Looks like it’s gearing up to be a hot girl summer again. After taking home the award for Artist of the Year at the 2022 Webby Awards earlier this week, Megan Thee Stallion shared some long-awaited details about her new album.
“I’m probably like 95 percent done with my new album,” the rapper said during a chat backstage. “I wanna tease that for the Hotties. I haven’t even told them nothing about my album, but yeah.”
While the latest update was all Meg decided to share about her forthcoming second project, she once hinted at the caliber of music that fans can expect on it.
“I have been recording songs for a long time,” she said speaking of the upcoming LP and her 2021 mixtape, Something For Thee Hotties, in an interview last year, as shared by AllHipHop. “
“I felt like I was rushing trying to put out projects because I feel like I always got to feed the Hotties,” Megan said. “So right now how I’m writing, I’m really taking my time. This is the most songs that I’ve ever recorded.”
As for any other details, “y’all know I’m not about to tell y’all the name of the second album,” she said.
The 27-year-old rap star shared pictures of her Webby Awards look on Instagram on Tuesday, thanking the organization for most recent accolade, which came only a day after winning Top Female Rap Artist at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards.
A new Design Network series called Rucker’s Reno will follow country star Darius Rucker as he works with a team of designers to refurbish a mansion in the downtown area of his hometown, Charleston, South Carolina.
Over the course of six episodes, Darius will rebuild the home room by room, exploring the history of the house — which was originally built by slaves — and sharing some of the history of the city in the process.
A trailer for the show offers a sneak peek at the work on the house and details Darius’ relationship with his hometown.
“Oh goodness, I don’t think anybody loves Charleston more than me,” he says in the clip. “It’s my favorite place in the world. It’s where you wanna be, downtown Charleston.”
He adds, “I think this house is gonna be really inspirational, because of where it is, because of what it is, you know, and who built it … I think this house is ready for a new chapter.”
Rucker’s Reno will premiere on May 30 at 8 p.m. ET, but Samsung TV Plus subscribers can watch the show exclusively on the platform right now.
In a Hollywood Reporter interview alongside her husband and Plaza Suite on Broadway co-star Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker made a revelation about her relationship with Chris Noth — or rather, their current lack of one.
Noth played Mr. Big, SJP’s love interest, and eventual husband, on Sex and the City and its follow-up, And Just Like That…, but the actor was booted from the series after a pair of women accused him last year of sexual assault. Noth denied the allegations but, although Mr. Big was scripted to die in the SATC sequel series, producers canceled shooting a planned follow-up appearance with his character.
In fact, Parker tells the trade she hasn’t even spoken to Noth since the accusations were leveled against him. “No,” she answered when asked if she’s been in touch.
“I don’t even know if I’m ready to talk about it,” she said of the accusations. The also told The Hollywood Reporter “I wasn’t reacting as a producer” when she and her co-stars/co-producers made a public statement in December of last year about the allegations.
Parker, along with Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, co-signed a statement that read, “We are deeply saddened to hear the allegations against Chris Noth. We support the women who have come forward and shared their painful experiences. We know it must be a very difficult thing to do and we commend them for it.”
Goodbye ballroom — hello Bachelors and Bachelorettes. ABC confirmed Tuesday that this fall, as Dancing with the Stars moves to Disney+, Bachelor In Paradise will be taking over its time slots, airing on both Monday and Tuesday nights.
Bachelorette season 12 contestant-turned-Bachelor In Paradise mainstay Wells Adams will be returning for the new season, and on the Disney Upfronts red carpet in New York City, he discussed the scheduling change with ABC Audio.
“We’ve always done two nights on Paradise. I guess [it’s] a little bit more pressure, that we’ve got to really do a good job, make a good TV show,” he laughs. “But I’m just excited that’s coming back. It’s such a fun show to film. Yeah, it’s always a blast to watch back, so I’m just glad we’re going back to Paradise.”
Jesse Palmer will host the new season, with Adams returning as the bartender. However, he feels he’s really there not so much to mix margaritas, but to lend an ear to the contestants as they pour out their relationship woes.
“Yeah, I’m a bad bartender. I’m a good therapist. I think that’s my role there,” he laughs.
Adams isn’t using Bachelor In Paradise to look for love for himself, of course: He’s engaged to former Modern Family star Sarah Hyland, and the two are currently trying to plan their wedding, after it was derailed by the pandemic.
(NEW YORK) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to unveil proposals Wednesday afternoon to strengthen the state’s gun laws and close “loopholes” in the wake of the deadly Buffalo shooting over the weekend.
