After being kicked off the Legendz of the Streetz tour, and having his Instagram account suspended, now Boosie Badazz is complaining about the lack of stars attending the premiere of his biopic, My Struggle.
The “Wipe Me Down” rapper held his event on September 22 in Atlanta, one day before 50 Cent‘s star-studded BMF premiere. Fiddy was joined on stage by Snoop Dogg, T.I., DaBaby, Moneybagg Yo, Flo Rida, Lil Duval and Jeremih for a concert following the screening of the first episode.
Boosie made his remarks Wednesday in response to a tweet by Duval saying that Badazz did not receive enough love for his event.
“Every celeb you can think of was at ‘BMF’ premiere,” Duval commented on Instagram after attending Boosie’s screeing. “But at @hesbackagain2021 premiere, I only saw @qcmceo_p @troublemmb and @iamdesibanks. All I’m saying is we gotta support the streets the same way we support the mainstream stuff. Especially in the south.”
Meanwhile, Boosie remarked to Vlad TV, “Nobody came out to support the way they should. I ain’t going to just say Atlanta. People think I was trying to go against 50 [Cent]. Hell no. That’s why I did it a day earlier. I’m a marketing genius. Come on, bro. I went a day before 50.”
As previously reported, Boosie was kicked off the Legendz of the Streetz tour headlined by Rick Ross, Jeezy, Gucci Mane and 2 Chainz after a fight broke out on stage during his set on Friday night in A-T-L during the second concert of the tour.
After being booted from the tour, Boosie promoted his appearance on Twitter at a party Sunday night at the Euphoria nightclub in Baltimore. A man was shot when a large fight broke out at the event, according to The Baltimore Sun.
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Marshals have located and fingerprinted the Los Angeles Dodgers fan seen on camera during a televised 2016 home game who they said closely resembled a long-missing and most wanted fugitive. But they have determined he is not their man.
The identification came just 48 hours after the U.S. Marshals went public with a photograph of the Dodger fan, eager to determine if he was John Ruffo, a swindler convicted of a $353 million bank fraud, who has been on the run for more than 23 years. The manhunt for Ruffo is the subject of season 2 of the ABC News podcast, “Have You Seen This Man.”
A relative of the Dodgers fan alerted the U.S. Marshals Tuesday night that the man seated five rows behind home plate during the 2016 game was, in fact, a different person altogether. He has requested privacy so ABC News is not naming him.
To be certain the man was not Ruffo, the Marshals conducted a swift background investigation and on Thursday traveled to his home to verify fingerprints. The read out proved it – they had the wrong guy.
The discovery put an end to one of the most vexing aspects of the manhunt – a lead that for more than five years remained unresolved for the U.S. Marshals. It meant the investigators would have to turn their attention to other leads in the decades-long search for Ruffo.
“The ones that are the worst are when you have no resolution. That’s what bothers me, is that you just don’t know, is that him or not? The Dodgers footage, is that him? Is that Ruffo? Or is it not?,” said Deputy Marshal Danielle Shimchick, the lead investigator on the Ruffo case.
Short and balding, the unassuming one-time computer salesman is now 66 years old. He is believed to have fled with approximately $13 million. There has not been a confirmed sighting of him since he stopped at an ATM in New York City in November 1998, the day he was supposed to report for a 17-year prison term. His car was found at New York’s JFK Airport.
The look-alike baseball fan from the L.A. suburbs had put his hands on some terrific seats, placing him just off center frame every time the television feed of the game focused on the batter. It was in that prime location that he caught the eye of John Ruffo’s cousin, Carmine Pascale, of New Hampshire.
Pascale was watching the Dodgers-Red Sox game on television on Aug. 5, 2016, when he said he spotted the familiar-looking man seated four rows behind home plate.
“I’m watching and right behind home plate, they did a close up of the batter and there’s Johnny. And I said, “Holy Christ, there he is,” said Pascale, a cousin who last saw Ruffo after his arrest in 1998. “And I immediately called the Marshals. I froze the frame, kept it right in front of me.”
He phoned the tip into the US Marshals, who had placed him on the agency’s 15 most wanted list.
Deputy Pat Valdenor, an L.A.-based Marshall, was assigned to followed up on the initial tip. He said it’s rare to get a tip accompanied with video evidence. He said the resemblance was strong.
“It does look like him. It could be him,” Valdenor said. “So that was my starting point. That was the lead that I got.”
Valdenor sought help from the Dodgers, who identified the seat in Dodgers Stadium where the man had been seated: Section 1 Dugout Club, Row EE, Seat 10. He sought through baseball team’s help in identifying who bought the ticket.
The Dodgers identified the ticket holder, but he had given the ticket away. The coveted seat behind home plate passed through so many hands, Valdenor spent weeks tracking the ticket but was ultimately unable to track it to the man who actually attended the game.
It was Valdenor who traveled to a Los Angeles suburb Thursday to fingerprint the man who had attended the game.
“You can clearly see the difference between the fingerprints,” Valdenor said. “Even without the fingerprints, there was the birth certificate, and I had his whole family in front of me — three generations. I could see it wasn’t Ruffo.”
Even though the manhunt for Ruffo goes forward, he could be satisfied that he had not missed a chance to catch Ruffo.
This report is part of Season 2 of the ABC News podcast, “Have You Seen This Man?,” hosted by “The View’s” Sunny Hostin. It follows the U.S. Marshals’ ongoing mission to find John Ruffo, who engineered one of the most outlandish frauds in U.S. history, vanished in 1998 and has never been found. A four-part Hulu Original limited series on the global search for Ruffo is currently in production from ABC News Longform. MORE HERE
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.
