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  • Chase Infiniti Says It Was ‘Totally Surreal’ to Work With Morgan Freeman in New Audi Commercial

    Chase Infiniti Says It Was ‘Totally Surreal’ to Work With Morgan Freeman in New Audi Commercial

    Chase Infiniti has quite the last year. The 25-year-old actress spent most of it alongside Teyana Taylor, Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro promoting the release of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” and campaigning for the film throughout awards season.

    Earlier this month, she earned more praise for her “impeccable” work starring in “The Testaments,” Hulu’s new spinoff of “The Handmaids Tale.”

    And then there’s Morgan Freeman.

    Infiniti stars alongside the Oscar-winner in a new commercial for the 2026 Audi Q3. The spot, conceived by New Ogilvy and directed by Tilt Productions, shows Infiniti behind the wheel on an open-ended journey with Freeman narrating, “She didn’t know where the road would leave,” before revealing he’s a passenger in the car.

    Infiniti said it was “totally surreal” getting to work with Freeman. “The first time I met him in person was when we sat in the car for the first time,” she told me Friday. “I was like, ‘Hi, I’m Chase. It’s so nice to meet you.’ I was trying not to freak out and be a fangirl while pretending to drive the car.”

    She had nothing to worry about.

    “His presence just brings so much warmth and he is such a kind person and very warm on set as well,” Infiniti said. “It was so special.”

    Are you a good driver?

    I like to think I’m a good driver. I do love to drive. I was in the car with one of my friends the other day, and he was like, “You know what? I just need to let you be behind the wheel.”

    Do you remember taking your driving test?

    I remember being so nervous. I remember being the most nervous for parallel parking. Terrifying. But that’s my favorite thing to do now. I think that’s my superpower. However, if you see me in public trying to parallel park, please don’t look at me because then I get so nervous.

    What do you think when you hear, “She didn’t know where the road would lead”?

    My character [in the commercial] starts in such a place of uncertainty, and throughout the entire story, you kind of see that she slowly opens herself up to possibility. I think that’s something that a lot of people can relate to. Same with the tagline, “A life of yes.” I think that it’s about trusting yourself and leaning into the fact that you might not know what’s going to happen in the future, but you’re willing to take that chance. You’re willing to take that risk, to see what the world has to offer.

    Is it scary or a good thing not knowing where the road is going to lead?

    Both. It’s something that you can embrace. That’s one of the beautiful things about life, not knowing what’s going to happen.

    Now that you’ve worked with Morgan Freeman, pitch me the movie you’d like to do with him.

    I will do anything. I’ll be a waiter in the background. I’ll deliver him his coffee, or I’ll play a barista if he’s going to a café. Whatever I can do to with him again, I would totally do it.

    Watch the commercial below.

    This Q&A was edited for length and clarity.

  • Bitcoin whales ‘accumulating rapidly’ as BTC climbs toward $80K: Santiment

    Bitcoin whales ‘accumulating rapidly’ as BTC climbs toward $80K: Santiment

    Bitcoin whales have ramped up accumulation over the past two weeks as Bitcoin’s price edges closer to the $80,000 level, according to crypto sentiment platform Santiment.

    “Bitcoin’s key stakeholders are accumulating rapidly,” Santiment said in an X post on Thursday.

    Santiment explained that Bitcoin ($BTC) wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 Bitcoin have accumulated 40,967 Bitcoin since April 10, worth roughly $3.17 billion at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap.

    Bitcoin reached $79,327 on Wednesday before retracing to $77,390 at the time of publication.

    “Long-term bull run” may follow, according to Santiment

    Santiment added that retail investors — those holding less than 0.1 $BTC — have accumulated around 46 $BTC over the same period, worth roughly $3.56 million at the time of publication.

    “Ideally, these key stakeholders continue to accumulate, and retail begins to take profit,” Santiment said, adding that the “combination is one of the strongest signals for a long-term bull run.”

    Bitcoin is up 8.62% over the past 30 days. Source: CoinMarketCap

    Analysts often watch this pattern because periods where large investors accumulate while smaller investors take profits have historically been followed by further price gains.

    Meanwhile, Bitwise’s head of research for Europe, Andre Dragosch, pointed to a pickup in recent demand from institutional investors. “Institutional demand for Bitcoin is clearly accelerating,” Dragosch said in an X post on Friday.

