Jimmie Allen is joining the 30th season of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars! The news was announced on Good Morning America from one of Jimmie’s favorite places: Disneyland.
“It feels great,” Jimmie gushed. “I proposed to my wife at Disney. We had our baby reveal at Disney. I’ve gone like 70 times since 2012. It’s pretty bad. But there’s worst things to be addicted to. So why not give all my money to the Mouse?”
Jimmie has spoken to several former DWTS competitors, including some of his friends in the country music community.
“I talked to Chuck Wicks, he did it,” Jimmie says. “Lauren Alaina. I actually talked to AJ [McLean]. Rashad Jennings, Bobby Bones. I know Nelly did it last season. They said it’s gonna be difficult, but it’s fun, and they’re not lying. These rehearsals … I never ballroom danced a day in my life. It’s rough.”
Other cast members include JoJo Siwa, Sunisa Lee, Brian Austin Green, Amanda Kloots, Olivia Jade and more.
Season 30 of Dancing with the Stars will premiere on Monday, September 20, at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.
(NEW YORK) –There was mid-flight chaos on one American Airlines flight over the Labor Day holiday after a passenger began growling and berating the flight attendants on board.
“What? What? What? What are you going to kick me off this flight?” the 61-year-old man taunted the flight crew.
At one point, a flight attendant had to block him from gaining access to the galley.
“Now!” the flight attendant shouted. “Sit Down Now!”
Once the plane landed in Salt Lake City, authorities boarded the aircraft and took the passenger, who they said was intoxicated, into custody.
“Really? Really? Really?” the man says as he is taken off the plane.
“His behavior was so bizarre,” Dennis Busch, a fellow passenger, told ABC News. “Not particularly threatening towards us other passengers but it was very surreal.”
The man was later cited for disorderly conduct and public intoxication.
Monday’s incident is just the latest in a surge of aggressive behavior on planes.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it has received nearly 4,200 reports of unruly passengers since the start of the year. More than 3,000 of them are people who refuse to wear a mask.
The subsequent fines for unruly behavior during flights have soared in 2021, with the FAA reporting last month that it has proposed more than $1 million in penalties this year alone.
Airline crews have reported incidents in which visibly drunk passengers verbally abused them, shoved them, kicked seats, threw trash at them, defiled the restrooms and in some cases even punched them in the face.
The FAA had hoped its zero-tolerance policy for in-flight disruptions, which could lead to fines as high as $52,500 and up to 20 years in prison, would be enough to deter potential offenders, but they’ve still seen hundreds of incidents per month.
In-flight tensions are unlikely to wane as the mask requirement for planes was extended from September into January.
FAA Administrator Steve Dickson has urged airport police to arrest more people who are unruly or violent on flights.
“While the FAA has levied civil fines against unruly passengers, it has no authority to prosecute criminal cases,” Dickson told airport executives.
He said they see many passengers — some who physically assaulted flight attendants — interviewed by local police and then released “without criminal charges of any kind.”
The agency has looked into more than 682 potential violations of federal law so far this year — the highest number since the agency began keeping records in 1995. But it is unclear how many people have actually paid the FAA’s proposed fines.
ABC News’ Sam Sweeney, Gio Benitez, and Amanda Maile contributed to this report.
Last week, both Ed Sheeran and his pal Elton John told the media that Elton had criticized Ed’s utter lack of fashion sense, and helped hook him up with some decent threads. Well, Ed’s come up with an outfit that Elton can’t possibly criticize — because it’s one of his signature looks.
On Instagram, Ed posted a photo of himself dressed like mid-’70s Elton John, complete with huge pink crystal-studded glasses, sequined trousers, a fringed silver leather jacket, sparkly black-and-gold shoes, and a huge feathered collar.
“My brand new single Shivers is out friday,” Ed captioned the pic. “I glammed up for the occasion.”
In a second photo, Ed is wearing a suit and sitting on a colorful couch, looking utterly dejected. Behind him is a parrot sitting on a branch. The caption on that pic reads, “The moment you realize your last single has been number one for 10 weeks and there’s now a lot of pressure on the next one not to flop.”
The photo appears to be a still from the “Shivers” video, as Ed goes on to note, “Shivers out friday, presave it, I rented a parrot for the video, don’t let that be a waste.”
