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Joe Biden apparent winner in PA, now president-elect

• No Comments • Country Music News

Scott Olson/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — ABC News can characterize Joe Biden as the apparent winner in Pennsylvania, giving him 273 total electoral votes — a win that makes him president elect. Based on these numbers and those in other states, Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States.

ABC News was able to characterize Biden as the apparent winner of Pennsylvania after the state, as of 11:35 a.m., put Biden ahead with 49.6% of ballots cast (3,345,724) over President Trump’s 49.1% (3,311,310 votes).

Biden said in a statement Saturday, “I am honored and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice President-elect Harris. In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America. With the campaign over, it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric behind us and come together as a nation. It’s time for America to unite. And to heal. We are the United States of America. And there’s nothing we can’t do, if we do it together.”

Saturday marks 48 years to the day that Biden, then 29 years old, was elected in his first Senate race on November 7, 1972.

For first time in history, the first and second in line to the presidency will be women: Sen. Kamala Harris as vice president, followed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, tweeted, “So proud of you” with a photo of him embracing his wife, the vice president elect.  Sen. Harris’ win makes her husband the first ‘second husband’ in U.S. history.

For his part, President Trump released a defiant statement through his campaign, claiming, “this election is far from over” and blasting Biden for “rushing to falsely pose as the winner.”

Trump also promised a coming legal fight.  “Beginning Monday, our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated,” he said. “The American People are entitled to an honest election: that means counting all legal ballots, and not counting any illegal ballots.”

The president again pushed unfounded claims that “Only a party engaged in wrongdoing would unlawfully keep observers out of the count room — and then fight in court to block their access.”

Check ABCNews.com for continuing election coverage and updates.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Very nice! 'Borat' sequel is already the second most-watched streaming movie of the year

• No Comments • Entertainment News

Amazon Studios(LOS ANGELES) — Although it was just released on October 23, the sequel to Sacha Baron Cohen’s hit Borat has become the second most-watched on-demand movie of the year.

According to numbers crunched by marketing research firm ScreenEngine/ASI and quoted by Variety, Amazon Prime’s Borat 2: Subsequent Moviefilm was bested only by this summer’s Disney+ release of Hamilton. 

The election likely had something to do with the boost in Borat‘s viewership: the movie contained a much-hyped scene of President Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani appearing to get in a compromising position with actress Maria Bakalova, who played Borat’s daughter.  In the movie, she posed as a journalist who was interviewing the former New York City mayor.

ScreenEngine/ASI’s data came from weekly surveys of 1,200 U.S. SVOD — streaming video on demand — viewers aged 13-64.

The top five films for the year so far also included Amazon Prime’s kid comedy My Spy with Dave Bautista, the Netflix action film Extraction starring Chris Hemsworth, and Phineas & Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe, from Disney+.

 1. Hamilton: The Movie (Disney+)
 2. Borat 2: Subsequent Moviefilm (Prime Video)
 3. My Spy (Prime Video)
 4. Extraction (Netflix)
 5. Phineas & Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe (Disney+)
 6. Mulan (Disney+)
 7. The Old Guard 10 (Netflix)
 8. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
 9. Roald Dahl’s The Witches (2020) (HBO Max)
10. The Lovebirds (Netflix)

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. 

“Cuddle Up Cozy Down Christmas”: Dolly Parton puts an animated spin on her Michael Bublé duet

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ABC/Image Group LADolly Parton and her duet partner Michael Bublé become animated characters in the music video for their Christmas song, “Cuddle Up, Cozy Down Christmas.”

The cartoon clip, which is available to watch exclusively on Facebook, finds the pair holed up by a fire at “Holly Dolly’s Ski Resort” as a blizzard rages outside. Michael’s cartoon self plays piano as an animated Dolly, decked out in seasonal red, sings along.

Elsewhere in the video, the pair take on the role of Santa’s helpers, seeking out anyone who’s not in the holiday spirit and helping them to, y’know, “Cuddle Up” and “Cozy Down.”

The song comes from Dolly’s A Holly Dolly Christmas, the singer’s first full Christmas album in three decades. Her duet with Michael isn’t the collaboration on the project: Willie Nelson, Jimmy Fallon, Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus and more also sing with Dolly on the record.

A Holly Dolly Christmas reached number one on Billboard’s Top Country Albums and Top Holiday Albums chart after its early October release.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW6IgJge0Pk&w=640&h=360]

By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

“What’s Your Country Song?” Thomas Rhett teases a new single, due next week

• No Comments • Country Music News

Courtesy of The Valory Music Co.Thomas Rhett is back, and he’s bringing a new chapter of music with him.

The singer has announced that he’ll return next week with a new single, “What’s Your Country Song,” which comes out on Wednesday. It’s the first taste of the “Beer Can’t Fix” star’s upcoming fifth studio album.

Thomas penned “What’s Your Country Song” alongside some of Nashville’s most in-demand songwriters, including his dad, Rhett Akins. It’s a feel-good anthem that the singer’s hoping will bring together fans from across the country.

“We wrote this song on the road last year in Dallas, Texas,” Thomas explains. “It’s really about how I was noticing that no matter where you live or where you’re from, everyone has a little bit of country inside their bones.”

Fans can expect to see a whole lot of Thomas next week: On the same day he releases the song, he’s also set to perform his “Be a Light” at the 2020 CMA Awards.  Also on Wednesday, the singer’s planning to make a stop on ABC’s Good Morning America.

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By Carena Liptak
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Orlando Jones explains what "excited" him about his 'The Good Lord Bird' character

• No Comments • Entertainment News

William Gray/SHOWTIME(NEW YORK) — Orlando Jones says he was given the rare opportunity to cultivate his character of The Rail Man in the Ethan Hawke-led Showtime series The Good Lord Bird.

“Ethan was like, ‘Listen, anything you want to take from the book to curve into the show, just let me know,'” Jones tells ABC Audio. “So they were open about how I was going to render the character. And suddenly I was on set one day and here we were doing it.”

Based on James McBride’s novel of the same, the series follows Hawke as abolitionist and radical John Brown and centers on his various encounters with other historical figures. Jones, whose character is a literal conductor of the underground railroad, says he enjoyed playing The Rail Man because he didn’t conform to the stereotypical characters of that period.

“[He was] a fun character to do… because you don’t think of Black men as running the most sophisticated technology in the world during that period of time,” he says. “You don’t think of them as fathers that are free, that have relationships with the mayor… You [don’t] think of our contribution.”

“Those are the things that often get overlooked,” he continues. “Or rather, we are purely seen during this period of time, [for] our only contribution to human history — in the form of indentured servitude.”

Jones says it was for those exact reasons why he was “excited” about his role where he didn’t have to play a “victimized” figure in history.

“And you can tell they’re based on some real figures, but just to see our history in that particular way where we’re not purely victims… is always exciting to me,” he adds. 

The Good Lord Bird airs Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime.

By Candice Williams
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.