Turns out there will be quite a few ringers on NBC’s new competition show American Song Contest, hosted by Kelly Clarkson and Snoop Dogg.
The concept features 56 different artists, each representing either a U.S. state, territory or district, performing an original song. In three rounds over eight weeks, one of the artists — a solo singer, band, group or DJ — will win the title of Best Original Song. Except some of the artists participating are already famous, chart-topping, platinum-selling stars, which you might think would give them an unfair advantage.
For example, representing the state of Connecticut, it’s Michael Bolton, who’s written or co-written a string of hits over the years. Representing Alaska is Jewel, whose 1995 debut album Pieces of You has sold some 12 million copies. Representing Maryland is Mr. “Thong Song” himself, Sisqó.
Meanwhile, pioneering electronic act The Crystal Method is representing Nevada, Grammy-winner Macy Gray is representing Ohio, and soul/R&B singer Allen Stone, who’s well-known enough to have been tapped to duet with contestants on American Idol in 2018, is repping for Washington State. Jordan Smith, who won season nine of The Voice, is representing Kentucky.
Imagine how awkward it will be if a Grammy-winning artist ends up losing to some unknown singer. Tune in when American Song Contest premieres Monday, March 21 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
After nearly two years since he was arrested on federal drug and firearms charges, Louisiana rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again finally has a trial date.
According to Rolling Stone, the Louisiana Middle District court announced on Monday that the 22-year-old rapper is set to face a jury on May 16.
The news comes after U.S. District Court Chief Judge Shelly Dick threw out video and photo evidence that was found on an SD memory card, which was ruled to be the result of an improper search by Baton Rouge police.
Defense lawyer Drew Findling told Rolling Stone, “The unconstitutionality of law enforcement was clearly evident to the court and resulted in a slew of evidence of being thrown out. We’re looking forward to going to court.” He also stated that, “We’re 100 percent convinced of his innocence, and now we have to continue to evaluate our strategy.”
NBA YoungBoy, born Kentrell Gaulden, was among 16 people arrested in September 2020 on multiple drug and gun charges.
In the judges decision to suppress the video and photo evidence, she wrote that the video warrant had “misleading information,” including a statement from a “reliable witness” who informed the police about the alleged firearm use. The statement actually came from an anonymous 911 call, according to Rolling Stone‘s report.
(SEOUL, South Korea) — Yoon Suk-yeol, of the conservative People Power Party, won the presidential race in South Korea after a bitter nail-biting vote count overnight. Results show a deeply divided country with 48.56% of ballots going to Yoon, and his rival Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party garnering 47.83%.
The race had been marred by negative campaigning plagued by a series of scandals involving corruption, malfeasance and even rumors about wives and a child.
Yoon, set to serve a five-year term, will lead Asia’s fourth-largest economy which has been hit hard by the pandemic, surging home prices and still faces threats from North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. His biggest foreign policy challenge will be to navigate his country stuck in between growing rivalry among two of its biggest trading partners, the U.S. and China.
As president he is likely to revive conservative foreign policies by taking a tougher stance against North Korea centered around a stronger U.S. alliance.
“Peace can only be maintained when there is strong deterrence. A war can only be prevented by securing a preemptive strike capability and showing the will to pursue it. As we have seen in Ukraine, a country’s national security and peace cannot be protected by paper and ink,” he said during a presidential debate last month.
A newcomer into politics, Yoon spent 27 years of his entire career as a prosecutor rising to prominence by prosecuting big political players.
His team of conservative policy specialists will likely advocate a militarily stronger South Korea with heavy investments in national defense. “A sense of national security crisis have heightened in South Korea as North Korea’s nuclear threat intensifies and also especially after Russia invaded Ukraine. Yoon will make a rational decision,” Bong Youngshik of Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies told ABC News.
Yoon was also open to seeking additional deployment of the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system into his country as deterrence from North Korea’s nuclear threats.
“He will demand North Korea to denuclearize before any negotiations. Instead of pursuing dialogue, Yoon intends to deploy additional units of the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system and strengthen joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises in proportion to North Korea’s missile threats.” Cheong Seong-Chang, researcher at the Seoul-based Sejong Institute, told ABC News.
“Yoon’s government will take a different stance from the Moon administration in dealing with North Korea. He won’t be offering sanctions relief unless North Korea makes significant steps to denuclearize, if there happens to be any.” Shin Beom Chul, director of the Center for Diplomacy and Security at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, told ABC News.
