Music
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Bad Bunny’s “DtMF” spends a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 songs chart. The superstar again scores five simultaneous top 10s on the chart, all from his new LP, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, which adds a second week at No. 1 on the U.S.-based Billboard 200 albums chart. Among his haul of Global 200 top 10s, “EoO” reaches the region for the first time, rising to No. 10.
The Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the United States.
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Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.
“DtMF” dominates the Global 200 with 116.7 million streams (down 11% week-over-week) and 2,000 sold (down 25%) worldwide Jan. 17-23. Bad Bunny also infuses the top 10 with “BAILE INoLVIDABLE,” “NUEVAYoL” and “VOY A LLeVARTE PA PR,” which hold at their respective Nos. 4, 5 and 8 highs, and “EoO” (11-10). The latter song ups his count to 25 top 10s since the chart began; only Drake (35) and Taylor Swift (33) have more.
Also in the Global 200’s top five, ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” keeps at No. 2, following 11 weeks at No. 1 beginning upon its debut in November, and Lady Gaga and Mars’ “Die With a Smile” repeats at No. 3, following eight weeks at No. 1 beginning in September.
The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated Feb. 1, 2025) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, Jan. 28. For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard’s subscription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
Shakira’s two sons, Sasha and Milan Piqué Mebarak, are following their mother’s footsteps, showing off their artistic abilities in a new musical project. As part of the Miami-based Let It Beat! Music Academy — co-founded by Guillermo Vadala and Nerina Nicotra — the brothers showcased their talent on a new album called All for You, […]
When the Oscar nominations were announced on Thursday (Jan. 23), Diane Warren found herself nominated for best original song for the 16th time. Warren, never one to rest on her laurels, is already back with a song that may be put her back in the running at the 2026 Oscars – “Dear Me,” sung by Kesha in the new the documentary Diane Warren: Relentless.
Warren was already a hit-making songwriter when Kesha was born in 1987. Little-known fact: Kesha’s mother, “Pebe” Sebert, was a member of the songwriting community as Warren was breaking in (though the two writers never collaborated). Sebert co-wrote Joe Sun’s 1978 single “Old Flames (Can’t Hold a Candle to You),” which reached No. 14 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. A cover version by Dolly Parton reached No. 1 in 1980.
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“We all know that Diane Warren is one of the most iconic songwriters of our time, but many people don’t know that my connection with her is multigenerational,” Kesha said in a statement. “My mom used to write songs alongside Diane Warren in the ’80s. I’ve heard her name in our home growing up since I was a baby. Once my music broke into the scene in 2008, we have worked on projects together … but none of them ever were publicly released.”
“I’ve written a lot of songs for movies but this is the first time I’ve ever written a song for a movie that’s about me,” Warren said in a statement. “This song isn’t just about me though, it’s for anyone who’s ever wished they could have a conversation with their younger self and tell them no matter what they’re going through that it’s going to get better. When I was thinking who would be the perfect artist for this, I could think of no one better or more authentic than Kesha. I felt that not only is she a great artist who would sing the song magnificently which of course she did, but that this would also speak to her and her fans on a very deep level.”
Diane Warren: Relentless, directed by Bess Kargman, is currently in theaters and streaming exclusively on MasterClass.
It’s fairly rare for a song from a documentary to receive an Oscar nomination for best original song, but it does happen. Just this year, “Never Too Late” from the Disney + doc Elton John: Never Too Late was nominated, where it is competing with Warren’s “The Journey” from the Netflix film The Six Triple Eight. Elton John co-wrote “Never Too Late” with Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt and Bernie Taupin.
Billboard’s Stephen Daw wrote warmly about “Dear Me” (released on Kemosabe/RCA Records) in his Queer Jams of the Week column. “For her contribution to the new documentary Diane Warren: Relentless, Kesha decided to strip back the artifice and sing from the heart. The result is “Dear Me,” a Warren-penned, Guy Roche-produced ballad where Kesha looks back on her younger self and offers some salient advice — primarily, to know that she can get through whatever pain comes her way. It’s no surprise that Kesha sounds as good as she does here; it is surprising, though, to get such a poignant song in a week when so many of us need to hear this.”
