Sure, he was a champion in the wrestling ring and has starred in blockbuster movies like Fast 9 and hit shows like Peacemaker, but John Cena is now officially a world record holder, for a great reason.
Guinness Book of World Recordshas certified that Cena has set the all-time record for most visits with patients in the Make-A-Wish charity, which grants once-in-a-lifetime requests for critically ill people aged 2-18.
With 650 visits under his belt, Cena’s giving back has officially made him a different kind of champion.
Cena, who made his first Make-A-Wish visit in 2002, remains the most-requested celebrity, according to the organization.
For the record, it wasn’t even close: In the 42-year history of the charity, the second-place finisher only managed 200 visits, according to Guinness.
As reported back in June, Cena traveled to Europe to meet with a young special needs fan whose family fled war-torn Ukraine. The star found out Misha Rohozhyn‘s mother told the non-verbal young man they had to leave the country to meet Cena, in an effort to comfort him. Even though it wasn’t an official “wish” with the charity, the star made the fantasy happen for real.
Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde don’t appear to be back on the market. After the couple was hit with breakup rumors, they creatively hit back by enjoying a romantic date night with lots of kisses.
Entertainment Tonight reports Harry and Olivia palled around New York City and looked very happy to be in the other’s company. Paparazzi snapped photos of them walking arm-and-arm while others caught them sharing a passionate kiss.
The outlet also reports Olivia supported her beau at his final concert in Madison Square Garden by singing and dancing to his music.
Rumors of a breakup hit the happy couple amid a series of strange reports plaguing the premiere of their movie Don’t Worry Darling — namely “Spit-Gate,” where Harry was accused of spitting on co-star Chris Pine.
All three have denied the reports, with Wilde most recently defending Harry on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. “I think it’s a perfect example of people who look for drama anywhere they can. Harry did not spit on Chris,” the movie director expressed. “He really didn’t!”
Harry and Olivia have been romantically linked since January 2021.
Wynonna Judd has mixed emotions as she prepares to kick off The Judds: The Final Tour solo.
On April 30, one day before The Judds were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, matriarch Naomi Judd died by suicide. Two weeks prior, the legendary duo had announced a final reunion tour, taking them to 11 cities across the country.
Despite her grief, Wynonna says she’s continuing the tour solo to fulfill her mother’s wishes.
“I think it’s important to do it,” the singer says to CBS Sunday Morningabout getting back on stage, adding that she feels like she has “marching orders” from her mother.
The tour will see Wynonna performing classic Judds hits like “Love is Alive” and “Give a Little Love.” She’s gathered an all-star lineup of opening acts, including Ashley McBryde, Kelsea Ballerini, Faith Hill, Martina McBride and more.
The singer is expecting a wave of emotions when she hits the stage without her mother by her side but is staying strong for their loyal fans.
“As I walk out on stage that first night I’ll probably say something like ‘it’s not supposed to be like this,’ because it’s not. It’s supposed to be the two of us and I’m going to be angry because she’s not there,” Wynonna expresses. “I want to come out onstage and sing from my toenails a song that helps someone out in that audience. It’s about me singing to help someone feel better. That’s always in my spirit”
The tour begins on Friday in Grand Rapids, MI and will wrap up October 29 in Lexington, KY.
(NEW YORK) — Rihanna will take the stage for the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show in February.
The National Football League posted an image to social media on Sunday of Rihanna’s hand holding a football and wrote, “Let’s GO.” The singer shared the same image.
The game will be held Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
The news comes after the NFL announced Apple Music as the new partner for the Super Bowl halftime show, replacing longtime sponsor Pepsi, via a press release dropped at midnight on Sept. 23.
In October 2019, Rihanna confirmed that she had turned down an offer from the NFL to headline the Super Bowl LIII halftime show, citing Colin Kaepernick.
“Absolutely. I couldn’t dare do that. For what? Who gains from that? Not my people,” Rihanna told Vogue magazine at the time when asked if she turned down the offer in solidarity with the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback.
