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11 Jan 2023

Marco Carola, Camelphat, Francesca Lombardo & Gordo Lead Lineup for Saint Martin’s SXM Festival 2023

As festival season — or at least the season of festival lineups dropping — moves into high gear, the Caribbean destination fest SXM Festival has announced its 2023 artist roster.

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Touching down on the island of Saint Martin/Sint Maarten this March 8-12 will be a high-caliber posse of house and techno stars including Marco Carola, DJ Tennis and Carlita performing together as Astra Club, a set from Francesca Lombardo, Dubfire Yokoo, Camelphat Mochaak and Gordo, the artist formerly known as Carnage. (The latter three were also included on Tuesday’s 2023 Coachella lineup.)

Since launching in 2016, SXM has drawn fans from more than 35 countries. The five-day festival happens at locations throughout the island, a territory of both France and The Netherlands, in venues including a private jungle and beach area, a villa and a beach club. Additionally, limited capacity “satellite” events will take place on the peak of Sint Maarten’s highest mountain at sunset, along with a boat party cruising through the Caribbean’s largest lagoon and a catamaran cruise.

In 2017, after the island was devastated by Hurricane Irma — which left an estimated 95% of the French side of the island destroyed — SXM organizers collected more than $38,000 for the relief effort. The event was one of the few festivals to happen in 2020 before the pandemic shut down the live events space, and after a postponed 2021 event also due to the pandemic, returned to Saint Martin/Sint Maarten in 2022.

The love for its island home continue through SXM’s focus on leaving a smaller footprint and helping replenish the area’s natural environments via initiatives that include going paperless, saving energy with LED and solar lights, and eliminating plastic waste throughout the festival.

Tickets for SXM Festival 2023 are on sale now.

SXM Festival

11 Jan 2023

Taylor Swift Was Kinda Sorta at the 2023 Golden Globes

She’s a mastermind! Taylor Swift may not have been in the room at the 2023 Golden Globes held at the Beverly Hilton on Tuesday (Jan. 10), but her presence was still felt in the awards show’s choice of music.

Ryan Murphy was the evening’s recipient of the prestigious Carol Burnett Award, which the Hollywood Foreign Press Association gives to honor “outstanding and lasting contributions to television on or off the screen,” and as he walked to the podium to accept the trophy, Swift’s Midnights closer “Mastermind” could be heard playing over the cheers of Hollywood’s best-dressed glitterati.

“Once upon a time the planets and the fates/ And all the stars aligned/ You and I ended up in the same room/ At the same time/ And the touch of a hand lit the fuse,” the superstar’s voice can be heard before the American Horror Story and Pose creator began his acceptance speech.

After accepting the award from frequent collaborator Billy Porter, Murphy offered a nearly 10-minute speech shouting out LGBTQ+ trailblazers he’s worked with over the years, including Porter, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Niecy Nash, Matt Bomer and Jeremy Pope.

“When I was a young person at home in the ’70s, watching The Carol Burnett Show, I never, ever saw a person like me getting an award or even being a character on a TV show,” he said. “It’s hard being an LGBTQ kid in America. In fact, all over the world then and now. And I have one word for you: Florida. You are often told you will never become anything, you have to hide your light to survive. But for those kids watching tonight, I offer up MJ and Billy and Niecy and Matt and Jeremy as examples of possibility.”

Swift was nominated in the best original song, motion picture category for her track “Carolina” from Where the Crawdads Sing alongside fellow nominees Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Tems. However, all the superstars were ultimately beat out by Chandrabose and M.M. Keeravaani’s “Naatu Naatu” from RRR.

Watch Swift’s “Mastermind” help soundtrack Murphy’s big Golden Globes moment below.

11 Jan 2023

Tip Tok Chef Way Gets Deep Fried After Old Misogynoir Tweets Resurface

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Chef Way

Source: chefway__ / Instagram

A popular Tik Tok food slinger, is getting dragged for all the filth after some heinous tweets he dropped years ago resurfaced. The hateful messages from Chef Way has the guy on the brink of cancelation, and he has no one to blame but himself.

The man born Waymond Wesley is getting deep fried on social media after misogynistic tweets he let loose back around 2014 and 2015 resurfaced (the user name at the time was WayMoTheGod), and it’s looking ugly, for him. The tweets featured hateful, colorist messages aimed at Black women in particular.

Of course, you knew the too little, too late, you only did it because you got caught apology was forthcoming.

“To those I’ve hurt with my past tweets that have resurfaced, I am deeply sorry,” he tweeted. “That was a moment in my life where I was sick in more ways than one. Cooking saved me. You have watched a flawed man heal. I will continue to heal and learn. Thanks for being along for the journey.”

