Frank Ocean attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" exhibition on May 2, 2022, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
From a Coachella controversy to a comeback kid, here are your top entertainment headlines.
Frank Ocean Fallout
Frank Ocean has been feeling the backlash for his 2023 Coachella performance — or lack thereof in the opinion of some attendees — but now he's getting some uplifting support from Justin Bieber.
The Biebs took to Instagram to offer some kind words to his former Bigger collaborator and said he was "blown away" by the performance. "His artistry is simply unmatched, his style, his taste, his voice, his attention to detail… I was deeply moved. It made me want to keep going and get better as an artist. He continues to set the bar high and gave me a night I will never forget," he said.
Fans had not seen Ocean take to the stage in about six years so the hype around the set was high. The overall takeaway from his performance apparently was that it was low energy, lacked crowd engagement as he performed a significant portion of his set with his back turned to the crowd, and got started way too late.
Apparently the singer made a number of changes to the set just hours ahead of the live show, which was because he suffered an ankle injury, according to Rolling Stone. There is a chance that fans that plan to attend the Coachella festival this upcoming weekend will have a different experience as Ocean is slated to headline once again.
Writers Authorize Strike
Would you be able to cope if some of your favorite shows like Euphoria, Snowfall, or The Last of Us were delayed? Well, there is a possibility that scripted TV and films could experience a production stoppage.
The Writer's Guild of America, the union that represents TV and film writers, has voted to authorize a strike in an effort to pressure Hollywood into offering better contracts. Nearly 98 percent of its membership voted on it with their current three-year contracts coming to an end.
The union is looking to negotiate better pay, regulate the use of artificial intelligence, and standardize the compensation and residuals for feature scripts regardless of if they were released in theaters or sent directly to a streaming platform, among other demands.
Hamlin Cleared
For the first time since suffering cardiac arrest earlier this year, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin has been cleared to make his return to the football field. The star athlete was thrust frighteningly into the spotlight after collapsing in the middle of a game. Hamlin noted that experts agree the cardiac arrest resulted from commotio cordis, which occurs when the chest suffers a severe impact timed at the right moment of a heartbeat.
In an interview with ABC's Michael Strahan, Hamlin said he'd be making his way back to playing.
"Eventually. That's always the goal, but I'm allowing that to be in God's hands."
Hamlin was present at the Bills' offseason voluntary workouts on Monday, according to ESPN.
Daniel Madrzykowski, research director at the UL Fire Safety Research Institute, joins Cheddar News to discuss the deadly Bronx fire that killed 19 people and fire safety tips that people need to know about.
Markets closed the day mixed, and well off their lows of the day following a market meltdown earlier in the session. The Nasdaq staged a comeback late in the day, even amid ongoing worries about the Federal Reserve raising interest rates. Doug Flynn, certified financial planner and co-founder of Flynn Zito Capito, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the markets' close and what's driving the major indexes.
Two companies recently announced a new partnership aimed at addressing the growing demand to borrow against crypto - digital assets capital markets firm CrossTower is partnering with commercial bank, BankProv. The companies are launching a crypto lending platform that will allow Bitcoin miners to receive loans to invest in crypto mining equipment. The companies say the program also addresses the difficulty of breaking into crypto mining due to the high cost. CrossTower research analyst Martin Gaspar joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Next-gen social sports platform Break the Love recently raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Break the Love's platform and iOS app allows users to discover and book group-based tennis activities, to either learn, train, or compete. The new company has already gotten support from a few big names in the world of tennis, including the coach of Naomi Osaka, as well as the United States Tennis Association and the brand Wilson. Break the Love founder and CEO Trisha Goyal joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
As the Omicron variant continues to sweep across the country. The US Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments at the end of this week on whether or not the Biden administration can force private companies to vaccinate or test millions of their employees. In addition, the National Nurses United has spearheaded legal action to protect nurses and health care workers, patients, and the public while on the job. President of the National Nurses Union, Zenei Cortez, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
China's ongoing crackdown of its own entertainment industry has been raising eyebrows for once now. With the ruling Communist Party instructing media companies to boycott immoral and overly entertaining stars. But the country has gone even further. Now experts warn that this could lead to further issues such as gender-based violence. Professor at the Institute of Sociology at National Tsinghua University, Hsiu-Hua Shen, and Associate Professor of Politics at Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame Joshua Eisenman, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Today marks one year since the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol. The Country watched as supporters of then-President Trump stormed what was assumed to be the most secure building in the country in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 Election. Several lawmakers, including the Vice President, could be seen ducking down as they feared for their lives. Democratic Michigan Representative Dan Kildee, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Bed Bath & Beyond delivered disappointing fiscal third-quarter results for 2022. Shares initially dove more than 9% in premarket trading on the news but finished the day up nearly 8%. Bed Bath & Beyond has been a meme-stock target for online investors in the past -- so was meme-stock mania a factor in the recent stock movement for the company? Jaime Rogozinski, the founder of the subreddit WallStreetBets, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell for more, as his forum helped spark the meme stock phenomena. He also discussed some decentralized finance services and trends for the retail investor to watch for in 2022.