“Bad Habits,” the first single from Ed’s upcoming album, = (Equals), has topped the charts for 10 weeks in his native U.K.
Today would have been the 32nd birthday of Tim Bergling, the late superstar DJ and producer known to millions of fans as Avicii. The Swedish artist is celebrated in today’s Google Doodle — the image that you see on the Google home page with the search bar.
The Google Doodle features a 90-second animated video showing scenes of Avicii’s life, soundtracked to his worldwide hit with Aloe Blacc, “Wake Me Up.”
The Google Doodle, which can be seen in more than 46 countries, was created by artist Alyssa Winans and coincides with National Suicide Prevention Week. Avicii died by suicide in 2018 after struggling with mental health issues.
After his death, Avicii’s parents started the Tim Bergling Foundation, which works to remove the stigma attached to suicide and promote mental health awareness. In a statement, Avicii’s father Klas says, “The Doodle is fantastic, my family and I feel honored and Tim would have been very proud and love it.”
He adds, “It is a friendly and warm story of a young man fulfilling his dream to be a DJ and at the same time telling us that our journey in life is not always easy despite fame and fortune.”
Aloe Blacc re-posted the video and wrote on Instagram, “Wow! For @avicii birthday he is honored with a Google Doodle. That’s a pretty big deal. Head to Google.com and check it out. Congrats, Tim!“
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide, or worried about a friend or loved one, help is available. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 [TALK] for free confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Even if it feels like it, you are not alone.
Drake has a brand-new seasonal gig with sports giant ESPN. Fresh off the success of his new album, Certified Lover Boy, the rapper will now work closely with the sports network throughout the NFL season.
Variety reports that Drizzy will help curate the playlist fans will hear during certain Monday Night Football games, selecting music that “encapsulates both the energy and mood” of the stadium. He will chose music from his catalogue as well as songs from artists he admires or that have influenced his craft.
Drake’s picks will play during promo spots, pre-game shows and live telecasts, with his first batch slated to fire this week.
ESPN’s vice president of sports marketing, Emeka Ofodile, said in a statement, “Now we are here…the kickoff of the football season. And who better to curate music for Monday Night Football than Drake, who sits firmly at the intersection of music and sports…The music curator role has been a big hit with our fans with Diplo and DJ Khaled in previous years….and this season, we will be living inside the moment with Drake as our NFL on ESPN soundtrack.”
Drake is a major sports fan and is the official ambassador of his hometown NBA team, the Toronto Raptors.
(NEW YORK) — Reproductive rights are taking center stage in California’s recall election, in a bid to nationalize the stakes of next week’s special election.
Last week, Texas passed the strictest anti-abortion legislation in the nation, effectively nulling Roe v. Wade. The law blocks abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. It also empowers whistleblowers to report and sue anyone aiding an abortion, including doctors and Uber drivers who may have no knowledge of the situation.
Much of the discourse from candidates over the course of this campaign cycle has focused on COVID-19, homelessness and climate change. Though Republican challengers have offered dramatically different approaches to handling these crises, their responses haven’t energized voters as much as Democrats had hoped.
Now, following Texas’ abortion ban, Democrats are turning their focus to the issue, sending a stark warning to voters: California could be next if Gov. Gavin Newsom loses.
“The fight that’s going on nationally, has come to California,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Zohreen Shah during a campaign stop with Newsom. “That’s why this is the moment to vote no on the recall.”
Newsom added, “Imagine the judges a Republican governor will appoint. Imagine the ability to use the line item veto to cut expansions of reproductive rights and health care for women. Imagine a governor from the state of California joining Republican governors on amicus brief supporting overturning Roe v. Wade or using the bully pulpit nationally to advance that cause I think it could be profoundly consequential.”
A reality check on California politics might prove otherwise, though. California has some of the strongest abortion protections in the nation, so if Newsom were to be recalled, his successor would face a variety of obstacles trying to enact a major consequential anti-abortion legislation. Notably, the legislation would have to go up against a heavy Democratic majority in the state legislature and the governor would only have until the end of the term in 2022 to do it.
However, that has not stopped some Republican candidates from taking stances about stripping funding from health services that provide abortions and trying to overturn Roe v. Wade.
