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Three Black Memphis police officers were acquitted on charges of beating and killing Tyre Nichols after a 2023 traffic stop went awry. The news of the acquittal has spread widely, sparking anger online and abroad as the family of Tyre Nichols continues to seek justice for their loved one.
As reported by the Associated Press, former Memphis Police Department officers Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, and Justin Smith were all acquitted on state charges, including second-degree murder, in the death of Tyre Nichols. Nichols was 29 at the time of his passing.
According to the report, jurors from a majority-white county viewed evidence over two days and found the officers not guilty on all charges. The nine-day trial took place in Memphis’ state court. The aforementioned officers are still facing federal charges, with the most serious charges there dropped as well. Emmitt Martin, another former officer, pleaded guilty in both state and federal court and was pegged by defense attorneys as the ringleader of the aggression that ended Nichols’ life.
Nichols was stopped by officers on Jan. 7, 2023, and fled on foot after officers reportedly pulled him out of the car and used a Taser and pepper spray. The five Memphis police officers chased him down and savagely beat Nichols, who was just steps away from his house and calling for his mother to help. Officers were seen on video laughing and carrying on normal conversations as Nichols suffered from his injuries. He eventually died on Jan. 10.
On X, many are voicing their disappointment in the acquittal at the state level for the former officers. We’ve got those reactions listed below.
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Photo: The Washington Post / Getty
Usher has jokingly apologized to Sabrina Carpenter’s dad following a viral photo from the 2025 Met Gala that showed the R&B star feeding the “Espresso” singer a cherry during his performance. “Apologies Mr Carpenter,” Usher commented Wednesday (May 7) on Carpenter’s Instagram post in apparent tongue-in-cheek fashion alongside sweating and cherry emojis. The apology was […]
EarthPercent, the organization co-founded by Brian Eno that works to take on climate change, has hired five new U.S. board members.
This group includes sustainability consultant and former vp of creative at Kobalt Music Emily Bines, YouTube’s manager of artist partnerships Courtney Marr, Los Angeles city council senior communications advisor Dae Levine, Warner Music Group’s new business & ventures rep Michael Delle Donne and longtime industry exec Harry Poloner, who will be the board’s U.S. chairman. Bines will serve as board treasurer, Levine as secretary and Marr and Dalle Donne as members.
“Music has the power to drive real change, and at EarthPercent, we’re using that power to take action on the climate crisis,” Poloner tells Billboard. “I’m honored to serve as board chairman in the U.S. and help mobilize the music industry to protect our planet.”
“We’re very honored to welcome such a strong and driven group to EarthPercent’s U.S. Board,” adds EarthPercent’s co-executive director Joel Gardner. “Their collective passion, experience and stewardship will be instrumental as we further grow our presence and impact across the states.”
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Founded in 2021, EarthPercent raises awareness and funding for climate initiatives — both in the U.S. and globally — by empowering artists and the broader industry to take meaningful action on real environmental solutions. Funding is achieved by getting artists and industry members to pledge a small portion of their income to the organization, which in turn directs it to climate-related projects. Funding also comes via partnerships, merch collaborations and individual fundraisers.
The project, which was also co-founded by music managers Adam Callan and Hiroki Shirasuka, has received support from approximately 300 artists and 50 industry organizations and raised approximately $2 million over the last four years. EarthPercent is also a partner of Sounds Right, the cross-DSP playlist that incorporates nature sounds into tracks and directs of a percent of each song’s royalties to conservation projects. “EarthPercent makes it easy for industry and artists to support the earth through music,”” Gardner continues, “and in our first four years we’ve made a real difference to some of the most impactful climate and biodiversity projects around the world.
“This is thanks to nearly 300 artists and 50 industry organizations joining us through pledges in their tours, records and publishing — collectively raising over $2 million. These new appointments are a really positive and exciting next step to further build our movement and unite the power of music in service of the planet.”
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One of the culture’s biggest voices is looking to help the new generation of storytellers. Kai Cenat has launched the Streamer University.
As spotted on Hypebeast, the Brooklyn, New York, native is embarking on a new initiative. On Tuesday (May 7), he announced Streamer University. The project will invite content creators from all walks of life to take courses on how they can advance their skills and better give their respective brands a point of difference. As expected the announcement was presented via a skit. The video, which is inspired by the popular movie Harry Potter series, finds Cenat traveling to recruit an upcoming personality to the school. He expressed his enthusiasm in an accompanying Instagram post.
