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26 Jan 2023

HHW Gaming: PlayStation Plus Premium Is Worth The Purchase, Especially If You Get FOMO

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PlayStation Plus

Source: Sony / PlayStation

PlayStation Plus was first launched in 2010 and granted its users a variety of options that made the service a vital part of the gaming experience on the platform. PS Plus, as it is also known, went under a massive revamp in 2022 while introducing three tiers, and we’re putting a focus on the PlayStation Plus Premium level.

For starters, let’s talk about what PlayStation Plus is and break down its three tiers.

PlayStation Plus

Source: Sony / PlayStation

Tier 1 is known as PS Plus Essential, which is the same as the former PS Plus. Nothing has changed in the offerings, which include two monthly free games that can be downloaded to your PlayStation 5 console. Essential subscribers also get periodic discounts, cloud storage for game files, and online multiplayer capabilities. The Essential tier costs $9.99 per month or $59.99 for the year.

Tier 2 is known as PS Plus Extra and it offers everything from the Essential tier along with 400-plus PS4 and PS5 games in a wide variety of offerings from platformers, fighting games, first-person shooters, and more. The Extra tier will run you $14.99 per month and $99.99 for the year.

Tier 3 is known as PS Plus Premium and gives its subscribers all of the offerings in the Essential and Extra tiers. In addition, 340-plus PS3 titles can be streamed and playable, along with classic PS1, PS2, and PSP titles among the overall number. The cloud streaming option replaces the former PS Now streaming service. This tier also gives subscribers time-limited game trials to some of the top games in the PlayStation ecosystem. This will cost you $17.99 per month and $119.00 for the year.

I’ve been using the service since the summer and I am not what someone would consider a power gamer. However, I suffer heavily from FOMO and the Premium tier is perfect for someone like me. I’ve learned the hard way which games I enjoy the most (single-player, story-driven, action-adventure) and which ones I don’t (MOBA, RTS). The tier has a number of high-quality games to play, including two favorites of mine, Returnal, and Deathloop.

Housemarque, a developer under the PlayStation Studios umbrella, released Returnal in 2021 to heavy fanfare and adoration from critics. The game is a “roguelike,” which is an offshoot of role-playing games with characters entering randomly generated levels and, most notably, a permanent end to the player’s life cycle. The game is difficult at times and each time the player perishes, it reveals a bit more of the story. It is the game I feel that made purchasing the Premium tier worth it due to the dazzling gunplay, boss fights, and story development.

Having gotten my roguelike sea legs under me, I decided to try out Deathloop next, developed by Arkane Lyon, and also released in 2021. I won’t try to explain the concept but the game’s title is accurate as the main character, the wisecracking assassin Colt, traipses through a variety of environments that have a funky art deco style. I don’t normally do well with first-person shooters (FPS) but I did enjoy how fun Deathloop is along with the hilarious voice acting and the general sense of stealth and discovery.

This isn’t to say there aren’t other great games to play. The service has interesting titles like the excellent Stray, Grand That Auto: Vice City, and several titles from the Assasin’s Creed series. It does appear that games will cycle in and out from the game catalog but anything obtained from the two monthly free game downloads will remain in your library for as long as you maintain a subscription.

Another game I have to mention, especially for fans of The Lord Of The Rings, is Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. When I’m not dying awful deaths in Returnal or frustrating myself with the amazing God of War, I’m enjoying my time taking out Uruks as Talian, a ranger from the land of Gondor. I don’t want to spoil the story but this game employs something known as the Nemesis system, which means if an Uruk captain takes you out, they’ll remember you. Also, any Uruk (basically a beefed-up Orc) you rubbed the wrong way will seek vengeance. For a game made in 2014, it still holds up.

I would offer that if you’re not someone who plays video games often, the Extra tier would be more than enough for some. If you’re someone who enjoys playing games with friends or online buddies and loves the monthly freebies, you’ll need to get the Essential tier. However, the Premium tier is definitely for those who are true gamers. Having access to literally hundreds of games should balance out the cost of that particular tier. The one true ding on PlayStation Plus is that, unlike Xbox’s Game Pass, subscribers won’t be able to have day one access to games on the date of their release.

