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Garth Hudson, the inventive keyboard player whose soulful playing was a key part of 1960s/70s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group The Band‘s country-tinged Americana anthems has died at 87. The last surviving member of the group, Hudson died peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday morning (Jan. 21) at a nursing home in Woodstock, N.Y., according to the Toronto Star.
Along with fellow Canadians Robbie Robertson (guitar/vocals), Rick Danko (bass/vocals) and Richard Manuel (piano/vocals) and lone American member, drummer/singer Levon Helm, Hudson was a key component of the unique sound the band explored during its initial 20-year run.
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He officially began playing with The Band in 1965, after they had served a two-year apprenticeship as the back-up group for rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins. The Hawks — as they were known — left Hawkins’ employ in 1963 after years on the road honing their sound. After meeting Bob Dylan in 1965, the group recorded the song “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window” the next year for what would become Dylan’s beloved 1966 double album, Blonde on Blonde, which featured such classics as “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” “Visions of Johanna,” “I Want You” and “Just Like a Woman.”
Dylan toured with The Band as his backing group in 1966 and then joined him in the studio for a series of 1967 sessions that became The Basement Tapes. The fruit of those sessions recorded at the group’s legendary Saugerties, N.Y. home known as Big Pink, were not officially released until 1975. That home was the inspiration for the title of the Band’s 1968 debut album, Music From Big Pink, which spotlighted Hudson’s churchy organ playing on such earthy anthems as “Tears of Rage” and what is perhaps the group’s most well-known song, “The Weight.”
For those who saw the Timothée Chalamet Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown — which (spoiler alert) ends after the folk icon burns his bridges by going electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival — it’s instructive to note that The Band served as Dylan’s backup group on his first official electric tour later that year.
Though they performed at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 — which took place about 90 minutes from Big Pink — they were not included in the final film due to legal issues. The rustic, black and white cover of their eponymous next album from 1969 was a visual metaphor for their rich, throwback sound, which incorporated dusty barroom laments, aching rock odes and urgent country balladry for a mash-up roping in rock, country and classic R&B. It was all anchored by a gritty, hand-made, sepia-toned quality that served as an antidote to the more expansive, paisley-colored psychedelic experimentation and bombast of the era.
Classically trained pianist Eric Garth Hudson was born in Windsor, Ontario on August 2, 1937 and played organ in his church (and at his uncle’s funeral home) as a young man as well as studying music at the University of Western Ontario in the early 1950s before dropping out to join the rock group the Silhouettes.
Equally adept at saxophone, trumpet, violin and accordion, among other instruments, Hudson was best known for playing the two-tiered Lowery electric organ, whose distinctive, church-like sound can most famously be heard on the Bach-esque intro to the Band’s 1968 classic “Chest Fever.” That song became a highlight of the group’s shows, during which Hudson reliable performed an extended, improvised solo that roped in bits of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor on its way to stops at classical, jazz and soul.
Hudson’s oscillating, bouncing sound can also famously be heard on another of the band’s most well-known tunes, “Up on Cripple Creek,” from the 1969 eponymous album. On that song he played a clavinet through a wah-wah pedal, giving it a distinctive, Jews-harp-like twang; that song reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The group would release a handful of albums through the mid-1970s, including 1970s Stage Fright (“The Shape I’m In”) 1971’s Cahoots (”Life Is a Carnival,” “When I Paint My Masterpiece”), 1973’s cover album Moondog Matinee, as well as 1975’s Northern Lights – Southern Cross (“Ophelia,” “It Makes No Difference”) and the final LP by the original lineup, 1977’s Islands, before substance abuse and intra-band quarreling led to their split.
As a final, grand gesture, though, they set their disputes aside for one final, blow-out show dubbed The Last Waltz. The all-star show featuring guests Dylan, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and many others, was documented by director Martin Scorsese for the live movie/album of the same name. The group would get back together in the 1980s — without key member Robertson — and released a trio of albums that did not reach the creative or critical heights of their early trio of classics.
