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Trending on Billboard Need plans for Valentine’s Day? Look no further. Hilary Duff just announced a mini-residency in Las Vegas with dates happening all holiday weekend, with tickets going on sale soon. As revealed Tuesday (Dec. 2), the Lizzie McGuire alum will be taking the Voltaire stage at The Venetian in Sin City on Feb. […]
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UPDATE (Dec. 2): In a judgment entered Tuesday, Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga reduced Megan Thee Stallion‘s trial award from $75,000 to $59,000. The judge said Megan can’t get damages for defamation because the jury found Milagro Gramz to be a member of the media, and the rapper’s team did not send a pre-lawsuit notice required for libel claims against journalists.
Therefore, the judgment finds in Megan’s favor only on intentional infliction of emotional distress and promotion of an altered sexual depiction, two claims for which the jury awarded Megan a total of $59,000. Judge Altonaga struck the additional $16,000 that Megan won for defamation.
Megan’s lawyers will contest the reduction in post-judgment motions. They’ll also seek at that time to add legal fees onto the damages amount.
PREVIOUSLY: A jury has held celebrity gossip blogger Milagro Gramz liable for defaming Megan Thee Stallion and reposting a deepfake pornographic video of the rapper in the wake of her shooting by Tory Lanez.
A federal jury in Miami determined in a Monday (Dec. 1) verdict, reviewed by Billboard, that Gramz harmed Megan with her social media antics and awarded $75,000 in damages. That number will likely grow later on, since Megan won on a Florida law with a fee-shifting provision that could require Gramz to reimburse some of her hefty legal bills from the elite firm Quinn Emanuel.
“We’re thankful for the jury’s commitment to reinforcing the importance of truth, accountability and responsible commentary on social media,” said one of Megan’s lawyers, Mari Henderson, later on Monday. “This verdict sends a clear message that spreading dangerous misinformation carries significant consequences.”
A lawyer for Gramz, Jeremy McLymont, said in a statement, “We remain proud of the defense we presented and of Ms. Cooper’s willingness to stand up for her voice.”
“Ms. Pete and her attorneys asked the jury to send a message to the community by awarding Ms. Pete with an astronomical amount of damages,” said McLymont. “Indeed, the jury rejected Ms. Pete’s request and refused to send any such message as shown by the nominal damages Ms. Pete recovered.”
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Megan’s lawyers argued during the weeklong trial that Gramz acted as Lanez’s “mouthpiece” to spread misinformation and tank her reputation. Lanez (Daystar Peterson) is serving a 10-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2022 of shooting Megan in the foot during a drunken argument following a pool party at Kylie Jenner’s house in the Hollywood Hills. He continues to maintain his innocence, though the conviction was recently upheld on appeal.
A loyal Lanez supporter, Gramz has for years used her social media presence to doubt the veracity of Megan’s account. Many of her posts about the shooting case have been outright false, such as her claims that Lanez’s gun supposedly went “missing.” Megan’s lawsuit also accused Gramz of violating a Florida law against “altered sexual depictions” by encouraging followers to watch a deepfake pornographic video of her.
Gramz denied being paid by Lanez and said her social media posts were First Amendment-protected journalism. The question of whether Gramz is a protected member of the media became a key issue during the trial. Jurors determined on Monday that she does have some media credentials, teeing up more post-trial litigation over whether the defamation verdict can stand.
Lanez himself was not a defendant or a witness in this trial. The Canadian rapper was supposed to give a videotaped deposition from prison, but was so uncooperative during the repeated questioning from Megan’s lawyers that he was held in contempt.
This story has been updated to include additional details on the verdict and statements from both sides.
Trending on Billboard Elphaba’s story may be complete now that Wicked: For Good is in theaters, but Cynthia Erivo is still defying gravity. On Tuesday (Dec. 2), the Emmy, Grammy and Tony-winning powerhouse simultaneously earned her first platinum-certified album and single from the RIAA thanks to 2024’s blockbuster Wicked soundtrack. Billed to Erivo, Ariana Grande […]
Aubrey O’Day participated in Netflix’s Sean Combs: The Reckoning, and the four-part explosive docuseries found the former Danity Kane member addressing her removal from the Making The Band girl group, as well as claims she was sexually assaulted by Diddy.
