The fallout continues for DaBaby, who was dropped by three additional music festivals on Tuesday in response to the remarks about HIV/AIDS that he made during his Rolling Loud performance in Miami last month.
Austin City Limits and the Music Midtown Festivals announced Tuesday that DaBaby, born Jonathan Kirk, has been removed from their rosters. In total, six music festivals have pulled him from their lineups, including New York’s Governors Ball, the Day N Vegas, and Lollapalooza.
Lollapalooza announced Sunday, the day he was set to perform, that he would not be welcome on stage, with Billboardreporting that his appearance was contingent on a promised video apology video that never appeared.
Sources tell Billboard that DaBaby’s team promised several venues the “Masterpiece” rapper would issue a sincere apology to the LGBT community for the hurtful remarks he made, but when he missed the deadline, the venues went ahead and pulled the plug on his performances.
The 29-year-old rapper issued a lengthy apology on social media Monday, saying in part, “I want to apologize to the LGBTQ+ community for the hurtful and triggering comments I made. Again, I apologize for my misinformed comments about HIV/Aids, and I know education on this is important.”
DaBaby has twice apologized for the controversial statement he made on July 25, where he told the Rolling Loud crowd, “If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that’ll make you die in two or three weeks, put your cellphone light in the air.” The remarks were widely considered homophobic.
Guns N’ Roses debuted a new song live during their concert in Boston Tuesday. Well, sort of.
During their set, the “Welcome to the Jungle” rockers performed a track titled “Absurd.” While it now has a new title, the tune is actually a reworked version of the notably profane GN’R rarity, “Silkworms.”
“Silkworms” was one of the many songs written during the sessions for Chinese Democracy, the long-fabled Guns record that finally became reality in 2008 after a 10-year recording process. Though it was performed live in the early 2000s, “Silkworms” didn’t make the final Chinese Democracy track list.
You can watch fan-shot footage of the “Absurd” performance streaming now on YouTube.
Guns N’ Roses is currently in the middle of a U.S. tour, with support from Wolfgang Van Halen‘s Mammoth WVH. The outing was originally scheduled for 2020 before being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
(NEW YORK) — After plans to host hundreds of guests at his Martha’s Vineyard estate for a 60th birthday bash drew news media scrutiny, former President Barack Obama has decided to “significantly scale back” the affair, a spokesperson said Wednesday.
“This outdoor event was planned months ago in accordance with all public health guidelines and with COVID safeguards in place. Due to the new spread of the delta variant over the past week, the President and Mrs. Obama have decided to significantly scale back the event to include only family and close friends,” Hannah Hankins said. “President Obama is appreciative of others sending their birthday wishes from afar and looks forward to seeing people soon.”
She declined to give a new estimate of how many guests will attend the gathering.
A COVID coordinator had been slated to work the party, ensuring that all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state and local guidelines were followed, and collect proof of negative test results from guests, who would also attest their vaccination status.
Despite those measures, a source familiar with the decision-making process said the fast-moving COVID developments over the past week, such as rising cases fueled by the delta variant, and new CDC masking guidance for even vaccinated individuals, led to the downsizing in party plans.
“Even last Monday, things looked different than they do today,” the source said.
Obama is turning 60 on Wednesday.
Overall, the Obamas did not want to become a distraction from the Biden administration’s efforts to encourage Americans to get vaccinated, the source said.
According to the New York Times, some party guests had already arrived on Martha’s Vineyard when word of the scaled-down plans was shared.
President Joe Biden was not planning to attend the party.
“While President Biden is unable to attend this weekend, he looks forward to catching up with former President Obama soon and properly welcoming him into the over 60 club,” a Biden administration official said Monday.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the change of party plans.
(MONTGOMERY, Ala.) — As coronavirus cases in Alabama prisons continue to rise, the state Department of Corrections is offering incarcerated individuals incentives to get vaccinated.
Both inmates who get the vaccine and those who’ve already gotten it will get $5 in canteen credit.
