Latest news with #AcademyofCountryMusicAwards
Newsweek
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Shakira, Jason Aldean Concerts Abruptly Canceled: What We Know
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Shakira's Fenway Park concert was abruptly canceled on Thursday, the Boston ballpark shared via social media. Jason Aldean and country duo Brooks & Dunn's concert, scheduled for Friday, was also canceled. Newsweek reached out to Fenway Park's press team via email on Friday for comment. The Context The Fenway concert was part of Shakira's The Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (Women No Longer Cry) World Tour, and her performance was also set to kick off the 2025 Fenway Concert Series. In a pinned Instagram post from April, Shakira announced the North American leg of the tour. "North America see you soon! #LMYNLWorldTour," she wrote at the time. The "Hips Don't Lie" singer canceled two concerts earlier this year. (L) Shakira attends the Latin Grammy Awards in Seville, Spain, on November 16, 2023. (R) Jason Aldean attends the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 3, 2016. (L) Shakira attends the Latin Grammy Awards in Seville, Spain, on November 16, 2023. (R) Jason Aldean attends the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 3, 2016. Patricia J. Garcinuno/WireImage;What To Know On Thursday, Fenway Park shared a statement on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram about the canceled performances. "Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Shakira and Jason Aldean and Brooks & Dunn performances originally scheduled for May 29th and May 30th respectively at Fenway Park have been canceled," the message read in both English and Spanish. "Refunds will be available at your point of purchase. We apologize for the inconvenience." At the time of publication, the post racked up more than 463,400 views and over 200 comments. The Fenway Concerts' Instagram account shared the same statement. New Hampshire news station WMUR-TV reported on Thursday that there were safety concerns about the stage at Fenway. "A problem with the stage was discovered during a rehearsal," the outlet reported, citing sources from its sister station in Boston. "In fact, that source said part of the staging fell apart, prompting an inspection team to shut everything down." What People Are Saying Jason Aldean and Brooks & Dunn reposted the Fenway Concerts statement on their Instagram the comments underneath both Fenway Park's X post and Fenway Concerts' Instagram post, concertgoers shared their disappointment: X user @sorianojt commented: "This is outrageous, we flew more than 10 Hours just to get to Boston, my 10 year old, can't stop crying, it's not fair, she doesn't deserved [sic] this." X user @VermesAngela commented: "How come it's not being rescheduled I was almost to Boston from near spfld [Springfield] before I found out." X user @castel42 commented: "I literally flew in just for this just to land and immediately receive an email saying it's cancelled. Wtf!!!" X user @IdenDeborah commented: "How can this happen! You guys owe a proper explanation to the fans who paid just to see them!! This is way to upsetting." Instagram user @soraias36, in a comment with 114 likes: "Why cancel?!!! Just reschedule. What the h***!!!" Instagram user @ in a comment with 85 likes: "This is insane. My mom flew all the way from Florida to come to the concert." Instagram user @heathkamac, in a comment with 47 likes: "I drove for two f***ing days from Nova Scotia Canada for to see both of these concerts. I'm livid." What Happens Next Shakira has not yet addressed the cancellation. Other Fenway Concert Series artists this summer include Hozier on June 23 and 24, The Lumineers on July 17 and 18, and Thomas Rhett on July 19.
