Archives: Episodes

After Tory Lanez allegedly assaulted August Alsina Saturday night at the Fall Back in Love show in Chicago, the promoter kicked him off the tour.

Rip Micheals told TMZ he witnessed Lanez punch Alsina and that the Canadian rapper will not perform on any more tour shows. Artists on the tour include Ne-Yo, Trey Songz and Mario.

As previously reported, the Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the incident.

“The allegations are serious and will be thoroughly examined,” a spokesperson for the L.A. District Attorney’s Office told Billboard in a statement.

A Twitter video shows Alsina ignored a fist bump from Lanez backstage at the Arie Crown Theatre in Chicago. In the final half of the video, as Lanez is seen walking away, a man off-camera commented, “Tory says he knocked August Alsina’s a** right out with one punch.”

The Chicago Police Department tells Billboard they received a report of a 30-year-old man being “punched in the face by a 30-year-old male” outside the Arie Crown Theatre on Saturday night.

Alsina posted an Instagram photo of himself in an elevator with blood streaming from his mouth. He claimed that he hadn’t said any “disrespectful words” but was suddenly punched by Lanez.

Tory denied the incident, telling DJ Akademiks, “I don’t know if he is doing a promo—I don’t know what that n**** is talking about.”

Lanez is currently out on bail after being charged with shooting Megan Thee Stallion following a July 2020 pool party in the Hollywood Hills. He is charged with felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, personal use of a firearm and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle. Lanez faces up to 22 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

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Fresh off of its Emmy wins for show creator, writer and co-star Quinta Brunson and Sheryl Lee Ralph, Abbott Elementary returns for its sophomore season Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET on ABC. 

Tyler James Williams, who plays newbie teacher Gregory Eddie, tells ABC Audio that watching the show take off has been a trip. 

“Third episode aired…third or fourth. It had trended on Twitter from the week prior directly into the next episode for a full week later. And that’s when I understood it was like, ‘I think we have something big here, you guys,'” he said. “[W]hen people talked about it for a week straight, that’s when you know.” 

Janelle James, who plays sarcastic principal Ava Coleman opines, “[I]t feels so good. Like, the most feedback that I get from people is that this is their, like, feel good show and they watch it with their families.”

She says, “I really think that’s amazing to me and it’s just good in a time where, you know, a lot of things are happening, to be part of something that makes people feel good and is happy.”

Ironically, considering her Emmy win, Ralph once thought her kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard wouldn’t be a stand-out character. “[H]onest to God, I didn’t think that anybody was going to see my performance. I thought that I was just going to be there,” she said. “And I had no idea that people would react to Mrs. Howard the way they have.”

She wanted to play the principal, but Brunson talked her out of it. “[S]he said, ‘Oh, Ms. Ralph, no, we need a queen for Mrs. Howard, and you are that queen,'” Ralph recalled. “So I was like, ‘Okay, thank you very much. I’ll be the Queen.'”

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It was a joyous meeting of Dreamgirls as Sheryl Lee Ralph appeared Tuesday on The Jennifer Hudson Show.

Ralph, who recently won her first Emmy for her role in Abbott Elementary, starred in the original Dreamgirls Broadway production from 1981-1985. She portrayed Deena Jones, lead singer of The Dreams.
Hudson starred as singer Effie White in the 2006 Dreamgirls film, for which she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Sheryl recalled following several outstanding vocalists when she auditioned for the Tony award-winning musical.

“The building was literally levitating off of the concrete, that’s how wonderful they were,” Ralph remembered. “And then there was me.”

When the producers announced two names they choose for the play, Sheryl was ready to leave, assuming she was rejected. Then, they called her name.

“I’m really having a moment, because I wish I’d have been able to see that [version of the musical],” Hudson said. “I was born the year that came out.”

The duo decided to have “some Dreamgirls fun” and wore pink feather boas, with Ralph commenting, “Girl, now this is not any cheap boa so you know I’m keeping it.”