For now, I can comfortably recommend, at the very least, fans signing up for the Extra tier of PS Plus. Get the Premium if you’re someone who breezes through games or just enjoys a high level of variety. Also, it gives access to a classic array of games you might’ve missed over the years.

Learn more about PlayStation Plus by following this link.

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Photo: Sony/Playstation

26 Jan 2023

Here’s Your First Look Inside J Balvin’s Futuristic VR Concert: Exclusive

Meta and iHeartRadio have partnered to bring to life “J Balvin Futurum: A VR Concert Experience,” Billboard can exclusively announce Thursday (Jan. 26). 

Created specifically for VR, the 180-degree concert experience will offer state-of-the-art visuals and performances such as a custom-built lighted stage, seven backup dancers and J Balvin strapped to a 15-foot robotic arm that moves to the beat of the music. The Colombian artist will perform 17 of his biggest hits, including  “La Canción,” I Like It” and “Mi Gente,” all of which hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts. 

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“I’m always looking for new and innovative ways to expand access to art and the VR space is one with limitless opportunity,” said Balvin in a press statement. “The whole show has a futuristic vibe including some crazy robotics twice my size. It will be one of my wildest shows ever and I’m grateful to Meta and iHeart for the unique collaboration and the platform to explore my passion for technology in a way that allows my fans to experience my music together in a different way.”

J Balvin

J Balvin

Cate Groubert for iHeartRadio

Produced in partnership with iHeartRadio, the “J Balvin Futurum” show — which kicks off at 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET on Feb. 17 — is part of the iHeartRadio Concert Series in VR. Balvin joins previous performers such as John Legend, Carrie Underwood and Kim Petras.

To watch the VR concert, fans can subscribe to the event by clicking here. Meta Quest 2 and Quest Pro users can watch in Horizon Venues by downloading the app.

26 Jan 2023

Grammy Voters Gave Black Women Their Flowers in 2023 Nods; Oscar Voters? Not So Much (Analysis)

When the nominations for the 2023 Oscars were announced on Tuesday (Jan. 24), just one Black woman was among the 10 women nominated in acting categories – Angela Bassett for best supporting actress for her role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Viola Davis in The Woman King and Danielle Deadwyler in Till were thought to have a strong chance of being nominated for best actress, but both were passed over – a fact that has stirred some controversy, such as this pointed commentary in The Los Angeles Times on Thursday (Jan. 26).

Black women fared much better in the marquee categories in the 2023 Grammy nominations, which were announced on Nov. 15. Three Black women were among the 10 lead artists nominated for album of the year, widely viewed as the most prestigious Grammy Award – Beyoncé for Renaissance, Lizzo for Special and Mary J. Blige for the deluxe edition of Good Morning Gorgeous.

Beyoncé is regarded as the front-winner to win in that category, after having lost in her three previous bids. I Am…Sasha Fierce lost to Taylor Swift’s Fearless; Beyoncé to Beck’s Morning Phase; and Lemonade to Adele’s 25.

Oscar and Grammy voters have not always been generous to Black women. Only one Black woman has won the Oscar for best actress – Halle Berry for Monster’s Ball (2001). Amazingly, you have to go back even further than that to find the last Black woman to win the Grammy for album of the year as a lead artist. It hasn’t happened since Lauryn Hill took the 1998 prize for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

Black women have fared far better at the Oscars in supporting roles than in lead roles, with nine Black actresses winning best supporting actress – Hattie McDaniel in Gone With the Wind (1939), Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost (1990), Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls (2006), Mo’nique in Precious (2009), Octavia Spencer in The Help (2011), Lupita Nyong’o in 12 Years a Slave (2013), Davis in Fences (2016), Regina King in If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) and Ariana DeBose in West Side Story (2021).