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
The Latest: Trump celebrates steel and Musk as White House owns errors in RFK Jr. report
President Donald Trump is holding a rally in Pennsylvania on Friday to celebrate a details-to-come deal for Japan-based Nippon Steel to invest in U.S. Steel, which he says will keep the iconic American steelmaker under U.S.-control. ICE, the agency tasked with carrying out Trump's mass deportation campaign is undergoing a major staff reorganization. The White House says its fixing errors in a much-anticipated federal report led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. decrying America's food supply, pesticides and prescription drugs. And billionaire Elon Musk faces big challenges as he leaves Washington after an Oval Office appearance Friday afternoon. Each of his numerous businesses have their own set of issues. Here's the Latest: Trump's big plans on trade and more run up against laws of political gravity, separation of powers On Wednesday, an obscure but powerful court in New York rejected the legal foundation of Trump's most sweeping tariffs, finding that Trump could not use a 1977 law to declare a national emergency on trade imbalances and fentanyl smuggling to justify a series of import taxes that have unsettled the world. Reordering the global economy by executive fiat was an unconstitutional end-run around Congress' powers, the three-judge panel of Trump, Obama and Reagan appointees ruled in a scathing rebuke of Trump's action. The setbacks fit a broader pattern for a president who has advanced an extraordinarily expansive view of executive power. The laws of political gravity, the separation of powers and geopolitical realities are proving to be tougher to conquer than Trump will publicly admit. As various legal skirmishes play out, he may have to choose between bowing to the limits of his power or trying to ignore the judicial system. Trump's latest pardons benefit an array of political allies and public figures A governor who resigned amid a corruption scandal and served two stints in federal prison. A New York Republican who resigned from Congress after a tax fraud conviction and who made headlines for threatening to throw a reporter off a Capitol balcony over a question he didn't like. Reality TV stars convicted of cheating banks and evading taxes. FILE – Todd Chrisley, left, and his wife, Julie Chrisley, pose for photos at the 52nd annual Academy of Country Music Awards on April 2, 2017, in Las Vegas. Todd and Julie Chrisley, who are in prison after being convicted on federal charges of bank fraud and tax evasion, are challenging aspects of their convictions and sentences in a federal appeals court.(Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File) All were unlikely beneficiaries this week of pardons, with Trump flexing his executive power to bestow clemency on political allies, prominent public figures and others convicted of defrauding the public. The moves not only take aim at criminal cases once touted as just by the Justice Department but also come amid a continuing Trump administration erosion of public integrity guardrails, including the firing of the department's pardon attorney and the near-dismantling of a prosecution unit established to hold public officials accountable for abusing the public trust. Trump has long warned of a 'deep state.' Now in power, he's under pressure to expose it Four months into his second term, Trump has continued to stoke dark theories involving his predecessors and other powerful politicians and attorneys — most recently raising the specter of nefarious intent behind former President Joe Biden's use of an autopen to sign papers. The administration has pledged to reopen investigations and has taken steps to declassify certain documents, including releasing more than 63,000 pages of records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Yet many of Trump's supporters say it's not enough. Some who take him at his word are beginning to get restless as they ask why his administration, which holds the keys to chasing down these alleged government secrets, is denying them the evidence and retribution they expected. His Justice Department has not yet arrested hordes of 'deep state' actors as some of his supporters had hoped it would, even as the president has been posting cryptic videos and memes about Democratic politicians. Trump holding Pennsylvania rally to promote deal for Japan-based Nippon to 'partner' with US Steel Trump is holding a rally in Pennsylvania on Friday to celebrate a details-to-come deal for Japan-based Nippon Steel to invest in U.S. Steel, which he says will keep the iconic American steelmaker under U.S.-control. Though Trump initially vowed to block the Japanese steelmaker's bid to buy Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel, he changed course and announced an agreement last week for what he described as 'partial ownership' by Nippon. It's not clear, though, if the deal his administration helped broker has been finalized or how ownership would be structured. Trump stressed the deal would maintain American control of the storied company, which is seen as both a political symbol and an important matter for the country's supply chain, industries like auto manufacturing and national security. U.S. Steel has not publicly communicated any details of a revamped deal to investors. Nippon Steel issued a statement approving of the proposed 'partnership' but also has not disclosed terms of the arrangement.