“I can’t believe I get to do this,” Hudson said. She then followed Ralph’s choreography as they danced and sang along to the Dreamgirls’ title song.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe I just got to ha that moment with you,” Jennifer told the 65-year-old actress. “That was a dream, she’s a dream.”

Ralph returns as kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard for the second season of Abbott Elementary, which debuts Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

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Cardi B and Offset celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary Monday night, and the “I Like It Like That” rapper serenaded her husband with a Beyoncé song.

While riding to a restaurant for a romantic candlelit dinner, Cardi sang “Plastic on the Sofa” from Queen Bey’s new album, Renaissance.

“We don’t need the world’s acceptance, they too hard on me / They’re too hard on you, boy / I’ll always be your secret weapon in your arsenal,” she sang softly while gently caressing her husband’s face in a video posted to her Instagram Stories.

When she asked if he thinks she can sing, Offset replied, “Yeah, you got some vocals.”

Earlier that day, Cardi also sang a line from “Plastic on the Sofa” when she received a surprise personalized early birthday gift from Beyoncé. Mrs. Carter sent her a handwritten note across the top of a vinyl copy of the Renaissance album.

“To: Cardi B,” the 28-time Grammy winner wrote. “Hard working, beautiful and talented queen, thank you for always supporting me. Sending so much love to you and yours, Respect, Beyoncé.” The “Bodak Yellow” rapper was thrilled as she displayed her present on Twitter.

“Look what Beyoncé sent me,” Cardi said, holding the vinyl up to the camera for all her followers to see. “It’s so beautiful, so lovely. I’m gonna put it in a glass frame with laser beams on it. Anybody who gets motherf***ing next to it is gonna get electrocuted on motherf****ing sight.”She ended her video saying, “I just wanna say thank you so much. I feel so special.”

Cardi turns 30 years old on October 11. She married Offset on September 20, 2017 in Atlanta. They have two children together: son Wave, who turned one on September 4, and daughter Kulture, 4.

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Whitney Houston’s movie debut, The Bodyguard, is heading back to theaters for its 30th anniversary.

The special screenings — scheduled for Sunday, November 6 and Wednesday, November 9 — will also include Whitney’s videos for two songs from the soundtrack — “Queen of the Night” and “I Will Always Love You” — immediately following the film.

Tickets for the screenings go on sale September 28 at 10 a.m. ET via TheBodyguard30.com.

The Bodyguard stars Whitney as Rachel Marron, a superstar actress and singer who hires a bodyguard, played by Kevin Costner, after being threatened by a stalker. The two eventually fall in love, but their romance is ill-fated. The film grossed over $400 million worldwide.

To go along with the 30th anniversary of the film, a vinyl version of The Bodyguard soundtrack will arrive November 18, with a “smoky lavender” colored vinyl available exclusively at Target. You can pre-order it now.

The Bodyguard soundtrack, featuring Whitney’s megahit version of Dolly Parton’s song “I Will Always Love You,” has sold more than 45 million copies worldwide, making it the top-selling soundtrack album of all time. It also won the Grammy for Album of the Year.

As previously reported, the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody hits theaters December 21.

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One of the two people who accused Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears of child molestation have reportedly withdrawn their lawsuit against the stars, TMZ is reporting.

The celebrity comics were accused of hiring two then-children to appear in a past Funny or Die sketch called Through a Pedophile’s Eyes.

The two plaintiffs in the withdrawn suit, identified as Jane Doe, 22, and her now-14-year-old brother, John Doe, were respectively 14 and 7 years old at the time they were paid by family friend Haddish to appear in the sketch, the suit alleged.

One reportedly had the female eating a hero sandwich while moaning and simulating sex acts she was coached to perform; the other had the boy playing and bathing as Spears’ character leered and interacted with him suggestively.

In a statement to TMZ on Tuesday, Jane Doe noted, “My family and I have known Tiffany Haddish for many years – and we now know that she would never harm me or my brother or help anyone else do anything that could harm us.”

She concluded, “We wish Tiffany the best and are glad that we can all put this behind us.”

The statement didn’t mention Spears, who called the suit “extortion” in an Instagram video.

