Columbia NashvilleMarenMorris spotlights real-life stories, struggles and tragedies in “Better Than We Found Out,” a new song that she debuted this week.
“When lines of tomorrow are drawn, can I live with the side that I chose to be on? Will we sit on our hands, do nothing about it?” she sings in the chorus. “Or will we leave this world better than we found it?”
The song’s music video, directed by Gabrielle Woodland, tells the stories of people from Maren’s Nashville community: We meet the family of Daniel Hambrick, a black man who was murdered by Nashville police in 2018, as well as a young man and his brother who grew up in America under the DREAM act and two young activists who organize Black Lives Matter protests.
Maren says that the song came to life fairly quickly, as it addresses exactly how she feels in the face of these tumultuous times.
“It’s a protest song — it’s the most American thing to protest and protest songs have been so embedded in American culture,” she reflects, adding that her position as a new mom to son Hayes further informs her decision to work towards positive change.
“I still have hope for this country and for the future of it,” she adds. “…I wanted to promise my son that I’m going to do everything in my power to leave this world better than the one I came into and the one I see right now.”
Maren’s “Better Than We Found It” video ends with the singer sitting on a picnic blanket with her son, whose face never appears on camera. She reads aloud a letter she wrote to him about her determination to help create a better world, saying, “I have to do better. I will do better for you.”
Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Thought you’ve seen the last of Jamie Foxx in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Think again.
The actor, who appeared as the villain Electro in 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 starring Andrew Garfield, is rumored to re-electrify the MCU once again.
This time,Hollywood Reporter states Foxx will go toe to toe with the franchise’s new web slinger, Tom Holland, in the follow up to 2019’s Spider-Man: Far from Home. Unfortunately, further details of the film are tightly under wraps and Marvel has not released a comment about the report.
It’s expected that stars Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei and Tony Revolori will also return for the third Spider-Man installment, which is slated to hit theaters November 5, 2021.
It should be noted this isn’t the first familiar face to show up during Holland’s run as Spidey. J.K. Simmons reprised his legendary take of J. Jonah Jameson, the editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle, in the final moments of Far from Home.
Simmons played the cantankerous Jameson during Tobey Maguire’s run as Spider-Man.
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic(LOS ANGELES) — Chrissy Teigen’s mother, Vilailuck Teigen, has broken her silence about the devastating loss of her grandson Jack.
Chrissy shared the tragic news on Wednesday that, after being hospitalized for “excessive bleeding” and pregnancy complications, her baby didn’t survive.
“My heart aches love you so much baby Jack,” Vilailuck grieved on Thursday, posting a heartbreaking video of her saying goodbye and mourning her grandson.
The video shows the elder Teigen approaching the nurse carrying the child as Legend is heard off camera gently assuring, “It’s okay.”
Vilailuck breaks down sobbing as she caresses Jack, apologizing and offering prayers before leaning in to give him one last kiss. She also included two photos where she is cradling him close to her chest.
Fans were quick to offer the Chrissy’s Court star their condolences and words of encouragement.
Chrissy and John first announced that they were expecting their third child in August, breaking the news in the “Wild” music video.
The family continually shared pregnancy updates with fans, even as the former model began experiencing complications and was put on mandatory bedrest.
Teigen was hospitalized over the weekend due to “excessive bleeding” but, on Wednesday, the family announced that the baby didn’t make it.
“We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about, the kind of pain we’ve never felt before,” Teigen had written. “We were never able to stop the bleeding and give our baby the fluids he needed, despite bags and bags of blood transfusions. It just wasn’t enough.”
“Jack worked so hard to be a part of our little family, and he will be, forever,” she added.
Teigen previously shared she was halfway through her pregnancy.
Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic(NEW YORK) — Actor Rick Moranis was the victim of a random, unprovoked attack on a New York City street Thursday, according to police.
The attack, caught on video, shows an unidentified suspect striking the 67-year-old Moranis on the head with a closed fist and knocking him to the ground. The incident took place on West 70th street near Central Park West and the suspect fled on foot.
Moranis traveled to an area hospital for evaluation, suffering pain to the head, back, and right hip. He then reported the incident to police at the 20th Precinct.
Police are asking for the public’s assistance in ascertaining the whereabouts of the suspect.
