ABC/Image Group LARussell Dickerson and his wife, Kailey, are counting down the months until they welcome their baby boy this fall. And though the singer says he’s “freaking out in the best way” about the new addition to the family, Russell says that he’s already a hands-on dad when it comes to baby prep.
“We did most of the nursery renovation. Like, I painted the whole thing,” he explained in a recent interview with ET Online. “[Kailey] basically, like, lays it all out how she wants it to look, and then I — or, you know, with some help — take care of the rest.”
Anyone who’s been to one of Russell’s shows can attest to the fact that he’s a stylish dresser, and it looks like baby boy Dickerson is likely to follow suit.
“I built out his whole closet last week to hang all the cute little baby clothes. And made a little shoe shelf,” he adds, holding up a pair of infant’s Nike sneakers. Of course, he’s got a pair of white, adult-sized, “dad”-style sneakers to match.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced Russell off the road during what would have been a big touring year for him.
“I’ve been touring for, I think this is our seventh year in a row of non-stop, hundred miles an hour [touring]. And this was the first year that I was actually going to, like, profit,” Russell says with a smile.
But he’s not disappointed to be off the road. In fact, it’s the opposite: He’s incredibly grateful to be spending this time at home with his wife during her pregnancy.
“This time, I would not trade it for a penny of that. It has been the biggest blessing,” Russell says.
Scott Olson/Getty ImagesBy BILL HUTCHISON, ABC News
(KENOSHA, Wis.) — National civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson is joining the family of Jacob Blake, a Black man shot multiple times in the back by a police officer, in calling for prosecutors to indict the officer and others involved in the incident that has sparked violent protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
During a news conference Thursday organized in Kenosha by local officials of the NAACP, the 78-year-old Jackson encouraged protesters to keep marching until justice is served and implored the white community and white churches to condemn Blake’s shooting and the fatal shootings that occurred at a protest this week in Kenosha.
“We’re going to march, were going to protest, nonviolent and disciplined and in big numbers, until these men are in jail,” Jackson said of the police officers involved in the incident in which Blake, 29, was shot.
Responding to a 17-year-old white suspect arrested in a shooting at a protest in Kenosha on Tuesday night that left two men dead and one wounded, Jackson said, “White citizens should not provide sanctuary for this kind of killing.”
“It’s not about black and white. It’s about wrong and right,” Jackson said.
Blake’s family has called for the officers involved in the incident that has left Blake paralyzed from the waist down to be terminated from the police force and for the officer who shot him to be charged with attempted murder.
On Wednesday night, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, which is spearheading the probe of Blake’s shooting, identified the officer who shot the father of six as Rusten Sheskey, a seven-year member of the Kenosha Police Department. Officials said Sheskey is the only officer who fired his gun. The officials said Blake had a knife on him when he was shot.
A cellphone video of the shooting showed at least two other officers involved in the incident, in which a stun gun was also deployed on Blake. Those officers have not been identified.
Sheskey and other officers involved in the incident have been placed on administrative leave pending the results of the investigation.
Following three consecutive nights of destructive violence in Kenosha, calm appeared to return to the city as protesters took to the streets again Wednesday night to peacefully demand justice for Blake.
Police and 500 National Guard troops patrolled the city Wednesday night, monitoring a protest that went on well past a 7 p.m. curfew instituted by city leaders.
For the first night this week, police refrained from deploying tear gas and shooting rubber bullets at the crowd that appeared more subdued than on previous nights when multiple businesses were torched or looted.
“Crowds last night were small. There were a few hundred people and they walked peacefully through Kenosha and they did exactly what they wanted to do as far as the protest to make people know their concerns, but they did it without violence,” Sheriff David Beth of the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.
“I think the people that were here last night were Kenosha’s people,” Beth said. “We didn’t see streams of cars coming in from out of Kenosha County. A huge part of me thinks that a lot of our issues start when different people with different agendas come here to Kenosha.”
Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis thanked protesters for remaining peaceful on Wednesday night, saying, “The voices of those people is not falling on deaf ears.”
“We are hearing what has been said,” Miskinis said.
Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian said the city is in the process of establishing a number of committees to come up with ways to identify and eliminate systemic racism “and dealing with how we’re going to improve our community and give everyone a voice.”
The city leaders declined to discuss any development in the investigations of Blake’s shooting or the arrest of the teenager in the double homicide that occurred at Tuesday’s protest.
Wednesday’s peaceful protest march came a night after three people were shot, two fatally, during a chaotic demonstration. Investigators identified the white 17-year-old alleged gunman as Kyle Rittenhouse of Illinois, who authorities said was one of several armed vigilantes who came to the city from out of town to help protect businesses.
Rittenhouse was arrested when he surrendered to police in Antioch, Illinois, officials said. He is expected to be charged as an adult with at least one count of first-degree intentional murder, authorities said.
Attorney John Pierce of Los Angeles told ABC News that he has been retained to represent Rittenhouse.
