politics
Page: 61
Hayley Williams definitely got people’s attention when, at May’s Adjacent Music Festival in Atlantic City, she bluntly told Rob DeSantis supporters, “You’re f–king dead to me.” But now, the Paramore frontwoman wishes she’d expressed her feelings on the politician in a more productive way. “I hate that the only thing I really know to say […]
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: NurPhoto / Getty
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will announce his intent to run for president of the United States in a conversation with Twitter’s owner, Elon Musk.
On Monday (May 22nd), it was announced that the Republican politician and Musk would host an event on Twitter Spaces, the platform’s audio chat area. The event will take place on Wednesday (May 24th) at 6 P.M. ET. Former PayPal product leader and tech investor David Sacks will moderate the conversation, where it is expected that DeSantis will announce his presidential bid. A DeSantis spokesperson, Lindsey Curnutte, confirmed the event to the press on Tuesday while a confirmation request email to Twitter was met with a poop emoji as a reply.
According to sources, the campaign will release a launch video shortly after the event and there will be visits to several states planned for after Memorial Day. The event comes after weeks of planning between DeSantis’ camp and Musk’s team, with one person close to the negotiations stating that they feel Musk isn’t confident about former President Donald Trump’s chances of winning the White House. “He’s interested in the future, and he’s interested in winning again,” the source confided.
When asked about his participation in the Twitter Spaces and a potential endorsement at a convention held by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday (May 23rd), Musk stated that he wasn’t going to endorse any candidate as of yet. “I think it’s quite groundbreaking that there be a major announcement of this type on social media,” he said. Musk and DeSantis were first acquainted with each other after meeting at a party in Austin, Texas. There is also speculation that Musk’s agreement to take part in this event could be a boost to his SpaceX company finding a home in Florida, which has seen some turbulence after its Starship launch explosion leading to a lawsuit against it and the Federal Aviation Administration by environmental groups.
The news comes as DeSantis has been shown lagging in polling behind former President Donald Trump, nabbing only 20% among GOP primary voters which is 15% behind where he was last December. Republicans have become more enamored of Twitter since Musk’s takeover of the platform last October. Since becoming CEO, Musk reinstated Trump’s account which was suspended after the January 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol, and has been openly courting conservatives and far-right figures including Tucker Carlson who has been sharing more content on the platform.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Republican Senator Tim Scott has officially announced that he will run for president in 2024 in front of constituents in his home state.
Scott made the announcement on Monday (May 22nd) in his hometown of North Charleston, South Carolina. He positioned himself as a true conservative candidate who values “freedom and hope and opportunity.” In his 40-minute speech, he spoke about coming up from poverty and being raised by a single mother to his current position as the only Black Republican member of the Senate.
“We have to have a compassion for people who don’t agree with us,” he said. “We have to believe that our ideas are so strong and so powerful and so persuasive that we can actually take it to the highest points in the world and be successful but we also have to be able to take it all the way down to places that today are hopeless and prove that who we are works for all Americans.” He’d go on to state that America is not a racist country.
Scott would also bash the Biden administration repeatedly in his speech while declaring his willingness to enter the culture wars concerning schools raging across the nation. “I will lead a revolution for excellence in our schools. Less C-R-T and more ABCs,” he said. Notably, he didn’t mention any other GOP presidential candidates which include fellow South Carolinian Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump. In a post on his Truth Social account, wished him “good luck” before going on to bash Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to also enter the race soon.
Senator Scott enters the 2024 campaign with a sizable war chest of $22 million and a firm fundraising background. But he faces a challenge as the GOP primary field grows, and even finds himself running behind Trump in his home state despite polls showing some support nationally. Scott also has to counter a reputation built on questionable panderings, such as his failure to support the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act, voting against the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and being the face of a racially stereotypical outreach to Black voters for the Trump Tax Bill in 2017 which bore the hashtag #KeepYoMoney.
Just hours after the Nebraska senate voted to further restrict access to abortion and gender-affirming care for minors, pop superstar Lizzo had something to say about it. Performing at Omaha’s Chi Health Center on Friday (May 19), Lizzo paused the show for a moment to talk about the news of the day, according to a […]
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Leigh Vogel / Getty
Representative Jamaal Bowman has publicly blasted fellow Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene over her racist tropes & behavior after a verbal confrontation.
The Democratic Representative from the Bronx, New York got into it with the Republican Representative from Georgia on Wednesday afternoon (May 17th) on the steps of the U.S. Capitol after a vote. “Do something about guns!” he said to her. “Invest in education.” Greene shot back, “Impeach Biden,” before rattling off queries about Democrats and their inability to seal off the border. Both were smiling, but reporters noted that she did shake her fist. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came up to Bowman, gently tugging at his arm while saying, “She ain’t worth it, bro.”
The next day, Greene claimed that Bowman had called her a white supremacist, stating that the term was “equal” to “calling a person of color the N-word.” She continued, saying she felt threatened by him and that his “physical mannerisms were aggressive.” “I’m very concerned about Jamaal Bowman,” Ms. Greene stated, “and he’s someone that people should watch.”
She claimed that she had video footage of the confrontation.
Bowman was outraged over the far-right politician’s comments, but unsurprised. He released a statement through his office. “There’s a history of this, from Mike Brown to Emmett Till to any Black man who is passionate, outspoken, intelligent trying to stand their ground being confronted with violence,” Mr. Bowman responded. “Marjorie’s attack is beyond a dog whistle. It’s a bullhorn. And it’s reckless and dangerous. She has put a target on my back.”
Bowman’s Democratic colleagues in the House of Representatives have risen to his defense. Representative Madeleine Dean of Delaware appeared on MSNBC’s The ReidOut and called out Greene’s rhetoric. “This kind of outward racism, bigotry, dog whistles, as he said, ‘bullhorn,’ when you call a Black man threatening–this is a former school principal,” she said. So far, Greene has not responded again.
A U.S. senator representing Music City had tough questions about artificial intelligence’s impact on the music industry during a Congressional hearing on Tuesday, at one point asking the CEO of the company behind ChatGPT to commit to not using copyrighted songs to train future machines.
At a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee about potential regulation for AI, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) repeatedly grilled Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, over how songwriters and musical artists should be compensated when their works are used by AI companies.
Opening her questioning, Blackburn said she had used OpenAI’s Jukebox to create a song that mimicked Garth Brooks – and that she was clearly concerned about how the singer’s music and voice had been used to create such a tool.
“You’re training it on these copyrighted songs,” Blackburn told Altman. “How do you compensate the artist?”
“If I can go in and say ‘write me a song that sounds like Garth Brooks,’ and it takes part of an existing song, there has to be compensation to that artist for that utilization and that use,” Blackburn said. “If it was radio play, it would be there. If it was streaming, it would be there.”
At one point, Blackburn demanded a firm answer: “Can you commit, as you’ve done with consumer data, not to train [AI models] on artists’ and songwriters’ copyrighted works, or use their voices and their likenesses without first receiving their consent?”
Though Altman did not directly answer that question, he repeatedly told the senator that artists “deserve control” over how their copyrighted music and their voices were used by AI companies.
“We think that content creators need to benefit from this technology,” Altman told the committee. “Exactly what the economic model is, we’re still talking to artists and content owners about what they want. I think there’s a lot of ways this can happen. But very clearly, no matter what the law is, the right thing to do is to make sure people get significant upside benefit from this new technology.”
Blackburn’s questioning came amid a far broader discussion of the potential risks posed by AI, including existential threats to democracy, major harm to the labor market, and the widespread proliferation of misinformation. One witness, a New York University professor and expert in artificial intelligence, told the lawmakers that it poses problems “on a scale that humanity has not seen before.”
The music industry, too, is worried about AI-driven disruption. Last month, a new song featuring AI-generated fake vocals from Drake and The Weeknd went viral, underscoring growing concerns about AI’s impact on music and highlighting the legal uncertainties that surround it.
One of the biggest open questions is over whether copyrighted music can be used to train AI platforms – the process whereby machines “learn” to spit out new creations by ingesting millions of existing works. Major labels and other industry players have already said that such training is illegal, and cutting-edge litigation against the creators of such platforms could be coming soon.
At Tuesday’s hearing, in repeatedly asking Altman to weigh in on that question, Blackburn drew historical parallels to the last major technological disruption to wreak havoc on the music industry — a scenario that also posed novel legal and policy questions.
“We lived through Napster,” Blackburn said. “That was something that really cost a lot of artists a lot of money.”
Though he voiced support for compensation for artists, Altman did not get into specifics, saying that many industry stakeholders had “different opinions” on how creators should be paid. When Blackburn asked him if he thought the government should create an organization similar to SoundExchange – the group that collects certain blanket royalties for streaming – Altman said he wasn’t familiar with it.
“You’ve got your team behind you,” Blackburn said. “Get back to me on that.”
While tensions continue to flare between former president Donald Trump and embattled Florida governor Ron DeSantis, internet sensation Randy Rainbow is pulling out his popcorn to watch the chaos ensue.
On Monday (May 15), Rainbow unveiled his latest parody video, “Welcome to DeSantis,” taking jabs at the governor as the politician prepares to announce his long-awaited 2024 presidential run. Kicking things off with a classic Randy Rainbow fake interview, the comedian points to the controversial policies DeSantis has passed into law before sarcastically saying that he would make a great president.
“Who needs cultural advancement, diversity, compassion, or Trixie Mattel?” Rainbow mockingly quips. “This country is in a slow-burning UberX headed right back to the dark ages, and baby, you’re just the heartless, autocratic wannabe to drive us there!”
As is custom, Rainbow launches directly into song with a hilarious re-invention of “Welcome to the 60’s” from the 2002 musical Hairspray, but this time with DeSantis’ all-but-announced presidential run in his sights. Addressed jeeringly to former Trump voters (referred to simply as “MAGA” throughout the video), the song derides DeSantis’ policies and teases what a potential presidency from the governor would look like.
“Welcome to the bigoted old-timey days/ Where we ban all the books, and we hate all the gays,” Rainbow croons on the song’s bridge. Later, he piles on even more, singing that voters ought to “Hide your wife and children when DeSantis runs/ ‘Cause our lives are secondary to their godd–n guns.”
Putting a button on his top-tier parody, Rainbow takes a final swipe at DeSantis as his polling numbers continue to plummet. “Put an end to those pesky old human rights,” Rainbow says with a caustic smile. “‘Cause we know that he’ll fight for our nation/ ‘Til at last it’s safe for wealthy Christian whites — ugh, finally!”
This marks the second time that Rainbow has taken aim specifically at DeSantis through his videos. Back in April 2022, Rainbow dedicated his parody video “GAY!” entirely to Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
Check out Rainbow’s full video for “Welcome to DeSantis” below:
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Tom Williams / Getty
Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville found himself in a bind after trying to walk back some recent comments he made defending white nationalists.
The senator from Alabama was confronted over his comments that seemed to back white nationalists by members of the press on Thursday (May 11th) at the U.S. Capitol. After stating that “you can’t have racists” on any team, Tuberville went on to say that Democrats were the issue due to their painting all Trump supporters as white nationalists.
“The Democrats characterize all MAGA Republicans in the military as white nationalists, wrong. Wrong. OK?” Tuberville said.”We can’t get politics in the military. This has nothing to do with extremists.” He then asked the press to define the term, and one reporter responded with the definition as “someone who propagates Naziism.” Tuberville would go on to say, “Well I don’t look at it like that,” he said, adding, “I look at a white nationalist as a Trump Republican. That’s what we’re called all the time, a MAGA person.”
The politician and former college football coach had blasted President Joe Biden and his administration for excluding white nationalists from the U.S. military in an interview with WBHM, a National Public Radio station based in Birmingham, earlier in the week. Host Richard Banks asked, “Do you believe they should allow white nationalists in the military?”, Tuberville responded, “Well, they call them that. I call them Americans.”
He’d go on to add: “We are losing in the military so fast. Our readiness in terms of recruitment. And why? I’ll tell you why, because the Democrats are attacking our military, saying we need to get out the white extremists, the white nationalists, people that don’t believe in our agenda, as Joe Biden’s agenda.”
His office had out a statement on Wednesday to try to clarify what he meant. “Sen. Tuberville’s quote that is cited shows that he was being skeptical of the notion that there are white nationalists in the military, not that he believes they should be in the military,” the statement read. “He believes the men and women in uniform are patriots. (Defense) Secretary (Lloyd) Austin seems to think otherwise, subjecting them to extremism training as his very first act in office. That cost us four million man-hours.” Tuberville is currently under fire over his blocking of numerous military promotions requiring Senate committee confirmations. Observers note that it’s due to his objection to the Biden administration’s policies requiring that service members be reimbursed for abortion-related expenditures.
With anti-LGBTQ bills continuing to sweep across the U.S. at a high speed, some of the most prominent drag performers in the world got together on Sunday (May 7) to say that enough is enough.
The Drag Isn’t Dangerous livestream telethon, hosted by Justin Martindale, Alaska 5000, Peppermint and Adam Shankman and created by Producer Entertainment Group, raised more than $500,000 for LGBTQ charities. The event saw performers including RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7 winner Jinkx Monsoon, Jake Wesley Rogers, Bob the Drag Queen and more take to the stage in both live and pre-taped performances to help raise money for organizations benefiting the queer community.
Along with performances, the event also featured a number of testimonials from LGBTQ entertainers and noted allies such as Margaret Cho, Adam Lambert, Charlize Theron, Sarah Silverman and Melissa McCarthy, who spoke out against the rampant discrimination being faced by LGBTQ people everywhere. In one of the most blistering statements of the evening, RuPaul’s Drag Race judge Michelle Visage blasted state legislatures aiming to restrict drag performances.
“I wish I could say that I am glad to be here, but I am appalled I have to be at something called Drag Isn’t Dangerous,” she said during the event. “Imagine a world where dancers are told they can’t dance; imagine a world where artists are told they cannot take paint to canvas … because it is ‘bad for children.’ That is what is happening to drag right now.”
All proceeds from the event are being split among a pool of charities, including GLAAD, GLSEN, Headcount, Black Queer Town Hall, The ACLU Drag Defense Fund, Trans Justice Funding Project and the Victory Fund to support and defend drag performers against anti-drag legislation in states such as Tennessee and Florida.
In addition, the telethon featured the debut of the new groove-fueled charity single “Drag Isn’t Dangerous,” performed by Jayelle and Ocean Kelly. Now available on all streaming services, the new single is similarly donating all proceeds to the charities mentioned above.
For those who missed the live telethon, fear not — you can purchase a ticket to watch the full stream here. Additional donations can be made on Drag Isn’t Dangerous’ official GoFundMe page, and more information surrounding the charities and performers involved can be found at the group’s official website.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Herschel Walker and his failed bid for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat was disastrous from the onset and now, incriminating emails show that Walker solicited thousands of dollars for his campaign for his own use. The former football star actually obtained over $500,000 from one donor that he placed into an LLC and never reported the donation per campaign finance rules.
The Daily Beast published exclusive details regarding Herschel Walker and the funds in which he swindled wads of cash from donor Dennis Washington, who was led to believe the money was going to the campaign.
From The Daily Beast:
Emails obtained by The Daily Beast—and verified as authentic by a person with knowledge of the exchanges—show that Walker asked Washington to wire $535,200 directly to that undisclosed company, HR Talent, LLC.
And the emails reveal that not only did Washington complete Walker’s wire requests, he was under the impression that these were, in fact, political contributions.
In the best possible circumstances, legal experts told The Daily Beast, the emails suggest violations of federal fundraising rules; in the worst case, they could be an indication of more serious crimes, such as wire fraud.
The publication notes that Walker was well aware of the campaign donation rules so it is possible he returned the money or directed it to a Super PAC in support of the campaign. However, Walker never contributed any of his own funds to the campaign nor was the money from Washington directed back to the Super Pac.
The entire piece on Herschel Walker is fascinating and completely depicts how brazen his actions were. Given the fact that Georgia became something of a political hot spot in the wake of the 2020 elections that Donald Trump lost, Walker seemingly didn’t figure in that scrutiny into his political dealings would be stringent at the least.
Read the entire piece here.
—
Photo: Getty