Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
Mariah Carey is currently enjoying the holidays in Aspen, Colorado, but she continues to spread that Christmas cheer to those who could use a little extra.
The Grammy winner shared in a video to Instagram that shows she and her 10-year-old twins, Monroe and Moroccan, “took an unexpected jaunt to” a local McDonald’s to get their hands on some tasty treats off her recently launched Mariah Menu.
The video starts with Monroe disguising her voice to sound like an angry old man when shout-ordering at the drive thru. Unfortunately, the drive thru-teller wasn’t in the mood for pranks and snipped, “Ma’am, can you please just leave the store and never come back?”
As it turns out, it was a ruse to distract the employees so Mariah could sneak in through the front and surprise them. She also deployed two of her assistants to keep the cashier busy as she crept inside.
Mariah was recognized immediately — probably because she was wearing a floor-length glittering ruby dress with matching pumps and a black face mask bedazzled in rhinestones. Mariah chatted with the delighted staff and shook their hands while posing for photos.
The most adorable reaction came from the store manager, who came out to the front to see what the commotion was about and placed a hand over her chest when she realized who was standing inside her restaurant.
This “spontaneous” surprise came off the heels of Mariah celebrating her latest honor — being inducted in to Spotify’s Billions Club because her 1994 holiday smash, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” has been streamed a jaw-dropping one billion times.
One month following the passing of Virgil Abloh, Drake is remembering his friend with a tattoo of the late Louis Vuitton artistic director.
Tattoo artist Ganga posted a photo on Wednesday displaying his design on Certified Lover Boy rapper’s arm. The photo-realistic creation shows Virgil from behind, throwing a paper airplane. “A remembrance of the great Virgil Abloh done on Drake,” the caption reads.
On November 28, the day Abloh died, Drake also paid tribute with a photo of the two of them, writing, “My plan is to touch the sky 1000 more times for you…love you eternally brother thank you for everything.”
The four-time Grammy winner attended the memorial service for Abloh on December 6 in Chicago with several other celebrities, including Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, Lauryn Hill, and Frank Ocean.
Abloh passed away after a private two-year battle with cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare, aggressive form of cancer. He was 41. Virgil was the founder of fashion brand Off-White and the first African American to serve as artistic director for Louis Vuitton.
John Parra/Getty Images for STXfilms / Alexander Wang
Home Alone actor Devin Ratray was arrested in Oklahoma Wednesday after allegedly assaulting his girlfriend earlier in the month during an argument, E! News reports.
The 44-year-old, who played Buzz McCallister in the Christmas classic, was booked on a felony charge of domestic assault and battery by strangulation, as well as a misdemeanor charge of domestic assault and battery. He reportedly posted his $25,000 bond and was released in fewer than 15 minutes.
Ratray was accused of punching and trying to strangle his girlfriend in an Oklahoma City hotel room on December 9.
After playing Macaulay Culkin’s older brother Buzz in 1989’s Home Alone, Ratray reprised his role in the 1992 sequel Home Alone: Lost in New York and most recently appeared in this year’s Disney+ reboot, Home Sweet Home Alone.
Ed Sheeran is heading into 2022 with big plans, which include a major collaboration with Camila Cabello.
Speaking to BBC Radio 1, the singer revealed that he’s teaming up again with his “South of the Border” collaborator for an upcoming new single that is due out next year. According to Yahoo!Life, the exchange happened when the radio hosts prodded Ed about his upcoming single, “The Joker and the Queen.”
When asked if he’ll be featuring Camila on the forthcoming song, the Grammy winner let slip, “No. But, actually, we have done a song together that is going to come out next year.” He declined to reveal what the song’s title is and when we can expect to hear it.
The news comes shortly after Camila gave Ed a sweet shout-out, saying he and Taylor Swift showed her “kindness” when she was just starting out in the music industry.
“I remember approaching Taylor Swift and being like, ‘Hey, what do you do when you’re in a writing slump?’ or whatever, asking her for advice, and she showed me a lot of kindness. Ed Sheeran too,” Camila revealed. “These were my songwriting heroes, so I was stoked that they were even talking to me.”
Ed, Camila and Cardi B collaborated on the 2019 track “South of the Border” for Ed’s No.6 Collaborations Project album.
The duo got merry and bright on their social media feed this week, getting all dressed up in Christmas sweaters and posing with their similarly festive friends in front of a decked-out Christmas tree.
