Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Julian Lennon, the older son of John Lennon, has shared his first-ever public performance of his late father’s classic song “Imagine” as part of the Global Citizen organization’s recently launched Stand Up for Ukraine campaign.
On Friday, Julian posted a video on his official YouTube channel of him singing the 1971 peace anthem, with Extreme‘s Nuno Bettencourt joining him on acoustic guitar and backing vocals.
In a message accompanying the video, Julian writes, “The War on Ukraine is an unimaginable tragedy…As a human, and as an artist, I felt compelled to respond in the most significant way I could. So…for the first time ever, I publicly performed my Dad’s song, IMAGINE.”
He continues, “Why now, after all these years? — I had always said, that the only time I would ever consider singing ‘IMAGINE’ would be if it was the ‘End of the World’…But also because his lyrics reflect our collective desire for peace worldwide. Because within this song, we’re transported to a space, where love and togetherness become our reality, if but for a moment in time…The song reflects the light at the end of the tunnel, that we are all hoping for…”
Julian concludes, “As a result of the ongoing murderous violence, millions of innocent families, have been forced to leave the comfort of their homes, to seek asylum elsewhere. I’m calling on world leaders and everyone who believes in the sentiment of IMAGINE, to stand up for refugees everywhere! Please advocate and donate from the heart. #StandUpForUkraine”
As previously reported, Global Citizen’s Stand Up for Ukraine saw a wide variety of music stars taking to social media on Friday and directing their attention to Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s ongoing military invasion of the country.
“They’re coming back.” That’s the caption of a picture of Breaking Bad stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul in character, which was posted to Better Call Saul‘s official social media channels Sunday.
Ever since the Breaking Bad prequel series began, fans hoped to once again see the pair, who earned Emmys for respectively playing Walter White and Jesse Pinkman on AMC’s acclaimed drama. And now it’s official: Fans will get their wish in the spin-off’s final season.
“I don’t want to spoil things for the audience, but I will say the first question we had when we started the show was, ‘Are we gonna see Walt and Jesse on the show?’ Instead of evading, I’ll just say yeah,” Better Call Saul co-creator Peter Gould told Variety on Saturday.
It’s not yet known how the pair will show up or in what capacity, as Better Call Saul takes place in 2002, six years before unlikely partners Walter and Jesse started their lucrative meth operation.
The follow-up stars Bob Odenkirk, along with Rhea Seehorn, Jonathan Banks, Michael Mando and Tony Dalton.
The first half of Better Call Saul‘s sixth and final season premieres April 18 on AMC.
The next missive from the Prince of Darkness is upon us: Ozzy Osbourne‘s new solo album is done.
In a tweet over the weekend, the Black Sabbath frontman revealed, “I’m so happy to let everyone know that I finished my new album this week and delivered it to my label [Epic Records].”
“I’ll be sharing all the information about the album and its upcoming release with you in the next several weeks,” Ozzy added.
The upcoming record will be the follow-up to 2020’s Ordinary Man, which marked Osbourne’s first solo effort in 10 years. Like Ordinary Man, the album will be produced by Andrew Watt, and features Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, who recently revealed a number of other guests on the record, including Sabbath’s Tony Iommi, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Pearl Jam‘s Mike McCready, Queens of the Stone Age‘s Josh Homme, Black Label Society‘s Zakk Wylde and Metallica‘s Robert Trujillo.
Watt also previously shared that Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins played on the album, as well, but that was before Hawkins’ unexpected death last month.
(NEW YORK) — Many parents across the country are scrambling to find baby formula amid a nationwide shortage.
Nearly 30% of popular formula brands may be sold out at stores across the U.S., according to a firm that tracks what’s stocked on the shelves, and that has led some stores to limit the amount of formula products customers can buy.
The shortage is the result of multiple factors, including inflation, supply chain issues and a formula recall.
As for when parents can begin to see stocked shelves again, ABC News’ Eva Pilgrim says some companies have ramped up production “but it’s going to take a few weeks before we really see that shortage ease.”
Kelsea Ballerini will no longer host the CMT Awards in person after testing positive for COVID-19.
A statement from CMT on Monday morning confirms that Kelsea, who was supposed to host the show with actor Anthony Mackie live from Nashville, has contracted the virus and will be co-hosting remotely. Kane Brown, who co-hosted the show with Kelsea last year, will fill in for her during the in-person ceremony at Municipal Auditorium in Nashville.
“I am devastated. I’m gutted. But the good news is that I’m feeling a lot better,” Kelsea shared in a video posted to Instagram, revealing that CMT brought part of set to her house where she’s quarantining so she can still host and perform.
“It is certainly not what we expected or planned for, but we are doing our damn best,” she adds with a smile. “Let’s make some lemonade together out of these very bitter lemons.”
Mark Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images; ABC/Randy Holmes
A pair of rock artists went through some big life events over the weekend.
Jack White not only got engaged to his longtime partner, Olivia Jean, they also got married. Immediately after he proposed to her during his concert in Detroit last Friday, White and Jean were officially wed in a onstage ceremony officiated by Third Man Records co-founder Ben Swank.
