Megan Thee Stallion is making some real hot girl moves.
The 27-year-old rapper is set to make her film debut in the movie musical F******* Identical Twins, according to multiple reports, including fromVariety, Deadline, and The Hollywood Reporter.
Taking to social media, Megan shared a screenshot of the exciting news and wrote, “HOTTIES THIS IS OUR FIRST MOVIEEEE/ MUSICAL! WITH SOME MOVIE LEGENDS.”
“I’m so excited i feel so blessed i feel anxious lol i feel a bunch of s***,” the Grammy winner continued. “I really have been quietly putting in this work and i just cant wait for the hotties to see everything.”
While it’s unclear what Megan’s role will be, she is set to join Saturday Night Live‘s Bowen Yang, two-time Emmy-winner and Will & Grace alum Megan Mullally and Tony-winner Nathan Lane in the R-rated musical comedy, which will be directed by Seinfeld and Borat veteran Larry Charles.
F******* Identical Twins, as described by THR, “follows two business adversaries who realize they’re identical twin brothers and decide to switch places in order to reunite their divorced parents and become a family again.”
Candace Bushnell is sharing how she really feels about And Just Like That….
In an interview with The New Yorker, the author, who wrote the column that inspired the original series Sex and the City, revealed that she was “really startled by a lot of the decisions made in the reboot.”
“You know, it’s a television product, done with [And Just Like That creator] Michael Patrick King and Sarah Jessica Parker, who have both worked with HBO a lot in the past,” Bushnell said. “HBO decided to put this franchise back into their hands for a variety of reasons, and this is what they came up with.”
Bushnell added, “I mean, Carrie Bradshaw ended up being a quirky woman who married a really rich guy. And that’s not my story, or any of my friends’ stories. But TV has its own logic.”
And Just Like That… recently finished its first season on HBO Max and has yet to be renewed for season two.
The reimagined series brought back Parker as Carrie, as well as Cynthia Nixon as Miranda and Kristin Davis as Charlotte. Noticeably missing was Kim Cattrall’s Samantha. While her character has been kept alive on-screen via text messages, it’s not likely she’ll appear on-screen in the flesh.
Aside from Cattrall making it clear she has no interest in returning to the franchise after turning down a third movie, SJP recently toldVariety she wouldn’t be okay with her return.
“I don’t think I would, because I think there’s just too much public history of feelings on her part that she’s shared,” she said.
(BEIJING) — After missing the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony due to a positive COVID test, bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor will have her chance to wave the American flag at the closing ceremony on Sunday.
The four-time Olympian was elected by her peers on Team USA to be the closing ceremony flag bearer in Beijing, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee announced Friday.
She had been elected to be the opening ceremony flag bearer, alongside curler John Shuster, but was unable to participate in the ceremony because she tested positive for COVID shortly after arriving in Beijing and went into isolation. Instead, speedskater Brittany Bowe, who earned the second-highest votes among female athletes, served as flag bearer alongside Shuster.
“I was so honored to be named the Opening Ceremony flag bearer, but after not being able to carry the flag, it’s even more humbling to lead the United States at the Closing Ceremony,” Meyers Taylor said in a statement. “Congratulations to my fellow Team USA athletes on all their success in Beijing – I’m looking forward to carrying the flag with my teammates by my side and closing out these Games.”
Now, Meyers Taylor will have her chance to represent the United States — and this time around, she has some new metal to wear.
Earlier this week, she competed in the first Olympic monobob event, wherein athletes compete by themselves, pushing, driving and breaking a bobsled as a team of one.
Americans dominated in that event, with Kallie Humphries winning gold and Meyers Taylor winning silver. Humphries was competing for the United States in the Olympics for the first time after winning two golds for Canada in the two-person bobsled, so as former rivals, this time she and Meyers Taylor could celebrate together.
That silver adds to Meyers Taylor’s stack of Olympic medals, including a silver from 2018, a silver from 2014 and a bronze from 2010, all in the two-woman competition. She has the opportunity to add one more to that list in the two-woman event in Beijing, which concludes Saturday.
This Olympics has been more dramatic than most as Meyers Taylor had to spend about a week in isolation, which she called “rough.” She had traveled to Beijing along with her husband and young son, who is still nursing, and had to separate from them to isolate.
In order to compete, she had to test negative two times and she managed to do so before the monobob event began but competed without as many practices as other athletes.
