As Kandi Burruss prepares for the second birthday of her daughter Blaze next month, she’s looking back at the trauma of Blaze’s birth via a surrogate.
Blaze was one of twin embryos, and the Real Housewives of Atlanta star remembers the emotional moment when she found out one of the twins didn’t make it after the embryo transfer to their surrogate.
“We were super happy, obviously, that she was pregnant. Then, you know, they did the scan and we were super, super excited ’cause both embryos took initially,” Burruss said this week on People‘s Me Becoming Mom podcast. “Then, a few weeks later one of them, I don’t know what they call it, but it went away. So we lost one of them.”
After the joy of the pregnancy, it was a painful time for Burruss.
“I was super sad because, once again, we’re thinking that we might have twins, and then they tell us, ‘Yes, both of them are there.’ Then we’re all happy, excited,” the 45-year-old entertainer explains. “The numbers were going up, and then they stopped going up. Then you’re sitting there praying, hoping that something is going to change. And it didn’t change.”
The Xscape member and her husband, Todd Tucker, also have a son, Ace Wells, 5, plus Kandi has a daughter, Riley, 17, from a previous relationship.
Blaze is her first child via a surrogate, and she says the process has not affected her ability to have a special relationship with her.
“I guess [the] initial thinking is, like, just because somebody doesn’t physically have their baby that they won’t be able to have that same bond as a mother who physically pushed the baby out,” she says. “If you ever had a doubt in your mind — that is not true.”
Shannon Lee, the sister of Brandon Lee, late son of legendary martial artist Bruce Lee, has weighed in on the fatal firearm accident Thursday that took the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
The camerawoman was fatally injured on the set when Alec Baldwin pulled the trigger on a prop firearm on the set of the Western Rust. The film’s director, Joel Souza, was also injured.
Brandon Lee was mortally wounded by a prop revolver in 1993, on the set of The Crow.
“Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on ‘Rust'” reads the post on Lee’s account, which is managed by his sister.
“No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period,” the post concludes, with a broken heart emoji.
An investigation is underway as to what went wrong on Rust‘s New Mexico set.
The New Mexico Film Office released a statement Friday, reading, “We along with the entire film community in New Mexico are saddened by the tragedy that happened on the set of Rust, yesterday. We send our deepest condolences to the family of Ms. Halyna Hutchins and are keeping positive thoughts for a complete recovery for Mr. Joel Souza. The safety and well-being of all cast, crew, and filmmakers in New Mexico is a top priority at all times.”
Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on “Rust”. No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period. 💔
(NEW YORK) — Truth Social, the social media app announced Wednesday by former President Donald Trump, could provide the former president with a substantial infusion of cash — but critics also warn that it could create a new platform for the spread of misinformation.
The app will be the first product of Trump’s new company, Trump Media and Technology Group, which is merging with the Nasdaq-listed Digital World Acquisition Group to form a publicly traded company, the former president announced.
The announcement comes at a time of turmoil for Trump’s family business, with multiple branches of the Trump Organization currently under criminal investigation, sources previously told ABC News. On Wednesday, it was reported that the Westchester, New York, district attorney’s office has had an ongoing criminal investigation into the Trump Organization’s Westchester golf course; in July, the Manhattan DA charged the Trump Organization and its longtime CFO, Allen Weisselberg, with tax fraud; and New York Attorney General Letitia James has been conducting a parallel probe into Trump’s business dealings.
Trump has denied all wrongdoing in the investigations, calling James’ investigation and the investigation into his Westchester golf course a “witch hunt.”
Trump also has millions in loans coming due early next year from one of his biggest creditors, Deutsche Bank. As of last year, Trump’s company owed the Frankfurt-based bank an estimated $340 million, according to filings to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics in July of 2020.
The Trump Organization is also reportedly in “advanced talks” to sell the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C, which lost $71 million while Trump was in office, according to newly released federal documents.
Digital World Acquisition Group is a SPAC, or special acquisition company, also referred to as a blank-check company, which is usually a company established by a group of investors with a large sum of cash on hand seeking an investment opportunity. They are essentially shell companies that are created to facilitate a merger with companies that want to go public on stock exchanges like the Nasdaq.
