Following a three-week trial, a jury in New York City ruled Wednesday that Jay-Z did not breach his endorsement contract in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed against him by the Parlux perfume company.
“You failed to prove your case, they failed to prove their case,” Justice Andrew Borrok said to an attorney for Parlux after the verdict was read aloud in court, according to Billboard. The Roc Nation founder was accused of failing to properly promote the “Gold Jay-Z” cologne. Parlux had requested $67 million in damages. Jay-Z, born Sean Carter, countersued, seeking $6 million in royalties that he said he was still owed under the deal. No money was awarded in the case.
Parlux argued that Hova breached the terms of their business contract by refusing to make promotional appearances on shows such as Good Morning America. Attorney Anthony J. Viola said Jay-Z had “thrown sand in the gears of what Parlux was trying to do””with his objections over how to promote the product.
Carter testified that he fulfilled his obligations. During a court appearance last week, he blasted Parlux “for crappy, lazy work,” and for allegedly violating their agreement by selling the fragrance at the Superdrug discount drugstore chain in the United Kingdom without his knowledge.
Paul McCartney has posted a video on his Facebook page capturing him sharing an emotional confession during a recent livestreamed Q&A event promoting his new book The Lyrics.
In the segment, Paul says he never told his late Beatles band mate John Lennon that he loved him.
“As 16-year-old, 17-year-old Liverpool kids, you could never say that. It just wasn’t done,” McCartney explains. “So I never did. I never really just said, ‘John, love you, man.’ I just never got ’round to it. So now, it is great to just realize how much I loved this man.”
The event, which took place November 5 at London’s Southbank Centre, is available on demand for streaming through Saturday, November 12, priced at $14.
In other news, McCartney and his daughters Mary and Stella have joined animal-rights organization PETA U.K. and other celebrities in calling for the United Nation’s COP26 climate-change conference, which is taking place now in Glasgow, Scotland, to adopt the Plant Based Treaty initiative, which is designed to focus on food systems as a way to battle the global climate crisis.
The McCartneys, PETA U.K. and others issued a message Tuesday to the COP26 delegates urging them to adopt the treaty, which seeks to encourage the production of more plant-based foods rather than meat, as a companion to the Paris Agreement climate-change treaty adopted in 2015.
Paul, Mary and Stella, who launched the Meat Free Monday campaign in 2009, say in a statement, “We believe in justice for animals, the environment and people. That’s why we support the Plant Based Treaty and urge individuals and governments to sign it.”
Among the other celebs supporting the treaty are Moby, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara and Game of Thrones actor Jerome Flynn.
“I never really said ‘John I love you man’, I never got round to it. So now it’s great to just realise how much I love this man…”
‘The Lyrics: Paul McCartney in Conversation’ is available to watch on demand till November 12th: https://t.co/yoJhfzbs3o@PenguinLivepic.twitter.com/WdsmwqfzbG
While Ryan Reynolds‘ fake feud with good buddy Hugh Jackman is the stuff of Twitter legend, it seems that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is angling for a piece of the action.
Johnson posted to social media with a photo of an outdoor movie marquee on which he’d had posted the message, “Ryan Reynolds Uses His Mom’s Netfix Account.”
Johnson tweeted to his Red Notice co-star, “Beat that.”
He also added, “For the record, Ryan’s mama is an AMAZING WOMAN. Not sure why Ryan turned out the way he did.”
Reynolds took it in stride, replying, “In fairness, my mom uses my OnlyFans account.”
Red Notice, which also stars Gal Gadot, debuts on the streaming service Friday.
One last heist for the road 🥃
Beat that, @vancityreynolds.
For the record, Ryan’s mama is an AMAZING WOMAN. Not sure why Ryan turned out the way he did. #RedNotice hits @Netflix worldwide THIS FRIDAY!
Enjoy our film 🥃🌍 pic.twitter.com/oYQZWtB3KS
Christina Perri is releasing a new lullaby album called songs for rosie, dedicated to the daughter she lost last year.
Christina’s second child, Rosie, was born silent on November 24, 2020, and the album is set to be released on November 24 this year in her honor. It follows Christina’s 2019 lullaby album, songs for carmella: sing-a-longs and lullabies, written for her first child, her now three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Carmella.
Songs for rosie features duets with Christina’s husband, Paul, and with Carmella, as well as special appearances by Chris Martin and Jacob Collier on the new song “roses in the rain (lullaby).” It also features a cover of The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun,” which debuted on Wednesday.
“rosie’s short and powerful life already served such a huge purpose in our world, and she has lovingly changed me, paul and carmella forever,” Christina wrote on Twitter. “we are more capable of love and compassion than we ever knew we could be.”
She added, “we learned how to hold space for loss and how to navigate unimaginable grief together and music always heals. releasing these songs for rosie is so important for our hearts.”
(NOTE LANGUAGE, CONTENT) While he’s gone on the record as having done so, Oscar winner Jared Leto now claims he was joking when he said he’d sent his Suicide Squad co-stars gross “gifts,” like sex toys and used condoms, from his Joker alter-ego.
