That famous photo of Britney Spears and Madonna locking lips at the 2003 MTV VMAs is now reportedly being auctioned off as an NFT, a.k.a. a non-fungible token.
TMZ reports that the photographer, John Shearer, is teaming up with Cryptograph to sell the collectible digital token for a good cause.
The auction, which kicks off Thursday and lasts 72 hours, will share a portion of the proceeds with GLAAD.
The 2003 VMAs opened with the now-iconic performance from Madonna, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. The trio sang Madonna’s hits “Like a Virgin” and “Hollywood” and the performance concluded with Madonna kissing both Britney and Christina — though the Britney kiss garnered way more attention.
You might not recognize the name of Hook & Ladder Company 8 in New York City, but it’s a pretty safe bet you would if you saw it: The real-life firehouse in Lower Manhattan was the Ghostbusters’ headquarters.
And it will look even more authentic if you happen to pass by this week, as the firehouse is proudly emblazoned with the iconic “No Ghosts” symbol that adorned the building in the 1984 classic.
The New York City firefighters stationed at the location have always embraced its spooky past: They have ghost patches and other assorted swag to celebrate their HQ’s famous film history, but with New York Comic Con coming to town this weekend, FDNY Ladder 8 got into the — well, sprit, by hanging the replica of the original sign from the film on the building’s exterior.
The sign was actually purchased via a GoFundMe started by The Buffalo Ghostbusters, one of hundreds of costuming fan groups dedicated to the comedy. They decided to pass the hat, albeit virtually, when they learned the firehouse’s sign, as seen in Ghostbusters 2, had been damaged in the years since the 1989 sequel.
The group managed to raise $8,000 — eight times their original goal — which was enough to have a brand-new, three-dimensional sign made.
While the firehouse only displays the logo on special occasions, they might as well leave it out for a while: Ghostbusters: Afterlife debuts in theaters November 19.
(ARAB, Ala.) — Four people, including a 4-year-old, have died in devastating flooding in Alabama.
Up to 13 inches of rain fell — with rates as high as 5 inches per hour — in Jefferson and Shelby counties, which includes Birmingham and hard-hit Pelham.
A 4-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman died as a result of the flooding in Marshall County, located in northern Alabama, the county coroner’s office said.
In Hoover, near Birmingham, a 23-year-old-woman and 23-year-old man were found dead in their submerged car Thursday after being swept away in floodwaters Wednesday night, Hoover police said.
In Pelham, fire officials said they responded to 282 calls for service. Officials conducted 82 rescues from homes and over a dozen rescues from cars.
Schools in Pelham are closed Thursday due to the excessive flooding. A flash flood watch remains in effect through Thursday night.
The flash flooding threat is expanding Thursday into Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida.
Residents in Panama City, Montgomery, Birmingham, Atlanta and Asheville should be prepared for flooding.
East of Asheville, rainfall rates of 2 to 4 inches per hour have been reported. A state of emergency was issued in McDowell County, North Carolina.
By Friday, the Southeast will finally start to dry out as the heavy rain shifts into parts of the Appalachians and Mid-Atlantic.
Mary J. Blige speaks in NYC during “Screening the System: A Dialogue on Bias and Breast Health”; Noam Galai/Getty Images for Hologic
As Mary J. Blige prepares to perform at the Super Bowl 56 halftime show in February, she wants her female fans to focus on getting a mammogram now during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The Queen of Hip Hop Soul has partnered with the Hologic medical technology company to spread awareness about the disease. She says families need to have more conversations about breast cancer and the importance of getting mammograms.
“My aunt died from breast cancer. My grandmother died from cervical cancer and one of my aunts just died from lung cancer,” Mary J said during in a panel this week in New York City, titled “Screening the System: A Dialogue on Bias and Breast Health,” according to Essence. “What happens is they end up in the hospital and there’s no one in our families speaking about it when we’re younger.”
The 50-year-old singer says she was not aware of the need for early detection until ten years ago, when she turned 40. “They don’t discuss this when we’re children. They don’t say, ‘Go get a mammogram.’ You learn about this as you get older,” she said. “So they don’t speak about it and that’s why they end up in the hospital with two weeks to live and now you know about it. That’s why it’s extremely important to me.”
Next year, the nine-time Grammy winner will celebrate her 30th anniversary in the music business. She’s a trusted role model for many women, and she wants to use her platform to help her female fans stay healthy.
“I’ve been in the forefront all my life as Mary J. Blige the singer,” she said. “Now I want to help women heal from breast cancer. I want to help us feel beautiful all the way around.”
While Marvel Studios is remaining characteristically mum, Deadline is reporting the studio is brewing up a spin-off series for Disney+ centering on WandaVision Emmy nominee Kathryn Hahn‘s Agatha Harkness.
