Names and faces
The team of Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan is going out on top with Emmy gold. The Live with Kelly and Michael duo won the Daytime Emmy Award for best entertainment talk show host on Sunday, capping a tumultuous two weeks that began with Strahan’s announced departure for Good Morning America and Ripa’s reaction. Neither Ripa nor Strahan showed up at the nontelevised ceremony in Los Angeles to claim the award, their second consecutive one in the category for their syndicated show. Ripa reportedly had been upset that she learned only a few minutes before the public that Strahan, a former football star and her co- host since 2012, was exiting for GMA. She subsequently took several days off from Live, and when she returned said she’d needed to gather her thoughts and that “apologies have been made,” although she didn’t specify by whom. Strahan is set to leave May 13.
Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Ringo Starr and other artists plan to skip North Carolina performances as part of a musicians’ boycott over a new law that limits protections to gay, bisexual and transgender people, but several stars at Sunday’s American Country Countdown Awards said they plan to stand by their fans. “We love North Carolina and our fans there, so we’re gonna play,” said group/ duo of the year winner Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line. “We are going to be there. For sure.” North Carolina recently adopted a law that blocks local and state protections for gay, bisexual and transgender people at their jobs and in public accommodations and requires transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding to their sex at birth. Opposition has been loud and extensive to the law, adopted in March. States and major cities have banned public employees from optional travel to North Carolina, PayPal reversed plans to open a 400- employee operation center in Charlotte and more than 160 corporate chief executive officers signed a letter urging the law’s repeal. However, other musicians such as Cyndi Lauper and Mumford and Sons have said they will continue their shows in the state and donate proceeds to support organizations for gay, bisexual and transgender people. “Frankly, I don’t have time to sweat things like that,” singer Chris Janson told The Associated Press. “I think there are bigger things in the world to be thinking about. So I think you can kind of get where I lean on that subject, right? You have to perform for the fans!” And, musicians such as Chris Lane and Scotty McCreery said they’d never cancel a show in their home state. “I’m not in politics, but it’s my home state. I love it there,” McCreery said. “I’ve got a show coming up in June.”