His co-stars had corroborated the stories, with Oscar-winner Viola Davis once telling Vanity Fair, “He gave us some really horrific gifts,” claiming Leto had a “henchman” drop a dead pig on a table on set. “And then he sends Margot Robbie a black rat. It was still alive, in a box. She screamed, and then she kept it.”
At the time, Leto claimed playing the Clown Prince of Crime in the movie led him to create an “element of surprise” for his co-stars. Leto, however, now says his outrageous claims were “all in jest.”
The House of Gucci actor and 30 Seconds To Mars frontman just told Entertainment Weekly, “99.9 percent of what people read is bulls**t. [T]here were no used condoms.”
He added, “Any of the very few gifts that were ever given were given with a spirit of fun and adventure and received with laughter, fun, and adventure. It’s all filmed! They filmed it all! People were dying. We were just having a goof.”
Leto also said, “I’m playing a guy called the Joker, it’s OK to play some jokes. Nothing ever crossed any lines, and it’s not up to other people on the internet to create those lines.”
A senior crew member on the set of the movie Rust has filed suit against Alec Baldwin, armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and assistant director Dave Halls over the fatal October 21 shooting that killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
Serge Svetnoy was a key gaffer on the production — the person responsible for positioning lights for the camera — and incidentally, the crew member who posted what is believed to be the last photo of Hutchins alive.
ABC News has confirmed Svetnoy is suing the previously mentioned people, and others, claiming their negligence led to the shooting that killed Hutchins and injured director Joel Souza, when Baldwin fired a live round at the pair from what he was allegedly told by Halls was a “cold,” or empty, pistol.
The suit claims Baldwin “owed a duty to the Plaintiff and [others] on the ‘Rust’ set to handle the Colt Revolver provided to him by defendant Halls with reasonable care and diligence for the safety of ‘Rust’ cast and crew.”
It also says, “This duty called for Defendant Baldwin to double-check the Colt Revolver…to ensure that it did not contain live ammunition.”
Furthermore, the suit claims Baldwin wasn’t supposed to pull the trigger, because he was just rehearsing.
Svetnoy claims that the bullet that struck both Hutchins and Souza nearly struck him, too, and that he rendered aid to his friend after she was shot. The incident left him with severe emotional distress, the suit alleges. Svetnoy also reportedly claims in the suit that guns acquired for Rust were in fact also being used for target practice, something an attorney for Gutierrez-Reed denies.
Investigators say live rounds, blanks and dummy rounds were found on the set. Gutierrez-Reed’s attorney recently told ABC’s Good Morning America that he believes someone intentionally placed a live round in a box of dummy ammunition.
Authorities haven’t ruled out criminal charges in the case as the investigation continues.
Underoath has announced a streaming concert ahead of the band’s upcoming album, Voyeurist.
The virtual event, dubbed Digital Ghost, will feature the debut performance of Voyeurist in its entirety. It premieres December 3 via the streaming platform Moment House.
“When we started conceptualizing the Voyeurist event, we knew that we wanted to do something different than a traditional live stream,” says guitarist Tim McTague.
“One of the biggest goals was the idea of blending narrative with the visuals,” he explains. “Threading the needle on a live performance while adding in cinematic elements was a big part of Digital Ghost.”
The CMA Vocal Group of the Year category always delivers stiff competition, and that’s no exception in 2021. Among the nominees are Old Dominion — who’ve won it for the past three years running — as well as Zac Brown Band, Midland, Little Big Town and Lady A.
Midland has yet to win, but it’s their fourth time nominated in the category, and they think that their former tour mates Little Big Town might be the act to beat.
“We’ve toured a lot with Little Big Town and they’re all really good friends of ours. And the fact that they do four-part harmonies, it gives them an edge,” the band explains. “But win or lose, either way, we’re gonna use it as fuel for fire.”
Despite the competition, there’s plenty of camaraderie at the CMAs. That feeling of community with other country artists is something that Lady A still remember from their first-ever CMAs performance in 2008, where they sang their debut single, “Love Don’t Live Here.”
“Just to look out in the audience and see all your heroes in the first two rows looking at you, kind of getting to see what you’re made of for the first time,” recounts band mate Charles Kelley. “I just remember walking off feeling that we killed it. It was just a really cool moment.”
Look out for more unforgettable performances during this year’s CMAs, which airs tonight on ABC beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET.
(GLASGOW, Scotland) — Leaders from nearly every country in the world have converged upon Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that experts are touting as the most important environmental summit in history.
The conference, delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was designed as the check-in for the progress countries are making after entering the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, a value that would be disastrous to exceed, according to climate scientists. More ambitious efforts aim to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Not one country is going into COP26 on track to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to experts. They will need to work together to find collective solutions that will drastically cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.
“We need to move from commitments into action,” Jim Harmon, chairman of the World Resources Institute, told ABC News. “The path to a better future is still possible, but time is running out.”
All eyes will be on the biggest emitters: China, the U.S. and India. While China is responsible for about 26% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than all other developed countries combined, the cumulative emissions from the U.S. over the past century are likely twice that of China’s, David Sandalow, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told ABC News.
