Latest news with #TakeMeOutToTheBallGame
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Popular Podcaster's Cubs Game Performance Sparks Loud Boos and Viral Backlash
Popular Podcaster's Cubs Game Performance Sparks Loud Boos and Viral Backlash originally appeared on Parade. When you head to a ballgame, you expect a few things: overpriced snacks, a rivalry win, and a crowd-pleasing rendition of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game.' But on Sunday, July 6, fans at Chicago's Wrigley Field got a very different seventh-inning stretch — and they let their voices be heard. Alex Cooper, host of the Call Her Daddy podcast (which now pulls in roughly 10 million listeners per episode), took the mic as part of her 'Big Al's Takeover' with the Cubs. Dressed in a custom jersey, the 30-year-old internet personality tried her hand at leading the crowd in the classic tune. Instead of cheers, she was met with loud, extended boos. .@alexandracooper brought the energy for Sunday Night Baseball 😂 📺 Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN — espnW (@espnW) July 7, 2025 'You've never seen something like this before,' she said before launching into an offbeat, exaggerated solo performance. Her friends flanked her as backup dancers, lifting her into the air at the end, but the crowd didn't budge. The jeers only grew louder. 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 And it wasn't just in the stands. Once footage hit social media, the internet wasted no time reacting. 7/6/25. Alex Cooper. Immediate lifetime ban is warranted. Making a mockery of this @ Wrigley is so disgusting and disrespectful. #7thInningStretch #WrigleyField #Disrespect — 7thInningStretch (@StretchCritic) July 7, 2025 'What Alex Cooper did at Wrigley should be studied forever,' one person wrote on X (formerly Twitter). 'If you get booed for ANYTHING while the Cubs are beating the Cardinals by 11 runs, you definitely deserved it.' 'A cappella and without Auto-Tune... I'll only say that she's a brave woman,' another fan posted. 'The only question is whether she was drunk.' 'Safe to say they will never bring her back,' a third chimed in. Others called the performance 'cringe,' 'disrespectful,' and 'brutal,' comparing it to infamous flops like Mike Ditka's or Ozzy Osbourne's renditions, but arguing Cooper's was worse because she meant it to be that way. Alex Cooper's Stretch wasn't Ditka or Ozzy Osbourne level bad. It was somehow worse because she was actually trying to do it that way. — Matt Lindner (@mattlindner) July 7, 2025 Cooper isn't the only one to feel the sting of boos this year. In February, Taylor Swift faced a similar moment when she was booed by Philadelphia Eagles fans during a Jumbotron appearance at Super Bowl LIX. 💪 SIGN UP for tips to stay healthy & fit with the top moves, clean eats, health trends & more delivered right to your inbox twice a week 💪 Taylor Swift laughed off being booed at the Super Bowl 😅 — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 10, 2025 The incident, captured on video, showed the 35-year-old pop superstar briefly startled before regaining composure and brushing it off with a laugh. Even more recently, Tom Brady got hit with the same treatment. The NFL legend was loudly booed during a Jumbotron appearance at the Indianapolis 500 in May. Popular Podcaster's Cubs Game Performance Sparks Loud Boos and Viral Backlash first appeared on Parade on Jul 7, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 7, 2025, where it first appeared.
The Independent
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
How 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' seeded a music nonprofit supporting the songwriters of tomorrow
It's sung every summer in baseball stadiums around the United States. But the impact of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' goes much further than simply getting fans out of their seats for the 7th-inning stretch. More than a century after Jack Norworth penned the lyrics, a nonprofit founded with the song's royalties is celebrating 50 years of supporting young musicians — including the talent behind some of today's most popular musicals. The ASCAP Foundation, the charitable arm for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, was established in 1975 after Norworth's estate left a bequest of the licensing payments for baseball's unofficial anthem and his other hits. 'Just as all music begins with a song, the ASCAP Foundation began with a song,' said Paul Williams, the group's president and a composer-lyricist whose award-winning career includes 'Rainbow Connection.' The organization provides money, lessons and mentorship at all career stages in an industry where that support is badly needed by artists who often toil for years working other gigs while trying to get their music before the right ears. To reach its semicentennial, however, the foundation has had to identify new funding streams and reinvent programming. 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame,' written in 1908, has since entered the public domain and no longer generates revenue. The foundation nowadays relies on a mix of philanthropies, corporate sponsors and general public donations. The Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation is a longtime backer and storied New York law firm Paul Weiss is another sponsor. And, according to Williams, 'there's not a lot of stingy songwriters out there.' The late Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, as well as Herb Alpert, are among those with named scholarships and awards. Williams said other bequests, which are charitable gifts left through a will, have come from 'Hello, Dolly!' composer-lyricist Jerry Herman and 'Tea for Two' lyricist Irving Ceasar. 'It's really a way of making a mark on the world and extending their values forward,' fundraising coach Claire Axelrad said of bequests, which she added have consistently made up about one-tenth of charitable gifts. With dwindling arts funding and millions of children reportedly going without music education, the ASCAP Foundation is also trying to reach underserved communities. Leaders count nearly 60,000 K-12 students who participated in last year's programs. They help teach guitar to New York summer campers and bring students to free Broadway-caliber productions. Youth are learning to play the djembe, a drum originally from West Africa, through a collaboration with urban farming nonprofit Harlem Grown. Tax filings show the foundation gave away more than $325,000 in grants for scholarships, fellowships and cash awards in 2023. Award-winning songwriter Emily Bear, who co-wrote the soundtrack for Disney's 'Moana 2,' said the foundation took her 'very seriously" when she was a five-year-old prodigy receiving its young composer award. 'That kind of validation at that kind of age means so much when you're just a little girl with very big dreams and you're in a room full of people that you idolize," she said. Composer Stephen Schwartz, who was honored this week with the ASCAP Foundation Champion Award during a June 10 fundraiser at Tony winner Adam Guettel's Manhattan home, said the nonprofit is filling gaps as the government 'supports the arts less and less.' This April also marked the third year that Schwartz has hosted the foundation's two-day Musical Theatre Fest in Los Angeles. The location allows participants to get feedback from prominent guests and connect with Hollywood studios — one way the foundation is trying to stay relevant by serving the renewed interest in musicals for television and film screens. It's emblematic of the mentorship younger composers say Schwartz — a Broadway icon whose hits include 'Godspell,' 'Pippin' and 'Wicked' — has offered to emerging artists over the years. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the songwriting duo behind 'Dear Evan Hansen,' credited the ASCAP Foundation for 'cementing' their connection with Schwartz. Pasek said such close proximity to a hero, who then became a "living, breathing person who gives you advice,' made the profession 'more plausible.' 'Typically, you're working on projects on a wing and a prayer and hoping that someday it reaches the stage,' Paul said. "So, an organization like the ASCAP Foundation breathing life into not just your work, but your pocketbooks, is a huge, huge support.' Schwartz said it was 'scary and bewildering' when he first started out without any connections. He sees an important role for himself as someone who can 'ease the way a bit' to help newcomers' 'talents flourish earlier and more completely.' There's also another motivation. 'It's slightly selfish because I get to see good work and enjoy it,' Schwartz added. ___ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit
