Count Krysten Ritter as one of the fans who are psyched that Netflix’s Marvel shows are now available on Disney+.
Ritter, who played the titular heroine Jessica Jones, posted to Instagram a photo of herself in costume, noting, “Guess who’s a Disney princess now?” along with a winky, and the “bicep flex” emoji.
She also reminded her 1.4 million followers to “(re)watch” her character’s adventures “now streaming on her new home.”
Ritter became a fan favorite for playing Jones, who was blessed/cursed with super-strength by a shadowy organization’s experimentation on her. Jones for the most part tries to hide her powers — although as the series shows, they come in handy during her day job as a private eye. The series won acclaim for its frank portrayal of weighty topics like addiction and sexual abuse, and Ritter’s portrayal of the hard-drinking, no-nonsense character.
The well-reviewedJessica Jones ran for three seasons on Netflix, ending in 2015 as part of a move to consolidate all Marvel content under the Marvel Studios umbrella. Ritter told ABC Audio the character was the “role of a lifetime” for her, and one she’d be willing to revisit.
(NEW YORK) — The federal government is investing in the health and wellness of individuals at risk for or living with HIV/AIDS through mental health and substance use services from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
In a release sent to ABC News, HHS announced Friday that $43.7 million from the agency’s Overdose Prevention Strategy will go towards three new grant opportunities that will be especially be targeted to underserved communities of color.
In 2020, there were almost 40 million people around the world living with HIV, according to the HHS. In the U.S., there are approximately 1.2 million people who have HIV, though about 13% don’t know it and need to be tested.
In the U.S., people of color have been majorly overrepresented in HIV diagnoses, due to a range of socioeconomic factors that increase their risk for HIV and HIV-related outcomes.
Black people represent approximately 40% of people with HIV, but make up only 13% of the U.S. population, according to HHS’ latest statistics from 2019. Hispanics and Latinos composed 25% of people with HIV, but make up 18.5% of the population.
The HHS reports that this disproportionate impact of Black and brown communities is also reflected in the demographics of newfound infections, demonstrating that prevention and treatment services are not reaching those who need it most.
“We remain committed to providing people at risk for, or living with HIV/AIDS, with the support and services they need to thrive – no matter who they are or where they live,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
According to HHS, the funding targets areas of the country with the greatest disparities in HIV-related health outcomes and aligns with the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.
“We must increase supports and services for those who are at risk for or living with HIV/AIDS and have mental health and substance use needs,” said Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, HHS Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use and the leader of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
She added, “This means connecting them to easy-to-access, culturally appropriate prevention, treatment, and recovery services.”
One grant will fund substance use disorder treatment programs for racial or ethnic minority populations at high risk for HIV/AIDs.
Another program will provide training and education around the risks of substance use and HIV/AIDS, as well as with community health workers, neighborhood navigators and peer support specialists to ensure that services are reaching those in need.
The third program, the Minority AIDS Initiative, aims to reduced the “co-occurring epidemics of HIV, Hepatitis, and mental health challenges through accessible, evidence-based, culturally appropriate treatment that is integrated with HIV primary care and prevention services.”
Anyone seeking treatment for mental health or substance use issues is urged to call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 800-662-HELP (4357) or visit findtreatment.samhsa.gov.
Apocalyptica has released a new song called “I’ll Get Through It,” featuring Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler.
The track features vocals by Franky Perez, who previously sang with the cello metallers on their 2015 album Shadowmaker, and played with Butler in the short-lived band Deadland Ritual.
Adding to the tune’s collaborative spirit, “I’ll Get Through It” was written by prolific songwriter and 13-time Oscar-nominee Diane Warren.
You can listen to “I’ll Get Through It” now via digital outlets.
Apocalyptica will launch a U.S. tour with Perez on vocals April 7 in Atlanta.
(NOTE LANGUAGE)New on demand is the thriller A Measure of Revenge, in which Oscar winner Melissa Leo plays a heartbroken actress looking to avenge the overdose death of her musician son.
Leo’s character, Lillian, strikes up an unlikely partnership with Bella Thorne‘s Taz, as the grieving mom hunts down the guys who led to her son’s death.
Thorne, who was a late addition to the cast, said working opposite someone of Leo’s caliber was “F***ing amazing!”
The outspoken singer and actress went on: “I’ve been such a fan of her work for so long that when Jen Gatien our producer brought it to me, I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll work with her, like totally! Whatever role it is, I will work with her!”
She adds, “I learned so much from her that that will help me in my future. That was really important. And you know, how do I soak in someone’s just effortlessness of the way they do what they do?”
