assured it’s coming.
“Eventually I’ll do a Christmas record, I promise,” Carly vows.
Tune in Thursday at 9 p.m. ET to watch CMA Country Christmas on ABC. You’ll be able to catch it Friday on both Hulu and Disney+.
Angel Carter, the twin sister of late singer Aaron Carter, celebrated their birthday by announcing a charity concert in her brother’s memory. Aaron would have turned 35 on Wednesday.
“Aaron dying was the worst day of my life. I have loved him since we were born… it feels like a piece of my soul is gone. And yet, despite all this pain, his passing has lit a fire within me,” she wrote.
Continued Angel, “I feel a calling and responsibility to help other families and continue the conversation to further break the stigmas that surround mental illness.” She said she was encouraged by her family and friends to put on a benefit concert. Proceeds will be directed toward the children’s mental health charity On Our Sleeves.
Songs For Tomorrow will be held January 18 at 8 p.m. PT in West Hollywood, California. The website indicates Nick Carter will be at the event, as well as his fellow members of the Backstreet Boys.
The Carters will be supported by Lance Bass and other members of NSYNC, as well as O-Town, LFO, B. Howard and Ryan Cabrera. More performers will be announced at a later date.
Aaron was found dead in his California home on November 5 at the age of 34. A cause of death has yet to be revealed.
Following Aaron’s death, Nick created an initiative with On Our Sleeves in his memory, with funds supporting children’s mental health to give “a gift of hope” to their families.
Pop Evil has announced a U.S. headlining tour for 2023.
The trek, dubbed the Skeletons tour, launches March 17 with a home state show in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and will come to a close April 23 in Milwaukee. In a tweet, Pop Evil shares that the tour “marks the next chapter” for the band.
“This tour will show Pop Evil like you’ve never seen before,” the “Trenches” rockers tease. “Can’t wait to be back on the road playing for all of you.”
Tickets go on sale this Friday, December 9, at 10 a.m. local time. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit PopEvil.com.
Pop Evil’s most recent album is 2021’s Versatile, which includes the singles “Breathe Again,” “Work” and “Survivor.” This year, they’ve released two new songs: “Eye of the Storm” and “Paranoid (Crash & Burn).”
Next year, Switchfoot‘s 2003 breakout album, The Beautiful Letdown, celebrates its 20th anniversary. Speaking with ABC Audio, frontman Jon Foreman reveals the band has “big plans” to mark the milestone.
“We have some cards up our sleeve,” Foreman teases.
The Beautiful Letdown, Switchfoot’s fourth album, spawned the hit singles “Meant to Live” and “Dare You to Move” and has been certified double Platinum by the RIAA.
“So many memories about that album and the time,” Foreman recalls. “We’re excited to kinda dive in to that journey.”
One of those memories is the first time Switchfoot ever played New York City, which took place around the time the band first got signed to Columbia Records.
“Then they dropped us — we were that good!” Foreman laughs. “And then, like, 2 1/2 million records later, they said, ‘OK you can come back.'”
“It’s been wild to look back 20 years and think of the journey we’ve been on since that album,” he adds.
The Beautiful Letdown will officially turn 20 in February. In the meantime, you can catch Switchfoot on their current holiday-themed tour, which concludes December 18 in Mesa, Arizona. The band’s new holiday record, this is our Christmas album, is out now.
Lindsey Stirling‘s latest holiday album, Snow Waltz, features her takes on classics like “Feliz Navidad,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” “Deck the Halls” and her current hit, “Joy to the World.” She says she’s able to come up with fresh versions of these old favorites by focusing on her “secret weapon” — her violin.
“I always think to myself, ‘Why would someone want to listen to my version?’ There’s so many versions that have been done of all these different songs, and especially if you’re not having that vocal, like, why would someone want to listen to a violin version?'” she tells ABC Audio.
“So then I get to think of creative ways [to do them]: ‘Well, the violin is great at this style, a voice can’t do that,'” she adds, noting that “thinking of things that a violin can do” allows her to create things that “maybe no one else really can.” She laughs, “It’s really fun to think of it as my secret weapon!”
And Lindsey says that focusing on the powers of her violin allowed her to create some truly unique takes on those classics.
“It took the songs in such different directions, like ‘Joy to the World,’ I took it in a Celtic direction because I was able to do all these Celtic riffs and make the song super unique,” she explains. “And all of them are done in ways that you’ve never heard them done before. So whether it’s everybody’s cup of tea or not, who knows? But at least I enjoy them.”
