• CBS News top editor Bari Weiss was grilled by staffers in an all-hands meeting on Tuesday.
• One employee asked how she would respond to criticism that CBS News was becoming “a right-wing network.”
• Weiss said she’s not “a mouthpiece for anybody.”

CBS News employees put top editor Bari Weiss in the hot seat during an all-hands meeting on Tuesday, asking about her vision and standards for the nearly century-old broadcast network.

The first question in the Q&A part of her town hall asked how she would respond to criticism that CBS News is turning into “a right-wing network” under her leadership.

“I’m here to do one thing. It’s not to be a mouthpiece for anybody. It’s simply to be a mouthpiece for fairness and the pursuit of truth,” Weiss said at the all-hands meeting, according to a recording obtained by Business Insider.

Weiss, who became the editor in chief of CBS News in October after Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison bought her opinion site The Free Press, asked staffers to examine the coverage since her appointment.

“There’s a lot of noise out there, but I would just urge anyone who suggests that to look at our work and judge for yourself,” she said.

Weiss was then asked how the network’s news-gathering standards had changed since she took over.

“I don’t think our standards have changed,” she said, adding that the network was “in very capable hands” regarding editorial standards.

Weiss said she ‘was not pressured’ to hold the ’60 Minutes’ segment

Weiss caused a stir in December for a late-hour decision to delay a “60 Minutes” segment about the Trump administration deporting migrants to the CECOT prison in El Salvador. Critics questioned her commitment to hard-hitting journalism and wondered whether Paramount leadership was influencing editorial decisions at CBS News — a notion that Weiss strongly denied on Tuesday.

“I want to just say this as plainly and clearly as possible. I was not pressured by David Ellison or anyone else,” Weiss said during the town hall. Weiss acknowledged that delaying the segment after commercials had already run for it was bad timing.

“I didn’t know the screening schedule for every single thing, that specific logistical nightmare,” she said. “That’s never going to happen again. So please rest assured that nothing of that kind is ever going to happen again. You have my promise.”

That said, she added that “asking for more information” and “trying to go back to a source” for a comment was an editorial policy she wanted to prioritize to build trust with audiences, as she explained in a December memo to employees.

“I felt it was important to do our best to try and get a voice from the administration, and I’m always going to be pushing for that,” Weiss said.

Weiss had little experience in traditional TV before joining CBS News. Instead, she became known in 2020 for her dramatic exit from The New York Times, during which she alleged anti-conservative bias. Her next move, starting The Free Press, turned out to be lucrative when Ellison bought it for $150 million in October.

‘Loving America is not about jingoism’

On Tuesday, Weiss was also asked about her core values, including what one of the new guiding principles for CBS Evening News — “We Love America” — means for journalists.

“Loving America is not about jingoism. It’s not about blind patriotism,” Weiss told employees. “It’s about vociferous defense of the principles and values that have made this country exceptional and that allow us to do the work that we do. And so anyone that disagrees with that, I’d love to have a conversation with you.”

When asked whether “CBS Mornings” would undergo another shake-up, Weiss noted that it had already undergone a major change, with longtime anchor Tony Dokoupil moving to the evening show.

“Speculation about Gayle King seems to be a favorite parlor game of a lot of newspapers and people in this building, and I just want everyone here to know that she’s absolutely beloved and see her long into the future here at CBS,” Weiss said.

A shift to a ‘streaming mentality’

In prepared remarks, Weiss said that CBS News needed to “shift to a streaming mentality immediately” and that if the broadcast network stuck mainly to its linear TV strategy, “we’re toast.”

When asked about staffing or potential layoffs at CBS News, Weiss said that she couldn’t make any promises amid a “tsunami of technological change.”

“I can’t stand up here and tell you that in a moment of incredible transformation that that’s not going to mean transformation of our workforce,” Weiss said. She added that CBS News is “also hiring people to suit that.”

On Tuesday, CBS News announced 19 new contributors to the network, including writers and podcasters like Coleman Hughes and Derek Thompson.

Weiss said that if she didn’t believe digital revenue could eventually replace linear TV revenue, she “wouldn’t be standing here.” She said that linear TV wouldn’t go away, but that revenue would “decline sharply, as will the audience.”

