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In an interview, Janet Jackson claimed Kamala Harris isn’t Black and predicted the aftermath of the election. Keep watching to see what she said. Tetris Kelly:Janet Jackson’s rep shut down an apology issued on her behalf after she mistakenly claims Vice President Kamala Harris is not Black. In an interview with The Guardian, a reporter […]
Jane Fonda is a Swiftie. The beloved actress and activist sat down with Rolling Stone recently for a wide-ranging interview on politics, the climate crisis and more. At one point during the discussion, she shared praise for Taylor Swift, who recently endorsed Kamala Harris in the upcoming presidential election. “I think she’s awesome. She’s amazing […]
Macklemore continued his support for the Palestinian people over the weekend when he dropped “Hind’s Hall 2,” the sequel to his May song of the same name whose proceeds are aimed at the United Nations Relief and Words Agency (UNRWA), which provides assistance to Palestinian refugees. He also shouted a provocative slogan calling out the United States during a hometown Seattle show on Saturday at the Palestine Will Live Forever Festival.
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The original song expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people has been updated with new vocals from Gaza-bred rapper MC Abdul, Palestinian-American singer Anees, author Amer Zahr the L.A. Palestinian Kids Choir, Tiffany Wilson and friends and the Lifted! Youth Gospel Choir. In the final verse, the rapper drops a caustic couplet taking aim at Israel’s nearly year-long war in Gaza sparked by the Oct. 7 raid by Hamas militants on Israel that resulted in the killing of more than 1,200 and the kidnapping of more than 250 men, women and children.
“Long live the resistance if there’s something to resist/ Had enough of you motherf–kers murdering little kids/ PC for a minute, I was tryna be a bridge,” the “Thrift Shop” MC raps before lashing out at Democratic presidential candidate and current VP Kamala Harris with a warning about potentially losing the large Arab-American/Muslim vote in Michigan if she continues to administration’s support for Israel.
“But there’ll never be freedom by pleading with Zionists/ World screaming Free Palestine/ We see the manual, we know how you colonized… Hey Kamala, I don’t know if you’re listening/ But stop sending money and weapons, or you ain’t winning in Michigan/ We uncommitted, and hell no we ain’t switching positions/ Because the whole world turned Palestinian,” he raps.
The song also features the antisemitic chant “from the river to the sea/ Palestine will be free,” a phrase the American Jewish Committee says has been a “rallying cry for terrorist groups and their sympathizers… [as well as] a common call-to-arms for pro-Palestinian activists, especially student activists on college campuses. It calls for the establishment of a State of Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, erasing the State of Israel and its people.”
Macklemore took to the stage with his message of solidarity with the Palestinian people and disdain for current American policy in support of Israel’s war against militant group Hamas during the debut performance of “Hind’s Hall 2” at the Palestine Will Live Forever Festival at Seward Park Amphitheatre in his hometown over the weekend.
“Straight up, say it, I’m not gonna stop you,” Macklemore, 41, says in fan video from the show after the crowd shouts unheard slogans at him. “I’m not gonna stop you… yeah, f–k America,” he adds to loud cheers from the audience, later adding “it’s a genocide and it has been since 1948” in reference to the year the state of Israel was established. The original “Hind’s Hall” and its sequel were named in honor of a young girl named Hind Rajab who was killed in Gaza in a shooting Palestinians have blamed on Israeli forces.
At press time a spokesperson for Macklemore had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on his statement at the Seattle show.
Last month, the rapper canceled a planned show in Dubai on Oct. 4 over the UAE’s role in support of the RSF, one of the warring parties in the country’s devastating civil war.
Listen to “Hind’s Hall 2” below.
Janet Jackson questioned Kamala Harris’ race in an interview published by The Guardian on Saturday (Sept. 21).
The interview touched upon the singer’s Together Again Tour, how she’s recorded “a lot of music that’s just sitting on the shelf,” and being a parent. It also shifted to the topic of the upcoming U.S. election, with the reporter noting Americans could elect their first Black, female president: democratic nominee Harris.
