(NEW YORK) — Jack Dorsey is resigning from his role as CEO of Twitter, the social media platform he co-founded in 2006, he announced in a tweet on Monday.
“There’s a lot of talk about the importance of a company being ‘founder-led,'” Dorsey wrote. “Ultimately I believe that’s severely limiting and a single point of failure. I’ve worked hard to ensure this company can break away from its founding and founders.”
Dorsey has been in his most recent role as CEO since September 2015. He said that Twitter’s chief technology officer, Parag Agrawal, will replace him as CEO.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Hot in Cleveland alum and current Food Network star Valerie Bertinelli has filed for legal separation from her husband of 10 years, Tom Vitale, according to documents obtained by Entertainment Tonight.
Bertinelli filed the paperwork in the Los Angeles County Superior Court on Wednesday. The documents list the date of separation as “TBD” and “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the legal separation. The filing also notes a premarital agreement dated Dec. 21, 2010 that is “fully binding on the parties.”
The 61-year-old TV personality and Vitale tied the knot in 2011 and have no minor children. Bertinelli wants to terminate the court’s ability to award support to both of them.
Bertinelli was previously married to rocker Eddie Van Halen from 1981-2007, with whom she had her now-29-year-old son, Wolfgang, in 1991. Eddie died in October 2020 from lung cancer at age 65.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin‘s Hanukkah Sessions is back for 2021.
The Foo Fighters frontman and the producer first launched the series in 2020, releasing covers of songs by eight Jewish artists for each night of the holiday. With Sunday being the first night of Hanukkah this year, they’ve started it up again, beginning with a rendition of Lisa Loeb‘s ’90s hit “Stay (I Missed You).”
The cover begins as a faithful tribute before taking an unexpected turn into black metal with Grohl’s growling vocals and pounding guitar riffs. In an accompanying video, streaming now on YouTube, Grohl wears a dress and glasses modeled after Loeb’s iconic look from the original “Stay” clip.
“Welcome back to the menorah, y’all,” Grohl and Kurstin say. “Let’s kick [off] this year’s Hanukkah Sessions with one of Dallas, Texas’ favorite Jewish daughters. So put on your coffee shop spectacles and your Betsey Johnson dress and HAVA listen to this.”
The first season of Hanukkah Sessions featured covers of songs by Beastie Boys, Drake, Mountain, Peaches, Bob Dylan, Elastica, The Knack and The Velvet Underground.
Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
After Ed Sheeran teased it a while back, we now have a release date for his holiday collaboration with Elton John: a song called “Merry Christmas.” The date is revealed in an adorable video inspired by everyone’s favorite British Christmas movie, Love, Actually.
In the video, we see Elton answering his door to find Ed on his doorstep with a series of cue cards, which detail the story of how the collab came about.
“Hello. Last Christmas, I received a call from my mate, Elton John, and he told me, ‘We should do a Christmas song,'” the cue cards read as Ed goes through them one by one. “And I replied, ‘Yeah, maybe in 2022.’ But I actually wrote the chorus that day, and here we are.”
Ed continues to shuffle through the cue cards: “Our Christmas song, ‘Merry Christmas,’ is out this Friday. Go pre-order or pre-save it now. It has sleigh bells. A lot of them.”
All the U.K. profits from “Merry Christmas” will be donated to Ed and Elton’s respective favorite charities: the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
Ryan Reynolds was just given his native Canada’s Governor General honor, and to mark the occasion, fellow Canadian and Barenaked Ladies singer Steven Page — along with seemingly all of the Great White North — sung the actor and entrepreneur’s praises.
Officially, the award from the country’s National Arts Centre, “recognizes work of an extraordinary nature and significance in the performing arts by an individual artist…”
In a split-screen Instagram video, Ryan is seen wearing the medal, and reacting to Page’s video tribute, the chorus of which is, “Canada loves you back.”
A tearful Ryan watches the video, and laughs along with Page’s lyrics, which call the Deadpool star, “A genuine Canadian icon, like Shatner and Alex Trebek.”
Also giving to Canadians’ penchant for self-deprecation, the song notes, “of all the Canadian Ryans, you’ve got to be in the top 3.”
The video features clips from everyone from hockey players to those benefitting from Reynolds’ charitable initiatives, all singing along, along with postcard-perfect shots of the country.
Reynolds captioned the video, “I’m not crying. It’s just maple syrup.”
He added, “Also, it’s worth noting @stevenpage is not only a friend but an absolute legend. He wasted this perfectly awesome song on me.”
Ryan thanked those in the National Arts Centre, “for keeping the performing arts alive and well throughout Canada and being a champion for voices which have been historically silenced or overlooked.”
