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08 May 2025

Touch Grass: Kai Cenat Launches Streamer University

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67th GRAMMY Awards - Arrivals
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One of the culture’s biggest voices is looking to help the new generation of storytellers. Kai Cenat has launched the Streamer University.

As spotted on Hypebeast, the Brooklyn, New York, native is embarking on a new initiative. On Tuesday (May 7), he announced Streamer University. The project will invite content creators from all walks of life to take courses on how they can advance their skills and better give their respective brands a point of difference. As expected the announcement was presented via a skit. The video, which is inspired by the popular movie Harry Potter series, finds Cenat traveling to recruit an upcoming personality to the school. He expressed his enthusiasm in an accompanying Instagram post.

“I’m excited to extend to you a most heartfelt welcome to the very first class of Streamer University,” he said. “Here, you will find a school where chaos is encouraged and content is king. I look forward to seeing you all on campus for our first-ever semester.”

Kai Cenat originally teased the initiative back in February during a Twitch livestream. “I’m going to rent out a university over a course of a weekend. It will be streaming university. Okay? I’m going to rent it out.” He went on to add that he hoped to have Mr. Beast and Mark Rober teach courses. The Streamer University website further details the spirit of the educational institution. “Streamers of all backgrounds will have the opportunity to showcase their personalities as students, alongside both unrealized, upcoming and well-established creators,” the statement read.

Enrollment for Streamer University is open now. You can read more about the opportunity here.

08 May 2025

Leadership Issues At National Museum of African American History Point Of Public Concern

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The National Museum of African American History and Culture, NMAAHC
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The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., is experiencing one of its most turbulent periods in its nearly nine years of existence and is currently without leadership after its executive director stepped down. The institution’s recent targeting by President Donald Trump over what his administration deems are “divisive” exhibits has raised concerns among advocates and observers. “Our opponents are trying to erase Black history, Black voices and Black lives,” said African American Policy Forum executive director Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw in an interview.

Kevin Young was serving as the director of the NMAAHC until his resignation in early April, just as Trump issued an executive order entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which took aim at the Smithsonian and the NMAAHC in particular as having “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.” Young, who had been in the position since 2021, had actually been on leave since March 14. Unnamed sources had expressed that some felt that the position was too complex for Young, who had previously served as the head of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York, and is still the poetry editor for the New Yorker.

Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, however, praised Young’s work in making the NMAHHC more accessible for all during his tenure, citing recent exhibits such as one on Afrofuturism and design and a major exhibition on slavery, “In Slavery’s Wake,” which will travel to Europe, South America and Africa over the course of the year. In an internal memo, Bunch reiterated the intent to continue the museum’s mission, writing that “we remain committed to telling the multifaceted stories of this country’s extraordinary heritage.”

Many in the Black community, led by Black churches, have rallied behind the NMAAHC through organizing rallies and fundraising drives as the Trump administration has debated whether to withhold federal funding. There have been reports of the administration removing exhibits from the museum such as parts of the Woolworth’s lunch counter from the sit-ins of the Civil Rights Era being removed, but those would be proven as inaccurate by Smithsonian leadership. Other items returned to those who donated them to the NMAAHC were explained as having been returned due to the end of their being leased to the museum.

08 May 2025

Sleep Token Makes History Atop Hot Hard Rock Songs Chart With ‘Damocles’

Sleep Token nabs its third No. 1 in a row on Billboard’s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart, bowing atop the May 10-dated survey with “Damocles.”

In the week ending May 1, “Damocles” earned 8.9 million official U.S. streams and sold 2,000 downloads, according to Luminate.

Its No. 1 coronation follows three-week reigns each for the band’s “Caramel” (April 19-May 3) and “Emergence” (March 29-April 12).

In fact, Sleep Token has now replaced itself twice on Hot Hard Rock Songs, having led for the past seven weeks. That’s the first time any act has done so with three different songs since the ranking began in June 2020. Previously, Linkin Park accomplished the feat with two songs; “The Emptiness Machine” reigned between Sept. 21, 2024, and Feb. 8, followed by a one-week lead for “Heavy Is the Crown” (Feb. 15) before “The Emptiness Machine” returned to No. 1.

Sleep Token becomes the sixth act with at least three No. 1s on Hot Hard Rock Songs, following Foo Fighters and HARDY (also three), Linkin Park (four) and Bring Me the Horizon and Falling in Reverse (six apiece).

It also becomes the first act to hold the entire top three of the chart (as “Caramel” and “Emergence” rank at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, on the latest tally) since Linkin Park did so on the Nov. 30, 2024, list.

Concurrently, “Damocles” also bows at No. 1 on Hard Rock Streaming Songs and Hard Rock Digital Song Sales, Sleep Token’s third leader on both.