During an appearance on CNN’s New Day this week, former Olympian and TV personality Caitlyn Jenner said she supports Texas’ decision because she believes states should have the ability to make their own laws — but she still thinks women should have the right to choose whether or not to give birth.
As it relates to California, Jenner said, “I don’t see any changes in our laws in California in the future.”
Others, aware of California’s political landscape, are calling out Newsom’s alleged strategy of using the issue of abortion to vilify his Republican opponents.
“It’s not that big of an issue in California because California, you know, has constitutional protection,” businessman John Cox told ABC News. “So the politicians are using it. Mr. Newsom is using it to scare people right now.”
Some Republicans, like former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, have complicated Newsom’s alleged efforts to try to paint his Republican challengers as anti-abortion. Faulconer told ABC News, “I’ve been pro-choice … I’ve always been and I will continue to be that way.”
While the effectiveness of Newsom’s strategy will play out at the ballot box on Sept. 14, one thing is for certain: The fight for access to reproductive rights is far from over. Each party appears determined to use the controversial issue to energize their base as the 2022 midterms quickly approach.
(NEW YORK) — Just 49% of Americans see the United States as safer from terrorism than it was before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, down from 64% a decade ago, according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.
Forty-one percent instead say the United States has become less safe since 9/11, reflecting both renewed partisan divisions and the tumultuous withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan.
A vast 86% in this poll, produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates, also say the events of Sept. 11 had a lasting effect on the United States. But underscoring the public’s sour mood on this issue, 46%, a new high, say it’s been a change for the worse. That easily exceeds the 33% who see a change for the better, half as many as said so in spring 2002.
See PDF for full results, charts, and tables.
Shifts
Views of the country’s security from terrorism have shifted sharply across the years, given both international developments and partisan U.S. politics. Confidence peaked in 2003 and 2004, fell steeply in 2005 after the London transit bombings, held especially high among Republicans during the Bush administration, plummeted among Republicans two years later under the Obama administration, then rose sharply across groups after the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011.
Ten years later, the latest decline may reflect multiple factors, including pessimism after the fall of Afghanistan and Republican-led dissatisfaction with the Biden administration.
Specifically, compared with 2011, the sense that the country is safer from terrorism now than it was before 9/11 is down 28 percentage points among Republicans, to 41%, compared with a slight 9-point decrease among Democrats, to 57%. It’s down 12 points among independents, to 52%.
The see-saws have been dramatic:
These patterns are mirrored in terms of political ideology, with 59% of moderates and 55% of liberals currently seeing improved safety, versus just 39% of conservatives.
Just 16% of Americans overall say the country is “much” safer from terrorism, again near all-time lows. An additional 33% of Americans call it safer, but just somewhat so. Those who see the country as less safe divide evenly, 21% somewhat less safe, 20% much less. There’s another partisan split here, with 36% of Republicans saying the country is much less safe from terrorism than before 9/11, versus 15% of independents and 11% of Democrats.
Another result shows that 9/11 isn’t unique in its perceived impact. About as many Americans, 82%, say the coronavirus pandemic will change the country in a lasting way as say this about 9/11. And, also similar to current views on 9/11, 50% call it a change for the worse.
Partisan differences narrow when considering the lasting effects of the 9/11 attacks. Thirty-one to 36% of Republicans, Democrats and independents alike say the country has changed for the better, while 43% to 49% say it’s changed for the worse.
But these gaps widen by ideology, with liberals most likely to say the country has changed for the worse, 59%, versus 44% of moderates and 45% of conservatives.
Beyond partisan and ideological differences, 57% of older Americans say the country is less safe from terrorism post 9/11, versus 37% of those younger than 65. Men are more likely than women to say the country has changed for the worse, 53% versus 40%, as are college graduates compared with those without a degree, 55% to 41%.
Methodology
This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by landline and cellular telephone Aug. 29-Sept. 1, 2021, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 1,006 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 percentage points, including the design effect. Partisan divisions are 30-24-36%, Democrats-Republicans-independents.
The survey was produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates with sampling and data collection by Abt Associates of Rockville, Maryland. See details on the survey’s methodology here.
(NEW YORK) — When plus-sized supermodel Tess Holliday opened up this spring about her struggle with anorexia, she also spoke about the backlash she received, saying, “I understand that people look at me and I don’t fit what we have seen presented as the diagnosis for anorexia.”