    In a separate post on X, Santiment said that Bitcoin holders’ sentiment has swung from “extreme pessimism” on Monday to “ultra FOMO mode” on Thursday. However, overall crypto market sentiment is still lagging based on broader market measures.

    Crypto market sentiment is still in “Fear”

    The Crypto Fear & Greed Index, which measures overall crypto market sentiment, is still in “Fear” territory, posting a score of 39 on Friday, suggesting investors are still cautious toward the crypto market.

    Related: BlackRock drives 7-day Bitcoin ETF inflow streak as $BTC nears $80,000

    Santiment said that Bitcoin passing above $80,000, a level not seen since Jan. 30, would be significant in reviving trader interest in Bitcoin.

    Source: Ted

    “However, it will ideally happen when optimism calms down just slightly,” Santiment said.

    Market participants are often cautious during overheated conditions, as sharp rallies in extremely bullish sentiment can be viewed as fragile and may lead to short-term reversals rather than the start of a more stable uptrend.

    Some analysts anticipate that Bitcoin could climb higher than $80,000.

    MN Trading Capital founder Michael van de Poppe said on Thursday that Bitcoin has “enough room” to continue surging toward $86,000. However, he warned that the asset must hold at least $75,000 to hold momentum.

    Magazine: AI-driven hacks could kill DeFi — unless projects act now

  • Box Office Stunner: ‘Michael’ Now on Course to Near $90 Million in Record-Smashing Domestic Opening

    Box Office Stunner: ‘Michael’ Now on Course to Near $90 Million in Record-Smashing Domestic Opening

    In a history-making moon walk, Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic is now on course to launch light-years ahead of expectations at the domestic box office with a debut approaching $90 million.

    Michael looks to earn $37 million to $38 million on Friday alone for a projected three-day opening of $88 million or more in a milestone victory for Lionsgate, according to those with access to grosses. Globally, the pic could easily clear $180 million in its debut, considering Jackson is an even bigger draw overseas, where Michael is likewise off to a record start (Universal is handling the film internationally).

    Heading into the weekend, Michael was tracking to open in the $65 million-$70 million range domestically, which would have already been enough to boast the biggest opening of all time for a music biopic, not adjusted for inflation. The current record-holder is Universal’s Straight Outta Compton ($60.1 million) followed by Fox’s Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody ($55 million).

    An inkling of Michael‘s true potential was revealed when the film earned $12.6 million in Wednesday and Thursday previews, on par with 2026 box office hit Hail Project Mary, and ahead of such event pics including Dune: Part II and Oppenheimer, which both reported preview grosses in the $10 million range.

    The big unknown was how front-loaded Michael would be. At the same time, it was clear moviegoers were over-the-moon for the film, which boasts a coveted 96 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

    On Thursday, headlines focused on Michael‘s worrisome RT critics’ score, which bounced between 29 percent and 33 percent. Many of the reviews seemingly took issue with the fact that producer Graham King, along with Lionsgate, had decided to end the movie before Jackson became engulfed in allegations of child sexual abuse (the Jackson estate backed the project). The film’s initial budget of $155 million came in closer to $200 million after tens of millions were spent on additional photography to make that decision a reality.

    “Fuqua and screenwriter John Logan don’t exactly break the mold with Michael, nor do they stuff it with major revelations. But they tap into a vein of melancholy underlaying the stratospheric success that’s surprisingly affecting,” THR chief film critic David Rooney writes in its review. “The online mob will be sharpening their pitchforks given the movie’s failure to address the accusations of child sexual abuse that tarnished Michael Jackson’s legacy. But the filmmakers get around that by focusing on his early career, ending with the 1988 Bad World Tour concert in London, years before allegations first surfaced. The epilogue card reading ‘His story continues’ does some heavy lifting.”

    By Thursday night, the critics’ score had risen to 40 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. While that’s far from ideal, strong audience exits are more than making up for it.

    When Michael first came on tracking three weeks ago, the domestic opening range was $55 million to $60 million. While still a great number, the subsequent spike signals that Michael may be benefiting from the nostalgia factor that is inspiring infrequent moviegoers to return to the multiplex in droves for the first time since the pandemic, or sparking interest among the most avid moviegoing demo, Gen Zers.

    Overseas, Michael is opening in 82 markets, excluding Japan. It unfurled in most key markets on Wednesday, earning $16.6 million for a running total of $18.5 million, including previews.

    International Wednesday highlights included:

    France ($2.6 milion): Biggest opening day ever for a biopic, coming in well above the Wednesday openings of both Oppenheimer and Bohemian Rhapsody.

    U.K. & Ireland ($2.6 million): Biggest opening day for a musical biopic of all time, ahead of the Wednesday opening of Bohemian Rhapsody and well above the Friday openings of Elvis and Rocketman. 

    Italy ($1.3 million): Biggest opening day ever for a musical biopic, above Bohemian Rhapsody.

    Australia ($1 million): Biggest opening day for a musical biopic ever, beating Elvis. 

    Brazil ($651,000): Michael added another $651,000 in previews for a running total of $2 million. The combined preview result represents the biggest ever for a non-superhero, non-franchise film in the market. It continues to rank No. 1, with a 68 percent market share.

    This story was originally published April 24 at at 1:58 a.m.

  • Helena Bonham Carter Exits ‘The White Lotus’ Season 4 Cast

    After being announced as part of the cast for the upcoming fourth season of The White Lotus, Helena Bonham Carter has departed the project, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

    “With filming just underway on season four of The White Lotus, it had become apparent that the character which Mike White created for Helena Bonham Carter did not align once on set,” an HBO spokesperson said in a statement shared with THR. “The role has subsequently been rethought, is being rewritten and will be recast in the coming weeks. HBO, the producers and Mike White are saddened that they won’t get to work with her, but remain ardent fans and very much hope to work with the legendary actress on another project soon.”

    Production on season four of the Mike White created series recently kicked off in France, and will notably be set during the Cannes Film Festival. The two-time Oscar nominee was an early announced addition to the show’s cast, joining the show’s slate with an extensive résumé of prior projects.

    Carter’s Academy Award nods hailing from her performances in The King’s Speech and The Wings of the Dove. Her additional film credits include additional film credits include Fight Club (1999); the Harry Potter franchise; Novocaine (2001); Planet of the Apes (2001); Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005); Corpse Bride (2005); and Enola Holmes (2020). She also appeared in Netflix’s The Crown as Princess Margaret. 

    The White Lotus season four cast is still quite robust, with a slew of names already being announced, including Alexander Ludwig, AJ Michalka, Steve Coogan, Caleb Jonte Edwards, Marissa Long, Chris Messina, Sandra Bernhard, Ari Graynor, Dylan Ennis, Vincent Cassel, Corentin Fila, Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Chloe Bennet, Max Greenfield, Charlie Hall, Kumail Nanjiani, Jarrad Paul, Heather Graham, Frida Gustavsson, Rosie Perez, Tobias Santelmann, Ben Schnetzer and Laura Smet.

    More to come.

  • CBS News’ Bari Weiss, Norah O’Donnell Among Attendees at David Ellison’s Dinner Party ‘Honoring’ Donald Trump and the First Amendment

    CBS News’ Bari Weiss, Norah O’Donnell Among Attendees at David Ellison’s Dinner Party ‘Honoring’ Donald Trump and the First Amendment

    President Donald Trump delivered remarks for about an hour at the dinner party David Ellison hosted in Washington, D.C., on Thursday evening “honoring” Trump — and intended to celebrate the First Amendment, sources told Variety.

    Ellison organized the event in Trump’s honor (as well as to recognize CBS News’ White House reporters) as his Paramount Skydance is looking to win regulatory approval from the Trump administration’s Justice Department for the $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. On Wednesday, WBD shareholders overwhelmingly approved the company’s sale to Paramount.

    In addition to Trump and senior members of his administration, those in attendance included Bari Weiss, editor in chief of CBS News; former “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell; Tom Cibrowski, CBS News president; Jan Crawford, the network’s chief legal correspondent; chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes; and Weijia Jiang, a White House correspondent at CBS News who is president of the White House Correspondents’ Association. Sources confirmed these attendees, which were first reported by the New York Times.

    The event was themed to celebrate “250 Years of the First Amendment” but the topic of free speech didn’t really come up during Trump’s remarks or otherwise, sources told Variety. (In fact, the First Amendment and the rest of the Bill of Rights were adopted on Dec. 15, 1791 — less than 235 years ago.)

