State Champ Radio Music News
Page: 906
Hurry up, it’s time for supper — order up, because Lizzo is hot to go! In a new post to her Instagram on Thursday night (Sept. 12), the “Good as Hell” singer shared her own rendition of Chappell Roan‘s runaway hit “Hot to Go!” Dressed in an oversized T-shirt stating that she’s “100% that b—h,” […]
Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
This week, The Weeknd brings us back to the dance floor, Playboi Carti is still seeing red, and Charli xcx extends Brat Summer. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
The Weeknd, “Dancing in the Flames”
[embedded content]
The Weeknd triumphantly returns with “Dancing in the Flames,” the first single from forthcoming album Hurry Up Tomorrow, that continues the synth-pop fantasia of Dawn FM but offers an even meatier chorus and more vocal fragility; it’s a big swing that would work well in an ‘80s radio block or any collection of modern streaming hits.
Trending on Billboard
Playboi Carti, “All Red”
[embedded content]
The hip-hop world has been eagerly awaiting Playboi Carti’s next album, and the release of “All Red” not only suggests that the follow-up to Whole Lotta Red is right around the corner (and a thematic continuation, natch), but that the MC is as locked-in as ever, as he tosses out catchphrases and ad-libs over a combustible beat.
Charli xcx feat. Troye Sivan, “Talk Talk” remix
[embedded content]
We may be past Labor Day and beyond the glories of Brat Summer, but Charli xcx is not done gifting us compelling remixes to her lauded full-length — this time, her pal and tour partner Troye Sivan offers perfect balance on a new version of “Talk Talk,” with his soulful tone complementing Charli’s elastic bounce amidst the song’s constant motion.
Tate McRae, “It’s ok I’m ok”
[embedded content]
Continuing a breakthrough year in which she’s been able to show off pinpoint choreography and smashing hooks, Tate McRae positions new single “It’s ok I’m ok” as a collection of breathless melodies that work well for dance routines; we’re hearing a pop singer find her sound and style in real time.
Miranda Lambert, Postcards From Texas
[embedded content]
For her first album with new label partners Republic and Big Loud — and since entering her forties — Miranda Lambert returns to her roots on Postcards From Texas, with one of country music’s smartest storytellers utilizing her home state as inspiration for stories of singular characters, post-betrayal revenge and women who are underestimated while being experts in their craft.
Katy Perry feat. Doechii, “I’m His, He’s Mine”
[embedded content]
One week before unveiling new album 143 and a few days after her Video Vanguard showcase at the MTV VMAs, Katy Perry is lending some of her pop prowess to rising star Doechii on “I’m His, He’s Mine,” who in turn injects the track with ample amounts of confidence, as they play a pair of queens who can beguile any stray man.
Shawn Mendes, “Nobody Knows”
[embedded content]
In his rustic return, Shawn Mendes has shrugged off pop bombast in favor of guitar strums and unguarded vocals — and “Nobody Knows,” a swaying new anthem that allows Mendes’ upper register to hoot, holler and fully bloom, sounds like the most naturally rendered track released so far from his upcoming album.
Editor’s Pick: FKA Twigs, “Eusexua”
[embedded content]
Like most of FKA Twigs’ hypnotic tunes, “Eusexua,” the title track from her next album, juxtaposes the gentle contours of Twigs’ voice with jarring production elements — this time, skittering beats that grow and threaten to burst before congealing into a dance-floor throb, then unexpectedly evaporating. Breathtaking and accessible, “Eusexua” is a dazzling return from a one-of-a-kind creator.
John Legend has long been open about his political views, as well as his opposition to Donald Trump. But after the presidential debate on Sept. 10 — during which the Republican candidate regurgitated rumors that Haitian immigrants are eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio — it got personal for the EGOT winner.
In a video posted to his Instagram account Thursday (Sept. 12), two days after Trump’s first debate with Kamala Harris, Legend — who is from Springfield — shared his thoughts on the easily debunked claims about his hometown’s immigrant community. “Springfield has had a large influx of Haitian immigrants who’ve come to our city,” he explained. “Now, our city had been shrinking for decades. We didn’t have enough jobs, we didn’t have enough opportunities.”