Moranis is known for his roles in Ghostbusters, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Little Shop of Horrors. He’s been mostly retired from acting since the ‘90s, but recently appeared in a Mint Mobile commercial alongside fellow Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds.
(NEW YORK) — U.S. soccer legend and current USL manager Landon Donovan took his team name to heart on Wednesday when he stood firm to back one of his players after an alleged anti-gay remark was made during the match.
The San Diego Loyal coach ultimately pulled his team from the pitch mid-match while leading 3-1 against the Phoenix Rising and forfeited after one of Rick Schantz’s players allegedly used a homophobic slur directed at openly gay midfielder Collin Martin.
“I was pretty shocked. It obviously was an exchange that first started with some bad language,” Martin told ABC News’ Good Morning America on Friday. “That’s normal. It happens. But it escalated to a place where it crossed the line and I’m just at a point where in my career I’m an out gay player and I can’t stand for having a homophobic slur said to me during a game.”
He continued, “It was pretty upsetting and honestly it took me a little bit to totally soak in what was said to me, but I’m honestly proud of myself for bringing it to the ref and not standing for it.”
Near the end of the first-half stoppage time, referee Joseph Salinas whistled the play dead and mistakenly gave the Loyal midfielder a red card that ejected him from the match.
His teammates swarmed the ref and insisted that the wrong player was being penalized, followed by Donovan who approached the ref on the pitch to get an answer.
Donovan then came face-to-face with Schantz over the incident and in their exchange called out the comment, saying it was “homophobia.”
“I give Collin tremendous credit because — in the heat of battle you want to play and compete and when you’re beating a rival, really badly, you just want to finish the game and win the game,” Donovan said. “But Collin, to his immense credit, said something, he acted and he spoke and we just decided that if that player was not going to be removed from the game either through a red card by the referee or from the other team subbing him off the field, that we had to act and so I give our team a ton of credit for taking that stance.”
The Loyal coach explained further that “the context matters quite a bit” because just one week prior the team had experienced another upsetting slur.
“A player on our team, Elijah Martin, was exposed to a racial slur and we went back and forth all week on whether we should even play this next game because we were pretty upset about it and we were also upset we didn’t say anything during the game,” Donovan explained. “And of course, the next week this happens.”
Schantz denied that he was downplaying the alleged slur and claimed he was only asking about Donovan’s reaction.
Despite what was on the line, the team fully supported Martin and forfeited the match leading into the USL playoffs.
“Landon was pretty adamant right away that he wanted us off the field,” Martin said. “We took the time at halftime to hear everything that happened and to see what the team wanted to move forward with and they were all adamant that we weren’t going to play. So I was pretty uncomfortable by it, to be honest. It was a big game for the team and we were winning and I thought let’s just finish the game. Let’s beat them and move on with it. But I mean they weren’t having it.”
Donovan recalled that when he was a player in the early 2000s “gay slurs were used quite often and it was almost like a normal thing and people said it quite often until a stand was finally taken and people just didn’t accept it anymore.”
“It’s not something we hear every week and there’s not bigotry or homophobia expressed every week, but like I said, I think the world was trying to tell us something and it’s still clearly around and we just have to get it out of our game,” he said. “It cannot be in any sports environment. It can’t be in our society and unfortunately, the only way that change happens is by doing something drastic.”
Junior Flemmings, the Rising midfielder accused of making the offensive comment, denied that the incident happened.
“At no point did I say a homophobic slur towards Collin Martin. I stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ movement,” he wrote on Twitter.
Flemmings and the Phoenix Rising head coach have been put on administrative leave.
Ryan Madden, vice president of communications and public relations for the USL, said in a statement: “Foul and abusive language of any type has absolutely no place in our society and will not be tolerated in USL matches.”
“In addition to implementing comprehensive training and education, the USL will get to work immediately – alongside the Player’s Association and the Black Players Alliance – to put even more severe repercussions in place going forward. This has to stop. It simply won’t be allowed to occur,” he continued.
A conclusion is expected to be reached in the ongoing investigation before the weekend.
The league also announced that every USL owner, executive, player and staff member will undergo comprehensive sensitivity training ahead of the 2021 season.
Columbia NashvilleMaren Morris spotlights real-life stories, struggles and tragedies in “Better Than We Found Out,” a new song that she debuted this week. 