“I’m excited to extend to you a most heartfelt welcome to the very first class of Streamer University,” he said. “Here, you will find a school where chaos is encouraged and content is king. I look forward to seeing you all on campus for our first-ever semester.”
Kai Cenat originally teased the initiative back in February during a Twitch livestream. “I’m going to rent out a university over a course of a weekend. It will be streaming university. Okay? I’m going to rent it out.” He went on to add that he hoped to have Mr. Beast and Mark Rober teach courses. The Streamer University website further details the spirit of the educational institution. “Streamers of all backgrounds will have the opportunity to showcase their personalities as students, alongside both unrealized, upcoming and well-established creators,” the statement read.
Enrollment for Streamer University is open now. You can read more about the opportunity here.
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The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., is experiencing one of its most turbulent periods in its nearly nine years of existence and is currently without leadership after its executive director stepped down. The institution’s recent targeting by President Donald Trump over what his administration deems are “divisive” exhibits has raised concerns among advocates and observers. “Our opponents are trying to erase Black history, Black voices and Black lives,” said African American Policy Forum executive director Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw in an interview.Kevin Young was serving as the director of the NMAAHC until his resignation in early April, just as Trump issued an executive order entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which took aim at the Smithsonian and the NMAAHC in particular as having “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.” Young, who had been in the position since 2021, had actually been on leave since March 14. Unnamed sources had expressed that some felt that the position was too complex for Young, who had previously served as the head of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York, and is still the poetry editor for the New Yorker.
Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, however, praised Young’s work in making the NMAHHC more accessible for all during his tenure, citing recent exhibits such as one on Afrofuturism and design and a major exhibition on slavery, “In Slavery’s Wake,” which will travel to Europe, South America and Africa over the course of the year. In an internal memo, Bunch reiterated the intent to continue the museum’s mission, writing that “we remain committed to telling the multifaceted stories of this country’s extraordinary heritage.”Many in the Black community, led by Black churches, have rallied behind the NMAAHC through organizing rallies and fundraising drives as the Trump administration has debated whether to withhold federal funding. There have been reports of the administration removing exhibits from the museum such as parts of the Woolworth’s lunch counter from the sit-ins of the Civil Rights Era being removed, but those would be proven as inaccurate by Smithsonian leadership. Other items returned to those who donated them to the NMAAHC were explained as having been returned due to the end of their being leased to the museum.
Sleep Token nabs its third No. 1 in a row on Billboard’s Hot Hard Rock Songs chart, bowing atop the May 10-dated survey with “Damocles.”
In the week ending May 1, “Damocles” earned 8.9 million official U.S. streams and sold 2,000 downloads, according to Luminate.
Its No. 1 coronation follows three-week reigns each for the band’s “Caramel” (April 19-May 3) and “Emergence” (March 29-April 12).
In fact, Sleep Token has now replaced itself twice on Hot Hard Rock Songs, having led for the past seven weeks. That’s the first time any act has done so with three different songs since the ranking began in June 2020. Previously, Linkin Park accomplished the feat with two songs; “The Emptiness Machine” reigned between Sept. 21, 2024, and Feb. 8, followed by a one-week lead for “Heavy Is the Crown” (Feb. 15) before “The Emptiness Machine” returned to No. 1.
Sleep Token becomes the sixth act with at least three No. 1s on Hot Hard Rock Songs, following Foo Fighters and HARDY (also three), Linkin Park (four) and Bring Me the Horizon and Falling in Reverse (six apiece).
It also becomes the first act to hold the entire top three of the chart (as “Caramel” and “Emergence” rank at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, on the latest tally) since Linkin Park did so on the Nov. 30, 2024, list.
Concurrently, “Damocles” also bows at No. 1 on Hard Rock Streaming Songs and Hard Rock Digital Song Sales, Sleep Token’s third leader on both.
“Damocles” starts at No. 11 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs ranking, and on the all-format Billboard Hot 100, it begins at No. 47.
“Damocles” is the latest taste of Even in Arcadia, Sleep Token’s fourth studio album, out May 9 via RCA.