She laughs, “They made them really fun for me to arrange and write, and if anything, it’s at least different. There’s a reason to listen.”
People definitely are listening to Lindsey’s Christmas songs: She’s currently in the middle of her annual holiday tour.
Even though Elton John‘s ending his touring career, he’ll continue to make music. In fact, he believes he’ll never have writer’s block and will always be able to come up with new songs, because he’s just so much better than everyone else.
During a conversation with Elton, his husband, David Furnish, and ex-Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele about fashion, creativity and philanthropy for Saks Live Events, Furnish tells Elton he’s amazed that he and other musicians haven’t “run out of notes” yet when it comes to writing songs, since there are only a finite amount of them.
“Somebody will run out of notes, but I won’t,” Elton declares. “Most people will run out of notes, but I will not — because I just have faith … that something will happen.”
“Also I’m a better musician than most people,” he boasts. “I’m a piano player, so … I don’t just use three or four chords.” He then admits, “I know it sounds really egotistical to say that, but I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think that.”
Elton also dismisses American musicians’ fashion sense, saying they “never really got it as far as dressing [up onstage].” “American rock ‘n’ roll acts were usually just very boring to look at. They were just like, ‘Oh, God,'” he added, rolling his eyes for effect.
The exceptions, he notes, were Sly & the Family Stone and Earth, Wind & Fire — “people like that.”
So why are Brits so much better at fashion? “It’s a British tradition,” he explains. “You look at the great British singers like Mick Jagger and Bowie and Marc Bolan and Rod Stewart and Freddie Mercury … they dressed up and they were flamboyant. It’s a theatrical thing in England … and we were raised in Britain to love that kind of stuff.”
The supernatural series Wicked City has arrived and things are bound to get witchy.
The new ALLBLK drama cast includes accomplished actress Vanessa Bell Calloway, who tells ABC Audio the series “is about these young urban witches in Atlanta, and they’re trying to navigate their way through their lives and their careers.”
“They’re four witches that are really tight and then a fifth sister kind of joins the coven because she is sent there by her mother, actually, and she doesn’t even know this world exists, she has no idea that she too possesses magical powers,” she explains.
Over her career, Bell Calloway has appeared in numerous shows like This Is Us, Saints & Sinners, The Black Hamptons, Shameless, and more. So what drew her to the role in Wicked City?
Aside from the fact that she’s never played a witch on screen, Calloway says, “It was simply a no brainer because I think the project is fresh, it’s new, and you never see a Black leads in a supernatural or spiritual type of spiritual realm, type of show.”
“We’re always girlfriends or the friends or the other person, but we’re never the stars,” she adds.
Bell Calloway also shares that being able to produce the series made the decision to join the cast an easy one.
“I’m at the stage in my career that, yes, I still love to act, but I like to produce and I like to direct,” the actress says. “And anytime you get a chance to be a part of a project that’s in the inception, you know, just being formed and shaped. That’s exciting.”
Catch new episodes of Wicked City, also starring Shaquita Smith, Mercedez McDowell, Chantal Maurice, and Chanel Mack, every Thursday on ALLBLK.
Presley Ann/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images
Issa Rae‘s breakthrough series Insecure came to an end nearly a year ago, but she’s still hard at work, breaking barriers along the way. As The Hollywood Reporter‘s Equity in Entertainment honoree, she sat down with the publication to share some details about her life after the HBO show.
After six successful seasons, Issa says she “took time to decompress” — the whole month of January to be exact. She launched her Rap Sh!t this year, but with no role in the show, she says 2022 “has probably been the most relaxing — relaxing for my standards — year I’ve had in, like, 10 years.”
Rap Sh!t, she adds, allowed her the opportunity to sit in her behind-the-scenes role as creator and writer, which sees her “just sitting on my ass and watching people be great while eating all day.” Still, she felt the pressure to make sure that it was likable and completely different than Insecure.
Overall, the break post Insecure has given Issa the time to figure out “what I want my next three shows to be.”
“I realized that maybe I’m not that great at multitasking and I need to carve out time to be able to continue to create, because that’s what makes me the happiest,” she explains. “That’s what makes me the most excited.”
She’s also happy to see how far her Insecure cast has come in their individual careers. “It really does feel like, ‘Oh, we’re really out here winning,'” she says. “I’m just really proud to see what everybody else is gravitating toward and to see them killing it.
After landing roles on the upcoming films Barbie and Vengeance, Issa is looking for more ensemble work. She is also working toward getting a studio in South LA.
