Archives: Episodes

Halle Bailey talks barrier-breaking role in 'The Little Mermaid': “That reassurance was something that I needed”

Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images for BET

Halle Bailey has put in work behind the scenes and she’s ready for the world to see it all. In an interview with Variety, she opened up about her barrier-breaking role as Ariel in the forthcoming film version of the Broadway musical The Little Mermaid. 

News of a Black Ariel was initially met with backlash, but Halle pushed through, as she understands the importance of representation.

“I want the little girl in me and the little girls just like me who are watching to know that they’re special and that they should be a princess in every single way,” she said. “There’s no reason that they shouldn’t be. That reassurance was something that I needed.”

She continued, “What that would have done for me, how that would have changed my confidence, my belief in myself, everything. Things that seem so small to everyone else, it’s so big to us.”

Further reassurance came from family members, including Halle’s grandparents, who’ve endured both racism and discrimination.

“It was an inspiring and beautiful thing to hear their words of encouragement, telling me, ‘You don’t understand what this is doing for us, for our community, for all the little Black and brown girls who are going to see themselves in you,’” she said.

Halle is the second Black actor to be crowned a Disney princess following Anika Noni Rose, who voiced Tiana in The Princess and the Frog.

The Little Mermaid is set to premiere next summer.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

 

Scoreboard roundup — 8/10/22

iStock

(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

INTERLEAGUE

Milwaukee 4, Tampa Bay 3

Atlanta 8, Boston 4

LA Dodgers 8, Minnesota 5

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Seattle 4, NY Yankees 3

LA Angels 5, Oakland 4

Cleveland 3, Detroit 2

Kansas City 8, Chi White Sox 3

Texas 8, Houston 4

Toronto at Baltimore (Postponed)

NATIONAL LEAGUE

NY Mets 10, Cincinnati 2

Chi Cubs 4, Washington 2

San Diego 13, San Francisco 7

Philadelphia 4, Miami 3

St. Louis 9, Colorado 5

Pittsburgh 6, Arizona 4

WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION

New York 91, Dallas 73

Minnesota 86, Phoenix 77

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

 

US Open ticket sales skyrocket after Serena Williams announcement

Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — The demand for tickets to the U.S. Open are soaring after Serena Williams announced she’s preparing to say goodbye to tennis.

In a first-person essay for Vogue, Williams said she is “evolving away” from the sport and instead choosing to focus on her family.

“I have never liked the word retirement,” Williams wrote. “It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me.”

The article appeared to hint the upcoming U.S. Open tournament will be her last grand slam, fueling ticket sales.

Following her announcement, approximately 13,000 U.S. Open tickets were sold on Tuesday, tournament organizers told ABC News.

Of those tickets sold, nearly 4,500 were for the tournament’s opening night, according to the United States Tennis Association, despite Williams not being guaranteed to play in that slot.

Williams has played tennis professionally since 1995 and is one of the most decorated tennis players of all time. She has taken home 23 grand slams — one short of the record — and four Olympic gold medals in her career and spent 319 weeks ranked No. 1 in the world.

While her next chapter is on the horizon, in her Vogue essay, Williams said she’s still enjoying her sport.

“This sport has given me so much. I love to win. I love the battle. I love to entertain. I’m not sure every player sees it that way, but I love the performance aspect of it — to be able to entertain people week after week … Night matches in Arthur Ashe Stadium at Flushing Meadows. Hitting an ace on set point.”

As she shifts to focus on motherhood and investing in a new part of herself, Williams wrote on Instagram: “My goodness do I enjoy tennis. But now, the countdown has begun … I’m gonna relish these next few weeks.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

 

Vanessa Bryant's invasion of privacy trial against LA County begins

Josh Lefkowitz/Getty Images, FILE

(LOS ANGELES) — Jury selection and opening arguments in Vanessa Bryant’s case against Los Angeles County began Wednesday.

Bryant filed a lawsuit in September 2020, alleging that first responders took and shared photos of her husband’s and daughter’s remains on Jan. 26, 2020. Bryant’s husband, basketball superstar Kobe Bryant, and daughter Gianna were killed in a helicopter crash. Everyone on board, including the pilot, was killed.

“Mrs. Bryant feels ill at the thought that sheriff’s deputies, firefighters, and members of the public have gawked at gratuitous images of her deceased husband and child,” her lawsuit states. “She lives in fear that she or her children will one day confront horrific images of their loved ones online.”

Orange County financial adviser Chris Chester also filed a lawsuit against the county for photos taken of his wife and daughter killed in the same crash. In July, U.S. District Judge John Walter decided to consolidate Bryant’s and Chester’s trials.

Both Bryant and Chester claim they suffered emotional distress because of the alleged sharing of photos.

On Wednesday, Bryant’s attorneys said they wanted to call a witness from the county coroner’s office, adding that the witness should bring “all photographs” of the victims from the crash, according to court documents.

The L.A. County’s legal team opposed the request, with attorney Mira Hashmall saying they “are highly sensitive, gruesome images that have no place in this courtroom.”

Hashmall said the plaintiffs are trying to “inflame the jury’s emotions” by including the coroner’s photos.

“If the plaintiffs really wanted to keep the tragic details of what happened to their loved ones out of the public domain, they would not put these photos into the case,” Hashmall said.

L.A. County maintains that first responders did not share any photos from the scene of the crash.

While the county “sympathizes with the losses suffered by the Bryant and Chester families,” the case is about whether the county publicly disseminated crash site photos in violation of the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights, Hashmall told City News Services. “From the time of the crash to now, the county has worked tirelessly to prevent its crash site photos from getting into the public domain. Over two and a half years later, no county photos have appeared in the media, none can be found online, and the plaintiffs admit they’ve never seen them.”

 

The county also attests that an investigation by the Internal Affairs Bureau of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that all of the photos were destroyed.

Both Bryant’s and Chester’s lawsuits argue that the photos were shared before being deleted by first responders.

“At least 11 [sheriff’s] personnel and a dozen firefighters shared the photos within 24 hours of the crash,” Bryant’s lawsuit said. “In the following weeks, one [sheriff’s] deputy flaunted photos of remains at a bar, another texted photos to a group of video game buddies, and [county fire] personnel displayed photos at an awards gala.”

According to the lawsuits, the images taken of the wreckage and remains at the Calabasas crash site are graphic. Bryant’s lawsuit states that Sheriff Alex Villanueva told Bryant he was securing the scene and ordered all responders to delete any photos taken, but that responders did not do so and Villanueva attempted to “cover it up.”

Villanueva and L.A. County have denied that any photos were shared under their supervision, according to court documents. ABC News reached out for comment and did not receive a response.

Since Bryant filed her lawsuit, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an invasion-of-privacy bill, named after Kobe Bryant, in September 2020 to make it illegal for first responders to share photos of a dead person at a crime scene “for any purpose other than an official law enforcement purpose.” The misdemeanor crime is punishable by up to $1,000 per violation.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.