“What winning looks like writ large for this company is building incredible journalism for audiences that are so much bigger than the one that we currently have and are maintaining on linear,” Weiss said. “That’s what winning looks like. It’s really simple.”

Have a tip or thoughts on Bari Weiss’ strategy for CBS News? Contact this reporter via email at jfaris@businessinsider.com or Signal at @jamesfaris.01. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.

• Some of the most popular musicians of all time have never won Grammy Awards.
• Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, and Blake Shelton have several nominations but no Grammys.
• Rappers Busta Rhymes and Tupac both have at least one nomination but zero wins.

The Grammy Awards have been recognizing some of the most talented musicians of the year since 1959.

It’s often assumed that all of the legendary hit-makers have taken home a statuette or two — but there are actually quite a few iconic artists who seem to narrowly lose out year after year.

Here are 21 artists who’ve never won a Grammy, ranked by how many nominations they’ve received.

Brian McKnight has 17 nominations but no wins.

Nominated 17 times since the 1990s, singer-songwriter Brian McKnight has yet to win his first Grammy.

He lost his last nomination for best male R&B vocal performance to Prince at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards, which were held in 2005.

Snoop Dogg has been nominated for 16 Grammys but has never won one.

At 16 nominations, the rapper only trails McKnight by one, but the two have even more in common.

Calvin Broadus, better known as Snoop Dogg, also received his first nod in the early 1990s and, like McKnight, is still awaiting his first Grammy win.

Björk has been nominated 16 times.

The Icelandic singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and DJ has been nominated 16 times across the past few decades, but Björk has never brought home a Grammy.

She was most recently nominated for best alternative music album at the 65th Annual Grammys. 

Dierks Bentley has earned 15 nominations.

His first nominations were for the hit “Every Mile A Memory” at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in 2007.

However, even after 15 nominations, country singer Dierks Bentley hasn’t won.

Martina McBride has racked up 14 nominations since the ’90s.

She’s racked up 14 nominations over the past few decades, but country singer Martina McBride has been beaten out each time.

She lost her latest nomination to Taylor Swift at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012.

Katy Perry has 13 nominations but no wins.

Though she has been nominated 13 times over the last decade, the former “American Idol” judge still doesn’t have a Grammy award.

Diana Ross has won a lifetime achievement award but no Grammys.

The legendary Diana Ross has never won a Grammy.

Her first of 13 nominations was in the 1960s for “Baby Love,” and she was nominated nearly every year from 1970 to 1982 without a win.

That being said, the Recording Academy recognized the songstress and her musical accomplishments with a lifetime achievement award in 2012.

Nicki Minaj has 12 nominations but no wins.

Nicki Minaj has been nominated for 12 Grammys.

The rapper lost best new artist to Bon Iver in 2012, to Kendrick Lamar in all three of her nominated categories in 2016, and to Killer Mike and Billie Eilish for her most recent nominations.

Busta Rhymes has been nominated 12 times.

Nominated 12 times since 1996, Trevor Smith Jr., aka Busta Rhymes, hasn’t yet won his first Grammy.

His last two nominations were for best rap performance and best rap song for the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, held in 2012.

He lost to Ye in both categories.

Sia has nine nominations but hasn’t scored a win.

Sia has received nine nominations, but the singer-songwriter, record producer, and music video director has yet to win a Grammy.

She lost her most recent nomination for best song written for visual media to Lin-Manuel Miranda in 2018.

Blake Shelton has been nominated eight times.

The country singer and former coach on “The Voice” has been nominated eight times, but Blake Shelton has no Grammy wins.

He most recently lost at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2020. 

Tupac earned six nominations, including one after his death.

Despite earning six nominations, including one posthumously, Tupac Shakur never won a Grammy.

He lost his first nominations in 1996 to Coolio and Naughty by Nature and lost his posthumous nomination to Eminem.

It took ABBA nearly 50 years to snag their first Grammy nomination.

After nearly 50 years of making music, Swedish pop group ABBA landed their first Grammy nomination for their comeback record “I Still Have Faith In You” at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards in 2022.

The band lost to Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open.”

