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The late Toby Keith will be posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame later this year, but on Monday night (July 29) at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, nearly two dozen of the Oklahoma native’s fellow country artists offered a stirring, life-celebrating party that was equal parts rowdy, tender and patriotic — as was Keith’s own slate of hits. The Keith-honoring event took place for the taping of the two-hour NBC concert special Toby Keith: American Icon, which will air August 28 from 9 p.m. – 11 p.m. ET/PT.

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A cavalcade of his fellow country artists, including Eric Church, Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson, Darius Rucker, Luke Bryan, Priscilla Block and Keith’s fellow Sooner State native Carrie Underwood, gathered to honor the multi-faceted entertainer’s career and towering legacy as a songwriter, singer, leader, performer, businessman, steadfast military supporter and philanthropist.

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Keith died in February at age 62 following a battle with stomach cancer. Keith worked in the oil fields before starting his Easy Money Band and playing bars around Oklahoma and Texas. After he moved to Nashville and landed a label deal in 1993 while in his 30s, he forged a three decade-plus career, becoming one of country music’s most successful artists — and ultimately doing so on his own terms, by recording his own songs, constructions that also made the most of his outsized persona.

He was known for his burly baritone, for writing or co-writing the bulk of his hits and for being as adept at crafting a heart-tugging ballad as he was at employing the clever wordplay that filled many of his up-tempo hits such as “I Love This Bar” and “As Good As I Once Was.” He amassed 20 Billboard Country Airplay hits, sold 44 million albums and earned 10 billion streams. He was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 2015.

Underwood opened the show with Keith’s 1994 hit “A Little Less Talk (And a Lot More Action).”

“We are all here for one reason — this man, the big dog daddy. His music, his heart, his life. Everyone on this stage loves Toby. Tonight, we are going to have a party he’d be proud of,” Underwood declared.

And from there, those packing the Bridgestone Arena indeed proceeded to party, with the stage packed with revelers as well as the audience. A giant bar was set up in one corner of the stage, while the other — topped with an American flag set piece — gave several military members some of the best seats in the house.

Church recalled how Toby Keith invited him to play some shows with him, at a time when Church’s career was still in its early stages. “There is no way I’m standing here today without Toby Keith,” Church said, before performing Keith’s “As Good As I Once Was.” He added, “We help each other out, that’s what country music does.”

Wilson knew how to make an entrance, riding a horse through the Bridgestone crowd to the main stage before joining Jamey Johnson to sing “Beer For My Horses,” a 2003 hit for Keith and Willie Nelson.

Meanwhile, Rucker offered a full-throated, joyous rendition of “God Love Her,” recalling the support he received from Keith when Rucker prepared to release his first country project back in 2008. “He was one of the first people to reach out and let me know how welcome I am,” Rucker said.

Keith’s catalog was filled with up-tempo party songs, but especially early in his career, he was known for ballads, both heartbreaking and heart-tugging entries. Performing his 1994 hit “Wish I Didn’t Know Now,” Ashley McBryde said, “Anything he sang you believed it because he only wrote what he believed.”

Interspersed between performances were video tributes from his fellow country artists Nelson, Blake Shelton, Reba McEntire and George Strait, as well as other celebrities Keith had developed close ties with, including comedian Carrot Top and The Late Show host Stephen Colbert.

“There will never be another Toby Keith,” Shelton said in one video clip.

Elsewhere during the evening, Jordan Davis performed “I Love This Bar,” with help from Clay Walker, while Riley Green teamed with Ella Langley for “Who’s Your Daddy.” Luke Bryan donned a cowboy hat that had been given to him by his sister (who later passed away in 2007) as he performed Keith’s debut hit, “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.” Tyler Hubbard was joined by songwriters Warren Brothers and Jim and Brett Beavers, as well as Davis and Jelly Roll, elevating the party atmosphere and trading lines on the rap-tinged anthem “Red Solo Cup” (one of the rare Keith hits that Keith wasn’t a writer on), while HARDY and Brantley Gilbert teamed for the defiant, blistering “How Do You Like Me Now?”

Alongside his work as a musician, Keith’s support for the military was a cause close to his heart. Over the years, he did 16 USO Tours, visiting 18 countries and performing for an estimated 250,000 troops. A military band marched onstage during the concert to honor Keith, while chants of “U.S.A.” rose from the audience. During the tribute concert, Trace Adkins performed Keith’s heartfelt ballad “American Soldier,” and told the crowd, “Never apologize for being patriotic,” which drew another round of “U.S.A.” chants.