“I’ve had a lot of messages from folks that are anorexic that are livid and angry because they feel like I’m lying,” Holliday also said.
The negative comments slung Holliday’s way hit close to home for Susie Sebastian, 30, who says she too does not fit the typical stereotype of anorexia.
“The reactions kind of proved my biggest fear in advocating for myself and for the eating disorder community,” Sebastian, of Parkville, Maryland, told Good Morning America. “A big fear I have is that if I speak out about [my eating disorder], people will think this is not real.”
Sebastian’s reaction was also one that rang true for Aja Pryor, 29, of Florence, New Jersey.
“I’ve had the same experience every single time where I was just kind of looked at like there’s really nothing wrong with you because you don’t fit the type for having an eating disorder,” said Pryor. “Because I’m not skinny I’m deemed as atypical, and that’s actually made it harder to recover.”
“It’s made it actually extremely hard to recover, and my story is not uncommon,” she said.
Many of them are medically overweight, or fat as society would call them, yet their weight loss is encouraged, even as it’s caused by the eating disorder.
While less than 6% of people with eating disorders are medically diagnosed as “underweight,” those people are twice as likely to be diagnosed with an eating disorder than people in larger bodies, according to NADA.
Pryor said she started showing signs of an eating disorder at age 12, but did not receive treatment for it for years because of her size.
When she did finally enter an inpatient treatment center, after losing weight and suffering medically because of it, Pryor said she was congratulated on her weight loss.
“Before you go into residential treatment, you have to get medical work done, and the doctor that I saw congratulated me on my weight loss,” she said, adding that at other points in her life when she also lost weight and suffered symptoms like hair loss and low blood pressure, people, including doctors, would tell her, “You’ve lost so much weight. I’m so proud of you.”
Pryor said the cultural stereotypes around eating disorders have even affected the way she thought about herself and her own recovery.
Describing her reaction when she was told she would need residential treatment, Pryor said, “I was shocked because in my mind, I was still over a certain number of pounds. I thought I’m still in a larger body, I’m not skinny by any means, so it just was weird to me.”
Pryor and Sebastian both said they are speaking out now at a time when they know many more people are struggling with eating disorders, the most common of which are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder.
The coronavirus pandemic has brought on a mental health crisis in the U.S., of which eating disorders are a major part.
Throughout the pandemic, the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) has seen a spike of more than 70% in the number of calls and online chat inquiries to its hotline compared to the same time period last year.
The Emily Program, a national network of eating disorder treatment centers, has seen inquiries both online and by phone “fly off the charts” during the pandemic, Jillian Lampert, Ph.D., Emily Program’s chief strategy officer, told GMA earlier this year.
Throughout the pandemic, eating disorders have remained second only to opioid overdose as the deadliest mental illness, with eating disorders responsible for one death every 52 minutes in the U.S., according to data shared by the NADA.
Sebastian said she has had to work hard to overcome the stigma of being overweight and not being able to focus on losing weight because she has an eating disorder.
“Still to this day, I have to remind myself, ‘You were diagnosed with an eating disorder,'” she said. “I know for me mentally that intentional weight loss is not a healthy goal for me, so it is definitely a hard balance to strike.”
Research shows that not only do people who are in larger bodies have eating disorders at high rates, they also suffer similar medical consequences as people who are considered underweight.
Their study also found that patients with atypical anorexia nervosa may carry a heavier psychological burden than those who are underweight, with researchers attributed to “heightened preoccupations with food avoidance and more negative feelings about body shape and weight.”
Anorexia nervosa’s seriousness as a mental disorder shatters another common misconception about eating disorders that they are a lifestyle choice. The misconception is one that is particularly damaging to people who are in larger bodies.
“Society teaches us that if you’re not skinny, you’re bad and you need to lose weight,” said Pryor. “I go through periods still where I don’t think I qualify for an eating disorder just because of the way that I look.”
People who are struggling should be looked at through the lens of their symptoms, and not their body size, according to Samantha DeCaro, PsyD, director of clinical outreach and education at The Renfrew Center, an organization of residential and outpatient eating disorder treatment programs across the country.