If the newly announced merger is completed, Trump’s company would have access to the nearly $300 million in cash raised by Digital World Acquisition. On Friday, Digital World Acquisition jumped more than 180% in Nasdaq trading before being halted due to volatility as shares surged for a second straight day. Previously, the stock surged more than 350% after the merger with Trump Media and Technology Group was announced.
The chairman and CEO of Digital World Acquisition, Patrick F. Orlando, is a Wall Street veteran who previously worked at numerous investment banks, including Deutsche Bank, until 2003. Orlando, who formed his own investment bank, Benessere Capital, is also CEO of Yunhong International, which is itself a blank-check company incorporated in the Cayman Islands with headquarters in Wuhan, China, according to Bloomberg.
Digital World Acquisition, which was incorporated in Miami in December 2020 shortly after Trump lost the 2020 election, also has ties to Brazil, as its chief financial officer, Luis Orleans-Braganza, is a current member of Brazil’s National Congress and supporter of the country’s far right president, Jair Bolsonaro.
Trump is no stranger to leveraging his celebrity name in the business world, with business offerings ranging from the hit TV show “The Apprentice” to now-defunct ventures like Trump University, Trump Steaks, and Trump Vodka.
“He is a marketer, he is always looking for ways to monetize,” said David Richard, a social media expert and professor at Emerson College. “He can monetize his followers and I think that’s exactly what he is doing.”
Trump has remained banned from most major social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook, since the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, with companies citing fears that he could incite further violence. Trump has long credited Twitter and social media for helping fuel his 2016 presidential victory, and in launching his own social platform the former president is hoping to regain his enormous social media following as he looks toward the 2022 midterm elections and a possible run for the White House in 2024.
With Truth Social, Trump will enter an already-crowded market of right-wing social media alternatives that promise users a space for “free speech,” including Parler, Gab, and even Gettr, which was launched by the former president’s longtime aide Jason Miller just a few months ago.
Trump, in his announcement Wednesday, said he created Truth Social “to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech.” But the former president, who used social media to spread falsehoods about the 2020 election, is drawing criticism from some social media experts who say Truth Social will likely become a “magnet for disinformation,” spreading only “Trump’s truth.”
“Donald Trump’s campaign and his brand has always been about creating a truth that benefits him,” said Richard. “If it’s the Trump algorithm, the opposition and dissenting voices are not going to pop up in the feed. Trump will always come first. It doesn’t matter what information you want, you will always get what Trump says at the top of the feed.”
A representative for Trump Media and Technology Group did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment about the new platform, and former President Trump’s office declined to comment.
Alexander Reid Ross, a fellow with the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right, told ABC News that while he believes Truth Social won’t grow enough to replace top social media platforms like Twitter, it will probably become a gathering place for extremists who could “turn it into something more focused and deliberately violent.”
“I think the thing about a lot of these sites is that since they’re built solely on voicing frustrations and anger, the engagement is pretty limited,” Ross said. “Obviously, calling it Truth Social sort of lays out a path of hard-core trolling, gaslighting, and assorted reactionary tactics that we’re used to seeing from the Trump camp.”
“Trump’s political existence is fueled by impulsive emotional responses to easy narratives that don’t match the complexities of modern life,” added Ross. “So there is absolutely no reason to believe that a social media site built around his personality will involve modest inquiry based on scientific curiosity using rigorous research.”
Experts also told ABC News that Truth Social could end up having a similar outcome to Trump’s previous online venture.
Earlier this year, Trump shut down “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump,” a website where the former president posted statements after he was banned from Facebook and Twitter, after only about a month of operation.
“Trump does not have a great track record of launching online platforms in his post-presidency,” said Vivian Schiller, executive director of Aspen Digital at the nonprofit Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. “His last attempt, which he called a platform but was in fact a blog, petered out after a matter of weeks.”
On the other hand, said Richard, “Trump knows how to create controversy and he knows how to say things that rile people up,” which Richard said will make it easier for the platform to attract subscribers.
Schiller told ABC News that “the bar is nearly insurmountable” for the site to become an alternative to Facebook or Twitter because the site will likely appeal to mostly Trump supporters who “may grow bored if there’s no one to spar with.”
“That said — and this is important — Trump has defied expectations before, so we shall see,” Schiller said.
Hardy has recruited two of country music’s most powerful, soul-filled vocalists — Lee Brice and Randy Houser — for the newest release off his upcoming Hixtape Vol. 2.
