OWN has released a preview clip for Oprah Winfrey‘s new primetime special OWN Spotlight: Oprah and Jennifer Hudson.
Centering on Hudson’s upcoming portray of Aretha Franklin in Respect, the special will air Tuesday, July 20 at 10 pm ET. on OWN. It will then be made available on Discovery+ the following day. In addition to discussing her new role as the legendary singer, J-Hud will share the impact that the church had on her life and perform the classic gospel song Amazing Grace.
In related news, ahead of Respect‘s highly anticipated release August 13, Fandango is giving moviegoers early access screenings starting August 8. Fans who attend will also view Becoming: Aretha, a Rotten Tomatoes Original Pre-Show program. A limited number of tickets are now on sale on Fandango.com.
Meanwhile, Jerrod Carmichael has been added to Alicia Vikander‘s upcoming HBO series Irma Vep, Variety reports. He joins Adria Arjona, Carrie Brownstein, Fala Chen, and Devon Ross who were also announced. The limited series follows Vikander as Mira, an American movie star “disillusioned by her career and a recent breakup” who takes a role in Irma Vep — a remake of the French silent film classic, Les Vampires. Carmichael stars as Eamonn, Mira’s ex-boyfriend who’s in Paris for a film. A release date for Irma Vep has not been announced.
Finally, Starz has tapped The Book of Eli co-director Albert Hughes to direct the first and third episodes of the three-installment event series The Continental, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Based on the hit John Wick action movies starring Keanu Reeves, the series is set 40 years before the events of the Wick films. It will center on a young man named Winston, who becomes the character played by Ian McShane in the Wick franchise.
(CHICAGO) — Following another violent weekend in Chicago in which 56 people were shot, 11 fatally, the Chicago Police Department Superintendent David Brown announced a new strategy to combat gun violence.
Brown said the department will create a team of 50 officers to target gun traffickers, straw buyers, unscrupulous licensed firearms dealers and anyone who facilitates the flow of illegal guns into the city.
“The point of this investigations team — which is new and unique, and a first in its class — is to get the gun before it hits the streets at the trafficking level,” Brown said at a news conference Monday. “These third parties need to hear me loud and clear: We’re coming for you, and we’re going to try to charge you with the highest charge we can, if not in the federal system, then at the state attorney’s office.”
The new strategy comes amid an 11% increase in shootings in Chicago this year over the same time period as last year.
Aiming his words at those who purchase illegal guns used in crimes, he said, “Do not buy guns for violent people is our message, or you will pay the price for them by doing what we hope to be serious time.”
“Whatever they’re paying you to go buy these guns … it’s blood money,” Brown said. “Blood is on your hands, and we’re coming for you.”
He said the new gun investigations team will work closely with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as well as state and federal prosecutors in an attempt to demolish any gun pipelines into the city and bring purveyors of illegal firearms to justice.
Brown said one of the major focuses of the team, which the department began assembling in the spring, will be to trace every illegal gun seized in Chicago to the person who sold the weapons to the perpetrators or those who bought the guns on their behalf.
He said the federal government will also being sending a firearms strike force to the city as early as this week to help curb the flow of illegal firearms.
The superintendent also announced that a 24-hour gun trafficking tipline is being established and will be supported by a $1 million fund allocated by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to “give Chicago residents a voice to remove these tools for violence from the streets of Chicago.” He said “significant payouts” will be made for tips that lead to arrests, indictments and convictions of gun traffickers and others that deal in illegal firearms.
“Someone in this community knows who that is, and we want to incentivize you coming forward anonymously,” Brown said. “We want to incentivize you to help the police department protect your community by giving these people up.”
Brown began the news conference by saying that over the weekend, Chicago police officers seized 113 illegal guns and that, so far this year, a total of 6,629 illegal firearms have been taken off the streets — a 26% increase from 2020.
“Every gun recovery is a potential deadly force encounter, and every gun recovery is a potential saved life,” Brown said.
The superintendent added that 3,264 people have been arrested this year on gun charges.
He also announced arrests in two homicides. In one, a 17-year-old juvenile and an 18-year-old man were arrested in the slaying of a 73-year-old Vietnam vet during a July 14 carjacking. In the other, a 31-year-old suspect was arrested in the fatal execution-style shooting of a man on July 17.
But Brown said seizing illegal guns and solving homicides has clearly not been enough to stem the tide of gun violence overwhelming the city, noting the number of shootings that occurred over the weekend.
Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said one of the shootings occurred on Saturday night at a graduation party in the Austin neighborhood on the city’s West Side and left six people injured, including four children.
“This was a group that had gotten together previously to celebrate a graduation party, and it was very successful, a really good group of kids and individuals and no issues,” Deenihan said. “So they decided since they had a successful gathering the first time, then ‘why can’t we do this again?'”
He said that during the party, a vehicle drove up, and two gunmen opened fire on the group mingling outside.
“There was no motive as to anybody in this group was involved in any criminal activity,” Deenihan said.
No arrests were made in what Deenihan described as a mass shooting.
Brown said police in Chicago and across the nation are seeing a surge in drive-by shootings rivaling a level not seen since the 1980s and 1990s.
He said that while the new gun investigations team will be “relentless” in its effort to intercept illegal firearms before they are used on the streets, he added they will need held from the community and “a lot of luck.”
“It’s always better to be lucky than good, but we’re going to be very good at this,” he said. “If we are successful, and I believe we will be, it will save untold lives getting these guns out of the hands of people in the first place instead of waiting until after they use the gun or after we make an arrest and recover the gun. We’ll be on the front end of this to get the traffickers.”
(NEW YORK) — Ciara is a superstar singer, mom, wife and all-around mogul, and her latest venture, Dare to Roam, feels right on time.
Just ahead of back-to-school shopping, the “Level Up” singer has introduced a new line of accessories that are ideal for children and adults.
Dare to Roam launches Aug. 11 and includes stylish, functional backpacks, lunch boxes and pouches.
Ciara was inspired to create the brand after spending lots of time at home and wanting to transform the way we commute, travel and get back into the world post-pandemic.
The collection features EPA-registered antimicrobial texture, which serves as an added layer of protection against harmful bacteria — suppressing the growth of mold, mildew, fungi and bacteria.
The antimicrobial shield also helps to eliminate discoloration, odors and overall deterioration, which allows for each accessory to require less washing and be more sustainably used.
“I’m excited to share a cool new project I’ve been working on to help you rebuild your confidence as you Dare To Roam,” said Ciara in a statement Monday as she shared the collection on Instagram.
Dare to Roam came to life in partnership with NYC-based creative agency Harper + Scott with style, utility and protection top of mind, and the agency’s CEO Michael Scott Cohen mentioned in a statement that Dare to Roam was created based on Ciara’s vision.
Prices range from $42 to $98, and with every purchase, 3% of profits will go toward the Why Not You Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to education, children’s health, fighting poverty and empowering youth to lead with a “why not you” attitude.
What did a year with no live gigs do to the fortunes of rock’s biggest stars? Well, they definitely took a hit, but the lucky few who managed to get some live dates in before the pandemic shut things down did well. Streaming of new releases and catalog reissues also helped.
Billie Eilish is the highest-ranking rock act on Billboard‘s list of the highest-paid musicians of 2020, thanks to three pre-pandemic concerts she performed. However, she made the bulk of her $14.7 million in streaming and publishing, as well as physical album sales.
Queen came in at number seven with earnings of $13.2 million, thanks to some 2020 tour dates, plus royalties from record sales, publishing and massive streaming numbers. In fact, their on-demand audio streams outranked every other veteran act on the list. Globally, Queen soared to number one in the rankings.
Just out of the top 10, AC/DC came in at #13 with $10.1 million, thanks to sales of its 2020 album Power Up, its back catalog and nearly 1.5 billion streams. Metallica came in at #18 with $9 million, mostly thanks to the sales of their August 2020 live album S&M2 and their digitally remastered catalog.
Also in Billboard‘s Top 40: The Lumineers, who managed to play 20 shows in 2020 and earned $6.8 million; Tool, coming in with $6.17 million thanks to nine shows they did in 2020 prior to the pandemic; KISS with $6 million thanks to their 20 live dates, and Aerosmith, who earned $5.35 million thanks to streaming and the shows they played as part of their Las Vegas residency before COVID cut them off.
The list shows just how much rock bands depend on touring revenue; as Billboard notes, the top earners collectively took home $387 million in 2020. By comparison, in 2019, the top earners raked in $969 million.
(ATLANTA) — For the first time in 20 years, the Senate Rules Committee held a field hearing on Monday, this time in Atlanta to discuss voting rights as Democrats push for federal reform in the wake of sweeping legislation in Georgia — and in GOP-led legislatures across the country — which Democrats argue will make it harder for voters to cast their ballots.