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
The Latest: Trump celebrates steel and Musk as White House owns errors in RFK Jr. report
President Donald Trump is holding a rally in Pennsylvania on Friday to celebrate a details-to-come deal for Japan-based Nippon Steel to invest in U.S. Steel, which he says will keep the iconic American steelmaker under U.S.-control. ICE, the agency tasked with carrying out Trump's mass deportation campaign is undergoing a major staff reorganization. The White House says its fixing errors in a much-anticipated federal report led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. decrying America's food supply, pesticides and prescription drugs. And billionaire Elon Musk faces big challenges as he leaves Washington after an Oval Office appearance Friday afternoon. Each of his numerous businesses have their own set of issues. On Wednesday, an obscure but powerful court in New York rejected the legal foundation of Trump's most sweeping tariffs, finding that Trump could not use a 1977 law to declare a national emergency on trade imbalances and fentanyl smuggling to justify a series of import taxes that have unsettled the world. Reordering the global economy by executive fiat was an unconstitutional end-run around Congress' powers, the three-judge panel of Trump, Obama and Reagan appointees ruled in a scathing rebuke of Trump's action. The setbacks fit a broader pattern for a president who has advanced an extraordinarily expansive view of executive power. The laws of political gravity, the separation of powers and geopolitical realities are proving to be tougher to conquer than Trump will publicly admit. As various legal skirmishes play out, he may have to choose between bowing to the limits of his power or trying to ignore the judicial system. Trump's latest pardons benefit an array of political allies and public figures A governor who resigned amid a corruption scandal and served two stints in federal prison. A New York Republican who resigned from Congress after a tax fraud conviction and who made headlines for threatening to throw a reporter off a Capitol balcony over a question he didn't like. Reality TV stars convicted of cheating banks and evading taxes. FILE - Todd Chrisley, left, and his wife, Julie Chrisley, pose for photos at the 52nd annual Academy of Country Music Awards on April 2, 2017, in Las Vegas. Todd and Julie Chrisley, who are in prison after being convicted on federal charges of bank fraud and tax evasion, are challenging aspects of their convictions and sentences in a federal appeals court.(Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File) All were unlikely beneficiaries this week of pardons, with Trump flexing his executive power to bestow clemency on political allies, prominent public figures and others convicted of defrauding the public. The moves not only take aim at criminal cases once touted as just by the Justice Department but also come amid a continuing Trump administration erosion of public integrity guardrails, including the firing of the department's pardon attorney and the near-dismantling of a prosecution unit established to hold public officials accountable for abusing the public trust. Trump has long warned of a 'deep state.' Now in power, he's under pressure to expose it Four months into his second term, Trump has continued to stoke dark theories involving his predecessors and other powerful politicians and attorneys — most recently raising the specter of nefarious intent behind former President Joe Biden's use of an autopen to sign papers. The administration has pledged to reopen investigations and has taken steps to declassify certain documents, including releasing more than 63,000 pages of records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Yet many of Trump's supporters say it's not enough. Some who take him at his word are beginning to get restless as they ask why his administration, which holds the keys to chasing down these alleged government secrets, is denying them the evidence and retribution they expected. His Justice Department has not yet arrested hordes of 'deep state' actors as some of his supporters had hoped it would, even as the president has been posting cryptic videos and memes about Democratic politicians. Trump holding Pennsylvania rally to promote deal for Japan-based Nippon to 'partner' with US Steel Trump is holding a rally in Pennsylvania on Friday to celebrate a details-to-come deal for Japan-based Nippon Steel to invest in U.S. Steel, which he says will keep the iconic American steelmaker under U.S.-control. Though Trump initially vowed to block the Japanese steelmaker's bid to buy Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel, he changed course and announced an agreement last week for what he described as 'partial ownership' by Nippon. It's not clear, though, if the deal his administration helped broker has been finalized or how ownership would be structured. Trump stressed the deal would maintain American control of the storied company, which is seen as both a political symbol and an important matter for the country's supply chain, industries like auto manufacturing and national security. U.S. Steel has not publicly communicated any details of a revamped deal to investors. Nippon Steel issued a statement approving of the proposed 'partnership' but also has not disclosed terms of the arrangement.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
10 years ago, a country radio pro dismissed female singers — and 'Tomatogate' was born. Are they getting more respect now?
