Scott Olson/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — ABC News can characterize Joe Biden as the apparent winner in Pennsylvania, giving him 273 total electoral votes — a win that makes him president elect. Based on these numbers and those in other states, Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States.
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Election Day has turned to night as polls across the country closed with some municipalities announcing they will resume tabulating Wednesday morning.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, former Vice President Joe Biden briefly addressed the nation from Wilmington, Delaware, projecting confidence in the race and called for patience as the nation tabulates a record number of mail-in and absentee ballots.
President Donald Trump teased he would make a statement from the White House, which took place an hour later.
For President Trump’s speech, which he made around 2:30 a.m. ET, he opened with a joke saying, “this is, without question, the latest news conference I ever had.” The president made a fiery 10 minute speech, saying that “a group of very sad people” are trying to steal the election, which he called “a fraud” and vowed he would go to the Supreme Court to “have all voting to stop.”
As for the states that are already accounted for, President Trump is projected to win Iowa, Florida, Ohio, Idaho, Utah, Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana, South Carolina, the Dakotas, Alabama, Arkansas, West Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Texas and Nebraska.
Meanwhile, Biden is projected to win Virginia, New Mexico, California, Illinois, New Hampshire, Colorado, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, Minnesota and the District of Columbia.
As of 1:45 A.M. ET, Biden leads with 220 electoral votes while President Trump has 213 — the winner requires 270 votes to win.
Pennsylvania, a major battleground state, is projected to wrap up the count by Friday before the election, but did not provide an exact timeline. Philadelphia will continue counting absentee ballots, with the next updates coming at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
In Michigan, only 16 percent of the early vote is in with 49 percent of the expected vote in as of early Wednesday, with Tracy Wimmer, a spokesperson for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson telling ABC News, “We’re still looking at some time tomorrow, but we really don’t have a guess of when.”
One of the most decentralized election systems in the country, Wisconsin state officials have repeatedly told ABC News that they expect full statewide results could come in the early hours of Wednesday morning
In the weeks leading up to Tuesday, at least 100 million early votes were cast. Nationally, voters have cast 73.4 percent of the total votes counted in the 2016 general election.
Hawaii and Texas have already surpassed their 2016 total and five other states — Montana, North Carolina, Georgia, New Mexico and Nevada — are close to doing the same.
Most surprisingly in the election however is, young voters did not increase their showing at polls, despite expert predictions.
The 18-29 year-olds and 30-44 year-olds make up the same percentage of the electorate as they did in 2016.
Those youngest voters are breaking toward Biden by much more than they did to Hillary Clinton in 2016, but among 30-44 year olds, Biden is only winning by about the same as Clinton. There are no major third-party candidates this year, while 10 percent of young people voted for a third-party candidate or gave no answer in exit polls.
Older voters, over 65, make up a similar percentage of the vote as they did in 2016, making up about 21 percent in preliminary exit polls compared to 20 percent in 2016.
There was concern that voting remotely for college kids who were not on campuses this year could be a factor, but after the protests this summer it is a surprising outcome.
By Megan Stone
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ABC/Sami DrasinAcclaimed actress Taraji P. Henson has been announced as the host of the 2020 American Music Awards, which will air Sunday, Nov. 22 from 8 to 11 p.m. ET on ABC.
“The AMAs brings together the music community to celebrate what really drives all artists — the fans. I’m proud to take the stage as this year’s host -– and also a fan — for what promises to be an electrifying night of music,” the Emmy-winning Empire star and Oscar-nominated actress said in a statement.
This year, Dua Lipa scored an American Music Awards nomination for favorite female artist in the pop/rock category, alongside Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift. The 25-year-old is also competing in the favorite pop/rock song category with Lewis Capaldi, Post Malone, Roddy Ricch and The Weeknd.
Malone, Ricch and The Weeknd are also up for up for artist of the year, along with Swift and Justin Bieber. Capaldi and Ricch will also face off in the new artist of the year category, alongside Doja Cat, DaBaby, Lil Baby and Megan Thee Stallion.
