Doja Cat is parting ways with the Beverly Hills mansion she picked up a little over a year ago, selling it for a cool $2.5 million.
People reports Doja made a few improvements to the two-story, midcentury home in the year and a half since she first purchased it. The first level contained two guest rooms and she has since updated one of them into a millennial pink powder room.
In other luxe amenities, the 8,000-square-foot property boasts a heated pool, backyard oasis, open gourmet kitchen, floor to ceiling windows, a balcony leading off the master bedroom, as well as a massive walk-in closet, a privacy gate and a state-of-the-art security system.
The home is being sold by Pardee Properties, which is offering a 3D tour of the location.
If you’re wondering what to expect from Brothers Osborne’s performance on the CMA Fest TV special, the bandmates have a little hint to share.
“We were allowed to bring a prop from our live shows. Actually, two props,” says one-half of the band, John Osborne. “Without giving anything away — keep your eyes peeled for that. Props. Yeah.”
The special will feature the brother duo playing “Skeletons,” the title track from their latest album, on the big stadium stage. For Brothers Osborne, taking the main stage for their performance is a reminder of how far they’ve come, especially compared to the CMA Fests they played at the outset of their career.
“We’ve been playing it for a long time,” says TJ Osborne. “We’ve played these small little stages, sometimes three or four of them in a single day…labels got to see us, publishers got to see us, and then [we got to] make some fans.”
It’s a lot of work to build a grassroots fanbase like that, but the Brothers wouldn’t have it any other way. “Now to be here, playing the stadium, it really is like a snapshot — these different stages we would play and grow in,” TJ continues.
“It really puts into perspective, you know, what hard work can do,” he adds, “but also having these opportunities, how incredibly helpful they are.”
The CMA Fest special was filmed during the annual festival in downtown Nashville in June. Dierks Bentley and Elle King are hosting the show, which airs on August 3 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. It will also be available to watch on Hulu the next day.
Imagine Dragons has launched a new Instagram account dedicated to the upcoming 10th anniversary of the band’s 2012 debut album, Night Visions.
The account, which has the handle @DragonWagon, so far includes one post: a video of a young ID touring in a bus and rehearsing.
“Celebrating 10 years of Night Visions,” the page’s description reads.
Night Visions was first released September 4, 2012, and made stars out of Dan Reynolds and company with the singles “Radioactive,” “Demons” and “It’s Time.” The album has been certified seven-times Platinum by the RIAA, while “Radioactive” and “Demons” have both been certified Diamond.
Imagine Dragons released their latest album, Mercury — Act 2, earlier this month. They’ll launch a U.S. tour in support of the record August 5 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
David Lee Roth has posted a previously unreleased solo song at his official website and YouTube channel called “Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then Anyway” that finds the Van Halen frontman reminiscing about his old band.
Accompanying the track is a vintage photo of Roth and his three Van Halen band mates all jumping in the air at the same time. The stripped-down tune features multi-tracked acoustic guitars and sparse keyboards accompanying Roth’s vocals.
The song begins with the lines, “We laughed, we cried, we threw that television off the balcony/ That memory means so much to me,” and Diamond Dave sings later, “Remember when you safety pinned the tablecloth to my pants/ And I stood up to the sound of dancing, and the sound of our romance beginning.”
According to the fan site Van Halen News Desk, Roth recorded “Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then Anyway” several years ago with current Rob Zombie guitarist John 5 during the same sessions that yielded some of the other tracks Dave has released over the past couple years, including “Somewhere over the Rainbow Bar and Grill,” “Giddy-Up!,” “Low-Rez Sunset” and “Pointing at the Moon.”
In a 2021 interview with AL.com, John 5 mentioned “Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then Anyway” while discussing his sessions with Roth.
“Being a Van Halen fan and a Dave Lee Roth fan, it’s unbelievable because it’s about Dave singing about Van Halen and what it was like,” the guitarist noted. “Really something special, so I really hope that comes out.”