But Chef Way’s suspect, cooking healed me apology and only added gas to the fire, and now he is getting fried.

Even the guy’s momma took to Twitter to call out her son’s tomfoolery.

It also turns out that Chef Way is a prosecutor with the Harris County DA’s office in Tecas, and there are calls for his firing (which hasn’t happened).

After the well-deserved backlash, brands affiliated with Chef Way started canceling their reservations…sorry, too easy.

Check out more of the slander being hurled in Chef Way’s direction in the gallery. Should he be shown some grace, or is he getting all he deserves? Let us know what you think in the comments.

1. Good luck indeed.

2. Bruh…

4. Where is the lie?

10. Never forget.

11 Jan 2023

He Still Got It: Eddie Murphy Drops Epic Will Smith Joke During Golden Globes Acceptance Speech

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Eddie Murphy Proves He Still Got It With Superb Will Smith Joke

Source: Amy Sussman / Getty / Eddie Murphy

Yes, we’re over the Will Smith slap, but dammit, we can’t be mad at a well-timed joke about it from the GOAT, Eddie Murphy.

Only Eddie Murphy could mention the infamous slap seen worldwide into 2023, and it not be a cringeworthy moment. The legendary stand-up comedian /actor made a joke about the moment Will Smith slapped Chris Rock while delivering his speech after accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award during Wednesday night’s Golden Globe Awards.

Murphy, the elder statesman in his craft, gave the Hollywood newbies in the building some sound advice to close out his speech.

“I want to let you know that there is a definitive blueprint that you can follow to achieve success, prosperity, longevity, and piece of mind,” Murphy began. “It’s a blueprint, and I’ve followed it my whole career. It’s very simple. There’s three things: Pay your taxes, mind your business, and keep Will Smith’s wife’s name out your f–cking mouth.”

Twitter Loved The Eddie Murphy Moment

The joke became an instant viral moment on Twitter, with viewers praising Murphy for his knack of knowing when to drop a well-timed joke that no one was expecting.

“Eddie Murphy would be the only person to make a Will Smith joke that was actually funny LOL,” journalist Sylvia Obell wrote in a tweet. 

But if you think that was some shade towards Will Smith or his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, pump your breaks. He loves the couple, noting he did work with Pinkett speaking with Entertainment Tonight in an interview following the awards show.

If you were one of those people wondering if Eddie Murphy still got it, he answered your question, proving that he can still pull a joke out of nowhere.

You can see more reactions to Eddie Murphy’s Golden Globes moment in the gallery below.

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Photo: Amy Sussman / Getty

2. It was perfect

4. Solid career advice

11 Jan 2023

Harry Styles Sues Over Fake Merch On the Internet, Says He Must Protect ‘Unknowing’ Fans

Harry Styles is on the legal offensive to combat fake merch on the internet.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Chicago federal court, the pop star sued a number of online sellers for allegedly violating his intellectual property rights by selling counterfeit merchandise to unsuspecting Harry fans.

Arguing that the counterfeiters use misleading tactics to make it “difficult for consumers to distinguish such stores from an authorized retailer,” attorneys for Styles want a judge to issue a sweeping court order that would, among other things, force big web platforms like Amazon and Etsy (who are not named as defendants) to immediately shut down the listings.

“Plaintiff is forced to file this action to combat defendants’ counterfeiting of its registered trademarks, as well as to protect unknowing consumers from purchasing counterfeit products over the Internet,” the star’s lawyers wrote.

In bringing the case, Styles is employing an anti-counterfeiting tactic that’s frequently used by big brands to fight fakes on the internet.

Such cases, filed against huge lists of URLs rather than actual people, allow brands to shut pirate sites down en masse, win court orders to freeze their assets, and continue to kill new sites if they pop up. The lawsuits also usually result in massive monetary judgments against the sellers, but those are typically hard to actually collect from elusive counterfeiters.

Notably, the counterfeiters that Styles is targeting in the lawsuit are not currently disclosed, because such lawsuits are designed to take them by surprise: “If defendants were to learn of these proceedings prematurely, the likely result would be the destruction of relevant documentary evidence and the hiding or transferring of assets to foreign jurisdictions,” the pop star’s lawyers told the judge.

Such lawsuits are more common among big retails brands — Nike, Ray-Ban, Toyota and Tommy Hilfiger have all filed nearly-identical cases in the past two months — but the music industry also regularly uses the same tactic. Nirvana sued nearly 200 sites for selling fake gear in January; a few months later, the late rapper XXXTentacion’s company filed a similar case.