The Weeknd and Ricch lead the group of nominees this year, garnering eight each. Megan Thee Stallion follows closely behind, with five nods.
This year’s American Music Awards ceremony will be broadcast live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
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Rich Fury/Getty ImagesLenny Kravitz will chronicle his early life in his new book, Let Love Rule: A Memoir, named after his 1989 debut album, Let Love Rule.
On Tuesday, the Grammy-winning rock star took to Instagram to wish everyone well and to share details about the book, which arrives this fall.
“The book is about the first 25 years of my life, culminating in the release of my first album,” he said in the video. “Those years shaped me and taught me so much about myself and also formed a message of love and unity, that I still believe in still this day. It’s a message I stand for and will live by forever.
Kravtiz added, “I’m looking forward to sharing my journey with you. I hope to see you all out on the road as soon as I can.”
Co-written with songwriter and biographer David Ritz, Let Love Rule: A Memoir will also feature characters inspired by Kravitz’s family, including his parents and his ex-wife, Lisa Bonet, “the young actress who becomes his muse.”
According to a press release, “despite his aspirational energy, [Lenny] turns down record deal after record deal, until he finds his true voice…the same voice that is able to declare Let Love Rule to an international audience is the very heart of this story.”
A four-time Grammy winner, as well as an actor, photographer and designer, Kravtiz is still making music with a message and lending his voice to the resistance, such as on his latest album, Raise Vibration.
Let Love Rule: A Memoir is out on October 6.
By Rachel George
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Courtesy of MTVMTV is going retro on Friday with a 24-hour marathon featuring some of the network’s classic 1990s moments made in New York.
Flashback Friday: Made in New York kicks off at 6 a.m. ET/PT with back-to-back music videos, and continue throughout the day with episode marathons from The State, Yo! MTV Raps, the VMAS, Unplugged, The Real World: New York and more.
At 3 p.m. ET/PT, La La Anthony will host TRL’s Most Requested Moments, a brand new special at counting down the greatest performances, celebrity guests and OMG moments in TRL history.
The full lineup is as follows:
6:00 a.m.–9:00 a.m. — Music Videos
9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. — Yo! MTV Raps
11:00 a.m.– 2:30 p.m. — The Real World: New York marathon
2:30 p.m.–3:00 p.m. — Diary: Pink
3:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m. — TRL’s Most Requested Moments
5:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m. — 1999 VMA’s
8:00 p.m.–11:00 p.m. — 2000 VMA’s
11:00 p.m.–1:00 a.m. — Unplugged episodes: Nirvana and Pearl Jam
1:00 a.m.–3:00 a.m. — The State marathon
3:00 a.m.–6:00 a.m. — Music Videos
By Geroge Costantino
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Rich Fury/Getty Images for CoachellaCalifornia’s Riverside County has officially canceled Coachella 2020.
The annual Indio, California festival had originally been scheduled for this past April before being postponed to this coming October due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Headliners included the reunited Rage Against the Machine, Frank Ocean and Travis Scott.
In a press release, Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser says, “I am concerned as indications grow that COVID-19 could worsen in the fall.”
“Events like Coachella…would fall under [California] Governor [Gavin] Newsom‘s Stage 4, which he has previously stated would require treatments or a vaccine to enter,” Dr. Kaiser says. “Given the projected circumstances and potential, I would not be comfortable moving forward.”
Earlier this week, Billboard reported that Coachella and its producer Goldenvoice were contemplating whether to plan for a “limited-capacity return” next April, or a “larger, higher capacity” festival in October 2021.
As of Thursday morning, neither Coachella nor Goldenvoice has made a public statement about the cancellation.
By Josh Johnson
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Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for CoachellaCoachella won’t be happening in 2020, Billboard reports.
The Indio, California festival was originally set for two weekends in April. On March 10, a day before the World Health Organization classified COVID-19 as a pandemic, producer Goldenvoice announced that Coachella would be moved to October.