A who’s who of country music artists will help the Grand Ole Opry celebrate its 100th anniversary when the live event concert, Opry 100: A Live Celebration, airs live on NBC (and simulcast on Peacock) on Wednesday, March 19.
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Grand Ole Opry member Blake Shelton will host the three-hour live celebration event, which will air from 8 to 11 p.m. ET. Opry members Ashley McBryde, Shelton, Brad Paisley, Carly Pearce, Carrie Underwood, Clint Black, Dierks Bentley, Garth Brooks, Kelsea Ballerini, Lainey Wilson, Luke Combs, Marty Stuart, Reba McEntire, Trace Adkins, Trisha Yearwood and Vince Gill will all take part. Opry member Randy Travis will make a special appearance, while other Opry favorites set to take part include Amy Grant, Eric Church, Jelly Roll and The War and Treaty. The broadcast will feature performances from Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House, as well as from the historic Ryman Auditorium, the Opry’s most famous former home.
“Becoming a member of the Opry is a highlight of my life and career, and 15 years later I still get that same feeling of reverence and excitement every time I walk out on that stage. The Grand Ole Opry has been connecting the country music family for 100 years, and I’m so proud to be part of this historic celebration,” Shelton said in a statement.
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“We’re pleased to partner with our Grand Ole Opry members to create a truly unforgettable evening as we kick off the Opry’s 100th year,” Opry Entertainment Group CEO Patrick Moore in a statement. “This special night of programming will connect millions of country music fans to the magic of the Opry, and we hope it inspires them to join us in Nashville as we celebrate this milestone all year long.”
The telecast will be executive produced by Silent House Productions’ Emmy Award winners Baz Halpin, Mark Bracco and Linda Gierahn, along with R.A. Clark and Steve Buchanan. A limited amount of tickets will go on sale starting Jan. 31 at 10 a.m. CT on the Opry’s website, while a pre-sale for Opry subscribers will launch Jan. 30 at 10 a.m. CT.
The Grand Ole Opry launched in 1925, and has had a series of homes over the years, among them the Nashville offices of the National Life and Accident Insurance Company (WSM-AM’s call letters are an acronym for National Life’s slogan, “We Shield Millions”) and Nashville’s War Memorial Auditorium. The Ryman Auditorium was home to the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974, before the Opry moved into its current location in March 1974. The Opry still returns to the Ryman Auditorium each winter for a special run of Opry at the Ryman shows.
The Grand Ole Opry has become the longest running live broadcast show in the world, featuring weekly performances from established country music artists and regularly featuring and supporting rising artists. Each week, fans gather at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville to experience live shows, or take in the music through WSM Radio and online, or watch the Opry Live broadcasts on Saturdays, as well as other Opry content, on Circle Country.
On Jan. 3, the Grand Ole Opry launched its first show of 2025 with the Opry at the Ryman series, with the show featuring current CMA musician of the year Charlie Worsham, “The Gambler” and “Forever and Ever, Amen” songwriter Don Schlitz, singer Connie Smith, harmonica maestro Charlie McCoy, singer Mandy Barnett, singer-songwriter Craig Morgan (“That’s What I Love About Sundays,” “Redneck Yacht Club”) and nine-time International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) entertainer of the year winners The Travelin’ McCourys.
Belying its title, Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” remains a steadily dominant hit, topping Billboard’s Radio Songs chart for a 26th week – tying The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” for the most time spent at No. 1 in the survey’s history.
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” previously logged a record-tying 19 weeks at No. 1 on the streaming-, airplay- and sales-based Billboard Hot 100, beginning last July.
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The track holds atop Radio Songs with 63.2 million in audience Jan. 17-23, essentially even week-over-week, according to data tracker Luminate. The chart reflects all-format airplay on more than 1,000 monitored radio stations; Pop Airplay chart reporter KDHT (Hits 95.7) Denver has played the song the most to date: more than 4,000 times.
