Ted Lasso‘s Brett Goldstein, who serves as a writer and plays Roy Kent on the hit Apple TV+ comedy seies, tells Britain’s The Times that season three is being written as its last.
“We are writing it like that…It was planned as three,” the Emmy winner reveals, adding, “Spoiler alert — everyone dies.”
Ted Lasso creator and star Jason Sudeikis expressed the same sentiment in an interview with Entertainment Weekly last year, although he left the door open for future seasons of the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning series, if the opportunity presented itself.
“The story that I know is the one that I wanted to tell, and so that’s the one we’re telling with the help of numerous people in front of and behind the camera, so it’s by no means me typing every keystroke and saying every word,” Sudeikis said. “It’s nowhere near like that. But the story that’s being told — that three-season arc — is one that I see, know, and understood. I’m glad that they are willing to pay for those three seasons. As far as what happens after that, who knows? I don’t know.”
Ted Lasso season three is currently being shot and is set to premiere later this year.
WALK THE MOON has announced a tour celebrating the 10th anniversary of the band’s 2012 self-titled album.
The six-date run begins October 19 in Los Angeles and will make stops in San Diego, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Boston before wrapping up November 12 in New York City.
“We’re taking those songs back to the rooms we played them in a decade ago, playing the record top to bottom, and then adding some more,” WALK THE MOON says.
Tickets go on sale this Friday, June 10, at 10 a.m. local time via WALKTHEMOON.com.
The album WALK THE MOON, the sophomore follow-up to the group’s self-released 2010 debut, I want! I want!, put the Ohio-based band on the map with the singles “Anna Sun” and “Tightrope.” They then exploded with 2014’s TALKING IS HARD, which spawned the mega-hit “Shut Up and Dance.”
WALK THE MOON’s most recent album is last November’s HEIGHTS, which includes the singles “Can You Handle My Love??” and “Giants.”
Original Beach Boys member Brian Wilson and his solo band kick off a summer co-headlining tour with Chicago tonight in Phoenix. The 25-date U.S. trek is mapped out through a July 26 concert in the Detroit suburb of Clarkston, Michigan.
As has been the case for the last several years, Wilson’s band will include two other Beach Boys alums, co-founding singer/guitarist Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin, who sang and played guitar with the band in 1972 and ’73.
“It’s gonna be a big, big tour, and it’ll be a lot of fun,” Jardine tells ABC Audio. “I encourage people to come out and see it. It’s gonna be a great show.”
Al, who’s best known for singing lead vocals on The Beach Boys’ 1965 chart-topper “Help Me, Rhonda,” says that with Wilson sharing headlining duties with Chicago, Brian’s set will focus mainly on their old group’s best-known tunes.
“Yeah, it’s gonna more of a hits-driven performance,” Jardine notes, adding with a laugh, “And that’s…for the new generation. They want to hear the hits…and the old farts, too.”
After the tour with Chicago, Wilson — with Jardine and Chaplin — will play three headlining shows in Tennessee this September.
Prior to Wilson’s trek with Chicago, Al toured with his “Al Jardine’s Family & Friends” show, which featured Jardine performing with his son, Matt, and Wilson’s two daughters — Carnie and Wendy Wilson of Wilson Phillips fame. There are two more “Family & Friends” currently scheduled for 2022 — on July 29 in Paso Robles, California, and October 21 in Cerritos, California.
Visit AlJardine.com to see a full list of concerts that Al will be playing this year.
Gabe Ginsberg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The economic recovery from a pandemic-induced downturn has prompted a surge in worker pay, especially in some low-wage sectors like leisure and hospitality, leading to pronouncements of a shift in leverage between workers and management.
Despite a pandemic-era boom for low-wage workers, the hike in pay last year for a typical worker at the nation’s lowest-paying companies failed to keep up with the raises enjoyed by the chief executives at their firms, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-leaning think tank.
Moreover, at more than a third of the lowest-paying companies, the pay hike last year for a typical worker fell short of inflation, effectively amounting to a pay cut, the report said.
The 30-page report — which examines the 300 U.S. corporations that provided the lowest median pay in 2020, including large corporations such as Amazon and Starbucks — found that the CEO-to-worker pay gap at those companies grew wider last year compared with the year prior.
The average gap between CEO and median worker pay among those 300 low-paying companies rose last year to 670-to-1, up from 604-to-1 in 2020, the report said. Forty-nine firms had ratios above 1,000-to-1 last year, the study showed.
“Instead of using 2021 as an opportunity to reward low-wage workers, many of whom did work to keep the economy going during the crisis, we saw gaps further widening and companies focusing on keeping their CEOs happy,” Sarah Anderson, the director of the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies and a co-author of the report, told ABC News.
Andy Jassy, the Amazon CEO, received compensation totaling $213 million last year, resulting in a pay ratio of 6,474 to 1, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson, who retired in March, received total compensation of $20.4 million last year, which amounted to 1,579 times the pay of a typical worker at the company, a SEC filing showed.
The increased wage gap between CEOs and median workers at Amazon and Starbucks last year coincided with a surge in unionization at the companies. A nationwide labor campaign at Starbucks, which began with a victory at a store in Buffalo, New York, in December, has achieved union representation at 72 stores, the National Labor Relations Board said last Tuesday.
“We’re seeing more and more workers turning to unionization and other ways to try to stand up and demand their fair share,” Anderson said.
But the increased gap between CEOs and median workers may reflect the heightened need for capable leadership during the economic crisis brought about by the pandemic, said Rachel Greszler, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
“It could’ve made sense for companies to increase compensation to keep people they had on board or to attract people to get them through difficult times,” Greszler said.
In addition to Amazon and Starbucks, the report examined major corporations such as McDonald’s, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Nike and The Home Depot, among many other companies.
Memphis rapper Moneybagg Yo dropped hints about his latest project on Instagram Monday and it’s not new music on the way, at least not in this instance. Instead, the “Said Sum” rapper posted the script to an upcoming movie it looks like he wrote and shared that the project will be released in September.
“Hope y’all ready,” he said in an Instagram Live video later shared by The Shade Room.
The short clip shows Moneybagg flipping through a few pages of the script; the title page reads, “If Pain was a Person,” and “Story by: Moneybagg Yo.”
In addition to his message of “Hope Y’all Ready!!” he captioned the video by writing, “Big Screen Bagg” and “#september.”
It’s unknown how long the movie has been in the works or in what capacity the film will be released.
The 30-year-old rapper is currently promoting what he says is “the official song of the NBA,” his new single “Big League,” with YoGotti, Lil Poppa and Mozzy
Journey has just released a fourth advance track from their upcoming studio album, Freedom, a soaring and soulful rock tune called “Don’t Give Up on Us.”
The track is available now via digital formats, and you also can check out a visualizer video for the song at Journey’s official YouTube channel.
“It is a very melodic song,” founding Journey guitarist Neal Schon says of “Don’t Give Up on Us.” “It’s soulful, coming more from that R&B place and a little more Motown sounding but it definitely rocks. I feel like it’s got Journey all over it.”
Freedom will be released on July 8 and can be preordered now.
As previously reported, following Freedom‘s release, Journey will play four special symphonic concerts in Las Vegas — on July 15, 16, 22 and 23. The band also has several other concerts lined up around the U.S. this summer. Visit JourneyMusic.com for their full confirmed schedule.
Johnny Depp‘s fans were at the Fairfax, Virginia, courtroom all throughout his defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard, and following his legal victory, he’s thanking them — and those who couldn’t make it there, too.
Depp joined the platform TikTok on Tuesday and found he had 4.4 million followers in a matter of hours. To those, and the nearly 25 million fans he already had on Instagram, he shared a video montage.
The film snippet shows Johnny greeting his fans, as well as shots of him onstage, guitar in hand, and going over a set list backstage.
“To all of my most treasured, loyal and unwavering supporters,” he began a caption. “We’ve been everywhere together, we have seen everything together. We have walked the same road together. We did the right thing together, all because you cared.”
He added, “And now, we will all move forward together. You are, as always, my employers and once again I am whittled down to no way to say thank you, other than just by saying thank you. So, thank you. My love & respect, JD.”
On June 1, a jury sided with Depp in his defamation trial, awarding him $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, agreeing that Heard had defamed him and damaged his career with a controversial op-ed that alleged she’d been the victim of domestic and sexual abuse, though not naming Depp, in the Washington Post.
Heard was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages but no punitive damages for comments made by Depp’s former attorney.
Hulu has released the first trailer to Prey, its new film set centuries before the other offerings in the Predator universe.
The show centers on a young Comanche woman, played by Indigenous actress Amber Midthunder, whose tribe finds itself in the sights of the fearsome alien hunter first seen in the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi action classic.