In addition to his work on albums by Hawkins and John Hammond in his pre-Band days, Hudson could be heard on Dylan’s 1966 Blonde on Blonde album, as well as the soundtracks to Last Summer, Kent State, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy and Best Revenge. Throughout his career he was an in-demand session ace as well, recording tracks for albums by artists including: Bobby Charles, Eric Von Schmidt, Ringo Starr, Maria Muldaur, Paul Butterfield, Neko Case, the Secret Machines, Eric Clapton, Band-mates Danko and Helm, as well as Emmylou Harris, the Lemonheads, Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen, The Call, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Marianne Faithfull, Camper Van Beethoven and many more.
He released his first solo album, The Sea to the North, in 2001, and followed up with 2010’s Garth Hudson Presents a Canadian Celebration of The Band. Hudson was inducted into the Canadian Juno Hall of Fame in 1989 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and received a lifetime achievement awards from the Grammys in 2008.
Check out some of Hudson’s playing below.
Glastonbury Festival have unveiled details of its annual Emerging Talent Competition for 2025.
Open to new U.K. and Ireland-based acts in any musical genre, the free-to-enter contest gives emerging talent the chance to play at Woodsies, one of the festival’s main stages.
The winner will also receive a £5,000 (about $6,121) Talent Development prize from charitable funder PRS Foundation. Two runners-up will each be awarded a Talent Development prize of £2,500 (about $3,060).
Artists can enter the competition for one week only using the form on the official Glastonbury website from 9 a.m. GMT on Jan. 29 through 5 p.m. GMT on Feb. 5.After the entry period closes, a panel of 30 of British music writers will compile a longlist of 90 acts, which will then be narrowed down to a shortlist of eight artists by judges including Glastonbury co-organizers Michael and Emily Eavis. A live final hosted in the village of Pilton, near the festival site, will decide the winning act, though a date for the event is yet to be announced.
In a statement, Eavis said: “We know how hard it is for new acts to take their first steps towards a career in music — particularly with the challenges facing small venues in this country — so the Emerging Talent Competition is a hugely important part of Glastonbury’s annual calendar. I can’t wait to hear the entries from across all the musical genres. And it’s free to enter, so you’ve nothing to lose!”
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The festival team has also stated that they are committed to diversity and inclusivity and welcome entries from disabled artists, who will be supported to ensure they are not disadvantaged by the competition process.
The winner of the 2024 competition was the Jamaican-Irish rapper JayaHadADream, who has since performed at other major U.K. festivals including Reading & Leeds and Boomtown. Other previous Emerging Talent Competition finalists include singer-songwriter Declan McKenna, recent Mercury Prize recipients English Teacher and rapper Flohio.
Tickets have sold out for Glastonbury Festival, which will take place at Worthy Farm, Somerset on June 25-29. On Jan. 3, it was announced that Neil Young will headline alongside his new band The Chrome Hearts, just days after he stated would withdraw from the festival, having called it a “corporate turn-off.”
Rod Stewart, meanwhile, has been confirmed to take on this year’s traditional Legends Slot on the Sunday afternoon. Other names rumored to appear across the weekend include Charli XCX, The 1975, Sam Fender and Olivia Rodrigo. The full lineup is expected to arrive in the spring.
Ye — formerly known as Kanye West — is feeling creatively reinvigorated these days thanks to his daughter North West. Yeezy took to Instagram early Tuesday (Jan. 21) with a series of posts in the studio, and one found him highlighting North, who is inspiring him musically. West brought out the ASR keyboard to cook […]
As Los Angeles prepares to rebuild after the devastating wildfire crisis this month, Flavor Flav is spearheading an important cause: supporting Black families who have been displaced in the disaster.
On Monday (Jan. 20), the Public Enemy rapper shared in a video on his socials revealing that he has partnered with GoFundMe and the Black Music Action Coalition to streamline a donation site benefiting Black households affected by the Eaton fire in the Pasadena/Altadena area. Contributions will be spread out across more than 700 families listed in a database compiled by Community Aid Dena, AFROPUNK and WalkGood LA.
“This is Flavor Flav in the building,” the musician says in the clip. “It’s been inspiring to me, seeing a lot people coming together right now, lifting each other’s spirits.”
“There’s not enough being done for the Black families and the communities,” Flav continues. “Come on, y’all. Let’s make L.A. strong, baby. Let’s help those in need.”
