Billy Porter makes his directorial debut with the groundbreaking new romantic comedy Anything’s Possible, out Friday on Prime Video.
The film follows confident teen Kelsa, who is a transgender girl, as she navigates her senior year and her crush on her artsy classmate.
Porter says that his film calls back to the coming-of-age classics while also doing something completely new. “When I grew up, I was obsessed with the John Hughes genre,” he tells ABC Audio.
“I had to superimpose myself onto all those white people. When I read this script, I knew instantly that this was a genre that needed to be revisited for the modern era, and that’s what we set out to do,” Porter says.
He wasn’t alone in searching for himself on screen. Actress Eva Reign, who plays Kelsa in the film, recalls the time she spent looking for a movie just like this one.
“I spent so much time scrolling through Tumblr and Instagram trying to find some movie or show, and I just wasn’t seeing myself anywhere,” she says. “This film is literally what me and a lot of my friends talked about wanting to see.”
At the end of the day, even with all that time spent wishing for a movie like this, Porter says he didn’t feel any pressure in making it.
“When you’re simply living inside of your truth and walking that path, the pressure is released. There was more pressure on me when I was trying to be straight,” he says. “There is no pressure now, because all I’ve got to do is show up and be myself.”
(WASHINGTON) — The House Jan. 6 select committee used its second prime-time hearing Thursday to make the case that President Donald Trump not only did nothing to stop the assault on the U.S. Capitol but did so because he wanted it to succeed.
Chairman Bennie Thompson, leading off the hearing remotely as he recovers from COVID-19, called for accountability at every level of what the committee has described as Trump’s “attempted coup.”
The panel detailed the 187 minutes that passed between Trump’s speech at the Ellipse and his taped statement telling his supporters still storming the Capitol to leave.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said Trump didn’t move to immediately discourage rioters because they were carrying out his plot to delay the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
“President Trump did not fail to act during the 187 minutes between leaving the Ellipse and telling the mob to go home,” Kinzinger said. “He chose not to act.”
Former White House officials — including live witnesses Sarah Matthews and Matthew Pottinger — painted a picture of Trump sitting in a private dining room off the Oval Office watching the events unravel on television while the mob closed in on Vice President Mike Pence and congressional lawmakers.
Here are some key takeaways:
Trump resisted pressure to take action, watching the riot on TV instead
Former White House officials described Trump, after his Jan. 6 speech at the Ellipse, spending three hours in the private dining room off the Oval Office simply watching the attack on the Capitol on television while making calls to supportive senators.
Then-White House counsel Pat Cipollone said he was among several officials — including Ivanka Trump — who pushed for Trump to quickly make a “strong” statement to tamp down the violence shortly after it broke out.
Matthews, a deputy press secretary at the time, told lawmakers Thursday that it would’ve taken “less than 60 seconds” for Trump to leave the dining room and make a statement at the briefing room — but he declined.
Text messages sent by Donald Trump Jr. to chief of staff Mark Meadows showed Trump’s son also thought his father should “condemn” the attack as soon as possible.
He finally taped a statement issued at 4:17 p.m., calling on his supporters to end the attack, but also telling them, “We love you. You’re very special.”
The committee juxtaposed the time of that statement with video of heavy violence continuing at the Capitol.
White House reaction to Trump ‘courage’ tweet on Pence
An incendiary tweet by former President Trump about his vice president amid the riot was a pivotal moment for the live witnesses. The tweet, sent at 2:24 p.m. at the height of the riot, said Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.”
Pottinger said it was in that moment that he decided to resign.
“It looked like fuel being poured on the fire,” he told the committee. “I did not want to be associated with the events that were unfolding on the Capitol.”
Matthews said she thought the tweet “was the last thing that was needed in that moment” from Trump.
“He should have been telling these people to go home, and to leave, and to condemn the violence that we were seeing,” she said. “For him to tweet out the message about Mike Pence, it was him pouring gasoline on the fire, and making it much worse.”
Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., characterized Trump’s tweet as putting a “target on his own vice president’s back.”
Secret Service agents feared for their lives, witness recalls
The public heard new audio of Secret Service radio traffic from the attack indicating officers were very concerned about safely evacuating Pence as rioters made their way into the building.
