politics
Page: 70
Just a week after Ticketmaster’s disastrous presale for Taylor Swift‘s The Eras Tour, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) are asking the chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) how the agency plans to combat bots in the online ticketing marketplace.
In a letter sent Monday (Nov. 28), Sens. Blumenthal and Blackburn — chair and ranking member of the Senate’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety and Data Security, respectively — are requesting information from FTC chair Lina Khan about what steps the FTC is taking to enforce the 2016 law known as the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, which was designed to crack down on the kind of illegal bots that have plagued online ticket sales for recent tours by Swift and other major stars.
That law, which “prohibits the circumvention of a security measure, access control system, or other technological control measure used online by a ticket issuer” and the sale of tickets knowingly obtained through those means, grants the FTC and state attorneys general the authority to enforce violations, according to the letter. But since the BOTS Act became law, Blumenthal and Blackburn claim the FTC has taken only a single enforcement action despite numerous incidents involving the use of bots in online ticket sales.
“Given the numerous high-profile incidents in the online ticket marketplace, it would be helpful to understand how the FTC intends to act to address such conduct going forward,” the letter reads.
Monday’s letter follows Ticketmaster’s earlier claim that the Swift debacle was caused in part by tens of millions of uninvited users and billions of bots crashing the Eras presale, forcing the company to shut down the tour’s final onsale after more than 90% of ticketing inventory was snapped up.
In the wake of the fiasco, politicians including Sen. Amy Klobuchar — chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights — and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested Ticketmaster and its owner Live Nation represent a monopoly and cried out for accountability, with the latter directly calling for the companies, which merged in 2010, to be broken up. Last week, Klobuchar and her counterpart on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), jointly announced they would be holding a hearing to examine the effects of consolidation on the ticketing industry. Live Nation and Ticketmaster are also reportedly under investigation by the Justice Department over whether the companies represent an illegal monopoly, though that probe is said to have predated the Swift incident.
In addition to the Swift debacle, in the letter Blumenthal and Blackburn point to various other recent online ticketing mishaps involving bots, including tours for Bob Dylan, Blake Shelton, Bruce Springsteen and Adele.
“While bots may not be the only reason for these problems, which Congress is evaluating, fighting bots is an important step in reducing consumer costs in the online ticketing industry,” the senators continued. They point out that the infiltration of bots, among other factors, creates an unfair environment that prevents regular fans from purchasing tickets, forcing them to resort to secondary sites where tickets are often marked up dramatically. “Some reports have found secondary ticket sales ranging from $1,000 (Bruce Springsteen) to $40,000 (Adele),” the lawmakers added.
Though Swift may benefit from Blackburn’s interest in addressing the ticketing bots issue, the two have not exactly gotten along in the past. The pop star made a rare-at-the-time political statement in 2018, denouncing Blackburn for her conservative voting record and urging voters to choose her opponent in the Senate race that year. She later called the lawmaker “Trump in a wig.” Last year, Blackburn addressed the tiff in an interview, arguing Swift would the “first victim” in a “socialistic government.”
In addition to asking whether the FTC has any “pending enforcement matters before it” with respect to the BOTS Act, Blumenthal and Blackburn are asking why only a single enforcement action has been taken to date; whether there are “obstacles preventing” the FTC from enforcing the law; and whether there are “other solutions that Congress needs to consider” to prevent bots from operating in the future.
You can read the full letter below.
Dear Chair Khan:
We write to ask for information about the steps the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is taking to combat the use and operation of bots in the online ticket marketplace. As you know, the Better Online Ticket Sales, or BOTS Act, became law in 2016. This law prohibits the circumvention of a security measure, access control system, or other technological control measure used online by a ticket issuer. It also prohibits the selling or offering of an event ticket obtained through a circumvention violation if the seller participated in, had the ability to control, or should have known about the violation. The BOTS Act gives the FTC and state attorneys general the authority to enforce violations as unfair and deceptive practices.