The announcement was planned before the weekend shooting, and was delayed by President Joe Biden’s Tuesday visit to Buffalo, Hochul’s hometown.
However, the issue takes on increased urgency as her administration reviews how the 18-year-old suspect, Payton Gendron, legally purchased his weapons and then made modifications that are illegal in New York, already home to some of the nation’s strictest gun laws.
Even before the mass shooting in Buffalo, there was a focus on guns in the state. Illegal gun possession statistics were up last month in the state and country’s largest city, New York City. New York police made 146 more arrests for illegal guns in April 2022 versus April 2021, a 65% increase, according to the NYPD. Shooting incidents, however, did drop 29% in April 2022 versus April 2021.
Proposals already under discussion in the state Capitol include requiring local law enforcement to report recovered weapons to a federal database in a timely manner, and allowing the state to conduct its own background checks.
New requirements could also be put in place for gun dealers, beefing up training for staff and record keeping.
The administration is also looking into the use, or lack thereof, of the state’s red flag laws, which could have identified the Buffalo suspect and kept him from purchasing the gun used to shoot 13 people, killing 10. The prohibition can remove guns from the home of a person identified to be at high risk and keep the person from buying guns for a year.
The suspect was not red-flagged following threats to carry out a shooting at his graduation last June, and he later admitted in a cache of documents that he intentionally avoided the prohibition by downplaying last year’s incident. Following a police investigation, no charges were filed against Gendron, who received a mental health evaluation and counseling after the incident.
Gendron is expected to make his next court appearance on Thursday.
Loki was the most-watched Marvel series on Disney+ to date, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige revealed during Disney’s upfronts on Tuesday, coming in ahead of WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Feige called Loki a “bold swing” and said the “wild ride paid off.” He added that as the first Marvel series on Disney+ to get a second season, production on the sophomore run will start in the next few weeks with star Tom Hiddleston returning, along with season-one cast members Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku and Richard E. Grant. Marvel is owned by Disney, parent company of ABC News…
ABC announced on Tuesday that it’s picked up Celebrity Jeopardy! an all-new game show, airing this fall. The new series welcomes celebrity contestants to compete for a chance to win money for a charity of their choice. A host or potential celebrity contestants have yet to be named. Mayim Bialik emceed Jeopardy! National College Championship over five non-consecutive nights in February and has been sharing hosting duties of the syndicated version of Jeopardy! with Ken Jennings…
ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! will make his sixth trip to host Jimmy Kimmel‘s his old stomping ground, Brooklyn, New York, marking its first time broadcasting in the borough since 2019 — before the COVID-19 pandemic put such trips on hold, according to Variety. Kimmel mostly grew up in Las Vegas, but he and his family originally hail from Brooklyn, where he was born and lived until he was 9. Airdates and guests for the “Brooklyn Week” shows for Jimmy Kimmel Live! have yet to be announced…
Saycon Sengbloh second from left; Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
ABC’s reboot of the classic late ’80s-early ’90s sitcom The Wonder Years was renewed for a second season, a week after executive producer and director Fred Savage, star of the original Wonder Years, was dismissed following allegations of inappropriate conduct. But at least one of the show’s stars isn’t worried about that taking the focus off all the good things about the Peabody Award-nominated show.
Saycon Sengbloh, who plays the mother of the show’s main character, Dean Williams — a 12-year-old boy growing up in the late ’60s in Montgomery, Alabama — told ABC Audio that the behind-the-scenes news isn’t a bad thing for The Wonder Years.
“You know, news is news. The show is going to be good no matter what happens,” she said. “And people just have to tune in. And honestly, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
“Whatever puts people’s eyes on the show and makes them come to check it out…I’m welcoming more and more viewers, welcoming more people to come and fall in love with us and to enjoy the family show, enjoy the shenanigans,” she adds. “People just need to come and check it out!”
The new season of The Wonder Years doesn’t have a premiere date yet; instead of returning this fall, it’ll premiere mid-season. An ABC exec told Variety that moving The Wonder Years to mid-season has nothing to do with Savage’s exit.
Jimmy Kimmel has tested positive for COVID-19, again,
Taking to Twitter Tuesday night, the late night talk show host announced, “I’m such a positive person, I tested positive AGAIN.”
“I am feeling fine,” he continued, adding that John Mulaney and Andy Samberg will step in to carry out his hosting duties on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
This is the second time Kimmel has tested positive for COVID-19 this month. Back on May 2, the funnyman quipped, “Our daughter brought us covid (even though we specifically asked her not to).”