It’s worth noting that Davis played the female lead in Fences. She had won the Tony for best lead actress in a play for the same role in 2010, but agreed to be slotted in the supporting category at the Oscars to boost her chances of winning. (The lead actress winner that year was Emma Stone – Davis’ former costar in The Help – for the blockbuster La La Land.)

If Beyoncé wins album of the year, she’ll become the fourth Black woman to take that award as a lead artist. Natalie Cole was the first for Unforgettable With Love, a tribute to her late father Nat King Cole (1991), followed by Whitney Houston two years later for The Bodyguard soundtrack and then Hill five years after that.

The perception of disrespect for Black women in this year’s best actress nominations will probably work to Bassett’s advantage in the voting. She is seen as the front-runner to win best supporting actress, 29 years after she was nominated for best actress for playing Tina Turner in What’s Love Got to Do With It. She would become the 10th Black woman to win best supporting actress; the eighth in the past two decades.

The way that Black women can fairly easily win Oscars in the supporting category, but have a hard time winning in the lead category, is analogous to a situation at the Grammys, where Black women (and men, for that matter) do very well in terms of numbers of overall awards, but less well in the vaunted Big Four categories.

Beyoncé is one of only three artists in Grammy history to amass 28 or more Grammys, but just one of those awards has come in a Big Four category – her 2009 song of the year win for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).”

At this year’s Grammys, she is likely to tie or surpass Sir Georg Solti for the most wins by anyone in Grammy history. (The late classical conductor won 31 awards.) While that statistic is likely to grab the headlines, her expected win for album of the year – the biggest of the Big Four categories – may be even more significant.

26 Jan 2023

Trans-Siberian Orchestra Returns to No. 1 on Boxscore Report With Nearly $51M Gross

Another December Boxscore report, another triumph for Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Since Billboard launched its monthly touring recap in February 2019, TSO has made a habit of topping each December’s Top Tours chart, cranking up its annual seasonal routing to the max. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, Trans-Siberian Orchestra grossed $50.9 million and sold 691,000 tickets over 71 shows in the 31-day period.

Peaking at four shows per day, TSO employs two ensembles. One travels the eastern half of the U.S. and the other covers the western half, each playing matinee and primetime concerts in some markets.

The band hit a high point on Dec. 23, with two shows at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio ($1.7 million) and two at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. ($1.9 million), totaling $3.6 million in one day from four concerts. It was one of five days in December that it grossed more than $3 million.

TSO’s entire 2022 haul generated $66.5 million in gross revenues from 914,000 tickets sold – with 77% of that sum coming from December dates alone. That’s the second-highest grossing tour in the band’s history, narrowly missing 2019’s pre-pandemic $66.8 million. Still, this was its biggest December yet, at $50.9 million, eclipsing 2019’s $46.8 million.

In 2021, TSO played 98 shows – equal to 2022’s run – but the Omicron wave slowed ticket sales, dipping to $42 million in December, and $54.6 million for the entire run.

In all, Trans-Siberian Orchestra has grossed $734.1 million and sold 14.1 million tickets over 1,789 shows. The modestly priced (and mostly U.S.-based) family show hovers around the top 20 grossing acts in Boxscore history, but is within the top 10 according to tickets sold, slightly less than Coldplay’s 14.6 million, but moving past Bon Jovi’s 13.3 million.

With its annual trip to the summit, TSO’s third monthly Boxscore win puts the act in rare company. Since the launch of Top Tours in February 2019, only Elton John (six) and Bad Bunny (four) have spent more time at No. 1, while The Rolling Stones match with three months of its own. Considering John and Bad Bunny dominated the previous four months, it hasn’t been since July that an act scored its first Top Tours victory, when Coldplay ruled with $66.7 million.

And while John, the Stones and Coldplay have each disappeared for now, Bad Bunny remains a factor on the December charts, at No. 3 on Top Tours and at No. 1 on Top Boxscores. He crowns the latter chart with his two shows at Estadio BBVA in Monterrey, Mexico. That double-header earned $17.1 million on Dec. 3-4, pushing World’s Hottest Tour to a final gross of $314.1 million.