The evening also highlighted Keith’s work in supporting children battling cancer, through his OK Kids Korral, which started in 2014 and provides a cost-free place for families of pediatric cancer patients to stay while patients are receiving treatment at the Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center. The Bridgestone Arena concert aided the OK Kids Korral, as well as Nashville’s Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.

Furthermore, the evening also made it clear that Keith’s first priority was his family, including his wife Tricia, his son Stelen and his daughters Krystal and Shelley, all of whom were in attendance that evening.

Jelly Roll dedicated his performance of Keith’s “My List” to the late singer’s family, singing the tender song as photos of Keith with his family were displayed on the screen. Jelly Roll noted, “Toby inspired me to be a better American human and songwriter and inspired me to be a better father.”

Keith’s daughter Shelley took the stage to offer words of tribute to her father, saying, “My dad knew your worth isn’t measured by what you have, but by what you give,” before Krystal performed Keith’s “Don’t Let the Old Man In,” which Toby had performed in 2023 at the inaugural People’s Choice Awards.

Later on, one of the highlights of the evening was provided by Keith himself, as footage played of him in his final recording session, laying down vocals on a version of the late Joe Diffie’s “Ships that Don’t Come In,” which Keith recorded as part of HARDY’s Hixtape to honor Diffie.

“What an amazing tip of the hat and such a patriotic person and to see such a song sung so gracefully with so much feeling and with so much meaning, I’m just so thankful to be such a small part of such a cool moment,” HARDY noted.

The evening concluded as Texas native and “Pretty Heart” hitmaker Parker McCollum took center stage.

McCollum called Keith “one of the greatest country music singer-songwriters to ever live,” before welcoming the top-shelf lineup of artists back to the stage for an all-sing of another of Keith’s signature songs, the defiant hit that captured the fury many felt following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).”

Two years after it was announced, the first authorized Ol’ Dirty Bastard documentary finally has an air date. The two-hour doc, Ol’ Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys, is slated to premiere on A&E TV on August 25 at 9 p.m. ET before hitting streaming the next day.

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According to a show description from the network, the first official feature doc on the late Grammy-nominated Wu-Tang Clan co-founder and solo star (born Russell Jones) will feature never-before-seen footage from his persona archive shot by wife Icelene Jones. It also promises “access to his closest friends and family, this culture-defining special humanizes ODB as a man, a father, and a husband like never before,” including interviews with Mariah Carey, Wu-Tang bandmates Raekwon and Ghostface Killah and son Bar-Sun Jones, as well as his parents and record executives.

The doc was co-directed by Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning Director Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI, Black Art: In The Absence of Light) with son Jason Pollard (Get Me Roger Stone, Bitchin’ The Sound and Fury of Rick James), with the two men promising to give fans “an intimate picture of ODB’s life and reflecting on his lasting impact on music and culture.”

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“Part of A&E’s DNA is telling the stories of iconic people who have left a lasting impact on culture and the world,” said A&E vice president and head of programming Elaine Frontain Bryant in a statement. “Ol’ Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys does just that with intimate, never-before-seen footage and interviews with the people who knew him best. The documentary tells his story while celebrating his life and his lasting impact on hip-hop and the music industry.”

Wife Icelene Jones added, “I am so happy to have brought this documentary about my husband’s life to the screen. He was and is an inspiration to my family, children, and fans across the world. It’s been amazing to work on this project with my partners at Four Screens, as well as Pulse and A&E.” Jones, who is the administrator of her late husband’s estate, added, “Like all of hip-hop, I have missed his energy. This project has let me know that he is alive and well in all of our hearts.”

ODB died at 35 of a drug-induced heart attack in 2004.

Watch the trailer for Ol’ Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys below.

Sure, Taylor Swift has been barnstorming the world on her massive Eras Tour for the past year and is, arguably, the biggest pop star in the universe. But according to pal Channing Tatum, when she’s not rocking tens of thousands in stadiums, or flying across the globe to hang with boyfriend Travis Kelce, she’s low-key whipping up delicious snacks for her friends.

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“I was a fan of the music because I’ve listened to her forever but I did not know she was such an unstoppable force,” Tatum told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show on Thursday night (July 11) after the host shared a pic of the actor with Gayle King at an Eras Tour show at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles in August 2023. Tatum, 44, came ready to play for that gig with a glitter heart around his left eye and a homemade “It’s Me, Hi I’m the Daddy It’s Me” shirt fashioned by his daughter, Everly.

“I mean, I kind of know her a little personally and she’s really kind of just normal and sweet,” Tatum added before dropping a pastry-related bombshell. “And she’ll make you, like, a dinner, and like whip it up no problem. Like, homemade Pop-Tarts. Like warm, warm Pop-Tarts. I’m like, ‘Did you just make these? How are these warm?’”

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Blown away by the Eras Tour gig — where Tatum said he was very careful to do just “hand-dancing” and keep it G-rated in front of his daughter by avoiding any Magic Mike-like below-the-belt gyrations — the actor said he considers Swift to also be an elite athlete. “And then you get to see her go on stage, for like a three-plus hour show … I challenge any triathlete that’s a champion to go and do what she’s doing on stage. I was a fan-fan after that,” he said.

Tatum — who currently stars in the new NASA-themed film Fly Me To the Moon – also gushed about his engagement to actress/director Zoe Kravitz. “I’m so happy, I don’t even know how to really put it into words,” Tatum said. “She’s so special and yeah, I don’t know, to get to wake up every day and create with somebody. It’s really, really good.” When Fallon joined in on the lovefest by praising Kravitz’s cool factor, Tatum tried to play it cool himself, before admitting that his beloved is actually, okay, fine, “annoyingly cool… it’s a problem.”

He said the two of them met on the set of her psychological thriller directorial debut, originally called P—y Island, now called Blink Twice, which is due out on August 23. Tatum — who, not for nothing, has a resting shredded body — had a laugh with Fallon about his soon-to-be, insanely ripped father-in-law, Lenny Kravitz, 60. The pair gazed in awe at a picture of the rocker showing off his washboard abs in a shirtless Instagram post, with Tatum saying, “I don’t even understand, like, how do you do it? He’s not from this planet.”

And yes, the actor has seen Kravitz work out and he and Fallon had a laugh about the “most iconic” thing Tatum said he’s seen “in decades”: the viral video of Lenny pressing iron on an incline bench in leather pants, boots, shades and a mesh shirt. “I thought it was AI at first!” Tatum said. “And I was like, ‘oh no, it’s not AI, it’s just Lenny Kravitz.”

Watch Tatum discuss Swift’s pastry prowess, Kravitz’s crazy workout routine and play “Slap!” below.

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Comedian Steve Harvey has heard it all as the host of Family Feud and Celebrity Family Feud over the past 14 years. But the always quick-on-his-feet stand-up was caught dumbfounded on Tuesday night (July 9) when Megan Thee Stallion offered up a predictably body-ody-ody-positive answer to the query “name something that might be curvy.” Wearing […]

Hoda Kotb has a secret. Actually, the Today Show co-host revealed to Andy Cohen on Tuesday night’s (July 9) Watch What Happens Live that during her recent sit-down with Celine Dion to discuss the singer’s terrifying battle with Stiff-Person Syndrome the Canadian superstar almost spilled the beans about a potential return to the stage.
Answering a fan question about an interview teaser for the prime time NBC special that aired on June 11 in which Kotb appeared to suggest that Dion would be “performing soon” after years off the stage due to the neurological condition, the caller wondered if Kotb was suggesting that Celine might make her triumphant return by performing at the upcoming Paris Olympics.

“That’s a good question,” Kotb said, explaining that when the two were walking around Dion’s property she asked the singer when she planned to perform again after cancelling a planned world 2023-2024 world tour due to her battle with the rare neurological disorder that causes severe muscle spasms; Dion had earlier cancelled the 2022 dates on her North American Courage world tour before revealing her medical condition. With Dion’s manager off camera and out of range, Kotb said Celine asked her team, “can I tell her?” At that point Kotb said Dion’s manager yelled “no! no!”

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“So I was like, ‘so there’s something?’,” Kotb recalled thinking about the possibility that Dion would play her first show since March 2020. “Whether it’s the Paris Olympics, wouldn’t that be spectacular? Celine Dion at the Paris Olympics… that would be amazing, but I don’t know. I know she’s going to be performing live again.” The opening ceremonies of the summer games are slated for July 26 and, for the first time, they will kick things off not in a stadium but on the scenic River Seine, with the march of the athletes and a roster of performers who’ve not yet been announced.

WWHL host Andy Cohen threw cold water on the speculation, saying that Dion’s ailment is unpredictable, which would likely render a firm-date show difficult to nail down. “She’s gonna perform again. There is always going to be a date and time to perform,” Kotb responded, noting that Dion’s current regimen of medications is more balanced and, unlike before, is not focused on just relaxing her muscles and keeping them from uncontrolled spasms.

