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Chappell Roan wants you to remember not to believe everything that you read. After receiving some backlash for a recent interview in which she said she doesn’t “feel pressured to endorse someone” in November’s presidential election after lamenting “problems on both sides,” Roan took to TikTok on Tuesday (Sept. 24) to issue a clarification.
“I have encouraged people to use critical thinking skills, learn about what they’re voting for, learn about who they’re voting for, and ask questions and it’s being completely taken out of context, per usual,” she said in the two-and-a-half minute clip that found the typically glammed-up singer addressing the camera in a sweatshirt and sans makeup.
“There is nuance to what I say in interviews and I think it’s important that people use critical thinking. I think it’s important for me to question authority and question world leaders and question myself, question my algorithm, question if some person that tweeted something about someone else is even true,” Roan, 26, continued.
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“It’s important to question because that’s how I think we move forward. This is my third election in voting and the world is changing so rapidly and I want to be part of the generation that changes things for good because we need it. If you come to my shows, if you read my full interviews, if you literally know anything about me and for what I stand for, you know that this is not lip service, this is not virtue signaling, that my actions have always paved the way for my project and the people who really know me. Actions speak louder than words and actions speak louder than an endorsement,” she said, pausing to let that thought sink in.
She then provided what she said was the full context of what she said in a recent profile in The Guardian, in which she was also quoted telling fans, “I encourage people to use your critical thinking skills, use your vote — vote small, vote for what’s going on in your city.” The original comments drew backslash from some on social media who had expected the longtime advocate for trans rights and the LGBTQ+ community to endorse Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris — a vocal LGBTQ+ rights advocate — over former President Donald Trump, who has made repeated false claims about gender-affirming surgery for teens and called for removing federal protections based on gender identity.
“‘I have so many issues with our government in every way,’” she said in the TikTok video, reading from her full Guardian quote. “‘There are so many things that I would want to change so feel pressured to endorse someone. There’s problems on both sides and I encourage people to use your critical thinking skills, use your vote — vote small, vote for what’s going on in your city.’”
She continued reading from the article, “The change she wants to see in the US in this election year, she says instantly, is trans rights. They cannot have cis people making decisions for trans people, period.’”
“So, hear it from my mouth if you’re still wondering,” Roan concluded. “No, I’m not voting for Trump and yes, I will always question those in power and those making decisions over other people and I will stand up for what’s right and what I believe in and it’s always at the forefront of my project and I’m sorry that you fell for the clickbait.”
In a Rolling Stone interview in August, Roan encouraged her fans to make their voices heard. “Right now, it’s more important than ever to use your vote, and I will do whatever it takes to protect people’s civil rights, especially the LGBTQ+ community,” she said. “My ethics and values will always align with that, and that hasn’t changed with a different nominee. I feel lucky to be alive during an incredibly historic time period when a woman of color is a presidential nominee.”
The clarification seemed to clear up any question of where Roan stands on the critical issues in the Nov. 5 contest between Harris and twice-impeached convicted felon Trump, though it did not include a specific endorsement of Harris, who has been using Roan’s song “Femininomenon” in her campaign.
Watch Roan’s full statement below.
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 […]
One early autumn day, nearly four decades ago, at a stadium concert in the heartland of America, Willie Nelson made a pledge to help embattled family farmers who grow the nation’s food.
On Saturday (Sept. 21), Nelson and friends renewed that promise as the annual Farm Aid festival — the longest-running concert for a cause — drew some 21,000 fans to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New York, for a day of celebration, activism and song.
Nelson was joined by his fellow Farm Aid board members — Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Margo Price — on a bill with Mavis Staples, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Lukas Nelson with the Travelin’ McCourys, Charley Crockett, Joy Oladokun, Southern Avenue, Cassandra Lewis, Jesse Welles and others.
The first Farm Aid concert — inspired by an impromptu call for support for America’s farmers from Bob Dylan during the Live Aid mega benefit in 1985 — was, improbably, staged weeks later that same year, on Sept. 22 in Champaign, Illinois.
Since then, Farm Aid has raised nearly $80 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture, while also building connections in the battles against climate change and social injustice.
New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul gave welcoming remarks before two indigenous acts — the ensemble known as Kontiwennenhá:W, from the Akwesasne community of northern New York, and the Wisdom Indian Dancers, who have performed at every Farm Aid since 1990 — began the joyous hours of music.
This was the third time Farm Aid has been staged in New York State, following a 2007 event at Randall’s Island in New York City, and a previous 2013 festival in Saratoga (during which surprise guest Pete Seeger gave his last major performance). Between 2017 and 2022, New York State lost 3,000 of 33,000 farms, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture Census, as farms across the nation suffer from rising production and labor costs, consolidation and climate change.
Here are the 12 best takeaways from the 39th annual Farm Aid.
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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.
Hayley Williams didn’t hold back her feelings about Donald Trump at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Festival.
On Friday (Sept. 20), the Paramore singer took a moment during the rock band’s performance of “Big Man, Little Integrity” as Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena to make it crystal clear how she feels about the Republican presidential nominee, who is running against Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
“Project 2025 is Donald Trump’s playbook for controlling and punishing women, poor people, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community,” Williams said while looking into a camera that was livestreaming the event on Hulu. “It is time for all Americans to band together and finally defeat the Trump agenda. And the only way to do that is by confronting him at the polls. Do you want to live in the dictatorship? Well, show up and vote.”