Hahn played a double role in the acclaimed original series: a trope “nosy neighbor” character called Agnes who was actually pulling the spooky strings behind the scenes as Agatha, who is revealed to be a powerful witch.
While she was bested by Elizabeth Olsen‘s Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in the series, the pages of Marvel Comics portrayed much more of Agatha’s history since her debut in Fantastic Four #94 in 1970.
Agatha Harkness is an incredibly powerful character, whose comics history spans from ancient times through Salem witch hysteria — the latter seen in the series — and even to the sorceress’ time as a government asset in World War II.
The character is also expected to jump to the big screen, and, while it’s not certain, it’s easy to see Hahn popping up in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, given that Scarlet Witch will appear in that 2022 film.
OneRepublic recently released their new album Human, and the band will celebrate their new material with a special livestream later this month.
The band has teamed with Moment House for the October 27 stream, One Night in Malibu, which will feature Ryan Tedder and company playing 17 songs, including selection from Human and their biggest hits. The performance — from Malibu, CA, of course — will also feature an added string section.
The livestream will be available worldwide, including in Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Asia, with different times depending on territory. Tickets are on sale now via MomentHouse.com/OneRepublic, where you can also buy a ticket to a VIP after party, as well as exclusive merchandise for the event.
Here’s the information on when you can watch One Night in Malibu:
North + South America: October 27, 6 p.m. PDT
Asia, Australia & New Zealand: October 28, 6 p.m. JST/7 p.m. AEST
Europe, UK & Africa: October 28, 6 p.m. BST
Later this month, country artists will band together for the Grand Ole Opry’s 12th annual “Opry Goes Pink” event, a celebration and show that raises money and awareness for nonprofit organization Susan G. Komen, which works to support those affected by breast cancer.
As previously announced, Lauren Alaina will be among the stars performing during this year’s show. But she’ll also flip the celebratory switch at the beginning of the show, turning the Opry’s iconic barn backdrop pink to mark the occasion.
“I know firsthand how devastating cancer can be to a family,” Lauren shares. The singer’s stepfather, Sam, died of cancer in 2018. “Breast cancer in particular can be a difficult diagnosis,” she continues. “I am honored to bring awareness to this cause on my favorite stage in the world.”
The Opry’s “Opry Goes Pink” event will take place on Tuesday, October 19. Tickets to the show are available now.
(NEW YORK) — The flu season is notorious for being difficult to predict. However, flu trends from last year and from other parts of the globe can help us make informed estimates.
So far, experts are on the fence if this year’s flu season may be mild like last year’s, or if it may take a turn for the worse. But experts do agree on one thing; we can do our part by getting vaccinated.
And according to newly released U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, about 52% of the U.S. population got a flu vaccination last flu season, which was similar to the prior season. The CDC and other public health agencies are trying to get even more people vaccinated this year because experts are worried about a worse flu season this year because population immunity is low due to a mild flu season last year.
“We are preparing for the return of the flu this season. The low level of flu activity last season could set us up for a severe season this year,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, speaking during a press event hosted by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.
With many Americans staying home, washing hands and practicing social distancing, last year’s flu season saw the lowest rates of positive tests, hospitalizations and deaths from the flu since the CDC started recording this data in 2005.
“It was the lowest influenza season we’d had in memory. It was really virtually no influenza,” Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease and preventative medicine specialist at Vanderbilt University, told ABC News.
Dr. Richard Webby, director of a World Health Organization Influenza Collaborating Center and infectious disease specialist, adds that it may be a “global phenomenon.”
“I think international travel has been low so, you know, just infected people moving around the globe and seeding other geographic spaces has been reduced,” Webby told ABC News.
And these changes have meant that there have been lower levels of the flu virus globally.
“The flu hasn’t really circulated for three successive seasons: southern hemisphere, northern hemisphere, southern hemisphere,” Dr. Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said.
The southern hemisphere – South America, Africa, Australia, New Zealand – experiences its flu season during our summer. Their flu patterns can give us an idea of what to expect come fall in the U.S. And this past summer, the southern hemisphere experienced another low flu season.
“The flu is often in a cycle between the northern and southern hemispheres,” Adalja told ABC News. “There’s a high likelihood that it could also still be a mild flu season just because there’s less flu circulating on the planet, in general.”
But as COVID restrictions continue to evolve, southern hemisphere flu patterns may be less helpful for knowing what lies ahead. For example, COVID-19 restrictions are easing up in many places in the United States, but remain in place in parts of Australia, which is often a litmus test for the flu.
“I think that, generally speaking, we turned to, you know, other parts of the globe to make better predictions, and the unfortunate situation now is, given the complexity of COVID restrictions, travel pattern changes, it makes it a little bit more difficult to have a complete predictive lens on what might happen,” said Dr. John Brownstein, infectious disease epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School and ABC News contributor.
