Billie Eilish is the latest musician to head to Springfield.
The “bad guy” artist is set to star in upcoming Simpsons short titled “When Billie Met Lisa,” premiering on Disney+ next Friday, April 22.
Eilish revealed the news in an Instagram Story featuring the cartoon, Simpsons-ized version of herself singing next to the character Lisa Simpson, who’s playing her signature saxophone. According to a press release, Eilish’s brother and collaborator FINNEAS will also guest on the short.
“In ‘When Billie Met Lisa,’ Lisa Simpson is discovered by chart-topping artists Billie Eilish and FINNEAS while searching for a quiet place to practice her saxophone,” the release teases. “Billie invites Lisa to her studio for a special jam session she’ll never forget.”
Eilish joins a long list of musical artists who’ve appeared on The Simpsons, including Green Day, Weezer, The White Stripes, Aerosmith, Metallica and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Meanwhile, Fall Out Boy‘s band name is a Simpsons reference.
North Carolina police are investigating a shooting that left one person injured at the home of rapper DaBaby, who’s birth name is Jonathan Kirk.
According to details shared by the Troutman Police Department on Facebook, officers arrived on scene at approximately 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday, where they found one person suffering from a non-life threatening gunshot wound. That person was transported to a medical facility for treatment.
“Due to the ongoing and continuing nature of this investigation, no information as to the names of those involved or the circumstances can be released at this time,” the statement reads.
A local reporter says that he spoke with the Troutman Police chief on Thursday morning, who confirmed “rap star DaBaby was home at the time of the shooting when an unknown gunman entered the residence but wasn’t injured.”
The reporter subsequently shared an image of the home’s gated entrance, highlighting the “private security” that’s guarding the area.
“This is an isolated incident and there is no threat to the community at large,” authorities said.
Maren Morris got to play the role of surprise guest at a John Mayer show in Nashville on Wednesday night, stepping onstage to sing two duets with the star singer-songwriter.
One of those was “Last Train Home,” a song off John’s recent Sob Rock album. Maren provides backing vocals on the studio version, so it’s no surprise they’d choose that tune to perform in a live setting.
Maren also duetted with John at the Grammys in 2021, performing her cross-genre mega-hit, “The Bones.” But even though she’s gotten a few different opportunities to sing with him, Maren’s as starstruck as ever: A fact she made clear during a post to her socials after the show.
“Hello, Maren can’t be reached right now because she went back to 2006 and told her younger self that this would happen in year 2022 and her brain exploded,” the singer wrote, alongside video of her and John onstage together.
“Thank you [John Mayer] for bringing your new light to Nashville & blessing our ears,” Maren continued. “WHAT a band.”
When she’s not being a fan, Maren’s hard at work on her own tour plans: She launches her Humble Quest Tour in June.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian troops invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Russian forces have since been met with “stiff resistance” from Ukrainians, according to U.S. officials.
In recent days, Russian forces have retreated from northern Ukraine, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. After graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of Bucha, a town northwest of Kyiv, the United States and European countries accused Russia of committing war crimes.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 14, 1:00 pm
Biden confirms White House planning to send senior official to Ukraine
President Joe Biden confirmed Thursday that the White House is planning to send a senior official to visit Ukraine.
Before boarding Air Force One to fly to North Carolina, Biden was pressed for details by reporters but declined to elaborate.
“Well, we’re making that decision now. Thank you,” Biden said.
When a reporter asked who the White House will send to Ukraine, Biden quipped, “Ready to go?”
“Are you?” the reporter asked.
Biden responded, “Yeah,” before boarding Air Force One.
Several world leaders have visited Ukraine in recent days and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Polish President Andrzej Duda, Latvian President Egils Levits and Estonian President Alar Karis.
-ABC News’ Armando Garcia
Apr 14, 12:13 pm
White House national security adviser hints at more sanctions against Russia
White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan hinted Thursday of more sanctions coming against Russia in the “next week or two” aimed at targeting ways Moscow is evading sanctions already imposed.
“Where our focus will be over the course of the coming days is on evasion,” Sullivan said Thursday at the Economic Club of Washington. “As Russia tries to adjust to the fact that it’s under this massive economic pressure, what steps do they take to try to evade our sanctions and how do we crack down on that? And I think we’ll have some announcements in the next week or two that identify targets that are trying to facilitate that evasion both inside Russia and beyond.”