“We do a lot of work trying to educate the public but also providers that you cannot look at someone and know what kind of eating disorder they have and you cannot look at someone and know the severity of the eating disorder,” she said. “For people in larger bodies, the eating disorder can get minimized and it can get missed entirely.”
Behaviors to look for in people with eating disorders include isolating, feeling depressed and anxious, eating alone, avoiding events where there is food, avoiding entire food groups, talking excessively about food, calories and weight, exercising even when tired or injured, using the bathroom after every meal or spending excessive time in the bathroom and weighing multiple times a day, according to DeCaro.
In addition to weight loss, physical symptoms for eating disorders can include thinning hair and swollen glands in the face, explained DeCaro.
“There are so many people who have the ability to catch an eating disorder — school counselors, teachers, parents, caregivers, doctors, nurses, dentists, therapists and dietitians,” she said. “We need to focus on the signs and symptoms of eating disorders outside of size and appearance.”
The misdiagnoses and stigma that can accompany people with eating disorders can lead them to not seek medical help, which can delay critical treatment, according to DeCaro.
“People can recover at any stage of an eating disorder and any age, but the longer an eating disorder goes on, the more difficult it can be to treat,” she said. “There are many folks in larger bodies who are just avoiding seeking out medical and mental health treatment because of the fear they will continue to be prescribed that treatment plan.”
If you or someone you know is battling an eating disorder, contact the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) at 1-800-931-2237 or NationalEatingDisorders.org.
Selena Gomez hilariously reacted to her infamous Met Gala look from three years ago, when she was a little too enthusiastic with the self-tanner.
Speaking to Vogue, the “Lose You to Love Me” singer reflected on her 2018 look, calling it “a funny story.”
The actress, who was 26 at the time, was gearing up for the Met’s 2018 theme, “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination,” so she wanted to embody a warm, glowing vibe.
“I was getting ready and we wanted to add some color, so I put on some of this tanning lotion, and it looked really beautiful and very even,” she dished. “As the evening kept going on, it was getting a little darker and darker and I didn’t notice it.”
Gomez admits she was blissfully unaware of her color-changing skin until she arrived at her seat — which meant she had already run the press gamut, rubbed elbows with fellow celebrities and walked the red carpet.
“I’m walking, trying to look all beautiful, and I look at a photo of myself when I sit down and I’m completely orange,” the Only Murders in the Building star lamented. “I was like, ‘This is gonna be terrible because I’m gonna get eaten alive about this.'”
To avoid becoming late night fodder, Gomez decided to get in on the joke and roped in her security detail to help turn her faux pas into a meme.
“So, I had my security take a video of me because my first reaction was just to get the hell out of there,” she laughed. “And so, I’m running to my car. I’m literally just hauling a** to get to my car and then I put it online. I was saying ‘This is my reaction after seeing my Met Gala photos.'”
After weeks of reports and rumors, Kylie Jenner confirmed late Tuesday that she and her partner, Travis Scott, are adding another bundle of joy to their growing family.
Taking to Instagram, the beauty mogul shared an adorable video announcing her pregnancy — which starts with her rushing to Scott to reveal the good news. This will be the second child for Kylie, 24, and Scott, 30.
Other highlights from the video reel include their three-year-old daughter, Stormi, accompanying her parents to a checkup appointment and the little one telling her grandma, Kris Jenner, the wonderful news.
“You’re pregnant?,” the momager exclaimed while flipping through photos of the ultrasound, “This is one of the happiest days of my life!”
Stormi appears to be ecstatic that she’s about to become a big sister, with the video also showing the toddler dancing around and excitedly listening to her soon-to-be sibling’s heartbeat.
The video ends with Stormi wrapping her arms around Kylie and planting a sweet kiss on her mother’s stomach before sweetly telling the camera, “Baby.”
Kylie’s family expressed their joy in the comment section, with sister Kourtney Kardashian gushing, “Crying this is so beautiful my blessed angel sister.”
“Crying all over again [heart eyes, red heart and praying hands emojis] what a special and amazing Blessing and gift God has given you,” Kris commented.
Also taking to Instagram to congratulate their sibling well was Kim and Khloe Kardashian as well as Kendall Jenner.
It is unknown how far along Kylie is into her pregnancy and when the baby is due.