ABC News’ Hakyung Kate Lee, Eunseo Nam and Hyerim Lee contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Twin Ukrainian boys who were born shortly after Russia began its attack in the country have been safely evacuated to Poland.
The twins’ father, Alexander Spektor, who lives in Chicago with the boys’ mother, Irma Nuñez, was able to meet his sons for the first time after their rescue Monday. The boys were born 10 days premature on Feb. 25.
“My sister told me that she never saw me spring that fast toward anything,” Spector said of his rush to see his twin sons, Lenny and Moishe. “We saw the pictures and the videos before but just to see the little tiny human bodies in front of us was just out of this world.”
The past two weeks have been agonizing for Nuñez and Spector, who was born in Kyiv and came with this family to the U.S. as a refugee.
Nuñez and Spektor, who is now an American citizen, worked with a surrogacy agency to have a surrogate in Ukraine carry their sons.
When the surrogate went into early labor on Feb. 25, she got stuck in military traffic for three hours trying to make it to a hospital in Kyiv that was equipped to handle the delivery, according to Spektor.
The boys were born safely, weighing around 4 pounds each, but had to remain in the hospital due to their medically sensitive status as premature babies.
Nuñez and Spektor, an associate professor of Russian at the University of Georgia, spent the days and nights following their sons’ birth trying to evacuate them to safety.
“We haven’t slept in about 14 days,” Spektor said of himself and Nuñez. “We were taking shifts, and we were constantly making phone calls.”
He continued, “The hospital where the babies were before they were transferred to a different hospital didn’t have food for premature babies so we had to organize a food delivery for them. They didn’t have a shelter, so the agency we were doing the surrogacy with helped to transfer the babies to another hospital that had a shelter. It was just harrowing and horrible.”
Spektor and Nuñez had been unsuccessful in getting their twins out of Ukraine until Vecina, a Texas-based immigration rights organization, connected them with Project Dynamo, a volunteer-run organization in Florida that works independently to rescue people in war zones.
Bryan Stern, the founder of Project Dynamo, agreed to go into Kyiv with a team of doctors, neonatal specialists and a nurse to rescue Lenny and Moishe, as well as another premature baby not related to the family but also in need.
Stern and his team partnered with a Ukrainian ambulance crew to drive a three-vehicle convoy through Kyiv to the hospital and back across the border into Poland, dodging traffic and checkpoints along the way, according to Stern.
The vehicles were equipped with not just medical equipment but also extra gasoline, hot water bottles and hand warmers to protect the babies if anything happened.
“We were moving as expeditiously as we could,” Stern said of the 14-hour journey. “We were driving on the wrong side of the road. We were bypassing all the checkpoints and all the traffic with the checkpoints.”
Stern and his team successfully evacuated the three babies and the boys’ surrogate, who was not named. The surrogate was reunited with her biological son in Ukraine and they are now working to safely evacuate her out of the country, according to Spektor and Stern.
Stern said this was his first time rescuing premature babies from a war zone, adding, “I really can’t articulate in words the anxiety that I had for for about three, four days culminating with pulling into the hospital of Poland.”
“It was pretty amazing,” he said of the rescue.
Spektor met his sons for the first time near the border in Poland, and then traveled with them to a hospital in Rzeszow, Poland, where they are now being cared for by hospital staff.
“We visit them in the hospital every day now and just touch them,” he said, adding that the babies are doing well medically. “I changed my first diaper yesterday and that was tough. I almost passed out.”
“It was almost as scary as waiting for them,” Spektor added with a laugh.
Describing his and his partner’s joy, Spektor said, “We had two happiest days of our lives — when they were born and two days ago, when they were brought into the hospital.”
The twins will remain in Poland for a few more weeks, until they gain more weight and are able to bottle feed, according to Spektor.
Then they will return to Chicago where “a lot of people are waiting for them,” according to Spektor, who said family and friends are preparing the boys’ nursery at home.
“You never expect a war to break out when when you’re preparing for the baby, so a lot of our stuff is in storage now,” he said. “But there’s so many people who are willing to help, and they’re painting the babies’ room as we speak right now.”
Though he is overjoyed to have his sons with him, Spektor said he cannot forget about the children who remain in Ukraine.
More than 4,300 babies have been born in the country since the conflict with Russia began, according to a Facebook post from Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice.
