Taylor Swift wasn’t able to shake off an upcoming court date after all.
Billboard reports that on Tuesday, a federal judge refused Taylor’s request to toss out a case in which she’s accused of stealing the lyrics to her 2014 number-one hit “Shake It Off” from the 2001 song “Playas Gon’ Play,” by the girl group 3LW.
U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald ruled that instead, a jury may be the ones to determine whether or not “Shake It Off” infringed on “Playas Gon’ Play’s” copyright. The judge ruled that there were “enough objective similarities” between the two songs that he couldn’t dismiss the case, and ruled that a jury trial was needed to determine the outcome.
The case was first filed in 2017 by the two men who wrote “Playas Gon’ Play.” They claimed that Taylor’s song, in which she sings, “‘Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate” was too similar to the lines in their song, which go “playas, they gonna play” and “haters, they gonna hate.”
Fitzgerald originally dismissed the lawsuit in 2018, saying that those phrases were used in many other songs, and so “lacked the…originality and creativity required for copyright protection.” But in 2019, a federal appeals court reversed the ruling and sent the case back to Fitzgerald.
Taylor then asked Fitzgerald to grant her summary judgement — meaning she asked him to rule immediately that she hadn’t done anything wrong — but Fitzgerald declined. “Even though there are some noticeable differences between the works, there are also significant similarities in word usage and sequence/structure,” he wrote.
But while the stage is now set for a jury trial, no date has been sent, and an out-of-court settlement is always a possibility.
Chris McKay/Getty Images; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Live Nation
Kanye West and Drake joined forces Thursday night to host the Free Larry Hoover benefit concert.
After a 90-minute delay, the event — which took place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum — finally kicked off with Ye’s choir descending the coliseum stairs and arranging themselves in the form of two crosses on either side of the walkway.
The group then performed harmonic covers of hit songs including the Fugees “Ready or Not” and Adele‘s “Easy on Me.”
After almost a half hour of that, the moment fans had been waiting for finally came. Kanye and Drake appeared at the top of the staircase and descended together, making their way onto a smoke-filled field. Kanye then made his way atop a circular dome stage structure while Drizzy drifted off into the distance.
Ye, who rocked a light green short-sleeve shirt that had “FREE HOOVER” printed on the back and light wash jeans that had the same saying on the front leg, galvanized fans with a live performance of some of his biggest hits, ranging from 2004’s “Jesus Walks,” to “Praise God,” a track from his recently released album, Donda.
After almost an hour, Drake finally joined Kanye on stage while he rapped “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” and after that, it was the Certified Lover Boy‘s turn to put on a show.
The Canadian native, who also wore a hoodie with the “FREE HOOVER” phrase on it, followed the same formula, performing a medley of bangers like “Way 2 Sexy,” “God’s Plan,” and “Life Is Good.” He also took a moment to shout-out and thank the Yeezy founder, who he referred to as “one of his idols.” So it appears that beef really is well and truly over.
Washington County Sheriff’s Office via Getty Images
Former reality TV star Josh Duggar has been convicted of downloading and possessing child pornography.
On Thursday, at the Western District of Arkansas Federal Courthouse in Fayetteville, Arkansas, a federal jury found the 33-year-old guilty on one count each of receiving and possessing child pornography. U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks said sentencing will happen in about four months, Entertainment Tonight reports. Duggar faces up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 for each count when he’s sentenced.
The six-day trial began on November 30, with the jury beginning deliberations on Wednesday.
Duggar was accused of downloading child sexual abuse material, some of which depicted children younger than 12, and having it in his possession in May of 2019, according to the indictment. He pleaded not guilty.
Duggar has been the focus of several controversies over the years, starting in 2006 when he was investigated for allegedly molesting five underage girls when he was a teenager. Since then, two of his sisters — Jill, 30, and Jessa, 28 — have come forward as two of his victims.
In the new Western movie TheLast Son, Heather Graham plays a “working lady” desperate to save her kids from a dude so bad, legend has it he’s The Devil himself.
Sam Worthington plays the single-minded character, stalking through the snow of late 19th century Montana.