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This isn’t the first time Williams has spoken out against Republican politicians over anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Last year, the “Ain’t It Fun” singer lashed out against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis during a performance at the Adjacent Music Festival in Atlantic City, N.J.
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“If you vote for Ron DeSantis, you’re f—ing dead to me. Is that comfortable enough for anyone?” she told the crowd.
Earlier this year, Paramore also declined a Tennessee resolution honoring the group for its Grammy win after the state’s lawmakers blocked a similar resolution honoring Allison Russell.
“This week, Rep. Justin Jones put forth resolutions to honor my band, Paramore and another local-to-Nashville artist, Allison Russell, on our recent Grammy wins (as far as I can tell these resolutions have no legal weight to them. They’re like a big high five or when the whole restaurant joins in to sing you “Happy Birthday”),” Williams told The Tennesseean. “House Republicans only let the measure that acknowledged Paramore’s win pass. They blocked Allison’s.”
The Paramore singer added, “The blatant racism of our state leadership is embarrassing and cruel. Myself, as well as Paramore, will continue to encourage young people to show up to vote with equality in mind.”
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 […]
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NY Mag reporter Olivia Nuzzi is in the midst of a scandal after an alleged affair with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was revealed, and social media observers were left stunned.
On Thursday night (September 19), NYMag political reporter Olivia Nuzzi was placed on leave by the masthead’s leadership after it was learned that she engaged in a “personal relationship” with “a former subject relevant to the 2024 campaign while she was reporting on the campaign,” the publication announced. That former subject was revealed to be Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – the information was disclosed by another reporter, Oliver Darcy via his Status newsletter. “Had the magazine been aware of this relationship, she would not have continued to cover the presidential campaign,” NY Mag’s statement said. “An internal review of her published work has found no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias. She is currently on leave from the magazine, and the magazine is conducting a more thorough third-party review. We regret this violation of our readers’ trust.”
The news caught many by surprise, as Nuzzi has been caught up in controversy for her attacks on former president Barack Obama as well as President Joe Biden, being one of the early voices demanding that he stop running for re-election.Nuzzi would offer her statement through Brian Stelter of CNN, saying: “Earlier this year, the nature of some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal. During that time, I did not directly report on the subject nor use them as a source.” Nuzzi would state that the relationship was “never physical”, but did go on to say she should’ve disclosed the situation to eliminate a conflict of interest. “I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I’ve disappointed, especially my colleagues at New York,” she concluded. According to Darcy, the alleged affair took place after her profile piece on Kennedy was published in November 2023 – two months after Nuzzi became engaged to Politico’s Washington correspondent Ryan Lizza.
Darcy’s report also went on to claim that Kennedy (who is married to actress Cheryl Hines) and Nuzzi were apparently “sexting” after Nuzzi had flown out to interview him at his Brentwood home for the profile. A rep for the third-party presidential candidate, who’d go on to endorse Donald Trump last month, sent out a statement claiming: “Mr. Kennedy only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece.”
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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.
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Mark Robinson, a Trump acolyte and candidate running for Governor of North Carolina, is having a bad day. A CNN investigation found that the conservative Republican nominee made dozens of egregious comments on the message boards of the “Nude Africa” pornography website over 10 years ago—including referring to himself as a “black NAZI.”
Of course, Robinson is saying that he is a victim of artificial intelligence and that this is a digital lynching. Also, he needs more people, respectfully.
As for the CNN KFile investigation that had the GOP scrambling to maybe find another candidate and Robinson dropping a message to say don’t believe what we’re about to hear, the receipts are salacious.
Reports CNN:
Despite a recent history of anti-transgender rhetoric, Robinson said he enjoyed watching transgender pornography, a review of archived messages found in which he also referred to himself as a “perv.”
The comments, which Robinson denies making, predate his entry into politics and current stint as North Carolina’s lieutenant governor. They were made under a username that CNN was able to identify as Robinson by matching a litany of biographical details and a shared email address between the two.
Many of Robinson’s comments were gratuitously sexual and lewd in nature. They were made between 2008 and 2012 on “Nude Africa,” a pornographic website that includes a message board. The comments were made under the username minisoldr, a moniker Robinson used frequently online.
CNN didn’t post all the comments since they were so salacious, but they did share a graphic that points to the comments coming from Robinson
Source: CNN / CNN
Among his commentary was his relaying an affinity to transgender porn. This stands in contract to his anti-LBTQ rhetoric that he is known for remains steadfast in broadcasting. “I like watching tranny on girl porn! That’s f*cking hot! It takes the man out while leaving the man in!” Robinson wrote, per CNN. “And yeah I’m a ‘perv’ too!”
Despite the evidence that it was indeed him typing the words, Robinson is in full denial. “This is not us. These are not our words. And this is not anything that is characteristic of me,” Robinson told CNN, after being presented with the evidence. He added, “I’m not going to get into the minutia of how somebody manufactured this, these salacious tabloid lies.”
Robinson is currently the lieutenant governor of North Carolina, and a Trump homie. He is also getting absolutely cooked on social media. Peep the best of the slander in the gallery. A bunch of GOP legislators are sprinting to delete their photos with Robinson, but we got those saved, too.