He also added, “I’m a wreck.”
Incidentally, when one fan noted that Reynolds’ pal and frequent fake foil Hugh Jackman doesn’t have his own song in his honor, Ryan replied, “Hugh Jackman IS his own song.”
Last week, Queen‘s Brian May gave an interview to the British paper The Mirrorin which he reacted to the BRIT Awards — the British equivalent of the Grammys — doing away with the male and female solo artist categories in favor of just one single solo artist award. Now, he’s clarifying his comments, which some have interpreted as being unsupportive of the transgender community.
On Instagram, May wrote, “Yes – I was ambushed and completely stitched up by a journalist…and it’s led to a whole mess of press stories making it look like I’m unfriendly to trans people. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
“My words were subtly twisted. I should have known better than to talk to those predatory Press hacks,” the guitarist continues. “Sincere apologies to anyone who has been hurt by the stories. My heart is open as always to humans of all colors, all creeds, all sexes and sexualities, all shapes and sizes – and all creatures. We all deserve respect and an equal place in this world.”
May went on to thank fans who “stepped up to defend me,” adding, “It means so much that you have faith in me.”
The guitarist was quoted as saying of the category change, “It’s a decision that has been made without enough thought..I get so sick of people trying to change things without thinking of the long-term consequences.”
He then mentioned the current “atmosphere of fear,” in which people are “are afraid to say how they really think,” and was quoted as saying that if Queen’s original lineup were around today, they wouldn’t have been considered diverse enough.
“We would be forced to have people of different colors and different sexes and we would have to have a trans [person],” the paper quoted him as saying.
(NEW YORK) — No New York Giant will ever wear Michael Strahan’s famed number 92 again after the team officially retired it from circulation on Sunday.
For 15 seasons, Strahan was a fearsome quarterback in the league. He notched 141.5 career sacks, 854 tackles, four interceptions and one Super Bowl Championship title.
“When I came to New York to play football, I just wanted to play football. I just was happy to have a job. And I never figured that that job would transfer into like a career and doing what I love and the best city in the world,” the Good Morning America co-anchor said. “And now to have my jersey retired. It’s absolutely incredible honor. Lost for words.”
During his speech at MetLife Stadium in front of a stadium full of longtime fans, Strahan praised his family for their support.
“I am so grateful to have my family here because without them, I am not here,” he said. “My father is here in spirit and my mom is here. Thank you, mom, for giving birth to me. For encouraging me and for being the toughest person in my life.”
On Sunday, the Mean Girls alum announced that she’s engaged to be married to her boyfriend, Bader Shammas.
Sharing a carousel of pictures of the couple grinning from ear to ear — and showing off the sparkler on her ring finger — Lohan wrote, “My love. My life. My family. My future. @bader.shammas#love [ring emoji].”
Lindsay’s mother, Dina Lohan, also expressed her excitement, writing in an Instagram Story “My heart is full,” along with a snapshot of the newly engaged pair.
“My heart is whole,” Dina further told Entertainment Tonight. “For a mother, there is nothing more important than to see your children happy and loved. Her beautiful new journey begins. Love and light.”
Lohan, 35, and Shammas, who’s the assistant vice president of the global investments bank Credit Suisse, have been dating for two years, according to The Independent.
This is Lindsay’s second engagement. She was previously engaged to Russian millionaire Egor Tarabasov before splitting in 2016.
Encanto topped the Thanksgiving weekend box office with an estimated $40.3 million over the five-day weekend. The Disney animated musical, featuring the voice of Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Stephanie Beatriz and songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, delivered an estimated $27 million over the three-day weekend.
Overseas, Encanto added another $29.3 million, bringing its five-day global total to $69.6 million.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife — the fourth and latest entry in the sci-fi comedy franchise — took second place with an estimated $24.5 million between Friday and Sunday and just under $35.3 million for the five-day weekend. It’s two-week stateside total now stands at $87.8 million and $115.8 million worldwide.
The second of this week’s new major releases, House of Gucci, grabbed an estimated $14.2 million over the three-day weekend and $21.8 million over the five-day holiday for a third-place finish. The true-life story — starring Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Al Pacino, Salma Hayek and Jeremy Irons — added an estimated $12.9 million overseas, for a worldwide tally of $34.7 million.
Fourth place belonged to Marvel’s Eternals, which delivered an estimated $7.9 million over the three-day weekend and $11.4 million over the five-day holiday. After four weeks, Eternals has racked up $150.6 million domestically and another $217.8 million overseas, for a global total of $368.4 million.
Another new release, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, rounded out the top five, opening with an an estimated $5.3 million domestically over the weekend and $8.8 million between Wednesday and Sunday. The reboot of the six-film horror franchise scared up an estimated $5.1 million overseas, for a first-week worldwide tally of $13.9 million.