When Sullivan was asked whether sanctions will automatically be lifted if a negotiated peace deal between Russia and Ukraine is worked out, he appeared cautious with his words, saying, “a lot of that depends on what the shape and scope” of the agreement is.
“A lot of it depends on what the Ukrainians, in consultation with us and the Europeans come to agree to,” Sullivan said. “You know, we’re not going to do a deal over the head of the Ukrainians where we give a bunch of sanctions relief to Russia. But if some measure of sanctions relief were built in to some credible diplomatic solution led by the Ukrainians, that’s something that we would happily discuss.”
But Sullivan said Russian oligarchs shouldn’t expect to ever get back their yachts and other assets seized under sanctions that have been imposed, saying the ultimate goal is “not to give them back” once the war is over.
“The president is actively looking at how we can deal with the fact that as we seize these assets, our goal is not to give them back. Our goal is to put them to a better use than that,” Sullivan said. “But I’ll be careful in what I say today because there’s an ongoing kind of policy process around how we end up dealing with that question. But, rest assured, that the goal is not just to sit on them for a while.”
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Apr 14, 11:14 am
Putin claims Europe has no alternative for Russian energy resources
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that attempts by Western countries to exclude Russian energy suppliers will affect the global economy and that European Union countries have no alternative resources.
“Consequences of such a step can become quite painful, first of all, for initiators of such a policy,” Putin said during a meeting with top officials on the situation in the Russian oil and gas sector.
Putin claimed that Russian natural gas can’t be replaced by alternative resources.
“What is surprising here: so-called partners from unfriendly countries assume that they can avoid Russian energy resources, including natural gas. Its reasonable replacement for Europe doesn’t exist. It is possible, but it doesn’t exist so far,” Putin said. “Everyone understands there is no free volume (of energy resources) on the world market.”
Putin said Moscow will redirect its energy eastward, as European countries try to reduce reliance on Russian exports.
“EU countries talk of cutting off energy supplies from Russia, driving up prices and destabilizing the market,” Putin said.
Putin said that Russia should embark on building infrastructure for eastward oil and gas exports as the country needs to diversify its energy supplies away from Europe.
Apr 14, 10:13 am
Ukraine says 30 citizens returned in 4th prisoner swap with Russia
Thirty prisoners of war will be returned to Ukraine on Thursday as part of the latest exchange of captives with Russia, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
Vereshchuk said in a statement via social media Thursday that, following an order from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, five officers and 17 servicemen were exchanged, along with the release of eight civilians, including one woman.
“In total, 30 of our citizens are going home today,” Vereshchuk said.
Thursday’s prisoner swap marked the fourth to take place between the two countries since Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Apr 14, 10:01 am
9 humanitarian corridors to reopen in eastern Ukraine on Thursday
Nine humanitarian corridors are expected to reopen in eastern Ukraine on Thursday to allow civilians escape heavy fighting, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
She said in a statement via social media Thursday that evacuation routes were agreed upon for those traveling by private cars from besieged Mariupol in the Donetsk Oblast, as well as from Berdyansk, Tokmak and Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast — all of which lead to the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.
In the Luhansk Oblast, Vereshchuk said routes were established from the cities of Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, Popasna, Hirske and Rubizhne, leading to the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk Oblast.
Humanitarian corridors were not reopened the previous day because Russian forces had blocked evacuation buses in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast and violated the cease-fire in the Luhansk Oblast, according to Vereshchuk.
“All this creates such a level of danger on routes that we are forced to refrain from opening humanitarian corridors today,” she said in a statement via social media Wednesday.
Apr 14, 9:01 am
Two eastern Ukrainian towns may face ‘indiscriminate attacks,’ UK warns
Russian forces are likely to attack the towns of Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine, the U.K. Ministry of Defense warned in an intelligence update Thursday.
The towns are both located in the Donetsk Oblast of the disputed Donbas region, where Russian troops are “striking Ukrainian forces in preparation for a renewed offensive,” according to the ministry.
“Urban centres have faced repeated indiscriminate attacks from Russia throughout the conflict,” the ministry said. “The towns of Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka are likely to be Russian targets for similar levels of violence.”
The railway station in Kramatorsk was the site of rocket attack that killed dozens of civilians trying to evacuate the region on April 8.