Recently, several high profile incidents arose where consumers encountered serious difficulties purchasing tickets through online ticket vendors, including Ticketmaster and AXS. While bots may not be the only reason for these problems, which Congress is evaluating, fighting bots is an important step in reducing consumer costs in the online ticketing industry. For example, consumers reported trying to purchase tickets to see Bob Dylan at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, only to be told the tickets in their shopping cart no longer existed. Similarly, 22,000 fans preregistered to buy tickets for Blake Shelton, but only a few hundred actually got tickets. Finally, Ticketmaster/LiveNation pointed to online bots as a reason why fans could not get Taylor Swift concert tickets, leading the ticket seller to shut down sales to the general public.
While some consumers opt to purchase tickets on the secondary market, most fans cannot afford to pay thousands of dollars for a single concert ticket. Some reports have found secondary ticket sales ranging from $1,000 (Bruce Springsteen) to $40,000 (Adele).3 Preventing this type of consumer harm is exactly why Congress chose to enact the BOTS Act six years ago and why we both chose to sponsor that bill.
We understand that, in January 2021, the FTC took its first enforcement actions under the BOTS Act. However, given the numerous high-profile incidents in the online ticket marketplace, it would be helpful to understand how the FTC intends to act to address such conduct going forward. We request answers to the following, which may be provided in a confidential briefing if needed:
Does the FTC have any pending enforcement matters before it with respect to the BOTS Act?
Why has the FTC only undertaken a single enforcement action to date using its BOTS Act authority?
Are there obstacles preventing the FTC from exercising its authority under the BOTS Act that Congress should be aware of?
Are there other solutions that Congress needs to consider in conjunction with the BOTS Act?
We appreciate your timely attention to this issue.
Sincerely,
Marsha BlackburnRanking MemberSubcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security
Richard BlumenthalChairSubcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security
Former President Donald Trump is renewing attention to his long history of turning a blind eye to bigotry after dining with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West just days into his third campaign for the White House.
Trump had dinner Tuesday (Nov. 22) at his Mar-a-Lago club with West, who is now known as Ye, as well as Nick Fuentes, a far-right activist who has used his online platform to spew antisemitic and white nationalist rhetoric.
Ye, who says he, too, is running for president in 2024, has made his own series of antisemitic comments in recent weeks, leading to his suspension from social media platforms, his talent agency dropping him and companies like Adidas cutting ties with him. The sportswear manufacturer has also launched an investigation into his conduct.
In a statement from the White House, spokesman Andrew Bates said: “Bigotry, hate, and antisemitism have absolutely no place in America — including at Mar-a-Lago. Holocaust denial is repugnant and dangerous, and it must be forcefully condemned.”
Trump, in a series of statements Friday, said he had “never met and knew nothing about” Fuentes before he arrived with Ye at his club. But Trump also did not acknowledge Fuentes’ long history of racist and antisemitic remarks, nor did he denounce either man’s defamatory statements.
Trump wrote of Ye on his social media platform that “we got along great, he expressed no anti-Semitism, & I appreciated all of the nice things he said about me on ‘Tucker Carlson.’” He added, “Why wouldn’t I agree to meet?”
The former president has a long history of failing to unequivocally condemn hate speech. During his 2016 campaign, Trump waffled when asked to denounce the KKK after he was endorsed by the group’s former leader, saying in a televised interview that he didn’t “know anything about David Duke.” In 2017, in the aftermath of the deadly white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, Trump was widely criticized for saying there was “blame on both sides” for the violence. And his rallies frequently feature inflammatory rhetoric from figures like U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who spoke earlier this year at a far-right conference organized by Fuentes.
The latest episode, coming just one week after Trump launched his third run for the Republican nomination, also underscored how loosely controlled access to the former president remained, particularly without a traditional campaign operation in place.
Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club came under intense scrutiny amid revelations that Trump was storing hundreds of documents with classified markings there — sparking a federal investigation. But the club — and the people it gave access to Trump — had long been a source of consternation among former White House aides.
Mar-a-Lago is not only Trump’s home, but also a private club and event space. Paid members and their guests dine alongside him and often mingle with him; members of the public can book weddings, fundraisers and other events, and Trump often drops by.