“No words … only gratitude,” she wrote on Instagram after taking the monobob silver.
In addition to her athleticism, Meyers Taylor has been recognized for her efforts off the ice. Her son, Nico, has Down syndrome, and she has been an advocate for families of children with special needs, as well as one of the many athletes who continued competing after becoming mothers.
“I knew I wanted to continue and show that it’s possible to overcome any adversity and continue pursuing your goals,” she previously told Good Morning America about the inspiration she gained after giving birth.
Meyers Taylor, who is biracial, has also been an advocate for Black athletes in winter sports.
“My job now, just like any parent, is to ensure my son has a better life than I do,” she wrote in a 2020 piece for Team USA. “Part of that is to do what I can to make a change, such that hopefully he is never judged by the color of his skin. That’s a lofty goal, but an important one to never give up on.”
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.8 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 930,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 64.5% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 18, 8:40 am
Hawaii is only state without plans to lift mask mandates
Hawaii is the only U.S. state that has not announced intentions to end indoor mask mandates.
States across the country have moved to end masking requirements as cases of COVID-19 continue to drop.
Some governors have ended universal indoor and outdoor masking mandates, while others have lifted statewide face covering requirements for schools.
In a newsletter Wednesday, the Hawaii State Department of Education said there are no current plans to drop mask mandates in classrooms.
Three other states — California, Maryland and New York — as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, have also not announced end dates for their indoor school face covering mandates.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Feb 17, 7:10 pm
New Mexico ends mask mandate
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Thursday that the state’s mask mandate for indoor areas is over, effective immediately.
Masks will still be required for some settings, “including hospitals, long-term care facilities and detention facilities.” School districts were allowed to determine if their mandates for classrooms would remain in effect, according to the governor’s office.
“Given the continued drop in hospitalizations and the lessening of the burden on our hospitals, it’s time to end the mask mandate. With vaccines, boosters and effective treatment options widely available, we have the tools we need to protect ourselves and keep our fellow New Mexicans safe,” Grisham said in a statement.
As of Thursday, 73.5% of eligible New Mexico residents were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Feb 17, 6:55 pm
North Carolina governor urges school districts to drop mask mandates
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper urged local officials and school districts to end their mask mandates next month.
Mask use indoors has not been universally required in North Carolina since last spring, when the Cooper ended statewide requirements. Each school district in the state has made their own masking requirements.
If COVID-19 trends continue to decline, the governor is encouraging all school districts to drop their mandates starting March 7.
“It’s time to focus on getting our children a good education and improving our schools, no matter how you feel about masks,” Cooper said at a news conference.
As of Thursday, 62.7% of eligible North Carolina residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos, Ben Stein and Leonardo Mayorga
Feb 17, 6:23 pm
Washington state to end mask mandate in March
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced that based on the state’s COVID-19 case and hospitalization rates, the mandate for masks in indoor settings would end March 21.
“We are approaching a place fairly shortly where we will not have to be wearing masks generally in these in these conditions,” he said during a news conference. “And we think this is both good for our health and our education of our children and the total reopening of our economy.”
Inslee added that businesses and schools would be allowed to issue their own mask mandate after March 21 if they choose to.
The governor also announced that the requirement for vaccine verification at large events will end on March 1.
ABC News’ Zach Ferber and Matt Fuhrman
Feb 17, 5:48 pm
California outlines endemic plan
Gov. Gavin Newsom and California health officials have released a plan to deal with COVID-19 once it becomes an endemic.
The plan, dubbed “SMARTER,” will focus on seven areas: shots, masks, awareness, readiness, testing, education and medicine.
Officials said that clear “on and off ramps” for future restrictions, such as mask mandates, will be created specifically for variants.
California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said case rates could determine future restrictions if the state faces a more deadly variant in the future, while hospital capacity could be the primary indicator if California faces a less virulent variant similar to omicron.
The state will publish a one- to two-page summary of the state’s current recommendations on COVID-19 in the next couple of days, according to Ghaly.
If watching Get Back has made you crave more Beatles, then we’ve got good news: Paul McCartney‘s hitting the road for what he’s calling the Got Back tour.
“I said at the end of the last tour that I’d see you next time. I said I was going to get back to you. Well, I got back!” says Paul in a statement.