“If we lose any more time, we may lose the ability to leave,” one agent said over the radio. “So, if we’re going to leave, we need to do it now.”
An unidentified White House security official, whose voice was distorted to hide the person’s identity, provided a chilling detail that members of Pence’s detail “were starting to fear for their own lives.”
“There were calls to say goodbye to family members,” the official said in a recorded interview.
Trump outtakes: ‘I don’t want to say the election is over’
The committee revealed never-before-seen raw footage of outtakes from a message Trump recorded a day after the Capitol attack — on Jan. 7 — that showed, the committee said, that even after everything that happened, Trump insisted on sticking to the “big lie.”
“This election is now over. Congress has certified the results,” Trump starts to say, reading off a teleprompter. He then stops to say, “I don’t want to say the election is over.”
“I just want to say Congress has certified the results, without saying the election is over, OK?” he continues.
Trump had refused to record the address for hours, Luria said, but ultimately relented “because of concerns that he might be removed from power by threats of the 25th Amendment.”
The 25th Amendment lays out the procedures for replacing the president in the event of death, removal, resignation or incapacitation.
Cheney says Trump can’t be trusted
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., concluded the hearing with a central question as rumors swirl about a Trump comeback in 2024.
The former president was given a choice between right and wrong on Jan. 6, Cheney argued, and his behavior was “indefensible.”
“Every American must consider this: can a president who is willing to make the choices Donald Trump made during the violence of Jan. 6 ever be trusted with any position of authority in our great nation again?” she asked.
The committee’s work isn’t over
While the committee’s hearing on Thursday was its last scheduled proceeding, Thompson and Cheney emphasized that the panel’s work isn’t over.
“Doors have opened, new subpoenas have been issued and the dam has begun to break,” Cheney said.
The panel said it has received an abundance of information since the hearings began in early June, and will continue to collect evidence through the month of August when Congress is on recess. They said the committee will reconvene in September.
(ROCHESTER, N.Y.) — Two police officers have been shot in Rochester, New York, and one is in life-threatening condition Thursday night.
The two officers were conducting a detail around 9:15 p.m. when “at least one male approached them and opened fire on them,” Lt. Greg Bello said at the scene Thursday night, Rochester ABC affiliate WHAM-TV reported.
The condition of the other officer was not immediately known. Both were rushed to the hospital.
The incident took place on Bauman Street in northeast Rochester, WHAM reported.
(NEW YORK) — The southern entrance of Yosemite National Park is scheduled to reopen now that firefighters have made headway with containing the wildfire that was threatening the park’s iconic sequoia trees.
The Washburn Fire, a wildfire that has burned through nearly 5,000 acres along the southern border of Yosemite since July 7, had reached 58% containment as of Thursday, according to the Yosemite Fire and Aviation Management.
The containment of the fire, which at one point was inching dangerously close to the Mariposa Grove, will allow the southern entrance of Yosemite National Park to open on Saturday at 6 a.m., a spokesperson for the National Park Service told ABC News.
The Mariposa Grove is one of the most popular destinations at Yosemite and is home to more than 500 mature giant sequoia trees. This summer was the second time in less than a year that an approaching wildfire neared an iconic plot of sequoia trees, some of which have been there for thousands of years.
No reports of damage to any of the named trees in the grove have been released, and some tree trunks have been wrapped in fire-resistant foil as protection.
Sprinklers have also been set up around several trees, including the Grizzly Giant, the most famous giant sequoia at Yosemite, which stands at 209 feet tall. Fire officials hope the steady stream of water, combined with prescribed burns, will be enough to protect the trees from a fatal encounter with the wildfire.
Since 2020, three fires are estimated to have killed up to 19% of the large giant sequoias in the entire Sierra Nevada population, and 85% of sequoia groves have been affected by wildfire in the past six years, according to the National Park Service.
A portion of Highway 41, which leads into the southern entrance of Yosemite, was shut down earlier this month as a result of the Washburn Fire.
The wildfire also sparked air quality alerts hundreds of miles away in California’s Bay Area, specifically the North Bay and East Bay regions.
(BATON ROUGE, La.) — Louisiana’s attorney general said he wants cities that don’t enforce the state’s abortion laws to have their funding withheld.