In 2015, women singers in country music were told they were just the "tomatoes" in a salad of male stars — a juicy soundbite that became known as Tomatogate. One decade later, frustration is still real as country radio stations seem confused about the ingredients that make a perfect salad. Controversy ensued 10 years ago when a radio consultant suggested female country music artists are not the lettuce in the salad, but rather tomatoes who should be "sprinkled" on a playlist and not in back-to-back rotations. "If you want to make ratings in country radio, take females out," Keith Hill told the trade publication Country Radio Aircheck in its May 26, 2015, issue. "Trust me," Hill, whom the publication called "the world's leading authority on music scheduling," continued. "I play great female records, and we've got some right now; they're just not the lettuce in our salad. The lettuce is Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and artists like that. The tomatoes of our salad are the females." "The story made national headlines and riled up both men and women in the music industry. Female artists united. Martina McBride sold "Tomato Lover" T-shirts for her charity, which supports equal rights for women in the music industry. There were think pieces and interviews calling out "Bro Country" and research studies done about gender representation on country radio. Has anything really changed in the last decade, aside from online outrage? While covering the Academy of Country Music Awards (ACMs) earlier this month, I talked to some of the biggest female artists in country music to get a state of the union, of sorts. I also spoke with professors doing research on gender representation in country radio. Here's where we stand. Singer-songwriter Mickey Guyton had an emphatic "Oh yeah" when I asked her if she remembered Tomatogate 10 years ago. "Not much has changed. It hasn't," Guyton, who was honored at Variety's Power of Women: Nashville earlier this month, told Yahoo Entertainment. She believes there needs to be more female artists played on the radio right now. "But at a certain point, there's a lot of people that can fight for the system that oppresses us. Until they stop doing that, there's nothing much that we can do to press forward. Like, when do we all decide to say stop accepting the crumbs? Billie Jean King said that," Guyton said, referencing the American tennis great. "We have to stop accepting the crumbs. When's enough enough? I don't know." Singer Kassi Ashton, who was nominated for New Female Artist of the Year at the ACMs, agreed, saying, "We still have a ways to go" in terms of female representation on the radio. "Last year, there was only one female number one the entire year." Ella Langley was the only female artist to top the Billboard Country Airplay chart in 2024. There are plenty of charts one can look at, but Billboard's is considered crucial, as it tracks the week's most popular songs ranked by country radio airplay audience impressions. Langley scored her first No. 1 with her hit song "You Look Like You Love Me," which also features male singer Riley Green. In 2018, Miranda Lambert scored her first No. 1 in four years for her and Jason Aldean's summer hit "Drowns the Whiskey." She infamously called out radio chart disparity and how she "had to sing with someone with a penis to get a number one." "I do like this person, Jason Aldean, a lot … so it was a great song with an old friend,' she told the Washington Post, adding how "it is interesting that I haven't had even a Top 20 in a long, long time. And then it goes No. 1 because it's a dude." Kate Duncan, director of the School of Music and Theatre Professions at Loyola University New Orleans, sees that trend reflected in the charts. "An artist like Miranda Lambert saying she had to have a male feature in order to get recognition is not far off the mark because the bar seems to be so much higher for female accomplishment across the industry," she explained to Yahoo. "We're just seeing that the bar is almost unattainable right now." Sara Evans, known for hits like "Suds in the Bucket" and "A Little Bit Stronger," told me on the 2025 ACMs red carpet that this is still an issue. "Radio hasn't played any new music of mine in years — six years probably," she said. Evans won Top Female Vocalist at the awards show in 2006. She was nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year in 2011 and has churned out plenty of music, her latest album getting released in June 2024. "It's crazy. I don't understand it. What would we do without Kacey Musgraves and Dolly Parton if they had never played them?" It's a point Carrie Underwood, who's one of the biggest faces of country music, made in 2018. "Even when I was growing up, I wished there was more women on the radio, and I had a lot more than there are today," she said in a podcast interview. "You think about all of the little girls that are sitting at home saying, 'I want to be a country music singer.' What do you tell