Comstock/ThinkstockA very happy birthday is in order to the country star best known for this beloved ‘90s hit “Dust on the Bottle.” This Illinois native, who’s also a frequent collaborator of Kenny Chesney, turns 61 today. Can you name him? ANSWER: David Lee Murphy.
By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
TBSTonight, Jennifer Nettles sits side-by-side with fellow celebrity judges Snoop Dogg, actress Rosario Dawson, and wrestler Cody Rhodes, for the premiere of TBS’ new extreme talent competition, Go-Big Show.
Make no mistake — this is not American Idol, The Voice, or even America’s Got Talent.
“I immediately was drawn to how different this show is,” Jennifer tells ABC Audio. “Obviously, we’ve seen a ton of talent competition shows. Most of them are performing-arts-based, singing and dancing, and this show is everything except that — to the extreme.”
“It’s like extreme motor sports,” she explains, “extreme body manipulation, extreme animals, extreme sports trick shots. It’s completely adrenalized.”
The Sugarland singer and actress calls it “big action… big danger… big talent” in the tradition of daredevils like Evel Knievel and shows like That’s Incredible, but says it’s the contestants with “big heart” that really spoke to her.
“There is Andrew S., who does a fantastic, like, crazy-wild part-martial-arts, part-side-show — I’ll call it body manipulation — that really, really knocked me out,” she recalls. “Curtis Downs — BMX, amazing, amazing stunt-Nitro-circus kid, does the whole thing — he blew me away.”
Since Jennifer’s hanging out with Snoop, it seems she might’ve had the chance to have a little “fun” with the cannabis enthusiast.
“This whole show was a contact high,” she laughs. “If it wasn’t the adrenaline from the stage, it was sitting next to Snoop. High and hilarity all the time!”
“So a lot of fun…” she continues. “I’ll keep it PG for the families because this is a show for everybody. But yeah, he definitely brought his authentic self to the show in all the ways.”
Go-Big Show premieres tonight at 9 p.m. ET on TBS, with the winner taking home $100,000.
By Stephen Hubbard
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Burke/Triolo Productions/ThinkstockCountry rapper Lil Nas X, who rose to superstardom in 2019 with his ubiquitous hit “Old Town Road,” is officially a children’s book author. His alphabetical C Is for Country came out earlier this week.
Runaway June band mate Natalie Stovall shared on social media this week that she suffered “a mild case” of COVID-19 over the holidays. She’s the second member of the trio to contract the virus: Jennifer Wayne shared her story of battling COVID-19 back in April of 2020.
By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
J. Scott Applewhite – Pool/Getty ImagesHours after a pro-Trump mob broke into the U.S. Capitol to protest the results of the 2020 election, Congress ratified the electoral votes cast in the general election and certified the victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
The announcement was made by Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar at 3:39 a.m. Thursday. Vice President Mike Pence then repeated the totals at 3:40 a.m., first for president, then for vice president.
Biden will take Trump’s place in the White House on Jan. 20.
Rep. Louie Gohmert and other House Republicans attempted to object to Wisconsin’s electoral votes but did not have a senator join the objection. Gohmert said a senator had withdrawn his objection.
Biden and Harris finished with 306 electoral votes, while Trump and Pence finished with 232. A minimum 270 electoral votes are needed to win the White House.
In a statement tweeted by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino following the news, President Trump said: “Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”
The statement marks the first time Trump has publicly acknowledged Biden’s victory and agreed to a peaceful transfer of power.
Following Wednesday’s protest and storming of the Capitol, four people are dead, according to Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee. One woman and two men suffered “medical emergencies” at the protests, and have subsequently died, Contee said during a press conference Wednesday night.
Another woman was shot and killed during a standoff inside the U.S. Capitol between law enforcement and pro-Trump rioters. The unidentified woman was shot by a Capitol police officer after “multiple individuals forced entry into the Capitol building, and attempted to gain access to the house and attempted to gain access to the house, room, which was still in session,” Contee said Wednesday. She was transported to a local hospital where after all lifesaving efforts failed, and she was pronounced dead.
By Libby Cathey, Catherine Thorbecke, Morgan Winsor, and Rosa Sanchez
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
Democrats took control of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday after Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock were projected to win their runoff races in Georgia. CNN, NBC, ABC and The New York Times said both Democratic challengers will win the Tuesday election.
Ossoff had 50.28% of the vote to incumbent Sen. David Perdue’s 49.72, according to the Georgia secretary of state’s website. Warnock had 50.7% of the vote in the special Senate race to Sen. Kelly Loeffler’s 49.3%. With 100% of precincts reporting Wednesday afternoon, both Ossoff and Warnock had enough of a lead to avoid an automatic recount.
Warnock will become the first Black senator from Georgia. Ossoff declared victory, saying “I will look forward to serving you in the United States with integrity, with humility, with honor.”
The upper chamber will be divided 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, but Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would break any tie votes in favor of the Democrats.