    The irony is that Trump has faced criticism for undermining freedom of the press, including with a string of lawsuits he’s filed against news organizations. That includes one against CBS News over edits to a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris that the previous management of Paramount settled with a $16 million payout to Trump prior to the Skydance merger.

    Weiss “joined Ellison at Mr. Trump’s table,” alongside her wife, Nellie Bowles, per the Times report. Also seated at the table were First Lady Melania Trump and Paramount chief legal officer Makan Delrahim (who was a DOJ antitrust official during Trump’s first term).

    Ellison’s dinner guests included Todd Blanche, who assumed the role of acting U.S. attorney general after Trump fired Pam Bondi earlier this month. As noted by the Times, “Mr. Blanche oversees the Justice Department, whose antitrust division is set to review the Warner Bros. acquisition.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller, deputy White House chief of staff, also attended the function, according to the report.

    What Trump said during his one-hour speech was not detailed in the Times report. Sources told Variety the president spoke on various topics, including what he thought was the inferior quality of Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool — which he said he has fixed.

    Two sources described the evening to Variety as subdued. Dinner was served late because Trump’s remarks ran long.

    Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) had this to say about Ellison’s event celebrating Trump: “Ellison and the information oligarchs should enjoy it while they can because when Democrats win power we are going to break these anti-consumer, anti-free speech media conglomerates into pieces,” he posted on X.

    CBS News staff members “described consternation within the CBS newsroom over the event’s potential to create a perception of coziness between the news division and the Trump administration,” according to the Times article.

    A Paramount Skydance spokeswoman declined to comment. The White House and CBS News did not respond to requests for comment Friday.

    The event was held two days before the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday, April 25 — where Trump is also expected to be attendance. The Ellison-hosted dinner on April 23, which started with cocktails at 6:15 p.m., took place at the United States Institute of Peace. In December, the State Department announced that it was being renamed “The Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.”

    After Paramount Skydance beat out Netflix to buy Warner Bros., staffers at CNN privately expressed fears that the Trump-friendly ownership of Paramount will steer CNN’s coverage toward a more conservative ideological bent. Weiss, whose digital news outlet The Free Press was acquired by Paramount last fall, has caused disruption within the ranks of CBS News since she took over the division. For his part, Ellison has pledged that CNN’s “editorial independence will absolutely be maintained” under a merged Paramount-WBD.

  • Why Tokenized Deposits Are Becoming the Institutional Standard for On-Chain Cash

    Why Tokenized Deposits Are Becoming the Institutional Standard for On-Chain Cash

    As HSBC, Lloyds, and JPMorgan all commit to tokenized deposits on the Canton Network, Digital Asset Chief Product Officer Bernhard Elsner explains why the instrument is structurally distinct from stablecoins and how Canton’s architecture eliminates bridge risk rather than simply managing it.

    The tokenized deposit market is accelerating. HSBC has completed a pilot simulating the issuance and atomic settlement of its Tokenised Deposit Service on the Canton Network. Lloyds Bank issued tokenized sterling deposits on Canton and used them to purchase a tokenized gilt from Archax. JPMorgan’s Kinexys unit is bringing JPM Coin natively to Canton in a phased integration throughout 2026. Behind all three deals is Digital Asset, the creator of the Canton Network, which as crypto.news reported positions the network as the only public layer one blockchain purpose-built for institutional finance, combining configurable privacy, atomic composability, and regulatory compliance in a single infrastructure layer.

    Tokenized Deposits Canton Network Deployments Raise a Core Question: What Makes These Different From Stablecoins?

    Bernhard Elsner, Chief Product Officer at Digital Asset, told crypto.news that the distinction is fundamental and drives everything else about how the instrument behaves. “Tokenized deposits are a digital representation of a commercial bank deposit on a blockchain or other DLT platform. Unlike many other digital assets, these tokens are the bank’s own liability to the holder, carrying the same legal status as a pound or dollar sitting in a traditional deposit account,” Elsner said. A stablecoin holder, by contrast, is a creditor of a private issuer with recourse to a pool of reserve assets. A wrapped asset holder relies on the integrity of a wrapper contract plus whatever custody arrangement sits behind it. A tokenized deposit holder is a depositor, with capital requirements, supervisory oversight, KYC and AML inherited from the bank, and in most jurisdictions, deposit insurance. “For institutional cash management, that’s the difference between an instrument you can park working capital in and one you can only route through,” Elsner said. The DTCC has already selected Canton to tokenize US Treasuries, which Elsner describes as turning tokenized deposits into the natural cash leg that enables true atomic Delivery versus Payment between regulated assets and regulated bank money.