The new song, “Drink Up,” is a rowdy ode to late nights with plenty of good beer and better friends. “Drink up, drink up/ Whatever you got in your Dixie cup,” the three stars sing in the song’s chorus. “The girls are on fire and the beer’s ice cold/ Something ‘bout tonight just makes me wanna hold my/ Drink up…”
It’s the latest track to be released off of Hixtape Vol. 2, which will be out in full on December 10. In the meantime, Hardy is releasing one song off the collection every Friday, each of which features a star collaboration or team-up.
Other artists who’ve lent their voices to Hixtape include Jon Pardi, Brothers Osborne, Midland, Dierks Bentley and more. Vol. 2 is the follow-up to the first Hixtape, which Hardy put out back in 2019.
Expanded and remastered versions of The Band‘s fourth album, Cahoots, will be released on December 10, in commemoration of its recent 50th anniversary.
Released in September 1971, Cahoots peaked at #21 on the Billboard 200 and featured such notable tunes as “Life Is a Carnival,” the Canadian-American roots-rock group’s rendition of Bob Dylan‘s “When I Paint My Masterpiece,” and the Van Morrison collaboration “4% Pantomime.”
Among the versions of the 50th anniversary Cahoots reissue is a Super Deluxe box set featuring two CDs, a 180-gram vinyl LP, a Blu-ray disc, a 7-inch vinyl single, a photo booklet and more.
The updated version of the album was mixed by lauded engineer Bob Clearmountain, and overseen by Band guitarist/main songwriter Robbie Robertson.
Robertson explains, “I told Bob, ‘There are no rules. So, every mix we do, I want to start from scratch. I don’t even want to listen to the original. I want to listen to the way we hear it now and be fearless and experimental with it.”
The expanded reissue also features alternate versions of six of the album’s songs, two outtakes from the sessions, and 11 performances from a May 1971 concert at the Olympia Theatre in Paris.
The LP features the remastered original album, while the Blu-ray includes three mixes of Cahoots and some of the bonus tracks — a Dolby Atmos, a 5.1 surround sound and the new stereo mix. The seven-inch single features “Life Is a Carnival” backed with “The Moon Struck One.”
The Cahoots reissue, which you can pre-order now, is also coming out as a two-CD set, digitally, and on vinyl.
Here’s the track list of the reissue’s CDs:
CD 1:
“Life Is a Carnival”
“When I Paint My Masterpiece”
“Last of the Blacksmiths”
“Where Do We Go from Here?”
“4% Pantomime”
“Shoot Out in Chinatown”
“The Moon Struck One”
“Thinkin’ Out Loud”
“Smoke Signal”
“Volcano”
“The River Hymn”
Bonus Tracks
“Endless Highway” (Early Studio Take, 2021 Mix)
“When I Paint My Masterpiece” (Alternate Take, 2021 Mix)
“4% Pantomime” (Takes 1 & 2)
“Don’t Do It” (Outtake — Studio Version, 2021 Mix)
“Bessie Smith” (Outtake)
CD 2:*
Live at The Olympia Theatre, Paris, May 1971 (Bootleg, Partial Concert)
“The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show”
“We Can Talk”
“Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever”
“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”
“Across the Great Divide”
“The Unfaithful Servant”
“Don’t Do It”
“The Genetic Method”
“Chest Fever”
“Rag Mama Rag”
“Slippin’ and Slidin'”
Bonus Tracks
“Life Is a Carnival” (Instrumental)
“Volcano” (Instrumental)
“Thinkin’ Out Loud” (Stripped Down Mix)
(DAVIS COUNTY, UT) — The Davis School District in Utah intentionally ignored widespread racial harassment, according to a scathing new report from the U.S. Department of Justice.
School officials have been accused of failing to respond to hundreds of reports from Black students who said they’ve been called racial slurs, including the N-word, been threatened or even been physically assaulted. Asian American students also were subject to widespread harassment in the district, according to the DOJ.
“White and other non-Black students routinely called Black students the N-word and other racial epithets, called them monkeys or apes and said that their skin was dirty or looked like feces,” the DOJ said students reported to them.