Recent Super Bowl halftime show performers include Shakira and Jennifer Lopez in 2020, The Weeknd in 2021 and Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar in 2022.
Prior halftime shows under Pepsi include Prince in 2007, Beyoncé in 2013, Bruno Mars in 2014, Katy Perry in 2015, Coldplay in 2016, Lady Gaga in 2017, Justin Timberlake in 2018 and Maroon 5 in 2019.
(WASHINGTON) — Ahead of what could be their final investigative hearing, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, members of the House Jan. 6 committee on Sunday offered a small preview of what is to come as they rapidly approach the end of their timeline.
“We’re not disclosing yet what the focus will be. I can say that, as this may be the last hearing of this nature — that is, one that is focused on sort of the factual record — I think it’ll be potentially more sweeping than some of the other hearings,” Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said on CNN’s State of the Union.
“But it too will be in very thematic,” he said of the hearing. “It will tell the story about a key element of Donald Trump’s plot to overturn the election. And the public will certainly learn things it hasn’t seen before, but it will also understand information it already has in a different context by seeing how it relates to other elements of this plot.”
After the committee’s vice-chair, Rep. Liz Cheney, said Saturday that she believes the group will move forward unanimously, Schiff agreed and went a bit further when asked if there was going to be an unanimous criminal referral made about the former president’s conduct. (Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he did nothing wrong and cast the committee, which includes two Republicans, as partisan.)
“It will be … my recommendation, my feeling, that we should make referrals,” Schiff said. “But we will get to a decision as a committee, and we will all abide by that decision, and I will join our committee members if they feel differently.”
Cheney has also said the committee received around 800,000 pages of communications from the Secret Service in response to a subpoena. Members of the committee said Sunday they are still going through that information.
While the provided materials are not a substitute for the Jan. 6-related messages that were deleted, they offer some additional context, according to Schiff.
“We are still investigating how that came about [the deleted messages] and why that came about. And I hope and believe the Justice Department, on that issue, is also looking at whether laws were broken in the destruction of that evidence,” Schiff said on CNN. “But we do have a mountain of information that we need to go through. But I think it’s fair to say that it won’t be a complete substitute for some of the most important evidence, which would have been on those phones.”
Asked about former committee adviser Denver Riggleman’s recent suggestion that “the White House switchboard had connected to a rioter’s phone” during the attack on the Capitol last year — and if he viewed such a development as significant to the investigation — Schiff downplayed the comment.
“I can’t comment on the particulars. I can say that each of the issues that Mr. Riggleman raised during the period he was with the committee, which ended quite some time ago, we looked into. And one of the things that has given our committee credibility is we’ve been very careful about what we say, not to overstate matters,” Schiff said, adding, “Without the advantage of the additional information we’ve gathered since he left the committee, it poses real risks to be suggesting things. So, we have looked into all of these issues.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press and was asked about the likelihood that the Jan. 6 committee will have testimony from Ginni Thomas and Newt Gingrich before Wednesday’s hearing.
“I doubt that. But I think that there is an agreement in place with Ginni Thomas to come and talk and I know the committee is very interested,” Raskin said, referring to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife, a noted conservative activist who was in touch with Trump’s team as he pushed to overturn the 2020 results.
Raskin said that those testimonies — once they are given — will be included in the committee’s final report if the hearings have already concluded.
He was also asked if that report will be finished by the midterm elections.
“I don’t know whether it will be done then, but our commitment is to get it done by the end of this Congress [by January],” Raskin said. “The House of Representatives, unlike the Senate, ends every two years. A completely new Congress comes in. So that’s the end of our lease on life and we have to get it out to the people.”
Pressed further on the amount of work still left for them to do, Raskin pledged that the committee will “make sure our materials are made public and available for the future, and we’re going to preserve them. We’re not going to allow them to be destroyed.”
The committee chair, Bennie Thompson, told reporters last week that the hearings were wrapping up.
“Unless something else develops, this hearing, at this point, is the final hearing. But it’s not in stone because things happen,” Thompson, D-Miss., said then.