“The combination of widespread missile and artillery strikes and efforts to concentrate forces for an offensive represents a reversion to traditional Russian military doctrine,” the ministry added. “However, this will require significant force levels. Ukraine’s continued defence of Mariupol is currently tying down significant numbers of Russian troops and equipment.”
Mariupol, a strategic port city in the Donetsk Oblast, has been under heavy Russian bombardment since the start of the invasion on Feb. 24. Strong resistance from Ukrainian troops have prevented Russian forces from taking full control of Mariupol.
Apr 14, 4:51 am
197 children killed in invasion, Ukraine says
At least 197 children have been killed in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said on Thursday.
Another 351 children have been injured during the invasion, the office said. The actual number of casualties was assumed to be higher, because Ukraine’s official figures didn’t include “full consideration of places with active hostilities,” the office said.
Two children died after being hospitalized for injuries from a rocket attack on a train station in eastern Ukraine last Friday, according to Thursday’s update. Seven children have now died following that Russian attack, the update said.
Apr 13, 9:43 pm
Ukraine claims to have struck Russia’s Black Sea fleet flagship
Several Ukrainian government sources reported Wednesday that armed forces have struck Russia’s Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva.
The governor of Odesa Maksym Marchenko claimed on Telegram that two anti-ship cruise missiles struck the cruiser in the Black Sea, causing “very serious damage.”
Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych and Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, reported there was an explosion and that the cruiser is on fire.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said a fire onboard the Moskva caused a subsequent broadside munitions explosion.
“The ship received serious damage, the crew was evacuated,” the ministry said, adding that an investigation is underway.
There was no mention of a missile strike in the ministry’s statement, which was carried by Russia’s state-run news agency TASS.
BTS‘s RM announced the impending arrival of his new solo music and says fans will be able to hear it very soon.
NME reports that the K-pop singer spoke with fans via a recent livestream session and chatted about his personal goals for 2022. When it came to coming out with solo music, he teased, “I’m getting ready and I’m working on it.”
Calling his work a “mixtape,” RM said he’s “inviting really interesting and unexpected people” to feature on it. Currently, he is working on a “new song” that he wants fans to hear real soon.
“I have no idea when the next song will be out, but I’m trying hard to release it within this year,” he vowed, adding he wants it “to do well.”
RM also teased a new collaboration that’s also “going well,” and which features “various people in a new and unexpected way.” He noted, “I believe it’ll be cool, I believe I’m making many good songs. I have a high standard.”
Fans of the Canadian comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall had a long time to wait, but the boys are back for a long-anticipated season 6.
“Sorry it took 27 years,” cast member Scott Thompsonposted on Twitter.
Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, Bruce McCulloch, Mark McKinney and Thompson appear in a new NSFW trailer to the forthcoming series, bound for Amazon Prime.
The coming attraction begins with the troupe literally being exhumed from a mass grave, with a tombstone marking their old show’s final resting place since 1995. “Guys, I knew we should have cryogenically frozen our bodies!” McCulloch gripes.
“The curse is over and the Kids are back,” notes McKinney, playing a television exec in another scene.
“Who’s financing this time?” Foley asks, “The Devil again?
“Well, sort of,” McKinney intones. “Amazon.”
Foley, again in character, notes the execs are seeking, “a funny show, but one that’s free from targets, topical topics, alarming edginess or unsettling settings” — all of which are featured in the trailer.
The new season of The Kids in the Hall debuts May 13 on Amazon Prime.
Ryan Reynolds did something special for his pal, and Wrexham Football Club co-chair, Rob McElhenney‘s birthday Thursday: He dedicated a stadium urinal to him.
On a short video shot in one of the loos at the historic Racecourse Ground in Wales, where teams have played footy since 1877, Reynolds waited for someone to emerge from a stall — without washing his hands, the Deadpool star noticed — to officially snip a very tiny ribbon over the urinal.
The fixture had been marked off with a small brass plaque, on which the Always Sunny and Mythic Quest co-creator’s face had been etched.
“With love from Wrexham AFC, Paid for by Ryan Reynolds,” a close-up on the plaque reveals.
Popping a bottle of champagne, the notorious prankster smiles, “Congratulations, Rob.”
The pair’s adventure in buying the club will be seen on the FX reality show Welcome to Wrexham later this year.