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Now that the world is about to see A$AP Rocky get his acting on alongside Denzel Washington in Spike Lee’s upcoming joint Highest 2 Lowest, we’re learning that the Harlem rapper has been trying to break through on the cinema scene for quite some time, and he tried to enter the world of Star Wars not too long ago by auditioning for the role of a fan favorite character.
In a new interview with Variety, the “RIOT” rapper revealed that he’d been trying to break through in Hollywood for quite some time. Though he was a standout character in the underrated 2015 film, DOPE, A$AP tried to get in front of a bigger audience when it came time to cast the role of Lando Calrissian for Disney’s Star Wars spinoff, Solo: A Star Wars Story. But even Rocky admits that when it came time to show casting what he was made of, he just didn’t have it that day.
Per Variety:
I auditioned for “Star Wars” — for Lando — and my audition was trash. I was trash that day. My man Childish Gambino [Donald Glover] was a way better Lando than I would’ve provided at that time. And I think he looked a little more like [Billy Dee Williams] than me.
Would you do it again? Do you dream of wielding a lightsaber?
Hell, yeah.
Who knows, maybe Disney will decide to explore the origins of Jedi master, Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) and A$AP could audition for that role if anything. We wouldn’t be mad at that.
Approaching his acting gigs like a true professional, A$AP Rocky seems determined to be taken seriously as an actor and explained that he considers himself a method actor who embodies whatever characteristics his role calls for even if it means taking that persona back home at the end of the day.
From Variety:
“It’s being alone in your trailer, looking in the mirror, embodying that person. When you’re not on the set, or when you clock out, you’re still embodying that character. Around the beginning of shooting, my family was still in California, so I got to really be this guy and go home [as him]. When my family finally came to New York in late May, we were almost wrapped, and I had to be in daddy mode. I had to shift back and forth.”
We’re not sure if the Star Wars universe is prepared for its first Jedi with gold fronts, but we know we are. Heck, we’ve been ready for such a character since the 90s. George Lucas really dropped the ball on that one. Then again, there were rumors that Tupac Shakur was supposed to be cast as Mace Windu in Star Wars: Episode 1 before his untimely death, so we can’t be too mad at George Lucas for trying.
What do y’all think of A$AP Rocky maybe one day being a part of the Star Wars universe? What color lightsaber would y’all like to see him rock? Let us know in the comments section below.
Sabrina Carpenter had the best reaction when a person online wasn’t too please please pleased with her 2025 Met Gala look.
In a post on X Wednesday (May 7) — two days after she walked the red carpet at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art for this year’s event — the pop star hilariously responded to a critic who’d written that her leggy Louis Vuitton jumpsuit was a “perfect example of how dressing against your body type can go horribly wrong.”
“The stuffy collar is making her neck look constricted and short,” the person had added. “Not to mention, the sleeves look very stuffy, and the tailoring is completely off, so removing the sleeves shifts focus back to her waist.”
Suggesting that Carpenter should have removed the sleeves of her brown suit jacket and added a jumpsuit and pinstriped pants to the look, the critic also shared an edited photo rendering what they thought the “Espresso” singer should have worn instead — after which Carpenter reshared the post on her own account with her reaction.
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“damn i f–ked up..” the Grammy winner joked.
But even though you can’t make everyone happy, Carpenter’s look Monday (May 5) was a favorite of many people’s (and Billboard‘s). Featuring a white collar and long coattails that trailed behind her, the look was designed by LV Men’s Creative Director Pharrell Williams, who also co-chaired the 2025 Met alongside A$AP Rocky, Colman Domingo and Lewis Hamilton.
“I’m a massive fan of Pharrell and have been to the [Louis Vuitton] show, and I was just like, ‘If I could go this year with him, that would be my dream,’” she told Vogue on the Met red carpet Monday. “And it came true! And he was like, ‘You’re quite short, so no pants for you.’ So here we are!”
The night marked Carpenter’s third Met, with the Girl Meets World alum first attending in 2022. Two years later, she attended once again and posed on the red carpet with then-boyfriend Barry Keoghan.
In the year since, the “Taste” musician has scored her first-ever No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with Short n’ Sweet, which dropped in August. She spent much of the fall and early months of 2025 touring in support of the album, first in North America followed by Europe.
iHeartRadio is facing a class-action lawsuit from subscribers after disclosing that several of its radio stations were hacked months ago, exposing Social Security numbers, financial information and other personal details.
