The Cupps, Gary Dugger perform in tornado-affected community
A flatbed trailer was transformed into a stage for a special performance by The Cupps, a Christian-based band from Williamsburg, and local singer Gary Dugger.
The gathering was partially organized by Monroe Murphy, a resident of the trailer park who wanted to do something in response to the devastation that struck the area.
YouTube personality John Ward of La Follette, Tennessee, also played a role in making the event happen. Ward, known for his channel The Appalachian Channel with John Ward, helped facilitate the visit and documented the event for his audience.
The event brought community members together to uplift one another as the area begins recovery efforts following the EF-4 tornado that left behind major structural damage in the park.
Murphy was among those who had damages to his home. Recounting his experience, Murphy said that at about 11:45 p.m. May 16, he stepped out on his porch because he'd heard a sound on the roof, which he said ended up being hail.
'The wind started picking up so I immediately closed the door and by that time, I knew something bad was coming so I laid down in my kitchen floor,' Murphy recounted. 'Next thing I know, my trailer felt like it was up in the air, turned upside down, and slammed on the roof.'
Murphy said he must have blacked out during the experience, saying it only spanned 30 to 45 seconds. He shared that while he did not acquire any broken bones, it did hurt his head and back.
Murphy went on to spend the night in his brother's truck, awaking there at daylight.
'I went back to where I knew I got up from and there was a Bible laying there... It had embroidery on it and it was Psalms 93:11. It said, 'The Lord will give charge over his angels to protect you in all your ways,' and that was laying right beside where I was at,' said Murphy.
Now, Murphy temporarily resides in a mobile home loaned by Still Water Baptist Church.
Ward has driven from Tennessee four times to provide assistance where he can.
'When this happened, I had supplies in stock already as I was giving stuff to the homeless,' Ward stated. 'When I came here, this was the first place I found really that needed some stuff.'
Ward said it's been 'inspiring' to see both community members and other outsiders band together to provide aid to those in need.
'I'm just thankful for all the people that's donated and come to volunteer here,' he said.
As attendees enjoyed the show, they were also treated to free hotdogs, chips, and water from Bobby and Angela Nelson. Wednesday's event came to a close following the two performances.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
5 hours ago
- CNBC
Media trailblazer Tom Rogers changes ‘raging bull' stance on Netflix, sees worrisome signs
Former NBC Cable President Tom Rogers is dialing back his bullishness on Netflix. The media trailblazer, who was a self-proclaimed "raging bull" on Netflix, told CNBC's "Fast Money" this week he's starting to worry — and listed competition with free content on YouTube as a headwind. "[Netflix] still [has] more hit shows than all the other streaming services combined, but when you look at the growth of their sub[scriber] base and look at the amount of total engagement time from all viewers they get, the amount of viewing per viewer has gone down some," said Rogers, who's now executive chairman of AI company Claigrid. Netflix saw the largest monthly viewership increase versus its peers in June, according to Nielsen. However, YouTube had 13% of total monthly TV viewership while Netflix had 8%. Rogers' latest take comes after Netflix delivered a positive quarterly report on July 17. "There was nothing wrong with its earnings at all," said Rogers, who is also a CNBC contributor. "But engagement is what drives everything here. The amount of viewing it gets, it drives price increases, which drive programming budget, which drives more great programming." Netflix beat second quarter top and bottom line estimates and raised its full-year guidance. But since its earnings report, the streamer's stock is down about 6% and is now off almost 11% since hitting a record high on June 30. Rogers also predicts artificial intelligence will be a "double-edged sword" for Netflix in the near-term. On the one hand, he said it will aid the streamer's targeted advertising and help cut programming costs. But it also allows independent content creators a leg up — which benefits YouTube. "The line between professional and amateur content is going to get more and more blurry as AI tools in the hands of amateurs allow them to produce things that look incredibly professional," he said. "I think AI in the hands of the creative community of YouTube could create a level of professional programming for YouTube which drives its viewership even further." YouTube's parent company, Alphabet, is up 2% so far this year. Yet, Rogers still considers Netflix maintaining his status as the most valuable media company in the world. However, he said a lag is "something to watch for sure." Netflix spokesperson Emily Goldstein deferred comment to the company's second-quarter earnings call.
CNBC
9 hours ago
- CNBC
CBS canceling Colbert begs the question: Are more late night shows next?
