Netflix dropped the trailer Wednesday for the 11th film in the Madea franchise, Tyler Perry’s A Madea Homecoming, which debuts February 25.
Writer-director-producer Tyler Perry is back as Madea, who is excited about her great-grandson’s college graduation. Franchise veterans return as Tamela Mann once again portrays Cora, her real-life husband David Mann is Mr. Brown, and once again, Cassi Davis Patton plays Aunt Bam. It’s been six years since the previous film in the franchise, Boo! A Madea Hallloween, was released in 2016.
In other news, Serena and Venus Williams are being honored by the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. They are among the seven 2022 Portrait of a Nation honorees. The award recognizes extraordinary individuals who have made transformative contributions to the United States and its people across numerous fields of endeavor, ranging from the arts and sciences to sports and humanitarianism.
Clive Davis, chief creative officer of Sony Music Entertainment, who discovered the late Whitney Houston, and director Ava DuVernay, are also being featured in the new portrait gallery. The awards will be presented at the Portrait of a Nation Gala on November 12. Each honoree’s portrait will be displayed as part of the museum’s “Recent Acquisitions” exhibition from November 10 through October 22, 2023.
Finally, Bobby Brown will be the subject of two new biographical television projects on A&E. Biography: Bobby Brown, a two-night event, airs Monday, May 30, and Tuesday, May 31, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The 12-episode Bobby Brown: Every Little Step premieres Tuesday, May 31 at 10 p.m. ET/PT with new episodes airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
The “My Prerogative” singer is performing with New Edition on The Culture Tour kicking off February 16 in Columbus, GA and continuing through April 10.
(NEW YORK) — British-born Benjamin Alexander had never put on a pair of skis until the age of 32. Only six years later, and he’s now going for gold next month in Beijing as Jamaica’s first Olympic alpine skier.
It didn’t come easily, he said.
“I hit the ground like 20 plus times on my first time skiing. I absolutely was not a natural,” Alexander told ABC News Live Prime on Tuesday. “But I was tenacious, and I had grit and determination. I really wanted to get good enough to ski with my friends. And so I just kept trying, and little by little, one step at a time, I got better and better.”
Alexander said he was inspired by the legendary 1988 Jamaican bobsled team, which marked the first time the Caribbean nation had ever competed in the Winter Olympics. He said former Olympian Dudley Stokes, who was the pilot of the 1988 team, became a personal mentor of his.
“It’s just incredible to have someone who basically wrote the book ‘I’m Doing Outlandish Things for a Caribbean Nation in the Winter Games’ … just giving me advice along the way,” he said.
For the past two and a half years, Alexander said he’s been training as a full-time athlete in thanks to sport sponsorships. He said that despite some setbacks, such as mountain closures due to the pandemic, he’s ready to compete.
“I’ve been planning meticulously to get to this point, and sometimes when you actually get to the place you’ve been looking at for so long, it feels weird to have arrived, so surreal is the one word I’ve been using,” he said.
Alexander said his identity as a mixed-race skier is what motivated him to represent Jamaica instead of the U.K.
“You always represent the minority of any group you’re in, at any given time. That can change, second by second, room by room. So if I’m with my white friends, I’m the Black guy, and with my Black friends, I’m the white guy,” Alexander said. “As a skier, in the predominantly white sport of skiing, I was always the Black representative.”
Along with representation, Alexander said he also wants his story to prove that it’s never too late to start something new.
“You think something has passed you by, that you should have started it when you were younger … I call you on that,” he said. “You can do that thing that you thought was impossible. At least give it a try.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday declined to expand on reports Justice Stephen Breyer would be retiring from the Supreme Court at the end of the current term, saying he would wait to speak further until the justice personally announces his plans.
“Every justice has the right and opportunity to decide what he or she is going to do, announce it on their own. There’s been no announcement from Justice Breyer. Let him make whatever statement he’s going to make, and I’ll be happy to talk about it later,” Biden said.
Breyer, the most senior member of the U.S. Supreme Court’s liberal wing and staunch defender of a nonpartisan judiciary, stepping down from the bench fulfills the wish of Democrats who lobbied for his exit and for Biden’s first high court appointment.
The vacancy now paves the way for Biden to nominate a Black woman to the court — a historic first and something he promised during the 2020 campaign.
Biden’s first public appearance since the news was at an afternoon White House event with American business executives to discuss his stalled Build Back Better agenda.
Several progressive House lawmakers have already amped up the pressure on Biden with Reps. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., Cori Bush, D-Mo., and Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., all reminding Biden on Twitter of his promise to elevate a Black woman to the position.
When reporters followed up with the president on Wednesday, Biden added, “I’ll be happy to talk about this later. I’m gonna get into this issue.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki shared the president’s sentiment in an earlier tweet.
“It has always been the decision of any Supreme Court Justice if and when they decide to retire, and how they want to announce it, and that remains the case today,” she said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a statement, said the Senate is prepared to move to confirm Biden’s nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy with “all deliberate speed.”
“President Biden’s nominee will receive a prompt hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and will be considered and confirmed by the full United States Senate with all deliberate speed,” he wrote in a statement.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, which holds hearings for court nominees, said in a statement that the vacancy presents Biden “the opportunity to nominate someone who will bring diversity, experience, and an evenhanded approach to the administration of justice” and that he looks forward to moving the nominee “expeditiously through the Committee.”
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina reacted to the news with a reminder that Democrats — having the slimmest of majorities in the Senate — still have the ability to pass Biden’s nominee without Republican support. Sen. Mitch McConnell, as majority leader in 2017, lowered the threshold to break the Senate filibuster from 60 votes to 51 votes for Supreme Court nominees in order to pass former President Donald Trump’s first pick.
“If all Democrats hang together – which I expect they will – they have the power to replace Justice Breyer in 2022 without one Republican vote in support. Elections have consequences, and that is most evident when it comes to fulfilling vacancies on the Supreme Court,” Graham said in a statement, in a nod to the 2020 Senate elections in Georgia which Democrats won.
Progressive activists had put unprecedented public pressure on Breyer, who was nominated in 1994 by President Bill Clinton, to retire. McConnell said in June that the GOP may try to block a Democratic nominee to the court if the party wins control of the Senate in November and a vacancy occurs in 2023 or 2024.
ABC News’ Devin Dwyer, Allison Pecorin and Eric Fayeulle contributed to this report.
Kane Brown is showing off some new ink that he and his wife, Katelyn, recently got in celebration of their youngest daughter, Kodi Jane.
The singer posted a photo on Instagram, showing himself and his wife holding hands. Kane has got fresh ink on his left hand, with bold letters reading “KODI.” Meanwhile, Katelyn’s got the same name in a similar font, plus Kodi’s middle name, tattooed on her right forearm.
Kane and Katelyn welcomed Kodi late last year, after keeping Katelyn’s pregnancy a secret. Kodi is the couple’s second child: Their first daughter, Kingsley, arrived in October 2019.
Both Kane and Katelyn had tattoos already. Katelyn’s are relatively small, while Kane has long rocked full sleeves. After the couple got married, Kane got a tattoo of Katelyn’s name on his right hand, with the “y” stylized into the shape of an infinity symbol.
Of course, the country-star couple didn’t forget their oldest daughter: They’ve got matching “Kingsley” tattoos, too.
Dream Theater has premiered the video for “Transcending Time,” a track off the band’s new album, A View from the Top of the World.
The clip takes us to a strange land filled with majestic eagles, flying fish and broken clocks. You can watch it now streaming on YouTube.
A View from the Top of the World, the 15th Dream Theater album, was released last October. At 6 minutes and 24 seconds long, “Transcending Time” is actually the shortest song on the record, which closes with the 20-minute title track.
Dream Theater will launch a tour in support of A View on February 2 in Mesa, Arizona.
Vijat Mohindra/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Miley Cyrus has booked her next gig and it’s with rock legend Steven Tyler. The “Midnight Sky” singer will headline the Aerosmith frontman’s Janie’s Fund Grammy Awards Viewing Party, set for April 3 at the Hollywood Palladium.
In a press release, Tyler officially announced Miley as this year’s entertainer for the fourth annual edition of gala, which raises funds for his Janie’s Fund charity. Tyler chose Miley because of her support for Janie’s Fund, which aims to help female victims of abuse and neglect.
“The support that this GRAMMY Awards Viewing Party has received is incredibly moving, and we can’t wait to continue the tradition this year,” Steven said in an official statement. “Miley joined me in this important work when we launched Janie’s Fund in 2015 and is a powerful voice and advocate for women. I can’t think of another artist that better aligns with our mission…It’s going to be an incredible night.”
Aside from a special performance, the festivities will include an auction, a red carpet, a cocktail hour and more. Among those serving as event chairs are Aerosmith, John Stamos, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Jim Carrey. Andrea Bocelli, Sir Elton John and Lionel Richie will serve as honorary event chairs.
Tyler’s first viewing party was held in 2018 and, since then, the event has raised more than $7.6 million for Janie’s Fund. The charity gets its name from the 1989 Aerosmith hit “Janie’s Got a Gun,” which is about a girl who takes revenge on an abusive parent.
(NOTE LANGUAGE) While most superheroes have bodies most can only dream about, Dwayne Johnson may be the only actor to be even more ripped than his godly alter-ego, in the upcoming Black Adam.
The Rock is no slouch in the gym on a normal day, as any of his 293 million Instagram followers can attest, but he tells Men’s Journal his “exhausting” regimen for Black Adam pushed even him to his limits.
“The training we did for this movie was the most arduous I’ve ever done in my life,” the 49-year-old Johnson admits, explaining the goal was to “surpass” Adam’s physique in the pages of DC Comics.
“One of the things that drew me to Black Adam is his origin,” Johnson says. “He started out enslaved. Any time you have a character…who has wrongfully been held down by others, it means so much more when they begin to rise up.”
He adds, “[A]s we all know, if you do something wrong, Superman and Batman are gonna try and bring you to justice. If you do something wrong to Black Adam, you’re going to die. It’s that simple.”
The star, producer, and entrepreneur also teases of a future project, “We’re going to bring one of the biggest, most bada** games to the screen — one that I’ve played for years.”
The Rock won’t reveal which game he’s adapting, though Johnson’s likeness was recently added to the super-popular multiplayer game Fortnite.
For now, he’ll only say, “Of course we’re going to do right by our gamer friends — but really we’re just going to make a great movie.”
Black Adam, which also stars Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate, Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, and Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone, opens July 29.
(WASHINGTON) — With the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer at the end of the current term, one name keeps rising to the top of the list of potential replacements: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Jackson, whom President Joe Biden nominated to replace Merrick Garland on the high-profile D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals when he picked Garland for attorney general, is a Harvard Law graduate who served as a clerk to Breyer from 1999-2000 and interviewed with former President Barack Obama for former Justice Antonin Scalia’s vacancy in 2016.
After the Supreme Court, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is the most important federal court in the country, with jurisdiction over cases involving Congress and the executive branch agencies.
Biden, who has said he would appoint the first African American woman to the Supreme Court because the court should “look like the country,” would be able to make good on that promise with a Jackson nomination. No Black woman has ever been nominated to the high court.
Other top contenders include Judge Leondra Kruger, of the California Supreme Court; Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, of the US District Court Georgia; and Judge J. Michelle Childs, of the US District Court South Carolina.
Jackson was the first Black woman confirmed to an appellate court in a decade and is one of six Black female circuit court judges currently serving. She is also one of just 39 active Black female federal judges out of 793 total.
The 51-year-old also has some bipartisan appeal. She was confirmed 53-44 to her current seat in June 2021, drawing votes from three Republicans — Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.
At the time, several Republican senators brought up the advocacy group Demand Justice, which has supported Jackson’s nomination and has called for expanding the Supreme Court.
“Demand Justice claims that the Supreme Court is broken,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said. “Do you think the Supreme Court is broken?”
“Senator, I’ve never said anything about the Supreme Court being broken,” Jackson said in response. “Again, I’m not going to comment on the structure, the size, the functioning even, of the Supreme Court.”
Under questioning, she also characterized religious liberty as a foundational tenet of the U.S. government and said the Supreme Court has made clear that the government cannot infringe on religious rights.
She was also asked if she believed race would play a role in her decision making, if mandatory minimums were racist and the role of race in the judicial system.
Jackson repeatedly emphasized her belief in judicial independence.
Jackson grew up attending public schools in Miami and graduated from Harvard College. She has served as an assistant public defender and as vice chair and commissioner on the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
The mother of two teenage daughters is related to former House Speaker Paul Ryan by marriage.
Ryan testified on her behalf when she was nominated to the district court in 2012, offering his “unequivocal” endorsement.
During her circuit court confirmation hearing, she offered a poignant response when Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., asked what the nomination meant to her.
“It is the beauty and the majesty of this country, that someone who comes from a background like mine could find herself in this position,” she answered. “And so I’m just enormously grateful to have this opportunity to be a part of the law in this way, and I’m truly thankful for the president giving me the honor of this nomination.”
ABC News’ Lauren Lantry and Adia Robinson contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — At the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine makers raced to design a shot that perfectly matched the new virus’s genetic code. Their efforts were successful, resulting in highly effective vaccines in record time.
But the virus has continued to evolve into new, concerning variants, each with a slightly different genetic code. Although current vaccines still work well against new variants, they are no longer a perfect match.
Vaccine makers like Pfizer and Moderna are now exploring tweaked booster shots to match the now-dominant omicron variant, but the U.S. government is aggressively pursuing a different approach: a pan-coronavirus vaccine that would work equally well against any COVID-19 variant.
“Since September of 2020 there have been five SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern — alpha, beta, gamma, delta and now, the current, omicron,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said at a White House task force briefing Wednesday. “So, obviously, innovative approaches are needed.”
Fauci, who heads up the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has issued $43 million in research grants across several academic institutions to support development of a pan-coronavirus vaccine, sometimes called a “universal” coronavirus vaccine.
The idea, scientists say, is to create a vaccine that works as as a generalist rather than a specialist. A pan-coronavirus vaccine will be designed using features of the virus’s genetic code that are shared universally across all different versions of the virus — and hopefully, any new versions that will emerge.
Several research groups are already working on a pan-coronavirus vaccine, including scientists at the California Institute of Technology, Duke University, University of Washington, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
But scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research are arguably the furthest along. The Army vaccine appears to work well in monkeys, and is now being tested for safety in a phase 1 study in human volunteers.
In a rare look inside the Walter Reed laboratories last year, ABC News’ Bob Woodruff spoke to a team of Army scientists hopeful that their vaccine candidate would work not only against COVID-19 variants, but also against related coronaviruses, like those that caused the SARS-1 and MERS outbreaks in 2003 and 2012, respectively.
But designing a pan-coronavirus vaccine is no easy feat. Scientists say it could take months, even years, to find a vaccine that works equally well against multiple coronavirus strains.
“I don’t want anyone to think that pan-coronavirus vaccines are literally around the corner in a month or two,” Fauci said. Current vaccines dramatically reduce the risk of hospitalization and severe illness, even against new variants like omicron. And crucially, they are available today.
“Do not wait to receive your primary vaccine regimen,” Fauci said. “If you are vaccinated, please get your booster if you are eligible.”
ABC News’ Matthew Seyler contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Officials at the Federal Reserve on Wednesday signaled that they could “soon” raise interest rates for the first time in three years, as inflation concerns cast a shadow over the pandemic-battered economy.
The central bankers said in a statement Wednesday that they were leaving rates unchanged for now, at near-zero levels, but with a recovering labor market and the threat of inflation, this will likely change in the near future.
“With inflation well above 2 percent and a strong labor market, the Committee expects it will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate,” the Fed said in a statement Wednesday.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said during his closely watched news conference Wednesday that the Fed’s “policy has been adapting to the evolving economic environment and will continue to do so,” alluding to the backdrop of elevated inflation and labor market gains.
“Economic activity expanded at a robust pace last year, reflecting progress on vaccinations and the reopening of the economy,” Powell said. “Indeed, the economy has shown great strength and resilience in the face of the ongoing pandemic.”
Powell said the sharp rise in COVID-19 cases associated with the omicron variant likely will weigh on economic growth in the short term, but he expressed hope, as health experts have suggested, that the omicron variant hasn’t been as virulent as previous strains, and that it’s expected for cases to drop off more rapidly.
Powell added that “inflation remains well above our longer run goal of 2%,” which it notably has for some time now. He attributed this largely to supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic and the reopening of the economy.
“These problems have been larger and longer lasting than anticipated, exacerbated by waves of the virus,” Powell said Wednesday. “While the drivers of higher inflation have been predominantly connected to the dislocations caused by the pandemic, price increases have now spread to a broader range of goods and services. Wages have also risen briskly, and we are attentive to the risks that persistent real wage growth in excess of productivity could put upward pressure on inflation.”
The Fed chair said that they expect inflation to decline over the course of the year, but signaled that the central bankers are taking this issue seriously — they’re very aware of the pain it causes for consumers and will be “watching carefully” to see how the economy evolves.
“We understand that high inflation imposes significant hardship, especially on those least able to meet the higher costs of essentials like food, housing and transportation,” Powell added. “In addition, we believe that the best thing we can do to support continued labor market gains is to promote a long expansion and that will require price stability. We’re committed to our price stability goal.”
Powell continued: “We will use our tools both to support the economy and a strong labor market, and to prevent higher inflation from becoming entrenched.”
The Fed officials noted in their latest policy statement that indicators of economic activity and employment have continued to strengthen.
“The sectors most adversely affected by the pandemic have improved in recent months but are being affected by the recent sharp rise in COVID-19 cases,” the statement said. “Job gains have been solid in recent months, and the unemployment rate has declined substantially.”
Still, they noted that supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic and reopening of the economy “have continued to contribute to elevated levels of inflation,” and that much of the economic recovery still remains at the mercy of the virus.
The unemployment rate as of last month fell to 3.9%, only slightly above the pre-pandemic rate of 3.5% in February 2020.
Soaring inflation, however, has thrown a new wrench into the economic recovery. Government data released earlier this month indicated that consumer prices have jumped 7% over the last 12 months, the largest one-year increase since 1982.
The Fed officials also reiterated Wednesday that they expect to continue to taper their pandemic-era asset purchasing program meant to buoy the economy during the health crisis and end it completely by early March.
In previous projections released last month, Fed officials indicated that they anticipated as many as three interest rate hikes starting in 2022.