White celebrated the news in an Instagram post featuring a photo of himself alongside Jean immediately after the surprise proposal. In the caption, he wrote, “Let’s get married in a big cathedral by a priest,” a lyric from the beloved White Stripes song “Hotel Yorba.”
The same day of White’s wedding, Twenty One Pilots frontman Tyler Joseph welcomed his second child with wife Jenna Black.
“New baby arrived yesterday,” Joseph wrote in a tweet Saturday. “I had a great time.”
The tweet includes a photo of Joseph beaming over an exhausted Black as she holds the newborn.
Joseph added, “Already named her, but still open for suggestions.”
Black gave birth to her and Joseph’s first kid, Rosie Robert Joseph, in February 2020.
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Olivia Rodrigo is the Songwriter of the Year. That’s according to the performance-rights organization ASCAP, which has handed out its annual Pop Music Awards.
Olivia, who just won several Grammys and Kids’ Choice Awards, won Songwriter of the Year because of the success of the songs from her debut album, SOUR: specifically, “drivers license,” “deja vu” and “good 4 u.”
Meanwhile, Dua Lipa‘s hit “Levitating” has been named the ASCAP Pop Music Awards’ Song of the Year, thanks to its status as one of the longest-charting Billboard Hot 100 Hits of All Time.
ASCAP also honored a list of songs as ‘Most Performed,’ based on data from terrestrial and satellite radio, as well as on-demand audio streams, provided by Luminate, formerly PMRC Data. Those songs include Silk Sonic‘s “Leave the Door Open,” Duncan Laurence‘s “Arcade,” Maroon 5′s “Beautiful Mistakes,” Justin Bieber‘s “Peaches,” The Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears,” and Justin Bieber and The Kid LAROI‘s “Stay.”
The winners will be celebrated starting April 11 through April 14 on ASCAP’s Instagram, Twitter and Facebook feeds.
Paramount+ (C) 2022 MTV Entertainment Studios. All Rights Reserved./Emerson Miller
(NOTE LANGUAGE) Veteran actor Sam Elliotthas apologized for his pre-Oscars comments about Academy Award winner Jane Campion‘s The Power of the Dog.
To Marc Maron‘s WTF Podcast last month, Elliott made waves when he called the Western “a piece of sh**,” and, among other things, slammed the movie’s “allusions to homosexuality.”
However, the Lonesome Dove and 1883 star took a more thoughtful tone at a Deadline television event on Sunday. “First, don’t go do a podcast whose call letters are ‘WTF,'” he joked.
“I told…[Maron] that I thought Jane Campion was a brilliant director, and I want to apologize to the cast of The Power of the Dog. Brilliant actors all,” he commented. “And in particular Benedict Cumberbatch…I can only say that I’m sorry, and I am. I am.”
Elliot also commented of his criticisms, “…I didn’t articulate it very well…And I said some things that hurt people and I feel terrible about that.”
He added, “The gay community has been incredible to me….my entire career, from before I got started in this town. Friends on every level and every job description up until today. I’m sorry I hurt any of those friends and someone that I loved. And anyone else by the words that I used.”
As reported, Campion didn’t take kindly to Elliott’s criticism, spelling out her opinion, literally, by calling the actor a “B-I-T-C-H.”
Cumberbatch was less personal, but addressed Elliot’s “odd reaction” without naming him during the British Academy of Film and Television Arts series Film Sessions, saying that while Elliott took issue with the British actor’s gay cowboy Phil Burbank, “These people still exist in our world…”
He added, “There’s no harm in looking at a character to get to the root causes of that. This is a very specific case of repression, but also due to an intolerance for that true identity that Phil is that he can’t fully be.”
Ukrainian forces fire GRAD rockets toward Russian positions in Donbas, Ukraine on April 10, 2022 – Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(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 11, 10:03 am
Ukraine agrees to 9 humanitarian corridors from the east
Nine humanitarian corridors are expected to open in eastern Ukraine on Monday to allow civilians escape heavy fighting, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
She said in a statement via social media Monday 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. Buses from Zaporizhzhia city were also waiting to pass a checkpoint in Vasylivka, according to Vereshchuk.
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.
Apr 11, 8:48 am
Russia may use phosphorus munitions in Mariupol, UK warns
The United Kingdom is warning of Russia’s possible use of phosphorus munitions in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Russian forces have already been accused of using phosphorus bombs in Ukraine since launching an invasion on Feb. 24. When deployed as a weapon, phosphorus can inflict excruciating burns and lead to infection, shock and organ failure.
After withdrawing troops from the north, the Russian military is said to be refocusing its offensive on the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, where Russia-backed separatist forces have been battling Ukrainian soldiers since 2014. Mariupol, in the Donetsk Oblast, and its residents have been under heavy Russian bombardment for over a month, but Moscow has so far failed to win full control of the strategic port.
“Russian forces prior use of phosphorous munitions in the Donetsk Oblast raises the possibility of their future employment in Mariupol as fighting for the city intensifies,” the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Monday in an intelligence update.