Louisiana was one of several states that had a trigger law banning abortion that would immediately go into effect upon the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which occurred June 24.
A temporary order blocking enforcement of the ban was issued June 27 and has since been extended several times, with a state judge expected to hear arguments Tuesday.
However, several state officials have said if the order is lifted and the ban goes into effect, they will not enforce or prosecute offenders.
Earlier this month, the New Orleans City Council — with the support of Mayor LaToya Cantrell — passed a resolution that prohibits public funds or resources from being used by local law enforcement to enforce the trigger ban.
Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams said his office will not prosecute abortion providers. Additionally, the New Orleans Police Department and the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office said they will not arrest or investigate providers.
In response, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry called upon the state treasurer and his fellow members of the Bond Commission to delay any applications and funding for New Orleans and Orleans Parish until officials agree to enforce the ban.
“As Attorney General and member of the Bond Commission, it is my belief that a parish or municipality should not benefit from the hard-working taxpayers of this State while ignoring laws validly enacted by the people through their representatives,” he said in a statement. “I urge the Bond Commission to defer any applications for the City of New Orleans, Orleans Parish, and any local governmental entity or political subdivision under its purview.”
The statement continued, “In addition, any other funding that will directly benefit the City of New Orleans should also be paused until such time as the Council, Mayor, Chief of Police, Sheriff, and District Attorney have met with and affirmed that they will comply with and enforce the laws of this State and cooperate with any State officials who may be called upon to enforce them.”
“The Attorney General’s hostility towards reproductive freedom comes as no surprise. However, what is surprising and troubling, is that the Attorney General would place critical infrastructure and state assets in harm’s way just to score political points for his run for Governor,” said Cantrell in response to the statement.
This is not the first time Landry has made headlines for his desire to strictly enforce the state’s abortion ban despite the order blocking it.
Last month, Landry threatened the licenses of medical providers who continue to provide abortions while the ban is blocked in a letter to the Louisiana State Medical Society.
“The temporary restraining order does not — and cannot — immunize medical providers from liability from criminal conduct,” he wrote. “It is incumbent on this office to advise you that any medial provider who would perform or has performed an elective abortion after the Supreme Court’s decision … is jeopardizing his or her liberty and medical license.”
The decision by officials to not enforce abortion laws reflects moves seen in other cities in states with restrictive laws. The Austin City Council passed a measure Thursday that decriminalizes abortion within city limits even though it is effectively banned in Texas.
(SPARTA, Ga.) — A woman in Georgia has died after she was taken into custody but somehow managed to fall out of a police patrol car while authorities were taking her to the Sheriff’s Office, police say.
The incident occurred on July 15 when 28-year-old Brianna Marie Grier of Sparta, Georgia, was taken into custody by Hancock County Sheriff’s office deputies after they were called to her home on Hickory Grove Church Road, according to a statement released by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
“Grier was arrested at the home,” the statement from the GBI said. “While deputies were taking Grier to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, Grier fell out of a patrol car and sustained significant injuries.”
It is unclear if Grier was handcuffed while she was in the vehicle, how fast the car was going at the time or how exactly she was able to fall out of the car while en route to the Sheriff’s Office. The GBI statement did not say why Grier had been taken into custody in the first place.
Grier died on Thursday at Grady memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, at approximately 1:00 p.m. from injuries she sustained in the fall.
“Hancock County Sheriff Terrell Primus asked the GBI’s regional investigate office in Milledgeville to investigate on July 15 following the initial incident,” said the GBI.
Authorities said that Grier’s body will be taken to the GBI Crime Lab for an autopsy and that the GBI investigation remains active and ongoing.
The Beatles‘ Ringo Starr, The Police‘s Stewart Copeland, and The Grateful Dead‘s Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann are among the famous musicians featured in an upcoming documentary titled Let There Be Drums!, according to Deadline.
The film, which aims to “examine the essential role drumming plays in great bands and how music passes from generation to generation,” will also feature interviews with Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith, ex-Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum, Jane’s Addiction‘s Stephen Perkins and late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.
Hawkins’ appearance in the film marks, as Deadline puts it, “what may have been the final filmed interview” he gave prior to his unexpected death earlier this year.
