Kirk Franklin‘s The Night Before Christmas is set to air on Lifetime this holiday season.
The network released a first look of the film this week: an image of stars Naturi Naughton and Luke James, who stand gazing at one another in front of holiday decor.
The movie follows an estranged mother and daughter, played by Naughton and Lorea Turner, who are caught in a blizzard on Christmas Eve and are forced to take refuge in a church. There, they meet others who are trapped inside. The group, including handsome youth pastor Adam, played byJames, and a music teacher, Kirk, weathers the wintry storm together. Through music, faith and love, James and Franklin’s characters help the mother/daughter duo reconcile their differences. Together they put on an unforgettable Christmas performance.
Kirk Franklin’s The Night Before Christmas premieres December 10 at 8 p.m. on Lifetime.
Carly Pearce, Kane Brown, Cody Johnson, Lainey Wilson, Walker Hayes and Luke Combs were the men and women of the hour at the 2022 CMT Artists of the Year ceremony on Wednesday night: all six artists were feted for their massive year at the forefront of the country genre.
“It feels like all the hard work is finally coming to fruition,” says Lainey, a first-time honoree who had her breakout year in 2022. “I mean, it’s been 11 years in the making.”
Lainey says CMT has always shown her support, even before her mainstream stardom. Fellow newcomer Cody Johnson echoes that gratitude for being honored at the show.
“They could have picked anybody. There’s a lot more people that are more qualified … and yet here we are,” he notes. “And I’m very, very honored to be here.”
Cody also points out the diversity in the room, saying, “Nobody sounds the same, and that versatility is what I feel like country music should be.”
Dustin Lynch agrees: He was on hand to honor Kane and says he admires how his fellow star has carved out his own lane, bringing new listeners to country music. “I think Kane’s done an amazing job at straddling genre lines and having success in different worlds,” he says.
Few artists have enjoyed more momentum in 2022 than Carly, who says she never stops feeling grateful for her seat at the country table.
“It’s just, like, the biggest cherry on top,” Carly says. “You think about just wanting to matter in country music … that’s all I wanted as a kid. And tonight solidifies for me that I’ve had a year where I matter, and that’s all I ever wanted.”
The CMT Artists of the Year ceremony will air Friday at 9 p.m. ET on CMT.
You’ll soon be able to work out your body and emotions thanks to the new Apple Fitness+ Taylor Swift workout program.
The platform announced Thursday that it has designed a series of new workouts around her music, which includes her forthcoming Midnights album.
“Get ready to sweat, Swifties. In our next Artist Spotlight, you will be able to work out to the tunes of @taylorswift, including tracks from her monumental new album Midnights,” the platform revealed on Instagram.
Fans can jam to Taylor while will working out with Apple Fitness instructors on the treadmill, while doing high-intensity interval training or practicing yoga. For yoga, songs on the workout playlist include the Fearless (Taylor’s Version) deep cut of “Breathe” featuring Colbie Caillat, the Taylor’s version of “Wildest Dreams” and two mystery songs off the Midnights album.
The treadmill workout features more upbeat songs, such as her new versions of “Love Story” and “Red.” The playlist also includes some mystery Midnights tracks.
Finally, the HITT course features a shorter playlist, with songs like “You Need to Calm Down” and “22.”
It appears there are only three workout programs available right now, based on the Instagram reveal.
Taylor joins a growing list of artists who have their own Apple Fitness+ workout program. Previous artists to be highlighted by Apple include Elton John, Katy Perry, Queen and BTS.
This Sunday, October 16, marks the 40th anniversary of the release of INXS‘ breakout third studio album, Shabooh Shoobah.
Shabooh Shoobah was the Australian band’s first album to be released worldwide, and its first to garner major attention in the U.S., thanks in large part to popular videos for the singles “The One Thing” and “Don’t Change” that went into heavy rotation on the then-fledgling MTV.
Founding INXS keyboardist Andrew Farriss, who co-wrote most of the band’s songs with late frontman Michael Hutchence, tells ABC Audio, “Shabooh Shoobah, was a very important part of our career.”
Farriss recalls that when the band first toured the U.S. in 1983, in support of Shabooh Shoobah, they were surprised to find that many people were already familiar with their music, and he says he realized that it was because of the “national television exposure” INXS was getting thanks to MTV.
“The One Thing” became INXS’ first top-40 hit in the U.S., peaking at #30 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album reached #46 on the Billboard 200, and wound up being certified Gold by the RIAA for sales of 500,000 in the States.