There are two schools of thought around CBS' decision to end "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." The first says the cancellation is a one-off exit from the storied time slot — that Paramount was trying to push through the red tape to finally merge with Skydance Media, a deal that was approved by the Federal Communications Commission Thursday after more than a year in limbo. The other says it signals the beginning of the end of late night TV. The entertainment industry will have a better sense of where the truth lies next year when Disney decides the fate of Jimmy Kimmel's late night show, "Jimmy Kimmel Live." While NBC recently extended the contracts of its two late night hosts, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, into 2028, Kimmel's contract is set to lapse in 2026. "Jimmy Kimmel Live" has been a late night staple since 2003, acting not only as a typical talk show on the circuit, but as a valuable marketing hub for Disney's slate of theatrical and television content. In addition to traditional one-on-one interviews, Kimmel will also frequently host several stars from the same project, often for blockbuster titles from Marvel, Star Wars and the company's animated franchises. Clips from these chats are fed onto Kimmel's YouTube channel, which has more than 20 million subscribers, and across social media, helping to generate buzz for upcoming Disney projects. For comparison, Fallon's show account has around 32 million subscribers, while Colbert's stands at 10 million and Meyers' at just over 5 million. Kimmel is also a frequent host of the Academy Awards, which airs on Disney's ABC, and is currently the host of ABC's celebrity edition of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." These ancillary assignments, as well as his annual job closing out Disney's Upfronts presentation for advertisers, may make Kimmel more important to Disney's long-term future than Colbert was for Paramount or CBS. Still, while the next test of media's commitment to late night is months off, the end of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" is calling attention to the mounting pressures on traditional TV and raising questions about the whether the time slot can survive the evolving viewing landscape. The cost of producing late night programs has risen as the media industry has been upended by streaming and shifting consumer habits. The traditional pay TV bundle has lost millions of customers in recent years, and as they've disappeared, so too have advertising dollars. The shifting equation has forced media companies to rebalance. At a large scale, companies like Comcast's NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery have opted to split off their cable TV networks into separate corporate entities. At the programming level, big shows are increasingly greenlit for release on streaming services rather than traditional networks. Salaries of highly paid news anchors have moderated, with some stepping away from traditional networks entirely and starting out their own ventures. And much of the money spent on bulking up both linear TV networks and streaming services is earmarked for live sports. That leaves familiar titles in flux. "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" employed around 200 people and recorded annual losses of around $40 million, according to a person familiar with the matter, who declined to be named speaking about nonpublic matters. "Jimmy Kimmel Live" employs around 250 people and loses roughly the same amount, according to a person familiar with that show's finances. While the pay-TV bundle still rakes in the highest share of profits for legacy media companies – much of which stems from the fees that pay-TV distributors hand over to the networks to be included in the bundle – that figure is in decline. Linear TV advertising revenue has also been on a steady downward slope. Industry analysts and experts expected the ad market to stabilize in 2025 after tumultuous streaming-centric years, but macroeconomic uncertainty has hampered the recovery. In quarterly earnings that were reported in May, Paramount, NBCUniversal and Disney each reported lower ad sales on a year-over-year basis. Paramount reported in May that its first-quarter TV advertising revenue was down 21% to $2.04 billion, mainly due to comparisons to the prior-year period when the company had the Super Bowl. That championship beckons the most ad dollars of any live event on TV. Without the Super Bowl, ad revenue would have been flat, the company said. Overall revenue for Paramount's TV segment was down 13%. Of the traditional TV ad spend that does remain, the biggest share has gravitated to live sports, which draw the biggest audiences. NBCUniversal recently touted its record ad sales volume during the most recent Upfront cycle due to an upcoming slate of NBA, the Super Bowl, Winter Olympics and other sports. Disney reported in May that quarterly revenue for its domestic linear networks was down 3% to $2.2 billion, attributing the decline to lower ad revenue. Still, Disney noted ad revenue for ESPN and sports in general saw an increase in ad revenue. These headwinds help legitimize Paramount's decision to cancel "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," but the timing of the program's end has raised suspicions. The announcement that Colbert's show would take its final bow in May 2026 came just days after the tenured host publicly called out Paramount for its $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump over the editing of a "60 Minutes" interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Colbert called the settlement a "big fat bribe" during one of his show-opening monologues, referencing the then-pending merger between Paramount and Skydance Media, which required the approval of the Trump administration to proceed. Paramount and CBS executives released a statement last week saying the cancellation was "purely a financial decision against the challenging backdrop in late night." "It is not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount," the company continued. While ratings for Colbert's show have declined over the last decade, the program has consistently achieved the highest views of any show in the 11:35 p.m. hour, outdrawing ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and NBC's "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," according to Nielsen. Still, Colbert's ratings have been declining each season. For the most recent September-to-May time period, Colbert averaged roughly 1.9 million viewers, with the majority of viewership coming in the age demographic of over 65, according to Nielsen — a telling data point about the state of TV viewership. Kimmel's viewership paints a similar picture, with viewership dropping from the September-to-May time period in 2019-2020 to the most recent in 2024-2025, when the average was nearly 1.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen. When Paramount listed its slate of highly rated TV shows during its last earnings report, including "Tracker," the top rated series and "Matlock," the highest rated new series, it also listed Colbert's "The Late Show" as the highest rated broadcast late night show. "The Daily Show," also from Paramount, was the top late night show on cable TV. Some industry experts have questioned whether CBS could have explored other ways to save money — or save late night — besides outright canceling "The Late Show." NBC cut costs by eliminating the band on Meyers' late night show and shifting Fallon to four nights a week instead of five. CBS tried to bring a younger demographic into the hour with "After Midnight," a late night show that ran after Colbert. The show was hosted by comedian Taylor Tomlinson and was centered on viral internet phenomena. Though CBS intended to renew the show after its first two seasons, Tomlinson decided not to extend her contract, and the show was canceled.
