Kanye West admitted that he’s addicted to porn and has suffered the consequences.
“Pornography destroyed my family,” Ye wrote Thursday in a since-deleted post on Instagram. “I deal with the addiction.”
He also expressed concern about his daughters becoming involved in pornography. “Instagram promotes it. Not gonna let it happen to Northy and Chicago,” the Donda rapper continued.
Ye’s pornography statements were part of a larger rant in which he addressed his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, noting he was going to be the one to decide where his four kids go to school. “I’m the kids father,” he wrote.
He posted a since-deleted screenshot from Kim, where she responded, “Can u please stop.” West replied, “No. We need to talk in person.”
Also mentioned in the rant was Kim’s mother, Kris Jenner. In a since-deleted message addressed to Kylie Jenner‘s former assistant, Victoria Villarroel, Ye wrote, “Don’t let Kris make you do playboy like she made [Kylie] and Kim do.” He then shared another since-deleted screenshot from Kris in which she asked Kim to have him end the public exchange.
“Tell him to please stop mentioning my name,” the screenshot of Jenner’s message read.
After escalating the social media feud, West asked Travis Scott and TristanThompson, the father of Kylie Jenner and Khloe Kardashian‘s children, respectively, to support him, writing, “We in this 2gthr.”
“It’s Time” to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Imagine Dragons‘ Night Visions.
The group’s debut album was released on September 4, 2012, making worldwide superstars out of Dan Reynolds and company.
Combining a traditional rock band setup with production elements from hip-hop, pop and electronic music, Night Visions established Imagine Dragons as the “next big thing” of the early 2010s, achieving hit songs “Demons,” “It’s Time” and “Radioactive,” which would go on to become the biggest single.
The song hit the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for a total of 87 weeks, a record that ID would hold for seven years. The mark was eventually beaten in 2021 by The Weeknd‘s “Blinding Lights.”
“Radioactive” was also nominated for Record of the Year and won Best Rock Performance at the 2014 Grammys, which featured ID’s viral performance with rapper Kendrick Lamar.
Both “Radioactive” and “Demons” are now certified Diamond by the RIAA, while Night Visions is certified seven-times Platinum.
Night Visions also allowed ID to showcase their flair for music videos. The clip for “Radioactive,” for example, starred Lou Diamond Phillips and a pre-breakout Alexandra Daddario in a world of underground puppet fighting. It has over one billion YouTube views, as does the music video for “Demons.”
Imagine Dragons is marking the 10th anniversary of Night Visions with a deluxe reissue, set to be released September 9. The package includes various bonus tracks and unreleased demos from the Night Visions era.
Muse‘s new album, Will of the People, has made United Kingdom chart history.
The latest effort from the British trio has debuted at #1 on their home country’s Official Albums Chart, making it the first record that uses “NFT technology” to achieve that feat.
As previously reported, Muse collaborated with the NFT platform Serenade to create a “digital pressing” of Will of the People that would be eligible to appear on the U.K. Official Albums Chart.
Aside from the NFT history, Will of the People gives Muse their seventh-straight #1 album in the U.K., a streak that dates back to their 2003 record, Absolution.
Muse will play a short run of North American theater dates in October in support of Will of the People. They’re planning a full U.S. arena tour for 2023.
Titled Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall, the album will be released on September 16 and features the band’s 12-song set from their concert at the famous London venue on April 14, 1970.
A video of the “Proud Mary” performance has also debuted on the band’s official YouTube channel and will appear in the upcoming documentary and concert movie Travelin’ Band: Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall.
Travelin’ Band, which is narrated by Jeff Bridges, features previously unseen film of CCR’s entire performance, as well as rare behind-the-scenes clips of the band and archival interviews. The film will premiere internationally on September 16.
“Proud Mary,” which is perhaps Creedence’s most famous song, was the band’s first single to break into the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #2 in March of ’69.
Last month, CCR released the performance of their classic song “Fortunate Son” on YouTube.
The group’s live album, which can be preordered now, will be available on CD, cassette, 180-gram vinyl and via various digital formats.
Meanwhile, a super deluxe box set will be released on November 14 that includes a Blu-ray of the Travelin’ Band film, two-LP 45-rpm versions of the live album and a bonus CD containing other music that’s featured in the movie.