After the suit was filed, Haddish told her fans, “Unfortunately because there is an ongoing legal case, there’s very little that I can say right now. But, clearly, while this sketch was intended to be comedic, it wasn’t funny at all — and I deeply regret having agreed to act in it.”

Haddish’s attorney, Andrew Brettler, insisted to Vanity Fair that the suit was baseless.

He added of the two now-adult accusers, “The two of them will together face the consequences of pursuing this frivolous action.”

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(NEW YORK) — A Little League World Series player who was seriously injured after falling from a bunk bed while staying at the Little League World Series Complex in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, is back home in Utah after getting discharged from the hospital.

Easton Oliverson’s parents say they’re thankful to have their 12-year-old home after over a month of uncertainty.

“There were many moments this past few weeks where we didn’t think that he was ever going to be able to come home. We thought our son wasn’t going to make it,” Easton’s father Jace Oliverson told ABC News’ Good Morning America.

Easton, a baseball pitcher and left fielder, had traveled with his Snow Canyon Little League team, which hails from Santa Clara, Utah, to Pennsylvania in August to play in the Little League World Series. On the night of Aug. 15, however, he fell from a bunk bed in one of the league’s dormitories while sleeping and suffered a serious head injury, leading to a fractured skull, broken artery and epidural hematoma, a condition where bleeding occurs between the brain’s dura and the skull.

Little League players, coaches and managers are typically required to stay at the league’s complex. The dormitory where Easton was staying included bunk beds for the players to sleep on, which did not have guard railings. Since the incident, Little League Baseball officials announced they would remove all bunk beds in their dormitories.

“Since 1992, Little League has used institutional-style bunk beds to offer the most space for the players to enjoy their time in the dorms,” the league said in a statement last month. “While these beds do not have guardrails, Little League is unaware of any serious injuries ever occurring during that period of time. Out of an abundance of caution, Little League has made the decision to remove all bunks from within the dorms and have each bed frame individually on the floor.”

A photo of the beds from a parents guide of the facility shows no railings on any of the top bunks.

After the fall, Easton was airlifted to Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in Danville, Pennsylvania, according to Little League Baseball, and had to receive surgery and treatment in an intensive care unit.

“I was told after the surgery that he was easily 30 to 45 minutes away from passing away,” Jace Oliverson told GMA in August.

While in the hospital, Easton, whose nickname is “Tank,” made big strides toward recovery. His dad told GMA that “doctors were stunned by his progression in a short amount of time.”

At the end of August, Easton was transferred to another hospital in his home state of Utah where he recovered enough to be discharged.

Now that Easton is out of the hospital, his parents remain by his side as he continues to heal.

“We’re so proud of how far he’s come and how hard he has worked. But he definitely has a lot more work to do,” Nancy Oliverson said.

“He’s home and we’re just so blessed and so grateful that he’s still with us and that he’s able to have a road of recovery with everything that this kid has had to go through since Aug. 15,” Jace Oliverson added.

The Oliversons have since filed a lawsuit against Little League Baseball and Savoy Contract Furniture, the company that made the bunk beds.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the family by Duffy + Fulginiti, a Philadelphia-based law firm, claims Little League Baseball “allow[ed] the bed to exist in a dangerous condition” and failed to “inspect the bed,” “have rails on the bed,” and failed to “properly secure the bed,” allowing Easton to fall. It accuses Savoy Contract Furniture of selling “dangerous and defective” furniture that caused Easton “significant and permanent injuries, including internal bleeding among other injuries, some or all of which are permanent in nature.”

The 12-year-old “has suffered in the past and will continue to suffer in the future, aches, pains, trauma, contusions, humiliation, embarrassment, suffering, disfigurement, and/or inconvenience” as a result of the incident, the lawsuit claims.

The suit is seeking “in excess of $50,000” plus “costs, interest, compensatory and punitive damages, and all other damages allowed by law.”

Kevin Fountain, senior director of communications at Little League International, said in a statement to Good Morning America that “it is Little League International’s policy not to comment on pending litigation.”

Savoy Contract Furniture has not issued any public statements on the lawsuit and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.

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