Latest headlines:
-US, China announce joint statement addressing climate crisis
-America ‘ready to take on the challenge,’ Pelosi says
-Obama addresses COP26, endorses Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ bill
-American agriculture is ready to tackle climate change, agriculture secretary says
-US needs to ‘get in the game’ on clean energy transitions, energy secretary say
-New climate targets announced for sports worldwide
-Biden, world leaders push to conserve global forests
-‘It’ll take trillions,’ Jeff Bezos says of his $10 billion climate pledge
-Biden apologizes for Trump administration pulling out of the Paris Agreement
Here’s how the conference is developing. All times Eastern.
Nov 10, 3:29 pm
US, China announce joint statement addressing climate crisis
Top carbon emitters U.S. and China have committed to working together on reducing emissions and transitioning to renewable energy over the next decade, according to U.S. Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry.
Kerry said it’s important that the countries work together on climate issues.
“And as I’ve said many times, the United States and China have no shortage of differences. But on climate, cooperation is the only way to get things done,” he told reporters Wednesday.
ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs
Nov 09, 1:39 pm
America ‘ready to take on the challenge,’ Pelosi says
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi focused on the domestic political success of the Build Back Better plan and its investment in climate change while speaking to reporters at COP26, continuing the message that America is back on the international climate stage.
“We come here equipped, ready to take on the challenge to meet the moment,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi said she still plans to pass the reconciliation bill the week of Nov. 15 and backed up remarks made by former President Barack Obama on Monday — that both he and President Biden could take more aggressive action on climate change if it wasn’t for near Republican control on Capitol Hill.
“Let me just say that when President Obama was president and we had majority in the first term … we did pass in the House a very strong climate bill,” she said.
“Sixty votes in the Senate is an obstacle that is very hard to overcome and is another subject for another day.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also declared that “America is back” but was more critical, saying that leaders will need to “actually deliver.”
“We’re here to say that we’re not just back, we’re different … and we are more open, I think, to questioning prior assumptions about what is politically possible and that is what is exciting about this time,” she said.
ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs
Nov 08, 5:23 pm
Obama addresses COP26, endorses Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ bill
During his speech at Monday’s COP26 events, former President Barack Obama shined a spotlight on the upcoming midterm elections and called upon young Americans to consider climate when deciding how to vote.
“Saving the planet isn’t a partisan issue,” Obama said, frustrated over the divided government.
Obama endorsed President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” bill and drew a comparison to when “one of our two major parties” made climate change a partisan issue back during his tenure.
On climate change, Obama harkened back to the Paris Agreement, saying, “We have not done nearly enough to address the crisis.”
He called for countries to push for ambitious action and acknowledged that while older generations have failed the young, they “can’t afford hopelessness.”
Addressing the youth participating in protests outside COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, the former president encouraged them to get more involved to deal with their anxiety over climate change.
“Protests are necessary to raise awareness. Hashtag campaigns can spread awareness,” Obama said. “But to build the broad-based coalitions necessary for bold action, we have to persuade people who either currently don’t agree with us or are indifferent to the issue.”
Nov 05, 1:23 pm
Greta Thunberg leads youth activist march
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, 18, was among thousands of young people demonstrating outside of COP26.
Thunberg spoke at the Fridays for Future march, the group she founded in 2018, criticizing politicians and labeling the conference as a “failure.”
“It should be obvious that we cannot solve a crisis with the same methods that got us into it in the first place,” Thunberg said.
Many of the demonstrators who spoke to ABC News said they attended the rally to see Thunberg speak.
Some demonstrators said they did not trust their leaders to create real change but were encouraged to see how many other young people were fighting for climate action.
Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate, 24, also spoke at the protest, where she said Africa was experiencing some of the harshest effects from climate change.
Nakate said she envisions a future when “the world is green again.”
As the 2021 CMAs loom, Kelsea Ballerini and Carly Pearce are two artists who say they’ll be trying something new with their fashion choices on the big night. Carly hints she’s keeping it straightforward with a “classy” look, but it’s going to be “in a color I’ve never worn before.”
“I’m going to wear all the weave, and it’s going to be — I’m excited,” she adds with a laugh.
Meanwhile, Kelsea’s taking risks with a “fashion forward,” “futuristic feeling” ensemble that she says is just one example of how she’s trying to push herself and grow.
“I’m trying to start doing [the glam aspect] myself. I did it myself on tour, and I really started enjoying the hair and makeup and stuff,” she explains. “I’m trying to push myself out of my comfort zone in every area of my life. And so I’m wearing this stunning dress that is like nothing I’ve ever worn.”
But not every artist has such lofty goals for their awards show night looks. Chris Young says that in the midst of a busy week, the awards show look is just one piece of the puzzle. “I don’t think people realize just how busy it is, with doing all the interviews and everything else,” he says.
“Making sure the rehearsals are good,” he adds with a laugh, “and making sure your clothes are correct, so you’re not gonna be on, like, the ‘worst-dressed’ list somewhere.”
The 2021 CMA Awards airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.