“Well, you know what they supposedly said?” Jackson chimed in. “She’s not Black — that’s what I heard, that she’s Indian.”
Added Jackson, “Her father’s white, that’s what I was told. I mean, I haven’t watched the news in a few days. I was told that they discovered her father was white.”
She didn’t elaborate on where she’d heard this information, which is false.
Harris is both Black and Indian. Her father, Donald J. Harris, came to the U.S. from Jamaica. Her mother, the late Shyamala Gopalan, came to the U.S. from India. They both moved to the U.S. to study at the University of California, Berkeley, which is where they met in 1962.
The Guardian approached the topic again with Jackson, asking if she thinks America is ready for a president who is a woman of color.
“I don’t know,” Jackson said. “Honestly, I don’t want to answer that because I really truthfully don’t know. I think either way it goes is going to be mayhem.”
The singer’s quotes about Harris trended on social media, where many fans expressed disappointment in one of their idols repeating misinformation.
“You had the chance to stand with a Black woman loud and proud and you didn’t. This is hard for a lifelong fan,” says a top comment on Jackson’s most recent Instagram post, which was taken over with reactions to what Jackson said about Harris.
On X, formerly Twitter, a post read, “Janet Jackson is one of the most influential people in music history. It was simply irresponsible of her to repeat something she ‘heard’ regarding the very thing that they use against Kamala! Her own race. We are less than 50 days away from the election. We gotta talk smarter!”
Over the summer, Donald Trump brought up Harris’ racial identity at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago, where he claimed, “I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black. So, I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”
At the Sept. 10 presidential debate, Trump said, “All I can say is I read where she was not Black … And then I read that she was Black, and that’s OK. Either one was OK with me. That’s up to her.”
Harris later responded, “Honestly, I think it’s a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be president, who has consistently, over the course of his career, attempted to use race to divide the American people.”
Jackson, according to the reporter behind the The Guardian article, was not feeling well on the day of the interview. She had a cold.
Chappell Roan says she’s been diagnosed with severe depression, but she hasn’t been feeling sad.
The “Good Luck, Babe!” singer-songwriter, just named best new artist at the MTV VMAs, tells The Guardian she’s “in therapy twice a week” while on the road for her Midwest Princess Tour. The trek currently has her in London (Sept. 21), with a stop in Berlin next (Sept. 23) before she returns to the U.S. for a handful of concerts, beginning with the All Things Go Festival in New York City on Sept. 28.
“I went to a psychiatrist last week because I was like, I don’t know what’s going on,” Roan shared with the publication for a profile released on Saturday.
“She diagnosed me with severe depression — which I didn’t think I had because I’m not actually sad,” she said. “But I have every symptom of someone who’s severely depressed.”
Roan’s symptoms have included brain frog, forgetfulness, poor focus and “a very lackluster viewpoint.”
“I think it’s because my whole life has changed,” she said of her current symptoms. “Everything that I really love to do now comes with baggage. If I want to go thrifting, I have to book security and prepare myself that this is not going to be normal. Going to the park, pilates, yoga — how do I do this in a safe way where I’m not going to be stalked or harassed?”
Later in the article, she said that “every time I walk through my front door, it just comes out of me … I can’t even help it, I just start sobbing and either being so angry at myself for choosing this path, or grieving how the curiosity and pure wonder I had about the world is somewhat taken away from me.”
The upside of fame: the opportunity it brings. “I get to feel the energy of other people. It’s so cool to have shows so packed and have so much joy in the room,” she said.
Roan — whose debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200, and who has seen seven songs chart on the Hot 100 in just the past five months — isn’t alone in experiencing complex feelings about fame (“I was warned that it’s going to feel like going through puberty again,” she told The Guardian. “My body does feel different. It’s holding tension in a very different way: I have all these new emotions and I’m really confused”). She’s bonded with peers in the industry over the pressure that comes with such a sudden rise, meeting up with Sabrina Carpenter and texting Lorde for advice.