And as more people get vaccinated and return to work and social gatherings, along with children returning to school, there is a real possibility that this year’s flu season may be worse than last year’s.
“When they are infected with flu, they shed very large amounts of virus, more than adults and for longer periods of time,” Schaffner said. “They are a real distribution mechanism for the virus.”
Along with the potential for more spread, we may have slightly lower immunity to the flu.
“We have been through one and a half seasons, with no real flu circulation. So, it’s also possible that, as a population, our immunity to flu is a little bit lower,” Webby said.
Faced with the possibility of a worse flu season, experts said the flu shot is crucial.
“Go out, get your flu shot. This year, continue being protected,” said Dr. Jay Bhatt, an internist in Chicago and ABC News contributor.
Newly released CDC data highlighted some alarming new trends. Only 59% received the flu shot last season compared with 64% the prior season. And racial and ethnic disparities widened, with 56% of white Americans getting the flu shot, compared to 43% of Black Americans and 45% of Hispanic Americans.
The flu shot is not a 100% guarantee that you won’t get the flu, but it will reduce your symptoms, and the likelihood of winding up in the hospital.
“We want to prevent severe hospitalizations and death, but we want to prevent symptomatic infection, too,” Bhatt told ABC News. “Symptomatic infections can keep people out of work, can make you feel miserable.”
If you are eligible for a COVID vaccine booster, that is a great time to get your flu vaccine as well, health experts like Dr. Paul Goepfert, professor of medicine and microbiology at the University of Alabama and Director of the Alabama Vaccine Research Clinic said.
“It’s perfectly fine to get them both at the same time,” Goepfert told ABC News.
And for those who worry they may get sick from the vaccine, Goepfert added, “I know a lot of people say they get sick and they got, you know, flu from the flu vaccine and that’s just not possible.”
Experts also encourage pregnant women to get the flu vaccine.
“That’s a group that, you know, if they get any of these viral infections, they can do poorly if they don’t have adequate protection,” said Dr. Simone Wildes, associate director of infectious disease at South Shore Health and ABC News contributor.
And with the uncertainty of the coming flu season looming, the CDC and other government health officials are now encouraging all eligible Americans to sign up for a flu shot, and help prevent a possible “twindemic” – a bad flu season in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year, Walensky said, “it’s doubly important this year to build up community immunity.”
Sara Yumeen, M.D., is a dermatology resident at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School and is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
Mike Tyson says he lost the fight against getting vaccinated.
Ahead of his reported December fight with boxing great Lennox Lewis, Tyson told USA Today that he only received the COVID-19 vaccination so he could travel without any issues.
“I didn’t do it willingly,” Tyson said. “I’m a little apprehensive of that. I was pretty much beaten into submission to do this because I travel internationally. And if I don’t travel, we don’t eat.”
He continued, “So I decided to take the risk and take the shot. And people, they have their own choice. I never got sick.’’
While the boxing legend notes that he didn’t have an adverse reaction to the vaccine, Tyson shares that he “might have caught” COVID-19 at one point because of some recent symptoms, which included “coughing, throwing up water” and being “dehydrated.”
Now, he says, he’s feeling much better. “I really feel well. The best I ever felt,” he declares.
Tyson appears to be getting back into competitive shape. On Wednesday, the 55-year-old former boxing champ shared a photo on Instagram of himself in the ring sparring with another athlete.
“Adversity makes the strong stronger, and the weak weaker,” Tyson captioned the photo.
(NEW YORK) — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio treated his New York Police Department-provided security detail like a “concierge service” that drove around his son, staff members and guests even when he was not in the car and helped his daughter move out of her apartment, the city’s Department of Investigation alleged in a report released Thursday.
The investigative report by the city’s anti-corruption watchdog also accused the mayor of failing to reimburse the more than $300,000 his security detail spent on travel outside New York City during de Blasio’s unsuccessful 2020 run for president.
“Protecting the mayor and his family is a serious and significant job that should be guided by best practices, formalized procedures, and an understanding that security details are not personal assistants in a dignitary’s daily life but provide essential protection,” DOI Commissioner Margaret Garnett said.
The NYPD inspector in charge of the Executive Protection Unit, Howard Redmond, “sought to obstruct” the investigation by refusing to turn over a City Hall-issued phone, trying to destroy his NYPD-issued phone and demonstrating a “lack of candor” during an interview, the report claims.
Redmond was referred to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office for possible prosecution. While de Blasio is not facing prosecution, he could face potential ethics violations.
“We are reviewing the referral,” a spokesperson for Manhattan DA Cy Vance said.
In her response, de Blasio’s press secretary Danielle Filson called the report “unprofessional” and “inaccurate,” claiming that it was based on “illegitimate assumptions and a naive view of the complex security challenges facing elected officials today.”