Meanwhile, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, which opened on Friday, nabbed the best pandemic-era debut for an independent film, grabbing $336,000. Licorice Pizza — starring Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman — son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman — Bradley Cooper and Sean Penn opens nationwide on Christmas day.
Finally, Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune, in its fifth week of release, cracked the $100 million plateau at the domestic box office over the weekend.
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she’s confident President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan will be passed by Christmas, but Republicans, including Sen. Bill Cassidy, are still firmly opposed.
Klobuchar, D-Minn., told “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday that the Build Back Better Act would help create jobs, which she said is crucial right now because of labor shortages in certain fields.
“We’ve got workforce issues, and that’s why this Build Back Better Act is so important,” Klobuchar said. “We need people, we need kids to go into jobs that we have shortages. We don’t have a shortage of sports marketing degrees. We have a shortage of health care workers. We have a shortage of plumbers, electricians, construction workers. This bill puts us on the right path.”
The House passed the $1.7 trillion Build Back Better Act on Nov. 19 along party lines, 220-213, with one Democrat voting “no.” The legislation includes $555 billion for climate initiatives, $109 billion for universal pre-K, $150 billion for affordable housing and $167 billion for Medicare expansion.
Cassidy, R-La., told Stephanopoulos the Build Back Better plan is “a bad, bad, bad bill.”
“There’s corporate welfare. It’s going to raise the price of gasoline at least about 20 cents a gallon. And it begins to have federal dictates as to how your child’s preschool is handled, the curriculum even,” he said.
President Joe Biden applauded the House for passing the Build Back Better Act and said in a statement it would help improve the economy if enacted.
“The United States House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act to take another giant step forward in carrying out my economic plan to create jobs, reduce costs, make our country more competitive, and give working people and the middle class a fighting chance,” he said.
The bill now heads to the Senate, but Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Sen. Joe Manchin D-W.Va. — key players in ensuring that the bill passes in the Senate — have not agreed to support the latest version of the bill yet.
“Sen. Manchin is still at the negotiating table, talking to us every day, talking to us about voting rights, getting that bill done, restoring the Senate,” Klobuchar said. “He’s talking to us about this bill.”
Cassidy argued that the social spending bill will fuel inflation, which is currently at a 30-year high, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Stephanopoulos pointed out that the Biden administration has brought forward 17 Nobel Prize-winning economists who said the bill won’t increase inflation, but Cassidy argued that, according to the Washington Post’s Fact Checker, those economists “said that was the bill they had then, not the bill they have now.”
“They point out that if you are going to avoid inflation, then you’ve got to be able to pay for it,” Cassidy said.
The Washington Post spoke to six of the 17 economists who signed the letter in support of the bill when the package totaled $3.5 trillion. The Post found that while “some indicated that the proposed changes [to the bill] have lessened the potential impact on inflationary pressures,” none of them backed away from their signing of the letter.
Inflation has been a mounting concern among Americans. Democrats are concerned, too, as Biden’s polling numbers drop, with 55% of Americans disapproving of his handling of the economy and 50% blaming Biden directly for inflation, according to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll.
On Tuesday, Biden announced that he would authorize a release of 50 million barrels from the U.S. strategic oil reserve, hoping to lower surging gas prices.
“I look at it this way — we’ve got an increased demand, shortage of supply. The petroleum reserve was a temporary measure,” Klobuchar said.
Cassidy has blamed the Biden administration for the high gas prices and in a tweet referred to Biden tapping into the strategic oil reserve as a “Band-Aid fix.”
Lawmakers are also facing another challenge. In October, Congress voted to temporarily raise the debt ceiling by $480 billion and put off the risk of the United States defaulting on its debt — which the treasury secretary said would be “catastrophic” — until mid-December.
Now, the time has come for negotiations to ramp up, but Republicans and Democrats are still butting heads.
“You know, if the Republicans want to scrooge out on us, and increase people’s interest rates and make it hard to make car payments — go ahead, make that case,” Klobuchar said. “We’re going to stop them from doing that.”
With only a couple weeks left until the U.S. reaches the debt limit, Stephanopoulos pressed Cassidy on why he’s against raising the debt ceiling.
“You mentioned the tax cuts. Republicans passed a huge tax cut under President Trump — that’s one of the things that extending the debt limit has to pay for,” Stephanopoulos said. “So why are you against extending the debt limit?”
“The debt limit in the past has been the result of bipartisan negotiations, bipartisan both about the spending, bipartisan both about the debt limit,” Cassidy said. “If you haven’t noticed, Republicans have not been invited in at all to discuss this.”
