He hasn’t commented publicly about it, but O.J. Simpson‘s parole has ended early.
The former football great and actor, who was famously acquitted in 1995 of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, was convicted in 2008 of armed robbery and kidnapping, following a 2007 confrontation with two sports-collectibles dealers in a Las Vegas hotel.
Simpson, 74, had been on parole since October 2017 following a nine-year prison stint stemming from the incident, but the Nevada State Police’s Division of Parole and Probation recently sent an early discharge request to the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners.
On November 30, the Nevada Board of Parole Commissioners conducted an early discharge hearing, and on December 6, the board approved the request, according to the Nevada State Police.
Cordae has announced plans to promote his new music with the From a Bird’s Eye View Tour, a 2022 trek that’s named after his upcoming second album.
The two-time Grammy nominee will perform in 28 cities, beginning February 3, 2022, in Dallas. Tour stops will include New Orleans, Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Cordae’s hometown, Raleigh, North Carolina. The trek wraps up on March 19 in Sacramento, California. Additional dates and special guests will be announced soon.
From a Bird’s Eye View will be released on January 14, 2022, and is the follow-up to the “Gifted” rapper’s 2019 debut album, The Lost Boy. Cordae has released two singles from the upcoming album, “Super” and “Sinister” featuring Lil Wayne.
Tickets will be available via a Spotify pre-sale that begins Wednesday, December 15, at 10 a.m. local time and runs through Thursday, December 16, at 11:59 p.m. local time on Cordae’s website. Tickets for the general public go on sale this Friday, December 17, at 10 a.m. local time.
2021 was the year that many artists returned to the road, and Pollstar has crunched the numbers and come up with a list of the most successful tours of the past year. Purely based on the number of tickets sold, Harry Styles is the king.
Harry’s Love on Tour trek sold 669,051 tickets this year, which means he’s number one on Pollstar’s Worldwide Ticket Sales ranking. The rest of the top 10 includes legends like The Rolling Stones and Dead & Company, country stars like Luke Bryan, plus Jonas Brothers and Alanis Morissette. Maroon 5 came in at #11.
However, Harry didn’t have the highest-grossing tour of the year, because of course, artists charge different prices for tickets and play different numbers of shows. His Love on Trek tour grossed $86.7 million over 39 shows, which was good enough for second place.
The Rolling Stones‘ No Filter Tour of the U.S. was by far the highest-grossing trek in the world this year, raking in $115.5 million over just 12 concerts that were eligible for consideration.
Besides Harry, the only other current pop act in the top 10 on that list is Jonas Brothers, whose Remember This tour earned $42.5 million. The rest of the list is made up of veteran artists like The Eagles, Dave Matthews Band, Guns N’ Roses and Weezer, Green Day and Fall Out Boy, who all teamed up for the joint Hella Mega Tour.
Here’s the full list of Pollstar‘s Top 10 2019 North American Tours, ranked by gross receipts:
1. The Rolling Stones — $115.5 million, 516,624 tickets sold
2. Harry Styles — $86.7 million, 669,051 tickets sold
3. “The Hella Mega Tour” — $67.3 million, 659,062 tickets sold
4. Eagles — $59.2 million, 257,584 tickets sold
5. Dead & Company — $50.2 million, 588,658 tickets sold
6. Los Bukis — $49.7 million, 357,343 tickets sold
7. Guns N’ Roses — $47.3 million, 351,339 tickets sold
8. Dave Matthews Band — $46.0 million, 583,399 tickets sold
9. Phish — $44.4 million, 572,626 tickets sold
10. Jonas Brothers — $42.5 million, 528,630 tickets sold
(WASHINGTON) — The Senate narrowly averted financial calamity Tuesday by passing legislation to raise the federal borrowing limit by $2.5 trillion dollars.
All Democrats voted to raise the debt limit. No Republicans joined them.
The legislation heads to the House next, where it is expected to pass. Once signed by President Joe Biden, the congressional action will have prevented a U.S. default that could have halted Social Security and veterans’ payments, hiked interest on mortgages and loans and disrupted the global economy.
The Treasury Department predicted that the U.S. would be unable to pay its bills come Wednesday.
Congressional action was the last step in a months-long process aimed at raising the federal borrowing limit.
In October, Republican and Democratic leadership locked horns over the spending cap. Though both parties acknowledged the necessity of raising the debt limit, Republicans argued that Democrats ought to raise the limit on their own — wrongly claiming they needed to offset the cost of Biden’s yet-to-be passed $1.75 trillion social spending bill.