Thorne admits, “I just got so lucky that it was her and how sweet and endearing [she was] and immediately takes me in and makes me feel so welcome… I was just constantly blown away.”
The admiration goes both ways. For her part, Leo explained, “The thing about it is, is that Bella was the very best thing about shooting this movie. When you get a young actor who is hungry and eager and willing and open and talented and delightful and dear, well, that’s that’s the cherry on top of Bella.”
oe Scarnici/Getty Images for NYFW ShopsLA presented by Afterpay
GAYLE dropped her long-awaited EP on Friday and, to celebrate, treated fans to a brand-new music video for the track “luv starved.”
The single is the lead track off her new studio effort and the visualizer adopts a flower theme as GAYLE roams around a green house and plays a piano covered in roses at an empty theater.
The single sees the young artist admitting she doesn’t know how to act when shown affection, and her old coping mechanism, which was pushing people away to avoid those confusing emotions, is starting to fail her because she’s becoming too lonely.
“Is it the fact that you’re there, do I actually care?/ The potential of the latter’s got me pullin’ my hair out/ I’m a skeleton of the love I once had/ Yeah, it was so bad, but you’re nothin’ like that, yeah,” GAYLE sings.
“luv starved” can be found on GAYLE’s six-track a study of the human experience volume one EP, which also features the tracks “sleeping with my friends,” “ur just horny” and “e-z.”
The 17-year-old singer told ABC Audio that she’s not singing about scandalous topics for its own sake — it’s just what Gen-Z does. “We can say more shocking things just to get people to pay attention — which seems so, like, shocking and daring to people,” she said.
It’s fun watching Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie on American Idol, but we don’t get to hear them sing very often on the show. But apparently, that’ll change this Sunday, when the trio participates in “Scaryoke,” in which they spin a wheel and sing the song the wheel stops on.
E! has an exclusive clip from Sunday’s episode, which begins with Katy spinning the wheel and getting the song “Rain Is a Good Thing,” a number-one country hit by Luke.
“I know you’re passing on that one!” Luke laughs.
“I don’t even know what that is!” admits Katy.
“It’s me!” Luke tells her.
“Oh, it’s you?” replies Katy. Awkward.
Then, Katy gets Shania Twain‘s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman,” which she’s does a great job with. Luke attempts “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler, but his voice cracks on him.
Lionel, who sits out the entire “Scaryoke” experiment, then conducts Katy and Luke as they duet on Lionel’s number-one hit with Diana Ross, “Endless Love.”
“Oh, that is so good!” Lionel says approvingly.
“Is there Auto-Tune on this?” Katy jokes.
You can watch the whole thing go down Sunday night on ABC at 8 p.m. ET.
The music video for Jimmie Allen’s latest single, “Down Home,” will premiere this evening, and ahead of its release, the singer is sharing a few details about how he chose the treatment.
Like the song itself, the video is a tribute to Jimmie’s father, who died in 2019. Jimmie and his dad, who was known as “Big Jim,” bonded over baseball, fishing and many more father-son pastimes, which the singer revisits in the music video scenes.
Filming took place in Jimmie’s hometown of Milton, Delaware as well as the neighboring town of Lewes, hitting some of the family’s favorite spots, including the singer’s childhood home and his dad’s favorite restaurant. Jimmie co-directed the video with Chris Beyrooty.
“Being able to shoot the video in the same place that I created so many memories with my father was super special,” Jimmie says. “It felt like my father was with me every step of the way.”
Family ties have been a big part of “Down Home” from the get-go. Jimmie debuted his new single onstage at the ACM Awards earlier this month, where he dedicated it to his dad’s memory. To top it off, the awards show took place on his mom’s birthday, and she was in the audience to watch Jimmie take the stage.
The “Down Home” music video will premiere today at 5 p.m. ET; you can tune in on YouTube.
(NEW YORK) — The United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool announced Thursday it has signed an agreement with 35 companies around the globe to produce generic versions of Pfizer’s COVID-19 antiviral pill.
The agreement will allow the treatment to be supplied to 95 low- and middle-income countries, home to more than half of the world’s population, according to the MPP.
Clinical trial data has shown the pill, sold under the brand name Paxlovid, reduces the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID by 89% if taken within three days of the onset of symptoms.
Paxlovid is currently given as three pills twice daily over the course of five days.
The pill will be easier to distribute to hard-to-reach areas than monoclonal antibodies, which are given intravenously and require a medical professional to administer the treatment.
