NBC/Will Heath(LOS ANGELES) — (NOTE LANGUAGE) Former Vice President Joe Biden announced his running mate on Tuesday, California Senator Kamala Harris. While Hollywood celebrated Biden’s VP pick, no one was more excited than Maya Rudolph, who played the spitfire senator on Saturday Night Live.
Even funnier, her genuine reaction was caught by Entertainment Weekly, who was in the middle of an interview with the 48-year-old actress and other Emmy nominees when the news broke.
In a twist of irony, Rudolph is up for an Emmy this year due to her depiction of the California Senator-turned-presidential hopeful on SNL.
“Oh s***,” the actress exclaimed once she finished processing the veep announcement.
Wanda Sykes, who was also part of the group interview, joked “Somebody’s gonna be very busy now” to which Rudolph shot back with a very pleased “Ruh-roh.”
She was then asked if she would be interested in heading back to suit up as Harris once more for SNL.
“I love going to the show. Any excuse I can get, I love,” Rudolph gushed. “I just didn’t really anticipate traveling during a pandemic, but if there’s anyone that can work it out I’m sure Lorne [Michaels] has some sort of invisible helicopter that can get me there.”
“I don’t know that I’m ready to go right this minute, but it’s so nice to have this nomination be associated with the show because it’s my true love,” continued Rudolph.
“I’m so thrilled to even be associated with the show and that I got to go back. It’s like the gift that keeps on giving,” the Emmy nominee furthered. “Honestly, it’s my favorite place to play.”
When asked how she felt about Biden choosing Harris as his running mate, Rudolph claimed, “I’m as surprised as you are, guys. That’s spicy.”
ABC/Mitch Haaseth(NEW YORK) — Tonight, after seven seasons, ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. says goodbye with a two-hour finale starting at 9 p.m. ET. The episode, called “The End Is At Hand,” has our heroes making a final stand against the nefarious Chronicoms, who want to erase S.H.I.E.L.D. from history.
Clark Gregg, who plays Agent Phil Coulson in the Marvel movies and on AOS, told ABC Audio that over the years, the cast was convinced the show was kaput several times — but now, it’s for real.
“We’ve had a number of goodbyes, which has been kind of odd,” he said. “[For] several seasons we…didn’t know if we were coming back, so we would say goodbye to everybody…Definitely at the end of season five, the last episode was called ‘The End’, and it looked like we weren’t coming back.”
Gregg credits the fans with saving the show, noting, “[They] stuck with us and really became a kind of vocal crowd backing the show and pulling us off the bubble every year, so that by the end of it, we turned around and we’d done seven seasons and had this amazing journey.”
Chloe Bennet, who plays Daisy Johnson/Quake/Skye, agreed, telling ABC Audio, “I really feel like I’ve grown up with [my character]…on and off screen…Y’know, I was so young when I started and it’s just been special to kind of take that journey along with so many other people — like our fans.”
Elizabeth Henstridge, who plays Jemma Simmons, reminisced about her on-screen romance with co-star Iain De Caestecker, who plays fellow scientist Leo Fitz. The pair were dubbed FitzSimmons by fans early on, but De Caestecker had his own ideas. “What’s weird to season one me and Elizabeth, I mean, we protested as desperately as hard as we could that these two are brother and sister. There was no romance between them. And if there ever was, it would ruin the whole foundation of it, you know.”
Henstridge laughed, adding, “You protested more than I did, FYI…I won.” De Caestecker laughed, but allowed of the onscreen coupling, “sure enough, they wrote it in such a way that was like it’s you know, it’s impossible not to become invested in it.”
For her part, Ming-Na Wen, who played steely Agent Melinda May, said of her last day on set, “It was a mixed bag, for sure. It was a sense of accomplishment that, ‘Wow, we did this!’ and we were able to celebrate that, and you know, [it was] very melancholy in other ways.”
Bennet explained how she feels going into the home stretch. “I don’t think it’s still going to hit. You know, we still have the finale airing. And I think after that, I might feel different.”
A woman lucky to be alive after being severely injured in June when a car crashed into a major Atlanta hospital spoke out for the first time, recalling the terrifying details and painful recovery process.