    Tokenized Deposits and Stablecoins Are Complementary, Not Competing

    The distinction between the two instruments does not mean they are adversaries. Elsner is direct on this point: stablecoins optimize for reach and liquidity, while tokenized deposits optimize for balance sheet integrity and regulatory certainty. “Though these assets have different tradeoffs, it’s important to remember that they are complementary to one another,” he said. “We expect to see tokenized deposits leveraged alongside stablecoins and other digital assets as institutions determine which instrument fits which workflow.” Canton’s privacy and native composability are what make this coexistence possible at the infrastructure level. On Canton, a tokenized deposit operates as a direct, regulated bank liability, meaning it is not a wrapped claim, an IOU, or a separate bearer instrument. It never leaves the legal and operational framework it was issued under. That is what gives institutions the confidence to use it for working capital rather than just for routing. As crypto.news has tracked, JPMorgan’s Naveen Mallela described deposit tokens as a “practical, yield-bearing alternative” for institutions that want speed and security without leaving the banking system, a characterization that aligns precisely with what Elsner describes as the instrument’s institutional value proposition.

    How Canton Eliminates Bridge Risk Rather Than Managing It

    The interoperability question is where Canton’s architecture makes its most commercially significant claim. Elsner frames the absence of interoperability not as a technical inconvenience but as a structural barrier to meaningful scale. “Interoperability is absolutely critical to institutional adoption, otherwise these assets will remain trapped in fragmented silos and unable to reach meaningful scale,” he said. “An asset that cannot move beyond its native platform cannot be financed, reused, or integrated into broader financial workflows.” Most current DvP implementations do not achieve true atomicity, according to Elsner, because settlement typically relies on intermediaries, prefunding, or sequential processes between systems, which introduces latency and residual risk. On Canton, the securities leg and the cash leg can settle in a single atomic transaction across two different applications with no bridge in the middle. “Settlement risk isn’t managed. It’s eliminated at the infrastructure level,” Elsner said. HSBC’s pilot demonstrated exactly this, simulating the atomic settlement of tokenized deposits against other digital assets without the token leaving its issuing institutional framework. As crypto.news documented, Canton processes over $350 billion in tokenized value daily in 2026, with the DTCC, LSEG’s Digital Settlement House, and now JPMorgan all choosing it as their primary settlement infrastructure.

    Elsner said he expects tokenized deposits and stablecoins to continue expanding alongside each other as different institutional workflows determine which instrument’s tradeoffs are the better fit.

  • Euro stablecoins explode 1200% under MiCA as capital pours into regulated assets

    Euro stablecoins have surged 1,200% under MiCA as regulatory clarity attracts institutional capital into euro-denominated digital assets. Controlled reserve management (requiring 100% fiat-backing for EU stablecoin issuers) has boosted investor confidence by nearly 50%.

    While the 1,200% growth has not been uniform across all euro-denominated digital assets, it reflects a massive shift in market structure following the implementation of MiCA. Consequently, the striking growth is notably concentrated in MiCA-compliant tokens that have absorbed liquidity from their unregulated rivals. Major financial players like Société Générale and Deutsche Börse are already using euro stablecoins for tokenized fund management and wholesale payments.

    Additionally, traditional banks now account for nearly 40% of new e-money token (EMT) issuers, driving active crypto usage among lower-income brackets (retailers). However, this usage is mostly flat or on the decline. The European stablecoin market has consolidated into a high-stakes race between crypto native issuers and banking consortia, leaving a vacuum now filled by a few dominant players.

    MiCA’s ‘E-Money Token’ classification changes stablecoin demand

    The strict classification of euro-pegged stablecoins as “E-Money Tokens” has fundamentally changed their demand. Clear rules requiring at least 30%-60% of fiat-backed reserves to be held as bank deposits have increased institutional trust. Regulated EMTs now account for approximately 25% of all stablecoin transaction volume in the EU.

    Consumer interest in euro-backed stablecoins has also risen significantly, driven by increased demand. Search activity for these assets has risen by 313% in Italy and ~400% in Finland. MiCA has established uniform rules across all 27 EU member states, allowing “passporting” (the ability to operate across all 27 EU member states with a single license). However, flows are notably concentrated in jurisdictions like Malta, Germany, and the Netherlands. These countries lead in MiCA license issuance.