Peacock’s new mystery series The Resort starts streaming today, starring William Jackson Harper and Cristin Milioti as a couple celebrating their anniversary at a fancy Yucatan Peninsula resort, but instead of hitting the beach with mai tais, they’re investigating a possible murder. It’s serious, but there’s also some comedy, and Milioti tells ABC Audio she and Harper were given a lot of freedom to explore this couple who has hit a stale point in their 10-year marriage.
“We would try takes and complete silence. We would throw all the lines away. We would get in a mini fight. We would…almost get to the fight and then back off,” she recalls. “And like it just was so much fun to explore that…that’s the type of stuff as an actor where it’s like the dream.”
The show is from Palm Springs writer Andy Siara, which also starred Milioti, and she says they don’t leave you in too much suspense. Answers will be coming, “but they’re not going to be the answers that you think. Better tune in!”
“I think Andy has written something that is, like, very unexpected,” she continues. “And even the answers that you get…you just don’t see them coming, but they make sense and I find them to be very satisfying. But it’s like what you would least expect.”
Harper says he also loves a good mystery, but it has to be really good.
“Like a really good mystery I’m just like, yo, I need to go see what’s going on,” he explains. “But then like other, you know, other stuff, it’s just like, okay, well, either we’re going to have a twist or I called it. And so, you know, I kind of I do enjoy it.”
(NEW YORK) — Terry Strada, the chair of the organization 9/11 Families United, which advocates for families of victims and survivors of the 2001 attacks, was shocked when she heard that the LIV Golf Tournament would be playing at the Bedminster Golf Course in Bedminster, New Jersey.
“I couldn’t believe that it was actually going to be playing right there practically in my backyard,” she told ABC News’ podcast “Start Here.”
Strada used to live in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, a few miles from the course where the international golf tournament will play over the weekend. Her husband, Tom Strada, was working in one of the World Trade Center towers and died during the attack.
Strada said that 17 families in Basking Ridge lost a family member during the 9/11 attacks and told ABC News the fact that the LIV Golf Tournament, which is sponsored by the Saudi Arabian government, is playing nearby hits too close to home.
“We’re very disappointed in the players,” she said. “We’ve tried to point out to them, I wrote them a letter when this all began.”
For Strada, the connection between the Saudi Arabian government and the attacks on 9/11 is indisputable. “It is no longer alleged,” Strada said. “We are in the courtrooms with a lawsuit against the kingdom.”
“The kingdom actually provided the support network that was needed for the first arriving hijackers and most likely all of them to set up what they needed to plan, practice and carry out the attacks,” she told “Start Here,” citing President Joe Biden’s executive order in 2021 that led to documents being declassified.
“We know that 15 of the 19 of them [9/11 hijackers] were Saudi nationals, but now we know there was this anti-American pro-jihadist program that was set up in the Saudi Embassy, and it was running out of the consulate out in California, and it was filled with extremists,” Strada said.
The LIV Golf Tournament has raised eyebrows since it launched in London last month, with critics calling it the latest example of “sportswashing,” the process by which a group will launder its reputation with professional sporting events.
The golf tournament has managed to secure some of the biggest players in the game, and will travel across three countries in the following months.
The tournament first came under scrutiny because of the allegations of human rights violations against the kingdom, including the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Critics claimed that the kingdom is spending billions of dollars in order to improve its public image, and called on high-profile players such as Phil Mickelson to refuse to play.
The Bedminster golf course that is the site of the LIV Golf tournament is owned by former President Donald Trump, who “has been on record saying that he thinks this was a great move by the Saudis, that they’ve gotten great publicity,” “Start Here” host Brad Mielke said in his conversation with Strada.
“They haven’t done anything to make amends for the worst terrorist attack that ever happened on American soil,” Strada told ABC News.
“They put a lot of money into our economy for all the same reasons, they just try to buy respect. And you can’t buy respect. You have to earn it.”
Strada registered her “huge disappointment” with Biden, saying 9/11 families tried unsuccessfully to secure a meeting with the president prior to his recent visit to Saudi Arabia. Strada said it was important for the families whose loved ones died on Sept. 11, 2001, to “get the justice that we deserve.”
