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Cardi B insists there’s zero drama between her and Billie Eilish, despite what some reports are claiming. The “Up” rapper even shared a voice memo of the two mocking the rumor.
The internet began buzzing about potential beef between the two Grammy winners following the Met Gala, where they both attended the same after party. Cardi was filmed telling a crowd of people to have fun, drink and jokingly do drugs with her before the video jumps to another clip, taken across the room, which shows Billie mouthing “so weird” to her group of friends.
That led to reports that Billie was shading the rapper, prompting fans of the two artists to begin arguing on social media. Once Cardi caught wind of the drama, she took to Twitter to shut it down.
“I hate the internet cause one, how do y’all turn one of the most lit parties into drama? Two, ‘Ocean Eyes’ is the song I cater to my daughter. Three, Billie is my f***in baby,” Cardi declared. “Yesterday, from the met to the party, everything was drama free. Why do yall wanna turn everything into mess?”
The “Girls Like You” rapper then shared a voice memo exchange between her and Billie discussing what happened, which starts off with Billie explaining herself.
“Oh my god, I was so worried you were gonna see that [viral video.] I was f***ing calling the people around you ‘weird’ because everybody was coming up to you shoving their phones into your a**,” Billie explained. “And I was just like, ‘Just look at her? With your eyes?'”
Cardi replied using a dramatic crying voice: “The internet is trying to divide us. They don’t understand that you’re my baby!”
Jon Pardi and Midland have released the video for their new collaboration, “Longneck Way to Go.”
Lainey Wilson will perform as part of Marty Stuart‘s Late Night Jam at the Ryman Auditorium on June 8. Also on the bill is Marty’s wife, Connie Smith, plus Emmylou Harris, Billy Strings, Marcus King and more.
Chris Janson and Travis Tritt will co-headline The Can’t Miss Tour from October 17-November 19.
The Country Music Association has announced the recipients for its annual Music Teachers of Excellence Awards, honoring 30 educators from around the country. The awards ceremony will be held in Nashville on October 19.
Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — At least 19 states plan to offer legal refuge to transgender youth and their families displaced by anti-LGBTQ legislation that criminalizes the families and physicians of trans children.
“When trans kids’ lives are on the line, playing defense doesn’t cut it. It’s time to play offense,” said Annise Parker, president and CEO of LGBTQ advocacy group Victory Institute.
She went on, “We are using the collective power of LGBTQ state legislators all across the nation to launch a counter-offensive that aims to protect trans kids and parents while also demonstrating that there is a positive agenda for trans people that lawmakers can support.”
Lawmakers in states like Texas, Louisiana, Arizona and Alabama have proposed bills criminalizing gender-affirming transgender care.
In a February opinion, Texas state attorney General Ken Paxton called gender-affirming care “abuse.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott followed Paxton’s opinion by directing the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate such care as child abuse.
These investigations have been halted after a family sued the state alongside the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has also issued several anti-LGBTQ policies, including a ban on transgender youth health care that physicians said was riddled with misinformation.
He signed SB 184, the Vulnerable Child Protection Act, which states that anyone who provides gender-affirming care — including puberty blockers, hormone therapy or physical gender-affirming surgeries — to an individual under age 18 could be convicted of a felony, face up to 10 years in prison and be fined $15,000.
To combat such efforts, a bill from California state Sen. Scott Wiener aims to make California a legal safe haven for parents who may have their transgender children taken away from them or be criminally prosecuted for providing care for their children.
“Starting with our legislation in California, we are building a coordinated national legislative campaign by LGBTQ lawmakers to provide refuge for trans kids and their families,” said Wiener. “We’re making it crystal clear: we will not let trans kids be belittled, used as political pawns and denied gender-affirming care.”
He has joined forces with LGBTQ advocacy groups from all over the country, including Victory Institute and Equality California.
“Parents should not live in fear of being hunted down by the government for loving and supporting their child,” said Tony Hoang, executive director of LGBTQ advocacy group Equality California.
He continued, “As a native Texan, I’m ashamed of Gov. Abbott’s hateful attacks against trans kids and their families. But as a Californian, I’m so proud of our state for serving as a beacon of hope and a place of refuge for those children and their parents.”
New York, Minnesota, Colorado, Connecticut, New Mexico and more have followed suit, introducing similar protections for trans people who come from out of state.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, there have been more than 300 bills targeting the LGBTQ community nationwide in 2022.
Aaron Katersky, Mark Crudele, and Meredith Deliso, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — A faulty fan caused the glitch that prevented cameras at a Brooklyn subway station from transmitting during a mass shooting on a rush-hour train last month, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The cameras were working until “less than 24 hours” before the April 12 shooting on the N train as it approached the 36th Street station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, MTA Chair Janno Lieber wrote in a letter to congressional representatives obtained by ABC News.