“We will obtain justice for Kyle,” said Pierce, adding he was headed to Wisconsin Thursday night to meet with his client’s family and appear at Rittenhouse’s bail hearing on Friday.
Pierce said he has established a legal defense fund for Rittenhouse through a Texas 501(c)(4) nonprofit called #FightBack Foundation Inc. that was formed by him and Georgia attorney L. Lin Wood.
“That will be the sole authorized vehicle to fund Kyle’s defense,” Pierce said.
City officials and Blake’s mother pleaded for calm to be restored to the community, where merchants boarded windows after some businesses were burned to the ground earlier this week.
Blake’s shooting prompted the NBA to postpone playoff games slatted for Wednesday night when players decided to stage a boycott in response to the shooting. The WNBA, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer also postponed games that had been scheduled for Wednesday night. The National Hockey League decided to postpone playoff games scheduled for Thursday night, according to ESPN.
While calm appeared to be restored to Kenosha, violence reigned elsewhere.
In Oakland, California, a protest over Blake’s shooting turned destructive when police said a group of agitators among the peaceful demonstrators began breaking windows of business, shooting off fireworks, hurling objects at police and setting trash cans on fire while yelling “Burn it down,” ABC San Francisco station KGO-TV reported. Police said multiple arrests were made.
In Minneapolis, where the wave of nationwide protests began in May with the death of George Floyd while in police custody, demonstrators took to the streets, some looting and vandalizing, after social media posts wrongly claimed officers fatally shot a Black man who police alleged died by suicide following his involvement in a homicide. Minneapolis police said that at least six people were arrested.
Steve Dietl/NBC(LOS ANGELES) — Add Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to the list of celebrities who are boycotting events following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Sunday.
Johnson was to debut his new sneaker collaboration with UnderArmor today, but posted to social media that he was rescheduling it “Out of respect to Jacob Blake & his family.”
The star, Titan Games producer, and entrepreneur added, “Unbelievable we’re here again. Shot 7xs. In the back. In front of his kids. There’s no progress without humanity.”
On Wednesday, the NBA announced it chose to postpone all three playoff games scheduled for the day after the Milwaukee Bucks refused to play their Game 5 against the Orlando Magic. The WNBA announced its three regular season games Wednesday at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, would also be postponed.
Various Major League Baseball teams followed suit, according to ESPN.
20th Century Films(LOS ANGELES) — The King’s Man, the WWI-set prequel to director Matthew Vaughn’s hit Kingsman spy movie series, is being bumped out of the 2020 release schedule.
20th Century Studios, which is owned by ABC Audio’s parent company Disney, was supposed to debut the movie on September 18; it’s now opening February 26, 2021.
The move isn’t entirely unexpected given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has led some local authorities to keep movie theaters shuttered.
The King’s Man stars Ralph Fiennes, Djimon Hounsou, Stanley Tucci and Jemma Arteton, and focuses on the origins of the secret Kingsman spy agency.
So far, only 20th’s leftover X-Men-related film The New Mutants is set for a theatrical bow. However, that film, which premieres this Friday, experienced a rocky road to theaters even before the coronavirus pandemic — it was supposed to come out in November of 2019. Re-shoots, and then the Disney acquisition of 20th Century’s Marvel properties, delayed the film further.
However, with Disney moving its other one-time summer movie, Mulan, to Disney+ instead of theaters, all eyes are on Disney-owned Marvel Studios’ Black Widow. That film that was scheduled to hit theaters on May 1 of this year but was bumped to October. It remains to be seen if the pandemic and its industry aftershocks will force the studio to move it again.
Big Loud RecordsIt’s been an unconventional journey for Morgan Wallen’s “7 Summers,” a song that the singer didn’t always know if he was going to release. After he tested it on social media and realized what an impact it was having on fans, he decided to put out the studio version.
That song has now taken him to the top of the Billboard Country Songwriters chart for the week of August 29. It’s a first for Morgan, who’s had a handful of songs make the chart in the past but never before landed the number-one spot.
The singer co-wrote “7 Summers” with in-demand songwriters Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne. Though Shane was the one that came up with the title, the lyrics are inspired in part by a real-life experience of Morgan’s from seven years ago, he explained to Hits Daily Double this week.
“I was working for a landscaping company that summer,” Morgan recalls. “I got hurt playing baseball, was going to the community college — and that wasn’t going too well. So there might be someone out there, listening to this song on the radio and wondering if it’s about them.”
The storyline of a lazy summer and an ill-fated romance rings true to Morgan’s experience, and based on the response the song got, it rings true with his fans, too. “7 Summers” first blew up when Morgan put a version of it on TikTok.
ABC/Image Group LARussell Dickerson and his wife, Kailey, are counting down the months until they welcome their baby boy this fall. And though the singer says he’s “freaking out in the best way” about the new addition to the family, Russell says that he’s already a hands-on dad when it comes to baby prep.