In December, Billboard named Bad Bunny the top touring act of 2022 based on the combined activity of the spring’s El Ultimo Tour Del Mundo and World’s Hottest Tour, accumulating $373.5 million in the tracking period of Nov. 1, 2021-Oct. 31, 2022. But with additional grosses in November and December, he finished the year with $434.9 million, the biggest calendar-year gross for an artist in Boxscore history.

In between TSO and Bad Bunny, Daddy Yankee finished the year at No. 2 on Top Tours, hitting a new peak after spending October and November at No. 3. His December haul began with three shows at Mexico City’s Foro Sol (after playing two shows at the venue in November) and stretched through a final American run, ending with two shows at Miami’s FTX Arena.

Over 15 shows, he earned $37.5 million, pushing his farewell tour’s total to $197.8 million. That makes it the second-biggest tour by a Spanish-speaking act, following, who else, Bad Bunny and his own fall ’22 tour.

Daddy Yankee follows Bad Bunny, again, by hitting No. 2 on Top Boxscores with those three Foro Sol shows. The entire five-night run grossed $23.6 million, split between $9.8 million on Nov. 29-30, and $13.8 million on Dec. 2-4.

billboard boxscore

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Among the highest grossing venues of the month, a combination of holiday-themed concerts and sporting events make it the No. 1 on the ranking among venues with a capacity of 15,001+. In most months, the venue atop that chart is also the No. 1 venue among rooms of any size, given the high capacity. But, just as TSO annually shoots to No. 1, December’s crown is virtually reserved for New York’s 5,900-cap Radio City Music Hall.

Home of the Christmas Spectacular starring The Radio City Rockettes, RCMH grossed $76.7 million across 130 shows (averaging more than four performances per day), trampling the arena’s $22 million take. In all, between Nov. 18 and Jan. 2, the Rockettes show brought in $96.9 million and sold 945,000 tickets. If counted as a musical touring act, it would quite easily rule the Top Tours and Top Boxscores charts.

Though not a touring act per se, there are two Jingle Ball appearances on Top Boxscores, another seasonal regular. Of six reported Jingle Ball events, totaling $8.7 million, highlights are New York’s show at Madison Square Garden ($3.5 million; 18,178 tickets) and London’s two-night event at the O2 Arena ($2.5 million; 27,080 tickets).

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26 Jan 2023

Black Woman Hater & TikTok Dweeb Chef Way Resigns From Prosecutor Gig

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Chef Way

Source: chefway__ / Instagram

Chef Way, the TikTok chef who came under fire for his past tweets targeting Black women, also worked as a Texas prosecutor. In the wake of the massive controversy surrounding his social media presence, Chef Way resigned from the job after apologizing for his past actions.

Chef Way, real name Waymond Wesley, found fame on TikTok by way of his cooking prowess and seemingly positive attitude. However, some observers noted that in a former life, Wesley was known as @WaymoTheGod on Twitter back in 2015 and he often engaged in measured attacks on Black women, especially those of darker hues. In some instances, the tweets were relentless and shamelessly vicious and the harm caused lived with those who had the misfortune of witnessing the acts.

Fast forward to now, Wesley emerged as a chef and quickly amassed brand deals and a large following. However, the past tweets found their way into the spotlight with Wesley scrambling earnestly to apologize and move on beyond the fracas. A half-baked apology ensued and it then came out that Wesley earned a role at the Harris County District Attorney’s office in Texas. Harris County officials were swiftly made aware of Wesley’s old tweets and were willing to extend a second chance to him.

The weight of the issue proved to be too much to overcome and Chef Way issued a lengthy post to Instagram expressing remorse for his actions.

From IG:

Seven years ago, in my early twenties, from a place of pain fueled by alcoholism, I would lash out at people on Twitter to seek attention, including Black women. I deeply regret and am sorry for my tweets. To be fully transparent, at the time, I was severely addicted to alcohol, underweight, sleep deprived, and in and out of rehab and sober living facilities. By God’s grace, I’ve been sober for more than 6 years now. In total, I spent around 19 months in inpatient and residential facilities to treat my alcoholism. Alcoholism is a disease. It nearly killed me. I am not the man I was [in] 2015.