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“Diddy made it clear that I was ‘the looker,” she said in an early episode. “I remember that phrase a lot. He was separating me and there was a different set of expectations from me, and I just naturally float into the grooming.”
O’Day also alleged that Diddy repeatedly “crossed the line” and sent explicit emails that included photos of his penis.
“I don’t wanna just f—k you. I wanna turn you out,” she reads from an alleged email from Combs. “I can see you being with some motherf—er that you tell what to do. I make my woman do what I tell her to do, and she loves it. I just want — and like — to do things different. I’ma finish watching this porn and finish masturbating. I’ll think of you, happy face. If you change your mind and get ready to do what I say, hit me. Happy face. God bless, Diddy. God is the greatest.”
O’Day was part of season three of Making the Band in 2005 and picked to be a member of Danity Kane. She was eventually removed from the group when Diddy announced she was fired in 2008.
Episode four of the 50 Cent-produced docuseries features a heartbreaking scene, which finds O’Day reading an affidavit from an alleged witness to the singer being sexually assaulted by Diddy and another individual in a studio room. O’Day says she has no recollection of the assault taking place.
The affidavit claims O’Day was naked from the waist down when a witness stumbled into a room while looking for the studio’s bathroom and recalled opening the door to a horrifying scene, where “Puff Daddy was penetrating in her vagina, and there was another stalky light-skinned man with his penis in her mouth.”
“I didn’t have a recollection of this,” O’Day said. “I didn’t drink like that at all — I don’t drink at all, it’s never been an issue with me. Does this mean I was raped? Is that what this means? I don’t even know if I was raped, and I don’t want to know. I don’t want to find out any more than that woman has to say.”
She continued: “If she made it up, I would be compelled to take her the f–k down. You realize the burden that that puts on my soul for the past year, which is if I expose one victim who’s got a civil lawsuit, that gives Diddy and his legal team credit to take down everybody else as potential liars. Says Aubrey O’Day. It goes right back on my shoulders, just like that. The weight of that man and his bulls—t, I will never get up from under it.”
A spokesperson for Diddy declined to comment on the specific allegations made in the series. “Many of the people featured have longstanding personal grievances, financial motives, or credibility issues that have been documented for years,” Juda Engelmayer said in a statement to USA TODAY. “Several of these stories have already been addressed in court filings, and others were never raised in any legal forum because they’re simply not true. The project was built around a one-sided narrative led by a publicly admitted adversary, and it repeats allegations without context, evidence, or verification. Sean Combs will continue to address legitimate matters through the legal process, not through a biased Netflix production.”
If you or someone you know is struggling and in need of help in the wake of sexual assault, please contact RAINN at 800-656-4673 or at online.rainn.org.
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Warner Music Group (WMG) has hit apparel company PacSun with a copyright infringement lawsuit for allegedly using unlicensed music in advertisements and influencer videos on TikTok and Instagram.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday (Dec. 1) in California federal court, claims PacSun’s social media pages have illegally used hundreds of unlicensed tracks by top artists like Cardi B, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, Dua Lipa, Charli xcx and Bruno Mars. WMG owns rights to these songs via various label subsidiaries, including Atlantic Records and Warner Records, and its publishing arm, Warner Chappell Music.
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According to the legal complaint, PacSun has invested heavily in social media marketing in recent years. WMG says the retailer has been “wildly successful” in selling apparel directly through posts on TikTok and Instagram, building up millions of followers and earning hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenues.
“However, defendants achieved that success through their blatant, willful and repeated copyright infringement, including the infringement of at least 290 of plaintiffs’ most popular and valuable sound recordings and musical compositions,” write WMG’s lawyers at Sidley Austin.