“It is no coincidence that this assault on the freedom to vote is happening just after the 2020 election, when nearly 160 million Americans cast a ballot — more than ever before — in the middle of a pandemic, in an election that the Trump Department of Homeland Security Declared the most secure in history,” Committee Chair Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said as she opened the hearing.
Witnesses included Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., and state lawmakers and voters who would be affected by the law — which, in part, adds a voter ID requirement and results in fewer drop boxes available in the Atlanta-area.
Those testifying focused their ire on Senate Bill 202 (SB 202), a Georgia state bill passed in March that shortens the periods between elections and runoffs, bans early voting on holidays, and makes it a crime for someone who is not an election worker to give food or drinks to anyone waiting in line.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticized the hearing in a statement as it kicked off Monday, deeming it all “phony hysteria.”
“This silly stunt is based on the same lie as all the Democrats’ phony hysteria from Georgia to Texas to Washington D.C. and beyond — their efforts to pretend that moderate, mainstream state voting laws with more generous early voting provisions than blue states like New York are some kind of evil assault on our democracy,” the GOP leader said.
But Warnock testified Georgia was “ground zero” for GOP efforts to suppress the vote.
“What we did in Georgia this last election, in terms of turnout, should have been celebrated, by everyone, regardless of political party. But instead it was attacked by craven politicians, who are more committed to the maintenance of their own power than they are to the strengthening and maintaining of our democracy,” Warnock said.
Citing restrictions in Georgia’s new law, particularly how it would prohibit non-poll workers from handing out water and would let people challenge others’ votes, Warnock called for federal voting right protections and emphasized the urgency of those efforts: “We Americans live in a great house that democracy built. Right now, that house is on fire.”
Georgia State Rep. Billy Mitchell also argued SB 202 was moved overly quickly through the Georgia legislature to the governor’s desk.
No Republicans were present at the hearing, but Republicans from Georgia — including Gov. Brian Kemp — criticized the event in a call with reporters later on Monday morning.
“Today’s hearing is just the latest attempt by the Democrats to ignore the catastrophe up in Washington, DC and also to really change the narrative that couldn’t get the federal takeover of elections in S1 [the For the People Act voting rights bill] passed through the Senate or the Congress,” Kemp said.
Klobuchar said that Republicans were invited to join; Kemp said that he was in a hearing about crime during the voting hearing, and that he does not believe Klobuchar’s hearing was fair.
The hearing comes as Senate Democrats put pressure on their colleagues across the aisle to move forward in unison on the stalled For the People Act, an expansive package that would transform federal elections, voting and congressional redistricting, which passed the House in March.
A more measured proposal with some Republican support named for the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., which would restore pieces of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013, has also failed to advance through Congress.
Democrats argue lawmakers must act with more urgency on voting legislation also in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court deciding last month to uphold voting restrictions in Arizona that Democrats and voting advocates have called discriminatory on the basis of race.
Monday’s hearing also comes at a busy time in Washington.
Both chambers of Congress were back in session Monday as Democrats in the Texas State Legislature took harbor in the capital for a second week in order to prevent Republicans in Austin from taking up the proposals in a special legislative session. While they had planned to push voting rights legislation on the hill, five members have tested positive for COVID-19.
And just days after Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Joyce Beatty was arrested along with other activists in a display of civil disobedience on Capitol Hill, the “Women’s Moral Monday March on Washington” rally, organized by the Women’s March and Poor People Campaign, added their voices with a demonstration in front of the Supreme Court Monday.
The group demanded that Congress take action on issues such as ending the filibuster and expanding voting rights.
Sixteen states have enacted 28 laws that would restrict voting access, out of hundreds that have been introduced throughout the country, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.
ABC News’ Libby Cathey and Trish Turner contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Nearly a year and a half after the pandemic forced Canada and the United States to close their borders, fully vaccinated Americans will have their chance to visit the Great White North.
The Canadian government announced Monday that fully vaccinated U.S. residents will be allowed to visit the country starting Aug. 9. Those travelers won’t be subject to quarantine upon entry, the Public Health Agency of Canada said.
In March 2020, the Canadian government banned travel between the two countries, with a few exceptions, because of rising COVID-19 cases around the world. Patty Hajdu, the Canadian minister of health, said the declining cases in the country and rising vaccinations among residents gave the government a strong foundation to allow international visitors.
“Canadians have worked hard and sacrificed for each other, and because of that work, we can take these next steps safely,” she said in a statement.