He promised “substantial footage” of the riot and “significant witness testimony” that hadn’t previously been released.
Elton John shouted out his artistically gifted fans by unveiling an exciting opportunity for two of them — the chance to design the official artwork for his and Britney Spears‘ new song, “Hold Me Closer.”
“I’ve seen so much amazing fan art of @britneyspears and me for ‘Hold Me Closer’, we knew we had to do something special with it,” the hitmaker revealed on Instagram while sharing a collection of four fan-made images for the song. Elton then revealed he needs fans to help him pick the one that’ll be upgraded to official artwork.
“Pick your favourite of these amazing works and the top 2 will feature on the newly announced ‘Hold Me Closer’ limited-edition CD single, available to pre-order from Tuesday,” he announced, directing fans to vote on his official website.
Beck has released a cover of the Neil Young song “Old Man.”
The “Loser” artist’s acoustic rendition of the Harvest classic first premiered Sunday during an NBC commercial promoting next week’s Sunday Night Football game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs. The game is a rematch of 2021’s Super Bowl LV, in which Tom Brady and the Bucs defeated Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs 31-9.
The lyrics for “Old Man” feature the line “24 and there’s so much more,” which, eerily, is the same age both Brady and Mahomes won their first Super Bowl. The 45-year-old Brady, who is 18 years older than Mahomes, is presumably the “Old Man” in this scenario.
Beck’s version of “Loser” is available now via digital outlets.
In other news, Beck made a surprise appearance at Gorillaz‘s show in Los Angeles Friday. According to Rolling Stone, the concert featured the premiere of Beck and Gorillaz’s collaborative song “Possession Island,” which will appear on the Damon Albarn-led cartoon band’s upcoming album Cracker Island, due out February 24, 2023.
Styx has unveiled plans to return to The Venetian Theatre in Las Vegas early next year for a new five-show residency.
The concerts will take place on January 27 and 28, and February 1, 3 and 4. The 2023 residency follows Styx’s September 2021 and early 2022 engagements at the same venue, which is located inside The Venetian Resort Las Vegas.
Tickets for the new Vegas shows will go on sale to the general public this Friday, September 30 at 10 a.m. PT. Styx fan club members will be able to buy pre-sale tickets starting Tuesday, September 27 at 10 a.m. PT, while Live Nation customers and members of The Venetian Resort’s Grazie loyalty program can purchase pre-sale tickets beginning Wednesday, September 28 at 10 a.m PT.
You can buy tickets via Ticketmaster.com, VenetianLasVegas.com, the box offices at the resort, and by calling 702-414-9000 or 866-641-7469.
A limited amount of VIP packages also will be available.
Meanwhile, Styx is preparing to launch a Canadian tour featuring Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson and her solo group as the supporting act. The trek is mapped out from an October 5 concert in Victoria through an October 18 show in Winnipeg. Wilson and her group were also Styx’s special guests at the 2022 Vegas residency.
Styx also has a couple of U.S. headlining shows scheduled for December and early January. Visit StyxWorld.com to check out the group’s full list of dates.
It was never in doubt what an icon the late Betty White was, but in case you needed any more proof, an auction of items from her life and career smashed all expectations.
Julien’s Auctions says the three-day event raised more than four million bucks, nearly seven times the $600,000 pre-auction estimate. What’s more, every item up for grabs was sold.
According to the auction house, the biggest seller was a director’s chair from The Golden Girls, which sold for $76,800 — some 76 times its original estimate.
Other big-ticket items were scripts for the pilot and final episode of the beloved sitcom signed by the cast — those went for $57,600 and $51,200, respectively.
A lavender dress worn by White in the show sold for $32,000 — fifty-three times its original estimate.
Other items that hit the block were an oil painting of the Emmy winner, which sold for more than $43,000, and a sapphire and diamond ring White wore on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The ring sold for 35 times its original estimate, and went home with the winning bidder for $32,000.
White’s wedding ring from her marriage to husband Allen Ludden fetched $25,600.