In the days before the incident, technicians worked to replace the fan unit for an issue that initially wasn’t impacting the transmission of the cameras’ feed, according to Lieber.
“Technicians replaced the fan unit on the morning of April 8, but the network diagnostics still indicated a problem,” Lieber wrote in the letter, dated May 2. “MTA technicians made a series of repairs in an effort to correct the issue, and on the morning of Monday April 11, as technicians were installing new communication hardware, the camera failed.”
Lieber characterized the cause of the outage as a “failure of hardware and software” at the communications room that governs the station’s cameras that prevented them from transmitting their feed. The outage also impacted the cameras at the 25th Street and 45th Street subway stations.
“Technicians were working in the communications room on the next morning, April 12, when the attack took place,” the chair wrote. “NYPD directed them to leave the communications room as the investigation began.”
The cameras were back online by 12:30 p.m. on April 13, according to Lieber.
Dozens of people were injured, including 10 by gunfire, in the shooting. Police arrested a suspect more than 24 hours after the incident.
The NYPD, which had initially said the cameras were out at the three stations due to a “technical issue,” called claims that the lack of operating cameras delayed the manhunt “unfair and misleading.”
“The MTA cameras in other parts of the system were essential elements in determining his movements before and after the shootings,” John Miller, deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism for the NYPD, said in a statement in the wake of the attack.
In his letter, Lieber also said the MTA’s subway camera system played a “critical role in the manhunt.”
The alleged gunman, 62-year-old Frank James, faces a terror-related count. Last week, defense attorneys charged in a court filing that federal agents improperly questioned him. In response, the federal government said it was authorized and within its rights in its interactions with James.
(WASHINGTON) — Comments on abortion rights made by the recent conservative additions to the Supreme Court during their Senate confirmation hearings are under fresh scrutiny after a leaked draft Supreme Court opinion appeared to indicate the panel’s conservative majority of justices is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The Supreme Court confirmed that the draft, published Monday by Politico, is authentic. But it stressed that it is neither a decision by the court nor a final position of any justices in the case.
The case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, involves Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy — well before the fetal viability standard established by Roe in 1973 and a subsequent 1992 decision, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, that legalized abortion across the U.S.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Justice Samuel Alito, the opinion’s apparent author, wrote in the copy of the draft, dated Feb. 10.
An unnamed source familiar with the deliberations told Politico that Justices Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — the latter three who are conservative justices added to the bench during the Trump administration — all initially supported a ruling siding with Mississippi and “that line-up remains unchanged as of this week.”
The document posted online suggests a majority of justices is likely to side with Mississippi — breaking with precedent — but how broad the ultimate ruling will be remains unclear. It also is unclear how the justices will ultimately vote on the case.
During their respective Senate confirmation hearings after being nominated to the Supreme Court by former President Donald Trump, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh acknowledged the precedent set by Roe, while Barrett told senators she believed the decision was not a “super-precedent.”
Justice Neil Gorsuch
During confirmation hearings in March 2017, Democrats pressed Gorsuch for his views on abortion using his writing in a book he authored on euthanasia, in which he wrote that “the intentional taking of human life by private persons is always wrong.”
“How could you square that statement with legal abortion?” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked.
“The Supreme Court of the United States has held that Roe v. Wade, that a fetus is not a person for purposes of the 14th Amendment. And the book explains that,” Gorsuch replied.
“Do you accept that?” Durbin asked.
“That’s the law of the land, I accept the law of the land, senator. Yes,” Gorsuch replied.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh
During his Senate confirmation hearings in September 2018, Democrats pushed Kavanaugh on his position on Roe in light of a reported 2003 email he wrote as a lawyer in the Bush White House challenging that the landmark decision was the “settled law of the land.”
“As a general proposition I understand the importance of the precedent set forth in Roe v. Wade,” Kavanaugh told senators.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., asked Kavanaugh, “What would you say your position is today on a woman’s right to choose?”
“As a judge, it is an important precedent of the Supreme Court,” Kavanaugh replied. “By ‘it,’ I mean Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, been affirmed many times. Casey is precedent on precedent.”
Additionally, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has said Kavanaugh repeatedly suggested to her privately that he considered Roe to be “settled law.” She criticized both Kavanaugh and Gorsuch on Tuesday for the apparent flip-flop.