Americans who wish to travel to the country must be 14 days out of their second shot, according to the new rules. They must also submit their vaccination documentation and other information on the ArriveCAN website or app in order to get approval of entry.
A negative COVID-19 test is also required prior to entry.
If the health trends continue to progress favorably, the Canadian government will allow fully vaccinated travelers from other nations to visit the country.
For the last 16 months, the Canadian government has only allowed Americans to enter under certain conditions, such as if they had immediate family, were international students or worked in the country.
(NEW YORK) — As the end of summer approaches, teachers are already preparing for the school year ahead, which is happening again this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
To help teachers, select retailers are offering special back-to-school deals and discounts.
Here are some of the retailers offering special deals now for teachers.
Target
Target is offering teachers a one-time, 15% discount on select classroom supplies and essentials now through July 31. Teachers need to sign up for Target Circle and verify their teacher status to be eligible.
All K-12 teachers, homeschool teachers, teachers working at daycare centers and early childhood learning centers, university or college professors and vocational/trade/technical school teachers are eligible, according to Target.
Staples
At Staples stores across the country, teachers and school administrators can get 20% off select purchases now through Sept. 30.
Parents can also help support teachers through Staples’ Classroom Rewards program, which gives a percentage of their qualifying purchase made at a Staples store back to an enrolled teacher or school administrator of their choice, according to the company.
To start getting discounts, parents, teachers and school administrators must download the Staples Connect app and enroll in Classroom Rewards.
Check here for updates as more deals and discounts are announced.
L-R – O’Halloran, Anderson in “Clerks” — Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Lionsgate will release the third Clerks film from writer-director Kevin Smith.
Quoting Tao Te Ching on Twitter — pretty high falutin’ for the guy who got famous from the potty-mouthed low-budget film — Smith noted, “To be great is to go on. To go on is to go far. To go far is to return.”
The third movie is about to get underway in New Jersey, where the original black and white film was shot. Smith thanked the studio, noting, “On August 2, for my 51st birthday, I return to Quick Stop – the little store that started it all – with my friends Dante, Randal, Jay, Silent Bob, Becky, & Elias!…”
The 1994 film was shot on a shoestring budget, at the convenience store Smith worked at the time. It centered on lament-filled employee Dante, played by Brian O’Halloran, and Jeff Anderson as his goof-off pal Randal, as they negotiated a day in their lives as hourly working stiffs. Smith had a role as Silent Bob, the mute yin to Jason Mewes motor-mouthed weed dealer Jay’s yang.
The film made Smith famous, and spawned a sequel in 2006, which added Rosario Dawson and Trevor Fehrman to the ensemble; they’re returning for the third, Smith confirmed.
According to a press release, the film will follow Randal surviving a near-fatal heart attack, and then enlisting his pals to immortalize his life in film.
Smith himself survived a near fatal heart attack in 2018.
Smith called the return to the Garden State, “an ode to both the enduring allure of cinema and the resourcefulness and lunacy of its storytellers.”
He added, “Years ago, Dante and Randal made me a filmmaker – so now it’s time I return the favor.”
“To be great is to go on.
To go on is to go far.
To go far is to return.”
On August 2, for my 51st birthday, I return to Quick Stop – the little store that started it all – with my friends Dante, Randal, Jay, Silent Bob, Becky, & Elias! Thank you @Lionsgate for making CLERKS III! https://t.co/7IUNdleg8f
Keyshia Cole‘s biological mother, Frankie Lons, has passed away at age 61.
According to TMZ, Lons, whose struggle with substance abuse was documented on Cole’s various BET reality series, including Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is, reportedly overdosed at her Oakland home on Sunday, the same day she was celebrating her 61st birthday.
Cole’s younger sister, Elite, confirmed the news of her mother’s death in an IG Story. “Worse pain ever….to see my mama in a body bag on her birthday! My heart so f***in broke.”
As you may recall, Cole had a rocky relationship with her biological mother and father, Virgil Hunter. Although the singer was adopted and raised by family friends, she eventually reunited with her biological family once her career hit the mainstream.
It was just early last year that Cole had praised her mother for deciding to check herself into rehab.
“Maybe that’s what’l make THIS Time different,” she’d written in a now-deleted post. “This being what YOU WANTED AND NO ONE ELSE….”
As of March of last year, Frankie had reportedly been sober for 60 days.
Cole has not yet commented on her mother’s passing.
(WASHINGTON) — A Florida man who joined in the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol will serve eight months in prison with 24 months of supervised release, in the first felony sentencing to result from the Justice Department’s sprawling investigation into the insurrection.
