Baller Alert Entertainment & Lifestyle
The Olympics won’t happen until next year, Essence Fest has been postponed until July and Late Night with Seth Meyers is bringing fans new episodes from home.
The United States has entered its third week of a nationwide quarantine, and Baller Alert is here to give you all the updates. On Sunday, Donald Trump announced at a news conference that he would be extending the quarantine and recommended social distancing to April 30. Trump mentioned that there’s a possibility that more than two million cases could arise if “we did nothing.” He has yet to give any details on the exact number but said that the U.S. could possibly see more cases.
“When I heard the number today. First time I heard that number because I have been asking the same question to some people. I felt even better about what we did last week with the $2.2 trillion,” Trump said, referring to the stimulus package Congress passed last week. “Because you are talking about a potential of up to 2.2 million and some people said it could even be higher than that. You are talking about 2.2 million deaths. 2.2 million people from this,” Trump said.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
In the meantime, businesses and organizations have continued to arrange new dates for their events. The Olympics, which was set for this year in Tokyo, has been postponed to next year for July 23, 2021. “The schedule for the games is key to preparing for the games. This will only accelerate our progress,” said Tokyo organizing committee president Yoshiro Mori said. This year’s games were supposed to open on July 24 and end on August 9. “We wanted to have more room for the athletes to qualify,” Mori said about the time change.
The same goes for the Black woman haven that is the Essence Festival, which takes place in New Orleans. The festival was originally scheduled for March 30, but on Friday, the organization announced it would be moving to July 1. There is no word on whether the lineup will be changed due to artists’ schedules; Janet Jackson and Bruno Mars were slated as the event’s headliners. “Based on developments over the past couple of weeks, including updates from our city and health partners, we are officially announcing that we will move the 2020 ESSENCE Festival of Culture closer to the fall,” reads their statement, which was posted via Twitter.
In other news, several shows are making a comeback in the midst of COVID-19. Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen returned last night, just after the host and producer announced he is recovering from the coronavirus. The network said Cohen was feeling better but would remain quarantined while he shot new episodes. Nene Leakes, Lisa Rinna and, and Jerry O’Connell phoned in for the episode. Cohen took to Instagram to celebrate the news. “Happy to report I’m feeling better and am returning to #radioandysxm this morning, and will try to end your day with a smile when we begin WWHL@Home tonight featuring #neneleakes #lisarinna #mrjerryo! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE ON THE FRONT LINES OF COVID-19!” What also came back to our screens (the smaller ones) was Late Night with Seth Meyers. NBC announced that Meyers would be doing the show from home and would be returning with BerniSanders as a guest interview. Desus and Mero also returned to Showtime, reporting from their respective buildings. The Bodega Boys spoke with Illustrious guest Dr. Anthony Fauci about the coronavirus pandemic.
In the meantime, Facebook is also taking a step in helping the community by donating $100 million to 30,000 small businesses in more than 30 countries in an effort to help the global economy during the pandemic. The social network is also working with the World Health organization to help remove misleading and false information about the virus, “These are unprecedented times, maybe the defining time of the century and small businesses all around the world are really struggling,” said Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg during an interview with told CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King. Small businesses who are interested can apply for help by logging on and explain to Facebook the type of business they have and what they plan to do with the money.
D.C., Maryland, and Virginia residents were also issued a stay-at-home order amid the coronavirus. The order requests for communities to stay home unless travel is needed for essential business. The Washington Post reports that all three jurisdictions already banned gatherings and closed institutions and businesses, now agreeing to do so is no longer an option for residents. People will now be fined or given jail time if they do not comply with the orders. “We are no longer asking or suggesting Marylanders to stay home. We are directing them,” said Gov. Larry Hogan during a news conference in Annapolis. Almost 3,000 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Washington, and 53 people have died from it, according to the Washington Post.
