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.
There is a new player in the mobile app stock trading space.
Zingeroo recently announced a funding round of $8.5 million. The company says it aims to bring 'friendly competition' to stock trading, by literally breaking trading down into daily and weekly competitions between friends. Zingeroo also says it hopes its new approach can make trading more accessible, educational, and social than ever before. Zingeroo co-founder and CEO Zoe Barry joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell for more.
Sweta Chakraborty, U.S. President of We Don't Have Time and climate change expert, joins Cheddar News to discuss how mining the proper resources for the clean energy sector is crucial.
Throughout 2021, several Americans found themselves finding a renewed emphasis on what work-life balance looked like. The labor market experienced several people either quitting their jobs or leaving the workforce altogether. Editor at Labor Notes Alexandra Bradbury, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Whitney Johnson, CEO of human capital consultancy Disruption Advisors and author of 'SMART GROWTH: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company', joins Cheddar News to discuss the rise in entrepreneurship and explores new opportunities to grow personally and professionally.
Two major high profile cases on opposite ends of the country, as they both now lie in the hands of the jury. In New York, jury deliberations continue in the sex trafficking trial of Jeffrey Epstein's longtime partner, Ghislaine Maxwell. Jurors in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial will be back to deliberate just a day after the judge told asked them to stay for an extra hour, as they signaled they're still far from a verdict in that sex trafficking case. The Elizabeth Holmes jury also apparently no closer to a verdict after five days of deliberations as well. Florina Altshiler criminal defense attorney & former prosecutor spoke to Cheddar about the latest on the cases.
2021 proved that crypto currency is here to stay. This year saw more and more adoptions of crypto, from top athletes looking to be paid in bitcoin, to Elon Musk even experimenting with bitcoin and dogecoin payments for a bit over at Tesla. And it wasn't all bitcoin either - other cryptos like Cardano and Solana saw some action in 2021 as well. Patrick McConlogue, CEO of Overline and former Citadel Investment Group Engineer explains why 2021 was such a good year for crypto, and what to expect in 2022.
The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index showed an 18.4 percent surge in October as the housing market continues to boom. October's levels are a slight downturn from the roughly 19 percent increase the index saw in September, but come roughly in line with economist expectations. Michael J. Romer, Managing Partner, Romer Debbas joined Wake Up with Cheddar to discuss.
U.S. airlines have canceled more than 6,000 flights since Christmas eve, causing headaches for travelers.
Airlines cited staffing shortages amid the omicron outbreak as the primary reason for the interruptions to service. The cancellations come at the busiest time of year for air travel. Steve Shur, President, The Travel Technology Association joined Wake Up with Cheddar to discuss.