Here’s a rundown of the longest-leading Radio Songs No. 1s, dating to the chart’s December 1990 start:
26 weeks, “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” Shaboozey, beginning Aug. 10, 2024
26, “Blinding Lights,” The Weeknd, April 18, 2020
18, “Flowers,” Miley Cyrus, Feb. 25, 2023
18, “Iris,” Goo Goo Dolls, Aug. 1, 1998
16, “Girls Like You,” Maroon 5 feat. Cardi B, Aug. 4, 2018
16, “We Belong Together,” Mariah Carey, May 28, 2005
16, “Don’t Speak,” No Doubt, Dec. 7, 1996
15, “Easy On Me,” Adele, Dec. 4, 2021
14, “High Hopes,” Panic! at the Disco, Dec. 1, 2018
14, “No One,” Alicia Keys, Nov. 3, 2007
14, “Because You Loved Me,” Celine Dion, April 13, 1996
“A Bar Song (Tipsy),” on American Dogwood/EMPIRE, with country radio promotion by Magnolia Music, dominated the Country Airplay chart for seven weeks beginning last August, the longest No. 1 run for a first entry, and ranks in the top 10 for a record-extending 30th week.
The song also made history as the first to hit the top five (or even top 10) on Country Airplay, Pop Airplay, Adult Pop Airplay (two weeks at No. 1 on each chart) and Rhythmic Airplay (No. 3 peak).
“There were many, many doubters of our ability to work this record at radio,” EMPIRE COO Nima Etminan told Billboard after “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” hit No. 1 on the Hot 100. “The industry loves telling independents that there’s a ceiling to what they can do on their own, and this was no different. We were told it can’t be done, and, as we like to do, we proved them wrong. We’ve assembled a fantastic team that we had full faith in – and they delivered.”
All charts (dated Feb. 1, 2025) will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Jan. 28. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X and Instagram.
Selena Gomez broke down in tears on Monday morning (Jan. 27) in an Instagram post in which she promised to do anything she can to help undocumented Mexican nationals in the midst of the new Trump administration’s nationwide crackdown on undocumented non-citizens.
According the People magazine, the Texas-born singer whose grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico without proper documentation posted a since-deleted Instagram Story in which she weeped alongside the caption, “I’m sorry” and a Mexican flag emoji. “All my people are getting attacked, the children,” Gomez added in the video that can be seen here. “I don’t understand. I’m so sorry, I wish I could do something but I can’t. I don’t know what to do. I’ll try everything, I promise.”
President Trump began his second administration last week by vowing to unleash a nationwide immigration crackdown. CNN reported that over the weekend nearly 1,000 people the administration deemed national security threats were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers along with agents from a variety of federal agencies including the FBI, DEA and U.S. Marshals Service in Chicago, Atlanta, Puerto Rico, Colorado, Los Angeles, Austin, TX and elsewhere.
People said that in another since-deleted Instagram Story, Gomez wrote, “Apparently it’s not ok to show empathy for people.” According to reports, TV doctor Phil McGraw joined U.S. border czar Tom Homan in a highly choreographed raid in Chicago in which the daytime talk show host asked some detainees where they were from and whether they were legal citizens.
At press time a spokesperson for Gomez had not returned Billboard‘s request for further comment on the singer’s posts.
Gomez, 32, has been a strong advocate for the immigrant community before, including producing the 2019 Netflix series Living Undocumented, a doc that told the story of eight families who agreed to let film crews follow them as they faced potential deportation under the first Trump administration. At the time, Gomez slammed what she dubbed the Trump team’s cruel treatment of immigrant families, including its widely criticized separation of children from their families.
“I can’t even imagine what these kids being separated from their families are going through,” she said in February 2020. “It’s something that is going to traumatize them for the rest of their lives. And it just seems animalistic.” In October 2019, Gomez also penned a poignant essay for TIME magazine, in which she wrote about her aunt and grandparents crossing the border into the U.S. from Mexico.