Democrats, who helped raise the debt limit multiple times under the Trump administration, insisted it be a bipartisan effort since the debt limit had to be raised to cover past spending.
The October dispute ended in the GOP blinking, with Republicans giving Democrats the votes necessary for a short-term raise to the debt limit, but vowing they’d be less cooperative in the winter.
Last week, however, party leaders announced an agreement on a two-step process to raise the debt limit. Republicans ultimately provided 10 votes to permit a one-time rule change altering the number of votes necessary to pass the debt-limit hike, and clearing a path for Democrats to pass the legislation without a single GOP backer.
The reached agreement required Democrats to name a specific amount they want to raise the debt limit by. They settled on $2.5 trillion — enough to prevent the government from defaulting through early 2023, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday.
(NEW YORK) — Muhammad Aziz, one of two men exonerated last month in the killing of Malcom X, filed a civil claim Tuesday against New York state, seeking $20 million in damages.
Aziz cited “more than 55 years living with the hardship and indignity attendant to being unjustly branded as a convicted murderer of one of the most important civil rights leaders in history” in a statement released by his attorneys at The David B. Shanies Law Office.
He also filed a notice of claim against New York City seeking legal redress for civil rights violations and other “government misconduct” that caused his wrongful conviction, according to the release.
“While I do not dwell on what my life might have been like had this travesty of justice never occurred, the deep and lasting trauma it caused cannot be overstated,” Aziz said in a statement. “Those responsible for depriving me of my liberty and for depriving my family of a husband, a father, and a grandfather should be held accountable.”
Aziz and Khalil Islam were convicted of being accomplices in the assassination of Malcom X in 1965, and Aziz spent more than 20 years in prison before he was paroled in 1985. Islam died in 2009.
Both men claimed that they were innocent, and confessed assassin Thomas Hagan, who served 45 years in prison, also maintained that neither man had participated in the killing.
Last month, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance moved to vacate the convictions of the two men due to “newly discovered evidence and the failure to disclose exculpatory evidence,” according to a joint motion Vance’s office filed with the defense.
Aziz, previously known as Norman Butler, appeared in front of a judge on Nov. 18 to officially clear his name.
“The events that led to my conviction and wrongful imprisonment should never have happened,” Aziz read in a statement on Nov. 18. “Those events were the result of a process that was corrupt to its core — one that is all too familiar — even in 2021.”
50 Cent is developing a new series for Starz, based on Snoop Dogg’s 1996 murder trial.
Named after Snoop’s 1993 hit song, “Murder Was the Case,” from his seven-times RIAA_certified Platinum Doggystyle album, the show will explore when the “Gin and Juice” rapper was charged with first-degree murder for the shooting of Philip Woldemariam, a member of a rival gang. Snoop, who was acquitted, was represented by the late JohnnieCochran, famous for also representing O.J. Simpson in his 1995 trial for the murder of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman.
“This was a pivotal moment in my life and career and I’ve deliberately waited until I found the right partner to bring this to the screen,” Snoop says in a statement
In other news, as the Insecure series finale approaches, Issa Rae has produced an emotional documentary about the five seasons of her hit HBO series.
A trailer for Insecure: The End opens with a tearful Rae saying to the cast and crew, “I am just incredibly humbled, blessed. You aspire and you dream. I never imagined I would get to work with so many amazing and talented people. You guys have elevated me.” Insecure: The End will air on December 26 on HBO Max, the same day the Insecure season five series finale airs on HBO.
Finally, Samuel L. Jackson and his wife, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, have contributed $5 million to Spelman College in Atlanta, the largest alumni donation in the school’s history. LaTanya graduated from Spelman, and their donation will help renovate the school’s John D. Rockefeller Fine Arts building, The Atlanta Journal-Constitutionreports. Following the renovation, the theater, lobby and dressing rooms at the building will be renamed the LaTanya Richardson Jackson and Samuel L. Jackson Performing Arts Center.
Mariah Carey may be in Christmas mode, but she’s a mother first and foremost, and opened up in a new interview about how she keeps her 10-year-old twins grounded.
Speaking to Us Magazine, the “Fantasy” singer shared how she parents Moroccan and Monroe, whom she shares with her ex, Nick Cannon.
“I’m going to have to quote Mean Girls and be, like, ‘I’m not a regular mom. I’m a cool mom.’ There are no rules in this house… No, there are rules in this house, that’s the difference,” she said.