Meanwhile, Russian shelling has persisted in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, according to the ministry, “with Ukrainian forces repulsing several assaults resulting in the destruction of Russian tanks, vehicles, and artillery equipment.”
“Russia’s continued reliance on unguided bombs decreases their ability to discriminate when targeting and conducting strikes while greatly increasing the risk of further civilian casualties,” the ministry added.
Apr 10, 11:11 pm
Forces preparing to respond to Russian attack on eastern Ukraine, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian forces are preparing to respond to a planned Russian attack on the eastern side of the country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in his address on Sunday.
Russian troops are expected to move to an even larger operation in the east of Ukraine, which will enable them to carry out even more bombardments, Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukrainian forces are ready for the attack.
“We are preparing for their actions,” Zelenskyy said. “We will respond. We will be even more active in providing Ukraine with weapons. We will be more active in the international arena. We will be even more active in the information field.”
Zelenskyy added that he and other government officials are doing everything they can to ensure that Ukraine gets the world’s attention, especially as Russia continues to attempt to influence the narrative and justify the invasion.
This coming week will be just as important as previous weeks, Zelenskyy said.
“It will be just as tense and even more responsible,” he added.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 10, 5:00 pm
Thousands of refugees return to Ukraine
Nearly 23,000 Ukrainian refugees returned to Ukraine on Saturday after fleeing the country following the Russian invasion in February, according to Ukrainian and United Nations officials.
The repatriated Ukrainians are among the more than 4.5 million who left the country between Feb. 24 and April 9, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
More than half of the Ukrainian refugees fled to neighboring Poland, officials said.
The Polish border guard service is reporting that despite the war still raging in Ukraine, the number of refugees voluntarily returning to Ukraine reached the highest figure for a single day on Saturday since the war began, according to Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications and Information.
The UNHCR estimated that as of April 8, more than 7.1 million people in Ukraine have been displaced due to the war.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 10, 3:58 pm
Death toll from Kramatorsk train station attack rises to 57
The death toll climbed to 57 on Sunday from an alleged Russian rocket attack Friday on a crowded train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, Ukrainian officials said.
Among those killed in the attack were five children, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk Oblast in the Donbas region. Another 109 people were wounded when two Russian rockets struck the train station.
“There are many people in a serious condition, without arms or legs,” said Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Goncharenko according to the Associated Press.
The number of dead victims in the attack grew from 50 on Friday, officials said.
Ukraine’s state-owned railway company issued a statement on Facebook calling the attack “a purposeful strike on the passenger infrastructure of the railway and the residents of the city of Kramatorsk.”
Graphic images provided by Ukrainian officials showed the aftermath of the attack — bodies lying on the ground next to scattered luggage and debris, with charred vehicles parked nearby.
The remnants of a large rocket with the Russian words painted on its side reading “for our children” was also seen on the ground next to the main building of the train station.
Russia has denied involvement in the attack. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed involvement of Russian forces was already ruled out by the Russian Ministry of Defense, based on the type of missile that was used — a Tochka-U short-range ballistic missile.
“Our armed forces do not use missiles of this type,” Peskov told reporters during a press briefing Friday. “No combat tasks were set or planned for today in Kramatorsk.”
(LONDON) — Britain’s Queen Elizabeth spoke for the first time publicly about her own battle with COVID-19, saying the virus leaves “one feeling very tired and exhausted.”
The queen, 95, tested positive for COVID-19 in February, just days after it was confirmed that her son, Prince Charles, and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, had also tested positive for COVID-19.
Buckingham Palace said at the time that Queen Elizabeth had “mild cold-like symptoms” as a result of the virus.
Last week, the queen virtually attended the official opening of the Queen Elizabeth Critical Care Unit at Royal London Hospital, of which she is patron. The 155-bed unit was built in five weeks to help care for the surge of patients during the pandemic.
Queen Elizabeth spoke on a video call with health care workers who treated patients during the pandemic as well as a man named Asef, who recovered from COVID-19 in the unit.
Buckingham Palace released video of the call on Sunday.
“I’m glad that you’re getting better,” the queen told Asef. “It does leave one feeling very tired and exhausted doesn’t it, this horrible pandemic.”
Queen Elizabeth has attended most events virtually over the past several months, due to her battle with COVID-19 and other health conditions. In October, she was hospitalized overnight for what Buckingham Palace described as “preliminary investigations.”
The queen’s first in-person appearance since battling COVID-19 was last month, when she attended the Thanksgiving service for her husband, Prince Philip, who died last April at age 99.
Buckingham Palace has announced the queen will not attend the Maundy Service on Thursday, an annual tradition in which she distributes special Maundy money to pensioners ahead of Easter Sunday.
Queen Elizabeth appeared upbeat on the Royal London Hospital call, during which she thanked health care workers for their service during the pandemic.
“It’s been very nice to be able to join you and also to hear what happened and how well it has been achieved,” said the queen. “Thank you very much indeed, all of you.”