“If this leaked draft opinion is the final decision and this reporting is accurate, it would be completely inconsistent with what Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh said in their hearings and in our meetings in my office,” Collins, R-Maine, said in a statement Tuesday morning. “Obviously, we won’t know each Justice’s decision and reasoning until the Supreme Court officially announces its opinion in this case.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett
During her confirmation hearings in October 2020, Barrett was careful in her comments but told senators she believed the decision on Roe v. Wade was not a “super-precedent” when asked directly by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
She said she did not find the case to be “so well-settled that no political actors and no people seriously push for their overruling.”
“I’m answering a lot of questions about Roe, which I think indicates that Roe doesn’t fall in that category,” she said. “And scholars across the spectrum say that doesn’t mean that Roe should be overruled. But descriptively, it does mean that it’s not a case that everyone has accepted and doesn’t call for its overruling.”
As a law school professor, Barrett signed a 2006 newspaper ad calling for the overturning of the law’s “barbaric legacy.” She was questioned about that as well during her confirmation hearings.
“I signed that almost 15 years ago in my personal capacity still as a private citizen, and now I am a public official,” Barrett told Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.
“I signed it on the way out of church,” she told Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. “It was consistent with the views of my church and simply said we support the right to life from conception to natural death.”
In response to Republicans’ questions about her faith and its influence on her work, Barrett — who has described herself as a “faithful Catholic” — told senators that her “personal, moral religious views” won’t impact her judicial decision-making.
“I have done that in my time on the 7th Circuit. If I stay there, I’ll continue to do that,” Barrett said. “If I’m confirmed to the Supreme Court, I will do that still.”
In prior comments, Barrett has said she didn’t think the right to abortion would change and it was unlikely Roe would be overturned by a conservative Supreme Court.
“I think some of the restrictions would change,” she said during a 2016 event at Jacksonville University’s Public Policy Institute.
“I think the question is how much freedom the court is willing to let states have in regulating abortion,” she continued.
ABC News’ Devin Dwyer and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
Carly Pearce says it was an emotional experience performing at Sunday’s Country Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony in honor of The Judds.
The fellow Kentucky native was on hand at the ceremony in Nashville, one day after matriarch Naomi Judd passed away. Carly says it was with a heavy heart that she attended the ceremony to perform one of The Judds’ signature hits, “Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout the Good Old Days),” revealing that she’d been approached by the Hall two months prior to be a surprise performer for The Judds’ induction.
Though at the time it was “exciting news,” the hit singer shares that performing in the wake of Naomi’s death was “one of the most emotional experiences I have ever had in my life.”
“Singing ‘Grandpa’ in light of such tragic loss, looking in the eyes of Naomi’s beautiful daughters. I am forever grateful & send Wynonna and Ashley all my love,” she continued, adding that she’s “loved” the duo for her “whole life.” “Long live the Judds.”
Naomi passed away on April 30 at the age of 76. A joint statement from Wynonna and Ashley stated that the cause of death was related to mental illness.
Blxst will embark on a massive world tour later this summer. The “Chosen” rapper unveiled details his 46-date Before You Go trek, and tickets are about to go on sale.
Blxst will kick off his tour across the pond with performances at the U.K.’s Wireless Festival in Birmingham and London on July 8 and July 9. From there, he’ll head back to North America for a 32-date leg, starting July 13 in San Diego.
The outing will stop at many of the biggest cities in the U.S. and Canada, including Seattle, Chicago, Toronto, New York, Philadelphia, Orlando and many others. Blxst will finish up the stateside leg with a stop in Los Angeles on August 31, before going Down Under for a spate of September dates in New Zealand and Australia.
He’ll then head to Europe for a series of shows beginning with a November 2 stop in Copenhagen, Denmark. He’ll put his global trek on ice with a final concert in Dublin, Ireland, on November 15.
Tickets to see Blxst go on sale Friday, May 6, starting at 10 a.m. ET at his official website.
(WASHINGTON) — A draft of the SCOTUS decision on the Mississippi case that challenges Roe v. Wade was leaked Monday night, first reported by Politico. According to the copy of the draft opinion for the majority, a majority of justices appear to have voted to effectively overturn the 1973 landmark abortion precedent set in Roe v. Wade.
“Certainly, it’s not a totally leakproof institution, but there has never been a leak even remotely like this,” said ABC News Supreme Court contributor Kate Shaw on ABC News’ podcast “Start Here.” “I don’t think in the history of the Supreme Court, which is the history of the country – it is totally uncharted.”
The 98-page opinion leaked by Politico was written by Justice Samuel Alito, one of the most conservative members of the court.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Supreme Court and Chief Justice John Roberts addressed the leaked opinion. The statement confirms that the leaked document is “authentic,” but it goes on to say that it “does not represent a decision by the Court of the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”
“To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed. The work of the Court will not be affected in any way,” said Roberts in the release.
He also stated that he has launched an official investigation into the source of the leak.