Mariah says she can’t be the cool mom because she sometimes has to assert her authority over her little ones. “I don’t like being the bad guy, I have to say. I really don’t, like, I hate that more than anything. So, you know, I do want to be, like, ‘I’m not really a mom, I’m a cool mom.’ But you’re never a cool mom, like, you just never are,” she declared.
The Grammy winner also said part of parenting means helping her kids appreciate their life and not take it for granted — especially the holidays.
“I feel like I need them to know that that’s a big deal, that not everybody has that,” Mariah said, adding she didn’t get to enjoy the kinds of Christmases she now puts on for her twins: “I didn’t grow up with all the gifts in the land. I kind of love making their holidays great.”
Still, that doesn’t mean her kids have lower standards when it comes to Christmas.”My daughter’s Christmas list is like 66 items and I’m not lying,” Mariah remarked. “She texted it to me. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?'”
Jhené Aiko dropped a holiday gift for her fans Tuesday with her new song, “Wrap Me Up.”
The six-time Grammy nominee creates the perfect romantic mood for Christmas as she sings, “Visions of you have been all in my head / This time last year you were here in my bed / Told me you love me and never forget / Every December you’d make sure you’re here / So I pray as soon as I wake / That we spend today up under each other / ‘Cause there’s nothing more I need / Than you here with me, no gift would be better”
Aiko’s long time boyfriend, Big Sean, was full of praise for the track, posting three fire emojis on Instagram. Jhené promoted the song with a series of holiday photos, including with her Christmas tree, and relaxing by a fireplace.
This is the first new music from Aiko since she released her “In The Dark” collabo with Swae Lee in August from the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings soundtrack. The 33-year-old singer, who was nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite R&B Female Artist, will be one of the headliners of the Smokin’ Grooves Festival on March 19, 2022 in Los Angeles. The bill also features Erykah Badu, Nas, Miguel, The Roots and many more.
Remember back in the day when someone sold Justin Timberlake‘s half-eaten breakfast on eBay for more than a thousand bucks? Amateur. Some dude in Canada tried selling a crumb — a crumb — from one of Justin’s new line of Tim Hortons “TimBiebs” for $100,000.
The Fort Saskatchewan Record reports that Blake Simms of British Columbia posted a crumb of the TimBieb — which is like a Dunkin’ Munchkin — on Facebook Marketplace for a hundred grand, along with the suggestion, “Great Christmas gift for Justin Bieber fans!”
He didn’t even say what flavor it was.
Reached by the paper, Simms said, “It was a joke and that’s all it is.” The listing has since been taken down.
However, another enterprising fan is selling a TimBiebs box — which only has two of the treats inside it — for a million bucks, the paper reports, while yet another is offering one for the bargain price of $100,000. One woman who claims that her box was actually “touched by the great Biebs” is selling it for $24,995.
Most fans are offering somewhat more reasonable prices for their boxes — like $50 — but many are trying to make a killing on the limited-edition TimBiebs merch that came out with the treats: a hat, a fanny pack and a tote.
Justin’s limited-edition line of TimBiebs come in three flavors: Chocolate White Fudge, Sour Cream Chocolate Chip and Birthday Cake Waffle. You can get 10 of them for three bucks.
Every classic sitcom has their trademark sets, and a new survey shows that a third of Americans say if they could live anywhere, they’d chill like the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
The non-scientific poll of 2,000 TV watchers in the U.S., which was commissioned by the furniture company Article, revealed that the mansion in which Will Smith chilled with his aunt and uncle in the beloved show would be their favorite sitcom house to call their own.
Perhaps just that many people ran afoul of a couple of guys up to no good, makin’ trouble in the neighborhood.
At any rate, by a wide margin, the Fresh Prince manse beat out the second-place finisher, Leonard and Sheldon’s apartment in The Big Bang Theory — which in turn just edged out number three, The Brady Bunch home.
Thirty-six percent of those polled chose Will’s crib, compared to 29% who dug the Big Bang digs, while 28% picked the Bradys’ house, and 19% chose Carrie’s apartment from Sex and the City — the same percentage of those who’d like to live in TV Jerry’s apartment from Seinfeld, and Monica’s crib on Friends.
Other TV faves included the Florida home seen on The Golden Girls, the stately residences in Bridgerton, and the Full House house.
Clearly, those polled were asked to choose based on the nostalgia quotient, not the real estate value of each set — though the huge Fresh Prince mansion would tick both boxes.
Survey questions, methodology and results have not been verified or endorsed by ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.