“Of late, during the Biden administration, there’ve been more jobs that opened up — more manufacturing jobs, more plants, factories — that needed employees and were ready to hire people,” the “All of Me” singer continued. “During the same time, there had been upheaval and turmoil in Haiti. Our demand in Springfield for additional labor met up with the supply of additional Haitian immigrants.”
After outlining how the federal government assisted the Haitian population in legally moving to the United States, Legend compared the situation to other international communities — Polish, Irish, Italian, German, Jewish and Jamaican, to name a few — who’ve also immigrated over the years in pursuit of the American dream. “All of us need to have the same kind of grace that we would want for our ancestors,” he said into the camera.
“Nobody’s eating cats,” he added. “Nobody’s eating dogs. We all just want to live and flourish and raise our families in a healthy, safe environment. Don’t spread hateful, xenophobic, racist lies about them.”
The post comes as Springfield finds itself thrust into the center of the 2024 presidential race thanks to the false pet-eating rumor, which started with a post in a local Facebook group that alleged a neighbor’s daughter’s friend had found their missing cat hanging from a branch at a Haitian neighbor’s home. With anti-immigration sentiment being a core tenet of Trump’s platform, his campaign was quick to use the rumors as fuel for his third White House bid, as conservative outlets spread the false story online.
“There have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” a spokesperson for Springfield recently told CNN, while Mayor Rob Rue said Thursday that the hoax is “hurting our citizens and hurting our community.”
The Springfield controversy is just the latest topic Legend has spoken about amid the 2024 presidential race, with the musician being one of the earliest and most outspoken supporters of President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris’ campaigns this year. In a recent interview with BBC Newsnight, for instance, he opened up about the importance of reproductive healthcare — another hot-button issue in this year’s race — and detailed how it played a crucial role in his family in 2020.
“We were losing a pregnancy we wanted, a baby we wanted — we were losing him,” Legend recalled of Chrissy Teigen’s pregnancy loss four years prior. “We had to have abortion care to resolve that, to make sure that Chrissy didn’t die. She was bleeding profusely, and her life needed to be saved. We had to have abortion care to do that.”
Watch Legend call for peace in Springfield, Ohio, and share his thoughts on healthcare for women below.
“We had to have abortion care… to make sure that Chrissy didn’t die”Musician John Legend on the personal tragedy that informs his family’s battle for reproductive rights in America #Newsnight pic.twitter.com/n7avHTcYVi— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) September 12, 2024
Janet Jackson is opening up about another wardrobe malfunction. In an interview with British Vogue in which the 58-year-old pop icon flipped through a look book of some of her most iconic costumes, Jackson stopped on one of the military-inspired looks from her 1989 Rhythm Nation album.
“Funny story. I was performing for the Queen of England, and we were doing Rhythm Nation,” Jackson said of the late British monarch who died at age 96 in Sept. 2022. “Sure enough, as soon as I squatted, my pants split right up my booty crack.” Jackson said she “couldn’t believe” her terrible luck before realizing it was worse than she imagined.
“Then I started feeling air back there, so I knew it had really happened,” she said, revealing her quick-thinking fix for the sartorial nightmare. “I never turned my back to her, which, some of the choreography, I was supposed to. I just faced forward.”
Trending on Billboard
The story from the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is extra poignant given the other wardrobe malfunction she is most commonly associated with. As you may recall, back in 2004 Jackson performed with Justin Timberlake at that year’s Super Bowl halftime show in Houston, during which JT famously ripped off a piece of Jackson’s costume, exposing her nipple for 9/16th of a second.
The moment that was probed in a 2021 New York Times Presents documentary led to a raft of complaints from viewers, as well as fines and significant professional implications for Jackson. For years, many fans and pundits noted that Timberlake appeared to emerge from the pre-social media viral moment with little or no backlash, while Jackson’s career was dealt a blow from the incident after her videos were pulled from Viacom properties including MTV, VH1 and CBS and she was uninvited to that year’s Grammy Awards.