“Damocles” starts at No. 11 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs ranking, and on the all-format Billboard Hot 100, it begins at No. 47.

“Damocles” is the latest taste of Even in Arcadia, Sleep Token’s fourth studio album, out May 9 via RCA.

08 May 2025

A$AP Rocky Reveals He Auditioned For Role Of Lando In ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’

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A$AP Rocky Met Gala After Party
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Now that the world is about to see A$AP Rocky get his acting on alongside Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s upcoming joint Highest 2 Lowest, we’re learning that the Harlem rapper has been trying to break through on the cinema scene for quite some time, and he tried to enter the world of Star Wars not too long ago by auditioning for the role of a fan favorite character.

In a new interview with Variety, the “RIOT” rapper revealed that he’d been trying to break through in Hollywood for quite some time. Though he was a standout character in the underrated 2015 film, DOPE, A$AP tried to get in front of a bigger audience when it came time to cast the role of Lando Calrissian for Disney’s Star Wars spinoff, Solo: A Star Wars Story. But even Rocky admits that when it came time to show casting what he was made of, he just didn’t have it that day.

Per Variety:

I auditioned for “Star Wars” — for Lando — and my audition was trash. I was trash that day. My man Childish Gambino [Donald Glover] was a way better Lando than I would’ve provided at that time. And I think he looked a little more like [Billy Dee Williams] than me.

Would you do it again? Do you dream of wielding a lightsaber?

Hell, yeah.

Who knows, maybe Disney will decide to explore the origins of Jedi master, Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) and A$AP could audition for that role if anything. We wouldn’t be mad at that.

Approaching his acting gigs like a true professional, A$AP Rocky seems determined to be taken seriously as an actor and explained that he considers himself a method actor who embodies whatever characteristics his role calls for even if it means taking that persona back home at the end of the day.

From Variety:

“It’s being alone in your trailer, looking in the mirror, embodying that person. When you’re not on the set, or when you clock out, you’re still embodying that character. Around the beginning of shooting, my family was still in California, so I got to really be this guy and go home [as him]. When my family finally came to New York in late May, we were almost wrapped, and I had to be in daddy mode. I had to shift back and forth.”

We’re not sure if the Star Wars universe is prepared for its first Jedi with gold fronts, but we know we are. Heck, we’ve been ready for such a character since the 90s. George Lucas really dropped the ball on that one. Then again, there were rumors that Tupac Shakur was supposed to be cast as Mace Windu in Star Wars: Episode 1 before his untimely death, so we can’t be too mad at George Lucas for trying.

What do y’all think of A$AP Rocky maybe one day being a part of the Star Wars universe? What color lightsaber would y’all like to see him rock? Let us know in the comments section below.

08 May 2025

Sabrina Carpenter Hilariously Reacts to Online Criticism of Her 2025 Met Gala Look

Sabrina Carpenter had the best reaction when a person online wasn’t too please please pleased with her 2025 Met Gala look.

In a post on X Wednesday (May 7) — two days after she walked the red carpet at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art for this year’s event — the pop star hilariously responded to a critic who’d written that her leggy Louis Vuitton jumpsuit was a “perfect example of how dressing against your body type can go horribly wrong.”

“The stuffy collar is making her neck look constricted and short,” the person had added. “Not to mention, the sleeves look very stuffy, and the tailoring is completely off, so removing the sleeves shifts focus back to her waist.”

Suggesting that Carpenter should have removed the sleeves of her brown suit jacket and added a jumpsuit and pinstriped pants to the look, the critic also shared an edited photo rendering what they thought the “Espresso” singer should have worn instead — after which Carpenter reshared the post on her own account with her reaction.

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“damn i f–ked up..” the Grammy winner joked.

But even though you can’t make everyone happy, Carpenter’s look Monday (May 5) was a favorite of many people’s (and Billboard‘s). Featuring a white collar and long coattails that trailed behind her, the look was designed by LV Men’s Creative Director Pharrell Williams, who also co-chaired the 2025 Met alongside A$AP Rocky, Colman Domingo and Lewis Hamilton.

“I’m a massive fan of Pharrell and have been to the [Louis Vuitton] show, and I was just like, ‘If I could go this year with him, that would be my dream,’” she told Vogue on the Met red carpet Monday. “And it came true! And he was like, ‘You’re quite short, so no pants for you.’ So here we are!”

The night marked Carpenter’s third Met, with the Girl Meets World alum first attending in 2022. Two years later, she attended once again and posed on the red carpet with then-boyfriend Barry Keoghan.

In the year since, the “Taste” musician has scored her first-ever No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with Short n’ Sweet, which dropped in August. She spent much of the fall and early months of 2025 touring in support of the album, first in North America followed by Europe.

08 May 2025

iHeartRadio Breached By Hackers, Sparking Class Action Over Social Security Numbers & Other Data

iHeartRadio is facing a class-action lawsuit from subscribers after disclosing that several of its radio stations were hacked months ago, exposing Social Security numbers, financial information and other personal details.

The lawsuit came a week after the radio giant warned customers in regulatory filings last week that “an unauthorized actor viewed and obtained files” at a “small number of our local stations” in December, potentially stealing SSNs, dates of birth, and credit card info.

iHeart said it “immediately implemented our response protocols” to contain the hack, and is offering free credit monitoring to those affected. The company also said it had “strengthened its existing security measures” to “help prevent something like this from happening again.”

Trending on Billboard

Those assurances were not enough for Cheryl Shields, a subscriber who filed a proposed class action against iHeart on Wednesday in New York federal court, seeking to represent customers nationwide whose data was compromised. In doing so, her attorneys blasted iHeart for waiting four months to warn subscribers that their data was at risk.

“As a result of this delayed response, plaintiff and class members had no idea for four months that their private information had been compromised, and that they were, and continue to be, at significant risk of identity theft and various other forms of personal, social, and financial harm,” Shield’s lawyers write. “The risk will remain for their respective lifetimes.”

The data exposed in the iHeart breach “represents a gold mine for data thieves,” the lawyers write, and there has been “no assurance offered by iHeart that all personal data or copies of data have been recovered or destroyed.”

A spokesperson for iHeart did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday.

Such lawsuits are common following data breaches. After the credit-reporting company Equifax suffered a 2017 data breach that exposed the personal data of nearly 150 million Americans, the company agreed to pay $425 million to resolve nationwide class-action litigation filed by consumers.

The scale of the iHeart data breach is undoubtedly far smaller. The company did not disclose in regulatory filings how many total victims were involved nationwide, though a notification filed in Maine said only three subscribers in that state had been impacted. Disclosure forms were also filed in California and Massachusetts, as first reported The Record.

In technical legal terms, Wednesday’s lawsuit accused iHeart of negligence, arguing that the company had a legal duty to safeguard consumer’s data.

“As a national media and audio provider in possession of millions of customers’ private information, iHeart knew, or should have known, the importance of safeguarding the

Private Information entrusted to it by Plaintiff and Class Members and of the foreseeable consequences they would suffer if iHeart’s data security systems were breached,” Shields’ lawyers write. “Nevertheless, iHeart failed to take adequate cybersecurity measures to prevent the data breach.”

08 May 2025

Ghost Reigns on Rock Album Charts, Scores 9 Tracks on Hot Hard Rock Songs Tally With ‘Skeletá’

Ghost’s Skeletá debuts atop a trio of Billboard rock albums charts, including the flagship Top Rock & Alternative Albums survey dated May 10.

The full-length studio set earned 86,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of availability (April 25-May 1), according to Luminate. Of that sum, 77,000 units are via traditional album sales.

The bow of Skeletá atop Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums gives Ghost its fourth No. 1 on both, following the reigns of Impera (2022), Prequelle (2018) and the EP Popestar (2016).

Additionally, its No. 1 on Top Hard Rock Albums is the band’s seventh, with the aforementioned albums joined by 2024’s Rite Here Right Now soundtrack, 2023’s Phantomime EP and 2013’s Infestissumam.

Trending on Billboard

With seven No. 1s on Top Hard Rock Albums, Ghost moves into a three-way tie for the third-most rulers since the ranking began in 2007, alongside Five Finger Death Punch and Foo Fighters.

Most No. 1s, Top Hard Rock Albums:

  • 9, Linkin Park
  • 8, Pearl Jam
  • 7, Five Finger Death Punch
  • 7, Foo Fighters
  • 7, Ghost
  • 6, Disturbed
  • 6, Korn
  • 6, Nickelback

As previously reported, Skeletá is Ghost’s first No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 and the first hard rock release to top the ranking since AC/DC’s Power Up in 2020.

Concurrently, nine songs from Skeletá‘s 10-tune tracklist dot the multimetric Hot Hard Rock Songs chart, paced by “Peacefield,” which rises 13-4 largely from 2.6 million official U.S. streams and 1,000 downloads.

“Lachryma” and “Satanized” follow, moving 7-10 and holding at No. 11, respectively, though both songs boast higher peaks on the ranking so far — No. 3 (“Satanized” in March, “Lachryma” in April).

The week’s top debut of the group, meanwhile, is “Guiding Lights” at No. 15 (1.1 million streams).

Lead single “Satanized” returns to its previous best of No. 7 (rising one spot) on Mainstream Rock Airplay. Upon its entrance into the top 10, it became Ghost’s 10th top 10 since first appearing on the tally in 2015, including five No. 1s.

08 May 2025

How Did a Lorde Deep Cut Become a Generational Anthem (And a Decade-Late Hot 100 Hit)?

Longtime alt-pop star Lorde boasts two new entries on the Billboard Hot 100 this week (dated May 10). One of them is predictable: “What Was That,” her first totally new solo song in nearly a half-decade (and presumed lead single from her upcoming Virgin album, due in June) bows at No. 36, following a big premiere event at New York’s Washington Square Park. But the other one might be a little more surprising: “Ribs,” a fan favorite from Lorde’s 2013 debut album Pure Heroine, which makes its first appearance on the Hot 100 (at No. 99) over a decade after its initial release.

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On this week’s Great Moments in Pop Star History episode of the Greatest Pop Stars podcast, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staff writer Hannah Dailey to talk about the 12-year journey of “Ribs” from fan favorite deep cut to stealth Gen Z anthem to now Billboard Hot 100 hit. We share our own stories of how we first got stuck on “Ribs,” try to capture the song’s extremely unconventional and totally singular appeal, and dive deep into the sonic and lyrical details that have added up to it improbably becoming one of the defining songs of its era.

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Along the way, we answer all the most pressing questions about “Ribs”: How did this then-15-year-old write one of the century’s most convincing and relatable songs about getting old and bracing mortality? What made it such a perfect song for a bunch of increasingly impatient Lorde fans to sing and dance to while waiting for her to pop up in NYC two weeks ago? Why has such an obviously evocative and cinematic song never been used for a big movie or TV synch? Did “Ribs” really become a pump-up anthem for extremely online Philadelphia 76ers fans? And finally: Will “Ribs” one day pass “Royals” as Lorde’s best-known, most-beloved song?

Check out our discussion above, and subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom!

And if you have the time and money to spare, please consider donating to any of these causes in the fight for trans rights:

Transgender Law Center

Trans Lifeline

Gender-Affirming Care Fundraising on GoFundMe

Also, please consider subscribing to the trans legislation journalism of Erin Reed, and giving your local congresspeople a call in support of trans rights, with contact information you can find on 5Calls.org.

08 May 2025

Erratic Chicago Rapper Drops “Heil Hitler” Video

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FILES-US-ENTERTAINMENT-POLITICS-ELECTION-KANYE
Source: SEBASTIAN SMITH / Getty

We get it, Kanye West is a proud antisemite. The Chicago multihyphenate dropped a video for a song called “Heil Hitler” which will be reportedly on a forthcoming new album called Cuck.

Ye already caused controversy when he recently released a song called “Cousins,” where he detailed engaging in sexual relations with a male cousin, which is reportedly from the same aforementioned album.

As for his latest tune, “Man these people took my kids from me, then they closed my bank account / I got so much anger in me got no way to take it out,” is how Ye kicks things off on the track, and that’s about as good as it gets.

The visual features Black guy outfitted in furs and animal costumes as they chant “N*gga Heil Hitler, they don’t understand the things I say on Twitter.”

Sure. This is where we point out that as the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler killed over 6 millions Jews as well as homosexuals, people with disabilities and political foes. And Hitler definitely wasn’t a fan of Black people. But yeah, this is who Kanye West is idolizing.

There is art and then there’s kitsch. This is the latter.

08 May 2025

Andrew Spencer Named COO of AEG Presents Europe

AEG Presents announced today that Andrew Spencer has been named chief operating officer of AEG Presents Europe. In his new job, Spencer will oversee the concert promotions company’s network of promoters, venues and festivals and focus on realigning the company’s strategy and growth initiatives in the region.

Spencer will be headquartered in London, where he will move this summer from Australia. Spencer will report directly to Adam Wilkes, president and CEO of AEG Presents Europe and Asia Pacific.

“Spencer is a proven leader with a sharp strategic mind and a deep understanding of the live entertainment business,” commented Wilkes. “We’ve built a strong working relationship over many years, and he has been instrumental in the success of our Australia and New Zealand operations. I’m excited to continue that partnership as we expand our footprint across Europe — there’s no one better suited to help shape our next chapter.”

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Before joining AEG Europe, Spencer held the position of COO at Frontier Touring, an Australian concert promotion company. In this role, he oversaw the company’s diverse portfolio, which included international touring bookings, music festivals and exclusive venues. At Frontier, Spencer was tasked with overseeing strategy, business operations, finance and business development. Prior to Frontier, Spencer was COO of Australian independent promoter Chugg Entertainment for three years and was instrumental in restructuring and integrating Chugg into Frontier when it was acquired in 2019.

Spencer added: “I’m super excited to join Adam and the AEG Presents team in Europe to help drive expansion across the region. The opportunities with our current and future partners are vast. I’m proud to have been a part of the broad Frontier team in Australia, and they are well placed for continued success across the live industry.”