The initiative comes as the Alabama Department of Corrections reports a total of 27 people — nine inmates and 18 staff members — tested positive for COVID-19 last week, more than four times the amount of cases reported the previous week. The department said no inmates have participated in the prison’s free vaccination program since July 23, and the vaccination rate for Alabama inmates inside correctional facilities is 62%.
“A confined correctional environment in which social distancing is challenging and all communicable diseases, to include COVID-19, spread more easily is — put simply — starkly different than a community environment,” department spokesperson Kristi Simpson told ABC News, adding that incarcerated people don’t have the “freedoms available to free citizens to ensure public safety.”
Along with this new initiative, Alabama correctional facilities have taken other measures to decrease infection rates, Simpson said, including restricting visitation and non-essential entry into facilities, quarantining new inmates and rescheduling non-emergency medical appointments.
Alabama isn’t the first state to offer incentives to incarcerated individuals. The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision randomly selected vaccinated individuals to receive a care package valued up to $75 last month. In Pennsylvania, inmates were offered $25 in commissary credit.
Forrest Behne, policy director at the COVID Prison Project, an organization dedicated to tracking COVID-19 data and policy in correctional facilities, said that while incentives can help increase vaccination rates, the “high prioritization of vulnerable individuals and early vaccine distribution is really essential.”
“It’s not nothing. Right?” Behne told ABC News of the Alabama incentive, though he also noted that it’s “not as generous” as some other places. “We want to see as many people afforded the opportunity to take a vaccine as possible.”
Prisons aren’t the only entities in Alabama trying to incentivize its community to get the jab. Auburn University rolled out its own vaccination program, offering big-ticket items such as a $1,000 scholarship, priority class registration and a lunch for four with Auburn President Jay Gogue.
President Joe Biden endorsed offering incentives in a briefing last week, encouraging states to use federal COVID-19 relief funds to provide $100 payments to individuals who get vaccinated. States such as Ohio and New York have adopted this approach, but it’s unlikely Alabama will follow suit.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has continued to say there is no need for a statewide incentive program for all residents.
“Let’s focus on encouraging people, educating people about the benefits of taking the shot,” she said during a press conference last week. “That’s all we need to do.”
In a statement to ABC News, the Alabama Department of Corrections said it and its representatives “stand behind Governor Ivey and her statements.” When asked about the different approaches to increasing vaccination rates, the department added, “Governor Ivey recognizes that measures appropriate to advance the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine within a correctional environment are different than those most appropriate for the general population.”
Dr. Karen Landers, area health officer with the Alabama Department of Public Health, told ABC News the department is still researching available options for the use of federal funding to provide vaccination incentives.
According to the CDC, 34.3% of Alabama’s population is fully vaccinated and 43.2% have received one dose.
(NEW YORK) — One year after the blast that destroyed the port of Beirut and a large part of the city, the families of the dead are still looking for answers.
In the aftermath of the huge blast at a warehouse in the port of Beirut, where 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer which can also used as an explosive, had been left there for years, the authorities promised the results of an investigation within days. Instead, not only has the investigation barely advanced, the area around the port blast has barely been repaired, serving as a metaphor for the Lebanese capital’s recent woes.
At least 218 people were killed in what has been described as one of the largest non-nuclear blasts ever recorded, causing billions of dollars in damage. A report by Human Rights Watch published on Aug. 3 has pointed the finger at some government officials, saying some “foresaw the death that the ammonium nitrate’s presence in the port could result in and tacitly accepted the risk of the deaths occurring.”
The caretaker government issued a statement saying the report was “faulty” and “deviates from the truth.”
The country’s problems run far deeper than rebuilding the city, once nicknamed the “Paris of the Middle East.” According to the World Bank, Lebanon is in the midst of an economic crisis that ranks in the top 10, and possible the top three, experienced in any single country since the mid-1800s.
Last year Lebanon entered hyperinflation — and each week the Lebanese pound depreciates in value, leaving goods unaffordable for the once affluent middle class, which has now, according to experts, ceased to exist.
According to the World Bank data, overall poverty in Lebanon was estimated at 27% in 2011, before the Syrian Civil War. Now, however, more than half the population is living below the poverty line, according to UNICEF. Over the past two years alone, the level of extreme poverty has risen threefold, according to the U.N. — and the price of food and drink has risen by 670%. That has left 1.5 million people in need of humanitarian and financial aid.