“We’re both going through something so f—ing hard,” said Roan of Carpenter in a recent Rolling Stone cover story, sharing that the “Espresso” hitmaker “feels like everything is flying, and she’s just barely hanging on.”
Roan has been open about how she’s feeling with fans, too. In August, she penned a statement on Instagram about setting boundaries with those engaging in “predatory behavior (disguised as ‘superfan’ behavior) that has become normalized because of the way women who are well-known have been treated in the past.”
“I embrace the success of the project, the love I feel, and the gratitude I have. What I do not accept are creepy people, being touched, and being followed,” she wrote.
The singer-songwriter, now 26, has also been candid about pre-fame mental health struggles. Roan was diagnosed with bipolar II disorder at age 22.
She described her childhood experience in an interview last year with the University of Southern California’s Daily Trojan: “Being bipolar, I was so depressed as a little kid and so angry. You just think you’re such a bad person, and don’t realize that you’re really sick and need help, and our parents don’t know how to deal with it. I think it’s like rewiring my brain to be like, ‘Actually, you’re a good person, and you’re creating a safe space and music for people to dance to.’”
In 2022, she posted on Instagram about her bipolar II disorder, telling fans “it’s pretty hard to keep it together” and balance work and fan commitments with her therapy schedule. She noted, “I don’t really talk about it much, but it affects me daily and is a pretty big part of my music.” In 2023, she wrote about it again on Instagram: “i am very fortunate and grateful to have my dream job,” she said, but added, “This job is very difficult for me to process and maintain a healthy life & mindset. I already have difficulty regulating my emotions because I have bipolar 2 disorder.”
Read Roan’s latest conversation with The Guardian here. Roan’s upcoming tour dates can be found on her official website.
Donald Trump took to his Truth Social site this week to repost a doctored image of Kamala Harris that implied she attended one of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sexual “freak off” parties. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The photo, shared by TMZ, shows the Vice President and […]
Sean “Diddy” Combs is not in any danger of self-harm despite being placed on a suicide watch as he awaits trial, his representatives tell Billboard.
“Mr. Combs is strong, healthy and focused on his defense,” a spokesperson for the music mogul explains. “He is committed to fighting this case and has full confidence in both his legal team and the truth.”
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The decision to put Diddy on suicide watch is “procedural with high-profile clients,” the insider told NBC News. Sources also told People that the move was a preventative measure.
Diddy was arrested Monday (Sept. 16) in New York City, and Manhattan federal prosecutors have since unveiled the substance of their case against Combs — accusing him of operating a criminal enterprise centered on his “pervasive pattern of abuse toward women.”
He was denied bail at his Sept. 17 arraignment, and is currently facing up to life in prison for three felony charges. The next step for Combs will be an initial pretrial conference next week before Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr., the federal district judge who will oversee his trial.
In a video obtained by CNN earlier this year and dated March 5, 2016, Combs appears to shove his longtime former partner, Cassie Ventura, to the ground near an elevator bank, kick her several times while she lies on the ground and drag her down a hallway. The contents of the video mirror an assault allegation Ventura made in a now-settled lawsuit she filed against Diddy in November.
Ventura was the first to accuse Diddy of sexual assault, filing a lawsuit in November in which attorneys for Cassie claimed she “endured over a decade of his violent behavior and disturbed demands,” including repeated physical attacks and forcing her to “engage in sex acts with male sex workers” while he masturbated. According to the complaint, after she attempted to separate from him in 2018 after an on-and-off public relationship for 11 years, Combs allegedly “forced her into her home and raped her while she repeatedly said ‘no’ and tried to push him away.” The case was soon settled, but Combs was then sued by multiple other women who claimed they were sexually abused by the hip-hop mogul.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, please call the confidential National Domestic Violence Hotline toll-free at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dissed Nicky Jam and Anuel AA when the subject turned to Donald Trump at a recent congressional hearing.