    Major players like UniCredit, BBVA, and BNP Paribas have also formed the Qivalis consortium to launch a shared, MiCA-compliant euro stablecoin rail by late 2026. The consortium of 12 major European banks is targeting institutional settlement and treasury operations. Their goal is to create a default euro stablecoin for global crypto markets, leveraging their existing massive depositor base. They are responding to the narrowing stablecoin market in 2026 amid full MiCA enforcement. Many non-compliant giants, such as Tether’s USDT and EURT, were forced to exit the EU.

    Circle’s $EURC dominates the European stablecoin market

    As of April 2026, Circle’s $EURC dominates the European stablecoin market, holding over 50% of the euro stablecoin market share. The company secured its French EMI license early, allowing it to “passport” $EURC across all 27 EU member states. The $EURC is now deeply integrated into physical commerce via Ingenico’s 40 million POS terminals. It is also embedded into institutional settlement via the Stellar network. Consequently, the $EURC token has seen transaction volume grow by over 1,100%.

    Société Générale-FORGE’s $EURCV has also recorded over 340% growth in transaction volume. The $EURCV token focuses on tokenized bond settlement and wholesale payments. It recently expanded its multichain strategy to the Stellar network and XRP Ledger to tap into cross-border payment ecosystems.

    The rise of MiCA-licensed euro-backed stablecoins is also fueling a massive capital rotation as investors migrate from unregulated offshore stablecoins to on-chain RWAs. These euro stablecoins are projected to reach 40% market share in the RWA sector as the year progresses. Market share is particularly important, as regulators expect tokenized real estate in the EU to reach €500 billion by 2027. Additional MiCA-aligned tokens gaining traction include EURI (Member Finance), EURQ (Quantoz), and EURE (Monerium).

    However, while the growth rate of euro stablecoins has been dramatic (exceeding 1,200% in transaction volume for specific tokens), the euro stablecoin market still lags behind the $300 billion U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin market. Nevertheless, the trend indicates a new, stable, and compliant environment for European digital assets. Euro stablecoins account for nearly 13% of the total global payments activity.

  • Noah Kahan Surprise Drops ‘The Great Divide’ Extended Version ‘The Last of the Bugs’

    Noah Kahan Surprise Drops ‘The Great Divide’ Extended Version ‘The Last of the Bugs’

    It’s been less than 24 hours since Noah Kahan released his highly anticipated fourth studio album The Great Divide, and he’s already dropping more music.

    Kahan surprise dropped The Great Divide: The Last of the Bugs — an extended version of the new album — on Friday, featuring four new tracks and bringing the track list to a massive 21 songs. Check out The Hollywood Reporter‘s breakdown of the album here.

    Instead of tacking the new songs at the end of the album, Kahan decided to sprinkle them throughout. “Lighthouse” is the first of the new songs, landing at No. 5 on the tracklist, sandwiched in between the already released “Downfall” and “Paid Time Off.” The next track added is “Staying Still,” which comes after “Paid Time Off” and before the album’s titular track. The final two new songs, “A Few of Our Own” and “Orbiter” land much further down the album at No. 19 and No. 20, respectively.

    The Great Divide serves as the follow-up to Kahan’s breakthrough hit album, Stick Season, which helped transform the Vermont native from a club act to a stadium headliner. The 29-year-old announced the album in late January and dropped the music video for its first single, the titular track, during a commercial break of the 2026 Grammy Awards.

    “It is hard to even begin to describe what these last few years making this album has felt like,” Kahan said in a release about his latest album. “The collision of fear and pressure and joy and luck and total love has left me wordless. I spent many months walking forward in complete darkness, hands out in front of me, desperate to touch something familiar that would show me I was near the light switch again.

    “I was never really alone,” Kahan continued. “I don’t think any of us ever truly are. I was guided through the wilderness by calm voices, by the stillness of my home state, by the total commitment of my band, producers, and team, by the steady and loving touch of my wife and family, and of course, by the constant and enduring encouragement of my fans. I am very proud of what we are doing together, and I hope we can live this dream for a long long time.”