Although the group has never won a Grammy, their hit song “Dancing Queen” was inducted into the Recording Academy’s Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015. 

The band also earned four more nominations for their 2021 album “Voyage.”

Queen has had four nominations but no wins.

The band Queen has received four Grammy nominations and has never had a win. Their last nomination was in the 1980s.

The Beach Boys have received a lifetime achievement award, but no Grammy.

Another legendary band with only four nominations and zero Grammy wins is the Beach Boys.

They received three nominations in the 1960s for their hit “Good Vibrations,” and their last nod came in the late 1980s for “Kokomo.”

Although they haven’t received a Grammy, The Beach Boys earned a lifetime achievement award in 2001.

Sammy Davis Jr. has a lifetime achievement award but no Grammy.

Famous for his Las Vegas shows and for being a part of the iconic Rat Pack, Sammy Davis Jr. received three nominations but had no Grammy wins during his lifetime.

He died in 1990, but he earned a lifetime achievement award in 2001.

Jennifer Lopez has received two Grammy nominations over the years, but she’s yet to win.

Jennifer Lopez racked up back-to-back nominations for best dance recording at the 42nd and 43rd Annual Grammy Awards in the early eughts.

However, she lost to Cher’s “Believe” and Baha Men’s “Who Let the Dogs Out.”

Run-D.M.C. scored a lifetime achievement award, but the group never won a Grammy.

Iconic hip-hop artists Run-D.M.C. have only been nominated for two Grammys.

At the 1987 awards show, they lost out to Prince for best R&B performance by a duo or group — the hip-hop category wasn’t added for several more years.

Even so, they received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in 2016.

Most recently, the group lost the award for best film music for “Kings from Queens” at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, which aired in 2025.

Dean Martin has a lifetime achievement award but no Grammy.

Dean Martin, another Rat Pack crooner, only received one Grammy nomination.

He was nominated for his album “Everybody Loves Somebody,” but lost to Louis Armstrong at the 1965 ceremony.

Although Martin died in 1995, he was honored with a lifetime achievement award in 2009.

Morrissey has one Grammy nomination but hasn’t won yet.

The former Smiths front man, who’s released over 10 albums, has only been nominated for one Grammy.

Morrissey lost out on his best alternative music album nomination to Tom Waits at the 35th Annual Grammy Awards, held in 1993.

Jimi Hendrix doesn’t have a Grammy, but he does have a lifetime achievement award.

His only nomination was in the ’70s for his rendition of “Star Spangled Banner.”

Jimi Hendrix died in 1970, not long before the 13th Annual Grammy Awards broadcast. In 1992, though, the Recording Academy gave Hendrix a lifetime achievement award.

This story was originally published in March 2018 and most recently updated on January 27, 2026.

• The sex-trafficking trial of Oren, Tal, and Alon Alexander has kicked off with opening arguments.
• A prosecutor told jurors that the Alexander brothers “celebrated their crimes.”
• The brothers are facing multiple federal charges, including sexual exploitation of a minor.

Former top ultra-luxury real estate broker brothers Oren and Tal Alexander, along with a third sibling, are relentless sexual predators who together raped dozens of women and girls and then “celebrated their crimes,” a federal prosecutor told jurors on Tuesday.

Over more than a decade, Tal, Oren, and Oren’s twin, Alon Alexander, “used whatever means necessary” — including drugging victims and using “brute force” — to carry out the attacks, Assistant US Attorney Madison Reddick Smyser said in her opening statement at the brothers’ Manhattan sex-trafficking trial.

The Alexander brothers face a dozen felony counts, including conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, and the sexual exploitation of a minor. They have vehemently denied the sex crimes charges against them, as well as all other allegations.

If convicted at trial, Tal Alexander, 39, and the twins, 38, could face up to life behind bars. It would mark a dramatic fall for the real estate agent brothers who built their careers on high-end luxury deals with notable clients, including Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, financier Leon Black, and Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.

Prosecutors have alleged in an indictment that the Alexanders sometimes planned out sexual assaults, using their wealth to entice victims with the promises of luxury experiences, travel, and accommodations. At other times, they chose their victims at random, prosecutors said.