There are multiple theories circulating as to why the document was leaked. According to Shaw, one theory is that whoever leaked the draft may be trying to “lock” in a five-justice majority and the publicity from the leak will deter anyone from “jumping ship.”
“The publicity will deter them from doing so because they will be worried about sending a message that they were somehow cowed into changing their votes by the public blowback and or the public encouragement,” said Shaw.
Also, some believe that if it’s a conservative leak, the approach was used to soften the ground for the ultimate decision. Some conservatives have already pointed out how little attention Texas’ SB8 has gotten now that it’s been in place for months, ABC News’ Devin Dwyer reported.
Another theory is that the leak came from the liberal side of the court.
“I think the logic there would be something like the court is about to take a truly extraordinary step of rolling back this right upon which Americans have relied for a half century and an institution,” said Shaw. “And thus these long standing norms of secrecy and confidentiality actually don’t have to be respected and can be thrown out the window because extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.”
Currently, the leaker has not been identified and the motive remains unknown.
Over the past several months, the Supreme Court has been considering the Mississippi case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health after hearing arguments on December 1. The Mississippi law bans abortions after 15 weeks. The case asks the justices directly to reconsider the precedent set by Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
A handful of states have already set so-called “trigger laws,” which are prohibitions set on abortions that will immediately go into effect if Roe v. Wade is overruled.
“At least half the states in the country will severely curtail or totally outlaw access to abortion,” said Shaw. “Basically immediately.”
According to an updated report from The Guttmacher Institute, 26 states have these trigger laws, some of which include bans on abortion after six or eight weeks of pregnancy, effectively banning all abortions. Several other states without trigger laws would also be expected to move quickly to prohibit abortions if Roe is overruled.
But, echoing Justice Roberts, Shaw said that nothing is set in stone.
“This is not a final opinion. It is not the law. Roe v. Wade has not been overturned yet,” said Shaw. “This appears to be a legitimate document that does reflect where the court is at this moment… But we don’t know exactly what the final opinion in this case will look like.”
Recently, he closed in an important chapter in his music career when he wrapped up the headlining Fancy Like Tour — but he didn’t go at it alone. Walker’s wife Laney and their six children — Lela, Chapel, Baylor, Beckett, Loxley and Everly — all joined him on the road, piling on to the tour bus and traveling with the hit singer across the country on nearly 20 dates.
In a nostalgic post, Walker says he’s “sad” the tour has come to an end, but is “excited” for the future, and expressed gratitude for being able to share in the experience with his family for the first time.
“This was the first tour I was ever able to bring my family along. At first I was afraid they wouldn’t enjoy road life BUT turns out, they love it more than staying home SO…for now, touring is a family tradition,” Walker shares alongside photos of two of his young children snuggled on one of the bunk beds on the bus, along with his wife Laney smiling from her bunk.
“To the people who came out, I don’t even know how to thank y’all. The energy and atmosphere y’all created at these venues absolutely lit us up!” Walker continued, while also praising his band and crew. “Every single night of this tour was electric. Preciate it.”
Though the Fancy Like Tour is a wrap, Walker has an even brighter future ahead, as he’s set to headline arenas for the first time on the Glad You’re Here Tour, kicking off on September 29.
The tour gets its name from Walker’s new book that he wrote with his friend Craig, available today.
In addition to being a country music legend, Loretta Lynn has another skill beyond the physical world.
Through the years, Loretta has discussed her encounters with the supernatural, claiming that her mother, Clara, was psychic, which she links to her grandfather’s Cherokee Indian heritage.
Clara seemingly passed this ability on to her daughter. Loretta recalls in an episode of Celebrity Ghost Storieshow one night while living in Washington state with her husband, Oliver, she had a frightening dream of her father, Melvin, lying dead in a coffin.
Loretta woke up at 4 a.m. in tears over the nightmare, only to receive a call one hour later from her sister-in-law sharing that her father had just passed away.
“Spirits don’t scare me. What scares me is my dreams. When I dream a bad dream, it scares me to death sometimes because I just sit and wait for something to happen,” the singer shares. “Ninety-nine percent of the time, something bad will happen if I dream, and that’s hard.”
The country star endured another tragedy when her mother visited her home in Hurricane Mills, TN and issued a disturbing warning that one of her children was going to drown in the river on the property.
That prophecy sadly became reality when Loretta and Oliver’s son, Jack, died in 1984 at the age of 34 after he was thrown from his horse and drowned in the river, leaving the singer heartbroken to this day.
“That was such a shock…I didn’t want to believe it. It was awful,” Loretta recalls of her reaction when her husband told her the tragic news. “Mommy pretty much told me what was going to happen, and I think you have to listen to people like that that are really connected.”