“For over a year, Lebanese authorities countered an assailment of compounded crises — namely, the country’s largest peace-time economic and financial crisis, COVID-19 and the Port of Beirut explosion — with deliberately inadequate policy responses,” according to the World Bank’s latest report in April 2021. “The inadequacy is less due to knowledge gaps and quality advice and more the result of a combination of (i) a lack of political consensus over effective policy initiatives; and (ii) political consensus in defense of a bankrupt economic system.”
The World Bank describes the collapse as a “deliberate depression,” and on the streets of Beirut Lebanese cannot hide their disdain for the ruling classes.
“This explosion was a disaster for all people,” Raghda Tawfik El-Ashry, 57, a clothes seller, told ABC News. “I was here when it happened, and I saw what nobody had seen. All my goods were damaged because the fire and the ashes fell on them. Where was the state?”
“They are all a bunch of criminals and it’s all about nepotism,” she said. “I won’t remain silent.”
The government, according to Maya Yahya, director of the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, a think tank, has created “no policy” since the Beirut blast. In the aftermath of the 1975-1990 Civil War, a political settlement was reached that has allowed sectarian groups and political actors to all be represented in government, “which basically took away oversight,” Yahya said.
“The militia heads [were allowed] to simply move into government positions,” she said. “They treated the state and its institutions as a war booty. They turned to state institutions into extensions of their own fiefdoms.”
That legacy has plagued the country to this day, she said, while political assassinations, beginning with the killing of Rafic Hariri in 2005, have become a regular feature of political life, she said.
“The message is quite clear. If you raise your voice too much, the threat of physical violence is an instrument we’re always ready to use,” she said.
Most families rely on backup fuel generators, medicine is increasingly scarce and long queues at gas stations are now a fact of daily life in the country.
Elie Jabbour, 24, a recent graduate with a civil engineering degree, told ABC News that of his class of 100, only two had gone on to find meaningful work, and around half at left the country. Each day comes a period, he said, there are hours without electricity, which has become a daily routine.
“We are fully relying on these generators, which are very toxic for the environment,” he told ABC News. “And they are they cannot stand this 24-hour supply of electricity. And this is affecting us since we are living in a [pandemic-induced] lockdown, kind of a lockdown. So our life is highly dependent on the Internet. And in the time where there’s no electricity, there’s no Internet, and there’s in this time, we cannot do anything.”
“[The Lebanese people] have lost hope,” he added. “They are trying to fight with whatever is remaining, they are losing money by the day and there’s no middle class anymore.”
Many young, educated Lebanese are now fleeing the country in search of “dignity,” Rani, a 25-year-old resident of Beirut, told ABC News. He is planning to join abroad.
“The situation right now in Lebanon is beyond horrendous,” he said. “We have multiple crises. We have the crisis of the pandemic, an economic crisis, an ethical crisis, a cultural crisis. Education is going down. Finding food — basic necessities — being able to supply yourself with basic necessities is growing more and more difficult.”
The decline has been rapid, although according to independent Lebanese economist Roy Badaro, can be attributed to decades of mismanagement from the political class. Particularly consequential was the pegging of the value of the Lebanese pound to the U.S. dollar, Badaro said, which hid the country’s structural imbalances and fiscal deficit.
“The demand is very high because of the crazy prices of the necessities,” Soha Zaiter, Head of the Lebanese Food Bank, told ABC News. “A lot of people lost their jobs in the crisis so they don’t have any income; on the other hand, for people that still have their jobs, the value of the salary is very low in comparison to the prices. People are in need of everything, literally everything. From the smallest things to the most important items, like milk, diapers, oil, rice.”
According to independent Lebanese economist Roy Badaro, Lebanon requires new leadership — a single unitary government that can navigate the competing interests of various groups, in order to pave the way out of the crisis.
“You have the Shia/Sunni problem. You have the Ottoman/Arab problem. You have the East and West issue. You have the Europeans and the U.S. All these interactions. I think that Lebanon suffers from that,” he told ABC News. “We need to be rowing in the same direction. At the moment we are in a boat where each oar is rowing in a different direction.”
Selena Gomez said she’s disappointed that yet another television show mocked her kidney transplant.
Paramount+’s The Good Fight found itself in hot water when a recent episode contained a scene where several characters bemoaned cancel culture and said people now “need a permission slip to tell a joke.”
When the characters discuss what jokes are definitely considered off-limits, Ifádansi Rashad‘s Jim queries if “Selena Gomez’s kidney transplant” makes the cut. Other topics floated by other characters include autism and necrophilia.
“I am not sure how writing jokes about organ transplants for television shows has become a thing but sadly it has apparently,” Selena said Tuesday on Twitter. “I hope in the next writer’s room when one of these tasteless jokes are presented it’s called out immediately and doesn’t make it on air.”
The “Lose You to Love Me” singer also shouted out her fans for “always [having] my back” in a follow-up post, and encouraged those who “are able” to register to become an organ donor.
Paramount and The Good Fight showrunners have yet to publicly respond to Selena’s comments. The show had tweeted about cancel culture to tease the upcoming episode.
Previously, the Peacock Saved By the Bell revival and the Chinese variety show Who’s the Murderer? came under fire for joking about Gomez’s health. Both shows apologized and removed the problematic content.
Selena revealed in 2017 that she’d needed a kidney transplant as a result of her struggle with the autoimmune disease lupus. The Grammy nominee shared a photo of her and her donor, friend Francia Raisa, lying side-by-side in the hospital.
(TOKYO) — Each day, ABC News will give you a roundup of key Olympic moments from the day’s events in Tokyo, happening 13 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Standard Time. After a 12-month delay, the unprecedented 2020 Summer Olympics is taking place without fans or spectators and under a state of emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Sydney McLaughlin wins gold, sets a new world record in 400m hurdles
Team USA’s Sydney McLaughlin set a new world record of 51.46 seconds for the 400m hurdles and picked up the gold medal along the way. She was congratulated by teammate Dalilah Muhammad who won the silver in the event.
The previous world record for the men’s 400m hurdles was also smashed yesterday by Norway’s Karsten Warholm.
U.S. women’s basketball heads to semifinals, win streak extended to 53
The United States women’s basketball team has now won 53 straight games at the Olympics, a streak extending from the 1992 Olympic Games. Team USA defeated Australia 79-55 in an effort led by Breanna Stewart with 23 points.
USA baseball sets sights on gold after 3-1 win over Dominica
The U.S. baseball team beat the Dominican Republic 3-1 to stay in the hunt for gold. Triston Casas hit his third home run of the Olympic Games and Team USA will play the loser of Japan-South Korea next on Thursday.
COVID-19 cases at Tokyo Olympics rise to 327
There were 28 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday, including four athletes, three of whom were staying at the Olympic Village at the time of the positive test. The total now stands at 327, according to data released by the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee.
The surrounding city of Tokyo reported 4,166 new cases on Tuesday, a seven-day average increase of 178.0%, according to data from the Tokyo metropolitan government.
Allyson Felix one step closer to making history
U.S. sprinter Allyson Felix finished second in her heat and advanced to the semifinals of the women’s 400m, putting her one step closer to reaching a record 10 Olympic gold medals.
If Felix wins the 400m, she would have the record for most gold medals of any female track and field athlete with 10. If she also wins the 4x400m relay, she would surpass legend Carl Lewis with the most track and field gold medals ever. The Tokyo Games are the fifth Olympics for the 35-year-old track star.
Japan extends domination in skateboarding events
Japan’s Sakura Yosozumi won the gold in the first ever Olympic skateboarding park event, followed by 12-year-old Kokona Hiraki, Japan’s youngest medalist.
(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 614,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.2 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 58.2% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC last week, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, changed its mask guidance to now recommend everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission — vaccinated or not — wear a face covering in public, indoor settings.
Here’s how the news is developing Wednesday. All times Eastern:
Aug 04, 10:01 am
WHO chief: No booster shots until at least end of September
The World Health Organization is calling for a moratorium on booster shots until more people from low-income countries have received a vaccine.