The Alexanders, Smyser told the six-man, six-woman jury on Tuesday, used “power, wealth, and access to lure women and girls to them” at swanky locales like the Hamptons, Miami, and Manhattan.

The brothers “carried out their rapes in different ways,” said Smyser. “They physically held victims down” and put drugs like GHB and Xanax in their drinks, getting the women so intoxicated that, in one instance, their victim could not stand up, she said.

The prosecutor said the jury will hear from several accusers and be shown what she said is corroborating evidence from texts, emails, videos, and photos.

“You’ll hear from a woman who Tal held down, while Alon and two others raped that woman,” said Smyser said, adding that the woman was 16 years old at the time.

“You will also learn that the defendants celebrated their crimes,” said the prosecutor. “For example, after Oren and Alon sexually assaulted three high school girls in a hotel room, Oren texted a friend that he took down a 17-year-old.”

The brothers told each other in text messages that “the only thing that could bring them down is if some ‘hoe’ complained,” Smyser told the jurors.

The defense: Womanizers? Yes. Sex traffickers? No.

Defense attorneys for the brothers painted a starkly different portrayal of the sibling trio for the jury, saying that the Alexanders led a party-fueled lifestyle that involved lots and lots of consensual sex.

The brothers may be “arrogant” “womanizers,” but they are no sex traffickers, the lawyers said in their remarks, alleging that the accusers in the case are out for money.

“This case is about shame, opportunity, and money,” Oren Alexander’s attorney, Teny Geragos — who represented Sean “Diddy” Combs at his sex-trafficking trial last year — said in her opening statement.

The Alexanders, each wearing a suit jacket with a white dress shirt, listened intently while lawyers for Oren and Tal Alexander delivered separate opening statements, sometimes leaning forward in their seats at the defense table.

Geragos described the Alexanders as successful and ambitious “single men who liked to pursue women, at nightclubs, at bars, at restaurants, on apps — in other words, everywhere that single men in their 20s and 30s pursued women.”

The women were attracted to the brothers and their lifestyle, and the brothers engaged in consensual sex with women who typically and amicably stayed in touch with them, she said.

Oren and Tal Alexander began their real estate careers at Douglas Elliman before launching their own brokerage, Official, in 2022. Alon Alexander was an executive at his family’s private security firm.

“Remember, two things can be true at the same time,” Gergaos told the jury. “You may not approve of his lifestyle, but you can still find him not guilty of sex trafficking.”

Gergaos argued that the Alexanders’ accusers took drugs voluntarily and that no toxicology reports back up their accounts.

“Many of the accusers were ashamed after they had a one-night stand with one or more of the brothers,” she said.

Tal Alexander’s defense attorney, Deanna Paul, told the jury that the brothers were “party boys” and “womanizers” in their early 20s — but that this is not a crime.

“They slept with many, many women,” Paul said, adding that the way the siblings talked about their sexual encounters was “crude” and “arrogant,” but it wasn’t sex trafficking.

There was no “commercial sex operation” and no evidence that anyone was drugged involuntarily, Paul said. “There are no contemporaneous reports to law enforcement,” she added.

The judge overseeing the brothers’ trial, US District Judge Valerie Caproni, has said that the trial is expected to last about a month, running through the end of February.

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is halting new H-1B visa petitions at state agencies and universities.
• “Texas taxpayers invest billions to train our workforce. Those jobs should go to Texans,” he said.
• The state is home to thousands of H-1B visa holders.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is ordering state agencies and public universities in Texas to halt H-1B hiring, the latest setback for foreign workers looking to work in the US.

In a letter to Texas state agency heads on Tuesday, Abbott wrote that there had been “recent reports of abuse” in the H-1B visa program, which is designed to bring high-skilled foreign workers to the US.

“Texas taxpayers invest billions to train our workforce,” Abbott wrote on X. “Those jobs should go to Texans.”

Abbott is also directing agencies and universities to provide information on how many petitions they submitted in 2025, how many visa holders they currently sponsor, their countries of origin, and more.

The freeze is set to last through May 2027, and includes exceptions for instances in which written permission from the Texas Workforce Commission is given.