She jokes to ABC Audio, “It’s a heartwarming story of a father that goes out in search of all his children to kill them, basically.”
She explains, “he’s this gunslinger, and he hears this prophecy that one of his children is going to kill him, so he seeks out all of his children…And my character is a ‘working lady’ and I have twins that are his sons. I know he’s a bad guy, so I don’t want him to know about where they are.“
Avatar veteran Worthington is nearly unrecognizable as Isaac LeMay. “As a woman, I’m like, ‘Sam, don’t you want to look cute?” Graham laughs. “Like, ‘You have so much facial hair!'”
“[He] didn’t want to, you know, I guess look his handsome self, he wanted to look more grimy, gritty, you know?”
She adds, laughing, “He’s so disgusting in the movie. Like, he’s just horrible. You know, you really just hate him, you know?”
Graham admitted she felt “nurturing” toward her onscreen son Colson Baker, otherwise known as recording artist Machine Gun Kelly.
“It’s funny because I actually didn’t know who he was, to be honest,” she added with a laugh. “I mean, my friend’s kids know who he is.”
Graham explains that for a newcomer, MGK has some big-screen chops. “I think, you know, he’s very raw. Like, I like that he doesn’t because some actors are kind of ‘actor-y.’ And I like that he just has raw talent.”
(ATLANTA) — With nearly 5 million children ages 5 to 11 now vaccinated against COVID-19, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky says real-world monitoring finds vaccines are safe for young children.
Crucially, the CDC hasn’t identified any concerns with the temporary heart inflammation known as myocarditis, a potential side effect of mRNA vaccines seen in rare circumstances in teenagers and young adults.
“We haven’t seen anything yet,” Walensky told ABC News Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton in a rare in-person interview from CDC headquarters in Atlanta. “We have an incredibly robust vaccine safety system, and so if [problems] were there, we would find it.”
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine was authorized for children 5 to 11 years old in early November. Despite robust safety data, fewer than 1 in 5 children in this age group has receive their first dose.
Meanwhile, about two-thirds of parents of elementary school children said they didn’t want to vaccinate their children or are holding off for now, according to a poll from the nonprofit KFF.
Walensky said that while new data is constantly emerging, one thing is clear: Vaccines are safe for young children.
“If you want your children fully vaccinated by the holidays, now is the time,” Walensky said.
In rare access, Ashton was invited inside the CDC’s Emergency Operation Center, where the agency monitors data for potential threats to human health.
Another worrying trend the CDC is monitoring is the alarmingly low vaccination rate among pregnant women, despite overwhelming evidence that COVID-19 vaccines are safe for mother and infant.
Less than 20% of pregnant people have received a vaccine during pregnancy, according to the CDC.
“I’m very concerned,” said Walensky. “When I hear about a pregnant woman in the community who is not vaccinated, I personally pick up the phone and talk to them.”
There is no evidence COVID-19 vaccines impact fertility, nor is there any scientific reason to believe they might harm fertility in the future.
Walensky said misinformation about the vaccine’s impact on fertility has been one of her most challenging battles during the pandemic.
“The vaccines are safe, they are effective and they are even more important in pregnant women,” she said.
(CHIAPAS, Mexico) — A vehicle full of migrants overturned in Chiapas, Mexico, Thursday night, leaving 54 dead and 105 injured, authorities said.
“After the accident that occurred in Chiapa de Corzo, I inform you that unfortunately 49 people died at the scene and 5 more died while receiving medical attention in hospitals,” Chiapas Gov. Rutilio Escandón tweeted. “We have 105 injured (83 men and 22 women), care for the injured continues.”
Civil Protection Chiapas said on Twitter that the tragedy was the result of a “car accident of two trucks traveling on the Belisario Domínguez Bridge and Ribera Cauharé in Chiapa de Corzo.”
“I deeply regret the tragedy caused by the overturning of a trailer in Chiapas carrying Central American migrants. It’s very painful. I embrace the families of the victims,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador tweeted.
Mexico’s National Institute of Immigration also confirmed the incident on Twitter, saying it “regrets the death of migrants in the tragic accident that occurred in Chiapas.”