The 13-city trek, the first since his Freshen Up tour wrapped in 2019, launches April 28 in Spokane, WA and is set to wrap up June 16 in East Rutherford, NJ.
The tour marks McCartney’s first-ever show in Spokane, as well as his live debuts in Hollywood, FL, Knoxville, TN and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and his first show in Baltimore, MD since 1964 with The Beatles.
Tickets go on sale February 25 at 10 a.m. local time. American Express® Card Members can get tickets starting Tuesday, February 22 at 10 a.m. local time through Thursday, February 24 at 10 p.m. local time. For all the details, visit PaulMcCartneyGotBack.com.
Out of the blue clear sky, the trio behind the 1994 film Forrest Gump is reuniting for an adaptation of Richard McGuire‘s 2014 graphic novel, Here. Deadline reports Eric Roth will co-write the script with Robert Zemeckis, who will also direct, and Tom Hanks will star. All three won Oscars for Forrest Gump. “Set in one room,” Here “focuses on the many people who inhabit it over years and years, from the past to the distant future,” according to the outlet…
Disney+ has tapped Oscar-winning composer John Williams to write the theme for Obi-Wan Kenobi, its newest small-screen Star Wars project, premiering May 25. Williams recorded last week with a Los Angeles orchestra under tight security, sources tell Variety. It marks the first time Williams has composed the theme for a weekly dramatic series since Steven Spielberg‘s Amazing Stories for NBC in 1985, although he wrote two for PBS: Masterpiece Theatre in 2000 and Great Performances in 2009. His news and Olympics themes, written decades ago, continue to air on NBC. He won an Oscar for the original Star Wars score in 1977 and received nominations for five of the sequels — The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in 1980 and 1983, followed by The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker in 2015, 2017 and 2019. Disney is the parent company of ABC News…
Amanda Seyfried has joined Tom Holland in Apple TV+’s “seasonal anthology” series centering on mental illness, The Crowded Room, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The first season follows Billy Milligan — played by Holland — the first person to ever be acquitted of a crime because he suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder, which was known then as Multiple Personality Disorder. Milligan was indicted for a string of rapes and kidnappings in 1977 but ultimately acquitted, after claiming he had 24 personalities living inside him. The court at the time found he committed the crimes but wasn’t responsible for them. Having avoided prison thanks to the successful defense, Milligan spent his life at a psychiatric hospital in Ohio, where he died in 2014. Seyfried’s role has not been revealed…
FX announced on Thursday that the award-wining Donald Glover series Atlanta will end with season four, according to Variety. The show’s third season, which takes place almost entirely in Europe with the characters in the midst of a successful European tour, premieres March 24, while season four, which is already in the can, is set to air in the fall. “Death is natural,” Glover said during FX’s portion of the Television Critics Association winter press tour. “I feel like when the conditions are right for something, they happen, and when the conditions aren’t right, they don’t happen. I don’t feel any longevity. Because then things start to get weird”…
Nearly one year after undergoing emergency surgery following a serious car accident, Tiger Woods is giving fans a health update.
During news conference at Wednesday’s Genesis Invitational, the professional golfer told reporters, “I wish I could tell you when I’m playing again,” according to Golf.com.
“I want to know, but I don’t,” he continued, adding, “My golf activity has been very limited. I can chip and putt really well and hit short irons very well, but I haven’t done any long stuff seriously. I’m still working… I’m still working on the walking part.”
Tiger shared that while he can walk on a treadmill “all day” due to it being a continuous flat surface, he has a “long way to go” before he can walk on a bumpy golf course.
Even though Woods admittedly has some more work to do to get back in playing shape, he remains grateful.
“I’m very lucky, very lucky,” he said. “As a lot of you guys know, I didn’t know if I was going to have the right leg or not. So to be able to have my right leg still here, it’s huge. I still have a lot of issues with it, but it’s mine and I’m very thankful for that.”
Tiger was injured in a rollover car crash in Southern California last February. He underwent emergency surgery on his right leg and later received follow-up procedures for his injuries.
(MINNEAPOLIS) — Former Brooklyn Center Police Officer Kim Potter will receive her sentence on Friday, Feb. 18 following her conviction in the death of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was fatally shot during a traffic stop.
A Minnesota jury convicted Potter, 49, of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in the April 11, 2021, incident. She had pleaded not guilty to both charges.
The maximum sentence for first-degree manslaughter is 15 years and a $30,000 fine and for second-degree manslaughter — 10 years and a $20,000 fine.