“Rather than serving its intended purpose of attracting the best and brightest individuals from around the world to our nation to fill truly specialized and unmet labor needs, the program has too often been used to fill jobs that otherwise could—and should— have been filled by Texans,” Abbott wrote.

Texas has the second-most H-1B visa holders, trailing only California.

As of 2025, more than 40,000 beneficiaries were approved to work for more than 6,100 employers, according to data from US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

According to that data, at least 1,200 H-1B visa holders work at various public universities in the state, including the University of Texas system, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech, and others.

The top employers for H-1B visa holders in Texas are IT companies and tech firms, including Oracle and Tesla.

The latest obstacle for H-1B visa candidates

The governor’s directive comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has upended the H-1B visa program more broadly.

In September, Trump moved to impose a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visas, initially causing chaos at some major tech companies amid confusion over whether that fee applies to current employees who leave the country.

The administration rolled out social media screening requirements for visa holders in December, leading some firms to warn their employees against traveling outside the country.

H-1B visas have proven to be a divisive issue within Trump’s coalition, with some — most notably Elon Musk — arguing that the US must continue to bring in foreign talent to remain globally competitive.

Prominent business leaders who previously worked in the US under an H-1B visa include Musk, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Arista Networks CEO Jayshree Ullal, and Jeffrey Skoll, the first president of eBay.

• Rebecca Yarros’ “Fourth Wing” is being adapted into a TV series.
• Amazon MGM Studios and Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society will produce the series for Prime Video.
• In January 2026, Jordan said the series development was still in early stages.

At this point, it’s hard not to be familiar with Rebecca Yarros’ “Empyrean” series about dragon rider Violet Sorrengail.

When “Onyx Storm,” the third book in the romantasy series, was released in January 2025, it became the fastest-selling adult novel in 20 years.

Yarros is taking a break from the “Empyrean” series before writing the fourth installment, but in the meantime, we’re getting closer to a series adaptation of “Fourth Wing.”

‘Fourth Wing’ is becoming a TV show

In October 2023, Deadline announced that Amazon MGM Studios and Oscar nominee Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society were developing “Fourth Wing” into a Prime Video series. Yarros is an executive producer for the show.

Outlier Society produced Jordan’s “Creed III” and is developing a slate of other series and films in addition to “Fourth Wing.”

Deadline also reported in October 2023 that Amazon MGM Studios had acquired the rights to the entire “Empyrean” series. In her January 2025 Variety interview, Yarros said she had shared the “five-book arc” for the “Empyrean” series with Amazon.

“They have the five-book arc, which went a little awry in Book 3 just because the positioning, but they already know that,” she told Variety. “But they have the five-book arc and the general big points of what happens in between each book, but they don’t have the specifics between Book 4 and Book 5, because I’m getting ready to go to my crazy plotting board and and plot out every single event that happens in each book, so that I make sure that I’m within my two books there.”

A new showrunner

In July 2024, Outlier Society announced it had hired Moira Walley-Beckett, who worked on shows like “Breaking Bad” and “Anne with an E,” as the showrunner for the series. In a January 2025 interview with Variety, Yarros said Walley-Beckett was “great” and “phenomenal,” but in July 2025, Walley-Beckett exited the project.

Jac Schaeffer, best known for her work on Disney’s “WandaVision” and “Agatha All Along,” was rumored to be in talks to step into the showrunner role. However, in September 2025, Variety and Deadline reported that Amazon was hiring Meredith Averill.

Averill was previously the showrunner of the Netflix series “Locke & Key” and a producer on shows like “The Good Wife” and “The Haunting of Hill House.”

Amazon declined to comment on this piece when contacted by Business Insider, but Yarros shared a screenshot of Deadline’s article on her Instagram when the showrunner announcement dropped.

“Welcome to the team, Meredith Averill! Guys, I love everything this wonderful woman has worked on and I’m so excited to have her joining us,” Yarros said in her caption.

Neither Amazon nor Outlier Society has announced any casting or release dates for the series. Still, in January 2026, Jordan assured fans it was on its way in an interview with Deadline.

“We are making sure that this is going to be an exciting show that delivers on all of the things the fans want and some of the things that they won’t be expecting either,” Jordan said.

