Music

Beauty company Estée Lauder said John Demsey, executive group president, was told to leave the company on Monday, after posting a racist meme to his Instagram account.

Demsey’s shared image was a meme of a children’s book cover showing the Muppet Big Bird wearing a mask over his mouth and the Muppet Snuffy sick in bed. The meme made light of COVID-19 and, as a way to describe Snuffy, used the N-word as part of the book’s title.

“This decision is the result of his recent Instagram posts, which do not reflect the values of The Estée Lauder Companies, have caused widespread offense, are damaging to our efforts to drive inclusivity both inside and outside our walls, and do not reflect the judgment we expect of our leaders,” the company said in a staff memo signed by Executive Chairman William P. Lauder, as well as Fabrizio Freda, president and CEO.

Social media quickly responded, condemning Demsey’s decision to share the meme.

Adrienne Lawrence, vice president of Jennifer Brown Consulting, a diversity organization, tweeted, “While I’m glad Estée Lauder acted swiftly by firing this executive for posting a racist meme, I hope the company takes the next step of rooting out how racism is impacting those within its ranks.”

Demsey posted an apology note to his Instagram, saying he is “deeply ashamed that I hurt so many people when I made the horrible mistake of carelessly reposting a meme without reading it beforehand.”

Despite reports that the executive was fired from the company, The New York Times reported that the company placed Demsey on unpaid leave, according to a regulatory filing. Demsey has agreed to retire, effective March 4.

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Dierks Bentley and Elle King are teaming up for a new song. 

On Monday night, Elle headlined the Ryman Auditorium and brought her “Different for Girls” duet partner out as a surprise guest to perform a new song they’re releasing. Fans at the show have shared videos where Elle can be heard saying that the title of the track is “Worth a Shot.” 

“Jumped up on stage with my buddy @ElleKingMusic at @theryman last night! So fun to debut a new song we have together… love you Elle!” Dierks writes alongside a candid shot of them performing. 

“Love you Dierks!!” adds Elle. 

“Different for Girls” was released in 2016 as the second single off Dierks’ Black album. It scored them a Grammy nomination and win for Vocal Event of the Year at the CMA Awards. 

Elle is currently climbing the country charts with Miranda Lambert, as “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” is in the top 10 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.

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Danzing has announced a U.S. headlining tour.

The spring outing launches May 5 in Reno, Nevada, and will wrap up May 19 in Austin, Texas. For just one of the tour stops, taking place May 7 in Ontario, California, Danzig will play is 1990 sophomore solo album, Danzig II: Lucifuge, in full.

Cradle of Filth and Crobot will provide support. For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit Danzig-Verotik.com.

Danzig’s latest album is his 2020 Elvis covers compilation, Danzig Sings Elvis. His most recent original effort is 2017’s Black Laden Crown.

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Jonas Brothers are joining the crowd of artists heading to Las Vegas.

The group will do a five-night mini residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM on June 3, 4, 9, 10 and 11.  Tickets go on sale March 7 at 10 a.m. PT via Ticketmaster.com. For full details, visit Jonas Brothers.com.

JoBros fan club members can buy tickets starting tomorrow, Wednesday, March 2, at 10 a.m PT, as can Citi cardmembers. Pre-sales for members of the MGM Rewards program, and Live Nation and Ticketmaster customers can get access to a pre-sale on March 4 at 10 a.m. PT.

Usher and Silk Sonic recently announced extended residencies at Dolby Live.

JoBros also have four dates scheduled for Mexico in August and September.

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Franz Ferdinand is the latest band to pull concert dates in Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

In a Twitter thread posted Tuesday morning, the “Take Me Out” rockers write, “We are cancelling our Russian shows that are scheduled for this summer. The only reason for this is the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian state.”

“We love Russia,” the thread reads. “This great country has inspired our band through its art and literature and since we first played there seventeen years ago, we have built a rich and deep relationship with our Russian fans.”

“Since Thursday morning, we have spoken to many of our friends in Russia via social media and have encountered unanimous opposition to this violence and solidarity with our Ukrainian friends,” the band continues. “We know you see the madness of your country’s leadership. We know you do not want war. We do not want war.”

Franz concludes, “Despite the tragedy of this situation, we still burn a flame of optimism in our hearts and look forward to the day when we can return in a time of peace to share the joy of music together again.”

In that spirit of finding that light in the darkness, all of Twitter is making pretty much the same joke about Franz Ferdinand being named after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, whose assassination led to the beginning of World War I.

Other artists who’ve canceled shows in Russia in support of Ukraine include Green Day, Imagine Dragons, AJR and Yungblud.

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Britney Spears is baring it all in a series of Instagram photos of her tropical vacation with fiancé Sam Asghari.

After sharing a video of herself and Sam aboard a private jet, traveling somewhere for Sam’s birthday, Britney then posted a series of photos and videos of herself lolling in the sand on a beach, completely naked except for some small diamond emojis covering up her naughtiest bits.

She also posted pictures of herself topless, with her hands covering her breasts, both standing up and rolling around in the surf.

Britney’s friend Paris Hilton commented, “Sliving!” That’s the word Paris claims to have invented, which is a combination of “slaying” and “living your best life.”

Tropical vacations seem to be Britney’s favorite pastime: She also took a similar jaunt for her 40th birthday in December, and went to Hawaii in January.

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Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox‘s family is growing. 

Taking to social media Monday, MGK, born Colson Baker, introduced their “newest member” — a cat named Whiskey.  

“Welcome Whiskey to the gang,” the rocker wrote alongside photos and videos of their new furry friend. 

In one of the photos, Kelly and Fox appeared in matching pajamas smiling for a family photo of the trio. 

The new addition to the family comes almost two months after the pair shared news of their engagement. 

“‘yes, in this life and every life’ beneath the same branches we fell in love under, i brought her back to ask her to marry me,” MGK wrote at the time. 

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(SPOILERS AHEAD) If you watched the season finale of 1883 on Sunday night, then you can rest assured knowing that Tim McGraw and Faith Hill were just as emotional as you were about what happened. 

The season one finale included with the heartbreaking death of Elsa Dutton, 17-year-old daughter to Tim’s James Dutton and Faith’s Margaret Dutton. The country couple says that they often read the scripts aloud to each other, but when it came time to read the season’s final two episodes leading up to their TV daughter’s death, they could barely keep it together. 

“When we got the final two, we literally couldn’t read them to each other because we were crying so much — I mean, ugly, boohoo crying,” Tim tells Variety, referring to himself as a “blubbering idiot.” 

“It took me about an hour to read it to him because most of the time, I couldn’t catch my breath I was crying so hard,” adds Faith. 

Tim and Faith are parents to three daughters: 24-year-old Gracie, 23-year-old Maggie and 20-year-old Audrey. The “My Little Girl” singer remarks that Isabel May, the actress who plays Elsa, looked like she could be one of their daughters, adding even more emotion to the scene. 

“You do become emotionally invested and you do bring your real-life situation into the way you act. You find that piece of your life or a piece of who you are and you can sort of put it under a magnifying glass,” Tim says. “It does expose all those emotions, and it’s hard as a parent, playing that role — you don’t want to go to any dark places in your mind about your kid.” 

1883 premiered in December and recently was renewed for a second season. 

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AWOLNATION frontman Aaron Bruno is a big Weezer fan, and he’s following in the footsteps of Rivers Cuomo and company with his new covers album, My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers and Me.

Weezer, of course, released a covers compilation, the Teal Album, in 2019, which followed the viral success of their spin on the Toto song “Africa.” Speaking with ABC Audio, Bruno shares that Weezer’s “Africa,” which became the band’s biggest hit in over a decade, was “definitely encouraging” in the process of making his own covers record.

“I’m a big Rivers fan,” Bruno says. “To hear his voice on some of those songs that I was a big fan of…I love Toto, I think [‘Africa’ is] one of the greater songs ever written.”

Aside from the spirit of Rivers Cuomo guiding him, Bruno just wasn’t in the mood to work on new AWOLNATION music, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic canceled all his plans related to his last original record, Angel Miners & the Lightning Riders, which had dropped in April 2020.

“I also felt like a little tired of my own songs,” Bruno explains. “I had just released an original album, and everything got paused, let’s just say. The tour got canceled and everything, and I really didn’t feel like making new, original songs.”

He adds, “So I wanted to just get into this side project and have a lot of fun with it.”

My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers and Me will be released May 6. It includes a version of the Scorpions hit “Wind of Change” featuring Incubus‘ Brandon Boyd and Portugal. the Man, and a rendition of Midnight Oil‘s “Beds Are Burning” alongside Rise Against‘s Tim McIlrath.

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