John Legend defends decision to perform amid war
The 46-year-old multi-Grammy Award-winning star sparked a backlash after taking to the stage in Rwanda this month, which has been involved in a war with the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2022. But the All Of Me singer thinks it is unfair to punish music fans for the actions of their leaders, and has defended his decision to perform in the African country. He said after performing in Kigali, per the BBC, "I don't believe that we should punish the people of Rwanda and punish the people of other countries when we disagree with their leaders."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Raphael Saadiq's bass stolen before Oakland show, but the music played on
While recreating his 1984 audition for Sheila E's band, Raphael Saadiq slipped in a quick spontaneous story about something that happened to him earlier in the day. It was a slice of dark humor about life in the Town — a place that has given the musician so much but still tests his resilience. 'The bass I brought here got stolen today — welcome home!' he yelled sarcastically, to roars of supportive laughter. Oakland's hometown R&B hero was back with his 'No Bandwidth: One Man, One Night, Three Decades of Hits' solo show to the Fox Theater in Oakland on Saturday, June 7, for the first of two unique performances. It was Saadiq's first time in front of a Bay Area audience since his 2025 NBA All-Star Game performance in February, and the evening had a decidedly different vibe. For two-and-a-half hours, Saadiq shared stories in spoken and musical form about his Oakland upbringing, key moments in music discovery, his big breaks and breakups, and a family life blessed with love but touched by tragedy. The Fox Theater was packed with day-ones who had watched him grow from a skinny kid chowing burgers at Kwik Way to Tony! Toni! Toné! frontman to acclaimed solo artist to Grammy-winning producer. The format was similar to Netflix's 'Springsteen on Broadway ' or 'Beastie Boys Story ' on Apple TV+. As the title of the production implies, there was no band, just Saadiq seated on a stool with two guitars, a bass, a turntable and a piano. He displayed his piano proficiency, playing a majority of the evening's songs on an instrument he stopped learning as a child but picked up again during the pandemic. 'She went next door to Safeway and bought some groceries,' he said, proudly. 'Then I was born in 1966 at Highland Hospital and now I'm here.' Good times at the talent show Against his mother's wishes, Saadiq snuck his bass and amp to school and won his Elmhurst Middle School talent contest by playing a medley of funky jams — ' Peanut Butter,' 'Another One Bites the Dust' and 'Good Times.' On Saturday, he reenacted his motions and emotions as the songs played. He said he convinced the principal to escort him home with the trophy to avoid a whupping from his mom. It worked. 'Lucifer Pearl' Reminiscing about his short-lived supergroup Lucy Pearl, Saadiq referred to his post-Tonies R&B/hip-hop collaboration with A Tribe Called Quest DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammed and singer Dawn Robinson of Oakland's En Vogue as 'Lucifer Pearl.' Metaphorical tea spilled as he recalled the day Robinson quit the tour and left the band. 'When she left, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders,' he said. 'I remembered why I started making music. I had forgotten because I was so stressed. But, beauty comes from ashes.' Then Lucy Pearl's 'You' — a song that doesn't feature Robinson — played out the speakers and the crowd got up and rocked along. Making the cut with help from Rick Rubin Super producer Rick Rubin played a pivotal role in keeping Saadiq on Columbia Record's roster. Tasked with getting rid of low-performing acts, Rubin met with the artist to listen to Saadiq's unconventional 2008 Motown-influenced solo album 'The Way I See It.' Rubin, in his zen-like way, questioned whether the drums were programmed and if the guitar was real. They were — Saadiq confirmed he played all the instruments live. Impressed, Saadiq didn't get dropped. 'They didn't promote it,' Saadiq countered, 'but it was a good lesson about going with your gut.' 'Tattooed in my heart' The show's emotional highpoint was reserved for his five siblings who are no longer with him, including his brother and Tony! Toni! Toné! cofounder D'Wayne Wiggins, who at 64 died of bladder cancer in March 2025. Saadiq noted he's run out of tattoo space on his arms to commemorate any more dead siblings. '(D'Wayne) will always be tattooed in my heart,' he said. As he recounted the moment when D'wayne knew their time together was coming to an end, Saadiq paused to compose himself, clasping his hands in prayer. He lit a stick of incense and recalled the time he got to collaborate with Isley Brothers guitarist Ernie Isley, who D'Wayne worshipped. As the track ' Ernie's Jam ' played, the incense smouldered in the tuning pegs of his brother's guitar. Saadiq solemnly walked to the back of the stage and faced the screen, as a photo montage of his brother played.