The Super Bowl slip dubbed “Nipple-gate” also introduced the phrase “wardrobe malfunction” into common parlance and, in the wake of the #FreeBritney movement that blew up in 2019, led to Timberlake issuing public apologies to both Jackson and his ex Spears for the way he’d treated them.
“I’ve seen the messages, tags, comments, and concerns and I want to respond,” Timberlake said at the time after the 2021 Framing Britney Spears documentary portrayed the “Cry Me a River” singer as acting callously following his split with Britney in 2002. “I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right. I understand that I fell short in these moments and in many others and benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism. I specifically want to apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson both individually because I care for and respect these women and I know I failed.”
Jackson is gearing up to launch her Las Vegas residency with back-to-back performances on Dec. 30 and New Year’s Eve at Resorts World Las Vegas.
Watch Jackson describe her royal de-pantsing below.
To those closest to him, he was Isaac Freeman III, but around the world, he was renowned as Fatman Scoop. Hip-hop’s premier hype-man and entertainer, Scoop died on Aug. 30 after collapsing on stage at a show in Connecticut doing what he loved — rocking the crowd. He was 56.
Less than two weeks later, Scoop’s peers, friends and family gathered not far from the Harlem projects he was raised in, at the famed Apollo Theater on Thursday (Sept. 12) for a celebration of life ceremony.
Hundreds filed into the legendary venue and felt the full spectrum of emotions. There were laughs shared from funny stories, heartfelt moments, tears shed and some partying to music along the way.
Trending on Billboard
While Scoop showed up for so many whenever called upon in his decorated life, plenty of recognizable faces returned the favor to be in attendance at the ceremony. For perhaps the final time, Scoop and his recognizable bark brought people from different walks of life together for one last party.
Sway Calloway played MC for the night, while fellow Harlem native Teddy Riley, Jim Jones, A$AP Ferg, Busta Rhymes, DJ Webstar, Angie Martinez, Kid Kapri, Ron Browz, DJ Enuff and more either spoke or performed in some capacity throughout the evening. Other familiar faces spotted in the crowd included LL Cool J, Maino, DJ Self, Treach, Datwon Thomas and more.
Beyond the hits such as “Be Faithful,” Grammy award wins and working with the likes of Missy Elliott and Mariah Carey, there were a few characteristics that continued to pop up in people’s pensive stories on Thursday, which spoke to Scoop’s infallible nature as a great human being past his art.
For one, he was always a phone call — or voice note text message — away and came through for his friends, even if it didn’t come with a bag. Two, Scoop doesn’t get enough credit for how prolific of an MC he was before charting a different path as a trailblazing entertainer. “[Scoop] told me one story how he was supposed to be the first Biggie. And, like, Biggie jacked his style,” Ferg said, which drew laughs from the audience.
Three, he never had issues or beef with anyone in the industry. “Fatman Scoop is probably one of the most beautiful human beings I’ve ever met on this planet,” Busta Rhymes declared. “I don’t think I’ve ever ran into Fatman Scoop having an off day. I’ve never seen him angry, I’ve never seen him upset, I’ve never seen him perspire and worry about things outside of when he was on that stage busting a–.”
And four, the man stayed fresh and kept a bottle of Scope mouthwash on him at all times. “We had a crowd of people around and some girls were around, and Scoop was around and all the girls gave him the attention,” Teddy Riley said. “Why? He had the cologne. He had the cologne game on lock, but he had the Scope game on lock, and that’s why girls wanted to be around him. He didn’t have bad breath. I said to myself, ‘If I do that, would I be biting?’”
Fatman Scoop’s contributions to Missy Elliott and Ciara’s “Lose Control” earned him a Grammy award and a top five Billboard Hot 100 hit (No. 3) in 2005. Outside of music, he made waves as a reality star and overnight host at Hot 97, where he claimed to bring the first video camera into the station.
