Entertainment
Jelly Roll pardoned by Tennessee governor for robbery, drug convictions
Tennessee’s governor pardoned country star Jelly Roll on Thursday for his criminal past in the state, acknowledging the Nashville native’s long road back from drugs and prison through soul-searching, songwriting and advocacy for second chances.
The rapper-turned-singer, whose legal name is Jason Deford, has spoken for years about his redemption arc before diverse audiences, from people serving time in correctional centers to concert crowds and even in testimony before Congress.
Republican Gov. Bill Lee issued his pardon after friends and civic leaders of the Grammy-nominated musician joined in an outpouring of support.
He has said a pardon would make it easier for him to travel internationally for concert tours and to perform Christian missionary work without requiring burdensome paperwork.
Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for iHeartRadio
He was one of 33 people to receive pardons Thursday from Lee, who for years has issued clemency decisions around the Christmas season. Lee said Jelly Roll’s application underwent the same monthslong thorough review as other applicants. The state parole board gave a nonbinding, unanimous recommendation for Jelly Roll’s pardon in April.
“His story is remarkable, and it’s a redemptive, powerful story, which is what you look for and what you hope for,” Lee told reporters, adding he hopes to meet Jelly Roll for the first time soon.
Beginning at the age of 14, Jelly Roll was in and out of jail for about a decade for convictions including aggravated robbery, shoplifting, drug possession and drug dealing.
In January 2024, “CBS Sunday Morning” interviewed Jelly Roll inside the Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility in Nashville, where he had once been an inmate. At the time, Jelly Roll had just been nominated for two Grammys.
“There was a time in my life where I truly thought … this was it,” he told “CBS Sunday Morning.” “And then coming here, you know, just after getting nominated for two Grammys, it just hits different…I didn’t think I’d get emotional, to be honest.
He told “CBS Sunday Morning” he wrote hundreds of songs while in jail.
Unlike recent high-profile federal pardons, which let people off the hook for prison, a pardon in Tennessee serves as a statement of forgiveness for someone who has already completed a prison sentence and been released. Pardons offer a path to get certain civil rights restored, such as the right to vote, although there are some limitations under state law, and the governor can specify the terms.
Jelly Roll broke into country music with the 2023 album “Whitsitt Chapel” and crossover songs like “Need a Favor.” He has won multiple CMT Awards, a CMA Award and also picked up seven career Grammy nominations, three of them recently.
Much of his work has become associated with overcoming adversity, like the song “Winning Streak” that tells the story of someone’s first day sober. Or the direct-and-to-the-point, “I Am Not Okay.”
In making his case to the parole board, Jelly Roll said he first fell in love with songwriting while in custody, stating it began as a therapeutic passion project that “would end up changing my life in ways that I never dreamed imaginable.”
Beyond his sold-out shows, he’s brought his story to the Senate, where he testified in January 2024 about the dangers of fentanyl, describing his drug-dealing younger self as “the uneducated man in the kitchen playing chemist with drugs I knew absolutely nothing about.”
“I was a part of the problem,” he told lawmakers at the time. “I am here now standing as a man that wants to be a part of the solution.”
Jelly Roll’s most serious convictions include a robbery at age 17 and drug charges at 23. In the first case, a female acquaintance helped Jelly Roll and two armed accomplices steal $350 from people in a home in 2002. Because the victims knew the female acquaintance, she and Jelly Roll were arrested right away. Jelly Roll was unarmed, and was sentenced to one year in prison plus probation.
In another run-in 2008, police found marijuana and crack cocaine in his car, leading to eight years of court-ordered supervision.
Friends and civic leaders backed the pardon application, citing Jelly Roll’s transformation.
Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall, who runs Nashville’s jail, wrote that Jelly Roll had an awakening in one of the jails he managed. Live Nation Entertainment CEO and President Michael Rapino cited Jelly Roll’s donations from his performances to charities for at-risk youth.
The parole board began considering Jelly Roll’s pardon application in October 2024, which marks the state’s five-year timeline for eligibility after his sentence expired. Prominent Nashville attorney David Raybin represents Jelly Roll in the pardon case.
Lee’s office said no one was pardoned Thursday who had a homicide or a sex-related conviction, or for any crime committed as an adult against a minor.
Entertainment
Nelson Peltz offers his stance amid Brooklyn Beckham’s bombshell claims
Nicola Peltz’s billionaire father, Nelson, has weighed in on the Beckham feud.
Nelson’s son-in-law Brooklyn, 26, released a bombshell statement last week in which he criticised his parents, Sir David 51, and Lady Victoria Beckham 50, and accused them of mistreating his wife, 30.
Now, the business magnate, 83, who was previously reported to give his daughter $1 million a-month allowance spoke about the family drama during a Q and A at WSJD’s Invest Live in West Beach event on Tuesday.
Nelson said: ‘My daughter and the Beckhams are a whole other story and that’s not for coverage here today. But I’ll tell you my daughter is great, my son-in-law Brooklyn is great and I look forward to them having a long, happy marriage together.’
Nelson was also asked if he gave the couple advice in how to navigate a difficult situation.
He replied: ‘I do. Sometimes they give me advice.’
For context, Nicola’s father is a businessman with an estimated net worth of $1.6billion, compared with the Beckhams’ reported $680million.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn’s family have maintained silence since the aspiring chef penned his frustrations about his parents, sharing his reasons for cutting ties with them.
Brooklyn’s parents Sir David and Victoria and his siblings Romeo, 23, Cruz, 20, and Harper, 14, instead put on their own show of unity at Haute Couture Fashion Week last week.
Entertainment
Sheriff says ransom note being investigated in disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, Savannah Guthrie’s mother
A ransom note was sent to a local Arizona news station following the disappearance of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy Guthrie, the Pima County sheriff told CBS News.
The note, which the station received Monday and agreed not to report on, contained specific details about the home and what Nancy Guthrie was wearing that night, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said, although he would not confirm the accuracy of that information or the legitimacy of the note.
“It’s like any piece of evidence,” Nanos told CBS News. “You give it to us, you give us a lead, we’re going to look at every aspect of that lead.”
Nanos did not specify which station the note was sent to, but CBS affiliate KOLD-TV reported Tuesday it had received an email that “appears to be one of the alleged ransom notes,” which it forwarded to the sheriff’s office.
Investigators have analyzed the note and are taking it seriously, Nanos said.
He said the FBI reviewed the note and made the decision to share it with Savannah Guthrie. Authorities had hoped to keep the information from becoming public, but the note was obtained by TMZ, which reported on it before contacting the sheriff’s office, Nanos said.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department had earlier said on social media it was aware of “reports circulating about possible ransom note(s),” adding, “Anything that comes in, goes directly to our detectives who are coordinating with the FBI.”
Surveillance video from a home security system has yielded nothing so far, Nanos told CBS News. He said investigators believe the system may have been set to automatically delete footage after a short period of time, and they are now attempting to recover it through forensic means.
Nanos previously told CBS News that investigators believe the 84-year-old was abducted from her home in the middle of the night over the weekend, and he described it as “a crime scene.” Authorities have been searching for her since Sunday.
Nancy Guthrie was last seen at her home Saturday night, but no one knew she was missing until she didn’t show up for church the next morning, Nanos said.
The sheriff has repeatedly said Guthrie, who lives alone, could not have wandered away from her home because she has no cognitive issues and very limited mobility.
He also expressed concern that she needs access medication that she must take daily, telling CBS News, “The clock is literally ticking.”
“You’ve placed her in great jeopardy without giving her meds that are critical to her,” Nanos said. “Again, like I’ve said, could be fatal if she doesn’t get those meds.”
The sheriff has said it’s unclear how many people may have been involved in the apparent abduction.
“It could be one, it could’ve been more, I don’t know,” he said.
A little bit of blood was found inside Nancy Guthrie’s Tucson home, a law enforcement source familiar with the case told CBS News, and what appeared to be a small amount of dried blood was seen next to a doormat outside the front door of the home on Tuesday.
Entertainment
Christian Bale reflects on Frankenstein’s transformation in ‘The Bride!’
Christian Bale has opened up about the intense physical and emotional demands behind his transformation into Frankenstein’s monster for The Bride!, revealing that the process pushed him to some unusual coping methods just to get through the day.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor said he spent six hours a day in the makeup chair while working on the film, a reimagining of the 1935 classic Bride of Frankenstein directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Bale stars opposite Jessie Buckley, who plays the Bride and spent around an hour and a half in makeup for her own transformation.
Reflecting on the gruelling routine, Bale admitted the long hours of enforced stillness took a toll.
“I would scream like crazy, every day. Just to [release the] despair, all of that restraint that you have to display when you’re sitting still for that long,” he said, explaining how he stopped himself “from going insane” during the process.
Those screams, however, were carefully timed.
Bale said he avoided doing it on the way to work, worried it might distract him behind the wheel, and ruled out screaming alone because it could easily be misunderstood.
Instead, what began as a private release gradually became a shared ritual on set.
“Oh man, I’m telling you, the whole crew got involved by the end because people would hear us screaming,” Bale said.
“We would open the doors, and gradually, a bit like the Bride’s revolution, a few people were going, ‘Can we do it too?’ And then by the end, there were like 30 people who would hear us and run to the makeup trailer to be a part of it and scream as well.”
The role adds another extreme chapter to Bale’s long history of physical transformations.
Over the years, he has become known for radically altering his body for characters, from bulking up on a strict protein-heavy diet for American Psycho to shedding 60 pounds over four months to reach 120 pounds for The Mechanist.
For that film, his daily intake reportedly consisted of “water, an apple, and one cup of coffee per day.”
Not long after, Bale went in the opposite direction, gaining around 100 pounds of muscle in just six months to play Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, cementing his reputation for total physical commitment.
The Bride! is set to open in cinemas on 6 March, distributed by Warner Bros.
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