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Garth's taking care of Trisha as she battles COVID-19

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Rick Diamond/Getty Images Trisha Yearwood has tested positive for COVID-19, though her husband Garth Brooks remains clear.

The two had been quarantining together at home in Nashville after a member of their team tested positive for coronavirus, though last week’s severe winter weather in Tennessee delayed their tests until a week after their potential exposure. 

“The Queen and I have now tested twice,” Garth explains. “Officially, she’s diagnosed as ‘on her way out of the tunnel’ now, though, which I’m extremely thankful for.”

The superstar goes on to describe his wife as “tough” and “stronger than me,” while expressing his desire for fans to pray for the Georgia native. 

“If anyone asks, that’s what you can do for her,” he adds. “That’s what I’m doing.”

At the same time, Garth admits he’s concerned about potential long-term effects for the two-time CMA Female Vocalist of the Year.

“Living with her, I sometimes take it for granted she’s one of the greatest voices in all of music…” he admits. “We’re very lucky she is currently under the greatest care in the best city for treating and healing singers.”

As Trisha’s on the mend, Garth plans to stay out of the spotlight, forgoing his weekly Monday night Inside Studio G chats until she’s recovered. 

“Anyone who knows me knows my world begins and ends with Miss Yearwood, so she and I will ride through this together,” Garth declares. “And anyone who knows her knows she’s a fighter and she’s been doing everything right, so I know we’ll walk out the other side of this thing together.”

By Stephen Hubbard
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

"I didn't have a problem with the way we were doing it" — 'Simpsons' creator Matt Groening responds to racial casting flap

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Amy Sussman/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — During a chat about his latest animated hit, Netflix’s Disenchantment,Simpsonscreator Matt Groening addressed the controversy over the long-running show’s white actors voicing characters of other races. 

The comments came on the heels of Harry Shearer’s announcement that he’d no longer voice Dr. Julius Hibbert, or any other Black characters — and Hank Azaria’s hanging up playing Indian-American Apu Nahasapeemapetilon on the show in 2017. 

“Times change, but I actually didn’t have a problem with the way we were doing it,” Groening tells the BBC. “All of our actors play dozens of characters each; it was never designed to exclude anyone.”

He seems to insist he was in a lose-lose position, something Trekker character Comic Book Guy might call a Kobayashi Maru quandary.

“At a certain point it doesn’t matter what you say,” Groening says. “You’re going to be attacked by whoever, you know?”

He added, “We’re not going out of our way to comfort bigots. On the other hand, if you do any kind of gesture and people perceive a weakness, you’ll be criticized.” 

Having actors voice characters of the same race didn’t just shake up The Simpsons. Last year, Kristen Bell pulled out before she played Molly — a biracial character — in the Apple TV plus animated comedy Central Park, and Jenny Slate, who is also white, was initially cast as the biracial character Missy in Netflix’s animated series Big Mouth. 

Slate also left the part behind, and was replaced by writer and comedian Ayo Edebiri, who is biracial.

“We’re trying to make it better,” Groening insisted about The Simpsons. “Bigotry and racism are still an incredible problem and it’s good to finally go for more equality and representation.”

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

More 'WandaVision'? R-Rated Marvel Movies? Unpacking Marvel Studios' future plans from Disney's Winter TCA

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“WandaVision” – Disney+/Marvel Studios(LOS ANGELES) — Today, Disney had its Winter Television Critics Association gathering — virtually — and when it comes to Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige’s presentation, there was a lot to unpack. 

Aside from the June 11 release date for Loki, however, Feige remained typically tight-lipped.

But he did leave just enough crumbs to keep fans guessing.

When asked about his MCU small-screen spin-offs, like the successful WandaVision and the upcoming Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Feige told journalists, “The fun of the MCU is obviously all of the crossover that we can do between series, between films…Sometimes they’ll go into a season two, sometimes it will go into a feature and then back into a series.”

Some examples include WandaVision star Elizabeth Olsen’s upcoming appearance as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in the forthcoming big-screen bow of Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Feige also noted, “We’ve announced that [the character] Ms. Marvel, after her debut [as a titular show] on Disney+, will be going into the second Captain Marvel film.”

Feige also hinted at the fates of the Marvel TV heroes that were formerly on Netflix, which included Charlie Cox’s, Matt Murdoch/Daredevil — rumored to be appearing in the next Spider-Man film — as well as Krysten Ritter’s Jessica Jones, and Mike Colter’s Luke Cage.

When asked if they could finally be brought into the MCU fold, Feige noted, “”I think we probably could. I’m not exactly sure of the exact contracts, but perhaps someday.” 

And while we’ve previously reported Disney Chairman Bob Iger insisted Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool would keep his “R”-rating for future adventures after Disney acquired that property from 20th Century Fox, Feige insists so far, there hasn’t been a reason to stray from the PG-13 rating in the MCU for other projects.

Disney is the parent company of ABC Audio.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Lauren Akins posts hilarious video of her and Thomas Rhett's one-year-old daughter

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ABCLauren Akins shared a very relatable video of her and Thomas Rhett‘s one-year-old daughter, Lennon Love Akins, with her social media followers.

“Just your typical struggle bus on a Wednesday. I feel ya babe, sometimes I just…can’t,” Lauren writes with a series of crying laughing emojis alongside a clip of the toddler slumped over on the ground, refusing to sit up.

In the video, Lauren, laughs hysterically as she attempts to convince her little one to get off the floor.

“You can hear her say ‘doww?’ aka ‘I want down,'” she captioned the clip. “I’m still laughing, she is the goofiest kid even at just 1 year.”

She also added a note for all of her critics. “For all of you thinking I’m a horrible mom, she is practically running around the house and started walking at 9 months, so sitting up is not something we’re working on,” she says. “She blew past that milestone about 6 months ago.” 

The couple is also parents to five-year-old Willa Gray and three-year-old Ada James. Their family celebrated Lennon Love’s first birthday earlier this month.

By Good Morning America
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Katharine McPhee welcomes first child with husband David Foster

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Toni Anne Barson/WireImage(LOS ANGELES) — Katharine McPhee: American Idol finalist, actress, singer, Broadway star and now, mother. A rep for the star has confirmed to People that Katharine and her husband, hitmaking pop producer David Foster, have welcomed their first child.

 

“Katharine McPhee and David Foster have welcomed a healthy baby boy,” the rep told People. “Mom, Dad and son are all doing wonderfully.”

The news came not long after McPhee, 36, was heard on the podcast Women on Top, revealing that she’d be having a son.  She said, “Now that I am having a boy, there are different things I need to worry about to teach him versus the things I would be thinking about with a girl.”

She added, “But it’s kind of refreshing, because I feel like I don’t need to think about those societal ‘this is the way you look’ [issues]. I think men have…different things to worry about.”

The former star of Smash and Scorpion married Foster, 71, in 2019 after first meeting him on American Idol in 2006. This is his sixth child and his first son: He has five daughters from previous relationships, the oldest of whom is 50.

McPhee will next be seen in the Netflix show Country Comfort, debuting March 19.  In it, she plays an aspiring country singer who becomes a nanny to a cowboy — played by LeAnn Rimes’ husband Eddie Cibrian — and his five kids, all of whom are musically talented.

By Andrea Dresdale
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.