them? ... How do you look at them and say, 'Well just work hard sweetie and you can do it' when that's not the case right now." Prior to Langley topping the Billboard Country Airplay chart in December, it had been nearly one year since a woman was featured in the top spot. Lainey Wilson, who was featured on Jelly Roll's "Save Me," hit No. 1 for two weeks in December 2023. Langley ended the second-longest break — 51 weeks — between women topping the chart since a record 61-week shutout in 2003 and 2004, according to Billboard. It's a troubling trend, despite singers like Wilson and newcomer Langley being two of the biggest names in country music right now. Tomatogate caught the attention of University of Ottawa professor Jada Watson a decade ago, who was awarded two research grants to study different facets of these representational issues. She explained to me how she started out by analyzing representation on Billboard's long-running Hot Country Songs. "I started to realize that when you have such a deficit of songs by women who are being programmed at radio, they're not getting into the charts," she told Yahoo. "The chart is a formulaic representation of what's going on, because Billboard has a formula for how they calculate it. But it doesn't necessarily tell you what's happening on the day-to-day — radio airplay gives you a better sense." Watson analyzed radio airplay data, and that's when she said she saw "the source of these issues within radio programming." "It's been really disheartening. To a certain extent, it almost feels like the more we've spoken about it, the more we've analyzed it, the more we've written about it, the more we've advocated for change, the more radio has clamped down on these practices of not playing songs by women back-to-back of using a quota to relegate a smaller percentage of airplay," Watson said. Five years after Tomatogate, there was a promising trend — albeit a small one. According to Watson's data analysis of Billboard's gender representation on its Country Airplay chart, from 2018 to 2020, songs by women increased from 13.3% to 18.4%. But in 2021, it dropped, and the trend has been troubling since. "Songs by women in 2024 received 8.39 percent of the airplay," Watson said. "And 8.23 percent of that was for songs by white women, 0.09 percent was for songs by Black women. What's important to highlight there is that this is the year that Beyoncé releases the Grammy-winning Album of the Year [Cowboy Carter]." Yes, Beyoncé essentially made up most of that .09%. "As her song was being released, and as radio was playing it, there was also this backlash about radio not playing it," Watson continued. "It's interesting because they clearly were. And at that time, we were all like, 'Yes! you should be playing it. You can't miss an opportunity to platform Beyoncé with this really fresh, great country song.' But you should also be playing Black women who are in Nashville building their careers right now." Watson confirmed the trend Lambert pointed out, which is that over the last 10 years, "there is a decline in songs by solo female or all-female groups charting within the top 10. It seems, at times, like the only way a song with a woman can get to [the] top is when it's alongside a man." While Watson pointed out Wilson and Langley "deserve all of the wins that are coming their way," people shouldn't use that "as a measure of change within the industry." "We're ignoring the underlying issues. This is not to take away from their talent and their drive and their success because they deserve to win awards — but they get tokenized then. Everyone will say it's getting better for women because this one year, two women really dominated the awards... that's after years of women really not winning awards or even being nominated for awards," Watson continued. "We have to be able to have the conversation that both celebrates their accomplishments, but acknowledge that nothing is changing, that somehow they're winning in spite of what's going on in the industry." Despite acknowledging that country music still has a gender representation issue in terms of radio play, the stars I talked to wanted to make it clear how supported they feel by other female artists. "I do agree that it's better than it's ever been — and is growing," Reba McEntire told me at the ACMs. "It's a lift up, not a competition anymore." "Female country music is back, baby. Not that it was ever really gone, but there's so many of us — Ella, Megan [Moroney]— we're all making music that sounds completely different," Ashton said. Guyton added, "It can't be a competition. It's too hard out there for women for there to be a competition. If anything, we need to lean into each other and really do what we can together to stop accepting the crumbs and getting out there and building a bigger table for us." Singer Avery Anna told me she feels "blessed to be a woman in country music." "Sometimes I think it's harder for us girls out here, but now more than ever the women