Here’s the Creedence Clearwater Revival at the Royal Albert Hall album’s full track list:
“Born on the Bayou”
“Green River”
“Tombstone Shadow”
“Travelin’ Band”
“Fortunate Son”
“Commotion”
“Midnight Special”
“Bad Moon Rising”
“Proud Mary”
“The Night Time Is the Right Time”
“Good Golly Miss Molly”
“Keep On Chooglin'”
(NEW YORK) — New York City is suing Starbucks over allegations the coffee corporation unlawfully fired a Queens barista who had been involved in unionization efforts, a city agency announced Friday.
The lawsuit marks the latest in a string of legal disputes over the termination of unionizing Starbucks workers as hundreds of Starbucks stores nationwide have voted to unionize since an initial union victory at a store in Buffalo, New York, last December.
The lawsuit in New York City alleges that Starbucks wrongfully fired worker and union organizer Austin Locke in early July, less than a month after employees at the store where he worked voted to join a union.
Starbucks violated the city’s “just cause” protections, enacted last year, which make it illegal for fast food employers to fire or lay off long-serving workers, or reduce their hours by more than 15 percent, without providing just cause or an economic reason, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, or DCWP, claimed Friday.
In mid-July, the DCWP received a complaint from Locke alleging that Starbucks had illegally fired him, which the agency quickly investigated, a statement from the agency on Friday said.
The records and information Starbucks provided during the investigation did not refute or mitigate the agency’s determination that Starbucks illegally fired him, the DCWP added.
DCWP is seeking an order requiring that Starbucks reinstate Locke and rescind the discipline issued to him, as well as provide back pay and other compensation for lost work, the statement said. Starbucks should also pay civil penalties and comply with the law going forward, the statement said.
“There are now 235 unionized Starbucks around the country,” Locke said in a statement. “Starbucks continues to wrongfully fire pro-union workers nationwide in retaliation for union organizing.”
In response to the lawsuit, a Starbucks spokesperson told ABC News: “We do not comment on pending litigation but we do intend to defend against this alleged violation of the city’s Just Cause law.”
The lawsuit in New York City follows other legal challenges to Starbucks over its treatment of unionizing employees. Last month, a federal judge called for the immediate reinstatement of seven baristas at a store in Memphis, who were terminated in February after talking to a local TV station about their organizing drive.
Federal labor regulators last week filed a complaint that accused Starbucks of illegally discriminating against unionized employees by refusing to provide increases in wages and benefits that the company offered to nonunion workers.
In a response last week, Starbucks said it cannot raise wages and benefits for unionized workers because federal law requires the company to negotiate such terms of employment with the union at stores where workers have opted to join one. “Wages and benefits are mandatory subjects of the collective bargaining process,” Starbucks said in a statement.
In New York City, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, a Democrat, applauded the city’s lawsuit on Friday.
“Protecting workers’ rights to organize and unionize is critical, and employers who try to undermine and violate those rights must be held accountable,” she said in a statement.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross will be bringing their Oscar-winning scoring skills to two new films.
The Nine Inch Nails duo is providing the soundtracks to the upcoming movies Bones and All and Empire of Light.
Bones and All is directed by Call Me by Your Name filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, while Empire of Light is the latest from American Beauty and Skyfall director Sam Mendes. Both films are premiering at separate film festivals this weekend — Bones and All at the Venice Film Festival and Empire of Light at the Telluride Film Festival — followed by theatrical releases later this year.
Reznor and Ross have previously composed the scores for movies including The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl and Bird Box, as well as the Pixar film Soul alongside Jon Batiste. Both The Social Network and Soul won the Oscar for Best Original Score.
In addition to hearing Reznor and Ross on the big screen, you can see them live on Nine Inch Nails’ tour, which picks up again Friday at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
Elizabeth Debecki as Princess Diana in ‘The Crown’, Season 5 – Netflix
As The Crown rolls through the years, season 6 will apparently show a teen Prince William and his eventual wife, Kate Middleton.