It said it is coordinating efforts with national, state and municipal authorities to provide consular assistance, identify bodies, cover funeral expenses and facilitate the repatriation of remains to countries of origin.
“Humanitarian attention that will be granted to the survivors will be accommodation, food and in case they accept, Visitor Cards for Humanitarian Reasons,” the institute wrote. “The INM will assist in the investigation of the accident.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Former Sen. Bob Dole — decorated World War II veteran, longtime lawmaker and former presidential candidate — will be honored at Washington National Cathedral on Friday before being flown back to his home state of Kansas and laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
Dole died Sunday in his sleep at the age of 98.
President Joe Biden will deliver the eulogy at the funeral service, which will air on ABC News and ABC News Live, as well as on video screens at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington for public viewing.
A handful of former presidents and other dignitaries are also likely to attend the invitation-only service.
Biden, who served with Dole in the Senate for 25 years and has praised the late Kansas lawmaker for wit that crossed party lines, gave formal remarks on Dole’s service to the nation on Thursday at a Capitol ceremony as Dole lay in state — an honor reserved for the most revered American officials.
“My fellow Americans, America has lost one of our greatest patriots,” Biden said, looking to Dole’s wife of 46 years, Elizabeth, who also served in the Senate, and his daughter, Robin, who is expected to speak Friday. “We may follow his wisdom, I hope, and his timeless truth — that the truth of the matter is, as divided as we are, the only way forward for democracy is unity, consensus. The only way.”
Remarks are also expected Friday from former Sen. Pat Roberts, a fellow Kansas Republican, and former Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota, whose time serving as the Democratic leader overlapped with Dole’s leadership role.
After the funeral, Dole’s motorcade is scheduled to pause at the World War II Memorial for a ceremony paying tribute to his military service. There, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley and actor Tom Hanks are expected to speak about Dole’s life.
His casket will then be flown to Kansas where Dole will be honored at funeral services in his hometown of Russell and at the Capitol in Topeka, where he served in the state legislature for two years before beginning a 36-year career in Congress.
Dole, who nearly died in WWII and was later awarded two Purple Hearts, served as the Senate Republican leader for more than a decade and was instrumental in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He sought the presidency three times, winning the Republican nomination in 1996 before losing to incumbent President Bill Clinton, who later awarded Dole the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Dole announced in February that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and was starting treatment.
In a USA Today op-ed Dole finished on pen and paper less than two weeks before his death, he pushed lawmakers to find common ground in difficult times, writing, “Those who suggest that compromise is a sign of weakness misunderstand the fundamental strength of our democracy.”
(NEW YORK) — A now-defunct e-cigarette retailer has agreed to pay $50 million to resolve allegations it marketed and sold vaping products to minors by appealing to their social media preferences, taste for fruit flavors and penchant to listen to influencers.
The settlement agreement was announced Thursday by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, whose office accused Eonsmoke of “a coordinated advertising campaign intentionally targeted at consumers who were not of the minimum legal purchase age to purchase tobacco products” — which in Massachusetts is 21.
Eonsmoke directly sold e-cigarette products — including electronic nicotine devices, e-liquids, and nicotine pods — to underage consumers via its website, without conducting any age verification at the time of sale or delivery, the state said.
“Eonsmoke coordinated a campaign that intentionally targeted young people and sold dangerous and addictive vaping products directly to minors through their website,” Healey said in a news release announcing the settlement. “We were the first to take action against this company and its owners, and today we are holding them accountable and permanently stopping them from conducting these illegal practices in our state.”
Eonsmoke shut down in April 2020 amid increased regulatory scrutiny. Its co-owners, Gregory Grishayev and Michael Tolmach, have agreed to pay a combined $750,000 as part of the settlement. If either man wants to sell tobacco products in Massachusetts in the future, they must get authorization from the Food and Drug Administration and give notice to the state attorney general’s office.
Eonsmoke’s products contained some of the highest nicotine concentrations on the commercial market and came in a variety of sweet and fruit flavors.
Healey alleged it directly marketed vaping products to young people through social media sites such as Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube, and included youth popular culture references, social media influencers, celebrity endorsers, cartoons and internet memes that intentionally minimized or omitted the fact that the vaping products contained nicotine.
Between 2015 and 2018, the company did not conduct any age verification of consumers purchasing vaping products from its website, according to the investigation. Until September 2018, when the attorney general’s office sent a cease-and-desist letter ordering Eonsmoke to stop selling its products in Massachusetts, underage youth across the state were able to freely purchase unlimited quantities of vaping products — some of whom were 15.
(NEW YORK) — As COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise in Rhode Island, hospitals are strained by staffing shortages and testing turnaround times are delayed, Gov. Dan McKee is urging residents to “take these next six weeks seriously.”
The state has one of the highest COVID-19 infection rates in the country, as the Northeast, including Massachusetts and Connecticut, have seen a surge in cases during colder weather.
Nearly 85% of all Rhode Islanders have gotten at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to state data. That includes over 96% of adults. While breakthrough cases have steadily increased in recent weeks, the vast majority of new cases are in unvaccinated people, state data shows. Under 7% of all patients hospitalized for COVID-19 have been fully vaccinated, according to state data.
During a press briefing Thursday, Gov. McKee said the state is considering “all options,” including reinstating an indoor mask mandate, amid the increase in infections, while calling on residents to get vaccinated and receive booster shots.
It’s a message he repeated in a video addressed to Rhode Islanders Wednesday night.
“If we don’t take these next six weeks seriously, we risk all the progress that we’ve made together,” he said.
Officials expected an increase in cases as people gathered more indoors and after Thanksgiving, “but this is something that we need to watch,” he said.
“I want to be clear — all options remain on the table in terms of mitigation strategies, including reinstating an indoor mask,” the governor added.
We have the tools to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe this holiday season.
State leaders “strongly recommend” wearing a mask when in a crowded indoor public space.
Some hospitals and health leaders have voiced support of an indoor mask mandate, as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have reached their highest levels since January and February, respectively.
Hospitals statewide have also continued to see staffing shortages due to pandemic burnout, among other factors. McKee said Thursday he is exploring the idea of using FEMA and deploying the National Guard to provide support.
Cases in kids surge
The highest number of cases are in children ages 5 to 18, an age group that is also seeing its highest level of case rates since the pandemic started, the latest state data shows.
“We are seeing increases in COVID-19 cases among children,” the Rhode Island Department of Health said on Facebook this week, while encouraging parents to get their children vaccinated against COVID-19. “Between Halloween and Thanksgiving, the case rate among children age 5 to 9 has doubled, and it has tripled among children age 10 to 14.”
Dr. Allison Brindle, a general pediatrician at Hasbro Children’s Hospital primary care clinic and the president of the Rhode Island chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said she has also seen an increase in cases in the clinic since Halloween.
“We are seeing an uptick in cases in kids because everything is back,” Brindle told ABC News. “We have tools in our toolkit, though, with our two main tools being vaccinations and masking with distancing in order to prevent illness.”
Masks are currently required in the state’s schools under an executive order.
Children tend to have milder cases of COVID-19. Though hospitalization and death are uncommon, more data on the pandemic’s long-term impacts on children’s mental and physical health is needed, according to the AAP. There is also added stress on families when there is a positive case, Brindle said.
“If your child is home from school, then parents are out of work,” she said. “There’s less access to the distance learning strategies than were in place before.”
Addressing testing issues
In addition to masking and vaccination, staying home when sick and getting tested when you have symptoms will be key to limiting transmission, especially during the holidays, Brindle said.
Rhode Island has a “robust state infrastructure” for testing, especially for students, she noted. Though recently testing results have been delayed. Results of PCR tests taken at state-run sites are taking about 72 hours to process, instead of the usual 48-hour window, with some residents reporting even longer wait times.
McKee pointed to increased volume and prioritizing testing in school and nursing home outbreaks as causing delays for the general public.
The state’s health department is exploring additional laboratory capacity and using private labs to help with turnaround times, McKee said Thursday.
“The bottom line is this: Testing turnaround times must get back to where they used to be, and I’ve directed our team to make this a priority,” the governor said.
(NEW YORK) — A year and a half into the global pandemic, with the Omicron variant lurking and holiday travel looming, many flight attendants say they’ve reached their breaking point with unruly passengers, many of whom still refuse to respect mask mandates.
“My job is not to manage you, the one passenger that constantly needs to be reminded to put their mask on. My job is to manage getting people where they need to go as quickly and safely as possible,” said Mitra Amirzadeh, a low-cost carrier flight attendant and Association of Flight Attendants member.
This @TSA sign at airport security checkpoints says it all. To sum it up: Act like a jerk and you’ll pay for it. pic.twitter.com/0Cp35mdBJl
— Lisa Farbstein, TSA Spokesperson (@TSA_Northeast) December 8, 2021
Dozens of videos over the past year have shown customers assaulting flight attendants, including one in which several passengers had to use duct tape to restrain an unruly man in his seat on a Frontier flight after he caused a disturbance with a flight attendant.
“Since the FAA started keeping track of reports of incidents like this on board, we’ve had more events in 2021 than we’ve had in the entire history of that record keeping in aviation,” Sara Nelson, president of the AFA and a flight attendant for two decades, told ABC News. That record keeping began in 1995.
About 85% of nearly 5,000 U.S. flight attendants said they’ve dealt with an unruly passenger in 2021, and 17% said they’ve been physically assaulted, according to a survey conducted by the AFA-CWA, AFL-CIO.
Since Jan. 1, the Federal Aviation Administration has received at least 5,114 reports of unruly passengers and 3,710 reports of passengers refusing to wear a mask. Out of some 973 investigations, 239 resulted in penalties.
“Air rage has unfortunately become all too common. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been insulted or threatened on a flight simply for doing my job,” Teddy Andrews, an American Airlines flight attendant, said during testimony before Congress in September. “On this flight, my colleague on the verge of tears came to the galley after a passenger refused to wear a mask and had been giving her a hard time. He said: ‘N-word,’ I don’t have to listen to a damn thing you say, this is a free country.'”
In addition to the ongoing abuse, flight attendants also fear for increased health risks to passengers — and to themselves.
“I don’t think that most passengers recognize that we’re not just waiters and waitresses in the sky. Our primary role is safety,” Andrews said.
In January, the FAA announced a Zero Tolerance Campaign that warned potential on-flight violators they could face fines and/or jail time.
“The truth of the matter is, every day that I go to work I’m putting my life at risk. I’m putting my family’s life at risk,” Amirzadeh added.
In July, the AFA urged the Department of Justice to make the policy permanent, saying that although incidents have “dropped sharply” since the FAA announced the policy “the rate remains too high.”
The politicization of mask-wearing and passengers consuming too much alcohol have created additional dangers, experts told ABC News.
“Inside our airline,” said Paul Hartshorn, national communications chair for the Association of Professional Flight Attendants at American Airlines, “we’ve never seen so many disruption reports on a daily basis. A lot of them due to mask compliance, but a lot of them due to other reasons.”
“What we see going on now on the aircraft is what’s happening in society,” added Andrews, the flight attendant from American. “This play on masks has become so politicized and so polarized, that people are now acting out on the aircraft. We’ve always asked people to comply — we ask you to wear seatbelts, we ask you to stay seated.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland warned U.S. attorneys across the country to be on alert for unruly passengers on airplanes during the holiday season. After Thanksgiving, the FAA issued more than $161,000 in fines to eight passengers accused of alcohol-related in-flight disturbances.
“As airports continue to push alcohol,” Nelson added, “it’s just getting worse and around the holidays, when we have more and more people traveling and more in the spirit of that celebratory vibe.”
Travel volumes are expected to continue reaching or exceeding pre-pandemic levels through December, according to a recent report by the Transportation Security Administration. Those working on planes said they’re expecting full flights.
“The holiday season will be great but not without challenges as the mask mandates will remain in place,” Andrews said. “As the passenger count increases, so might the incidence of air rage.”
“All we want to do,” Andrews added, “is come to work and do our job.”