“Our babies are [in Poland] now, they’re safe, but there’s so many other children in Ukraine,” said Spektor. “It’s heartbreaking.”
As a record executive, Clive Davis was responsible for signing and/or nurturing the careers of some of music’s biggest stars, from Bruce Springsteen and Rod Stewart to Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston. Now, he’s going to show off some great performances from those stars in a new docuseries premiering March 23 on Paramount+.
Clive Davis: Most Iconic Performances is a four-episode series that had its origin in the pre-Grammy virtual events Davis staged in 2021, when his famous Grammy party was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The series includes full archival concert performances along with personalized introductions from Davis, and exclusive interviews with many of the featured artists. The fourth episode will include extended versions of those interviews.
Viewers will see concerts from Springsteen, Stewart, Aretha, Queen, Paul Simon, Tina Turner, Joni Mitchell, Prince, The Bee Gees, Ray Charles and many more, as well as interviews with Bruce, Rod, Paul, Barry Gibb, Mitchell, Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor, Carole King and others.
“These interviews stand out among my proudest achievements,” Davis says in a statement. “They’ve received phenomenal response, presenting these all-time artists in a light never seen before. The performances are truly iconic indeed, jaw-dropping in every way.”
Muse is channeling Dune with a cryptic new teaser video.
The 35-second clip, which premiered Wednesday, shows a group of masked soldiers in a desert tearing down giant statues of the three Muse band members: Matt Bellamy, Dominic Howard and Chris Wolstenholme. In the background, you can hear a chorus chant the line, “The will of the people.”
No other context was given, but it seems safe to assume that Muse is teasing more new music to follow the single “Won’t Stand Down,” which dropped in January alongside a similarly sci-fi video.
Muse’s most recent album is 2018’s Simulation Theory.
As a record executive, Clive Davis was responsible for signing and nurturing the careers of some of music’s biggest stars, from Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel to Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys. Now, he’s going to showoff some great performances from those stars in a new docuseries premiering March 23 on Paramount+.
Clive Davis: Most Iconic Performances is a four-episode series that had its origin in the pre-Grammy virtual events Davis staged in 2021 when his famous Grammy party was canceled due to COVID-19. It includes full archival concert performances along with personalized introductions from Davis, and exclusive interviews with the featured artists. A fourth episode will include extended versions of those interviews.
Viewers will see concerts from Tina Turner, Alicia Keys, Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, The Bee Gees, Aretha Franklin, Queen and Prince, among others, as well as interviews with Bruce, Rod, Alicia, Barry Gibb, Oprah Winfrey, Paul, Queen‘s Brian May and Roger Taylor, Joni and Carole King.
“These interviews stand out among my proudest achievements,” Davis says in a statement. “They’ve received phenomenal response, presenting these all-time artists in a light never seen before. The performances are truly iconic indeed, jaw-dropping in every way.”
(WASHINGTON) — The House Judiciary Committee wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland alerting him of potential “criminal conduct by Amazon and certain of its executives,” in a letter written by members of the committee and obtained by ABC News.
The judiciary committee, led by Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline, alleges Amazon lied to Congress over whether it used data it collected from third-party sellers.
“Throughout the course of the Committee’s investigation, Amazon attempted to cover up its lie by offering ever-shifting explanations of what it called its ‘Seller Data Protection Policy,'” the letter says. “Among other things, in written statements to the Committee, Amazon made a distinction between the “individual” seller data that Amazon supposedly protected and the “aggregated” seller data that its private-label business could use.”
Amazon also allegedly lied to Congress about manipulating consumers’ search results, according to the committee.
“After Amazon was caught in a lie and repeated misrepresentations, it stonewalled the Committee’s efforts to uncover the truth. The Committee gave Amazon a final opportunity to provide evidence either correcting the record or corroborating the representations it had made to the Committee under oath and in written statements,” the letter says. “Instead of taking advantage of this opportunity to provide clarity, however, Amazon offered conclusory denials of adverse facts. In a November 1, 2021 communication to the Committee, a senior Amazon official dismissed the reports as inaccurate, attributing them to ‘key misunderstandings and speculation.'”
The judiciary committee further accused Amazon of refusing to turn over any documents related to the investigation they claim to have run on the manipulation of consumer search results.
The bipartisan letter also claims Amazon obstructed a congressional investigation.
