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‘Ketamine Queen' accused of selling fatal dose to Matthew Perry agrees to plead guilty
LOS ANGELES — A woman known as the 'Ketamine Queen,' charged with selling Matthew Perry the drug that killed him, agreed to plead guilty Monday. Jasveen Sangha becomes the fifth and final defendant charged in the overdose death of the 'Friends' star to strike a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. Having initially pleaded not guilty, her change of plea means she'll avoid a trial that had been planned for August. Prosecutors had cast Sangha as a prolific drug dealer who was known to her customers as the 'Ketamine Queen,' using the term often in press releases and court documents and even including it in the official name of the case. A federal indictment charged Sangha with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute ketamine and five counts of distribution of ketamine. Sangha will officially change her plea to guilty at an upcoming hearing, where sentencing will be scheduled, prosecutors said. She could get up to 45 years in prison. An email sent to Sangha's lawyers seeking comment was not immediately answered. She and Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who signed his own plea deal June 16, had been the primary targets of the investigation. Three other defendants -- Dr. Mark Chavez, Kenneth Iwamasa and Erik Fleming -- agreed to plead guilty last year in exchange for their cooperation, which included statements implicating Sangha and Plasencia. Perry was found dead in his Los Angeles home by Iwamasa, his assistant, on Oct. 28, 2023. The medical examiner ruled that ketamine, typically used as a surgical anesthetic, was the primary cause of death. The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor as a legal, but off-label, treatment for depression, which has become increasingly common. Perry, 54, sought more ketamine than his doctor would give him. He began getting it from Plasencia about a month before his death, then started getting still more from Sangha about two weeks before his death, prosecutors said. Perry and Iwamasa found Sangha through Perry's friend Fleming. In their plea agreements, both men described the subsequent deals in detail. Fleming messaged Iwamasa saying Sangha's ketamine was 'unmarked but it's amazing,' according to court documents. Fleming texted Iwamasa that she only deals 'with high end and celebs. If it were not great stuff she'd lose her business.' With the two men acting as middlemen, Perry bought large amounts of ketamine from Sangha, including 25 vials for US$6,000 in cash four days before his death. That purchase included the doses that killed Perry, prosecutors said. On the day of Perry's death, Sangha told Fleming they should delete all the messages they had sent each other, according to her indictment. Her home in North Hollywood, California, was raided in March 2024 by Drug Enforcement Administration agents who found large amounts of methamphetamines and ketamine, according to an affidavit from an agent. She was indicted that June, arrested that August and has been held in jail since. None of the defendants has yet been sentenced. Perry struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on 'Friends,' when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC's megahit series. Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press
CTV News
7 minutes ago
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Taylor Swift enters her showgirl era
With Taylor Swift, a new album unveils a new 'era,' and a new era dictates a new costume. This time, she embodies the dazzling spirit of a Las Vegas dancer for her upcoming album 'The Life of a Showgirl.' It's a far cry from the woolen overcoats and broderie-anglais dresses of 'Folklore' (2020), or the copper baker boy hats of 'Red' (2012). But on this record, Swift is interrogating an increasingly large part of her life — her experience as a world-famous pop star and lacquered performer. In 2024, her 'Era's Tour,' which took place in 51 cities across 5 continents, became the highest-grossing tour of all time. On 'New Heights,' the podcast her boyfriend Travis Kelce runs with his older brother Jason, Swift said she wrote the album during the tour's European leg. 'Literally living the life of a showgirl,' said Travis Kelce. 'It's the life behind it all, it's the life beyond the show,' said Swift. On the cover of the record, the singer is dressed in a crystal embellished demi-bra with webs of jewels trailing down her torso and submerged in what appears to be a bathtub. In another image, she poses with her arms wide in another showgirl-inspired outfit covered in sparkling gems. But the sexed-up, glamorous costumes are juxtaposed with empty theatres and cold, green light, perhaps a nod to the quiet, lonelier moments after everybody has gone home. While the decision to expose more skin in this way is a new direction for Swift as an artist, she isn't the first performer to embrace the sartorial codes of this type of entertainer. In fact, she is in excellent company. Modern-day pop stars have long referenced the image of the showgirl. Typically dating back to late 19th