Kai Bailey, 29, was tending to a friend in the emergency room — sitting outside the ER due to COVID-19 protocols — at Piedmont Hospital when a Mercedes-Benz SUV crashed into the lobby, leaving one person dead and others injured.
“I looked up from my phone. There was a red SUV coming towards me as if it had been hit,” Bailey told ABC News. “I was running initially from [the] red SUV not knowing that the Mercedes was going to then run into the hospital, as I’m running into the hospital.”
A second dark gray vehicle, as seen on video, rammed past the red SUV outside and into the lobby area where Bailey was at the time.
“I’ve never been in so much pain in my life. Not even a mother, not even childbirth, could compare here to the pain that I feel,” she explained.
Bailey’s hips and pelvis were broken in the accident. She was unable to sit up or walk until she underwent extensive therapy at a rehab facility.
In a statement to ABC News, Atlanta Police public affairs officer Steve Avery said the crash is still under investigation, but “at this time no charges are anticipated.”
Bailey’s attorney, Jane Lamberti, told ABC News, “I have never seen a case where there has been a death or a serious injury, and the driver wasn’t even given a citation.”
Bailey plans to file a lawsuit against the hospital, but for now, she said all she wants is the chance to hold her daughter without pain.
“She also knows that mommy is hurting. She does a great job was trying to help me,” Bailey said.
And despite the physical struggle, the mother said she has become stronger by the outpouring of support from her family.
“It’s been very good to be home — I enjoy being home with my family and friends,” she said. “All of my family has just stepped in to help me out.”
Bailey has moved in with her mother as she continues to heal and recover.
Piedmont Hospital told ABC News it would not “comment on any pending claims or investigations as a matter of policy” but it continues “to express our deepest sympathies to the patients, families, and staff who were impacted by this accident and its aftermath.”
(NEW YORK) — Hunter Reynolds, a senior at the University of Michigan who plays defensive back for the storied college football team, fought for his chance to play in the fall season.
“Just because we want to play safely doesn’t mean we don’t want to play at all,” Reynolds told the ABC News podcast “Start Here.”
But on Tuesday, the country’s largest college football conference Big Ten announced that it would officially postpone its 2020 to 2021 fall sports season, including all regular-season contests, championships and tournaments, due to safety concerns related to COVID-19.
“Our primary responsibility is to make the best possible decisions in the interest of our students, faculty and staff,” said Morton Schapiro, chair of the Big Ten Council of Presidents/Chancellors and president at Northwestern University.
“The mental and physical health and welfare of our student-athletes has been at the center of every decision we have made regarding the ability to proceed forward,” said Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren. “As time progressed and after hours of discussion with our Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee, it became abundantly clear that there was too much uncertainty regarding potential medical risks to allow our student-athletes to compete this fall.”
Reynolds was one of the college football players who joined a last-ditch Zoom call on Sunday night to organize player representatives from across the country to try to save their college football season.
Reynolds said that he’d heard other conferences would “follow suit” if the Big Ten canceled. Shortly after Big Ten announced its postponement of sports activities, the Pac-12 conference announced it would also postpone sports activities until at least the beginning of 2021.
“[The Zoom call] was just, kind of, let’s make it 100% known to these schools that, as athletes, we want to be out there this fall, suited up,” said Reynolds, in an interview conducted before the Big Ten’s announcement.
Reynolds is part of the #WeWantToPlay movement, one of several other player unity movements calling for the football season to go forward. Although he said there was a popular perception that the groups were at odds, they actually had the same goal: to get on the field, without abandoning responsibilities to player health.
“At the end of the day, most student athletes in those groups are student athletes who want to play football this fall. Like we know, that’s our goal. That’s what we’re fighting for,” said Reynolds. “We feel that there are ways for schools to handle this in a manner that makes it as safe as possible for the players.”
Those with the #WeWantToPlay movement were among a group of players that called out the NCAA for not having standard COVID-19 safety protocols. Reynolds said the NCAA has the power to implement protocols, rather than leaving it up to the individual conferences.
“We felt like the NCAA regulates so much in our day-to-day lives as athletes, that for them to kind of throw their hands back and say, ‘It is a conference issue,’ was something we kind of found slightly hypocritical,” said Reynolds, who claimed that some schools were not requiring players to get tested while others were even discouraging it.