Variety reports 16-year-old newcomer Rufus Kampa and 21-year-old Ed McVey have been cast as William in two points of his life; Kate Middleton will be portrayed by lookalike Meg Bellamy. The trade reports Kampa and Bellamy were found via an online casting call.
The fifth season of The Crown, which drops on Netflix in November, features Tenet‘s Elizabeth Debciki‘s as Princess Diana, Prince William and Harry‘s mother, and focuses on her tumultuous marriage to Prince Charles, played by Dominic West.
Princess Diana was killed in a car crash with her companion Dodi Fayed on August 31, 1997, when William was 15, the trade reasons, so it’s likely the season will cover the time span of the late ’90s to the early 2000s. William met Kate in 2001 when they were both students at Scotland’s St. Andrew’s University.
The Crown‘s cast also includes Jonathan Pryce as Prince Philip, Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth, and Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret.
(WASHINGTON) — The White House is seeking $47 billion from Congress to secure COVID and monkeypox vaccines, to bolster Ukraine’s defenses and to respond to natural disasters at home.
“All of the requests in here meet urgent funding needs,” an administration official told reporters Friday. “It is our responsibility to tell Congress what we need in order to meet these critical needs. These have had bipartisan support in the past, and we fully expect Congress to work with us to reach a resolution on all of them.”
The funding would be tied to a constituting resolution to keep the government running past Sept. 30. Biden officials said the requests are for the first quarter of fiscal year 2023, which would span from October to December of this year.
But their request is likely to be met with resistance on Capitol Hill, where Republicans are generally opposed to any additional emergency and Democrats for months have pushed to no avail for supplemental COVID funding that they say is necessary to combatting the virus.
Most of the money would go toward combating the COVID pandemic, with the White House asking lawmakers for $22.4 billion for vaccines, treatments and personal protective equipment (PPE). That sum would also fund “next-generation” research, the administration said, and provide services like treatments for “long COVID.”
On Friday, the federal government’s free program for Americans to order at-home COVID tests was suspended due to a lack of funding. More than 600 millions tests have been sent to families free of charge since the program began in January.
To tackle the monkeypox crisis, the administration is requesting $4.5 billion to expand domestic manufacturing of vaccines, to develop rapid tests, support health activities and more.
The administration has faced criticism for its response to the monkeypox outbreak, with public experts saying the U.S. should have moved faster to distribute tests and vaccines. As of Sept. 1, there were 19,465 total confirmed monkeypox/orthopoxvirus cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This funding will also help ensure the United States is at the front of the line for the best tools to fight any possible future outbreak,” the administration said.
Beyond the administration’s public health efforts, the second largest chunk of the money the White House is requesting would go toward Ukraine.
The administration is seeking $13.7 billion to provide Ukraine with military equipment and intelligence gathering, as well as direct budget assistance to the nation’s government. That funding also includes $2 million for energy-related issues stemming from the conflict.
“We have rallied the world to support the people of Ukraine as they defend their democracy and we cannot allow that support to Ukraine to run dry,” the administration said. “The people of Ukraine have inspired the world, and the Administration remains committed to supporting the Ukrainian people as they continue to stand resolute and display extraordinary courage in the face of Russia’s full-scale invasion.”
To combat natural disasters in the U.S., which faces record heat and devastating flooding, the White House is asking for $6.5 billion to go toward the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund; direct payments for farmers; to local governments to strengthen their eclectic grids and more.
A long-lost promo video that Motörhead had filmed to promote their 1982 album, Iron Fist, and its supporting tour has finally been officially released.
The unearthed clip shows the “Ace of Spades” trio — frontman Lemmy, guitarist “Fast” Eddie Clarke and drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor — dressed as medieval knights searching for the mythical Iron Fist weapon.
Forty years later, you can now watch the video, soundtracked by the previously unreleased instrumental demo “Ripsaw Teardown,” streaming on YouTube.
Iron Fist was the follow-up to 1980’s Ace of Spades and would be the final Motörhead album to feature the band’s classic lineup of Lemmy, Clarke and Taylor.
As previously reported, Iron Fist is being reissued on September 23 in honor of its 40th anniversary. The deluxe collection features a variety of bonus tracks, including demos, alternate versions, instrumentals and live recordings.