Now, the rescheduled October dates have been canceled, according to a Billboard. In an article detailing promoter AEG’s financial troubles amid the pandemic, the publication reports that festival organizers are weighing whether to plan for a “limited-capacity return” next April, or a “larger, higher capacity” event in October 2021.
Coachella’s 2020 headliners included the reunited Rage Against the Machine, Frank Ocean and Travis Scott.
By Josh Johnson
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J. Shearer/WireImage(NEW YORK) — Little Richard, the flamboyant, envelope-pushing musician whose wild performance style and appearance helped set the blueprint for rock and roll, has died, Rolling Stone reports. He was 87. His son, Danny Penniman, confirmed his death to the publication. No cause of death was given.
His string of hits, starting with 1956’s “Tutti Frutti,” included “Long Tall Sally,” “Rip It Up, “Slippin’ and Slidin’,” “Lucille,” and “Good Golly Miss Molly.” Featuring pumping piano and lyrics often filled with sexual innuendo, Little Richard’s songs were a massive influence on future legends like Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Elton John and The Beatles, and have been covered by countless artists through the years.
Little Richard’s gender-bending onstage appearance — including makeup, huge pompadours and showy outfits — earned him screaming fans, and roles in early rock ‘n roll movies like “The Girl Can’t Help It” and “Don’t Knock the Rock.” Prince is one artist who was taking notes — in fact, Richard himself called Prince “the Little Richard of his generation.”
While Richard once said his flamboyant appearance was designed to make him appear “less threatening” to white audiences, the sad truth is that white singer Pat Boone‘s much-criticized anodyne covers of “Tutti Frutti” and “Long Tall Sally” were more appealing to the mainstream, doing better or as well as Richard’s did on the charts.
Born Richard Wayne Penniman in 1932 in Macon, Georgia, Richard was one of 12 children and left home at age 13. He borrowed much of his musical style and appearance from Esquerita, a pompadoured singer and pianist from South Carolina. Little Richard got his first record deal in 1951, but didn’t experience any success.
In 1956, while working as a dishwasher at a bus station, Richard sent a tape of the racy song “Tutti Frutti” to a record label in Chicago. As the legend goes, he came up with song’s signature lines — “a wop bop a lu bop a wop bam boom” — while washing dishes. He was signed to the label, and a tamer version of the song became his first hit.
In 1957, Little Richard gave up music and became ordained as a minister. When he returned to music, it was gospel. However, he switched back to rock ‘n roll in 1964 and, as Rolling Stone notes, when he played Hamburg, Germany in 1964, The Beatles opened for him.
In the ’70s, Little Richard worked the oldies circuit, but in the ’80s, he became a pop culture fixture, appearing in movies and TV shows, including Miami Vice. In 1986, he was one of the first 10 artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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Ian Gavan/Getty Images for HarlequinsAs America grapples with the rising COVID-19 pandemic, Elton John teamed up with an array of artists on Sunday night to “lift your spirits” for the first ever iHeart Living Room Concert for America that aired on Fox.
The concert not only served as means to comfort those worried about the outbreak, but it also helped raise money for two critical charities: First Responders Children Foundation and Feeding America. It was later revealed by comedian Ken Jeong that Fox was matching donations.
“We hope this bit of entertainment can feed and fuel your soul,” said Sir Elton, who also comedically revealed that he was quarantined in his only house that doesn’t have a piano.
Thankfully, no piano was required for his hosting duties: The performances fell to the artists who lent their vocal talents to entertain America from their homes. However, at the end of the concert, he did manage to get his hands on a keyboard so he could close with a special performance of “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.”
First up was Alicia Keys, who opened with an encouraging, “my hope is that we remember how resident we are and how we defy the odds” as she delicately played her piano. She then dedicated her performance of “Underdog” to the “first responders and medical professionals that are risking their lives to keep us safe.”