USA Today
3 hours ago
- USA Today
Beyoncé fans react to dance captain's absence during London concert: 'Where is Amari?'
AI-assisted summary Beyoncé's dance captain, Amari "Monster" Marshall, was absent from her June 7 London concert. Fans questioned Marshall's absence on social media, as she has been a key figure in the "Renaissance" and "Cowboy Carter" tours. Marshall notably mentored Blue Ivy Carter during her stage debut and performed alongside Beyoncé at the 2024 NFL halftime show. Beyoncé Knowles-Carter lit up the stage for the second night of her "Cowboy Carter" tour in London, and while fans were thrilled to see Les Twins dancing once again, many pointed out one familiar face was missing. The Grammy-winning singer took the stage June 7 for her Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin' Circuit Tour at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. During the electric performance many fans noticed that Amari "Monster" Marshall, dubbed Beyoncé's dance captain, was not among the performers onstage. One fan wrote, "What happened to Amari," and many others cosigned. Marshall began working with Beyoncé during her iconic 2018 Coachella "Beychella" performances. She eventually assumed the role of dance co-captain on the "Renaissance World Tour," where she played a key part in mentoring Beyoncé's then 11-year-old daughter Blue Ivy during her stage debut. Beyoncé publicly praised Marshall for her guidance with the family dubbing her Blue's 'dance stage momma." She also took the stage with Bey during her 2024 Christmas Day NFL halftime show during the Texans-Ravens game. Marshall has continued performing with Beyoncé as dance captain on the "Cowboy Carter" tour, often sharing photos from various tour stops. However, she appeared to be absent from the stage in London, and fans especially noticed during Saturday night's show. It's not yet clear why Marshall didn't appear onstage or if she'll be making a return soon. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. The USA TODAY Network reached out to Beyoncé's team for further information. The concert marked Beyoncé's second of six shows at the stadium. She is set to hit the stage again June 10, 12, 14 and 16, before heading to Paris for three fans know, Beyoncé first debuted her "Cowboy Carter" tour at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on April 28 with 39 songs on the set list. Her shows have been filled with family, fashion, different music genres, and most notably country music and cultural commentary. Of course, Beyoncé first released the 27-track project in March 2024. It has since made history and broken multiple records. As Beyoncé's first country album, she deliberately featured country legends and emerging Black country artists alike. She became the first Black woman to win best country album at the 2025 Grammys and also took home album of the year. The nine-city tour will span the U.S. and Europe with the grand finale taking place in Las Vegas on July 26. Follow Caché McClay, the USA TODAY Network's Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @cachemcclay.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Marcel Ophuls, maker of The Sorrow and the Pity, which examined French collaboration with the Nazis
Marcel Ophuls, who has died aged 97, was a German-born documentary-maker who fled his homeland in the 1930s and spent much of his career interrogating the various legacies of the Second World War; his international breakthrough, the landmark The Sorrow and the Pity (Le Chagrin et la Pitié, 1969), revealed the extent to which his adopted France had collaborated with the Nazis. The son of the German-Jewish director Max Ophuls – known for such elaborate melodramas as La Ronde (1950) – Marcel began his career in film drama but achieved greater traction with complex, rigorous, meticulously edited non-fiction work. In documentaries such as The Memory of Justice (1976) and Hôtel Terminus (1988), the filmmaker set multiple testimonies side by side, sometimes corroborating, often contradicting, always inviting the spectator to shake any passivity and judge for themselves. In The Sorrow and the Pity, Ophuls spent four and a half hours of screen time – and many more hours of shooting – staking out the city of Clermont-Ferrand 'to analyse four years of collective destiny'. Patiently hearing from residents of all walks of life, the film picked insistently away at the Gaullist myth of a country united against an occupier, instead revealing two Frances at odds with one another – one resisting, the other collaborating. In France, Sorrow