before me have paved the way for artists like me who are up and coming to say what we want to say, be how we want to be and be ourselves — Shania Twain, Taylor Swift, Kacey [Musgraves]," she said. "I just feel blessed they did what they did so I can be more authentic and not be so boxed in." Gabby Barrett, who came in third on American Idol in 2018, has had a positive experience with radio play. "I can only speak for myself on that front and I know they've been really kind to me in the past on the radio," she said. "All the radio [representatives] I have met have been very nice and I was just a girl getting into it at the time. I was just a girl coming off a television show, hadn't done the whole 10 years in Nashville kind of story yet and they were still kind enough to play my music. With [Ella Langley] leading in recognition at the ACMs, I definitely think we are in a much better place." Duncan said that, in terms of the music industry, "the needle has not moved" when it comes to radio play or women "on the production or business side of things." "The more recent figures on that look like a 3 percent occupation of the music industry is female-led, which is really staggering," she explained. However, Duncan is hopeful. "What has changed is we're saying that out loud now in ways that had been a bit more hush-hush or a bit more easily brushed off 10 years ago," Duncan continued. "I think there are some really good — we'll say crowbars — cracking some light into the the [underrepresented] industry spaces, but we are we're in the red so significantly with representation that we just need an influx of help to make it more equitable and to make it a safe space for underrepresented people of all those categories."
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump pardons Julie and Todd Chrisley, reality TV stars convicted in 2022 of fraud and tax evasion
'My parents have not spoken to each other, heard each others' voices or seen each other in the past 2 ½ years,' said Savannah Chrisley, who wore a bubble gum pink MAGA hat and matching 'Women for Trump' jacket. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Julie Chrisley, right, and her husband Todd Chrisley posed for photos at the 2017 Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas. Jordan Strauss/Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP Advertisement The Chrisleys' TV show portrayed them as a tight-knit family with an extravagant lifestyle. Prosecutors at the couple's 2022 trial said they spent lavishly on expensive cars, designer clothes, real estate and travel after taking out fraudulent bank loans worth millions of dollars and hiding their earnings from tax authorities. Trump Advertisement Savannah Chrisley has been a vocal Trump supporter and endorsed his candidacy in a speech at the Republican National Convention last summer. Though she has complained that the case against her parents was politically motivated, they were indicted in 2019 under a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, Byung J. 'BJay' Pak. Regardless, Savannah Chrisley said officials in the Trump administration who reviewed her parents' case had 'seen the corruption.' She told reporters that the president delivered the news of the pardons himself, calling unexpectedly while she was at the grocery store. 'I didn't have to do anything other than stand firm in my beliefs and my convictions and fight for my parents,' she said. She paused to take photos with fans and supporters gathered outside the prison before getting into a vehicle that took her past its security checkpoint. The Chrisleys' attorney, Alex Little, said Tuesday that the pardon 'corrects a deep injustice' in which the couple were 'targeted because of their conservative values and high profile.' Before she was pardoned, Julie Chrisley, 52, had been scheduled for release in January 2028, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website, while Todd Chrisley, 56, was to remain behind bars until September 2032. Prosecutors said at trial that the Chrisleys had not yet become TV stars when they and a former business partner submitted false documents to banks in the Atlanta area to obtain fraudulent loans. New loans were taken out to pay off the old ones, according to prosecutors, until Todd Chrisley filed for bankruptcy, walking away from more than $20 million in unpaid loans. The defense argued that an IRS officer gave false testimony during the trial and that prosecutors lacked evidence to support convictions. Advertisement A panel of judges of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Chrisleys' convictions last year. Waiting to meet her father, Savannah Chrisley said her family was making plans to do a lot of catching up. 'We're going to celebrate anniversaries, birthdays, Christmases, all the things,' she said, 'because we're going to make up for the lost time.' This story has been corrected to show that Todd Chrisley's age is 56, not 57. Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia.