“The kingdom has not been held accountable for the pipeline of money that they used to funnel terrorism. The kingdom needs to be held responsible and accountable for that,” she said.
(WASHINGTON) — Leading gun manufacturing executives testified Wednesday before a House panel investigating the role of the firearms industry in the nation’s high rates of gun violence, maintaining under sharp questioning from Democrats that American citizens — not firearms — cause mass shootings.
The hearing, helmed by House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, featured two CEOs and other gun industry members ahead of the consideration of legislation that would restrict the sale of semiautomatic weapons, which are often used in large-scale killings.
Many gun rights supporters and Republicans oppose such a move as unconstitutional.
Over the span of nearly six hours, House Democrats probed the manufacturers on their marketing tactics to children and adults, with lawmakers asking if they would implement additional safety features on their firearms and seeking, the lawmakers said, to better understand the features of the military-style weapons.
“I hope the American people are paying attention today. It is clear that gun-makers are not going to change unless Congress forces them to finally put people over profits,” Maloney said.
Gun companies have seen revenues of more than $1 billion over the last 10 years, according to a new report from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on the five major gun manufacturers’ sales and marketing of AR-15-style rifles.
The two CEOs who spoke Wednesday, Marty Daniel of Daniel Defense and Christopher Killoy of Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc., both pushed back when asked if they felt they had responsibility for recent mass shootings, such as those in Uvalde, Texas; Highland Park, Illinois; and Buffalo, New York, among others, given that the weapons their companies make are often used in such massacres.
“I believe that these murders are a local problem that have to be solved locally,” Daniel said. “These acts are committed by murderers. The murderers are responsible.”
“I don’t consider what my company produces to be ‘weapons of war,'” Killoy said.
Some of the Uvalde and Buffalo victims’ relatives sat in the chamber during the hearing. The parents of 10-year-old Alexandria Rubio, one of the students slain in Uvalde, propped up their daughter’s photo in the room.
Republicans on the committee defended the manufacturers, agreeing that “criminals” are responsible mass shootings rather than guns or weapons manufacturers.
Some lawmakers, like South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, called the hearings “political theater.”
Rep. Jody Hice, a Georgia Republican, and Tennessee Republican James Comer, the committee’s ranking member, said the hearing was a part of a “disturbing trend in this committee of going after both private citizens and the constitutional rights of American citizens.”
“I want to know when are you, Chairwoman Maloney, going to apologize to the American citizens for not dealing with the real issues and showing responsibility and accountability?” Hice asked — trying to redirect the focus to what he said was a more important issue.
“When are we gonna have hearings in this committee, holding people responsible in cities, municipalities, states and right here in our own Congress, for being soft on crime? When are we going to have hearings to do away with the ridiculous, outrageous policies of defunding the police?” he said.
Daniel, of Daniel Defense, said that he was at the hearing voluntarily but was “concerned” that the implied purpose of the hearing was to vilify and blame rifles for recent deadly shootings.
Two months ago, the Uvalde gunman used a Daniel Defense weapon to kill 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school.
“Many Americans, myself included, have witnessed an erosion of personal responsibility in our country and in our culture. Mass shootings are all but unheard of just a few decades ago,” Daniel said. “So what changed? Not the firearms … I believe our nation’s response needs to focus not on the type of gun but on the type of persons who are likely to commit mass shootings.”
During his testimony, Daniel said he wanted to reduce violent crime. He said that the hearing focused on a weapon, the AK-15, that is responsible for less than 4% of homicides.
Killoy began his testimony by discussing his corporation’s safety practices, then defended the right to gun possession despite the push by some in Congress for further restrictions and reforms.
“We firmly believe it’s wrong to deprive citizens of their constitutional right because of the criminal acts of wicked people. The firearm, any firearm, can be used for good or evil,” Killoy said. “The differences in the intent of the individual possessing it, which we respectfully submit can be the focus of any investigation into the root causes of criminal violence involving firearms.”
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., asked Killoy if he would track crimes committed with his company’s firearms as part of a new human rights assessment.
“Congressman, respectfully, that’s not our job. We’re not law enforcement. We don’t have the resources or capability to track injuries or fatalities.” Killoy said.
Ryan Busse, a senior adviser at the Giffords Law Center and a former gun-industry professional, testified that he had seen the industry evolve over time, becoming more emboldened in their marketing and sales of weapons.
“Sadly for me, there is no place in the industry for anyone who believes in moderation or responsible regulation,” he said.
When questioned on how exactly an AR-15 differs from other guns, Busse said AR-15s were “designed to be an offensive weapon of war for troops in battle, to charge into places like buildings and battlefields to take as many lives as possible as fast as they possibly can.”
Maloney spoke with ABC News on Tuesday about the context of the hearing. She said it should be a “wakeup call” for Congress to act on gun reform “to hold these gun manufacturers accountable for the deadly weapons that they’re manufacturing that are killing innocent Americans.”
“Most industries have a responsibility for their products. We have liability on our cars. Every time there’s a car wreck, we study it. We should do the same thing with guns. We should have liability on guns. They’re far more dangerous than cars,” Maloney told “GMA3.”
Maloney told ABC News that a representative for a third gun manufacturer, President Mark P. Smith of Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., was invited to the hearing, but did not attend. Smith’s company made the weapons used by the shooters in Highland Park and in Parkland, Florida, among others.
“I would say, ‘We have invited three manufacturers — CEOs — [and] two have accepted,'” Maloney said.
“One is dodging us and not responding to our requests for documents,” she contended. “And we intend to hold them accountable eventually in some form.”
Maloney opened the hearing Wednesday by announcing her intent to issue a subpoena for documents from Smith & Wesson “so that we can finally get answers about why this company is selling assault weapons to mass murderers, answers we were hoping to get at today’s hearing.”
The company did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The oversight committee previously sent letters to Smith & Wesson, Daniel Defense and Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc., among others, on May 26, following the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde.
The letters sought further information on the companies’ sale and marketing of AR-15-style semiautomatic rifles and similar firearms, “including revenue and profit information, internal data on deaths or injuries caused by firearms they manufacture, and marketing and promotional materials.”
On July 7, following the Fourth of July shooting in Highland Park, Maloney sent additional letters to the CEOs of the three top gun manufacturers, requesting their appearance at Wednesday’s hearing.
Maloney’s request for the hearing with gun executives came ahead of the committee’s June 8 hearing with Uvalde and Buffalo survivors and victims’ relatives.
President Joe Biden a month ago signed into law a bipartisan gun safety package, which did not include the weapons ban he sought. House Democrats are pushing for more reforms.
Maloney told ABC News that she believed the additional legislation “will make America safer for our citizens.”
At the hearing, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., pressed the gun manufacturers on several advertisements tied to their weapons with what appear to be acknowledgment of white supremacist groups. She asked both Daniel Defense and Sturm, Ruger & Company if they would condemn the practice of marketing to far-right extremist groups.
Both CEOs said they were unaware of her specific instances, but “we do not tolerate racism or white supremacy,” Killoy said.
Busse, the former industry professional, said he would push back on the idea that gun laws don’t work — citing Uvalde and Buffalo, both cases in which the shooters waited until they were 18 years old to lawfully purchase their guns.
In the wake of those killings, Democrats renewed calls to raise the minimum age to buy assault-style weapons.
“The fact is that the laws impact the way people purchase and use guns and we need to as a responsible society and you as a governing body need to take that into account,” Busse said.
In closing remarks, Comer, the ranking Republican, thanked the manufacturers for continuing to do business in the U.S. and he called for better security at our schools, mental health support and police funding.
Maloney, in her remarks, apologized to the families of gun violence victims.
ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
(AUSTIN, Texas) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced he will provide a $1.25 million grant to the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District for counseling students and faculty impacted by the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.
“As the community of Uvalde continues to heal, Texas continues working to help improve security and aid in the recovery among students and educators,” Abbott said in a news release.
The money will be used for community outreach, crisis intervention and trauma-informed counseling through the Governor’s Public Safety Office, the statement said.