Hip-hop will be a bit quieter without Fatman Scoop’s signature raspy and resonant shout, but his life of the party legacy is etched into rap lore. Scoop is survived by his two children — Torrance and Tiana Freeman — and brother Kendall “Young Sav” Freeman.
Donald Trump doesn’t have Taylor Swift‘s support in the 2024 election, but that isn’t stopping him from using her brand to boost his campaign.
On Thursday (Sept. 12) — two days after the 34-year-old pop star emphatically backed Kamala Harris in this year’s presidential race — the Republican candidate’s team announced that it was selling “Trump Era” T-shirts inspired by the tiled graphic design on much of Swift’s Eras Tour apparel. Featuring a grid of photos of the twice-impeached president, each tinted with almost the exact same colors arranged in the very same pattern as the “Karma” singer’s design, the politician’s new clothing item is selling for $36.
“Calling all Swifties for Trump,” reads a tweet from the former president’s headquarters. “Get your Trump Era shirt today.”
Billboard has reached out to Swift’s rep for comment.
Though the pop star hasn’t reacted to the former president’s new merch, Swifties have. “This is a disgrace of a shirt. I hope she strips Donald of everything he has for infringement. @taylorswift13 @taylornation13 GET HIM!” one person tweeted in response to the campaign’s post about the shirt.
“im excited for trumps new era, i heard it’s called the ‘lawsuit era,’” another responded.
“This deserves a cease and desist!” yet another Swiftie tweeted, tagging the pop superstar, official fan page as well as her publicist.
Trump isn’t the only party in the 2024 election capitalizing on Swift’s popularity, with the Harris-Walz camp also recently unveiling Eras-inspired friendship bracelets on the Democratic ticket’s website. One key difference, however, is that the VP’s campaign actually has the support of the 14-time Grammy winner, who broke her silence on the election Sept. 10 with an Instagram post praising Harris for being a “steady-handed, gifted leader” who “fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.”
Swift also cited Trump’s past use of AI-generated images falsely portraying her as a MAGA supporter — another way he’s tried to exploit her image this election — as one of the reasons she felt it important to speak out. In response to the pop superstar’s endorsement of his opponent, the ex-POTUS said, “I was not a Taylor Swift fan, it was just a question of time.”
He added at the time: “But she’s a very liberal person, she seems to always endorse a Democrat and she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace.”
See Trump’s new merchandise inspired by Swift’s Eras Tour below.
Back in October 2019, Bad Bunny, already a huge star, posted a video of himself on Instagram, drinking tequila and singing along to a song in Spanish set to strumming guitars. It was “Soy el Diablo” by Natanael Cano, the then-18-year-old making waves in regional Mexican music with his corridos tumbados, a subgenre blending hip-hop swagger with traditional música mexicana instrumentation.
That Bad Bunny would gravitate toward the sound at first seemed counterintuitive: Reggaetón, built on beats, tracks and loops, ostensibly has little to do with regional Mexican music, which is created mostly with live instruments.
But upon further consideration, it made complete sense. Corridos tumbados, like Bad Bunny’s blend of trap and reggaetón, are as much about attitude and lifestyle as they are about music. Within weeks, a remix of “Soy el Diablo,” featuring Bad Bunny, hit No. 16 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart.
Trending on Billboard
The unlikely pairing at the time was revolutionary, and it set off a wave of collaborations between reggaetón and Mexican music acts that’s still going. Since “Soy el Diablo,” at least 14 songs that blend both genres have entered Hot Latin Songs — including Karol G and Peso Pluma’s “Qlona,” which shot to No. 1 in September 2023. And now, this year’s Rumbazo festival — taking place Sept. 13-14 in Las Vegas in partnership with Billboard — will reflect the kinship between the two genres; headliners Nicky Jam and Luis R Conriquez released a single together, “Como el Viento,” in 2023.
For Jimmy Humilde, the founder and CEO of powerhouse indie label Rancho Humilde (home to Cano and Fuerza Regida, among other Mexican music artists), Mexican and urban music are like brothers from another mother, and the new wave of Mexican music, much of it spawned on the West Coast, is inextricably linked to hip-hop and, by extension, to reggaetón.