(NEW YORK) — Ukrainian government officials claimed Wednesday that its armed forces fired missiles that struck Russia’s Black Sea Fleet flagship vessel, Moskva, causing damage.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych and Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, said there was an explosion and that the cruiser is on fire.
The governor of Odessa Maksym Marchenko claimed on Telegram that two anti-ship cruise missiles struck the cruiser in the Black Sea, causing “very serious damage.”
Russia said the ship was seriously damaged, but did not confirm that was due to Ukrainian strikes. Russia claimed there was a fire abroad the ship that forced all 510 members of the crew to evacuate.
“As a result of a fire, ammunition has detonated on the Moskva missile cruiser. The ship was seriously damaged. The crew was completely evacuated,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“The cause of the fire is under investigation,” the statement said.
Russia later said the fire aboard the ship was contained and that the Moskva will be towed to a port. Russia’s Defense Ministry said the main missile weapons on board were not damaged, but made no mention of missile strikes in its statement.
A senior U.S. defense official told reporters the U.S. assesses that the crew of the Moskva is still battling a fire aboard the ship.
About a half-dozen other ships that had been close to the Moskva have now moved further away from the coast into the Black Sea, the official also said.
In an interview on MSNBC Thursday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said there wasn’t enough information to determine if the explosion was in fact caused by a Ukrainian missile strike, though it can’t be ruled out.
Despite the Russian Defense Ministry claiming the ship was being towed, Kirby said it was under its own power and looked to be headed east toward Sevastopol in Crimea.
“She was operating about 60 miles or so south of Odessa and we know she suffered an explosion,” Kirby said on MSNBC. “It looks like from the images that we’ve been able to look at it looks like there’s a pretty sizable explosion too.”
On CNN, Kirby said the U.S. is unaware what caused at least one explosion abroad the ship, describing the explosion as “a fairly major one at that, that has caused extensive damage to the ship.”
-ABC News’ Fidel Pavlenko, Luis Martinez, Oleksiy Pshemyskyi and Yulia Drozd contributed to this report
If you didn’t snag a ticket to Coachella this year, you can still enjoy some virtual festival vibes, thanks to Fortnite.
The massively popular online video game has announced a new collaboration with Coachella. Beginning Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET, a number of festival-themed items will be available in the Fortnite, including various outfits, some of which are described as “reactive to music,” and a guitar-shaped pickaxe.
Additionally, Fortnite‘s in-game Icon Radio station will be playing music from over 30 artists on this year’s Coachella lineup, now through May 16.
Coachella 2022 takes place April 15-17, and April 22-24. The lineup includes Billie Eilish, Måneskin, Phoebe Bridgers, Turnstile, girl in red, Wallows, FINNEAS, The Regrettes, and Bishop Briggs.
A new film titled Moonage Daydream billed as “a definitive…portrait” of the late David Bowie will be released soon, BMG has announced.
The movie, which has been in the works for five years and was written and directed by Brett Morgen, is the first film to be officially sanctioned by Bowie’s estate.
In a press statement, Moonage Daydream is described as “a sublime kaleidoscopic experiential cinematic odyssey that explores Bowie’s creative, spiritual, and philosophical journey.” The movie includes previously unseen footage and performances, and will feature Bowie’s own narration. The film includes 47 musical tracks, mixed from the original recordings. David’s longtime friend and collaborator Tony Visconti is serving as the project’s musical producer.
BMG executive-produced and financed Moonage Daydream with Live Nation Productions. The Neon production company is handling distribution in the U.S. The film will be shown in theaters, including select IMAX cinemas. Cable and streaming rights have been licensed to HBO and HBO Max, where, according to Billboard, the film will get its TV premiere in spring 2023.
Moonage Daydream is the first movie of a multiple-film agreement Morgen has struck with BMG for IMAX productions. Brett’s previous credits include the 2012 Rolling Stones documentary Crossfire Hurricane and 2015’s Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck.
“This has been a five year labour of love to honour one of the greatest song catalogues in music history,” says BMG executive Fred Casimir. “BMG is proud to build on our long-term relationship with the David Bowie estate working hand-in-hand with our partners Live Nation Productions to bring Brett Morgen’s vision to the big screen.”
BMG holds a 25% stake in Bowie’s song catalog dating from 1970 to 1977, including such classics as “Changes,” “Starman,” “Ziggy Stardust,” “Life on Mars,” “Rebel Rebel” and “Fame.”