Martin Nolan, Executive Director of Julien’s Auctions, noted, “This auction represented a collection unlike anything we have ever seen before which brought in record-breaking results, and thousands of Betty‘s most loyal fans from all over the world.
Calling White an “American pop culture legend,” he said Julien’s was “honored” to host the “three-day celebration” of her life and career.
Betty White died December 31, 2021, just 17 days before her 100th birthday.
(AUSTIN, Texas) — Outgoing Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., reiterated this weekend that she would campaign against election deniers, singling out Republican gubernatorial nominees in Arizona and Pennsylvania who’ve floated conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential race.
Cheney, who lost her primary last month to a challenger endorsed by former President Donald Trump, said at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Saturday that she would seek to prevent Arizona Republican Kari Lake and Pennsylvania Republican Doug Mastriano from being elected to their states’ governors’ mansions.
“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure Kari Lake is not elected,” Cheney said at the closing night of the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.
“I think we have to do everything we can in ’22 to make sure those people don’t get elected,” she added.
Turning to the governor’s race in Pennsylvania, she said, “We have to make sure [Doug] Mastriano doesn’t win.”
She also criticized Republican leaders like Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin for, in her words, accommodating election deniers even as she praised Youngkin because he “hasn’t bought into the toxin of Donald Trump.”
When asked if her efforts to stop Lake, Mastriano and others could include campaigning for Democrats, Cheney simply replied, “Yes.”
“In this election, you have to vote for the person who actually believes in democracy,” she said. “And that is just crucial, because if we elect election deniers, if we elect people who said that they’re not going to certify results or who are going to try to steal elections, then we really are putting the republic at risk.”
Cheney’s latest comments offer more specificity on a vow she made earlier this year while being interviewed by ABC News: to make faith in the electoral process a litmus test in the midterms.
“I’m going to be very focused on working to ensure that we do everything we can not to elect election deniers. … We’ve got election deniers that have been nominated for really important positions all across the country. And I’m going to work against those people, I’m going to work to support their opponents; I think it matters that much,” she told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl in August.
In taking on Lake and Mastriano, Cheney is challenging two far-right Republicans who are popular with conservative voters and who could have outsized sway in two key presidential battlegrounds.
Lake has been adamant in making unfounded claims that election fraud threw the 2020 White House race and has said she wouldn’t have certified Arizona’s results from that year.
Mastriano, who has promoted similar groundless allegations, would have the power as governor to appoint Pennsylvania’s secretary of state, who oversees elections there.
After Cheney’s criticism Saturday, Lake shot back in an interview on Fox News, pointing to Cheney’s loss in Wyoming last month.
“That might be the biggest, best gift I’ve ever received. I mean, the people of Wyoming can’t stand her. I’m pretty much sure that the people of Arizona don’t like Liz Cheney,” Lake said Sunday. (Mastriano’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Cheney from ABC News.)
Beyond Lake and Mastriano, Cheney called out Youngkin, who has said President Joe Biden was legitimately elected but who will campaign soon with Lake.
“That’s the kind of thing we cannot see in our party. We cannot see an accommodation like that,” Cheney said on Saturday.
In response to Cheney’s criticism, Youngkin’s office referred ABC News to what he said when appeared at the Texas Tribune Festival.
There, when asked about campaigning for Lake given her attacks on elections, he cited Virginia’s issues grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic — relating in particular to school closures and “economic progress” — and said, “I was elected in 2021 and therefore was able to go to work in a state that had been blue and demonstrate what I believe are conservative commonsense solutions to problems and progress that we’ve made. I think I’m uniquely positioned to share this perspective.”
Cheney’s own electoral future is unclear. After her primary loss, she launched a political group that some saw as a potential vehicle for a 2024 presidential bid of her own — a prospect she has not ruled out.
However, one thing she has ruled out is supporting Trump if he runs in two years, even going so far as to say she could leave a party that was once nearly synonymous with her last name.
“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure he is not the nominee,” she said. “And if he is the nominee, I won’t be a Republican.”