While individual social media users can soundtrack their videos for free with songs covered by blanket licenses, companies are required to buy so-called sync licenses for music in commercial advertisements. There has been a spate of lawsuits in recent years from the major record labels against brands that use unlicensed music on Instagram and TikTok, including Bang Energy, Chili’s and Behr Paint.
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Like those previous lawsuits, WMG alleges here that PacSun uses copyrighted music to soundtrack its social media ads without buying sync licenses. The lawsuit also accuses PacSun of paying influencers to do the same, citing TikTok videos of influencers lip-syncing to Jack Harlow’s “WHATS POPPIN” and the Fleetwood Mac classic “Dreams” while encouraging followers to buy PacSun products.
WMG says it sent a cease-and-desist letter to PacSun back in February 2024, but to no avail: “Not only did PacSun explicitly choose to ignore the demand, its infringement both continued unabated as to several of the works identified by plaintiffs and expanded to include new, additional infringements,” reads the lawsuit.
Now, WMG is seeking a court injunction to stop the alleged infringement, as well as financial damages. The music company says it’s entitled to the maximum statutory damages of $150,000 per infringed work, which would add up to a whopping $43.5 million for all 290 of the songs at issue.
PacSun did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday (Dec. 2).
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Wicked: For Good director Jon M. Chu has had enough of the criticism of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo‘s friendship throughout the press tour for both musical films.
At an American Cinematheque For Good screening and Q&A on Monday night (Dec. 1), Chu spoke out against the vitriol being thrown at his Wicked leading ladies for their openness in sharing their deep friendship with the world.
“For us to be at a time when you can have these two amazing women emerge from their shells to share love and friendship and the importance of that, unabashedly, no cynicism; to be able to share that vulnerability and wounds with the world, knowing people are going to come out with their knives, shame on people who put that down,” he says in a fan-filmed clip. “These girls are giving us everything; it is why people around the world are drawn to it. It’s why they love it, and they’re sharing a real friendship that happened on set that I got to be a part of, and we should honor that with everything that we have.”
Grande and Erivo, who both landed Oscar nominations for their acclaimed performances in 2024’s Wicked, frequently went viral on last year’s press tour due to their deeply emotional responses to questions and their physical comfort with one another. Notably, Billboard named the duo’s “holding space” moment, a viral interview clip in which Grande dramatically clutches Erivo’s elongated manicured nail, the No. 10 Greatest Pop Star Meme of All-Time. In addition to its dual Oscar wins, the first Wicked movie also became the highest-grossing musical film adaptation of all time, making over $750 million at the worldwide box office.
Wicked: For Good, which brings the Broadway musical’s second act to the silver screen, boasted a comparatively less aggressive press tour — but Grande and Erivo’s relationship quickly became the dominant talking point. After the press tour ended with a triple-whammy of Grande missing the Brazilian premiere, Erivo defending Grande from a red carpet rusher at the Singaporean premiere and Erivo losing her voice the night of the New York premiere (where Grande also contracted COVID-19), social media devolved into especially nasty attacks on both women’s bodies and appearances, as well as their overall intimacy. Over the holiday weekend (Nov. 29), Grande reposted a clip from a 2024 interview “as a loving reminder to all,” regarding the dangers of openly dissecting and criticizing people’s physical appearance.
Nonetheless, that online chatter didn’t stall Wicked: For Good at the box office. In its opening weekend, the film topped the worldwide box office, grossing $223 million and surpassing its predecessor to earn the highest opening weekend for a Broadway adaptation.
On the Billboard 200, the For Good soundtrack tied the No. 2 peak of its predecessor, with several songs landing on the Hot 100, including “For Good” (No. 43), “No Good Deed” (No. 56), “As Long As You’re Mine” (No. 91) and “The Girl in the Bubble” (No. 100). Furthermore, both Erivo and Grande remain formidable contenders in their respecitive categories at next March’s 98th Academy Awards.
