August 27, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic(LOS ANGELES) — Just a mere 24 hours before she drops her new album Smile, Katy Perry announced that she and her Lord of the Rings series star fiancé Orlando Bloom have welcomed to the world their newborn daughter, Daisy Dove Bloom.

However, it wasn’t the 35-year-old American Idol judge nor her fiancé that announced the arrival of their newborn, it was a charity near and dear to the couple’s heart that broke the news.

“Welcome to the world, Daisy Dove Bloom! We are honoured to introduce Goodwill Ambassadors @KatyPerry and @OrlandoBloom’s new bundle of joy,” Unicef announced early Thursday and enclosed a sweet black and white photo of the proud parents holding hands with little Daisy.

Unicef also shared in their caption an announcement on the Bloom and Perry’s behalf, which states, “We are floating with love and wonder from the safe and healthy arrival of our daughter.  But we know we’re the lucky ones and not everyone can have a birthing experience as peaceful as ours was.”

The two went on to express their frustration with the healthcare disparities affecting across the globe as they furthered, “Communities around the world are still experiencing a shortage of healthcare workers and every eleven seconds a pregnant woman or newborn dies, mostly from preventable causes.”  They also mentioned how COVID-19 has exacerbated these issues and placed countless lives at risk.

“As parents to a newborn, this breaks our hearts, as we empathize with struggling parents now more than ever,” the two expressed.  In order to help UNICEF’s fight in ensuring reliable and safe healthcare across the globe, Katy and Orlando announced that they have enacted a new charity in honor of their daughter.

“In celebration of the heart we know our daughter already has, we have set up a donation page to celebrate DDB’s arrival. By supporting them, you are supporting a safe start to life and reimagining a healthier world for every child,” they shared, adding that they hope their announcement will inspire people’s hearts to “bloom with generosity.”

This is Perry’s first child. Bloom has a nine-year-old son Flynn from his previous marriage to model Miranda Kerr.

Perry announced her pregnancy in March 2020 in the music video for her single, “Never Worn White.”

By Megan Stone and Hayley FitzPatrick
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 27, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Erik Voake/Getty Images for Adult Swim(NEW YORK) — Macaulay Culkin turned the big 4-0 on Wednesday, and if that doesn’t already make you feel old, the former child actor wants to give you a hand.

“Hey guys, wanna feel old? I’m 40. You’re welcome,” the Home Alone star tweeted on Wednesday.

As you might expect, some of Culkin’s followers didn’t take the news well, including J.J. Abrams.

“NOT NOW MACAULAY, NOT NOW. I’M DEALING WITH ENOUGH STUFF ON TWITTER,” the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker director replied.

Culkin followed up his tweet by adding, “Since I’m 40 I think it’s about time to start my midlife crisis.”

“I’m thinking of picking up surfing. Do you all have any suggestions?” he added.

If Macaulay turning 40 is hard to believe, chew on this: Home Alone came out 30 years ago!

By George Costantino  
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

August 27, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Santiago Felipe/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Emmy voting is in fully swing this week, and Pose star Billy Porter could possibly repeat as best actor in a drama series. He tells ABC Audio that the thought of that is incredible, because for so long he lived in a world where it wasn’t possible.

“The idea that there is a world where a show like Pose can exist and a character like Pray Tell, can exist, I remember the world where that was impossible. I was here for that,” he recalls. “So Pose and this Emmy and this second nomination and all of that stuff, it’s like the impossible coming true. I feel like Cinderella.”

The 50-year-old actor and singer adds that the current push towards embracing diversity is fantastic, but he’s not lost on the fact that it’s taken a long time to get here.

“For a person like me, a Black, gay, out actor who was told that my gayness was my liability. And everybody who told me that was right. For decades. And now all of a sudden, the very thing that is my truth. The very thing that makes me authentic. The very thing that was dismissed, that was shut out, that was my liability is the reason why I’m sitting here talking to you today,” he explains.

These days it’s a different story though. Porter has hit new levels of fame in the last few years and he is loving this moment right now.

“I am grateful that all this is happening to me late in life and late in my career, after 30 plus years of being in the business,” he says. “My focus has always been on the work, has always been on the art of it… awards are icing on the cake.”

August 26, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Patti Perret/Orion Pictures(LOS ANGELES) — Orion Pictures has just released a clip from its upcoming threequel Bill & Ted Face the Music, and has announced the creation of an immersive, 360 experience that lets you step into their well-worn Vans to explore their world.

The clip features Alex Winter’s Bill and Keanu Reeves’ Ted meeting up in Hell with their old pal Death, again played by William Sadler. However, despite their most excellent time together in Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Death isn’t too happy to see them this time. “Talk to the hand!” he tells the pair, after apparently wrapping up his 75,000th game of hopscotch with himself.

Available through your smartphone or VR gear, Bill & Ted’s Most Triumphant, Non-Heinous 360 Adventure Through Space and Time As We Know It lets you explore Wyld Stallyns’ garage band setup, before you set off through the Circuits of Time to visit some of the far-flung locations the pair go on in their new big screen adventure. 

Bill & Ted Face the Music has the now middle-aged high school pals trying to come to terms with their not having fulfilled their destiny as the writers of the song that will save the universe. Their daughters, played by Bridgette Lundy-Paine and Samara Weaving, tag along on their dads’ inter-dimensional adventure.

Also starring Kristen Schaal, Jayma Mays, Holland Taylor, Kid Cudi, Jillian Bell and SNL‘s Beck Bennett, Bill & Ted Face the Music will be released on demand and in theaters this Friday, August 28.

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

August 26, 2020 • No Comments • Entertainment News

Diyah Pera/Netflix(LOS ANGELES) — The sci-fi series Altered Carbon is set in a world where a person can live forever, but in the real world, Altered Carbon won’t. 

Netflix has pulled the plug on the series after two seasons. 

Based on the book series by British writer Richard K. Morgan, the show’s conceit is that a person’s consciousness can be endlessly re-uploaded into new “skins,” and its lead character, Takeshi Kovacs, was one example. He was played by Will Yun Lee, Joel Kinnaman and, most recently, Anthony Mackie. 

The Hollywood Reporter notes that COVID-19 wasn’t behind Netflix’s decision to pull the plug.  Instead, the streaming service weighed the lavish show’s big budget versus its streaming audience, and Altered Carbon came up short. 

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