“We have established a comprehensive strategy in partnership with worldwide governments, international global health leaders and global manufacturers to help ensure access to our oral COVID-19 treatment for patients in need around the world,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement.
The statement continued: “The MPP sublicensees and the additional capacity for COVID-19 treatment they will supply will play a critical role to help ensure that people everywhere, particularly those living in the poorest parts of the world, have equitable access to an oral treatment option against COVID-19.”
Paxlovid is made up of two medications: ritonavir, which is commonly used to treat HIV and AIDS, and nirmatrelvir, an antiviral that Pfizer developed to boost the strength of the first drug.
Together, they prevent an enzyme the virus uses to make copies of itself inside human cells and spread throughout the body.
According to the agreement, the companies will be able to take out sublicenses to produce raw ingredients of nirmatrelvir, co-package it with ritonavir or both steps.
Six of the companies will produce the raw ingredients, nine companies will co-package it and the remaining companies will do both, the MPP said.
The companies producing the drug span 12 countries including Bangladesh, Brazil, China, the Dominican Republic, Jordan, India, Israel, Mexico, Pakistan, Serbia, South Korea and Vietnam.
The MPP said a license was offered to a 36th company in Ukraine, but it was unable to sign due to the war with Russia.
Under the agreement, the 35 companies will not be required to pay Pfizer royalties as long as COVID-19 is classified as a public health emergency by the World Health Organization.
However, after the emergency ends, the manufacturers will be able to sell their pills to low-income countries without royalties but will be subject to a 5% to 10% royalty for sales to middle-income countries.
The MPP expects some of these companies could submit their drugs for regulatory review to health agencies in their home countries or to the WHO later this year.
In January, the group signed a similar agreement with Merck for two dozen companies to produce a generic version of its COVID-19 pill, molnupiravir.
Tool has shared a clip from the Opiate2 short film, which accompanies the newly released 10-minute reworking of the band’s song, “Opiate.”
The three-minute video, streaming now on YouTube, shows a mysterious creature crawl from the water and quickly evolve into the monster seen on the “Opiate2” single cover.
The full film, which notably marks the first official Tool video in 15 years, is out today exclusively on Blu-ray.
Tool released the “Opiate2” single earlier this month to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their 1992 debut EP, Opiate.
Meanwhile, Tool continues to tour in support of their 2019 comeback album, Fear Inoculum. The outing continues Friday in St. Louis, Missouri.
A new collection is paying homage to the ladies of Def Jam.
The Women of Def Jam compilation album was released Friday in celebration of Women’s History Month. The 24-track set features female artists in hip hop and R&B from the ‘90s through the present, including Nikki D, Foxy Brown, Boss, Ashanti, Amerie, Teyana Taylor, Alessia Cara, Rapsody, Jhené Aiko and more.
Def Jam isn’t just proud of its female roster — the company also boasts women in positions of power. Over half of the Def Jam staff are women, including seven women of color in senior executive positions. And for the first time since 2007, Def Jam has an all-female marketing team.
The Women of Def Jam compilation is available across all platforms today, and is also available now as a collector’s edition triple-LP box set.
Here is the track list for the vinyl box set:
Vinyl 1 Side A
“Deeper” – Boss ft. Papa Juggy
“I’ll Be” – Foxy Brown ft. JAY-Z
“Ill Na Na” – Foxy Brown ft. Method Man
“Daddy’s Little Girl” – Nikki D
Side B
“Big Bad Mama” – Foxy Brown ft. Dru Hill
“Foolish” – Ashanti
“Make Her Feel Good” – Teairra Marí
“Gettin’ Some” – Shawnna
Vinyl 2 Side A
“Need a Boss” – Shareefa ft. Ludacris
“Rock Wit U (Awww Baby)” – Ashanti
“More Than Love” – Amerie ft. Fabolous
“Be Ok” – Chrisette Michele ft. will.i.am
Side B
“Why R U” – Amerie
“What You Do” – Chrisette Michele ft. Ne-Yo
“Blessed” – Saint Bodhi
“Gonna Love Me” – Teyana Taylor
Vinyl 3 Side A
“Scars to Your Beautiful” – Alessia Cara
“Ballin” – Bibi Bourelly
“Maybe” – Teyana Taylor ft. Pusha T & Yo Gotti
“London” – Kaash Paige
Side B
“Easy (Remix)” – DaniLeigh ft. Chris Brown
“Guilty Conscience” – 070 Shake
“Power” – Rapsody ft. Kendrick Lamar & Lance Skiiiwalker
“B.S.” – Jhené Aiko ft. H.E.R.
