Latest news with #2025CityofHopeSpiritofLifeGala
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Music Insiders Slam Live Nation's Trump Ally Board Appointee Amid DOJ Suit: 'It's Just So Obvious'
Live Nation's move to appoint Trump ally Richard Grenell to its board of directors caused a stir in the live music business this week, as several music executives who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter slammed the pick as a transactional move in the company's attempt to squash the monopoly lawsuit Live Nation faces against the Department of Justice. Grenell is a longtime Trump ally, previously serving as U.S. ambassador to Germany during Trump's first term, and he was appointed the interim executive director at the Kennedy Center after the president seized control of the Center back in February. The DOJ first sued Live Nation a year ago, claiming the company uses its dominance in concert promotion and in ticketing with Ticketmaster to stifle competition, calling to break up the company. More from The Hollywood Reporter "Diddy" Defense Team Minimizes Guns Found on His Property, Says Expert Witnesses Are "Dangerous" Warner Records' Tom Corson to Be Honored at 2025 City of Hope Spirit of Life Gala; Michael Bublé to Headline "Free Puff" T-Shirts Outside of Sean "Diddy" Combs Trial May Be Part of a Paid Protest 'It's not a shock to see this because it's obviously right in front of us,' says Gary Witt, president and CEO of Milwaukee-based Pabst Theater Group. 'Right in front of our very eyes you're watching a transaction take place where one group is trying to buy their way out of the DOJ and 40 state attorneys pursuing them.' The DOJ first sued Live Nation a year ago, claiming the company uses its dominance in concert promotion and in ticketing with Ticketmaster to stifle competition, calling to break up the company. Live Nation has consistently denied the DOJ's claims. Dan Wall, the company's executive vice president of corporate and regulatory affairs, wrote last year that the complaint misleads the public into thinking that ticket prices will be lower if something is done about Live Nation and Ticketmaster. DOJ is not helping consumers with their actual problems.' When asked for comment on the claims on Grenell's appointment, a Live Nation representative pointed THR to the company's announcement from Tuesday. 'We are pleased to welcome Ric to our Board,' Randall Mays, Live Nation Entertainment's chairman of the board, said in a statement Tuesday. 'His background will bring a valuable perspective as Live Nation continues to contribute to a growing live music industry around the globe.' A second music executive, who requested anonymity citing fear of retaliation from Live Nation, called Grenell's appointment 'the most thinly-veiled attempt to clash a legal proceeding that I've seen.' 'What expertise is he able to provide other than his access to Trump,' the executive says. 'What value does he provide? It's just so obvious. if he wasn't closely aligned with Trump, would they have ever picked him? If they didn't have a lawsuit filed by the DOJ would they have appointed him? The answer to both is likely no.' Grinell's appointment comes as the live music business has been looking for indications on how aggressively the Trump administration would pursue the Live Nation case it inherited from the Biden administration. Whether Grinell's appointment would have any impact on the case going forward isn't clear yet. 'Of course there's people who are thinking the case is finished now, but I think you can come to the opposite conclusion too,' says a policy expert who's followed the DOJ case closely, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the matter. 'You can just as easily argue Live Nation knows they're in trouble and is just increasingly desperate that they use this obvious ploy.' Aside from the civil suit, news broke last week that the DOJ is considering separate criminal charges against Live Nation and rival AEG over collusion allegations regarding their responses to refunds for pandemic-era concert cancellations. Live Nation denied the claims. 'We did not collude with AEG or anyone else,' Wall said last week. 'We are proud of our leadership during those trying times, and if any charges result from this investigation, we will defend them vigorously.' The appointment comes as Trump himself has grown increasingly combative with superstar artists online in recent days. After Bruce Springsteen criticized the Trump administration during a recent concert in the U.K., Trump sent a vaguely threatening message out on Truth Social, writing that Springsteen 'ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that's just 'standard fare'. Then we'll all see how it goes for him!' Earlier this week, Trump had called for a 'major investigation' into the appearances for artists like Springsteen, Beyoncé and Bono at Kamala Harris's presidential rallies. Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Diddy' Defense Team Minimizes Guns Found on His Property, Says Expert Witnesses Are 'Dangerous'