“Amazon and its executives appear to have been “acting with an improper purpose” “to influence, obstruct, or impede . . . the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had,” the letter says. “Amazon has declined multiple opportunities to demonstrate with credible evidence that it made accurate and complete representations to the Committee during the Committee’s digital-markets investigation. The Committee’s findings and credible investigative reports suggest that Amazon’s representations were misleading and incomplete. And Amazon’s failure to correct or corroborate those representations suggests that Amazon and its executives have acted intentionally to improperly influence, obstruct, or impede the Committee’s investigation and inquiries.”
All of these reasons, the letter says, amount to enough substance for a Justice Department referral “to investigate whether Amazon or its executives obstructed Congress or violated other applicable federal laws.”
“There’s no factual basis for this, as demonstrated in the huge volume of information we’ve provided over several years of good faith cooperation with this investigation,” an Amazon spokesperson told ABC News.
A Justice Department spokesperson said the department has received the letter and will review it.
L-R — Morrison, Acoin — Alex Stead/Blue Ice Pictures/SYFY
Actress and singer Samantha Aucoin tells ABC Audio that she “never even stepped on a TV set” before being cast in SyFy’s new supernatural series Astrid & Lilly Save the World,but fans clearly think producers made the right choice.
When the titular high school outcasts have had enough of the figurative monsters they deal with in high school, Aucoin’s Astrid and her BFF Lilly, played by Jana Morrison, attempt to put a hex on them.
However, the pair’s tinkering with the occult opens a portal, loosing literal monsters on their small town. Together, the very unlikely heroes have to put the creatures in their place, and in doing so, gain a confidence they’ve never had.
Aucoin admits, “We would have loved to have this kind of show on when we were in high school, because, you know, getting to see yourself in this sort of lead or…as a hero or a heroine, I mean, that would have been amazing.”
She adds, “For me…I think for anyone…I think high school is such an impressionable time, and when you don’t see yourself represented in the media, you know, that can take a toll on your mental health. It can be like…’Am I not thin enough? Do I not look the right way?'”
Aucoin notes, “To see people…just embracing the show and embracing, you know, the way we look, and to realize that it’s OK to look the way you look, and…you should love that, and you should love yourself.”
Meanwhile, Samantha admits to having one selfish goal for the show: Seeing Astrid & Lilly cosplayers. “That would be absolutely incredible!” she declares.
Astrid & Lilly Save the World airs Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. on SyFy.
Lawmakers in the State House voted in favor of bill HB 675, which makes it a felony to provide such care. Now the bill goes to the State Senate.
Anyone who provides or knowingly gives permission for a child or teen to receive hormone therapy or physical alterations to affirm their gender identity would be punished under this law and could face life in prison.
Gender affirmation is when transgender people make changes to their lives in accordance with their gender identity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That can be done through a change of clothing, hairstyles, mannerisms, names and pronouns.
Gender affirmation can also come in the form of hormone therapy or surgeries to alter one’s physical characteristics.
On the House floor, State Rep. Ilana Rubel told a story of her friend’s child who knew he was transgender from a young age. After he transitioned — publicly expressing oneself as another gender — Rubel said she saw him turn from a troubled youth to a successful college student.
“This is obviously not a step that a family takes lightly,” Rubel said. “This is a step that comes after literally thousands of hours of agonizing. There is no parent in the world who is just finding a way to force sex-change treatments on to their kids.”
She added, “They do this because they realize after endless excruciating probing that this is what their child needs.”
Rubel also noted that gender-affirming care is supported by medical organizations such as the American Medical Association, Idaho Medical Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics and more.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Bruce Skaug, said he does not support underage gender reassignment surgeries or therapies and claimed that “Europe is pulling back from this type of procedure now because they’ve seen negative effects and there’s no positive mental health effect for children,” though he did not cite specific research or examples.
“We need to stop sterilizing and mutilating children under the age of 18,” Skaug went on. “This is a mental illness that needs to be treated,” referring to trans identities.
He suggested that people rely on “old fashioned counseling, talk therapy” and “traditional psychology methods” to address trans identities and needs in youth.
Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel at Human Rights Campaign, said she is disappointed that “some politicians in Boise have decided to follow Texas and Alabama down the path of imposing felony criminal penalties upon doctors who are simply doing their jobs.”
She noted that a recent study found that gender-affirming care reduces the risk of moderate or severe depression by 60% and suicidality by 73%.