    Earlier this month, Kahan released a Netflix documentary, Noah Kahan: Out of Body. The 90-minute film, directed by Nick Sweeney, follows the singer as he prepares to make The Great Divide, standing at the crossroads of what to do in the wake of a smash hit.

  • Nickeil Alexander-Walker named 2025-26 Kia NBA Most Improved Player

    • 2025-26 NBA Awards: Complete coverage
    • Kia DPOY Award: All-Time Winners

    ATLANTA (AP) — Nickeil Alexander-Walker was voted the NBA’s 2026 Most Improved Player on Friday, beating out finalists Deni Avdija and Jalen Duren to become the second Hawks player to win the award in two years.

    It was, by far, the best statistical season of Alexander-Walker’s career after Dyson Daniels won the trophy last season.

    “Going into the summer I was kind of nervous because I was getting a lot of love from the Hawks organization,” Alexander-Walker said.

    He scored a career-best 20.8 points per game, more than doubling his average from his first six pro seasons. He shot a career-best 46% and also averaged more assists (3.7), rebounds (3.4) and steals (1.3) than ever before.

    Part of the rise in numbers was in part to a rise in minutes; he logged 2,603 this season, 530 more than his previous career best. That said, he earned those minutes — the 251 3-pointers, 277 free throws made, 40% clip from 3-point range and 90% clip from the foul line all were his best.

    In the first year of a four-year, $62 million contract with the Hawks, Alexander-Walker started the season as a sixth man and moved into Atlanta’s starting lineup early with Trae Young dealing with a knee injury. His status as a full-time starter was solidified after a January trade sent Young to Washington for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert.

    Alexander-Walker’s win adds to the award haul for his family; his cousin is Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning MVP and a finalist for MVP honors again this season.

    Daniels said it’s more proof that the Hawks are elite in player development.

    “I think Atlanta has a really good development pathway,” Daniels said Friday. “Guys come in here, get their work in, and (Hawks coach Quin Snyder is) really good at giving guys opportunities to play free and be themselves. That’s what Nickeil’s come in and done this year, and our offense has taken a huge jump.”

    This was the fifth award to be announced by the NBA since the end of the regular season. The others:

    — San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama became the youngest Defensive Player of the Year, and the first to win the award in a unanimous vote.

    — Gilgeous-Alexander nearly became the first unanimous winner of the Clutch Player of the Year award. He got 96 of a possible 100 first-place votes.

    — San Antonio’s Keldon Johnson topped Miami’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. for Sixth Man of the Year, getting 63 first-place votes.

    — Boston’s Derrick White won the Sportsmanship Award, edging out Indiana’s TJ McConnell. That award, unlike most others, is selected solely by active NBA players.

    Other award announcements still to come include MVP (either Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama or Denver’s Nikola Jokic), Coach of the Year (either Detroit’s J.B. Bickerstaff, San Antonio’s Mitch Johnson or Boston’s Joe Mazzulla), and Rookie of the Year (either Philadelphia’s VJ Edgecombe, Dallas’ Cooper Flagg or Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel).

  • Rockets’ Kevin Durant out for Game 3 vs. Lakers with a sprained left ankle

    Rockets’ Kevin Durant out for Game 3 vs. Lakers with a sprained left ankle

    Rockets fans will have to hope the rest of the squad can pick up an injured Kevin Durant in Game 3.

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    HOUSTON (AP) — Kevin Durant won’t play in Game 3 of Houston’s first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night because of a sprained left ankle.

    Durant also missed the opener of the series because of a bruised right knee. He returned for Game 2 and scored 23 points in 41 minutes of the 101-94 loss that gave the Lakers a 2-0 lead in the series.

    Austin Reaves also was ruled out shortly before the game after the Lakers had listed him as questionable to return from an oblique injury that has kept him out since April 2.

    Coach Ime Udoka said Durant was injured with about seven minutes left in Game 2 when he was chasing down Luke Kennard, but he did not leave the game.

    “We’ve seen the play and found out when it happened. Just played the remainder of the game and obviously adrenaline and was still loose,” Udoka said. “But afterwards swelled up, some tenderness and got worse over the next day or so.”

    Durant’s injury problems this postseason came after the 37-year-old ranked second in the league in the regular season by playing 2,840 minutes.

    Durant, who is in his first season in Houston after a blockbuster offseason trade from Phoenix, is the fifth-leading scorer in NBA history.