Let There Be Drums! was directed by Kreutzmann’s son, Justin, who told Deadline the project gave him the opportunity “to talk to the world’s most influential drummers in hopes of better understanding his father and the instrument that defined his life.”
Let There Be Drums! is set to premiere in theaters October 28. Hart and Bill Kreutzmann are serving as executive producers on the movie.
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — This past May, Aaron Salter Jr., a retired police officer, was killed in the Buffalo, New York, supermarket shooting while attempting to save others.
Nearly two months after the tragedy, his wife Kimberly and his son Aaron Salter III say they received a life-changing gift. Kimberly Salter is now mortgage-free, the son says, thanks to hip-hop and rap music producer Metro Boomin who paid off the mortgage on the home she shared with her late husband.
Salter III said his family received the gift in an Instagram post Wednesday.
After his father’s death, Salter III said he started a GoFundMe campaign to help his mother out with finances, wanting to ensure she would be “taken care of and be okay.” He said that Metro Boomin reached out to him after coming across the campaign, which has raised nearly $65,000.
“He’s got an album, ‘Not All Heroes Wear Capes,’ and he said that my story really resonated with him because he called my dad a hero and he said that he did everything he could to protect those people,” Salter III told ABC News. “He saw the story and he just wanted to help us out in any way that he could,” he added.
Salter III, who says he is a longtime fan of the producer, said his mother Kimberly was stunned when he told her about Metro Boomin’s gift.
“She was like, ‘he’s doing what?'” Salter III said. “She didn’t believe it until she logged into her account and saw that it was paid off. And when she saw it was paid off, she was very emotional. She was very happy.”
Metro Boomin, born Leland Tyler Wayne, is a popular American hip-hop music producer, DJ, and songwriter from St. Louis. He has amassed over a dozen top 20 hits, working with hip-hop and rap stars including Kanye West, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Migos, Future and Gucci Mane.
An Instagram account that appears to belong to the producer, responded to Salter III’s post, commenting, “Love always, bro, my line is always open, and I meant every single thing I said back when we spoke.”
A representative for Metro Boomin has not responded to a request for comment from ABC News.
Salter III’s father, Aaron Salter Jr., was among those killed last May after a white teenager allegedly killed 10 Black people in what authorities described as a racially motivated mass shooting.
At the time, Salter Jr. was working as a security guard for the grocery store, which is located in a predominantly Black neighborhood. When the shooter proceeded inside the store on May 14, Salter confronted him, shooting and striking the teen before he himself was fatally wounded.
While it’s unclear how many victims were saved due to Salter’s actions, Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph A. Gramaglia told ABC News, “We’re sure he saved lives.”
“He went down fighting,” Gramaglia added. “He came in, he went towards the gunfire. He went towards the fight.”
Shortly after the shooting, Canisius College posthumously honored Salter Jr., who was just three credit hours (one course) away from graduating, with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Salter III accepted the diploma on his father’s behalf during the school’s graduation ceremony.
Two months ago, Metro Boomin suffered his own loss, when his mother, Leslie Joanne Wayne, was reportedly murdered by her husband (not Metro Boomin’s biological father), who then committed suicide, TMZ reported in June.
(WASHINGTON) — The focus of the House Jan. 6 committee’s second prime-time hearing will be what it says was then-President Donald Trump’s “187 minutes” of inaction — from the time he left the rally at the Ellipse, then watching the attack on the U.S. Capitol from the White House until he finally called on his violent supporters to go home.
Please check back for updates. All times Eastern. Jul 21, 5:53 PM EDT
Former White House staffers to testify about resigning in protest
Two former White House aides are expected to testify before the committee on Thursday, sources previously confirmed to ABC News.
Those ex-staffers are Sarah Matthews, who served as deputy press secretary, and Matthew Pottinger, who was deputy national security adviser. Both resigned from their positions after the pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
At the committee’s June 16 hearing, a clip from Matthews’ prior testimony was played in which she described what it was like on the White House press team as the insurrection unfolded. She said that Trump’s tweet attacking then-Vice President Mike Pence during the attack “felt like he was pouring gasoline on the fire.”