“They hunt to live. It lives to hunt,” a title card teases.
The weapons of 300 years ago are no match for the alien’s skill and advanced tech, leaving Midthunder’s Naru alone with only her skill and her cunning against the extraterrestrial predator.
“It knows how to hunt. I know how to survive,” she says.
Jim Seals, left; Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Jim Seals, one half of the popular 1970s soft-rock duo Seals and Crofts, has died at age 80, Variety reports.
Along with his musical partner, Darrell “Dash” Crofts, Seals scored a series of hits during the 1970s, including three top-10 singles: 1972’s “Summer Breeze,” 1973’s “Diamond Girl” and 1976’s “Get Closer,” which all peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Other notable songs include “Hummingbird,” “We May Never Pass This Way (Again)” and “You’re the Love.”
Seals and Crofts were longtime adherents of the Baháʼí faith, which influenced the theme of many of their songs.
A native of Sydney, Texas, Seals first began playing with fellow Texan Crofts during the 1950s. Around 1959, the duo joined the Los Angeles rock band The Champs shortly after that group scored a chart-topping hit with “Tequila.” During the early ’60s, Seals and Crofts played in Glen Campbell‘s backing band, The GCs, before going their separate ways for a few years.
After playing together again in the late ’60s in a band called The Dawnbreakers, Seals and Crofts decided to form a duo. They released a self-titled debut album in 1969. Their first hit came with “Summer Breeze,” the title track off their fourth studio album. Their final top-40 single, “You’re the Love,” reached #18 in 1978.
The duo went on an extended hiatus after they were dropped by their record label in 1980. Seals and Crofts occasionally reunited during the ensuing years and released a final album, Traces, in 2004.
During the 2000s, Jim teamed up with his brother Dan Seals — a member of popular 1970s duo England Dan and John Ford Coley — to play shows as Seals and Seals. Dan died of cancer in 2009.
On Facebook, John Ford Coley wrote of Jim’s death, “I spent a large portion of my musical life with this man. We toured together, he and Dash invited us to sing on Seals and Crofts records, and we played with him for years … I am very sad over this but I have some of the best memories of all of us together. Rest In Peace Jimmy. You and Dan finally get reunited again. Tell him and your sweet momma hi for me.“
Jim had lived in Costa Rica since 1980. He is survived by his wife of over 50 years, Ruby, and several children.
(NEW YORK) — A mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas last week — which left 19 children and two teachers dead — has prompted outcry from figures across public life.
President Joe Biden and Sen. Mitch McConnell. R-Ky., usually political opponents, both expressed horror at the shooting and McConnell okayed negotiations with Democrats on potential legislation to address the issue.
Actor and Uvalde native Matthew McConaughey described the incident as “devastating.”
Some of the nation’s most prominent chief executives have joined the chorus, such as Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon.
But many CEOs at the largest U.S. companies — which wield significant influence and can often change the direction of political debate — have remained silent on the tragedy and what should be done about it.
ABC News contacted the top 20 companies on the Fortune 500 list for comment on the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde as well as on the larger issue of gun violence. Nearly all of the companies did not respond, except Microsoft and Walgreens Boots Alliance, which responded but declined comment.
Disney, the parent company of ABC News, also did not respond to a request for comment.
Some experts believe the business leaders have not directly addressed the recent shootings or potential gun violence solutions for fear of the potential backlash from employees, shareholders, business partners and customers, who may hold opposing views.
The companies and executives that have spoken out are predominantly those with a track record of having done so before or those with amenable stakeholders, the experts said.
“At the moment, most chief executives are deer in the headlights,” said James O’Rourke, a professor of management at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. “They see the risk of taking a position as exceeding the return.”
Speaking out in the past
A number of leading companies on the Fortune 500, including companies contacted by ABC News for this story, have spoken out or taken action on gun violence in prior years.
In September 2019, weeks after two shootings at Walmart stores, company CEO Doug McMillan issued a public memo discontinuing the sale of handguns in Alaska, the last state where the company carried the firearms, as well as some forms of ammunition. He also called on national leaders to strengthen background checks.
Walmart, one of the companies that did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News, still sells some types of guns and ammunition at many of its stores.
Also in 2019, Walmart, CVS Health, and Walgreens asked customers to no longer openly carry firearms in their stores. “We support the efforts of individuals and groups working to prevent gun violence,” CVS Health, another one of the companies contacted by ABC News, said in a statement at the time.