“Hip-hop was my heart,” Humilde told Billboard last year of his upbringing, like that of many of his artists, in Los Angeles. “I was a huge fan of old-school hip-hop.” But Humilde was also a huge fan of bad boy Mexican corridos sung by the likes of Chalino Sánchez. Early in his career, when he started working with corridos singer Jessie Morales (also raised in L.A.), he had a simple yet brilliant idea: Instead of donning the traditional garb of boots and cowboy hat, “I told him, ‘Bro, why don’t you dress hip-hop, how you really dress? You don’t have to come out with a hat or a suit.’ ”
The notion of inserting hip-hop style into Mexican music slowly but surely became the norm for a new generation of artists that now includes Cano, Fuerza Regida, Junior H, Peso Pluma, Eslabon Armado and Yahritza y Su Esencia, who all dress more like rappers than singers of traditional Mexican music.
Actual cross-genre collaborations, however, only began in earnest after the Bad Bunny-Cano remix. In 2020, they went even further when Snoop Dogg (another Angeleno and a longtime fan of banda music) recorded “Que Maldición” with Banda MS (which went to No. 4 on Hot Latin Songs) and later joined the group onstage in L.A.
Then, in 2021, Colombian superstar Karol G released “200 Copas,” a veritable ranchera ballad. Colombians in general (and Medellín natives like Karol, in particular) have long been die-hard fans of ranchera and mariachi music — and later that year, Karol’s fellow paisa and reggaetón star Maluma also recorded a ranchera: “Cada Quien,” with Grupo Firme, which became his first No. 1 on the Regional Mexican Airplay chart.
“Being on a Mexican chart in the U.S., well, that’s a big deal,” Maluma told Billboard at the time. “I always dreamt of that. When I travel to Mexico, it’s like being at home. I feel part of it, and I am very grateful to Grupo Firme for making this possible.”
The growing list of urban/Mexican collaborations also includes the cover stars of this issue of Billboard. And while Nicky Jam and Conriquez’s “Como el Viento” didn’t chart, for Conriquez, it’s a sign of the future.
“If we’re intelligent about it, there will be more songs like this, because it’s an opportunity to bring the two genres together and for one to get into the other’s world,” says Conriquez, who has also already recorded with reggaetonero Ryan Castro. “I always thought reggaetón was global. But now, regional Mexican is global too.”
Billboard Latin Music Week is returning to Miami Beach on Oct. 14-18, with confirmed superstars including Gloria Estefan, Alejandro Sanz and Peso Pluma, among many others. For tickets and more details, visit Billboardlatinmusicweek.com.
The Kamala Harris campaign has pivoted from its Brat Summer to a new Era. On Friday (Sept. 13) the Democratic National Committee unveiled a new digital billboard campaign in New York and Las Vegas that leans into Taylor Swift‘s endorsement of the presidential bid by the sitting Vice President and her VP pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
The ads read “We’re In Our Kamala Era!” in reference to Swift’s billion-dollar Eras Tour, as well as “A New Way Forward… Ready For It?,” which is a play on the song of the same name from the singer’s 2017 Reputation album. According to People, the Manhattan billboard is located 22 stories above the iconic red steps in Times Square — a seemingly Swift-esque Easter egg reference to Swift’s songs “22” and “Red” from 2012’s Red album.
Trending on Billboard
Meanwhile the ads on the Las Vegas strip feature a photo of Harris, 59, with the Eras reference, as well as another of Trump, 78, that asks, “Exhausted with this guy?” While Trump is famous for putting his name on a number of buildings in New York, the choice of Sin City for the latter ad coincided with the twice-impeached former President’s planned rally in Vegas on Friday.
Following Harris’ strong performance at Tuesday’s debate with convicted felon Trump — during which the former reality TV star amplified a false and racist meme claiming that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are eating dogs and cats — Swift endorsed the Democratic ticket in an impassioned post in which she struck out at fake AI images that appeared to show her endorsing Trump.