was denounced by conservative politicians as 'a prosecutorial film' and initially rejected for both theatrical and television distribution. After much legal wrangling, it finally opened in 1971, earning an Oscar nomination the following year, but it did not air on French television until 1981; a station director said the film had 'destroyed myths the French people still needed'. Ophuls subsequently made films on Vietnam (The Harvest of My Lai, 1970) and the Irish Troubles (A Sense of Loss, 1972), though the latter was rejected by the BBC. His personal favourite, The Memory of Justice, revisited the Nuremberg trials in the context of more recent conflicts in Algeria and Vietnam, though the project was again beset by lengthy and expensive legal challenges; Ophuls filed for bankruptcy shortly thereafter and spent a decade on the lecture circuit. He made a triumphant return, however, with the Oscar-winning Hôtel Terminus, on the life of the Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie. As free-roaming as its subject, unearthing material both disturbing and absurd, the film ends in one of documentary cinema's most extraordinary sequences, as Ophuls witnesses a chance encounter between a woman who as a child had seen her father carted away by the Gestapo and an elderly neighbour who had turned a blind eye to the same events. Though Hôtel Terminus sparked violent arguments at Cannes, the critic Roger Ebert admired its tenacity, calling it 'the film of a man who continues the conversation after others would like to move on to more polite subjects'. Yet as a characteristically combative Ophuls countered in 2004: 'I'm not obsessed. I just happen to think that the Holocaust was the worst thing that happened in the 20th century. Think I'm wrong?' He was born Hans Marcel Oppenheimer in Frankfurt on November 1 1927, the son of Max Oppenheimer and his actress wife Hildegard Wall. The family fled Germany for France in 1933, taking French citizenship in 1938, whereupon Max dropped the umlaut from his stage name, Ophüls; after the occupation they fled anew to Los Angeles, where Max began an unhappy spell as a studio filmmaker and Marcel attended Hollywood High and Occidental College. Marcel Ophuls completed military service in Japan before studying at UC Berkeley, taking US citizenship in 1950. Upon graduation he moved to Paris, briefly studying philosophy at the Sorbonne, before dropping out and working as an assistant director (initially under the pseudonym Marcel Wall, to dodge nepotism accusations) on John Huston's Moulin Rouge (1952) and his father's sweeping Lola Montès (1955). He made his directorial debut with a German television adaptation of John Mortimer's The Dock Brief (Das Pflichtmandat, 1958), before being tapped by François Truffaut to contribute to the portmanteau film Love at Twenty (L'amour à vingt ans, 1962). By now he was part of the New Wave set: Jeanne Moreau funded his detective comedy Banana Skin (Peau de Banane, 1963), but his fiction career came to a halt after the flop thriller Place Your Bets, Ladies (Faites vos jeux, mesdames, 1965). Ophuls moved into documentary, taking a job with the French broadcaster ORTF, where he railed against the prevailing state censorship; he was eventually fired in May 1968 after making a film deemed sympathetic to the student rioters, though by then he was well into post-production on The Sorrow and the Pity. After Hôtel Terminus, Ophuls suffered mixed fortunes. November Days (1990), on the subject of German reunification, played as part of the BBC's Inside Story strand, but The Troubles We've Seen (Veillées d'armes, 1994), on wartime journalism and the Bosnian conflict, failed to reach an audience, despite a César nomination in France. He worked more sparingly in the new millennium, completing Max par Marcel (2009), on his father's legacy, and the career overview Ain't Misbehavin' (Un voyageur, 2013), his final completed film; a later project on anti-Semitism and the Middle East, Des vérités désagréables (Unpleasant Truths), ran into financial and legal troubles and remained unfinished at the time of his death. During a visit to Israel in 2007, Ophuls attempted to define his life's work: 'I'm not a preacher, a judge or an adviser. I'm just a filmmaker trying now and then to make sense of crises... Life made me, unwillingly, an expert on 20th-century crises. I would've preferred to direct musicals.' He is survived by his wife Regine, née Ackermann, and three daughters. Marcel Ophuls, born November 1 1927, died May 24 2025 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