“The One Thing” video featured the band at a decadent dinner party, and included scenes of the charismatic Hutchence singing the tune in an outfit reminiscent of something The Doors‘ Jim Morrison might have worn.
Interestingly, Farriss says that when INXS played a music-themed TV show in Los Angeles during that early tour, Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek visited them backstage and asked to speak with Hutchence.
Andrew recalls that Manzarek told Hutchence that he’d seen the band on TV and “was overwhelmed,” adding, “You’re the first person I’ve ever seen that reminded me that much of Jim.”
Here’s Shabooh Shoobah‘s full track list:
“The One Thing”
“To Look at You”
“Spy of Love”
“Soul Mistake”
“Here Comes”
“Black and White”
“Golden Playpen”
“Jan’s Song”
“Old World New World”
“Don’t Change”
The film Rosaline, out October 14 on Hulu, is a reimaging of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, focusing on the character mentioned in the play as Romeo’s first love.
The character might not be familiar to you, just like it wasn’t for Kaitlyn Dever, who plays Rosaline.
“She’s mentioned and she’s talked about, but it’s not as nothing major,” she explains to ABC Audio. “And so I’m excited that in our movie, we really got to create her world and who she is.”
That’s not the only update to the classic story. Dever notes, “Even the guy that my dad is trying to set me up with…randomly has kind of a Southern accent…it makes no sense within the context of the era, [but] that’s what we’re doing with the story is we’re just having a lot of fun with it.”
Actress Isabelle Merced, who plays Juliet in the movie was also relieved to ditch the Shakespeare-ese.
Admittedly not much of a Shakespeare person, she says, “I wish I was. It’d probably be cool. But no I’m glad we did not have to do all that for this one.”
One of the themes of the movie, according to Dever: love is complicated.
“Sometimes you think you might be in love with somebody, and then it turns out to be either lust or infatuation, or you think that this is the person you are supposed to be and meant to be with for the rest of your life. And that doesn’t quite pan out always,” she says.
Adds Merced, “We have a tendency as Hollywood to represent love as some sort of perfect, unbreakable thing that triumphs above all…I think love’s a little bit more realistic than that…And I think that’s what Rosaline learns [and] what Juliet learns.”
(RALEIGH, N.C.) — At least five people were killed, including an off-duty police officer, and two others were injured in a shooting along a nature trail in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday night, authorities said.
The suspect, who police said is a white male juvenile, has been taken into custody. There is no active, ongoing threat, according to Lt. Jason Borneo of the Raleigh Police Department, who told reporters that a motive will be determined over the coming days.
An injured officer has been released from the hospital and a second person remains in critical condition, Borneo said. A K-9 officer who has non-life-threatening injuries is among those injured, according to Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin.
“When we lose one of our own, it is a tragic, heartbreaking day for all of us,” Borneo told reporters.
“We must stop this mindless violence in America and we must address gun violence,” Baldwin added.
At least three people were transported to WakeMed Health and Hospitals’ trauma center in connection with the incident, a hospital official told ABC News. There was no word on their current condition, and the hospital official did not know if others were injured in the shooting.
The shooting took place in the area of the Neuse River Greenway Trail near Osprey Cove and Bay Harbor drives, according to police.
“Residents in that area are advised to remain in their homes,” the Raleigh Police Department said in a post on Twitter.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said he has instructed state law enforcement to “provide assistance responding to the active shooter in East Raleigh.”
“State and local officers are on the ground and working to stop the shooter and keep people safe,” he said on Twitter.
“Tonight terror has reached our doorstep. The nightmare of every community has come to Raleigh,” Cooper said during a second press conference Thursday night. “This is a senseless, horrific and infuriating act of violence that has been committed.”
North Carolina Department of Public Safety Secretary Eddie Buffaloe, Jr. also confirmed the department has made state resources available and is “working with local law enforcement to stop this shooter.”
North Carolina State Highway Patrol, North Carolina State Capitol Police and North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement are assisting the Raleigh Police Department with the incident.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
AMERICAN LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Houston 4, Seattle 2
Cleveland at NY Yankees (Postponed)
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PRESEASON
Memphis 126, Detroit 111
Oklahoma City 118, San Antonio 112
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Buffalo 4, Ottawa 1
Philadelphia 5, New Jersey 2
Pittsburgh 6, Arizona 2
Toronto 3, Washington 2
Florida 3, NY Islanders 1
NY Rangers 7, Minnesota 3
Dallas 4, Nashville 1
Calgary 5, Colorado 3
Vegas 1, Chicago 0
Seattle 4, Los Angeles 1
(WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.) — A Purdue University student accused of stabbing his roommate to death in their dorm room has been ordered held without bond before he goes on trial.