Ye first shared details of the dinner in a video he posted to his Twitter account Thursday. Ye said he had traveled to Florida to ask Trump to be his 2024 running mate, and that the meeting had grown heated, with Trump “perturbed” by his request and Ye angered by Trump’s criticism of his estranged wife, Kim Kardashian.
“When Trump started basically screaming at me at the table telling me I was gonna lose. I mean, has that ever worked for anyone in history, telling Ye that I’m going to lose?” Ye asked in the video. “You’re talking to Ye!”
Ye also said Trump was “really impressed with Nick Fuentes,” whom he described as “actually a loyalist” and said he’d asked Trump, “Why when you had the chance did you not free the January 6th-ers?” referring to the defendants who were alleged to have participated in the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump released a series of statements Friday trying to explain the circumstances of the meeting.
“Kanye West very much wanted to visit Mar-a-Lago. Our dinner meeting was intended to be Kanye and me only, but he arrived with a guest whom I had never met and knew nothing about,” Trump said in his first statement released by his campaign.
Not long after, Trump took to his social media network to say that Ye and “three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about” had “unexpectedly showed up” at his club.
“We had dinner on Tuesday evening with many members present on the back patio. The dinner was quick and uneventful. They then left for the airport,” he wrote.
Hours later he again posted, saying he had told Ye that he “should definitely not run for President,” and that “any voters you may have should vote for TRUMP.”
“Anyway, we got along great, he expressed no anti-Semitism, & I appreciated all of the nice things he said about me on ‘Tucker Carlson.’” he added. “Why wouldn’t I agree to meet? Also, I didn’t know Nick Fuentes.”
Fuentes, meanwhile, said after the trip that, while he couldn’t rule out that Trump had heard of him, “I don’t think he knew that I was me at the dinner.”
“I didn’t mean for my statements and my whole background to sort of become a public relations problem for the president,” he added on his show.
The meeting drew immediate criticism from Trump critics as well as some supporters, including David Friedman, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Israel.
“To my friend Donald Trump, you are better than this. Even a social visit from an antisemite like Kanye West and human scum like Nick Fuentes is unacceptable,” Friedman wrote in a tweet. “I urge you to throw those bums out, disavow them and relegate them to the dustbin of history where they belong.”
On Saturday, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a potential 2024 rival, also denounced antisemitism, without directly referencing the dinner or the president under whom he served.
“Anti-Semitism is a cancer,” Pompeo wrote, adding: “We stand with the Jewish people in the fight against the world’s oldest bigotry.”
Biden, asked about the Trump dinner meeting while vacationing in Nantucket, Massachusetts, replied, “You don’t want to hear what I think.”
There’s some good news for the music business in Washington DC: House Democrats seem to have found their next caucus chair in Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a champion of music creators who since 2013 has served as the U.S. representative for New York’s 8th congressional district. Jeffries, who represents parts of Brooklyn and Queens, co-sponsored the Music Modernization Act, the most important copyright law passed in decades, as well as the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2020, a.k.a. the CASE Act. He’s also known as a big hip-hop fan, who once gave The Notorious B.I.G. a shout-out from the House floor on the 20th anniversary of his death.
A formal vote has not yet been taken. But the party seems to be coalescing around Jeffries, who was endorsed as a successor by outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). If chosen, Jeffries would become the first Black leader of a Congressional caucus, as well as the presumptive Speaker if the Democrats were to win back the House majority. And although it’s hard to say if serious copyright legislation will come in front of Congress, having a supporter of creators and copyright in such an important role could only help rightsholders.
“Mr. Jeffries has been a steadfast supporter of songwriters, and as an original cosponsor of both the Songwriter Equity Act and the Music Modernization Act, he has fought for fairness for creators throughout his career,” said NMPA president and CEO David Israelite. “His leadership in this powerful role will bode well for the future of songwriters.”
Jeffries was honored by the RIAA in September, along with hip-hop pioneers Grandmaster Flash and MC Lyte. (Billboard sponsored this event.)
“It’s hard to think of two potential leaders with more experience working in the trenches of music policy and shaping bipartisan consensus for the digital streaming era than Kevin McCarthy and Hakeem Jeffries,” said Mitch Glazier, chairman and CEO of the RIAA. “A House led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries would feature a dynamic duo for the music community.”