“All feeling fine, I am double vaxxed and boosted but the show must not go on,” he wrote.
Kimmel was to emcee a portion of Disney’s Upfront presentation in New York City Tuesday, but because of the positive test, he delivered his traditionally R-rated takedown of the company’s network competition — along with a friendly roast of ABC’s own programming — remotely.
The first trailer for Marvel’s new Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law dropped on Tuesday, following Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige‘s reveal of it at Disney’s upfront presentation in New York City.
The nine-episode comedy series follows Jennifer Walters — played by former Orphan Black Emmy-winner Tatiana Maslany — as she navigates the complicated life of a single, 30-something attorney who specializes in superhuman-oriented legal cases, and also happens to be a green 6-foot-7-inch super-powered hulk.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law also features Mark Ruffalo, reprising his Smart Hulk role from Avengers: Endgame, who attempts to educate his attorney cousin on managing her new powers, although she’d rather be “a normal, anonymous lawyer.”
In the trailer, when a friend tells her, “You could be an Avenger,” Walters quips, “Oh, I’m not a superhero. That is for billionaires and narcissists — and adult orphans, for some reason.”
Feige also announced that Secret Wars would be yet another MCU Disney+ small-screen series, and introduced to the crowd Samuel L. Jackson, who will be reprising his role as Nick Fury, to help promote it.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law premieres August 17 on Disney+.
Marvel is owned by Disney, parent company of ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — The mother of a teen who went missing in 2009 while on spring break is speaking out after authorities announced an arrest in the case.
“I never thought we would get to this place and we’re finally here,” Dawn Pleckan, Drexel’s mother, told ABC News in an exclusive interview. “And now I can get Brittanee back and lay to rest.”
In 2009, Drexel vanished while on a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. On Monday, authorities announced at a news conference that Raymond Moody, 62, was arrested and charged with her murder after her remains were found in a wooded area in Georgetown County, South Carolina, last week.
“In the last week, we’ve confirmed that Brittanee lost her life in a tragic way, at the hands of a horrible criminal who was walking our streets,” said FBI special agent in charge Susan Ferensic.
For 13 years, Brittanee’s parents, Pleckan and Chad Drexel, have searched for her.
Pleckan said her daughter wanted to go on the trip but she remembered telling her no because of a lack of parental supervision. Pleckan said she also had a bad hunch.
“She asked me if she could go and I told her no,” Pleckan recalled. “And she asked me why. I said, because I don’t know the kids you’re going with. I don’t — there’s no parental supervision and something’s going to happen.”
Brittanee ended up leaving for the spring break trip to Myrtle Beach on April 22, 2009, despite her mother’s wishes. Three days later, the teen was seen for the last time on a hotel surveillance camera. She was leaving a friend’s room at the Blue Water Resort to walk back to the hotel where she was staying, about a mile-and-a-half walk down the busy Myrtle Beach strip, ABC Rochester station WHAM-TV reported.
She was about halfway to her destination when she disappeared, investigators said, based on surveillance footage from cameras on 11th Avenue and Ocean Boulevard.
Her remains were found less than 3 miles from a motel where Moody had been living at the time of Drexel’s disappearance, Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver said. Authorities allege that Moody buried her body. Authorities did not answer reporters’ questions on how Drexel’s remains were found.
Moody is being held without bond at the Georgetown County jail and is expected to be charged with rape, murder and kidnapping — in addition to a charge of obstruction of justice that he was initially brought in for, said Jimmy Richardson, solicitor for Horry and Georgetown Counties.
In 2012, he had been identified as a person of interest in the disappearance but there was not enough evidence to name him as a suspect, officials said.
Investigators believe Drexel was held against her will and killed.
Pleckan and Chad Drexel have asked for privacy and thanked investigators and volunteers for their work over the past decade.
“This is truly a mother’s worst nightmare,” Pleckan said. “I am mourning my beautiful daughter Brittanee as I have been for 13 years. But today, it’s bittersweet. We are much closer to the closure in the piece that we have been desperately hoping for.”
On Monday, which would have been Brittanee’s 30th birthday according to WHAM, Pleckan said she hopes justice will be served.
“One thing … we’re going to look forward to is to get justice for Brittanee,” she said. “I want people to know out there that Brittanee’s legacy is going to live on.”
Pleckan added, “She had her whole life ahead of her. And this monster took it away from her. I’m glad [Moody] is behind bars so that he can’t hurt anyone else’s child.”