In the prime time chat, Dion said she was so desperate to alleviate the pain from the severe muscle spasms during her nearly two-decade long battle with the rare neurological/autoimmune disease that she took nearly fatal doses of Valium.

“I did not know, honestly, that it could kill me. I would take, for example before a performance, 20 milligrams of Valium, and then just walking from my dressing room to backstage — it was gone,” Dion told Kotb of the pain relief the medication offered at the almost toxic levels she was taking. “At one point, the thing is, that my body got used to it at 20 and 30 and 40 [milligrams] until it went up. And I needed that. It was relaxing my whole body. For two weeks, for a month, the show would go on… but then you get used to [and] it doesn’t work anymore.”

Kotb also praised Dion for her tenacity while answering the question about what she learned during her NBC special on the singer. “She is an incredible fighter. I had no idea what she had been through, how close she came at some point to actually not surviving it,” Kotb told Cohen. “Yes here she is and she’s singing again and all those things.”

Though the performance exchange Kotb described to Cohen did not make it into the special, Dion has left the door open during the interview to a stage return this year after battling the disease she said causes spasm so intense they caused broken ribs and sometimes made it feel like “somebody is strangling you.”

In addition to teasing her performance reboot to Kotb, Dion also seeded hope in her recent Prime Video doc I Am: Celine Dion, in which she said of her determination to play for her beloved fans again. “If I can’t run, I’ll walk. If I can’t walk, I’ll crawl… I won’t stop,” she said.

Check out Kotb talking Dion’s return to stage below (Dion talk comes in at 2:50 mark).

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Everyone has that wacky aunt (or uncle) who love to tell jokes or do weird impressions at Thanksgiving. But not everyone has an aunt who also happens to be one of the most famous cartoon voice actors of all time. And for sure not everyone in that family also happens to be a chart-topping pop […]

Heather Morris paid loving tribute to her late Glee co-star Naya Rivera on the fourth anniversary of Rivera’s tragic death. In a sweet Instagram post featuring a black and white snap of the two women cuddling on a bed, Morris wrote, “I can’t believe it’s been 4 years..boy how time flies. Yet every year I’m taken by surprise how much it still hurts. We grow up together, fell apart, and came back together in such a beautiful way.”

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After going missing for six days, Rivera, 33, was found after taking a boat ride with her then four-year-old son during which she drowned while swimming. The two women worked together on six seasons of the Fox musical comedy, with Morris starring as cheerleader Brittany Pierce, whose romance with Rivera’s closeted fellow cheer teamer Santana Lopez was a fan favorite storyline. “God you’re missed so much… except I can’t shake the feeling you never left… you’re still here with us..guiding us to our highest potential,” Morris, 37, added. “I miss you Nay Nay.”

Rivera starred on Glee from 2009-2015, winning a Screen Actors Guild Award and an ALMA Award for her work on the show, as well as sharing two Grammy Award nominations with her cast mates. In addition to Glee, Rivera appeared in a number of films, including her debut in 2002’s Dana Carvey comedy The Master of Disguise, as well as 2014’s At the Devil’s Door and a posthumous voice role in 2021’s Batman: The Long Halloween.

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The singer/actress married former flame Ryan Dorsey in 2014, and they had a child together in September 2015, a year before filing for divorce; the couple reconciled, but then she refiled for divorce in December 2017. Rivera was reported missing on July 8, 2020 after the couple’s son was found alone on a rented boat in the Lake Piru reservoir in Ventura County, CA. The child told investigators that his mom went swimming and was unable to climb back on the boat before she disappeared. Rivera’s body was found by divers in the lake on July 13.

During Rivera’s disappearance, Morris helped organize search parties to help with rescue efforts, later posting an emotional tribute to her friend and former co-star that included pics of their sons playing together.

See Morris’ post below.

Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker are happy to count their blessings. In the latest episode of the Kardashians, the couple’s seven-month old son Rocky Thirteen made his reality TV debut and mom revealed the health scare she suffered last year that required emergency fetal surgery in September.

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In the episode, Kardashian reveals that the procedure was due to fluid in their son’s lungs that required immediate intervention. “We had a terrifying scare,” she explains on the show. “It’s super rare — the condition that he had — but it’s also super rare and lucky that we caught it. Thank you, God, for a successful surgery. I’m honestly just so grateful, I have no words.”

Before the discussion of Rocky’s health issues, the episode looked back to Oct. 2023, with the couple snuggled in bed dreaming about their first child together. Father of three Barker talks about his excitement for the birth, getting into specifics about the first “natural” birth he will experience. “I’m a little frightened,” he says, promising Kardashian that he will be “right there” when the blessed event takes place. “I’m gonna catch him like a basketball,” he says.