The lawsuit came a week after the radio giant warned customers in regulatory filings last week that “an unauthorized actor viewed and obtained files” at a “small number of our local stations” in December, potentially stealing SSNs, dates of birth, and credit card info.
iHeart said it “immediately implemented our response protocols” to contain the hack, and is offering free credit monitoring to those affected. The company also said it had “strengthened its existing security measures” to “help prevent something like this from happening again.”
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Those assurances were not enough for Cheryl Shields, a subscriber who filed a proposed class action against iHeart on Wednesday in New York federal court, seeking to represent customers nationwide whose data was compromised. In doing so, her attorneys blasted iHeart for waiting four months to warn subscribers that their data was at risk.
“As a result of this delayed response, plaintiff and class members had no idea for four months that their private information had been compromised, and that they were, and continue to be, at significant risk of identity theft and various other forms of personal, social, and financial harm,” Shield’s lawyers write. “The risk will remain for their respective lifetimes.”
The data exposed in the iHeart breach “represents a gold mine for data thieves,” the lawyers write, and there has been “no assurance offered by iHeart that all personal data or copies of data have been recovered or destroyed.”
A spokesperson for iHeart did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday.
Such lawsuits are common following data breaches. After the credit-reporting company Equifax suffered a 2017 data breach that exposed the personal data of nearly 150 million Americans, the company agreed to pay $425 million to resolve nationwide class-action litigation filed by consumers.
The scale of the iHeart data breach is undoubtedly far smaller. The company did not disclose in regulatory filings how many total victims were involved nationwide, though a notification filed in Maine said only three subscribers in that state had been impacted. Disclosure forms were also filed in California and Massachusetts, as first reported The Record.
In technical legal terms, Wednesday’s lawsuit accused iHeart of negligence, arguing that the company had a legal duty to safeguard consumer’s data.
“As a national media and audio provider in possession of millions of customers’ private information, iHeart knew, or should have known, the importance of safeguarding the
Private Information entrusted to it by Plaintiff and Class Members and of the foreseeable consequences they would suffer if iHeart’s data security systems were breached,” Shields’ lawyers write. “Nevertheless, iHeart failed to take adequate cybersecurity measures to prevent the data breach.”
Ghost’s Skeletá debuts atop a trio of Billboard rock albums charts, including the flagship Top Rock & Alternative Albums survey dated May 10.
The full-length studio set earned 86,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of availability (April 25-May 1), according to Luminate. Of that sum, 77,000 units are via traditional album sales.
The bow of Skeletá atop Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums gives Ghost its fourth No. 1 on both, following the reigns of Impera (2022), Prequelle (2018) and the EP Popestar (2016).
Additionally, its No. 1 on Top Hard Rock Albums is the band’s seventh, with the aforementioned albums joined by 2024’s Rite Here Right Now soundtrack, 2023’s Phantomime EP and 2013’s Infestissumam.
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With seven No. 1s on Top Hard Rock Albums, Ghost moves into a three-way tie for the third-most rulers since the ranking began in 2007, alongside Five Finger Death Punch and Foo Fighters.
Most No. 1s, Top Hard Rock Albums:
9, Linkin Park
8, Pearl Jam
7, Five Finger Death Punch
7, Foo Fighters
7, Ghost
6, Disturbed
6, Korn
6, Nickelback
As previously reported, Skeletá is Ghost’s first No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 and the first hard rock release to top the ranking since AC/DC’s Power Up in 2020.
Concurrently, nine songs from Skeletá‘s 10-tune tracklist dot the multimetric Hot Hard Rock Songs chart, paced by “Peacefield,” which rises 13-4 largely from 2.6 million official U.S. streams and 1,000 downloads.
“Lachryma” and “Satanized” follow, moving 7-10 and holding at No. 11, respectively, though both songs boast higher peaks on the ranking so far — No. 3 (“Satanized” in March, “Lachryma” in April).
The week’s top debut of the group, meanwhile, is “Guiding Lights” at No. 15 (1.1 million streams).
Lead single “Satanized” returns to its previous best of No. 7 (rising one spot) on Mainstream Rock Airplay. Upon its entrance into the top 10, it became Ghost’s 10th top 10 since first appearing on the tally in 2015, including five No. 1s.