Three more witnesses offered a variety of testimony on Wednesday at Sean 'Diddy' Combs' racketeering and sex trafficking trial, including an agent who raided his Miami home, a psychologist who has testified at several recent high-profile trials and one of the rap mogul's former assistants. Combs was arrested in September and, in a five-count indictment, is accused by federal prosecutors of two decades of abuse of women, trafficking of sex workers and turning his music and fashion empire into a criminal enterprise. At his trial, now in its third week, federal prosecutors are alleging that his crimes involved coercive control, manipulation, blackmail, drug use, marathon sex sessions and trafficking. Combs pleaded not guilty to multiple counts detailed in a federal indictment involving sex trafficking and racketeering; he continues to deny all allegations against him. More from The Hollywood Reporter Warner Records' Tom Corson to Be Honored at 2025 City of Hope Spirit of Life Gala; Michael Bublé to Headline "Free Puff" T-Shirts Outside of Sean "Diddy" Combs Trial May Be Part of a Paid Protest Chris Brown Freed on $6.7 Million Bail in Assault Case, U.K. Court Rules On Wednesday morning, Homeland Security Investigations Agent Gerard Gannon re-took the witness stand after his testimony closed out the day on Tuesday, where he had begun describing the March 2024 raid on Combs' Miami mansion. Gannon told the court how the 80-90 agents found assault rifles with serial numbers removed, loaded magazines and sex toys among the confiscated items during the raid. Gannon detailed the raid further on Wednesday, explaining how the agents found a cellphone stuffed inside a Balenciaga boot and a Gucci bag with a white residue inside; it later tested positive for cocaine and the dissociative drug ketamine. That bag also contained smaller bags of different colored pills that tested positive for MDMA and Xanax. Some of the MDMA pills were stamped with the Tesla logo, the jury learned. Inside a wooden box marked 'Puffy,' Gannon said that a white, rock-like substance was discovered. Working to minimize the seriousness of what was discovered in the raid in cross-examination, defense attorney Teny Geragos noted that the guns found at the property were taped up, so therefore not ready to be used and that there are many other ways to identify someone who used a gun other than the serial number, which had been removed. Gannon agreed to all of this and stepped down from the witness stand. The prosecution's next witness was Dawn Hughes, a clinical and forensic psychologist who has testified at recent major trials involving celebrities or sensational news stories: She spoke about the concept of gaslighting at NXIVM sex cult leader Keith Raniere's 2019 trial and R. Kelly's racketeering and multiple charges related to sexual abuse and exploitation, where she told the jury about the notion of sexual entrapment. In 2022, millions watched her testimony at the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial. Hughes testified as to why certain victims might not leave their abuser, as the prosecution has said that for over a decade, Combs abused, manipulated and controlled Cassie Ventura, who, as the star witness, testified for 20 hours last week about their violent relationship. Hughes told the jury that at times a victim can feel trapped, may still feel a bond to their abuser and believe that leaving the relationship is far too difficult to do. Psychological, sexual, emotional and financial abuse can all be factors at play when a person chooses to stay with an abuser, she said. Defense attorneys then attempted to tear down Hughes' credibility, pointing out that she never evaluated the defendant or Ventura. Combs' attorney, Jonathan Bach, then asked Hughes if she had ever represented anyone accused of a sex crime. A long pause was felt across the courtroom after she said she had not: 'That's correct, I don't evaluate offenders,' Hughes said. It was also noted that the prosecution had paid Hughes $600 per hour for her time working with them on the case. At a point, Bach called Hughes and other expert witnesses 'dangerous,' as they entered the situation with 'an aura of authority.' Another assistant to Combs was the final witness of the day on Wednesday. George Kaplan, who worked for the mogul as his personal assistant from 2015-2016, detailed the tasks of his job, which included cleaning up hotel rooms after the 'freak-offs' Combs would throw there. Liquor bottles and baby oil often littered these rooms in New York, Miami and L.A. after Combs departed. Kaplan told the court that at one point, he found white powder near a sink in one of the rooms. Rapper Kid Cudi was expected to testify on Wednesday about his relationship with Ventura and an incident over a decade ago involving his car exploding. The court adjourned for the day without the rapper appearing; he is expected to be in court on Thursday to take the stand. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025 Hollywood's Highest-Profile Harris Endorsements: Taylor Swift, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen and More