New York Post
11 hours ago
- New York Post
David Letterman hurls fiery rant at ‘gutless' CBS over Stephen Colbert's ‘Late Show' cancellation
David Letterman delivered a fiery rant against CBS and parent company Paramount for cancelling Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show,' calling the decision 'gutless' and 'pure cowardice' as he labeled his successor a martyr of the network. Letterman, who hosted CBS's late-night talk show for 22 years, passionately defended Colbert during his conversation with former 'Late Show' producers Barbara Gaines and Mary Barclay on Friday — just over a week since the show was axed. 'The fact that they killed the franchise and told Stephen to go,' Letterman said in a video posted to his YouTube channel. 'Now, for Stephen, I love this. He is a martyr. Good for him.' 6 David Letterman speaks out against CBS canceling the 'Late Show with Stephen Colbert' on July 25, 2025. Letterman/YouTube The 78-year-old comedian says Colbert had immortalized himself as the face of the network since he took over the iconic talk show in September 2015. '10 years ago, I quit and left,' Letterman said. 'Then Stephen Colbert comes along, and pretty quickly established himself as a precise, crisp, witty political satirist, and often his target has been the current administration. 'Based on that and just the overall entertainment quota of the show, drew a great audience and people became not addicted to but always looking forward to political satire from Stephen Colbert, he was very good at it. For 10 years, I think became the face of the network.' On July 17, CBS announced that it would cancel Colbert's show in 2026 due to financial reasons. The show was losing between $40 million and $50 million a year, The Post learned. 6 Letterman speaks with his former 'Late Night' staffers Barbara Gaines and Mary Barclay during a conversation posted to YouTube. Letterman/YouTube 6 Stephen Colbert sits at his desk during a shooting of 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert' inside the Ed Sullivan Theater on June 25, 2025. Scott Kowalchyk/CBS Letterman didn't believe the financial hardship claims were the reason for the cancellation, instead blaming the company executives who feared Paramount's sale to Skydance wouldn't go through. 'If they were losing this kind of money, you're telling me losing this kind of money happened yesterday. Yeah right,' he said. 'I bet they were losing this kind of money six weeks ago, or they have never been losing money.' The comedian called out the network's news branch, saying CBS News doesn't make money for the company and is still around. 'Take a look at CBS News, it's still in business and I'm not certain that that's a profit center,' he said. 6 The Ed Sullivan Theater in Manhattan where 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is recorded on July 22, 2025. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post 6 Paramount and CBS News signs at the Paramount offices on Broadway in Manhattan, NY on June 13, 2025. Christopher Sadowski 'I think the idea that they're hiding behind money and they're giving him another 10 months. That's a huge chunk of money they're gonna lose,' Letterman said. Colbert's cancellation came as CBS-Paramount Holdings finalized the sale of the network to Skydance Media for $8.4 billion on July 24. 'The f–k is Skydance? Honest to Christ. Is it a discount airline?' Letterman joked. 'I think one day, if not today, the people at CBS who have manipulated and handled this are going to be embarrassed because this is gutless,' he added. 6 Stephen Colbert during his opening monologue for his 'Late Show' on July 21, 2025. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert The purported $8.4 billion sale comes in light of CBS settling a lawsuit with President Donald Trump after the commander in chief accused CBS News' '60 Minutes' of deceptively editing an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris in the weeks leading up to the 2024 general election. Letterman called the settlement 'pure cowardice' as the lawsuit targeted the network's 'pinnacle of journalistic integrity.' Colbert, 61, has also called himself a 'martyr' as he blamed his show's demise on Trump, telling the commander in chief to 'go f–k yourself' in his opening monologue on July 21. Letterman wished the cancellation had happened on his watch as he now has to kiss 'Colbert's ring.' The comedian had already commented on the shock ending to the long-time show. 'You can't spell CBS without BS,' Letterman captioned a YouTube video of his old jokes against the Turner network.