In his lawsuit, Styles claimed the counterfeiters are mostly located in China, or in “other foreign jurisdictions with lax trademark enforcement system.” And he claimed they used sophisticated methods to target fans searching for Harry’s merch while avoiding detection, including “multiple fictitious aliases” and the use of meta tags.

“Tactics used by defendants to conceal their identities and the full scope of their operation make it virtually impossible for plaintiff to learn defendants’ true identities and the exact interworking of their counterfeit network,” the star’s attorneys wrote.

11 Jan 2023

Austin Butler Responds to Comments He Talks Like Elvis at Golden Globes: ‘I Don’t Think I Sound Like Him Still’

People are talking about how Austin Butler is talking. At the Golden Globes Tuesday (Jan. 10), however, the 31-year-old actor responded to comments regarding how his voice has changed since playing The King in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic, specifically addressing those who have been poking fun at him in recent months for supposedly keeping up the deep Southern drawl he learned for the movie long after it wrapped.

“I don’t think I sound like him still,” he said in the awards show’s press room after winning best actor, drama motion picture for his performance in Elvis. “But I guess I must because I hear it a lot. I often liken it to when somebody lives in another country for a long time.”

“I had three years where that was my only focus in life, so I’m sure there’s just pieces of my DNA that will always be linked to him,” he added.

It’s not the first time Butler has addressed comments on his post-Elvis speech patterns. In December, he joked about his voice change during his opening monologue while hosting Saturday Night Live, and in June, he spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the matter. “At this point, I keep asking people, ‘Is this my voice?’ Because this feels like my real … it’s one of those things where certain things trigger it, and other times as well it’s, I don’t know,” he said.

One night prior to the Globes, the Carrie Diaries star appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live and shed some light on the intensive process he underwent to prepare for his portrayal of the late rock n’ roll legend, which included reconstructing the way he spoke. He even spent hours learning to chuckle exactly like Elvis did by listening to audio compilations of the “Hound Dog” singer’s laughter.

“I’d walk down the beach for hours with a headphone in, laughing as Elvis,” he recalled. “So it looked like [I was] this man, just absolutely out of his mind.”

Watch Austin Butler address comments about his Elvis voice at the Golden Globes below:

11 Jan 2023

Selena Gomez Takes Little Sister Gracie as Her Date to the 2023 Golden Globes

Selena Gomez walked the Golden Globes red carpet Tuesday (Jan. 10) with a very special date on her arm — her 9-year-old sister, Gracie Elliott Teefey. The little girl is her youngest sibling, whom she shares through mother Mandy Teefey and stepfather Brian Teefey.

Gomez appeared on the carpet in a stunning black Valentino Haute Couture gown with purple puff sleeves. The singer-actress embraced and hugged Gracie, who wore a sparkling pale yellow gown carried an equally glittering purse, as they made their way into The Beverly Hilton, where the ceremony was held.

The sisters’ night at the Globes is just the latest in several outings they’ve had in recent weeks. The Only Murders in the Building actress shared photos of her celebrating Nicola Peltz Beckham’s birthday with a dinner on Jan. 8, in which Teefey was in attendance. And on Jan. 6, Gomez shared on Instagram that the sister duo had a girls night — just the two of them — when they wore matching all-black outfits.

The Rare Beauty founder nabbed her very first Golden Globe best actress in a TV series comedy or musical nomination for her portrayal of Mabel Mora in the hit Hulu comedy series Only Murders in the Building opposite Steve Martin and Martin Short. She previously shared a throwback video of an old interview to celebrate, in which she claimed that she saw herself as “more of a Golden Globe or Oscar girl” than having her heart set on winning a Grammy.

Gomez lost out on the Golden Globe to Abbott Elementary‘s Quinta Brunson.

11 Jan 2023

Jerrod Carmichael Praised For Golden Globes Monologue, Twitter Noticed Crowd Discomfort

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Jerrod Carmichael made history by becoming the first Black person to host the Golden Globe Awards and opened with a blistering monologue that some believe made many of the attendees uncomfortable. During his opening monologue, the comedian checked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and its checkered past regarding diversity in a brilliant fashion that has Twitter chiming in with comments.

Jerrod Carmichael wasted no time in taking aim at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization that puts on the Golden Globe Awards. Prior to 2021, the HFPA was criticized openly for not having any Black members on its board and not since 2002 according to reports. Carmichael, using his signature conversations standup style of delivery, addressed the massive elephant in the room by noting that he was only invited to host the show because he’s Black.

“I’ll tell you why I’m here. I’m here ’cause I’m Black. I”ll tell you what’s been going on,” Carmichael began. “This show, the Golden Globe Awards, did not air last year because the Hollywood Foreign Press Association….which I won’t say were a racist organization, but they didn’t have a single Black member until George Floyd died. So do with that information what you will. I”ll tell you how I got here.”

From there, Carmichael kept delivering shots that were veiled but obviously directed at the HFPA and some of its members. He also mentioned how he got the job after receiving a call from veteran producer Stephen Hill, who is also Black and was part of the running bit. As the camera panned into the crowd, many attendees, including Brad Pitt and Anthony Mackie among others, seemingly couldn’t believe what they were hearing on the grand stage.

Some on Twitter did find that Carmichael went over the line, especially with a joke about the late Whitney Houston that didn’t go over well. That said, some on social media believe Carmicheal’s hosting gig is a one-and-done and if that’s true, what a way to go out.

On Twitter, Jerrod Carmichael and his painfully honest monologue are garnering plenty of praise. Check out those reactions below.



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Photo: CHRIS DELMAS / Getty

11 Jan 2023

Gunna Posts First Pic Since Pleading Guilty in YSL Case, Says ‘Only One Side’ to Story

Gunna celebrated being home on Tuesday (Jan. 10) in his first pic since being released from jail after pleading guilty on Dec. 14 in the closely-watched criminal case against Young Thug and the other alleged members of an Atlanta gang.

The “Too Easy” rapper born Sergio Kitchens posted a snap in which he sits alone in a high-ceilinged living room on a white couch alongside a pointed message about the case. “N—as acting like they switching to a side But it’s only one side,” he wrote, while shouting out the YSL label and adding a plea to #FreeThug&Yak while proclaiming “GUNNA BACC!!!!!”

After spending most of the year in jail, Gunna stressed upon his release that he was not cooperating with prosecutors, with his lawyer noting that the 29-year-old MC had taken an Alford plea, which allows a defendant to enter a formal admission of guilt while still maintaining their innocence. In technical terms, Gunna pleaded guilty to a single charge against him and was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released because he was credited with one year of time served and the rest of the sentence was suspended.

“While I have agreed to always be truthful, I want to make it perfectly clear that I have NOT made any statements, have NOT been interviewed, have NOT cooperated, have NOT agreed to testify or be a witness for or against any party in the case and have absolutely NO intention of being involved in the trial process in any way,” the rapper said at the time of his release.

Gunna and Young Thug were indicted in May 2022, along with dozens of others, on accusations that their group YSL was not really a record label called “Young Stoner Life,” but a violent Atlanta street gang called “Young Slime Life”; both men were arrested and locked up in May 2022. The charges include allegations of murder, carjacking, armed robbery, drug dealing and illegal firearm possession over the past decade.

Young Thug and many others are set to stand trial on those charges in January.

See Gunna’s post below.

11 Jan 2023

50 Best Rappers of All Time (First 10 Revealed)

The Greatest of All Time, a.k.a. the GOAT. That’s a distinguished — and also contentious — honor when it comes to ranking who or what is the ultimate best, whether you’re talking films, TV shows, restaurants or any other subject.

In early 2023, Billboard/Vibe is ranking the Top 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time as part of our salute to this year’s golden anniversary of hip-hop. (The genre dates back to 1973, when DJ Kool Herc first set up his two turntables to rock a Bronx party.) The rollout begins with today’s (Jan. 11) reveal of the rappers ranked 50-41. Each succeeding week, 10 more rappers will be unveiled as we move further up the list. Then the final top 10 will be announced during the week of Feb. 6.

In determining these rankings, the Billboard and Vibe editorial teams opted first to limit the rap arena to North America. So for example, as estimable as his career is, British rapper Slick Rick isn’t on this list. We also opted not to include the significant contributions of reggaetón and dancehall MCs on this list, just to keep our pool of nominees a little more focused.

From there, the teams took into account the following criteria, not in any particular order: body of work/achievements (charted singles/albums, gold/platinum certifications), cultural impact/influence (how artist’s work fostered the genre’s evolution), longevity (years at the mic), lyrics (storytelling skills) and flow (vocal prowess).

As is well-known, GOAT and similar best-of lists always draw their share of criticism and praise from industry pundits and the public alike. So it took a lot of deliberation and deep discussion to reason our way to what we believe is a well-thought-out, authentic list that reflects hip-hop’s foundational pioneers, evolutionary trailblazers and contemporary mainstays. In addition, that mix also encompasses 50 years of cultural milestones for a genre initially dismissed as a passing fad — and now recognized as the industry’s market share leader.

Let’s reveal Nos. 50-41 of Billboard/Vibe’s Top 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time … and let the debate begin.