The apology builds upon an earlier apology that Wesley posted on January 9 when all of the older tweets came to light. Wesley says that he hopes to redeem himself through acts of service and faith but the comments on Instagram are especially unforgiving.

We’ve gathered some reactions from Twitter below.

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Photo: Instagram

26 Jan 2023

MSG’s London Sphere Venue Still On Track After Latest Review

LONDON — Madison Square Garden’s plan for a “next generation” 21,500-capacity concert venue in London won another key endorsement this week when a planning committee approved the development, despite strong objections from residents and rival live events company AEG.  

On Tuesday, the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) granted MSG a 25-year advertising license subject to a five-year review. Now, London Mayor Sadiq Khan needs to approve the project — called MSG Sphere London — before work can begin. In rare instances, government ministers can also intervene and suspend planning applications. 

New York-based Madison Square Garden Entertainment (MSG) first submitted plans for the venue in March of 2019. Since then, the company has encountered sustained opposition from councilors and residents who are concerned it will blight the area with noise and light pollution. 

MSG is proposing to build the arena on a five-acre plot of land in Stratford, East London, adjacent to the Olympic Park and would be located just five miles away from the 20,000-capacity The O2 arena, the U.K.’s top grossing venue, which is operated by AEG. 

MSG las vegas

The MSG Sphere in Las Vegas, under construction.

Courtesy Photo

The design of the MSG Sphere London mirrors the spherical crystal ball design of the MSG Sphere at The Venetian in Las Vegas — due to open later this year at a cost of $1.8 billion — and measures 90 meters (295 feet) tall by 120 meters (394 feet) wide. Its exterior will be covered in a programmable skin of more than one million LED lights, which will primarily be used for showing videos and advertising.      

The LLDC had provisionally approved the venue last March, but the committee still needed to sign off on several aspects of the planning process, including MSG’s strategy for managing the Sphere’s controversial advertising display. 

The proposed arena still doesn’t have a price tag, and MSG said in its most-recent quarterly earnings, filed in November, that there is no “definitive timeline” for its construction.

Opponents of the venue are calling on Khan to block the development. AEG says it was “dismayed” by the committee’s decision to give MSG Sphere London the go ahead. 

“We call on the Mayor of London to uphold his election promise to do what’s best for Londoners, including the residents of [the London Borough of] Newham who are having this huge development forced on them, by directing refusal of the planning application,” AEG says in a statement. 

AEG says MSG Sphere London’s LED illuminated exterior “was conceived for the heart of Las Vegas” and is “at a wholly unprecedented scale for London and totally out of keeping with the surrounding area.” 

Campaign group StopMSGSphere, who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting, and several local councilors have urged the Khan to quash the development, which would be MSG’s first venue outside of the United States.

Following the ruling, a spokesperson for MSG — whose portfolio includes New York’s Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and the Forum in California — said the company ”remains committed to bringing MSG Sphere to London” and promised the venue would create “thousands of jobs and [generate] billions of pounds for the local, London and U.K. economy.” 

MSG says it will provide blackout blinds to homes located within 150 meters (492 feet) of the new London arena and will run a telephone line for residents to register any complaints.

Should it get the go ahead, MSG Sphere London will be one of the U.K.’s biggest indoor concert venues with a scalable capacity of up to 17,500 seated, or 21,500 with a mixture of seated and standing. That exceeds the U.K.’s two biggest existing arenas, London’s The O2, which has a maximum capacity of 20,000, and Manchester’s AO Arena, which holds up to 21,000 people. 

Construction is currently underway in Manchester on what will be the U.K.’s biggest indoor music venue, the 23,500-capacity Co-op Live being developed by the Oak View Group, which counts Harry Styles as an investor. It is set to open in December.