Low-income countries have only been able to administer 1.5 shots for every 100 people due to lack of supply, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said Wednesday.
A moratorium on boosters until at least the end of September will “enable at least 10% of the population of every country to be vaccinated,” he said.
Aug 04, 9:20 am
Alabama hospital sees deadliest day of pandemic
Four COVID-19 patients at Regional Medical Center in Anniston, Alabama — all unvaccinated — died within 24 hours, marking the hospital’s deadliest day of the pandemic, The Anniston Star reported.
As delta surges, patients are now getting sicker faster, a doctor at the hospital told the newspaper.
Only 28% of residents in Calhoun County are fully vaccinated, according to The Anniston Star.
Aug 04, 8:24 am
Obama to ‘significantly scale back’ 60th birthday party
Former President Barack Obama has decided to “significantly scale back” his 60th birthday party on Martha’s Vineyard due to the spread of the delta variant, according to a spokesperson. Hundreds of guests were expected to attend.
“This outdoor event was planned months ago in accordance with all public health guidelines and with covid safeguards in place. Due to the new spread of the delta variant over the past week, the President and Mrs. Obama have decided to significantly scale back the event to include only family and close friends,” spokesperson Hannah Hankins said in a statement.
Obama’s office did not give a new estimate of how many guests will attend.
After Simone Biles took home the bronze medal in the individual balance beam competition at the Tokyo Olympics, she celebrated with none other than pop star Taylor Swift.
Biles, who previously withdrew from several gymnastic events due to mental health reasons, reacted to the meaningful video Swift voiced in support of her return to the Games.
Taylor calls the gymnast a “hero” in the promo that was aired on NBC and lauded her decision to put her mental health first, saying it sets a great example for generations to come.
“She’s perfectly human,” the Grammy winner expressed in the emotional clip. “And that’s why it makes it so easy to call her a hero.”
Biles retweeted the video and revealed just how much Swift’s words meant to her.
“I’m crying,” she gushed. “How special. I love you @taylorswift13.”
Taylor was quick to reach out to the gymnast and let her know that she wasn’t the only one shedding a few happy tears that evening.
“I cried watching YOU. I feel so lucky to have gotten to watch you all these years, but this week was a lesson in emotional intelligence and resilience,” the “willow” singer expressed. “We all learned from you. Thank you.”
Now that Biles has won the bronze, she is officially tied with gymnast Shannon Miller as the most decorated U.S. Olympic gymnast. Miller, a 90s phenomenon, won seven Olympic medals during her career.
Prior to her dramatic comeback, Biles had withdrawn from competing on the vault, uneven bars and floor events. The 24-year-old gymnast admitted Tuesday she “wasn’t expecting to medal” but was “pretty happy” by the result.
Looks like Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis aren’t the only celebrity parents who don’t wash their children every day. Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard readily admitted they wait for their daughters smell before throwing them in a bathtub.
When speaking to The View Tuesday, co-host Meghan McCain admitted that Kutcher and Kunis’ recent admission made her reevaluate if she is “bathing my child too much.”
Shepard hailed his former Armchair Expert guests, who made the reveal on his podcast last week and sparked a nationwide conversation about hygiene. Joking that the couple are now seen as “bad parents,” he and Bell revealed that they’re members of the same club.
“What’s interesting is, we bathed our children every single night prior to bed as part of a routine — and then, somehow, they started to go to sleep on their own without the routine,” Shepard said in reference to his two young daughters, Delta and Lincoln, who are six and eight, respectively.
Continued the Parenthood star, “[Kristen and I] had to start saying like, ‘Hey, when’s the last time you bathed them?'”
Bell nodded along to their joint confession and deadpanned, “Yeah, we forget” as her husband jokingly admitted they can go up to nearly a week before they wash their daughters.
“[We go] sometimes five, six days… They don’t smell so, you know, it’s hard,” Shepard quipped.
“I’m a big fan of waiting for the stink,” added Bell. “Once you catch a whiff, that’s biology’s way of letting you know you need to clean it up. I don’t hate what they’re doing. I wait for the stink!”