Ji “Jimmy” Min Sha, 22, was formally charged with murder on Thursday in the killing of Varun Manish Chheda, 20, in what police called an unprovoked attack. Prosecutors allege that Sha “did knowingly or intentionally kill” Chheda, charging documents state.
Chheda was found dead in his room at McCutcheon Hall, a residence building on the school’s campus in West Lafayette, Indiana, after midnight on Oct. 5.
Sha had called 911 and told police “he had just killed his roommate with a knife,” according to the probable cause affidavit.
Responding officers found “apparent blood spatter on the wall, a pool of blood on the floor and a folding knife on the floor,” the affidavit said.
Sha “admitted he used the knife to kill Chheda while he was sitting in the chair where police found him,” according to the affidavit.
Chheda died from”multiple sharp force traumatic injuries,” according to the Tippecanoe County Coroner’s Office.
Sha, an international student from South Korea, is scheduled to appear for a hearing on Dec. 2 in Tippecanoe Circuit Court. A trial date has yet to be scheduled.
ABC News did not immediately receive a response to an email seeking comment from Sha’s attorney.
As he walked into court for his first appearance before a judge last week, Sha told reporters “I am very sorry” when asked if he had a message to the victim’s family.
Sha also said “I was blackmailed,” though did not elaborate.
Police have not outlined a motive in the case.
“I believe this was unprovoked and senseless,” Purdue University Chief of Police Lesley Weite told reporters last week.
Chheda, who grew up in Indianapolis, was a senior majoring in data science. The university held a vigil for him on Wednesday, a week after his death.
“This is as tragic an event as we can imagine happening on our campus and our hearts and thoughts go out to all of those affected by this terrible event,” Purdue University President Mitch Daniels said in a statement last week.
ABC News’ Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
(DALLAS) — A gun accidentally discharged inside a Texas elementary school cafeteria on Thursday after a child allegedly brought the firearm to school, according to the Dallas Independent School District.
The incident occurred before classes began as breakfast was served at John W Carpenter Elementary School in Dallas, a Dallas ISD official told ABC News.
The district official said no one was injured.
“I didn’t know what to think, what to feel… Just came over immediately,” parent Brandy Fields told ABC News Dallas affiliate WFAA. “She’s safe, so [deep breath].”
Fields told the station her daughter went directly to her class, but another student told her daughter a child was showing off a gun inside the cafeteria before it fired.
“My friend told me she almost got shot today,” Fields’ daughter, 5th-grade student Abbey told WFAA. “I was so confused. She told me someone brung [sic] a gun, and they were showing it to everybody. And while they was playing with it, it went off.”
Following the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where an 18-year-old suspect fatally shot 19 students and two teachers, Dallas ISD decided to require sixth to 12th-grade students to wear clear or mesh backpacks.
“By being able to easily see the items in the backpacks as students enter the school, campus personnel will be able to ensure that prohibited items are not included among the students’ belongings,” Dallas ISD wrote on its website. “Clear or mesh backpacks will also speed up students entering the school at the beginning of the day because opening and inspecting every backpack may not be necessary.”
The Dallas Police Department is investigating the incident.
(SAVANNAH, Ga.) — Police in Savannah, Georgia, said they believe the toddler who mysteriously vanished one week ago is dead, and they’ve named the boy’s mother as the primary suspect.
Chatham County police on Wednesday brought search dogs to the home of the 20-month-old Quinton Simon, who has been missing since Oct. 5.
Police later on Wednesday named Quinton’s mother, Leilani Simon, as the prime suspect in his disappearance and death.
No one else is considered a suspect, Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley said at a news conference Thursday.
Quinton’s body has not been found.
Quinton was last seen at his Savannah home around 6 a.m. on Oct. 5 by his mother’s boyfriend, the chief said. After Quinton’s mother woke up, she reported him missing around 9:40 a.m., he said.
Police said last week that the case didn’t appear to involve a custody dispute.
Hadley added Monday that police have had contact with Quinton’s biological father and said he’s not a suspect.
Chatham County police requested FBI assistance the day Quinton was reported missing and over 40 FBI agents joined the case.
“To the Chatham County community: Our heart breaks, along with yours, in trying to comprehend what we believe happened here,” the FBI’s Will Clarke said Thursday.