At press time, the hip-hop star’s fundraiser has already raised nearly $30,000. Donations can be made on the GoFundMe website.
Flav is just the latest musician to champion charitable efforts in the two weeks since dangerous wildfires first broke out in Pacific Palisades Jan. 7, after which more blazes quickly erupted in other parts of L.A. Countless buildings, homes and possessions have been destroyed as first responders struggle to extinguish the remaining flames, while 27 people have been reported dead so far, according to CNN.
Taylor Swift, The Weeknd and Beyoncé’s BeyGood Foundation are just a few of the other big names who have boosted various organizations serving victims of the crisis while making sizable donations of their own. Doja Cat unveiled a line of custom merchandise with proceeds benefiting those in need, and Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Olivia Rodrigo and several more stars have signed on to perform at FireAid, an upcoming charity concert benefiting Los Angeles’ plans to rebuild.
In the wake of the crisis, the “Shake Your Booty” musician also found a way recently to support Leighton Meester and Adam Brody, who reportedly lost their home to the fires. In a TikTok posted Jan. 14, Flav danced to the Gossip Girl star’s 2009 single “Somebody to Love” featuring Robin Thicke and told fans, “Stream @LeightonMeester ‘Somebody to Love’ and use the song in yo TikTok’s.”
He wrote in his caption, “Starting to hype up my girl Leighton Meester and help her family recover from the fire.”
See Flav’s announcement below.
British pop and R&B artist Mabel has opened up about how standing up for herself has impacted her decade-long career.
In a recent episode of the BBC’s Miss Me? Podcast – on which Mabel is currently standing in for host Lily Allen while she takes a mental health break – the Londoner explained that after years of hard work building her artistic identity, she’s had to set clear boundaries to protect herself from uncomfortable and often invasive discussions about her work.
Born Mabel McVey (though known mononymously), the pop star signed with Polydor at age 18. In the years that have followed, she has released two studio albums (2019’s High Expectations and 2022’s About Last Night…) alongside a handful of mixtapes and EPs. She has earned six top 10 hits, including 2019’s “Don’t Call Me Up,” which peaked at No. 3, on the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart and has since surpassed 1 billion Spotify streams.
In more recent years, however, she has drip-fed a number of singles, the most recent being the Ty Dolla $ign collab “Stupid Dumb” in October. Later that month, she confirmed to ELLE Sweden that she had been working in hitmaker Max Martin’s studio with her brother on her third LP, though the project has been delayed a number of times.
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Speaking to Miss Me? host and broadcaster Miquita Oliver on Jan. 16, Mabel discussed how she has been previously labeled by some as “difficult” or “a nightmare” when holding her ground over decisions related to her musical output. “The foundation of the problem is not listening to the artist, and not giving the artist space and time to figure out who they are within their creativity. I think that’s the main problem: our voices are not heard,” she said.
“I used to get so many people all the time saying things like, ‘Oh, her mum [musician Neneh Cherry] was one of a kind and she’s just a ‘whatever’ popstar,” Mabel continued. “I’m just like, ‘Well, I’ve been given no real support or time to figure [things] out – other than those small little moments of clarity like [singles] ‘Finders Keepers’ or ‘Vitamins.’”
Oliver, who is the cousin of Mabel, asked about the importance of autonomy in the music industry, to which she responded: “Sadly, there’s no duty of care. Particularly as a young woman, it’s so easy to get molded into something – which is usually based on another female [pop act]. It’s like, ‘This person has done this, so this is what you should do.’”
She added: “The reason why I’ve been making music that [people say] ‘has been heard before’ is because I have five million different people’s opinions [getting in the way], constantly. So I’m like, ‘How am I meant to be making something that’s groundbreaking, different and authentic when there’s so many cooks in the kitchen.’”
Mabel also explained how, going forward, when it comes to making new music, she is focusing on listening solely to the opinions of her “close protection team” made up of family members, friends and her fiancé, Preye Crooks. She added that she has been through therapy and as a result, has “found [her] voice” and is now “stronger,” both physically and mentally.
“I’m very grateful and blessed still. I have travelled the world doing what I love, and performing is still the best thing ever. I’ve been able to work with my brother [producer Marlon Roudette], that’s been really beautiful,” Mabel said. She later concluded, “I love what I do so much, but how long I will keep fighting for … I’m not sure, which is really sad.”Having come to mainstream prominence with her Bedroom EP in 2017, Mabel joined Harry Styles on his debut U.K. arena tour the following year before completing her own headline run. She went on to be nominated for British Breakthrough Act at the 2019 BRIT Awards, as well as receiving nods at the MOBOs and U.K. Music Video Awards.
Listen the full episode below. The conversation regarding the music industry begins at the 27-minute mark.
Jhené Aiko is the latest star offering support in the midst of the devastating Los Angeles wildfires. Over the weekend, the “Sunshine” singer announced that she and her wellness brand, Jhenetics, are sponsoring free massages for the first responders from the L.A. Fire Department.
“Thank you to our first responders, those who have spent days away from their families, working tirelessly to protect us. We hope this small gesture of gratitude makes a difference during these long shifts,” Aiko wrote in an Instagram post featuring a series of slides of the Jhenetics team working on first responders.
The post also shouted out LAFD Foundation and the other massage therapists who contributed to the effort from Manly Handz mobile spa.
Aiko is one of the thousands of Angelenos who’ve lost their homes in the midst of the two-week spate of deadly wildfires that have killed 27 so far and destroyed more than 12,000 homes and other structures while burning more than 40,000 acres to date. On Jan. 9, Aiko revealed that her home “burned to the ground with all of our things inside. She confirmed that her two children she shares with Big Sean — 16-year-old daughter Namiko and two-year-old son Noah — were both safe.
“Lord have mercy 🙏 Thankful we still have eachother 💙 starting from scratch. My heart is so heavy 💔,” she wrote at the time, adding, “praying for everyone this morning. those who lost their home, those who lost their life’s work, those who lost their life. praying for my city. praying for the wild life and lost pets. praying for the world 💙.”
The L.A. area continued to be under a red flag warning for the potential spread of fires due through Tuesday morning (Jan. 21), with officials warning that the destructive Santa Ana winds could whip up again as more than 41,000 residents remain under an evacuation order.
In addition to Aiko, others who’ve talked about losing their homes include Paris Hilton, Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, Mandy Moore, Diane Warren, Miles Teller and many more.
Among the many charitable contributions and relief efforts launched to date is the upcoming all-star FireAid Benefit Concert at the Kia Forum in L.A. on Jan. 30 that will include appearances by Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, a reunited No Doubt, Katy Perry, Jelly Roll, Sting, Stevie Nicks, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews, Green Day and many more.
Jason Aldean is mashing the pedal this year, announcing the dates for his 2025 Full Throttle North American tour on Tuesday (Jan. 21). The Live Nation-produced outing is slated to kick off on May 23 at the Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls, OH and take the “Try That in a Small Town” singer across the country to a mix of arena, amphitheater and stadium shows as he winds his way through an Oct. 4 gig at the iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, FL.
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The tour will feature opening acts Nate Smith, RaeLynn and Dee Jay Silver, and a previously announced co-headlining stadium show with Brooks & Dunn at Fenway Park in Boston on May 30. Tickets for the tour will go on sale first with an artist presale beginning on Wednesday (Jan. 22), with additional presales slated to run throughout the week ahead of the general onsale slated for Friday (Jan. 24) at 10 a.m. local time.
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According to the release announcing the tour, Aldean is currently in the studio working on new music. A recent interview with Hook & Barrel magazine revealed that the as-yet-untitled LP will feature 10 new songs, “one of which he promises will be another iconic” one of his anthems.
“We got a new one on the album, it’s just a powerful type of song that people are going to relate to,” he teased, adding, “and it has nothing to do with politics or any of those things.” The latter appeared to be a response to the controversy surrounding the video for “Small Town,” which was yanked by CMT in July 2023 after just a few days of airing. The clip features Aldean performing in front of a courthouse festooned with an American flag; the performance footage is interspersed with images of burning flags and protesters clashing with police and robbing a convenience store.
Some critics labeled the song and video as pro-gun and pro-violence, and akin to a “modern lynching song,” noting that it was filmed in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, TN, the site of the 1927 lynching and hanging of 18-year-old Henry Choate over allegations that he sexually assaulted a white girl, as well as the spot of a 1946 race riot in which two Black men were killed.
Speaking to the magazine, Aldean re-iterated that the song was not meant to stir a national discussion, but was a reflection of what he felt as going on in America at the time. “I don’t think that song came about because we were trying to step out there and do something that really moved the needle,” he said. “It was never intended to go in and specifically write something that was gonna stir the pot. It just came from a place of, this is on our mind. I’m 47 years old now, things change.”
Check out the dates for Aldean’s 2025 Full Throttle tour below.
May 23 — Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center &May 24 — Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage &May 25 — Saratoga Springs, NY @ Broadview Stage at SPAC &May 30 — Boston, MA @ Fenway Park #July 17 — Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center &July 18 — Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP &July 19 — St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre ^July 24 — Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater &July 25 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena ^July 26 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre ^Aug 7 — Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena &Aug 8 — Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center ^Aug 9 — Pittsburgh, PA @ The Pavilion at Star Lake &Aug 14 — Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavilion &Aug 15 — Houston, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman @Aug 16 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center ^Aug 21 — Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park ^Aug 22 — Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion ^Aug 23 — Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre ^Sept 4 — Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena ^Sept 5 — Green Bay, WI @ Resch Center &Sept 11 — Detroit, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre &Sept 13 — Tinley Park, IL @ Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre ^Sept 18 — Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank Arena &Sept 19 — Des Moines, IA @ Wells Fargo Arena &Sept 20 — Sioux Falls, SD @ Denny Sanford PREMIER Center &Sept 25 — Lafayette, LA @ CAJUNDOME &Sept 26 — Birmingham, AL @ Coca-Cola Amphitheater &Sept 27 — Charleston, SC @ Credit One Stadium &Oct 3 — Tampa, FL @ MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre &Oct 4 — West Palm Beach, FL @ iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre @
( #) co-headline with Brooks & Dunn
(%) already on-sale
(&) on-sale Jan. 24
(^) on-sale Jan. 31
(@) on-sale Feb. 21
Lady Gaga has been teasing her next era for more nearly a year. And while Little Monsters are well aware that LG7 (as they’ve been referring to her as-yet-untitled seventh studio album) is due out next month, at press time no additional information was available on the LP’s specific release date or track listing.
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The good news is that some news appears to be on the horizon. Over the weekend, Gaga launched a countdown clock on her official website that is slated to run out at 11 a.m. ET on Monday (Jan. 27). While the site update didn’t reveal any actual details, eagle-eyed Monsters noticed that when you swiped the blue crystals on the screen with your mouse they revealed the phrase “LG1” in the signature font from Gaga’s early career The Fame era; in addition, the crystals also called back to the oversized, bejeweled glasses she wore on the cover of her 2008 debut album.
Gaga’s upcoming album will be her first full-length solo LP since 2020’s Chromatica. To date, she’s released several versions of the album’s first single, “Disease,” as well as her Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 smash duet with Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile,” which will be included in the new album’s tracklist. In a recent interview, the singer called LG7 a life-spanning project that she promised is “full of [her] love of music,” with “so many different genres, so many different styles, so many different dreams.”
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She also said the collection “leaps around genre in a way that’s almost corrupt. And it ends with love. That’s the answer to all the chaos in my life is that I find peace with love. Every song that I wrote, I just kept getting kind of swept away in these different dreams I was having about the past — almost like a recollection of all these bad decisions that I made in my life.”
The album will drop just before Gaga headlines this year’s Coachella Festival on April 11 and 18.
Gaga will take the stage alongside Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, a reunited No Doubt, Katy Perry, Jelly Roll, Sting, Stevie Nicks, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews, Green Day and many more at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles fore the FireAid Benefit Concert on Jan. 30 to support victims of the ongoing wildfire crisis that has devastated the L.A. area over the past two weeks.
Among the flurry of executive orders signed by President Trump on his first day in office was one stating that the United States would recognize only two sexes: male and female. The controversial order requires the U.S. government to use the term “sex” rather than “gender” — with Trump explaining during his inaugural address that, “this week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.”
He added, “We will forge a society that is color blind and merit-based. … As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.”
The order — one of more than 100 signed by Trump on day one — immediately drew backlash from the LGBTQ community and allies, including Ariana Grande, who shared an Instagram Story supporting the trans community following a 2024 election cycle in which the Trump campaign spent more than $21 million on anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ messaging.
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First, Grande re-posted a statement from Advocates for Trans Equality which read: “Today is a tough day for our community. The incoming administration campaigned on attacking trans people’s lives, healthcare and dignity and we’re bracing ourselves for what these extremists will try to do next. No matter what comes, we will protect each other.”
A second post from the organization defiantly predicted that the new administration’s stated agenda to roll-back many of the progressive, inclusive policies of the outgoing Biden administration would not deter them from their mission. “The incoming Trump administration, and the Project 2025 extremists who will staff it, are reacting to decades of progress made by our LGBTQI+ community by trying to drag us backward. But we have fought even harder battles before, and won. We’ll do it again.”
Grande, who has long been a vocal supporter of the LGBTQ community, also included a screenshot from Trump’s inaugural address announcing the “two gender” rule with a re-post from A Bit Fruity podcast host Matt Bernstein, who wrote, “Okay, sure, whatever you say. But let’s be very clear: queer and trans people were here before donald trump and will continue to be here after he’s dead. whether or not you want us to exist is secondary to the simple fact that we do. the sun does not care if you sign an executive order telling it to stop rising each morning. it just continues to rise.”
According to the NIH, sex refers to biological characteristics, while gender refers to characteristics encompassing “gender identity and expression, as well as social and cultural expectations about status, characteristics and behavior as they are associated with certain sex traits.” The new order requires the government to use “sex” rather than “gender,” and mandates that ID documents issued by the government, such as passports and visas, be based on what it describes as “an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female.”
The Human Rights Campaign vowed to fight the Trump administration’s attempt to roll back the rights or trans Americans, with the group’s president Kelly Robinson writing that, “Every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect in all areas of their lives. No one should be subjected to ongoing discrimination, harassment and humiliation where they work, go to school, or access healthcare. But today’s executive actions targeting the LGBTQ+ community serve no other purpose than to hurt our families and our communities.”
The post noted that the order will take time to go into effect — while vowing to do “everything possible to protect our communities” — promising that the HRC’s lawyers are analyzing the wording now and will fight back against the executive order in the courts and in Congress. “We are not going anywhere,” the post added. “And we will fight back against these harmful provisions with everything we’ve got.”
The post included an additional encouraging message in the caption: “Let’s love and uplift each other today and every day with open hearts like never before.”
The band Garbage also reacted to Trump’s edict, writing on Instagram: “Queer, trans, intersex and non binary peoples have existed since the dawn of time. They will continue to exist whether you choose to recognize this or not. They will exist long past the current administration and long past all of our lifetimes. An enormous shout out to so many of our beautiful friends who have to wake up this morning feeling pressured and fearful. We stand with you all. You belong in this world as much as anyone else does. Of course you all know this. Only an uneducated person or an unnecessarily cruel person would think otherwise.We send you our love this morning and every morning.”
The post ended with a positive message to the group’s many trans and queer fans. “You go on being beautiful you,” it read. “That’s what you do. Go baby go. We are right behind you.”
GLAAD also reacted to Trump’s comments, writing on Instagram, “When he says Make America Great Again, he clearly doesn’t mean it for all Americans.” That statement drew commentary from a couple of RuPaul’s Drag Race stars, including Niecy Nash, who posted a, “Nuh-uh” gif, while Cynthia Lee Fontaine added, “Trash. But we will continue to ensure we will continued with our rights. We will NOT be silent.”
Drag Race judge Michelle Visage also weighed in, writing in all caps, “YOU WILL NOT ERASE MY CHILD YOU POS.”
FanDuel and Spotify are teaming up for the ultimate Super Bowl bash with an invite-only event in New Orleans featuring performances by Blink-182, Megan Thee Stallion and DJ Pee .Wee (a.k.a Anderson .Paak), Billboard can exclusively announce. The party, powered by in-house music agency Spotify AUX, will take place Friday (Feb. 7), just two days […]