26 Jan 2023

Fall Out Boy Bust Out Live Debut of New Singles at Surprise Hometown Club Show

For a band that spent most of last year playing stadiums around the world, Fall Out Boy scaled way down on Wednesday night (Jan. 25) for a super-rare club show at Chicago’s legendary 1,100-capacity Metro. The hits-heavy set featured a pair of singles from the band’s upcoming eighth studio album, So Much (For) Stardust (March 24) beginning with the live public debut of “Love From the Other Side” and, later in the set, “Heartbreak Feels So Good.”

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Performing as a trio in the absence of guitarist Joe Trohman — who last week announced that he was taking an indefinite mental health hiatus — fan-posted videos from the gig showed singer Patrick Stump pulling double-duty on lead vocals and electric guitar alongside bassist Pete Wentz and drummer Andy Hurley in their first full headline show since Trohman’s leave-taking.

As was the case during a pair of previous promotional appearances, the group got some assistance from longtime guitar tech Ben Young, who on Wednesday night played six-string off to Stump’s right side near the stage wings on songs including “Calm Before the Storm,” a track from the Chicago-bred group’s 2003 debut EP, Fall Out Boy’s Evening Out With Your Girlfriend, which they hadn’t played live since 2007.

According to a report from local rock station Q101 (which sponsored the show), the 19-song, career-spanning set included other way-back favorites, including “Grand Theft Autumn,” “Chicago Is So Two Years Ago” and “Saturday” from the group’s their 2003 debut full-length, Take This to Your Grave, as well as such beloved hits as “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down,” “Uma Thurman,” “Dance, Dance,” “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race” and “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up).”

Though no tour dates have been announced yet for the band’s Stardust era, for now, the source said Young will be “filling in and providing support” for any additional promotional appearances and any yet-to-be-determined future tour dates. Young, frontman for the band Knifes, has also been a guitar tech for Alkaline Trio, Linkin Park and Deftones in the past.

Trohman plays on the new album but will not participate in promotion around the project. The guitarist has been with the band since its early 2000s formation in the suburbs of Chicago, alongside singer Stump, Wentz and Hurley. In an Instagram post last he said, “Without divulging all the details, I must disclose that my mental health has rapidly deteriorated over the past several years. So, to avoid fading away and never returning, I will be taking a break from work which regrettably includes stepping away from Fall Out Boy for a spell.” Trohman promised that he will “absolutely” be back with the group at some point.

Check out some video and pictures from the show and the set list (via Q101) below.

fall out boy

Fall Out Boy perform on Jan. 25, 2023.

Elliot Ingham

fall out boy

Fall Out Boy perform on Jan. 25, 2023.

Elliot Ingham

fall out boy

Fall Out Boy perform on Jan. 25, 2023.

Elliot Ingham

Fall Out Boy Jan. 25 Metro set list:

“Love From the Other Side” (Public Live Debut)
“The Phoenix”
“Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down”
“Uma Thurman”
“Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes”
“Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy”
“American Beauty/American Psycho”
“Dance, Dance”
“Hum Hallelujah”
“A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More ‘Touch Me’”
“This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race”
“Calm Before the Storm” (First Performance since 2007)
“My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)”
“Heartbreak Feels So Good” (Live Debut)
“Chicago Is So Two Years Ago”
“Thriller”
“Thnks fr th Mmrs”
“Centuries”
“Saturday”

26 Jan 2023

How Sam Smith Orchestrated That Surprise Cameo on ‘SNL’: ‘It Has to Be Sharon Stone’

Sam Smith stunned onstage for a moving performance of “Gloria” during Saturday Night Live, and the four-time Grammy winner surprised fans when Sharon Stone joined them for a cameo.

During the song, the Oscar-nominated actress lounged on a gold-covered couch. Surrounded by a group of darkly robed singers, Smith — who was draped in a gold sequin blazer — beautifully crooned the track while Stone slowly rose from her reclined position and gazed off into the distance.

Smith opened up about the decision to have Stone join them for the performance in a new interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, airing on Thursday (Jan. 26).

“I wanted to do the hymn ‘Gloria’ that I wrote for the record, which is a wild one because I’m not even … I’m hardly singing on it,” they shared. “I sing at the end of it, but it’s a whole choir. On my tour, the stage is shaped like Aphrodite, so, like, the golden Aphrodite body. And that’s the shape of the stage. I was like, ‘How can we bring that vibe to SNL?’”