“This new source of funding will provide critical support to students, staff, and faculty in Uvalde as they continue to process the trauma from that day and grieve for the innocent lives lost,” Abbott said.
The funding comes over two months after 19 students and two teachers were shot and killed by a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, at Robb Elementary. Immediately following the incident, Abbott blamed the massacre on mental health issues in response to critics who criticized the state’s gun policies.
Texas is currently ranked as the worst state in the country for access to mental care, according to Mental Health America’s 2022 report.
A month before the school shooting, Abbott said that $500 million from various government agencies in the state would fund Operation Lone Star, a Texas-Mexico border security initiative by the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Military Department.
Approximately $210.7 million was from Texas Health & Human Services, which oversees public mental health programs.
The governor’s press secretary, Renae Eze, rejected the claim, telling ABC News in May that Abbott didn’t cut any funding from mental health services.
Abbott’s office touts a $5 million investment in establishing a long-term family resiliency center in Uvalde County, which provides access to mental health services to those impacted by the shooting, as part of its commitment to supporting the community.
ABC News’ Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.
(PHILADELPHIA) — A proposed class action lawsuit has been filed by a Baltimore family against Sesame Place, alleging racial discrimination from the theme park.
The family said it decided to come forward after videos of a Sesame Place character seemingly waving off two young Black girls at the same park went viral this summer.
Quinton Burns said he took his daughter to the amusement park on Father’s Day and during a parade of characters, he claims she, too, was ignored.
“[We] watched in utter disgust as the viral videos of these beloved Sesame Street characters were discriminating against these innocent Black children and the videos began to flood the internet,” Burns’ attorney Malcolm Ruff said at the press conference Wednesday. “She was ignored amongst a sea of other young white children, who were able to interact, give hugs, high-fives, and love from these characters that are supposed to be a source of safety, a source of equity, a source of kindness.”
“We will review the lawsuit filed on behalf of Mr. Burns,” Sesame Place told ABC News in a statement Wednesday. “We look forward to addressing that claim through the established legal process. We are committed to deliver an inclusive, equitable and entertaining experience for all our guests.”
The suit claims that Sesame Place violated Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which protects people against racial discrimination in the creation and enforcement of contracts. When the family bought tickets, they entered a contract with the amusement park and by allegedly being discriminated by costume character actors, this contract was “breached, solely because of the race of the children,” Ruff said.
Video of the encounter is set to be released in the coming days by the family’s attorneys, according to Ruff.
In the incident involving girls from another family that prompted the Burns family to come forward, a “Sesame Street” character named Rosita is seen giving high-fives to parkgoers as she walks down the line, before appearing to shake her head at and wave off the two girls as she walks away from them.
“#BabyPaige & her cute lil friends went to @SesamePlace this weekend to celebrate Paige’s 4th birthday & this is how #SesamePlace treated these beautiful Black children,” the tweet, posted by the apparent aunt, Jodi Brown, of the girl celebrating her birthday, read.
In the park’s initial statement, it said the performer portraying Rosita intended the “no” hand gesture in response to requests to hold children for a photo and did not intentionally ignore the girls.
The park said it has apologized to the family directly and has invited them for a meet-and-greet with the characters, as well as an in-person apology.
“We sincerely and wholeheartedly apologize to the Brown family for what they experienced,” park officials said in a previous statement to ABC News. “To be very clear, what the two young girls experienced, what the family experienced, is unacceptable. It happened in our park, with our team, and we own that. It is our responsibility to make this better for the children and the family and to be better for all families.”
The park said it will implement mandatory bias training so “our employees so that we can better recognize, understand, and deliver an inclusive, equitable and entertaining experience for all our guests. We have already engaged with nationally recognized experts in this area,” the statement read.
The legal team representing the family of the two girls in the video has called for the costumed performer to be fired.
Footage of other incidents with Sesame Place characters and Black children were posted by others alleging they were treated similarly.
Sesame Place is a licensed park partner of Sesame Workshop and is owned by Sea World.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.