He also told the outlet he’s aware of how much fans of “Fourth Wing” care about the series.

“But trust me, I know how beloved this franchise IP is,” he said. “It’s early stages, but I feel how much people care about this one. It’s not lost on us.”

Yarros talked about the series’ pilot while on a book tour for ‘Onyx Storm’

Although details about the series are limited, Yarros made a few comments about the show while promoting “Onyx Storm.”

Speaking at an engagement on January 24, 2025, in New York, Yarros told fans she had read the pilot for the “Fourth Wing” show — and loved it.

“I read the latest version of the pilot last week,” she said. “It’s really nerve-racking when you read something like that because you’re really — you’re trusting someone else with your baby, right? And you’re trusting someone else to say, like, ‘Hey, this is important in your work, and this isn’t,’ and you kinda get your guard up.”

“But guys, I, like, kicked my feet the whole time,” she said. “You’re gonna love it.”

Yarros also praised Walley-Beckett at the event, calling her a “brilliant writer” and saying she maintained the integrity of the book in the pilot. It’s unclear how the pilot may have changed since Walley-Beckett’s exit from the project.

Yarros has shared some thoughts on casting

Speaking at an event in London on August 30, 2024, Yarros said casting will ultimately fall on the show’s staff, not her. She also said she intentionally hasn’t shared any specific actors she hopes will be cast in the series.

“I will never say who my perfect fan cast is because the cast is so diverse, and I want to open that up to more diversity,” she said. “And I feel like the second I say who I think this character is, that’s who everyone will accept. That’s only who they will accept.”

“I kinda hope they find, like, an up-and-coming generation,” she added. “But I would never put my fan cast in your heads.”

Although she won’t be involved in casting the series, Yarros said at the same event that she has one hard-line casting request she has communicated to Amazon and Outlier Society.

“They know how staunch I am against whitewashing Xaden,” she said. “I think that’s the biggest thing.”

Xaden Riorson, Violet’s love interest in the series, is described as having “warm tawny skin” in “Fourth Wing” and “tawny-brown” skin in both “Iron Flame” and “Onyx Storm.”

• Bill Ackman’s donation follows a donation to a fundraiser for an ICE officer involved in the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.
• The GoFundMe for Alex Pretti, a Minneapolis nurse, has surpassed $1 million in donations.
• Ackman and business leaders have called for calm amid protests over US immigration enforcement actions.

Hedge-fund billionaire Bill Ackman donated $10,000 to the family of the second person killed by immigration officers in Minnesota after being urged to by an activist.

A GoFundMe page set up after Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old Minneapolis nurse, was fatally shot by a Border Patrol agent on Saturday shows Ackman is the top donor.

Ackman was called to donate by Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, in a post on X. She cited his earlier donation to a fundraiser for Jonathan Ross, an ICE officer involved in the fatal shooting of Renee Good: “This family could use the $10,000 you donated to Renee Good’s killer,” Watts wrote on X. “Please donate.”

Ackman responded less than five hours later, confirming that he’d made a donation to the GoFundMe, which is titled “Alex Pretti is an American Hero.”

“Done. That said, I don’t agree with the gofundme that he is an American hero, but his loss is tragic for him and his family,” Ackman said in his post.

Earlier this month, after he donated to the Ross fundraiser, Ackman said he also attempted to donate to Good’s GoFundMe, but it was closed. He said his support “was not to make a political statement.”

“I supported Ross because I knew he would need significant funds to cover his defense costs. I supported the gofundme for Good’s family as I thought that it was the right thing to do,” he wrote then.

The GoFundMe for Pretti’s family has raised over $1 million as of Monday morning, with more than 29,000 donations. His father, Michael Pretti, is listed as the beneficiary of the funds.

Ackman is one of several business leaders to call for calm in the aftermath of clashes between protesters and ICE agents in Minneapolis. He published a statement to X on Saturday, urging Americans to “take a deep breath and reserve judgment before this gets even more out of control.”

Last week, Pretti’s family said they’re “heartbroken but also very angry” over the killing in a written statement, multiple outlets reported.

“Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the hero term lightly. However his last thought and act was to protect a woman,” his family said in the statement.