And Dick’s Sporting Goods, which was not one of the companies contacted by ABC News, in recent years has taken a series of steps to remove guns from its stores. In February 2018, days after a mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, the company announced that it would stop selling semi-automatic weapons similar to the one used in the incident.
“We were so disturbed and saddened, we felt we really needed to do something,” CEO Edward Stack told Good Morning America at the time. Since then, Dick’s has discontinued the sale of guns entirely at hundreds of stores as part of a multi-year reduction.
Northwell Health CEO Michael Dowling, who runs the largest healthcare provider in New York state (but not part of the Fortune 500), in an interview with ABC News condemned gun violence and called for policy solutions such as universal background checks.
Dowling acknowledged to ABC that the pro-gun control political landscape in New York makes it easier for him to speak out, and encouraged his peers to do likewise.
“I know a lot of CEOs around the country. I’ve had discussions with them,” he said. “I know many of them are nervous about going public because of the political circumstances they’re in.”
“When I ask them if they think it’s okay that there are so many mass shootings, especially with kids. They’ll say, ‘It’s horrific.’ They’ll admit that. Then I say, ‘Say something about it — be courageous.’”
Contrast with other activism
The corporate silence on gun violence in the wake of the recent mass shootings stands in stark contrast with the recent widespread exit of U.S. companies from Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, O’Rourke, the business management professor, said.
“Executives decided the reputational risk of staying in Russia is far greater than any revenue I could extract,” O’Rourke said. “In domestic issues it’s complicated because lawmaking is mostly done at the local and state level, and executives must operate across state lines. If they take a position on every issue, it is likely key stake holders will abandon them.”
One notable example is Disney, which first remained silent and then came out strongly against what many perceive to be anti-LGBTQ legislation.
In recent months, Disney sparked ire from prominent national voices and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis when the company publicly opposed the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay Bill,” which prohibits public school teachers from providing instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity for some of the youngest students and what opponents say is age-inappropriate material. In April, the state moved to dissolve a special tax district enjoyed by Disney. The special district is a private government run by Disney World that allows it to offer services such as zoning and fire protection.
In the wake of the Uvalde shooting, speaking out was a gamble some top companies decided to take nonetheless.
“All of us at Goldman Sachs express our deepest sorrow over the recent tragic and senseless acts of violence in America, which have resulted in the deaths of friends, neighbors, co-workers, children, and other loved ones,” Solomon, the chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, told ABC News in a statement.
Solomon met last Wednesday with New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other private sector leaders to discuss the issue, he said in the statement. “I urge our elected officials to come together to enact policy initiatives to make our communities safer,” he added.
Jassy, the Amazon CEO, expressed similar sentiment a day after the mass shooting in Uvalde last week.
“Deeply sad about the shootings in Texas yesterday and Buffalo 11 days ago. My heart breaks for those families,” Jassy tweeted. “This endless cycle is maddening…terrible pain and suffering. I can only hope that we come together as a country to find a way to stop this kind of tragic violence.”
AT&T, one of the Fortune 500 companies that did not respond to a request for comment, donated $50,000 to support the Robb School Memorial Fund, a collection of resources for the families and communities impacted by the Uvalde shooting.
Notable corporate activism has emerged in professional sports. In baseball, the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays coordinated recently with a series of social media posts that offered statements and information on gun violence
The advocacy continues a trend of rising activism among professional sports leagues, teams, and players in recent years on issues like police brutality and racial justice.
Divergent responses and possible action
The divergent response among major companies after recent mass shootings marks the latest moment of decision making for corporations as a political response embroiled the country. Similarly, large companies have remained mostly quiet in response to the leak last month of a draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade.
Three years ago, the CEOs at 145 companies — including Airbnb and Yelp — sent a letter to members of the U.S. Senate calling for new gun safety laws that would require background checks for all gun sales.
In the days following the death of George Floyd, in May 2020, companies across corporate America put out statements in support of racial justice and made donations to advocacy organizations that fight racial inequality.
Last April, as state legislatures pursued restrictive voting laws, hundreds of companies and executives signed a letter opposing “any discriminatory legislation” that limits access to the ballot box.
Carol Bevins, a professor of business communication at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, said that most major companies will ultimately address the issue of gun violence.
“Eventually, it’ll be inevitable that companies have to respond,” she said. “You cannot not communicate.”