In a court filing on Tuesday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office announced they are seeking 86 months, or 7 years and 2 months, prison time for Potter. Sentences in the state are served concurrently, so Potter would only serve the higher sentence.
The prosecution also asked that in the event the court sentences Potter to probation, that she serve at least one year in prison “to reflect the seriousness of Daunte Wright’s death,” and that the probation last at least 10 years, according to court documents.
Potter fatally shot Wright after initially pulling him over for an expired registration tag on his car. She then determined he had an outstanding warrant for a gross misdemeanor weapons charge and tried to detain him, according to former Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon, who resigned after the incident.
As officers tried to arrest him, Wright freed himself and tried to get back in his vehicle. That’s when, according to Potter’s attorneys, she accidentally grabbed her firearm instead of her stun gun and shot him.
Wright’s death reignited protests against racism and police brutality across the U.S., as the killing took place just outside of Minneapolis, where the trial of Derek Chauvin, a former officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd, was taking place at the time.
Potter took the stand on the last day of her trial, breaking down in tears and apologizing. “I’m sorry,” she said through sobs, “I didn’t want to hurt anybody.”
The jury deliberated for about four days before reaching a verdict on Dec. 23.
(NEW YORK) — The United States continues to warn that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day” amid escalating tensions in the region, with President Joe Biden telling reporters Thursday that the threat is now “very high.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, making urgent remarks to the U.N. Security Council, challenged Moscow to commit to no invasion.
More than 150,000 Russian troops are estimated to be massed near Ukraine’s borders, U.S. officials said. While Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin claim that some troops have begun to withdraw, Biden said more Russian forces have moved in, contrary to Moscow’s claims.
It remains unclear whether Putin has made a decision to attack his ex-Soviet neighbor.
Russia has denied it plans to invade and issued new demands Thursday that the U.S. and NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 18, 7:45 am
US to sell Poland $6 billion of tanks, more military aid
The United States announced Friday its plans to sell $6 billion of new military aid to Poland, amid the threat of war between neighboring Ukraine and Russia.
The proposed sale includes 250 Abrams main battle tanks, 250 short-range jamming systems that counter improvised explosive devices, 26 combat recovery vehicles, nearly 800 machines guns and much more, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of State.
The announcement came as U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with his Polish counterpart in Warsaw to discuss concerns regarding the massive buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine, which U.S. and NATO officials say position Moscow for an imminent invasion. Poland is a key eastern European ally to the U.S. and a fellow member of NATO.
“Some of those forces [are] within 200 miles of the Polish border,” Austin said during a joint press conference in the Polish capital on Friday. “If Russia further invades Ukraine, Poland could see tens of thousands of displaced Ukrainians and others flowing across its border, trying to save themselves and their families from the scourge of war.”
Austin said the U.S. now has an additional 4,700 troops in Poland “who are prepared to respond to a range of contingencies.”
“They will work closely with our State Department and with Polish authorities should there be any need to help American citizens leave Ukraine,” he added.
The planned sale of more military aid to Poland “will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a NATO Ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in Europe,” according to the State Department.
“The proposed sale will improve Poland’s capability to meet current and future threats by providing a credible force that is capable of deterring adversaries and participating in NATO operations,” the State Department said in a statement Friday. “Poland will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Feb 18, 6:21 am
Kremlin expresses concern about escalation in Donbas
Russia is concerned about the ongoing escalation of tensions in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and believes the events unfolding there post a major potential threat, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.
“What is happening in Donbas is very disquieting news, which provokes concern,” Peskov told reporters during a daily call. “It is potentially very dangerous.”
When asked how Putin has been sleeping amid the rising tensions, Peskov said: “Equally well.” He then added after a brief pause: “But with one eye open.”
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva
Feb 18, 5:56 am
Putin to oversee massive nuclear drills on Saturday
Russian President Vladimir Putin will personally oversee massive drills of his country’s strategic nuclear forces on Saturday, including test launches of ballistic and cruise missiles, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced Friday.
The defense ministry said in a statement that the drills were “planned” as part of large-scale military exercises currently taking place across Russia. Saturday’s drills are meant to check “the preparedness of military commands and crews of missile systems, warships and strategic bombers to accomplish their missions and at verifying the reliability of weapons of strategic nuclear and conventional forces,” according to the defense ministry.