“Peers taunted Black students by making monkey noises at them, touching and pulling their hair without permission, repeatedly referencing slavery and lynching, and telling Black students, ‘Go pick cotton’ and ‘You are my slave,'” the report said students told the DOJ.
The Justice Department said the school district deliberately showed indifference to race-based student harassment, violated Black students’ equal protection rights and violated the equal protection clause when it refused to allow Black students to form student groups.
The two-year-long investigation also found students frequently were harassed and abused verbally and physically, and that even when such behavior was witnessed by faculty or staff, nothing was done to halt it.
Investigators also found that some staff members directly targeted students with racially abusive remarks.
Black students said the harassment was pervasive and consistent, and many students said they’d concluded faculty and staff effectively condoned the behavior because reporting it felt useless. Several students told investigators they “disliked attending school and at times missed school because of racial harassment.”
Other students said they feared retaliation for reporting the racial harrasment.
Davis School District has signed a settlement agreement with the Justice Department in connection with the district’s alleged mistreatment of students of color.
The agreement outlines steps required of the district to strengthen its procedures, training and practices in investigating and resolving allegations of racial harassment and discrimination, district representatives told ABC News in a statement. A consultant will be hired to review and help revise potential policies for the district, which serves tens of thousands of students across 91 schools, the district said.
District officials said they’ll work to correct its issues over the next few years and that they’ll soon share plans for doing so with students, parents and staff.
“During the investigation, the district was made aware of serious incidents of racial harassment and discrimination and instances where those incidents were not handled appropriately,” the statement continued. “The district takes these findings very seriously. They do not reflect the values of this community and the expectations of the district. The district pledges to correct these practices.”
As Snoop Dogg‘s 50th birthday week continues, he’s now joined the Harlem Globetrotters for a unique project.
The hip hop icon has partnered with the legendary basketball team to star in a hilarious video that’s being described as the first sitcom to be auctioned as an NFT.
In the trailer, Snoop, whose character is named Jermaine, is hired to work with the Globetrotters in his “Da Dogg Gone Gym.” The caption reads, “When the Harlem Globetrotters hired trainers, something went terribly wrong…They hired the wrong brothas.”
In the clip, Snoop proves he is extremely unqualified for the job, leading one player to say to the team, “I told you we need basketball trainers this time!” At one point, Jermaine brags to one of his assistants that they are being paid “50 cents a hour.”
Harlem Globetrotters Vice President Sunni Hickman says in a statement about the collaboration, “It’s been a dream come true for our Globetrotter players to work with the iconic Snoop Dogg. His passion for basketball and baller culture is second to none; to have him as part of our team has been super dope.”
The sitcom, which is still in development, will be available on the crypto promotion site VAST.com. The “All the Way Up” rapper also will create a theme song for the show, which will drop during the Globetrotters’ Spread the Game tour, kicking off December 26 in Pittsburgh.
As previously reported, Snoop celebrated his 50th birthday Wednesday night at his home in Inglewood, California, with a star-studded players ball attended by Jamie Foxx, Usher, T.I., Mike Epps, Terence J and many more.
Actor Peter Scolari, who played Tom Hanks‘ roommate in Bosom Buddies and also starred in the sitcom Newhart,and the acclaimed HBO show Girls, has died after a battle with cancer.
Ellen Lubin Sanitsky at Wright Entertainment confirmed the news to ABC Audio. Scolari was 66.
The veteran of stage and screen played Henry Desmond opposite Hanks’ Kip Wilson in Bosom Buddies, a show whose conceit was that the friends could only find an affordable apartment in a woman’s dormitory, leading them to take on the personas of the female characters Hildegarde and Buffy, respectively. The ABC show ran from 1980 to 1982.
Scolari then landed a role on Bob Newhart‘s series Newhart, which ran from 1982 to 1990, playing an uptight TV producer, and earning three Emmy nominations in the process.
In 2016, the actor took home an Emmy for his guest turn in HBO’s Girls as the father of show star and creator Lena Dunham‘s character.
Over the years, Scolari remained close with Hanks, who cast him in his 2006 directorial debut, That Thing You Do!, and the pair also reunited on the stage in the 2013 Nora Ephron play Lucky Guy.
Scolari also appeared on a host of other TV shows, most recently in a recurring role as Bishop Thomas Marx in the supernatural CBS series Evil.