Washington, D.C., district judge Randolph Moss said that Paul Hodgkins, 38, who was seen in videos entering the Senate chamber and taking selfies, appeared “prepared for conflict” as he joined the pro-Trump mob in breaching the Capitol in what the judge described as a grave threat to democracy itself.
The Justice Department had asked for Hodgkins to be sentenced to 18 months in prison, while his attorneys had asked that he be released without any prison sentence.
Referring to pictures of Hodgkins holding a red “Trump 2020” flag in the well of the Senate, Moss said it showed “he was staking a claim on the floor of the U.S. Senate, not with an American flag but a flag of a single individual over a nation.”
In remarks leading up to handing down his sentence, the judge sought repeatedly to underscore the danger of the Jan. 6 attack and its threat to the country’s democratic foundation.
“Jan. 6 means it will be harder for our country and diplomats to convince other nations to pursue democracy, to convince our children that democracy stands as the immutable foundation of this nation; it means that we are now all fearful about the next attack in a way that we never were,” Moss said. “It may be the attack on the Capitol was never going to succeed at preventing certification the election, but it did succeed in delaying the democratic process. And that stain will remain on us and on this country for years to come.”
Moss sought to make clear that his sentencing was reflective of Hodgkins’ actions alone and should not be seen as applying to what other similarly-charged defendants might face with guilty convictions for the felony charge of obstructing Congress’ certification of President Joe Biden’s election win. Still, the punishment creates a new benchmark for attorneys defending the hundreds of other alleged rioters not charged with violent crimes, who are weighing whether to engage in plea agreements with the government.
Anna Morgan-Lloyd, a 49-year-old hair salon owner, became the first person sentenced in connection with the Jan. 6 attack when she was sentenced on June 23 to three years of probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a capitol building.
Another rioter, Michael Curzio, was sentenced to six months in jail earlier this month after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge. Hodgkins is the first rioter to be sentenced for a more serious felony charge.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mona Sedky argued during Monday’s sentencing hearing that while Hodgkins was not directly accused of participating in any violence during the assault on the Capitol, his actions and advanced preparation for conflict before coming to D.C. that day made him a key player in furthering what she called “an act of domestic terror.”
In response, Hodgkins’ attorney Patrick Leduc called Sedky’s characterization “offensive,” saying it was “gaslighting the country, and it needs to stop.”
“It was a protest that became a riot,” Leduc said, noting that to date no defendants among the more than 540 charged thus far have specifically been charged with terrorism offenses.
Sedky said the government’s request that Hodgkins serve 18 months in prison with three years of supervised release — which represents the mid-range of sentencing guidelines for the felony Hodgkins pleaded guilty to — should lay down an effective deterrent for any individuals thinking of engaging in similar conduct and disrupting the functions of the government.
“I have a hard time thinking of a crime that, at its core, is more the epitome of disrespecting the law,” Sedky said. “It’s truly flouting lawmakers and law enforcement officers who were there to protect them, and the laws that they were trying to enforce to basically transfer power from one president to another president. And so the need to promote respect for the law is really at its pinnacle in a crime like this.”
Prior to being sentenced, Hodgkins addressed the court to express regret for his actions, saying that he traveled to D.C. “with the intention of supporting the president I loved.” He said went there to participate in a march on Pennsylvania Avenue but never anticipated joining in the storming of Capitol.
“I wish to state that I completely acknowledge and accept that Joseph R. Biden Jr. is rightfully and respectfully the president of the United States,” Hodgkins said. “To put things in short, I allowed myself to put passion before my principles, which resulted in me violating the law for the first time in my life — a thing which I definitely feel shame for, and something that I vow never to let happen again.”
Hodgkins pleaded with Judge Moss not to sentence him to time in prison, saying he feared it would mean he would lose his job just before he’s set to receive a promotion, and make it difficult for him to find a temporary home for his two cats.
“If there is still a debt that I owe society then I hope that I may be able to pay that debt in a way that affords me the ability to continue to be an otherwise law-abiding, working class and taxpaying citizen, rather than becoming a drain on society,” Hodgkins said.
The judge, however, said that Jan. 6 was more than just a simple riot.
“There were people who were swarming into the halls of the Capitol saying, ‘Where’s Nancy?’ The chambers of Congress were emptied during the most solemn act in a democracy of certifying who the next president is going to be by an angry mob,” Moss said. “That is not an exercise of First Amendment rights by any measure.”
