Luke Bryan set to host the 2021 CMA Awards in Nashville this November

Luke Bryan is confirmed as the host of this year’s 2021 Country Music Association Awards (CMAs). The 45-year-old Bryan posted on social media that he will host the 55th annual awards show live in Nashville this November. The event will mark Bryan’s first time hosting the CMA Awards. Bryan tweeted: “It’s an honor to announce I’ll be hosting the 55th annual #CMAawards for the first time! Tune in to the live show Wednesday, Nov. 10 at 8/7c on ABC. Don’t miss Country Music’s biggest night! @CountryMusic”

Bryan said in a press release: “The CMA Awards is one of the biggest nights of the year for country music. Being asked to host the CMA Awards was definitely something I put a lot of thought into before answering. The pressure that comes along with that can be overwhelming, but knowing I get to help honor and celebrate so many of my friends, I knew it was something I couldn’t turn down. I’m looking forward to making it fun and memorable and using this platform to continue to make country music shine.”

Bryan is a previous two-time CMA Entertainer of the Year award winner; this year he is nominated at the CMA Awards for Musical Event of the Year for “Buy Dirt” with Jordan Davis. The CMA Awards will air live Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. EDT from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

Luke Bryan To Host CMA Awards In Nashville This November

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‘Adele One Night Only’ special with Oprah Winfrey interview to air on CBS

Adele confirmed on Twitter she will perform and give an exclusive interview to Oprah Winfrey in a new CBS special, titled “Adele One Night Only’. The special, which will be filmed in Los Angeles, will air Nov. 14 at 8:30 p.m. EDT on CBS and be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+. Adele will perform some of her chart-topping hits, along with new and never-before-heard songs. In addition, Adele will speak to Winfrey from her rose garden. The singer will discuss her new album, the stories behind the songs, life after divorce, weight loss and raising her son.

The show is produced by Fulwell 73 Productions and Onward Productions in association with Harpo Productions, with Adele, Ben Winston, Jonathan Dickins and Raj Kapoor as executive producers.  Adele One Night Only will air just days before the release of Adele’s fourth studio album, ‘30,’ her first album in six years. Adele just released the first song from the album, “Easy on Me;” the full album drops Nov. 19.

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‘Halloween Kills’ tops U.S. box office with $50.4M opening weekend

Halloween Kills, which debuted in theaters and on-demand via Peacock, was No. 1 at the box office in it’s opening weekend.  Variety reports that the film earned $50.4 million this weekend, besting Godzilla vs. Kong, which made $31.6 million as a simultaneous theater and streaming platform release—and Space Jam: A New Legacy and The Suicide Squad, which also saw simultaneous releases.

Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution, said per Deadline,“The debut of Halloween Kills this weekend is a further reinforcement that audiences are eager to be in theaters to truly experience the energy created by what becomes a communal event, especially for this genre and this franchise. Our amazing director, David Gordon Green, and our lead, Jamie Lee Curtis, crafted an incredibly terrifying continuation of this franchise that our audience enthusiastically embraced this weekend.”

Halloween Kills has seen the best three-day opening weekend in the U.S. and Canada during the pandemic in the horror movie genre, surpassing the best opening for an R-rated film during the pandemic, A Quiet Place Part II, which earned $47.2 million.

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One killed, seven injured in shooting at Louisiana’s Grambling State University

One person was killed and at seven others were injured in a shooting at Grambling State University in Louisiana on Sunday. The university said one non-student was killed, and at least one enrolled student was injured in the shooting which took place at 1:15 p.m. during a homecoming event. In a statement shared to Facebook, the University posted: “All persons present sheltered in place and were released once the all-clear was given by University Police.”   The university also canceled the remaining homecoming activities scheduled, and cancelled classes on Monday and Tuesday.  A curfew was also put into immediate effect from 9:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.

Sunday’s incident was the second fatal shooting on the campus this week. On Friday, state police issued an arrest warrant for a suspect in a shooting last Wednesday that killed 19-year-old Damarius Murphy and injured a 16-year-old. The university had increased security following the Wednesday shooting, informing students there would be “increased law enforcement presence” throughout the rest of the homecoming events.

Grambling State University President Rick Gallot issued a statement saying: “Our campus community has worked tirelessly to keep our students and others safe for the homecoming activities. Yet, with all of our planning and coordination with our local, parish, regional, and state law enforcement partners, we still find ourselves grieving the loss of life and injuries just as too many communities in our country have experienced as well.”

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17 missionaries with U.S aide are kidnapped in Haiti

According to officials, a Haitian gang with past abductions has been blamed for kidnapping a group at a Haitian airport that included 17 missionaries, five of them children. A source at the U.S. embassy said nineteen people were abducted by a gang at a checkpoint in Haiti during an airport run on Saturday. Sources at the Haitian presidential office said the kidnapping occurred at the intersection of “Carrefour Boen” and “La Tremblay 17”.

It is unclear where the victims were taken. The Embassy is working with a special group of Americans in the country who are investigating. 16 Americans and one Canadian, as well as two Haitian citizens, are included in the group. Two French priests were also kidnapped in a separate attack at the same location earlier in the day, the source said. The Haitian government suspects the gang known as 400 Mawozo to be responsible for the abductions.

The Ohio-based ministry Christian Aid Ministries confirmed that a group of 17 people were “abducted” while on a trip to an orphanage on Saturday, saying in a statement: “We request urgent prayer for the group of Christian Aid Ministries workers who were abducted while on a trip to visit an orphanage on Saturday, October 16. We are seeking God’s direction for a resolution, and authorities are seeking ways to help.”  The U.S. State Department said in a statement that it is “in regular contact with senior Haitian authorities and will continue to work with them and interagency partners. The welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad is one of the highest priorities of the Department of State.”