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“You can’t be down there… I don’t want you to be traumatized,” Kardashian jokes about her hubby’s wish for a bird’s eye view during the impending birth. As they prepare to go to the hospital, Barker frets about Rocky’s health, wishing that his lungs will be “perfect” and that he will be a “solid eight pounds.”

The scene then turns to a confessional in which Kardashian looks back at the scare several months earlier, pivoting to the reality star in a hospital bed after the surgery to remove fluid from Rocky’s lungs before his Nov. 1 birth.

Kardashian says she was “filled with fear” before the surgery, and then again when the symptoms came back a short time later. After watching a documentary called Heal about the power of positive thinking’s affect on health, Kourtney says she talked to the baby every day and prayed. “After I had that mindset shift, the fluid was completely gone and we had not one single problem after,” she says. “It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of. Everything we’ve been through to get to this moment, it just feels so surreal.”

In the end, Kardashian says, “I’m so happy in my blissful baby bubble and the love with Rocky.”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt knows that sometimes a card just won’t do. Which is why the Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F star and music lover took a moment during his visit to The Tonight Show on Wednesday night (June 19) to pull out an acoustic guitar and offer his absent wife a very special tribute. Explore See […]

Camila Cabello came to The Tonight Show to play on Wednesday night (June 12), with robot dogs, ice cold stories and killer dance moves. In addition to performing her frenetic single “I Luv It” with help from blindfolded dancers, Cabello talked about her upcoming album, C, XOXO (June 28)) played a new game with host Jimmy Fallon and cleared up some rumors about her viral frozen Met Gala purse.
Cabello and Fallon reminisced about running into each other at the annual fashion fantasia earlier this year and the singer admitted that by the time she saw Jimmy she was “very drunk” because she was so stressed from what happened earlier. Fallon then pulled out a picture of Cabello’s purse from that night, which consisted of a rose frozen in a block of ice.

“I didn’t think about the fact that ice, very quickly, melts,” Cabello said. “And so I get there and it’s my worst, the nightmare situation where suddenly the clutch breaks. I think it was Ed Sheeran was there he was telling a joke or something and somebody accidentally moved it and before I get my picture taken the clutch completely breaks.”

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Cabello described being surrounded by shocked A-listers including poet Amanda Gorman, actress Rachel Sennott and model Kaia Gerber, who all gasped when the purse’s straps broke off. “This is the thing you least want to happen — a bunch of famous people looking at you having a breakdown during the line before you take your picture at the Met Gala!” So Camila said she turned to Gerber and a few others for advice, landing on the solution of converting it into a (very slippery) clutch instead.

Fallon then assured Cabello that she was “glamorously” holding the block of ice, putting up a picture of a stone-faced Camila cradling the drippy purse. Also, for the record, she threw cold water on the viral report that her purse cost $25,000. “Guys! It’s water frozen!” she yelled. “You can make it at home!”

Cabello also explained her fourth album’s title, saying the new collection is a chapter in her life that feels “personal to me and authentic to me and like signed by me. Like writing a letter to someone. This is me, like it or not.” When Jimmy asked Cabello about her writing process, after noting that she has no co-writers on this album, Cabello gave an example of her skills by busting out her phone to sing a tune she wrote for the show on her way to the studio.

The voice note featured Cabello humming lightly while she sang, “New suit, same chair, new dress, blonde hair/ We’ve seen each other through some phases/ Past lives, debuts, Met Ball, saw you/ Good to have a friend in scary places/ Jimmy-a, Jimmy-a, Jimmy alright/ They came for a show well Jimmy alright/ It’s another late night/ It’s another late night talkin’,” as an astonished Fallon looked on.

The singer came back for a round of the new game Dance Charades, in which one player wore headphones and danced to a song whose title the other player had to guess. Cabello proved to be quite adept at the game, acting out Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire” while pretending to bite her arm as Fallon shimmied awkwardly to Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie.”

Cabello came back one more time to sing “I Luv It,” the first single from her follow-up to her 2022 LP Familia, which features guest spots from Drake, Lil Nas X, Playboi Carti and City Girls. The set opened with Cabello in a silver dress, baggy leather gloves and a black blindfold with white x’s over her eyes — a spooky look her four dancers mirrored — in the high-energy performance that featured her back-up crew holding a pair of dancing Unitree robot dogs on leashes as giant fans sent their strappy costumes flying.

Watch Cabello on The Tonight Show below.

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