The NCAA, which has published return-to-sports guidelines, announced earlier this month that players who opted out of the 2020 season would be able to retain their full scholarships.
Reynolds explained that college football eligibility is finite and that fifth-year players depend on the season for the future of their careers in the sport. With regard to returning to school, Reynolds said that some teammates who have worked their entire lives to play the sport are in “rough situations” at home and suggested the schools provide safety.
“I always know where my next meal is going to come from. Never have to worry about the lights being turned on or helping out my parents with bills. But there are a lot of people that are not in that situation… They’ve worked so hard for their entire life,” said Reynolds.
“It’s just kind of this situation where there’s a lot of double standards going on that we feel is an injustice in and of itself. And [playing this season is] just one aspect of the things we’re trying to fight,” he added, referring to an NCAA rule that college athletes don’t own and can’t profit off their own name, image and likeness.
When Reynolds spoke to ABC News, there was no word yet on an official announcement, but various reports had speculated that the University of Michigan had already voted to cancel its 2020 football season.
“One of my old football coaches, used to say, ‘Life is 10% what happens, and 90% how you respond to it,’” Reynolds said. “So, whatever may happen, it’s just about responding to it.”
Several Division I colleges and athletic conferences have canceled fall sports even before the Big Ten decided to postpone their fall season.
The Big Ten’s most recent announcement to postpone its season goes against President Donald Trump largely advocating for college football in the fall, falsely claiming that COVID-19 “just attacks old people” and that young, healthy college athletes are “not going to have a problem,” ABC News reported on Tuesday.
Despite the show of support, Reynolds fired back at the president on Twitter, writing “if you actually took this virus seriously months ago, we wouldn’t even be in this situation.”
As data shows more younger people getting infected by COVID-19, health experts are warning against the myth that young people can’t get seriously ill from the virus, which has killed more than 574,000 people around the world, reported ABC News.
“Everyone who is young in that age group has the same idea of ‘I’m young, I’m not gonna get it, [and] if I do get it, it’s not gonna be that bad,’” said Dr. Michael Seemuller, a doctor at AnMed Health in South Carolina and the chair of Quality and Safety for its physician network. “And then they get it and they end up in the hospital.”
As for Reynolds, before the Big Ten announcement, he said he was trying to take things day-by-day.
“If I had practice on [the schedule] tomorrow, then, you know, I’ll be out there for practice,” he said.
CMA/Country Music Hall of FameHank Williams Jr., Marty Stuart and singer/songwriter Dean Dillon will be the 2020 inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
Hank Jr., of course, is the son of country legend Hank Williams, and went on to develop a stellar career in his own right, charting hits like “Family Tradition,” “Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound,” “All My Rowdy Friends Are Comin’ Over Tonight,” “All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down),” “A Country Boy Can Survive” and many more. He goes in as a Veterans Era Artist.
Marty Stuart represents the Modern Era this year. After starting his career in the band of bluegrass legend Lester Flatt, he went on to win five Grammys on the strength of country singles like “This One’s Gonna Hurt You (For a Long, Long Time),” “The Whiskey Ain’t Workin'” and “Honky Tonkin’s What I Do Best” — all with Travis Tritt — as well as “Hillbilly Rock” and “Tempted.” Stuart’s also an avid preservationist and collector of classic country memorabilia. His wife, Connie Smith, is a member of the Hall as well.
Dean Dillon makes his way into country’s most esteemed ranks in the Songwriter category, being best known for his long association with Hall of Fame member George Strait. “Unwound,” “The Chair,” “Marina Del Ray” and “Ocean Front Property” are just a few of the songs he penned for King George. Dillon’s “Tennessee Whiskey” was a massive hit for another George — George Jones — as well as Chris Stapleton.
The inductees are typically announced in the spring but were delayed this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The formal induction evening, known as the Medallion Ceremony, typically takes place in October, though it’s yet to be seen if that will be the case this year.
NBC/Will Heath(LOS ANGELES) — (NOTE LANGUAGE) Former Vice President Joe Biden announced his running mate on Tuesday, California Senator Kamala Harris. While Hollywood celebrated Biden’s VP pick, no one was more excited than Maya Rudolph, who played the spitfire senator on Saturday Night Live.