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Jon Pardi has emotional surprise visit from Randy Travis as he performs some of his greatest hits

Jon Pardi honored Randy Travis with a performance of two of his iconic country hits, paying tribute to Travis during CMT’s Artist Of A Lifetime. In a video clip recorded at The Nashville Palace in Tennessee, Pardi pays homage to the country music legend days ahead of the CMT’s Artist Of The Year special, which aired last week.

In the near 10-minute long clip, Pardi performed two of Travis’ iconic hits, including “On the Other Hand” and “Forever and Ever, Amen,” which he called two “big ol’ hits.” During the video, he also honored Travis, saying,
“Randy Travis is country. When you think legendary country, it’s Randy Travis. I’m such a big fan of Randy, it just goes to show… your influences will guide you to what you want to do if you do it right. Being a part of country music now, with all the new artists, and then you got our legends like Randy. We’re all a part of this big community and my names in that big hat with Randy and that’s a big deal.”  Click to watch Pardi’s tribute performance – here.

What Pardi didn’t realize is that there would be a very special audience member for his performance: Travis himself. In the middle of a song, Travis entered the building along with his wife, Mary. Said Jon: “Well, hey Randy! This is a surprise. Wow.” At the end of the video, Pardi is overcome by tears, singing “He Walked on Water” while Travis is sitting beside him. “Everybody needs a good cry every now and then, right, you know? Happy cry,” Pardi adds.  You can watch the clip of  Pardi’s surprise from Travis – here.

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Lee Brice earns his 9th consecutive No. 1 with “Memory I Don’t Mess With”

Lee Brice has earned his 9th consecutive No. 1 with the ballad “Memory I Don’t Mess With.” The song has now simultaneously reached the top of the charts on both the Billboard and Mediabase radio charts.

Lee said via social media, “Y’all…We have the #1 song on country radio!! A huge THANK YOU to country radio, my team, and every single one of you who called your local radio station to request ’Memory I Don’t Mess With.’ I cannot thank y’all enough for showing this song so much love! I’m forever grateful.”

In June, Brice released an acoustic version of Memory I Don’t Mess With back in June, accompanied by a music video; the song  premiered in its original version in October 2020.

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Take a look at the latest trailer for ‘The Batman’ starring Robert Pattinson

Warner Bros. unveiled the latest trailer for “The Batman” at DC FanDome over the weekend. In the clip, Robert Pattinson’s Dark Knight crosses paths with Catwoman, played by Zoe Kravitz, in the latest footage. Batman also encounters the Riddler (Paul Dano) and Oswald Cobblepot, aka the Penguin (Colin Farrell).

Directed by Matt Reeves, “The Batman” has Bruce saying as the Bat-Signal goes out over Gotham at the start of the trailer: “Fear is a tool. When that light hits the sky, it’s not just a call. It’s a warning.”

Filming got underway in January 2020 but was shut down in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After months of delays, The Batman started filming again in September 2020, but production was halted once again weeks later when Pattinson contracted COVID-19. Filming resumed after Pattinson made a full recovery.

The Batman is set to hit theaters on March 4, 2022. You can watch the latest trailer – here.

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Peacock announces premiere date for reboot of ‘Saved by the Bell’ Season 2

Peacock has announced that the second season of the reboot of “Saved by the Bell” will premiere exactly one year after the first season’s debut, on November 24, 2021. The cast includes Haskiri Velazquez, Josie Totah, Alycia Pascual-Peña, Mitchell Hoog, Belmont Cameli, Dexter Darden and John Michael Higgins. Original cast members Elizabeth Berkley Lauren and Mario Lopez are also regulars, and Mark-Paul Gosselaar recurs.

A synopsis of the show reads: “In the new Saved by the Bell, Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), now governor of California, gets into political trouble for closing too many underfunded high schools and proposes sending affected students to some of the more affluent schools — including his alma mater, Bayside. An influx of new students gives the privileged kids of Bayside a needed dose of reality.”

Saved by the Bell Season 2 will premiere Wednesday, Nov. 24, with all 10 episodes .

They’re Back! ‘Saved by the Bell’ OG Cast Reunites in 1st Season 2 Photos

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Prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh charged with stealing $4.3M of late housekeeper’s insurance settlement

Authorities announced on Thursday that prominent South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was arrested and charged with misappropriating insurance settlement funds in the wrongful death suit that followed the mysterious trip and fall death of his longtime housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield. The heirs of Satterfield, a family housekeeper who died three years ago in what was initially described as an accidental fall, have insisted they received none of the proceeds from a $4.3 million settlement they said was orchestrated in secret by Murdaugh.

The 52-year-old Murdaugh was arrested in Orlando, Florida, upon his release from a drug rehabilitation facility. Murdaugh claimed that he was shot in the head on a roadside in September, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (“SLED”). He faces two felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses and is expected to appear at an extradition hearing on Friday before he’s arraigned in Columbia, South Carolina. Murdaugh has been taken to Orange County Corrections where he will be held until he receives an extradition hearing. Upon extradition being granted or waived, he will be brought back to South Carolina to receive a bond hearing.

Murdaugh, a well-known attorney in the South Carolina Lowcountry, was thrust into the national spotlight after he came home on the night of June 7, 2021, to find his wife, Maggie, 52, and youngest son, Paul, 22, shot to death on the grounds of their hunting lodge. From the beginning, authorities have considered Murdaugh a person of interest in the deaths of his wife and son, though his attorneys insist that his client was not involved. Murdaugh was fired in June from his job at his family’s law firm after being accused of embezzlement. He was shot in the head, gone to rehab for substance abuse and arrested and accused of hiring a hitman to help him commit suicide so his surviving son could cash in on a $10 million life insurance policy.

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