“In 1992, I was born a U.S. citizen thanks to their bravery and sacrifice,” she wrote. “Over the past four decades, members of my family have worked hard to gain United States citizenship. Undocumented immigration is an issue I think about every day, and I never forget how blessed I am to have been born in this country thanks to my family and the grace of circumstance.”
The flurry of raids have mostly drawn praise from Trump’s MAGA followers and Republican lawmakers, while officials in some states have decried the actions. NBC reported that Newark, NJ leaders and immigrant rights activists complained that ICE agents entered the back of a business in the city and arrested three workers without proper documents, while also detaining and questioning employees who are U.S. citizens.
Among other tactics employed so far by the Trump camp as part of its immigration crackdown are the shutting down of the CBP One asylum app, the clearing of the way for immigration authorities to make arrests in schools, churches and hospitals and a rush of active duty troops to help build border barriers and escort people onto removal flights.
Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” notches a fourth total and consecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart.
The ballad became Gaga’s sixth Hot 100 leader and Mars’ ninth. Gaga runs up her sole second-longest No. 1 stay, as “Die With a Smile” breaks out of a tie with her debut smash “Just Dance” (featuring Colby O’Donis), which ruled for three weeks in January 2009. She dominated for six weeks in February-April 2011 with “Born This Way.”
Mars logs his fifth Hot 100 reign of four or more weeks, following his featured turn on Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk!” (14 weeks at No. 1, in 2015) and his own “Locked Out of Heaven” (six, 2012-13), “Grenade” (four, 2011) and “Just the Way You Are” (four, 2010).
Plus, Mars adds his 38th career week at No. 1 on the Hot 100, surpassing Michael Jackson (as a soloist, apart from the Jackson 5) for the sole eighth-most time spent in the top spot. Mariah Carey leads with 97 career weeks at No. 1.
Also notably, Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” at No. 4 on the Hot 100 after a record-tying 19 weeks at No. 1, matches the longest rule ever on the Radio Songs chart – 26 weeks – equaling the command of The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” in 2020.
Additionally, Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” at No. 7, becomes just the seventh single to spend at least 75 weeks on the Hot 100.
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data, the lattermost metric reflecting purchases of physical singles and digital tracks from full-service digital music retailers; digital singles sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites are excluded from chart calculations. All charts (dated Feb. 1, 2025) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, Jan. 28. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
‘Die With a Smile’ Airplay, Streams & Sales
Kai Cenat didn’t become the most popular Twitch streamer in hip-hop by holding back his real opinions. So while speaking to Billboard for his January cover story, he didn’t hold back when it came to his takes on the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar rap war of 2024.
In conversation with Billboard‘s deputy editorial director Damien Scott, Cenat — who once FaceTimed Drizzy on his Twich livestream — began by saying, “I’m cool with Drake.”
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“So people would expect me to be on Drake’s side,” he continued. “But I’m not going to lie. Kendrick won that battle.”
Cenat was one of countless hip-hop fans who was locked in during the Toronto native and Dot’s musical conflict last spring, during which the two rappers lobbed searing diss tracks at each other throughout April and May. The streamer reacted to the drops in real time on his channel, with Drake notably instructing him to “stay on stream” before releasing “Family Matters” in May.
“I loved every second of it,” Cenat told Billboard of the musical back-and-forth. “I was just appreciating the moment. Like, bro, we got bangers right now that’s dropping back to back and everybody’s talking about them. It was definitely fire.”
Things took a turn in November, however, when Drake filed two legal actions against Universal Music Group over Lamar’s “Not Like Us” — the two-week Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper in which the Compton musician famously calls his opponent a “certified pedophile.” The “God’s Plan” artist accused the label of inflating the track’s streams through nefarious methods and cited defamation, alleging that UMG “could have refused to release or distribute the song or required the offending material to be edited and/or removed.”