With twinkling lights in the background and stockings hanging on the mantle, the pair start singing their new holiday song, “Pick Out a Christmas Tree,” with their friends — and apparently, they’re taking requests for what to sing next.
“Going Christmas caroling with the boys tonight. If we show up at your door, what is the first song you want us to sing?” they wrote in the caption.
Dan + Shay have plenty of holiday material to choose from, as they’ve shared several original Christmas tunes over the past couple years. Among those are this year’s “Officially Christmas” and the 2020 release, “Take Me Home for Christmas.”
“Pick Out a Christmas Tree” became the most-streamed holiday song across all genres in the U.S. after it came out this holiday season.
going christmas caroling with the boys tonight. if we show up at your door, what is the first song you want us to sing? 🎅🏽 pic.twitter.com/IgsdxgXi2l
Nirvana has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit that asserts the cover of the band’s 1991 album, Nevermind, which shows a naked baby swimming for a dollar bill, constitutes child pornography.
As previously reported, 30-year-old Spencer Elden, who was photographed at four months old for the Nevermind cover, sued Nirvana members Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and the late Kurt Cobain, represented by his widow and executor of his estate, Courtney Love, this past August, alleging that the grunge group committed “commercial child sexual exploitation of [Elden] from while he was a minor to the present day.”
In Nirvana’s dismissal request, obtained by Billboard, the band’s lawyers argue that Elden’s claims are “not serious” and “absurd.” Moreover, the motion maintains that the statute of limitations on Elden’s allegations have expired.
For Elden’s claims to fall within the statute of limitations, he would’ve had to filed his lawsuit within 10 years of “reasonably discovering” the “violation” or “injury.” Since he filed in August 2021, that means he must have learned of the “violation” no earlier than August 2011, which Nirvana’s lawyers argue is not true.
“Long before 2011, as Elden has pled, Elden knew about the photograph, and knew that he (and not someone else) was the baby in the photograph,” the motion reads. “He has been fully aware of the facts of both the supposed ‘violation’ and ‘injury’ for decades.”
The motion also brings up Elden’s own recreations of the Nevermind cover as an adult, as well as the Nevermind tattoo on his chest, and the claim that he used his fame as the Nevermind baby to “pick up women.”
“Elden has spent three decades profiting from his celebrity as the self-anointed ‘Nirvana Baby,'” the motion reads.
A Wheel of Fortune contestant who lost out on a new car because of a technicality will be getting that new car after all, thanks to Audi.
Fans of the game show rallied in support of Charlene Rubush after Tuesday’s episode. She had solved the puzzle — correctly guessing the phrase “choosing the right word,” but she paused before saying “word” just before the buzzer went off.
“You know, this one’s tough, because you said all the right words, including the word ‘word’ but, as you know, it’s gotta be more or less continuous,” host Pat Sajak told her.
He added, “We’ll allow for a little pause, but not four or five seconds. I’m sorry. You did a good job in getting it, but we can’t give you the prize, and it was the Audi.”
After fan outcry online demanding the show give her the prize anyway, Audi swooped in to make Charlene’s holiday merry.
“You’re a winner in our eyes, Charlene. Now, let’s get you a prize. Time to #GiveHerTheQ3,” the car company tweeted.
Audi later added that they had found Charlene and were working on getting her that car: “There’s no community like the Audi community. With your help, we tracked down Charlene! More to come as we help.”
Vivian Zink/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images
Every year around Christmastime, you can expect to hear jokes about Michael Bublé coming out of hibernation. While his music does enjoy a second wind on the radio and the Billboard music charts during the holiday season, the singer admits there is only so much Christmas music he can personally stand to hear.
The Irish Daily Star quoted Michael as saying, “Christmas music reminds me of rich food: When you haven’t had it in a while, you are so excited for it and you eat as much as you can. By the 26th of December, you don’t ever want to hear it again.”
Still, Michael admits, “there are worse things than a season where people are kind.”
The 46-year-old Canadian singer adds that, just because he shuts off the holiday tunes the second Christmas is over, that doesn’t mean he feels Grinch-like about the festive season.
“I love Christmas so much and my parents made it so great for us that I still have that sense of wonderment. It’s not that I see it through the eyes of kids, I genuinely have that wonderment. Like, my tree was up November 1st,” he marveled.
Michael released his standout holiday album, Christmas, in October 2011 and it has gone on to sell over 14 million copies worldwide. With a decade now separating him from his best-selling album, he’s dealing with a new issue — feeling old.