Following Alicia, the Backstreet Boys took the living room stage with Brian Littrell greeting fans from the comfort and safety of his house. He joked that he and his band was “bringing our living room to yours” before shouting out frontline responders who are “putting themselves in harm’s way” to keep the globe safe.
The gang sang “I Want It That Way” and even broke out some lighthearted dance moves to elicit some much-needed smiles. Kevin Richardson and Nick Carter even got their kids involved, from playing instruments to dancing around the backyard.
Up next was Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters who dedicated his performance of “My Hero” to all those on the front lines.
Billie Eilish and Finneas followed Grohl with an acoustic rendition of “bad guy” from their couch. Billie revealed she wanted “to be some sort of comfort in this crazy time” before urging “Let’s stay strong together.”
Up next was Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello who flirted a bit before introducing the song “My Oh My” with Camila on vocals and Shawn on guitar. More adorable than the lovebirds was their dog in the background who excitedly tried to steal the spotlight in the beginning.
Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day, who took over for Cabello and Mendes, also showed off his canine companion as he sang “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.”
While Lady Gaga didn’t perform, she reached out to fans with an empathetic, “I know what’s going on in the world is terrifying” and that “my heart goes out to people who lost loved ones.” She used her time to touch upon mental health, encouraging those to communicate with friends and family to combat the feeling of isolation and anxiety. She concluded, “Be kind to yourselves.”
Lizzo and Elton also discussed mental health and the negative emotions COVID-19 is stoking. As the friends live chatted on Zoom, Lizzo brought up that “it’s important to remember that music brings people together” and praised everyone involved for coming together during such an uncertain time. “We cannot let this tear us apart,” she said in closing. “We can’t let the fear spread faster than the virus.”
Following such a serious discussion, Tim McGraw took the stage next to perform a lighthearted “Something like That” while sitting on his diving board as his band played live from their respective houses. His spot ended with him thanking his daughter Maggie for holding the camera and sweetly blew her a kiss.
Demi Lovato took the majority of her slot to urge those viewing to donate and “do what you can to lift [people] up.” She closed with a brief piano rendition of “Skyscraper.”
Last up was Mariah Carey who put her heart into “Always Be My Baby” and made sure to prove she is the queen of the whistle register by spending the last moments of the song hitting a series of high notes. She concluded with an adorable anecdote that after she leaves the studio, she’s going to put her gloves back on “even in my own home.”
Other performers helping to spread positivity were H.E.R. and Sam Smith.
Thanking first responders was a unifying theme during Sunday night’s concert. The show offered numerous first-hand accounts from EMTs, doctors and nurses about how they’re battling against the pandemic. One nurse, named Melissa, who is working at a COVID-19 ICU at her hospital tearfully revealed that she feels like she’s “working in a war zone.”
Talk show host Ellen Degeneres also shouted out essential workers, namely those who work at grocery stores, making sure people are still able to eat by keeping the shelves stocked.
As the concert wrapped up, Sir Elton urged the audience to continue giving to First Responders Children Foundation and Feeding America before thanking everyone for coming together to promote positivity.
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iStock/Cesare FerrariFor several weeks, artists have been announcing concert tour cancellations. But now, all the tours are being canceled for all the artists. Well — almost all artists.
Live Nation, one of the world’s biggest concert promoters, plans to press pause on all of the tours it’s currently promoting, both foreign and domestic, through the end of March, Billboard has learned.
According to Billboard, Live Nation told employees that while a few shows will continue on Thursday or Friday, any shows starting this weekend will be postponed. Billboard reports company executives told employees that March is generally a slow month anyway. Live Nation plans to re-evaluate in April, with an eye towards getting artists back out on the road in May or June.
The tours affected span all musical genres: Just some of them, Billboard notes, include Billie Eilish, Jason Aldean, Zac Brown Band, Cher, Kiss, Post Malone, Tool, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Shania Twain‘s Las Vegas residency, Chris Stapleton and more.
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