Trending on Billboard Miley Cyrus has something beautiful to share with fans. After four years of dating, the pop star is now engaged to musician Maxx Morando, as revealed Tuesday (Dec. 2) following the couple’s red-carpet appearance at the Avatar: Fire and Ash premiere. Stepping out with her fiancé at the film’s screening in Los […]
The sheer number of artist signings announced on a weekly basis makes it difficult to keep up, no matter how closely you pay attention to the industry news cycle. That’s why every other Tuesday, Billboard compiles the latest signings to labels, distributors, agencies, management companies and more, in an effort to provide a snapshot of the latest moves in the artist space, from household names to indie stars to emerging acts.
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To start this week, label and management company XOXO Entertainment signed Grammy-winning R&B group Blackstreet. Since 2014, the group’s lineup has featured original members Chauncey “Black” Hannibal and Levi Little, along with Mark Middleton and Eric Williams.
A press release indicates that announcements regarding new music and performances from the group are forthcoming.
“We are beyond excited to partner with Blackstreet,” said XOXO president Adam H. Hurstfield in a statement. “As some of the greatest architects of that legendary 90’s RnB sound, their music shaped the soundtrack of our lives, defined an era, and left an unmistakable imprint on global culture. Around the world, fans have been yearning for that authentic feeling again, and at XOXO Entertainment, we are devoted to bringing it back, side by side with the very legends who created it. We are honored to help amplify Blackstreet’s iconic legacy into this exciting new chapter.”
In its own statement, Blackstreet added that the group “has always stood for timeless music, true artistry, excellence, and evolution. Partnering with XOXO Entertainment feels like the perfect alignment; where vision, passion, and creativity meet. As a group, we’re excited and honored to join forces with a team that shares our energy and commitment to taking BLACKSTREET into a new era. This partnership is powerful, and together we’re ready to create moments the world will remember. This next chapter will be iconic.”
Blackstreet scored a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit in 1996 with “No Diggity” featuring Dr. Dre, which spent four weeks at the chart’s summit. It also enjoyed success with tracks including “Before I Let You Go” and “Take Me There.”
Check out more of the latest artist signings below.
B2K (BPC Music Group)
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Chappell Roan, Mariah Carey, Post Malone, Leon Thomas, Charlie Puth and HUNTR/X, who gave us the global smash “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters, are among 33 artists set to perform on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2026 (NYRE). The roster is a mix of current hit artists and a few veteran acts, such as Rick Springfield, New Kids on the Block, 4 Non Blondes and Goo Goo Dolls.
This year’s show is set to run for eight hours – from Wednesday, Dec. 31 at 8:00 p.m. until the next morning at 4:00 a.m. ET on ABC, and the next day on Hulu. This is the 54th edition of the show, which launched in December 1972. It marks the longest telecast in the show’s history, including an additional 90 minutes of programming compared to last year, with more than 85 songs set to be performed.
This year’s broadcast will be led by Ryan Seacrest and co-host Rita Ora from New York’s Times Square. Chicago native Chance the Rapper will lead the show’s first-ever Central time zone countdown from Chicago. NFL legend Rob Gronkowski returns alongside performer Julianne Hough, who makes her NYRE co-hosting debut as they take over Las Vegas.
The Times Square headliner and special guests will be announced soon, as will details for the Puerto Rico celebration.
This marks the third consecutive year that Dick Clark Productions and iHeartMedia will broadcast Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest live across 150 iHeartRadio stations nationwide, including Z100 New York, KIIS-FM Los Angeles, KISS FM Chicago, Q102 Philly and THE NEW MIX 102.9 Dallas. The show will also be available to stream live on the iHeartRadio app.
ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest has been the No. 1 New Year’s Eve special since 1977, when it surpassed Guy Lombardo’s long-running New Year’s Eve specials on CBS.
The Clark show, which was conceived as a younger, hipper alternative to the Lombardo program, debuted on NBC on New Year’s Eve 1972 as Three Dog Night’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. That year’s special featured pre-recorded musical performances by Helen Reddy, Billy Preston and Three Dog Night (all of whom had No. 1 or No. 2 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 that year). Clark served as a reporter from Times Square for live coverage of the ball drop and the arrival of 1973.
The second special, New Year’s Rockin’ Eve ’74, also on NBC, was hosted by comedian George Carlin and featured pre-recorded musical performances by Preston, The Pointer Sisters, Linda Ronstadt and Tower of Power.
Beginning with the December 1974 edition, the program moved to ABC and Clark assumed hosting duties; billed as Chicago’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 1975, the first ABC edition was headlined by Chicago, with guests The Beach Boys, The Doobie Brothers, Herbie Hancock and Olivia Newton-John.
Clark died in 2012 at age 82, but his name is still in the title of the show he created.
Last year, Carrie Underwood capped the night with a Times Square performance as the broadcast drew more than 29 million total viewers at midnight.
ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2026 is produced by Dick Clark Productions, with Ryan Seacrest, Michael Dempsey and Barry Adelman serving as executive producers.
Here’s a full list of performers who have been announced so far for Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2026:
The All-American Rejects
AJR
BigXthaPlug
Chance the Rapper
Charlie Puth
Chappell Roan
Ciara
Demi Lovato
DJ Cassidy’s Pass the Mic Live! Starring Busta Rhymes, T.I. & Wyclef Jean
50 Cent
Filmore
4 Non Blondes
Goo Goo Dolls
Jess Glynne
Jessie Murph
Jordan Davis
KPop Demon Hunters: The Singing Voices of HUNTR/X – EJAE, Audrey Nuna and REI AMI
Leon Thomas
LE SSERAFIM
Lil Jon
Little Big Town
Madison Beer
Maren Morris, sponsored by Carnival Cruise Line
Mariah Carey
New Kids on the Block
OneRepublic
Pitbull
Post Malone
Rick Springfield
Russell Dickerson
6lack
Tucker Wetmore
Zara Larsson
Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve
ABC
Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2026 is produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.
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Boza shares the story behind his hit song “París” with Sech, the creation of his “orióN” remix with Sistek and gives advice to people pursuing women who are already in relationships.
Boza: How was the collaboration with Sistek born? Well, on my team there’s someone very, very, very important, his name is Pedrito Alegría and he always kind of has… you could say, I don’t know, ideas, or he always contributes a lot to what I do. So, he was like, “Look, I have a buddy named Sistek, why don’t we do the ‘orióN’ remix, he wants to do it and everything.” And obviously we’re very, very open with all that. I’m a fan of electronic music too, so well, why not? It was born through Pedrito Alegría, that’s where we met, the collaboration happened and when I heard the song it was like, wow, something else, another vibe.
How do I see “orióN” ten years from now? “orióN” is my baby with Elena [Rose], you know? And “orióN” is a song that talks about emotional responsibility. I think it’s a song that’s going, going to endure quite a bit, you know? Since it’s not an empty song, it’s a song that has a very positive message, a message which a man can identify with, a woman can identify with. So, I think it’s not going to be one of those songs that are trendy, I think it’s a song that came to stay.
I think that the idea, I mean, no, not the idea, the experience of “París”, everyone at some point has had, as they say, that experience, it could be in “París,” it could be in other places in the world, whatever. But that song was born, I remember, in Andrés’ studio. They sent us a reference, like an intro, a chorus, obviously we loved it, and from there I added, so to speak, my point of view, my experience in “París”, in theory.
We had wanted for a while to record a song with Sech. We had already recorded some, but it hadn’t materialized, so to speak, right? Until now, we took advantage that there were other awards in Panama, and we were, so to speak, the host and all that, so, the attention was full, full on Panama. And it was like the best moment to do it together, you know? I’ve always said that God’s timing is perfect. We sent that song to Sech and he loved it and, so to speak, added his, his vibe, his flow there, and well, from there on, you know? What has happened has been very telling itself. The public had been waiting for it for a while and loved the song.
Keep watching for more!