While questioning Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the far-right Center for Immigration Studies, during an Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing Thursday (Sept. 19), the Bronx representative asked him whether he remembered the Donald Trump administration’s rumored desire to “sell” the island of Puerto Rico.
“I don’t even remember that one,” Krikorian replied, to which AOC countered, “I suppose that puts you and Nicky Jam and Anuel in the same boat.”
Nicky Jam was born and raised in Massachusetts, but has lived in Puerto Rico most of his life; Anuel is Puerto Rican. Billboard has reached out to reps for Ocasio-Cortez, Nicky Jam and Anuel AA for comment.
The hearing was dubbed “A Legacy of Incompetence: Consequences of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Policy Failures.” It came with 46 days left to go before the 2024 presidential election, in which both Latin music stars mentioned by AOC are championing Trump.
Anuel formally endorsed the Republican candidate at the former president’s rally in August, appearing on stage alongside fellow reggaetón star Justin Quiles. “The best president the world has seen, this country has ever seen, his name is President Trump,” the “China” musician said at the podium. “I personally spoke with him, he wants to help Puerto Rico grow and succeed as a country. He wants to keep helping Latinos in the U.S. Let’s keep doing things the right way and let’s make America great again.”
The following month, Jam appeared at Trump’s rally in Las Vegas, where the twice-impeached ex-POTUS mistakenly referred to the “X” singer as a “she.” “Do you know Nicky? She’s hot. Where’s Nicky?” Trump said while introducing the artist.
Despite the faux pas, Nicky Jam gave a passionate endorsement of the billionaire upon taking the microphone. “It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. President,” he told Trump. “We need you. We need you back, right? We need you to be the president.”
He and Anuel are two of several musicians who are backing Trump’s re-election bid this year, alongside Jason Aldean, Kid Rock, Kodak Black, Lil Pump, Sexyy Red and Billy Ray Cyrus. Democratic opponent Kamala Harris, however, also has a litany of A-list artists on her side, from Taylor Swift to Billie Eilish, Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, John Legend and more.
Watch AOC call out Nicky Jam and Anuel AA below.
Taylor Swift is the celebrity endorsement of Kamala Harris‘ wildest dreams.
In a WIRED video posted 10 days after the pop star broke her silence on the 2024 presidential election, emphatically backing the Democratic politician’s campaign against Donald Trump, Harris reacted to Swift’s endorsement. “I am very proud to have the support of Taylor Swift,” she said in the autocomplete interview.
“She’s an incredible artist,” the VP continued. “I really respect the courage that she has had in her career to stand up for what she believes is right.”
There is, however, one cause on which Harris says she disagrees with the 14-time Grammy winner. “We were on different sides of the Super Bowl last year,” she said with a smile, referring to Swift’s support of boyfriend Travis Kelce’s team, the Kansas City Chiefs, who won against Harris’ home team, the San Francisco 49ers, in February. “But who’s mad at anyone for being loyal to their team?”
Swift is one of many musicians who has given Harris their seal of approval this election, with Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion and more speaking out in support of the Democratic ticket over the past few months. The “Anti-Hero” singer’s endorsement, however, has objectively been the most talked about, with her Sept. 10 post calling the former prosecutor a “steady-handed, gifted leader” earning praise from Hillary Clinton, Stevie Nicks, George Clooney and more while sparking backlash from conservatives such as Trump’s running mate JD Vance, Megyn Kelly and Lil Pump.
Trump himself weighed in shortly after Swift said her piece, telling Fox & Friends that the singer would “probably pay a price for it in the marketplace.” Later, he posted on Truth Social, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT.”
Watch Harris react to Swift’s endorsement above.
Diddy’s federal indictment has sent shockwaves throughout the hip-hop community. TMZ caught up with Method Man earlier this week and asked the Wu-Tang Clan rapper about Sean “Diddy” Combs’ arrest contributing to the possible downfall of hip-hop as we know it. “How? I don’t think that it has anything to do with hip-hop as far […]