“It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” Swift said about the clearly doctored images that Trump re-posted on his Truth social feed. “It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth. I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election.”
The post in which Swift posed with one of her cats, was signed “Childless Cat Lady,” a dig at Trump VP candidate Ohio Sen. JD Vance’s 2021 demeaning description of Democratic leaders, including stepmother of two Harris, as “childless cat ladies… who want to make the rest of the country miserable.”
Swift’s endorsement on her Instagram feed with 238 million followers and plea for fans to register to vote led to nearly 400,000 people visiting the Vote.gov registration site in the days after Tuesday’s debate.
Trump denied the singer’s possible influence on the neck-and-neck race in an hours-long phone call with Fox & Friends on Wednesday in which he said, “I was not a Taylor Swift fan,” saying he prefers the singer’s friend, Brittany Mahomes, wife of Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, who is teammates with Taylor’s boyfriend, KC tight end Travis Kelce. “She’s a very liberal person. She seems to always endorse a Democrat, and she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace.
The ads are in keeping with the Harris/Walz campaign’s pinpoint needling of Trump with a barrage of memes and videos on X, as well as their perfectly-timed roll-out of friendship bracelets in their online store reading “Harris-Walz”; the $20-for-two accessories sold out almost immediately. Harris immediately leaned into the Swift endorsement during her post-debate party, where she walked off the stage to Swift’s misogyny-bashing Lover single “The Man.”
Check out the billboards below.
[embedded content]
Grab that Freddy Krueger sweater, queue up the Halloween music and wipe the cobwebs off your Jason hockey mask. Spooky Season is approaching, and to help get those spines tingling, the Boulet Brothers are gearing up to release a new musical project.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
On Oct. 4, the Boulet Brothers will release The Boulet Brothers Halloween House Party via PEG Records. The seasonal six-track EP finds Dracmorda and Swanthula Boulet combining their love of Halloween and horror with the retro musical sounds of ‘60s pop, surf music and psychobilly – with a modern twist, naturally. The first taste of the project, “All Hallows’ Eve,” is out now.
“We are both obsessed with classic vintage Halloween decorations, sets, costumes, parties, music, etc., and this EP is our love letter to all that gory goodness,” says the duo.
Trending on Billboard
A couple years ago, the Boulet Brothers broke down their 10 favorite horror movie soundtracks of all time for Billboard – and naturally, John Carpenter’s Halloween score was one of them.
“Growing up, it was the first horror soundtrack that invaded my brain. It was instantly recognizable, but it was bone-chilling. There was something about those high-pitched piano notes: It was so simple and so easy to get stuck in your brain and terrifying at the same time,” said Drac Boulet.
“It has one of those magical qualities,” Swan Boulet told us. “When I hear that classic theme from Halloween, it transports me back to trick or treating, the season of the fall, everything about Halloween that I love.”
The Boulet Brothers Halloween House Party EP arrives just a few days after the season six premiere (Oct. 1) of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula on AMC+/Shudder. Check out the tracklist below.
Boulet Brothers
Courtesy Photo
Requiem for Halloween
All Hallows’ Eve
Ghost Train
Nosferatu Beach Party
Trick or Treat
The Vampire Song
While former President Donald Trump’s amplification of false claims during Tuesday’s presidential debate that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, OH are “eating dogs… eating the cats” have been widely debunked and endlessly mocked on social media, Wyclef Jean says it’s not funny and we need to keep our eyes on what’s important in November’s election.
The rapper/producer who was born in Haiti and emigrated to Brooklyn as a child told TMZ on Thursday (Sept. 12) that America’s historic embrace of immigrants is the nation’s “greatest asset.” Though he avoiding the repetition of the rumor spread by Trump and his VP pick, Ohio native JD Vance — which the state’s Republican Governor has said is without merit — ‘Clef stressed that we should all be taking this fall’s vote seriously.
“I will be forever grateful for my family’s life, for having a fair chance to live what is called the ‘American Dream,’” said Wyclef, who posted the TMZ chat on his X feed. “One of our greatest assets in America is that we are a country of immigrants. I speak from the heart when I say, Haitian people living in the U.S. are good neighbors and good people. We care about humanity. We care about our neighbors.”