Earlier this month, Drake escalated things further by launching a full-blown lawsuit against UMG; the label has denied the allegations in his suit and called it “illogical.” Cenat also just so happened to be mentioned in the filing. The Degrassi alum’s lawyers named him and a few other streamers who reacted to “Not Like Us” when it dropped as examples of UMG “whitelisting” the song, something Cenat also reacted to on a stream.
“Wait, why am I in this s–t?” he asked his viewers at the time, baffled. “Wait, hold on! Wait, what the f—? I’m getting sued?!”
See Cenat on the cover of Billboard below.
In January 1975, on a side street in New Haven, Conn., surrounded by the campus of Yale University, a small French restaurant featuring live music opened its doors, with an unlikely name — Toad’s Place.
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This month, Toad’s Place marks its 50th anniversary, now with a national reputation earned by showcasing hundreds of artists, helping to launch the likes of R.E.M and U2 and hosting rare small-room performances by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel and The Rolling Stones.
In the volatile venue business, Toad’s Place is a survivor. The club is older than many of the nation’s other iconic rooms of its size and has outlasted peers, like New York’s Bottom Line, which were once part of the same showcase circuit.
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Brian Phelps, owner of the club, recently reached out to many of the performers and industry figures who have passed through the club’s doors with the news that “we will be celebrating this golden anniversary” in the coming months. A documentary on Toad’s Place is in the works. Other details of the celebration have not yet been announced.
In 2021, Phelps and veteran New Haven journalist Randall Beach co-authored The Legendary Toad’s Place: Stories from New Haven’s Famed Music Venue (Globe Pequot) and hosted a book party at the club. (Editor’s note: This writer contributed a short essay to the book.) “It has been my job to present the music as best as I could,” said Phelps at that gathering.
It’s fair to say that almost any national or regional club-level artist touring the Northeast from the late 1970s onward has been welcomed at Toad’s Place. While the walls of Toad’s Place may not talk, they are emblazoned with the names of acts that played the club early in their careers. Among many others: U2, R.E.M., Meat Loaf, Michael Bolton (a native of New Haven), Ramones, Talking Heads, Pat Benatar, Joe Jackson and Huey Lewis & the News, whose lead singer told the book’s authors: “We love that joint.”
Phelps says Toad’s Place had survived through the decades thanks to the club’s willingness to evolve with tastes in music and the desires of fans. Paintings on the walls commemorate appearances by Kanye West in 2004, Drake in 2009, Iggy Azalea in 2013 and three bookings of Cardi B in 2016 and 2017. In the past year, the club has presented artists as varied as revered rocker Jack White, former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach and country singer Lauren Watkins.
Originally opened by the late Mike Spoerndle and two partners, Toad’s Place began booking national club acts in 1976 with the help of well-connected musician and agent Peter Menta — and, from 1977 onward, with help from promoter Jim Koplik, who is now Live Nation’s regional president of Connecticut and upstate New York.
On Aug. 25, 1978, Koplik had booked Springsteen to play the since-demolished New Haven Coliseum area. After the show, Springsteen stopped by Toad’s Place to jam with John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band. The club’s reputation was growing, thanks to the savvy of in-house bookers Lucy Sabini and her successor, Katherine Blossom.
By the summer of 1980, in the wake of the multi-platinum success of The Stranger, Billy Joel had become an arena-packing superstar, when he chose to play two nights at Toad’s Place to record tracks for his Songs in the Attic live album.
But the most remarkable night at Toad’s Place took place at the end of that decade, in August 1989. Beach recalled hearing a message on his home answering machine tipping him off to a hot booking at the club. Others had been told the event was a birthday party for Koplik. A local band, Sons of Bob, were on the bill that night.
On Aug. 12, 1989, The Rolling Stones took the stage at Toad’s Place in front of just 600-something dazed fans at Toad’s Place. The band, which had been rehearsing for their Steel Wheels tour in Washington, Conn., played an 11-song set that opened with “Start Me Up,” closed with “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” and featured the first live performance of “Mixed Emotions.”