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court will take up the Texas abortion law on the merits next month in a rare highly-expedited case that could definitively resolve the fate of its six-week ban and unprecedented enforcement mechanism.
SB8 will remain in effect for the near future until the Court issues its decision, which wouldn’t typically be expected for weeks to months after a case is argued.
The justices granted the request of Texas abortion providers and civil rights groups to hear the case before lower courts ruled on the law.
They also said they would also examine the question of whether the U.S. government, in the separate case, could even seek an injunction against a state law like Texas’.
Oral arguments are set for Nov. 1 — one month before the court is already set to hear a milestone abortion rights case out of Mississippi.
The court said it deferred a decision on the Justice Department’s emergency request for the court to put SB8 back on hold and that it would wait for oral arguments before taking action. Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — For reporters in Washington, it’s a frequent refrain from President Joe Biden on the status of negotiations with lawmakers on his domestic agenda: “I won’t negotiate in the press.”
But Thursday evening marked a shift from the strategy of playing his cards close to his chest. The president was unusually candid at a CNN town hall, laying his cards out publicly, and unafraid to call out moderate Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema on the roadblocks they’ve created in the talks.
The decision was perhaps a calculated one, as the White House counts down the days before Biden departs for a major climate summit in Europe, at which the president hopes to have real domestic progress in hand to encourage other nations to adopt similar measures.
Early Friday morning, Biden hosted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the White House for breakfast, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer joining remotely, the three leaders already back at the bargaining table.
Pelosi later told reporters Friday that Democrats are nearing a deal on their two major agenda packages.
“We have a couple of outstanding issues that just need a decision,” she said, describing a deal as within reach. “I think it’s very possible,” she added.
Biden’s town hall capped off what has been the most momentous week of negotiation in months, with the president acquiescing to losing some key programs from his initial $3.5 trillion wish list, in order to meet those moderates calling for less government spending. The acknowledgement of the concessions could send a signal to Democrats that a deal on the package, which has been whittled from Biden’s $3.5 trillion wish list to just under $2 trillion, is imminent.
“I do think I’ll get a deal,” Biden said, in summary of the movement in recent days.
That deal has not been easy in coming. Biden admitted some painful cuts to his programs at the town hall, but the lifelong politician, who campaigned on his ability to reach bipartisan deals, said some losses were inevitable.
“Hey look, it’s all about compromise. You know, it’s – ‘compromise’ has become a dirty word. But it’s bipartisanship and compromise still has to be possible,” Biden said Thursday.
One of those compromises – losing the corporate tax rate hike Biden has long pushed for.
“I don’t think we’re going to be able to get the vote,” Biden said. He was blunt in pinning the blame on a lone hold-out in his caucus.
“Senator Sinema is opposed to any tax rate hikes for corporations and for high earners,” Biden said, offering an unusual amount of insight into his talks with the moderate Democrat.
Later Thursday, a White House official clarified that Biden meant it would be challenging to get enough votes to raise the corporate tax rate, but that other proposals, such as a tax increase on stock buybacks, or instituting a tax on billionaires’ stock holdings, could make up the difference, ensuring the package, which will likely to top out just under $2 trillion, would not add to the federal deficit.
Biden also wasn’t shy in pulling back the curtain on his conversations with moderate Manchin. Admitting that the plan to expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing and vision “a reach” at this point in the talks, Biden revealed Manchin’s thinking, and said he could settle for $800 vouchers to cover dental work.
“He says he doesn’t want to further burden Medicare so that — because it will run out of its ability to maintain itself in the next number of years. There’s ways to fix that, but he’s not interested in that part, either. But, look, Joe — Joe’s not a bad guy. I mean, he’s a friend. And he’s always, at the end of the day, come around and voted for it,” Biden said.
Biden also for the first time admitted that his proposal to guarantee 12 weeks of paid family leave will be cut significantly.
“It is down to 4 weeks,” Biden said, in a frank assessment. “And the reason it’s down to 4 weeks is because I can’t get 12 weeks.”
Biden also confirmed that two years of free community college is falling victim to the downsizing. He offered an increase to Pell grants instead, and vowed to continue to fight for the program.
“I promise you, I guarantee you, we’re going to get free community college in the next several years, across the board,” he said, adding jokingly that his first lady Jill Biden, a community college professor, would insist on it.
ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