Trump made the fallacious claim during his first, and seemingly, only debate with Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris this week in a moment that instantly became fodder for ridicule and contempt on late night shows and social media. Wyclef, who has long been a proud supporter of his native country, urged his fellow Americans to stop spreading the dangerous rumors.
“On behalf of Haitian Americans, I ask that we stop these racist messages and accusations. Put our hands out in peace and say thanks for being my neighbor,” Wyclef said. “We need to respect one another and vote based on policies and facts, not crazy talk. And we need to shake hands with one another and be thankful we are part of an America for all.”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine dismissed Trump’s claims in a CBS interview on Wednesday, brushing aside the fake news that first popped up on right-wing social media feeds before being amplified by Vance and other Republicans. “This is something that came up on the internet and the internet can be quite crazy sometimes,” DeWine said, noting that the city’s mayor has confirmed that there is no credible evidence to support the cat- and dog-eating claims.
The rumors appear to have started following an incident in nearby Canton, OH in which a woman was arrested for killing and eating a cat, then further boosted by a photo of a person holding a dead goose that some on social media claimed was of a Haitian resident of Springfield. The video taken in Canton depicts a woman who is not Haitian being arrested for cruelty to companion animals; after being charged with the fifth-degree felony the woman plead not guilty by reason of insanity. The images were picked up and widely distributed by white supremacists, as well as X boss Elon Music and Vance, who has a home 45 minutes away from Springfield in neighboring Cincinnati, OH.
“I think we go with what the mayor says. He knows the city,” DeWine said of the town that has seen a major influx of 12,000-15,000 Haitian immigrants over the past few years that has strained city services, but who the Governor said have filled jobs in the city and work “very, very hard.”
While DeWine did not go so far as to say that the amplification of the rumor that started on a Springfield Facebook group were endangering the city’s Haitian population, U.S. National Security spokesperson John Kirby did deem Vance and Trump’s comments “dangerous.” The racist trope claiming immigrants cook and serve household pets has been used to demean and ostracize migrants for more than a century. In the midst of his third run for the White House, convicted felon Trump, 78 has continued to double-down on the debunked animal-eating claim in appearances this week.
In comments on Tuesday, Kirby said, “What’s deeply concerning to us is you’ve got now elected officials in the Republican Party pushing, you know, yet another conspiracy theory that’s just seeking to divide people based on lies and, let’s be honest, based on an element of racism. This kind of language, this kind of disinformation, is dangerous because there will be people that believe it, no matter how ludicrous and stupid it is, and they might act on that kind of information and act on it in a way where somebody could get hurt. So it needs to stop.”
Singer, activist and Springfield native John Legend also weighed in on the danger of spreading such hurtful lies in a video posted on his Instagram in which he touched on the rush of Haitian immigrants who’ve moved to his hometown to escape the political turmoil in their native country.
“I think all of us need to have the same kind of grace that we would want our ancestors to have when they moved here with our Haitian brothers and sisters who moved here too,” Legend said in a video posted on Thursday. “And nobody’s eating cats. Nobody’s eating dogs. We all just want to live and flourish and raise our families in a healthy and safe environment. How about we love one another?”
Legend noted that he grew up in the Christian tradition that encourages everyone to “love our neighbor as we love ourselves and treat strangers as though they might be Christ. So how about we adopt that ethos when we talk about immigrants moving to our communities and don’t spread hateful, xenophobic, racist lies about them?”
According to the Huffington Post, Springfield City Hall and other downtown buildings received bomb threats prompting an evacuation on Thursday, with Mayor Rob Rue saying that the threat featured “hateful language” aimed at Haitians and immigrants. In addition, the president of the city’s nonprofit Haitian Community Help and Support Center told NBC News that the recent hateful attention on the city’s Haitian population has them “scared for their lives,” with some residents keeping their children home from school out of fear.
Watch Legend’s video below.