Less than a year later, Dylan, also warming up for a concert tour, gave a marathon performance at Toad’s Place on Jan. 12, 1990, playing for four hours and 20 minutes in multiple sets, granting the request of an audience member to cover Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark,” and concluding with “Like a Rolling Stone” at 2:20 a.m.
In the book, Beach quotes Billboard touring editor Dave Brooks, who cites a handful of clubs nationwide that have survived as long as Toad’s Place, like the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, N.J.; First Avenue in Minneapolis; the Troubadour in West Hollywood; and the Iron Horse in Northampton, Mass.
“I think the main thing that has kept them open all these years is staff or current ownership who feel a sense of guardianship, and strive to protect these venues because of their cultural and historical impact on popular music,” said Brooks.
Phelps managed Toad’s Place from 1976 to 1985, then became a partner with Spoerndle and subsequently took over ownership of the club. But at the 2021 book party, Phelps praised the role of his former mentor and partner in launching Toad’s Place. “Big Mike” Spoerndle earned his nickname with his size, his appetites, his lifestyle, his charisma and his generosity; he became “the soul of Toad’s,” Koplik told the book’s authors.
But Spoerndle also struggled for years with substance abuse. For those familiar with the onstage history of Toad’s Place, the book’s deeply reported chapter on Spoerndle, his upbringing and the roots of his addictions is the emotional heart of the Toad’s Place story. On May 6, 2011, Spoerndle, then 59, was found dead at his home — and the cause of death was later given as poly-substance abuse and kidney failure.
When the pandemic struck, Toad’s Place was forced to close for months, “shut up like a damn morgue,” a Yale student said at the time. Phelps turned to savings, the federal Paycheck Protection Program — and, at the time of the book’s completion, was awaiting additional help from the Shuttered Venues Operators Grant, which Congress passed in December 2020.
Reflecting in the book on the pandemic and its aftermath, Phelps writes: “We will survive. We have a destiny in front of us!”
Snoop Dogg has been feeling the backlash after his performance at the Crypto Ball at Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this month, and he appeared to clap back at the haters during a recent Instagram Live.
Snoop seemingly addressed the comments on Sunday (Jan. 26) while sitting in a car and sparking up. “It’s Sunday I got gospel in my heart,” he said in a video posted to his Instagram. “For all the hate I’m going to answer with love, I love too much.”
He continued to fire: “Get your life right, stop worrying about mine. I’m cool. I’m together. Still a Black man. Still 100 percent Black. All out ’til you ball out or ’til you fall out.”
Snoop wasn’t the only rapper in attendance, as Rick Ross and Soulja Boy also pulled up to the Crypto Ball in Washington, D.C., while Nelly performed at the Liberty Ball on Jan. 20.
He’s seen plenty of vitriol in his comments section on social media, as many have called him a “sellout.”
Over the weekend, Snoop addressed how he deals with the negativity while joining the R&B Money Podcast.
“You ‘gon deal with hate when you get to the top, no matter who you are. How do you deal with that hate? Do you answer it with hate, or do you answer with love and success?” he said. “Me, personally, I answer it with success and love. That’s my answer to any hate and negativity that comes my way, ‘cause it’s the strongest force that can beat it.”
Actor Marlon Wayans also came to the Death Row legend’s defense during a recent interview with 101.1’s The Wiz. “I know Snoop, and I know Snoop has always been a real one … I’m not gonna allow for public skewering,” Wayans said.
Snoop Dogg was previously very critical of Donald Trump, and he appeared to change his tune following Trump’s pardoning of Death Row co-founder Michael ‘Harry O’ Harris, who was behind bars on attempted murder and cocaine trafficking charges, before the twice-impeached president left the White House at the end of his first term.
“That’s great work for the president and his team on the way out,” Snoop Dogg reportedly said in 2021. “They did some great work while they was in there and they did some great work on their way out. Let them know that I love what they did.”
More recently, Snoop stated he had “nothing but love and respect for Donald Trump” during an interview with the U.K.’s Sunday Times.