“The exercise will involve forces and hardware belonging to the Aerospace Forces, the Southern Military District, the Strategic Missile Forces, the Northern Fleet, and the Black Sea Fleet,” the defense ministry said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin will be at the defense ministry’s Situational Center during the drills Saturday and that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko might join him.
“Even test launches of this type are impossible without the head of state,” Peskov told reporters during a daily call Friday. “You all know about his famed ‘black briefcase,’ ‘the red button’ and so on.”
Peskov said the drills shouldn’t cause concern among other countries because they were notified of the upcoming exercises in advance.
When asked whether such drills could exacerbate tensions, Peskov replied: “Exercises and training launches of ballistic missiles are quite a regular training process. It is preceded by a whole series of notifications forwarded to different countries via various channels. All this is precisely regulated and no one has any questions or concerns.”
The drills will also coincide with the finale of the major joint military exercises in neighboring Belarus.
U.S. military officials have previously warned that Russia could conduct these drills now, saying the timing might be in order to signal to the West not to interfere in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
It’s also another opportunity for posturing as Putin has done many times before, placing himself at the end of demonstrations of military might. In recent years he has repeatedly hailed a range of new Russian nuclear super weapons, including a nuclear-powered cruise missile and hypersonic weapons.
-ABC News’ Anastasia Bagaeva and Patrick Reevell
Feb 18, 4:25 am
Lukashenko to meet Putin in Moscow
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday, as their countries continue to hold massive joint military exercises that Western countries fear could be used to cover up preparations for a possible invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
While Russia and Belarus have said that Russian troops will leave after the drills conclude Sunday, the United States remains concerned they may stay.
Earlier this week, Lukashenko indicated that he and Putin would decide at their meeting Friday how long Russian troops would stay in Belarus. Video released by Belarusian state media showed the authoritarian leader arriving at Moscow’s airport Friday morning.
Russia has moved an unprecedented number of troops into Belarus as part of its wider military build-up near Ukraine. There is an estimated 30,000 Russian troops in Belarus, which is only a few hours drive north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
Concerns have been heightened because Russia has moved most of the troops from its Eastern Military District in Russia’s Far East, some 6,000 miles away. Among them are many units required for an offensive, including long range artillery, fighter bombers, attack helicopters and airborne troops.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Feb 17, 9:28 pm
Biden to host meeting of allied leaders Friday: Canada PM’s office
President Joe Biden will host a closed-door meeting on Ukraine Friday with several U.S. allies, according to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office.
The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the UK, the EU and NATO will participate in the meeting, Trudeau’s office said while sharing the prime minister’s Friday iterinary.
A White House official confirmed to ABC News that Biden will have a phone call Friday afternoon with transatlantic leaders “about Russia’s buildup of military troops on the border of Ukraine and our continued efforts to pursue deterrence and diplomacy.”
Also on Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to meet with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and hold a meeting with the leaders of the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, as she travels to Germany for the annual Munich Security Conference, the White House said.
(WASHINGTON) — A Washington, D.C., judge on Thursday set a September trial date for a case brought by the D.C. attorney general against former President Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee.
D.C. Superior Court Judge Yvonne Williams scheduled the trial to begin on Sept. 26 — a date that will fall a few weeks ahead of the pivotal 2022 midterm elections in November.
The move comes three days after Williams reversed another judge’s earlier decision removing Trump’s family business from the suit.
The D.C. Attorney General’s Office alleges that Trump’s 2017 Presidential Inaugural Committee misused nonprofit funds to pay for event space at the Trump Hotel and other expenditures. The case rests, in part, on the claim of “private inurement” — the question of whether the inaugural committee used its funds for private benefit rather than nonprofit purposes.
A superior court judge dismissed a portion of a lawsuit in November 2020, saying the AG’s office had not met the standard of proof that would allow that part of the suit to proceed. The ruling removed the Trump Organization as a named defendant in the case, yet kept the former president’s Washington hotel as a named defendant, as well as the inaugural committee itself — before Williams reinstated the Trump Organization as a defendant on Monday.
Also during Thursday’s hearing, Trump’s legal team asked the judge to not allow the D.C. attorney general to depose former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg in the inaugural committee case, claiming it would be a “broader fishing expedition.”
Judge Williams ultimately said she would “allow a limited deposition of Mr. Weisselberg.”