“People come up to me that I think are regular middle-aged people and say, ‘Hi I’ve been listening to you since I was a little kid,’ and I go, ‘God I’m old,'” Michael quipped.
Beyonce presents the humanitarian award to Michael Jackson at the 2003 Radio Music Awards; Michael Caulfield/WireImage
Jay-Z set Twitter on fire this week when he compared his wife, Beyoncé, to Michael Jackson.
During a Twitter Spaces chat with Alicia Keys and host Rob Markman, The Harder They Fall executive producer said, “Bey’s gonna be mad at this for saying this, but Michael Jackson never had a Coachella,” referring to Beyoncé’s epic performance at the 2018 Coachella Festival.
“She’s an evolution of him because she watched him at 9. And the kids are the same,” the rapper added. “Find me a concert that’s as culturally relevant and thrilling as Coachella. …Beyoncé is gonna be one of the best singers we ever heard because she is such a student.”
Reactions were fast and furious, predictably divided between fans of The King of Pop, and the Beyhive.
“I Love Beyoncé but don’t take it too far saying she’s better than Michael Jackson,” one MJ fan wrote.
Another tweeted, “Respectfully Michael Jackson never needed anything like Coachella throughout his lifetime. Michael Jackson has had double the audience of anything Beyoncé ever had. mj had people literally fainting and being transported on stretchers…no offense but MJ is unmatched,”
Queen Bey’s followers struck back.
“Beyoncé was pregnant & singing upside down at FWT [Formation World Tour], pregnant & throwing up when she did Glastonbury, sick when she sang her face off at Oprah’s show. Michael Jackson sprained his ankle & did an entire performance sitting down & lip-syncing for his life. the bar is SO low for men. TUH,” wrote a member of the Beyhive.
“Beyoncé is more talented than Michael Jackson. y’all just love to demote her talent because she is a woman. If Beyoncé was a man y’all wouldn’t be saying this,” added another Beyoncé fan.
(RICHMOND, Va.) — A time capsule estimated to be more than 130 years old, unearthed from the base of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, was opened Wednesday in Richmond, Virginia, and the artifacts showed a snapshot of life in the Confederate capital.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam watched intently as historians used tools to painstakingly open the corroded box. After hours of working to unseal it, the team — wearing blue gloves — pulled out the first artifact: a thin maroon-colored book.
“It’s very wet,” Kate Ridgeway, a conservator with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, said as she peered into the rusted time capsule.
“We are trying to preserve what we can of this book,” she said.
Conservators pulled out other items: what appeared to be a coin, a few books of varying size and color, what appeared to be an envelope. Some of the items were difficult to identify given their condition.
The Washington Post reported that one of the books appears to be an almanac from 1875, and a copy of “The Huguenot Lovers: A Tale of the Old Dominion.”
Teams quickly worked to “stabilize” the artifacts, Ridgeway told reporters in the room, so that they could be worked on. As for how long it takes to stabilize them, historians said it depends on how wet the items are.
The time capsule was found by construction crews in early December. Crews taking apart the removed statue’s base came across an area that looked “different,” according to a release from Northam’s office, and chiseled out a section of the 1,200-pound granite block to reveal it.
The capsule is estimated by experts to date back to 1887. According to the governor’s office, records show that, “37 Richmond residents, organizations, and businesses contributed about 60 objects to the capsule, many of which are believed to be related to the Confederacy.”
There was also speculation that there would be more very rare and valuable artifacts in the time capsule. ABC News-affiliate WJLA-TV reports that there were rumors of an incredibly rare photograph of the casket of former President Abraham Lincoln. Some have wondered if this is not the official time capsule, speculating that the dimensions and material differ from historical reports, according to the Washington Post.
The pedestal stood beneath a bronze statue of Lee on horseback that was removed in September 2021, following nationwide racial justice protests after George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis.
The statue’s removal was slowed by lawsuits from some residents who opposed it being taken down, but the state’s Supreme Court okayed it.
As the capsule was opened, the state was making plans to create a new time capsule to reflect present-day Virginia.
“This monument and its time capsule reflected Virginia in 1890 — and it’s time to remove both, so that our public spaces better reflect who we are as a people in 2021,” Northam said in a September press release. “The past 18 months have seen historic change, from the pandemic to protests for racial justice that led to the removal of these monuments to a lost cause. It is fitting that we replace the old time capsule with a new one that tells that story.”
The state has selected 39 individuals to add artifacts to the 2021 time capsule, which are expected to include nods to the 2020 racial justice protests, as well as items, including face masks and vaccination cards, related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