Before entering politics in 2007, Jeffries worked as a lawyer, first in New York for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison – where he worked down the hall from NMPA general counsel Danielle Aguirre – then for Viacom. At Paul Weiss, he worked on some copyright cases, and he represented Lauryn Hill in a case brought by some of her collaborators. “He has a deep understanding of copyright law,” Israelite said. “He may know the subject better than anyone else in Congress.”
Jeffries may also be one of the bigger music fans in Congress. Besides giving Biggie a shoutout, he’s written about his favorite female rappers, and hosted an annual “Hip-Hop on the Hill” political fundraiser. “Watching hip-hop develop — with Grandmaster Flash, and then Run-DMC, and then the artists of the ‘80s and ‘90s — has been a fantastic journey,” he told Billboard in a 2018 interview about his history as a fan of the genre. “What’s been most compelling to me is how hip-hop has been a vehicle to tell the story of urban America and black America in such an artistic, poetic, and authentic fashion.”
Jeffries is involved with a number of issues, of course. He advocates police reform, and he co-sponsored the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act, a.k.a. the First Step Act, which reformed prison and sentencing laws. He voted to impeach Pres. Donald Trump, but he’s also known for working well with Republicans, including former Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), with whom he co-sponsored the Music Modernization Act, as well as the First Step Act. (The two also put together a summer playlist.) Jeffries has also been a leading Democratic fund-raiser.
Some of this has put Jeffries at odds with some of his more radical colleagues, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Jeffries is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, but his politics are more centrist, as well as more pragmatic. His ability to compromise could be important, since he will have to work with both the Republican House majority as well as the progressive members of his own party. He recently told CNN that “while we can have some noisy conversations at times about how we can make progress for the American people, what we have seen is that under the leadership of Speaker Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, Jim Clyburn, we have constantly been able to come together.”
After unsuccessfully running for president in 2020, Kanye West is giving it another go in 2024.
The rapper confirmed his upcoming campaign to paparazzi over the weekend, according to Consequence of Sound. “Yes… It’s simple…. It’s just we’re moving toward the future,” he said when asked if he’s running.
Additionally, Ye revealed that alt-right political figure Milo Yiannopoulos “is working on the campaign.” Yiannopoulos, a former Breitbart senior editor, most recently worked as an intern for Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
West and Yiannopoulos have yet to post on their social medias about their political relationship.
On July 4, 2020, the rapper announced the launch of his long-shot presidential campaign under the “Birthday Party” banner. After registering for the party late, making only one major campaign appearance to go with two last-minute video ads, he only got on the ballot in 12 states — leading to only 70,000 votes total.
It’s been a particularly controversial year for West, full of antisemitic rants, violent rhetoric against Kim Kardashian’s ex-boyfriend Pete Davidson, and promoting a “White Lives Matter” t-shirt while premiering his Yeezy line at Paris Fashion Week.
Ye also threw repeated racial slurs at Daily Show host Trevor Noah, criticized comedian D.L. Hughley’s style and slammed Kid Cudi for being friends with Davidson. The posts have all since been deleted.
Not making up any time soon. JoJo Siwa addressed her lingering drama with Candace Cameron Bure while attending Elton John‘s final U.S. tour date in L.A. on Sunday (Nov. 20).
“We have not [talked], and I don’t think we ever will again,” the Nickelodeon alum told People after calling the older actress out for her recent anti-LBGTQ+ comments involving her move from Hallmark to the Great American Family network.
“That’s what’s f—ed up,” Siwa continued. “You not liking gay marriage, do your thing girl. You being religious, do your thing girl. Of course, I would want everybody to do what they want to do. But to purposely exclude someone because of who they love, that’s sh—y.”
The latest beef between Siwa and Bure follows the one-time Dance Moms star referring to the latter as the “rudest celebrity [she’s] met” as part of a TikTok challenge last July. That revelation then turned into a public back-and-forth between the two, including a phone conversation that quickly devolved into a case of she said-she said.
At Sir Elton’s show, Siwa also reflected on how she’s come into her own as a prominent voice in the LGBTQ+ community. “As I’m getting older, I’m starting to realize what an impact I really do get to have,” she said. “I think that’s a really cool position to be in. I am being honest and maybe being a little disruptive to somebody’s life, but it’s what I believe in. And so to have good people stand behind you with it felt really nice.”
Elon Musk reinstated Donald Trump’s account on Twitter on Saturday (Nov. 19), reversing a ban that has kept the former president off the social media site since a pro-Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress was poised to certify Joe Biden’s election victory.
Musk made the announcement in the evening after holding a poll that asked Twitter users to click “yes” or “no” on whether Trump’s account should be restored. The “yes” vote won, with 51.2 percent.
“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk tweeted, using a Latin phrase meaning “the voice of the people, the voice of God.”
Shortly afterward Trump’s account, which had earlier appeared as suspended, reappeared on the platform complete with his former tweets, more than 59,000 of them. However, his followers were gone, at least initially.
It is not clear whether Trump would actually return to Twitter. An irrepressible tweeter before he was banned, Trump has said in the past that he would not rejoin even if his account was reinstated. He has been relying on his own, much smaller social media site, Truth Social, which he launched after being blocked from Twitter.
And on Saturday, during a video speech to a Republican Jewish group meeting in Las Vegas, Trump said that he was aware of Musk’s poll but that he saw “a lot of problems at Twitter,” according to Bloomberg.
“I hear we’re getting a big vote to also go back on Twitter. I don’t see it because I don’t see any reason for it,” Trump was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. “It may make it, it may not make it,” he added, apparently referring to Twitter’s recent internal upheavals.
The prospect of restoring Trump’s presence to the platform follows Musk’s purchase last month of Twitter — an acquisition that has fanned widespread concern that the billionaire owner will allow purveyors of lies and misinformation to flourish on the site. Musk has frequently expressed his belief that Twitter had become too restrictive of freewheeling speech.
His efforts to reshape the site have been both swift and chaotic. Musk has fired many of the company’s 7,500 full-time workers and an untold number of contractors who are responsible for content moderation and other crucial responsibilities. His demand that remaining employees pledge to “extremely hardcore” work triggered a wave of resignations, including hundreds of software engineers.
Users have reported seeing increased spam and scams on their feeds and in their direct messages, among other glitches, in the aftermath of the mass layoffs and worker exodus. Some programmers who were fired or resigned this week warned that Twitter may soon fray so badly it could actually crash.
Musk’s online survey, which ran for 24 hours before ending Saturday evening, concluded with 51.2% of more than 15 million votes favoring the restoration of Trump’s Twitter account. It comes four days after Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency in 2024.
Trump lost his access to Twitter two days after his supporters stormed the Capitol, soon after the former president had exhorted them to “fight like hell.” Twitter dropped his account after Trump wrote a pair of tweets that the company said cast further doubts on the legitimacy of the presidential election and raised risks for the Biden presidential inauguration.
After the Jan. 6 attack, Trump was also kicked off Facebook and Instagram, which are owned by Meta Platforms, and Snapchat. His ability to post videos to his YouTube channel was also suspended. Facebook is set to reconsider Trump’s account suspension in January.
Throughout his tenure as president, Trump’s use of social media posed a significant challenge to major social media platforms that sought to balance the public’s interest in hearing from public officials with worries about misinformation, bigotry, harassment and incitement of violence.
But in a speech at an auto conference in May, Musk asserted that Twitter’s ban of Trump was a “morally bad decision” and “foolish in the extreme.”
Earlier this month, Musk, who completed the $44 billion takeover of Twitter in late October, declared that the company wouldn’t let anyone who had been kicked off the site return until Twitter had established procedures on how to do so, including forming a “content moderation council.”
On Friday, Musk tweeted that the suspended Twitter accounts for the comedian Kathy Griffin, the Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson and the conservative Christian news satire website Babylon Bee had been reinstated. He added that a decision on Trump had not yet been made. He also responded “no” when someone on Twitter asked him to reinstate the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ account.
In a tweet Friday, the Tesla CEO described the company’s new content policy as “freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.”
He explained that a tweet deemed to be “negative” or to include “hate” would be allowed on the site but would be visible only to users who specifically searched for it. Such tweets also would be “demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter,” Musk said.
One day after the estate of Isaac Hayes threatened legal action against twice-impeached one-term president Donald Trump for unauthorized use of a song, one of the former reality TV star’s most vocal supporters got a similar do not play request.
“The Tom Petty estate and our partners were shocked to find out that Tom’s song ‘I Won’t Back Down’ was stolen and used without permission or a license to promote Kari Lake’s failed campaign,” the estate of the late rock icon tweeted on Thursday night (Nov. 17) after Lake released a campaign video cued to the beloved 1989 single.
Lake, one of a raft of prominent Trump-endorsed election deniers who failed in their bids in the midterm elections, dropped the ad on Wednesday. The two-minute spot features a montage of Lake posing with Trump, wielding a rifle while hunting, smashing TVs playing CNN and speaking to Arizonans with no voice-over or sound beyond Petty’s track.
“This is illegal,” Petty’s camp continued. “We are exploring all of our legal options to stop this unauthorized use and to prohibit future misappropriations of Tom’s beloved anthem. Thank you to all of the fans who brought this to our attention and who help us protect his legacy every day.”
Former local Fox news anchor Lake lost her bid for the Arizona governorship to democrat Katie Hobbs, but in keeping with her election denialism stance has so far refused to concede the race while offering up baseless, unproven allegations of voter fraud. Petty’s estate had a similar reaction when then-president Trump used “Won’t Back Down” at a June 2020 campaign rally.
Over the five years of his campaigns and presidency, artists ranging from Adele to Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, R.E.M., Aerosmith, Panic! at the Disco, Guns N’ Roses, The Rolling Stones, Rihanna and the estates of Leonard Cohen, Petty and Prince vociferously objected to Trump playing their music at his rallies. At press time a spokesperson for Lake could not be reached for comment on the Petty estate’s tweet.
Hayes’ estate said it was exploring all legal options after Trump played Sam & Dave’s “Hold On I’m Coming” — co-written by Hayes — at his Tuesday campaign event, in which the legally embattled real estate developer announced his third bid for the White House.
See the Petty estate’s statement below.
The Tom Petty estate and our partners were shocked to find out that Tom’s song “I Won’t Back Down” was stolen and used without permission or a license to promote Kari Lake’s failed campaign. pic.twitter.com/DoT71whO43— Tom Petty (@tompetty) November 18, 2022
Barbra Streisand took to social media on Thursday (Nov. 17) to honor Nancy Pelosi after the politician announced she would not be seeking another term as Speaker of the House.
“You are the best speaker there ever was!” the Broadway legend wrote beneath an Instagram snap of herself posing next to Pelosi. “We will all miss you. Actually, the world will miss you! My love and best wishes to you and Paul. Love, Barbra.”
In her speech, the longtime Democratic leader in the House of Representatives stated, “For me, the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect, and I’m grateful that so many are ready and willing to shoulder this awesome responsibility.” However, she still intends to maintain her role representing the 12th congressional district of California, a position she’s held for the past 35 years.
Following her announcement, Pelosi earned a flood of praise from politicians on both sides of the aisle, including Barack Obama, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former Republican Speakers of the House Paul Ryan and John Boehner, as well as celebrities like George Takei and Alyssa Milano.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, Streisand unveiled the first official release of her iconic 1962 set in Greenwich Village as Barbra Streisand — Live at the Bon Soir. The 24-track album contains enchanting live recordings of everything from “I Hate Music” and “Cry Me a River” to “Happy Days Are Here Again” and “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.”
Read Barbra’s tribute to Pelosi’s decades of congressional leadership below.
As expected, former president Donald Trump announced another bid for the presidency on Tuesday (Nov. 15), and Bette Midler had more than a few reactions to the news.
Watching the one-term president give his speech at Mar-A-Lago, the actress didn’t exactly mince words while live-tweeting her thoughts, starting with, “Ugh. Piggy is speaking.”
“That’s #Trumpto you. He’s giving the same speech he gave in 2016. After a two year pandemic, and a million American lives lost, the rest of us have moved on. He is ossified. May he rot,” the Hocus Pocus 2 star continued, adding minutes later, “Excuse me. I’m going to be sick.”
After Trump finished his hour-long announcement, Midler gave her assessment of the remarks, writing, “He just handed us two more years of his #delusions and #drivel. #unbearable.” She also poked fun at the twice-impeached president’s new campaign slogan “Make America Glorious and Great Again,” tweeting, “IT’S OFFICIAL! The new name for its campaign is #MAGAGA! Congratulations to whoever got there first, let’s take it all the way!! #MAGAGA.”
Midler has long been an outspoken liberal and critic of Trump, but even she found herself in hot water this summer over making what some perceived as anti-trans comments on Twitter in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. At the time, the controversy ignited a discussion around the importance of using inclusive language, and the Tony winner insisted there was “no intention of anything exclusionary or transphobic” in her sentiments.
Read Midler’s tweetstorm about Trump below.
That’s #Trumpto you. He’s giving the same speech he gave in 2016. After a two year pandemic, and a million American lives lost, the rest of us have moved on. He is ossified. May he rot.— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) November 16, 2022
IT’S OFFICIAL! The new name for its campaign is #MAGAGA! Congratulations to whoever got there first, let’s take it all the way!! #MAGAGA— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) November 16, 2022
Donald Trump kicked off his third bid for the White House on Tuesday night (Nov. 15) at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and within an hour the twice-impeached one-term former president was already facing his latest threat of legal sanction.
In the midst of a nest of investigations into Trump’s actions before and during his tumultuous four-year term, the estate of late R&B/soul legend Isaac Hayes tweeted that it was exploring its legal options to stop the former reality star from using one of Hayes’ compositions at his campaign events. “Once again, the estate and family of Isaac Hayes DID NOT approve the use of ‘Hold On I’m Coming’ by Sam and Dave by Donald Trump at his 2024 Presidential announcement tonight,” read the tweet.
“We are exploring multiple legal options to stop this unauthorized use,” it warned. Hayes co-wrote the 1966 hit and in a subsequent tweet the estate added, “Stopping a politician from using your music is not always an easy task, but we are dedicated to making sure that Donald Trump does not continue to use ‘Hold on I’m Coming’ by written by Isaac Hayes an David Porter in further rallies and public appearances.”
As he launches his latest attempt to return to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in the wake of a middling to poor showing by the large slate of candidates he endorsed in last week’s midterm elections, the warning from the Hayes estate is likely the least perilous legal threat facing the real estate mogul. Trump is facing a Dept. of Justice probe into the large collection of official documents he took from the White House after his failed 2020 re-election bid.
He is also facing two investigations in New York — one civil, one criminal — examining his Trump Organization for allegations of fraud, as well as a probe into his alleged role in the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021 and a criminal investigation into his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Trump, 76, repeatedly fell afoul of number of musical acts during his first presidential run in 2015-2016, as well as during his term as president and his 2020 campaign when he played their music at his rallies. On his way out of office after being defeated by Pres. Joe Biden, the Village People called out the “bully” ex-president for playing their gay anthem “Y.M.C.A.” one more time against their wishes at his sparsely attended farewell event on Jan. 20, 2021.
For years Trump ignored pleas from a long list of famous acts to cease and desist from using their music during his rallies and political events and in addition to the costumed disco act, the legacy manager for Laura Branigan took issue with Trump playing her hit “Gloria” at his final official appearance as well.
Over the five years of his campaigns and presidency, artists ranging from Adele to Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, R.E.M., Aerosmith, Panic! at the Disco, Guns N’ Roses, The Rolling Stones, Rihanna and the estates of Leonard Cohen, Tom Petty and Prince have vociferously objected to Trump playing their music at his rallies. At press time a spokesperson for Trump could not be reached for comment.
See the Hayes estate tweet below.
Stopping a politician from using your music is not always an easy task, but we are dedicated to making sure that Donald Trump does not continue to use “Hold on I’m Coming” by written by Isaac Hayes an David Porter in further rallies and public appearances.— Isaac Hayes (@isaachayes) November 16, 2022