They continued, “Sharon Stone is going to be in the middle of the stage at SNL in gold as like a piece of life art. The whole performance is just the choir around her singing ‘Gloria’ to her in this golden light. Isn’t it so sick? … I was like, ‘It has to be Sharon Stone,’ and I messaged Sharon. She’s just such a powerful woman. But she’s a powerful woman, and she exudes vulnerability and beauty in a way that to me is real and authentic.”

Gloria, the follow-up to 2020’s Love Goes, features the previously released singles “Love Me More,” “Gimme” and the Kim Petras-assisted hit “Unholy,” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 2022 and is nominated for best pop duo/group performance at the 2023 Grammy Awards.

Watch the full interview here at 10 a.m. PT on Thursday.

26 Jan 2023

Cardi B Accuser Wants New Trial Over Album Cover, Citing Her ‘Theatrics’ On Witness Stand

A man whose back tattoo was unwittingly photoshopped into a Cardi B album cover is once again asking a federal judge to revive his failed case against the rapper, arguing that the star “engaged in theatrics” on the witness stand and deprived him of a fair trial.

Weeks after Judge Cormac Carney ruled there had been enough evidence to support Cardi’s courtroom victory, Kevin Brophy formally requested a new trial Wednesday, seeking another chance to convince a jury that she “humiliated” him with the risqué cover of her 2016 Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1.

Among other things, Brophy took aim at Cardi herself, arguing that the star (real name Belcalis Almánzar) had committed “misconduct” on the witness stand by sparring with Brophy’s attorney, A. Barry Cappello.

“Almanzar repeatedly engaged in theatrics, refused to answer basic questions, impermissibly disclosed privileged and confidential settlement communications, and generally acted with total disregard and disrespect for the jury’s time and formal nature of court proceedings,” Brophy’s lawyers wrote.

Citing supposedly calm behavior when examined by her own lawyers – “a switch in demeanor that puts Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to shame” – the filing called Cardi’s testimony a “a deliberate strategy to frustrate Plaintiff’s presentation of his case and improperly influence the jury.”

Brophy sued Cardi in 2017 for millions in damages, claiming he was “devastated, humiliated and embarrassed” by the cover of Cardi’s Gangsta Bitch. The image featured the then-rising star taking a swig of a large beer, staring directly into the camera with her legs spread wide, and holding a man’s head while he appears to perform oral sex on her.

The actual man in the image was a model who had consented to the shoot, but a giant tattoo on the man’s back belonged to Brophy. Unbeknownst to Cardi, a freelance graphic designer had typed “back tattoos” into Google Image, found one that fit (Brophy’s), and Photoshopped it onto the model’s body.

Brophy’s lawsuit claimed Cardi and others involved in the cover had violated his so-called right of publicity by using his likeness without his consent, and also violated his right to privacy by casting him in a “false light” that was “highly offensive.” Cardi’s lawyers called the allegations “sheer fantasy” and “vastly overblown,” arguing that nobody would have recognized a relatively unknown man based merely on his back.

During a four-day trial in October, Cardi took the stand to defend herself. When examined by Brophy’s attorney Cappello, things repeatedly got heated between the two – so much so that at one point the Judge Carney cleared the jury, told Cappello he had “totally crossed the line,” and threatened to declare a mistrial.

At the end of the trial, the jury agreed with the superstar’s defenses, clearing Cardi of all Brophy’s claims. Brophy later asked the judge to throw out the verdict for a lack of evidence, but the judge denied that motion in December.

In addition to criticizing Cardi’s testimony, Brophy’s new motion on Wednesday also argued that his lawyers had been denied the chance to properly cross-examine the star, and that the judge had unfairly refused to let jurors hear about Cardi’s earlier defamation trial in Atlanta.

Attorneys for Cardi will have chance to file a formal response in court in the coming weeks. The star’s lawyers did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday.

Read the entire motion for a new trial here: