The popular Disgraceland podcast, which showcases stories combining music with true crime, has announced that its upcoming ninth season will feature episodes focusing on the late Tom Petty, the Eagles, The Temptations and late Beatles guitarist George Harrison, among other stars.
Information about the new season was revealed in an audio trailer, an accompanying press release, and a video preview posted by host Jake Brennan on the podcast’s Instagram page.
The Petty episode, which debuts in January 18, will include details of the rocker’s secret heroin habit and an arson fire that destroyed his Encino, California, home.
Two Disgraceland episodes will focus on the Eagles, premiering on February 8 and 15. Topics covered on those programs will include the band members’ former heavy cocaine use and other excesses, according to the trailer.
The episode about The Temptations will debut on March 22, and apparently will look at singer David Ruffin‘s volatile relationship with Tammi Terrell.
The last episode of season nine, which premieres on March 29, will focus on Harrison and the 1999 home invasion by a deranged knife-wielding fan that almost cost the Beatles legend his life.
Disgraceland‘s new season will kick off on January 11 with a podcast about Taylor Swift and her problems with stalkers.
Other artists featured on upcoming Disgraceland episodes include 1990s ska-punk band Sublime, late jazz greats Miles Davis and Billie Holiday, the late country icon Hank Williams, and the late rapper Juice WRLD.
New episodes of Disgraceland will be available exclusively on Amazon Music starting January 11, and then across all other podcast platforms on January 18. Visit DisgracelandPod.com for more information.
Kesha marked the 12th anniversary of her debut studio album, Animal, in an emotional message to fans on Thursday. The “Tik Tok” hitmaker reflected on how much has changed since fans first heard her voice on the radio and thanked them for supporting her for over a decade.
“Animals. F***. 12 years. I can’t even believe it,” Kesha, 34, began the lengthy caption, and described how music was her first love, writing, “I remember dreaming of putting out music since I can remember remembering. Since I can remember talking. I always talked a lot, but I was ALWAYS singing.”
Kesha also shared how several singles from the Animal album came to be, including “Boots & Boys,” “Blah Blah Blah,” “Stephen,” “Dinosaur,” “Harold,” and “Your Love Is My Drug.” When discussing “Backstabber,” she marveled that the song “is trending 12 years later, on an app named after my first single,” a reference to “TiK ToK.”
Her tone switched when discussing the album’s title track, reavling it was written with her mom, Pebe Sebert, who “pushed me to show my emotion even when I felt like such a loser for it. Show your heart. Speak the truth. I didn’t understand how right she was.”
“I fought so hard to be [tough]. To not care. But the truth is I care so much, I try too hard, I love too deep and thats brought me to all of you,” Kesha continued. “Today I’m reminded of our first date, me&u. Animals, the soundtrack of when we first met. When we fell in love & you stayed through the hard stuff. U have loved through the fun and very f****** ugly.”
Kesha closed by telling fans she’s forever grateful she isn’t “alone in this life” because of their support over the past 12 years.
(NOTE: Embedded post contains uncensored profanity)
(WASHINGTON) — Thursday marks one year since the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and Democrats plan to observe the anniversary with somber tributes at the building that’s the symbol of American democracy.
The events in Washington will include a moment of silence, a panel discussion with historians, first-hand testimonies from lawmakers and a prayer vigil on the Capitol steps.
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are scheduled to make remarks at the Capitol where the White House says the president will address the “singular responsibility” former President Donald Trump had “for the chaos and carnage” witnessed and commemorate law enforcement officers who protected the lives of lawmakers last year. No Republican leaders are expected to attend the ceremonies.
ABC News Live will provide all-day coverage of Thursday’s events at the Capitol and examine the continuing fallout for American democracy one year since the Jan. 6 siege.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 06, 10:34 am
Biden explains why he didn’t call Trump out by name in speech
After his strongest speech to date laying blame at Trump for violence at the Capitol, reporters pressed Biden on his way out of the building why he did not mention the former president by name, and he argued that he didn’t want to make it into a “contemporary political battle” between the two of them.
“I think we just have to face the facts of what happened. Draw a clear picture for the American people. It’s not about me, it’s not about the vice president, it really isn’t. That’s the thing that bothers me the most about the attitude that seems emerging in some degree in American politics,” Biden said. “It’s about the system, and somebody who decides to put himself above everything. And, so, I did not want to turn it into a contemporary political battle between me and the president. It’s way beyond that.”
A reporter followed up, “Does calling him out divide more than it heals, though?”
“No no, look. The way you have to heal — you have to recognize the extent of the wound. You can’t pretend. This is serious stuff. And a lot of people — understandably — want to go — you know, ‘I’d just as soon not face it.’ You’ve got to face it. That’s what great nations do. They face the truth, deal with it, and move on,” Biden said.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle and Sarah Kolinovsky
Jan 06, 10:26 am
Biden lays out 3 ‘big lies’ from Trump, vows to stand for truth
Laying out the three “big lies” he said the former president has tried to sell around the 2020 election — that the election was stolen, the results couldn’t be trusted, and that those who stormed the Capitol a year ago were patriots — Biden tore into Trump as a loser in denial in his remarks.
“So at this moment, we must decide what kind of nation are we going to be? Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people? Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth, but of the shadow of lies?” he said. “The way forward is to recognize the truth, and to live by it.”
Asking Americans to recall the scenes from last year, Biden described in detail the attacks on law enforcement, the gallows erected to “Hang Mike Pence” and chants to harm Pelosi, before turning to President Trump’s inaction.
“What did we not see? We didn’t see a former president who had just rallied the mob to attack sitting in the private dining room off the oval office in the White House watching it all on television. And doing nothing. For hours. As police were assaulted. Lives at risk. The nation’s capital under siege,” Biden lamented.
“I did not seek this fight brought to this Capitol one year ago today. But I will not shrink from it either. I will stand in this breach. I will defend this nation,” he said. “And I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of democracy.”
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle and Justin Gomez
Jan 06, 10:24 am
Biden rejects Trump’s characterization of mob as ‘patriots’
In front of the presidential seal, flanked by two American flags, inside the Capitol’s Statuary Hall — a rare place for a president to speak but from where pro-Trump rioters stormed last year — Biden directly blamed Trump for last year’s violence and rejected the former president’s characterization of the mob as “patriots.”
“Is that what you thought when you looked at the mob ransacking the Capitol, destroying property — literally defecating in the hallways — rifling through the desks of senators and representatives, hunting down members of Congress? Patriots? Not in my view,” he said in a firm tone.
“To me, the true patriots were the more than 150 Americans who peacefully expressed their vote at the ballot box,” Biden continued.
“The former president — who lies about this election — and the mob that attacked this Capitol could not be further away from the core American values. They want to rule or they will ruin — ruin what our country fought for at Lexington and Concord, at Gettysburg and Omaha Beach, Seneca Falls, Selma, Alabama,” he said, invoking ideals of American democracy.
Rejecting Trump’s election lies one by one, Biden repeated that despite the former president building his false case over months that there is “zero proof the election results are inaccurate.”
Jan 06, 9:52 am
Biden calls Trump plot to overturn the election a ‘dagger at the throat of America’
Without mentioning Trump by name, Biden blamed him over and over again for the violence that erupted at the Capitol last year and the serious danger his “web of lies” poses to the country.
“Those who stormed this Capitol, and those who instigated and incited, and those who called on them to do so, held a dagger at the throat of America and American democracy,” Biden said about Trump and his allies.
Biden hinted at how plotting to try to take the election from him — and more so, the will of American voters — began well in advance of Jan. 6 as Trump sewed doubt in the election with his supporters as it neared.
“They didn’t come here out of patriotism or principle. They came here in rage — not in service at American rather and service of one man. Those who incited the mob — the real plotters — were desperate to deny the certification of this election,” Biden said.
“The former president and his supporters have decided the only way for them to win is to suppress your vote and subvert our elections, it’s wrong, it’s undemocratic and frankly, it’s unAmerican,” Biden said, appearing to speak both directly about Trump, leaning into the camera, and to the American people.
He said Americans “cannot allow ourselves” to be a kind of nation that stands for lies and by a former president that has violently rejected a peaceful transfer of power.
Jan 06, 9:33 am
Biden slams Trump for spreading ‘web of lies’ around election loss
In his most forceful remarks yet against Trump, Biden called out the former president — without using his name — for weaving what he called a “web of lies” around the 2020 election and attacking American democracy as no other leader has before.
“We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie,” Biden said. “And here’s the truth: The former president of the United States of America has created spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He’s done so because he values power over principle — because he sees his own interest is more important than his country’s interest and America’s interest — because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution.”
“He can’t accept he lost,” Biden said. “He can’t accept he lost even though that’s what 93 United States senators, his own attorney general, his own vice president, governors and state officials and every battleground state, all said, he lost.”
Establishing Trump as a “defeated former president — by a margin of 7 million votes in a free and fair election,” Biden defended his win against Trump and his supporters by laying out the facts of the election.
Jan 06, 9:21 am
Harris ties ‘fragility of democracy’ to push for voting rights legislation
A somber Vice President Kamala Harris, in remarks ahead of Biden, said what the “extremists who roamed these halls targeted” last year when was not only an attack on the lives of elected leaders and the 2020 election.
“What they sought to degrade and destroy was not only a building, hallowed as it is. What they were assaulting. were the institution’s the values, the ideals that generations of Americans have marched, picketed, and shed blood to establish and defend,” she said.
The vice president, who was at the Capitol on the morning of Jan. 6 last year, reflected on what she called “the dual nature of democracy: its fragility and its strength.”
“The strength of democracy is the rule of law,” she said. “And the fragility of democracy is this. That if we are not vigilant, if we do not defend it, democracy simply will not stand. It will falter and fail.”
She ended her remarks with a call to pass Democrats voting rights bills in the Senate as restrictive voting laws are enacted across the country.
“But we, the American people, must also do something more. We cannot sit on the sidelines. We must unite in defense of our democracy,” she said.
Jan 06, 9:16 am
Biden arrives at the Capitol
Arriving on Capitol Hill, reporters asked the president ahead of his remarks how he was feeling heading into the day.
The president, flanked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, appeared to respond, “Praying that we will never have a day like we had a year ago today.”
Notably, he did not respond when asked if he held Trump personally responsible for the attack.
The three walked towards Statuary Hall, which rioters stormed through one year ago.
Jan 06, 9:02 am
Excerpts from Biden’s prepared remarks on Jan. 6
To mark one year since a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed through the Capitol — including Statuary Hall where Biden will soon speak — and attempted to breach the House chamber in an attempt to undo the 2020 election, in his remarks this morning, Biden will say that Americans are facing a moment when “we must decide what kind of nation we are going to be.”
“Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people? Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth but in the shadow of lies?” Biden will say according to speech excerpts released by the White House.
“We cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation. The way forward is to recognize the truth and to live by it,” the excerpt read.
While Biden is not expected to mention the former president by name, the White House said he will lay out the “singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage that we saw.”
Upon Biden’s arrival to the Capitol, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer greeted him. The pair flanked the president as they walked towards Statuary Hall.
Jan 06, 8:46 am
Fortified fencing, massive force, not part of anniversary scene
Armored military vehicles, concertina wire atop non-scalable fencing and the massive show of force that fortified Capitol Hill in the aftermath of the violent attack on democracy last Jan. 6 are not defining Thursday’s anniversary.
The security posture in Washington, by comparison, appears fairly ordinary. The temporary fencing that ringed the Capitol for more than six months, and again briefly for a September demonstration has not returned, though that could change quickly if conditions warrant, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas in a recent interview.
In a briefing Tuesday, Manger said his office was aware of several events planned for the day but that “most of them aren’t of much concern to us.”
“There’s no intelligence that indicates that there would be any problems,” he said.
Jan 06, 8:30 am
By the numbers: DOJ investigates Jan. 6
At least 704 accused rioters have been charged by the Department of Justice, according to an ABC News count. At least 172 have pleaded guilty to their changes.
The FBI is still seeking 350 individuals believed to have committed violent acts on the Capitol grounds, according to the DOJ, including over 250 who assaulted police officers.
-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin, Alexander Mallin and Will Steakin
Jan 06, 8:06 am
Capitol Police union praises officers’ ‘dedication and commitment’
The union representing United States Capitol Police officers praised the “dedication and commitment” of those who protected the Capitol building one year ago.
“Today, we recognize the dedication and commitment to mission of the men and women who put their own lives and safety on the line to defend the U.S. Capitol,” Gus Papathanasiou, chair of the union, said in a statement Thursday. “We especially pay tribute to Officer Sicknick who died after being injured during the rioting, and to Officer Liebengood who tragically took his own life after the attack.”
According to Papathanasiou, 80 Capitol Police officers sustained injuries that day, with some so serious they are still not back at work. He said members of the force remain “committed to our mission,” but that comes with an increase in officers as well as improved intelligence and communications between officers and leadership.
Papathanasiou noted that the legacy of Jan. 6 — from a policing perspective — should be a police force that is better prepared, with an eye toward readiness if an attack of such scale ever occurred again.
“Going forward, this Union will work with the Department to ensure those sacrifices will not be in vain,” he added. “We must ensure that the events of January 6th are never repeated.”
(MOSCOW) — Russian paratroopers have arrived in Kazakhstan to help its government end mass protests that are gripping the former Soviet country.
The Russian troops are deploying to Kazakhstan as part of a joint force from a Russian-led military alliance of several former Soviet countries, after Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jopart Tokayev appealed late Wednesday it for help in supressing the protests. The unrest was triggered by a hike in fuel prices, but has escalated into an unprecedented uprising against Kazakhstan’s authoritarian regime, with thousands of people storming government building across the country, including the largest city, Almaty.
The Russian-led alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), has said the force is part of a “peacekeeping” mission to help Kazakhstan’s government restore order. The Russian paratroopers landed Wednesday morning close to Almaty and would begin completing tasks immediately, the alliance told Russian news agencies. Contingents from Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan will also deploy, according to the alliance.
The Russian troops arrived as Kazakhstan’s security forces moved to try to regain control in Almaty, the former capital where protesters yesterday stormed and set fire to key government buildings and overran the airport. Local police said overnight they had killed dozens of protesters in the city, accusing them of attacking government and police buildings.
Video published by the Russian news agency TASS showed Kazakhstan government soldiers advancing in a line and firing at protesters in Almaty. That shooting took place at the main square in front of Almaty’s mayor’s office, according to the agency, that was the center of the protests on Wednesday and was gutted by fire after a crowd stormed it. Kazakhstan’s interior ministry said Thursday that police had now arrested 2,000 people during raids in Almaty and that officers were now moving “to clear” two main streets.
Almaty’s police department said 8 police and security personnel were killed and 353 injured during Wednesday’s protests.
President Tokayev has vowed to use force to put an end to the protests, after concessions earlier Wednesday, including dismissing his government and reversing the fuel price rise, failed to quell them. Tokayev claimed the protests were being led by foreign terrorists groups, using the claim to justify his call for the Russian-led alliance to send troops.
It was not clear how many Russian troops were being sent, though the force appeared to be relatively small. Tajikistan has said it will send 200 soldiers, Belarus 500 and Armenia around 70.
It was unclear whether the Russian troops would take part directly in operations against the protesters, which could see them fire on Kazakh civilians, an inflammatory scenario Moscow likely wants to avoid. The CSTO alliance said the “peacekeeping” force’s main tasks would be “to secure important state and military facilities” and to assist Kazakhstan’s law enforcement agencies “stabilise the situation.”
An internet blackout made it difficult to access the state of the protests on Thursday, although connection was restored later in the day. In Almaty, the center of the protests, the streets were largely empty and eerily quiet on Thursday, according to an ABC reporter in the city. The reporter said overnight they had heard distant gunshots but that on Thursday there was little sign of protesters in most of the city, as security forces moved to try to clear the central square.
Authorities announced all banks were temporarily closed Thursday due to ongoing “counter-terrorism operations” and because of problems with the internet. In the capital, Nur-Sultan, local residents reported lines for bread and other foods.
Videos posted by local independent media showed crowds of protesters in some cities, including the western oil hub Zhanozen, where the protests over the fuel prices began five days ago.
The protests started there after the price of liquified natural gas used in vehicles almost doubled overnight. But by Tuesday the protests had spread across Kazakhstan and were challenging the regime created by Nursultan Nazarbayev, the former Communist party boss who has dominated the country since it gained independence during the Soviet Union’s fall.
Nazarbayev, who is 81, in 2019 handed power to Tokayev as his handpicked successor, but he retained substantial power behind the scenes by moving to become chair of the national security council and he was granted the honorary title of “leader of the nation.” Under Tokayev, Nazarbayev’s cult of personality has continued, with the capital city, Nur-Sultan, named after him.
Protesters pulled down a statue of Nazarbayev on Wednesday in Taldyrkurgan, the Almaty regional capital. And demonstrators in many places chanted a Kazakh slogan meaning “Go away, old man!”
Tokayev on Wednesday announced he was taking over from Nazarabayev as head of chairman of the security council, in what appeared as a concession to the protests meant to signal a final end to Nazarbayev’s rule. Tokayev himself was named president in an election criticised by international observers as flawed.
Nazarbayev’s regime has been a close ally of Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, which considers Kazakhstan a crucial part of Moscow’s sphere of influence. The intervention to help Kazakhstan’s government was the second time in a year and a half, that the Kremlin has had to come to the aid of a former Soviet authoritarian leader in a key neighbor, after mass protests in 2020 threatened to topple Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko.
Following Tom Hanks‘ appearance in an episode of Paramount+’s Yellowstone prequel series 1883, Variety reports that his wife, actress and singer Rita Wilson, will also guest star in an upcoming episode. Wilson will appear in the role of Carolyn, a storekeeper at Doan’s Crossing who helps Margaret — played by Faith Hill — decompress with some whiskey punch. Wilson, best-known her roles in films like Sleepless in Seattle, Jingle All the Way and Runaway Bride, has also appeared on a number of TV shows, including Pitch, Girls and The Good Wife…
The Crown‘s Tobias Menzies has been tapped for a starring role in Apple’s limited series Manhunt, which explores the assassination of former president Abraham Lincoln, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series, from Parenthood, The Leftovers and Fargo creator Monica Beletsky, is described as part historical fiction and part conspiracy thriller. Per THR, Manhunt “follows Lincoln’s war secretary and friend Edwin Stanton — played by Menzies — who was nearly driven to madness by his quest to catch John Wilkes Booth and carry out Lincoln’s legacy”…
NCIS has joined the growing number of network TV shows pausing production after someone, believed to be a cast member, tested positive for the COVID-19 Omicron variant. The CBS series may stay dark for a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, NCIS: LA has delayed return to production until February, sources tell Deadline…
Cyrano star Kelvin Harrison Jr. has found his next role, playing American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in director Julius Onah‘s new film, Samo Lives, according to Variety. The biographical film will chronicle the career and impact of the groundbreaking New York-born, Haitian-Puerto Rican American artist whose seminal paintings and street art defined the Neo-expressionism arts movement of the 1980s. Epix’s The Godfather of Harlem and the feature The Trial of the Chicago 7…
Sopranos alum Michael Imperioli has signed on as a series regular in the second installment of HBO’s dark comedy series The White Lotus, according to Deadline. The original series followed visitors vacationing at an exclusive Hawaiian resort, called the White Lotus. The second installment, which is the follow-up to Mike White’s breakout social satire limited series, will leave Hawaii behind for a new location and is expected to follow a different group of vacationers at another White Lotus property, according to the entertainment website. Imperioli will play Dominic Di Grasso, a man traveling with his elderly father and recent-college-graduate son…
(HONG KONG) — The world’s top-ranked tennis player, Novak Djokovic, remains on Australian soil — for now at least — after having his visa to enter the country cancelled on arrival in Melbourne late on Wednesday evening for the Australian Open.
Djokovic’s legal team launched a challenge against a decision to deport him, but he will need to wait until Monday to learn if he can stay on to play in the tournament, which begins on Jan. 17.
In the meantime, it appears that the 34-year-old Serb will be staying in immigration detention at the Park Hotel in inner Melbourne, which normally houses asylum seekers.
In a statement, the Australian Border Force confirmed that Djkovoic’s evidence for a medical exemption did not meet the requirements for entry after arriving in Dubai.
Among the considerations raised at the court hearing on Thursday was whether Djokovic was able to be moved to another hotel with tennis facilities. Tennis Australia also made a request that the issue be sorted by Tuesday because it would muck up scheduling. To that, Judge Anthony Kelly said, “the tail won’t be wagging the dog here.”
The Serbian tennis star announced on Tuesday evening that he’d been granted a medical exemption to play at the Open, where he’s chasing a record 21 grand slam titles.
The announcement sparked a massive public backlash down under, with social media platforms, letters-to-the-editor and talkback radio in Australia flooded with criticism towards Djokovic, who has refused to divulge his COVID-19 vaccination status but last year said was opposed to it.
Omicron cases have exploded in Australia in recent weeks since domestic borders were opened, and Victorian residents have suffered some of the strictest COVID-19 controls in the world over the past two years. More than 90% of Australia’s over-16 population is fully vaccinated, but some people still cannot travel internationally or interstate because of the measures.
There appears to be a blame game between the federal and state governments over the Djokovic debacle. Minister Karen Andrews, who is leading the charge for the Australian government, says that “the Victorian government has questions to answer.” But the Victorian government denies there’s any “finger-pointing,” saying “State Governments in Australia can’t grant a visa. That’s a fact.”
Australia is expected to hold a federal election sometime in the coming months, which could help explain why the claws are out and why political points are out to be won here — and Australia is currently run by a Liberal Party government, while the Victorian state is run by the rival Labour Party — so the friction was already there.
And there is now a diplomatic spat at play, with Serbia clearly slighted over Djokovic’s treatment down under.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Djokovic was a victim of “harassment” and vowed to help through diplomatic channels. Vucic said the whole nation was behind him.
Morrison said the decision was not linked to “any particular position in relation to Serbia,” adding that the country was a “good friend” of Australia.
GAYLE made her national TV debut Wednesday night on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and in addition to performing her breakout hit, “abcdefu,” she told the story of the artwork that goes along with the song — and it’s not pretty.
The “abcdefu” single artwork is an x-ray of a hand with the middle finger broken at a pretty crazy angle. Turns out that’s the actual x-ray of GAYLE’s actual middle finger, which she broke while attempting to drag her dog out from under the bed so she could take her out.
“I tripped and fell at the same time and I went to catch myself,” GAYLE explained, noting that she landed on her middle fingers. “It was disgusting. It was terrible,” she laughs. Then, her mom — who had just had knee replacement surgery two weeks prior — had to drive her to the hospital.
“She’s trying to drive me [to the hospital]…she has a really bad gag reflex, if she sees anything that grosses her out…she was sitting there dry-heaving, and I’m like, ‘IT’S MY HAND This is my hand! You’re gonna throw up on my hand!'” the teen singer recalled, as Fallon cracked up.
GAYLE also talked about how “abcdefu” initially blew up on TikTok, and noted how amazed she is that it led to her Tonight Show appearance. “The fact that I’m here…I pretended that I’ve been sitting on this couch for years in my house, and now I’m here!” she marveled. “And it’s thanks to this app on my phone!”
The singer also revealed that she has a new single coming out this month.
John Mayer with Bob Weir & Mickey Hart of Dead & Company; C Flanigan/Getty Images
John Mayer has been forced to drop out of Playing in the Sand, a three-day destination festival in Mexico’s Riviera Cancun that he was scheduled to do with Dead & Company beginning this Friday.
On Instagram, Dead & Company said that just before he was set to leave for Mexico, John tested positive for COVID-19 and so is unable to travel and perform. “In these unprecedented times, fans should expect many rare and different tunes,” the group said in a statement.
Dead & Company’s Bob Weir added, “We came down here to have fun. Unfortunately some of our brothers cannot make it but fun is what we’re going to have.” The festival will continue with “special guests and sit ins,” the statement continued.
Another installment of Playing in the Sand is scheduled for January 13-16. It’s not clear if John will perform during that weekend.
Meanwhile, John is scheduled to kick off his solo tour in support of his latest album, Sob Rock, on February 17 in Albany, NY.
Fans of the late Betty White have found a great way to honor the actress.
The ‘Betty White Challenge,’ an online event set for January 17 — on what would’ve been the star’s 100th birthday — encourages people to donate $5 to animal rescue organizations in her name, according to Denver ABC affiliate KMGH-TV.
White, best known for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls, was known for her love of animals, and spent her life working with zoos and advocating for animals. In 2011, the lifelong animal lover published a book Betty & Friends: My Life at the Zoo, where she spoke about her work with animal nonprofits.
White passed away on December 31 at the age of 99.
(SPOILERS AHEAD) And Just Like That…Chris Noth has been scrapped from the show’s season finale.
According to TVLine, the season finale of the HBO Max revival featured a cameo from Noth’s character Big when Sarah Jessica Parker‘s Carrie visits Paris’ Pont des Arts bridge to spread his ashes in the Seine river. Afterward, Big, who died in the first episode of the sequel, was going to appear to Carrie. However, sources tell the outlet that the February 3 finale will be scrapping that fantasy element, deeming it not essential to the storyline, which is about Carrie getting closure.
The change comes after Noth was accused of sexual assault by several women. In the wake of the allegations, the actor has been dropped by his representation and his gig on CBS’ The Equalizer. Peloton also stopped airing a brand new spot that featured the 67-year-old.