Editorial credit: Michael Scott Milner / Shutterstock.com
John Moore/Getty ImagesAs the chaotic scene continued in the nation’s capital with the world watching, President Donald Trump continued to tweet his repeated his false claim that the presidential election was stolen from him and tried to justify the storming of the U.S. Capitol that he encouraged earlier in the day.
“These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long,” he said.
After hours of chaos and as the Virginia State Police arrived at the U.S. Capitol Building, the president called on his supporters to “go home” in a one-minute video message posted to Twitter — which has since been removed across social media. In the message, President Trump, without evidence, called the election “stolen” and fraudulent,” but told the protesters to go home “in peace.”
“It’s a very tough period of time. There’s never been a time like this where such a thing happened where they could take it away from all of us from me from you from our country. This was a fraudulent election. But we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace.”
“So go home. We love you. You’re very special. You’ve seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel — but go home and go home in peace,” he said.
Former President George W. Bush released a statement on what he called an “insurrection” at the U.S. Capitol, calling it “a sickening and heartbreaking sight.”
“This is how election results are disputed in a banana republic – not our democratic republic. I am appalled by the reckless behavior of some political leaders since the election and by the lack of respect shown today for our institutions, our traditions, and our law enforcement,” Bush said.
President-elect Joe Biden, who was scheduled to deliver afternoon remarks on the economy, addressed the unrest at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday afternoon from Wilmington, Delaware, and called on President Trump to “step up” and condemn the chaos being committed in his name.
“I call on President Trump to go on national television now, to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege,” Biden said. “To storm the Capitol, to smash windows, to occupy offices, the floor of the United States Senate, rummaging through desks — on the Capitol, on the House of Representatives — threatening the safety of duly elected officials, it’s not a protest. It’s insurrection.”
As of Wednesday night, the U.S. Capitol building was finally secured, hours after Trump supporters forced their way inside. Thousands had gathered on and around the National Mall earlier to hear remarks by Trump, who falsely claimed he won November’s presidential election “in a landslide.” After his speech, some protesters clashed with police, breaking through a police line, forcing their way to the Capitol, where members of Congress debated certification of the Electoral College win by President-elect Joe Biden.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said the Washington, D.C. National Guard had been deployed and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam also approved the state’s National Guard and state police to be deployed to the Capitol. Authorities deployed tear gas to disperse the crowd surrounding the Capitol ahead of a 6 p.m. curfew ordered by Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, which is set to last through 6 a.m. Thursday. She said no one other than essential workers and working media may be in public places or use transportation during the curfew hours. Gov. Northam also instituted a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for Alexandria and Arlington and declared a state of emergency.
A pipe bomb was found at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee, a block away from the Capitol building, and the headquarters of the Democratic National Convention was evacuated after an unidentified package was found. 13 people were arrested and about five weapons were recovered, and at least one person who was shot on the Capitol grounds was later pronounced dead.
Trump released a video on Twitter in which he continued to repeat claims that the election was “stolen from us” but called on people to leave the Capitol and go home. Later in the evening, however, Trump tweeted that the breach of the Capitol building was a result of when “a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly and unfairly treated for so long.” That post was also removed and Trump’s twitter account was suspended for 12 hours.
Congress was forced to go into recess and Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress were evacuated due to the violence outside. The session resumed Wednesday night.
Editorial credit: Aaron of L.A. Photography / Shutterstock.com
Just days before Morgan Wallen‘s new Dangerous: The Double Album arrives in stores and online, reports are that Walmart “leaked” the music early by displaying and selling the album before its January 8th release date in a hand full of stores.
Morgan took to social media to address the issue in a video clip, with the caption, “If anyone’s gonna leak my music, it should be me. Links for leaks will be in my story shortly.”
Morgan’s sophomore project, Dangerous: The Double Album, will be officially released this Friday, Jan. 8, 2021. It features 30-songs, which includes more than a dozen tracks co-penned by Morgan himself.
Editorial credit: Tony Norkus / Shutterstock.com
Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard and Tim McGraw are teaming up up to release a new collaboration titled “Undivided” on Jan. 13.
Hubbard co-wrote the track while in quarantine in his tour bus after testing positive for COVID-19. Hubbard and FGL’s Brian Kelley addressed their fanbase in a recent video, where the two talked about pursuing their solo music and collaborations with other artists, but reassuring fans that they weren’t breaking up.
“Undivided” will be on the deluxe edition of McGraw’s latest studio album Here on Earth, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Country Albums chart in September. The deluxe LP is set to be released later this spring. You can pre-order “Undivided” – here.
Editorial credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com
Machine Gun Kelly has set a premiere date for his upcoming musical film, Downfalls High. The movie, based on MGK’s 2020 album Tickets to My Downfall, will make its debut on January 15.
Kelly wrote and directed Downfalls High in collaboration with Mod Sun. The film is narrated by Kelly and his Tickets collaborator Travis Barker, and features appearances from producer blackbear, “Mood” featured artist iann dior, and rapper Trippe Redd.
For more info, check out the official website at DownfallsHigh.com. You can watch a new trailer for the movie via YouTube.
Editorial credit: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com