century Parisian music halls, chorus girls, burlesque or fan dancers were defined by their glamorous, often revealing, matching outfits. The Las Vegas showgirl, which later became its own brand entirely, is now more closely associated with crystalline cage bras, diamanté panties and tall feather headdresses. Stars such as Beyoncé, Katy Perry and Mariah Carey have all taken turns dressing up in the iconic garb. Carey for her 2009 music video 'I Stay in Love,' Perry for 'Waking up in Vegas' the same year and Beyoncé while performing at an entertainment resort in Atlantic City in 2012. Christina Aguilera's scene-stealing performance of 'Lady Marmalade' in Moulin Rouge means she is now inextricably linked with showgirl styling. (She is also an executive producer on the theater show 'Burlesque: The Musical' currently on show in London's West End). For her 2005 tour, Kylie Minogue performed at least four songs in a leotard dripping in crystals, a giant feather bustle and an enormous feather headdress. More recently Addison Rae, whose 2025 self-titled album made the charts in both the U.S. and U.K., donned a gem-encrusted cage bra for her 'High Fashion' music video. Why have these pop stars been so drawn to the glittering facade of a showgirl? It could be the feminine styling, the makeup, the intricate costuming designed to captivate audiences and make the most of stage lighting. Or perhaps they feel an affinity to these hard-working dancers, outside of the obvious glitz and glamour: Their dedication, talent and grit. Last year, night after night, Swift performed for stadiums of people in high-octane outfits, drawing on a seemingly bottomless reserve of energy. It was a grueling schedule, perhaps rivalled only by that of a Vegas showgirl. Of the album's contents, Swift said: 'It's what I was going through off-stage.' No matter what happens in private, both understand the show must go on. By Leah Dolan, CNN
CTV News
7 minutes ago
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Chappell Roan promises to perform in Saskatchewan after release of latest single
Chappell Roan departs The Carlyle Hotel prior to attending The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP) More than two weeks after American pop star Chappell Roan released a song with the lyrics 'I'm moving to Saskatchewan,' the province — and the singer— are still buzzing. In an interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe this week, the singer revealed why she chose to include the Prairie province in her latest single, The Subway. 'It rhymed,' she laughed, going on to say that it is about time Saskatchewan gets global recognition. 'I've never been there, but I promise I will perform there one day.' Since Roan released the song July 31, there has been a spike in the number of Google searches that include the word 'Saskatchewan.' The pop culture moment isn't lost on the province's tourism industry. Leanne Schinkel, Discover Saskatoon's director of marketing, said they've noticed an uptick in social media interactions and DMs since the song came out. 'We definitely can't get this kind of attention on our own,' Schinkel said. 'You'd have to spend millions of dollars to be able to create this kind of awareness.' On Thursday, the attention caught the eye of late night talk show host Jimmy Fallon. 'Chappell Roan's new song, The Subway, has sparked a tourism boom in Saskatchewan,' Fallon said before jumping into a bit where he inserted the word 'Saskatchewan' into several well-known songs. Schinkel said this kind of international attention would be considered the awareness stage of a campaign. Discover Saskatoon is batting around ideas to leverage the spotlight in possible tourism ads, something the group Tourism Saskatchewan is already doing. 'It's an opportunity to be playful and just have a good time and not take ourselves too seriously,' Schinkel said. It's too soon to say if the boost in attention will translate into more visitors, but travel marketing experts say it is not uncommon for pop culture to influence tourist destinations. Visitors flocked to Croatia and Northern Ireland where Game of Thrones was filmed, and Wyoming and Montana saw a surge in tourists thanks to the TV series Yellowstone. 'It's a similar thing for music,' said Amir Eylon, president and CEO of marketing research group Longwoods International. 'The performing arts have an emotional connect with us and travel is a very emotional thing. When you think about the reasons why … you pick certain destinations over others, it's because you have some type of connection that you feel.' Roan's connection to Saskatchewan might be a clever rhyme, but fans of the Pink Pony Club singer say it means more than that. 'It's really cool to have that queer joy in the political climate that we're in,' said Saskatoon Pride Co-Chair and Chappell Roan fan Blake Tait. Saskatchewan's government passed a controversial bill in 2023 that requires parental consent for students under the age of 16 to change their preferred name and pronouns at school. 'It's important that we're so much louder about our queerness,' Tait said. 'I think having a lesbian anthem that mentions the province is a great way to do that.'
