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7NEWS
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
Colombian singer Maluma stops show to scold mother for bringing one-year-old baby to his concert in Mexico
Colombian singer and rapper Maluma interrupted his concert in Mexico City on Friday to address a fan who brought a one-year-old baby to the event without ear protection. The father-of-one paused his performance and started speaking in Spanish to a woman — presumed to be the baby's mother — in the crowd as the stadium fell quiet. The 31-year-old artist expressed concern for the child's safety, citing the risks posed by high decibel levels at concerts. 'Ma'am, I'm going to tell you something. Don't bring him here, leave him there,' he said from the stage. 'With all due respect, I am already a father. 'What's he? A one-year-old? Do you think it's a good idea to bring a one-year-old baby to a concert where the decibels are this f*cking high? Where the sound is this loud? Loading TikTok Post 'That baby doesn't even know what it's doing here. Next time, protect their ears or something. 'It's your responsibility. You're waving them around like they're a toy. 'That baby doesn't want to be there, for real. I'm telling you with all love and respect.' After the footage was shared on TikTok, many weighed in on whether he had taken the right approach confronting the mother in front of thousands of fans. 'So did he help her out and get the baby some damn headphones?!?' one person commented on the video. 'Good for him. That's some bad parenting,' another said. 'Totally inappropriate to have a baby without protection but totally inappropriate to single her out like that too. I hate preachy performers,' a social media user commented. The singer, who shares one-year-old daughter Paris with his partner, Susana Gómez, added he would never bring his child to a live show under such conditions. Speaking to Allure magazine in July last year, Maluma — who also starred in singer and actress Jennifer Lopez's romantic comedy Marry Me — revealed how life had changed after welcoming his first child. 'Now, I wake up every day with the desire to conquer the world. 'I know I have to f*cking kill it. For Paris, nothing is impossible. 'You have to lead by example. I go to bed every night that I can at nine and wake up at 5:30 to hit the gym because I want to be healthy. 'You want to live forever for your kids. I want to make her proud.'
7NEWS
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
G Flip's new TikTok series explains Aussie culture staples that shock Americans
Musician G Flip may live in Los Angeles with their wife now, but they're still all about Aussie culture — taking to TikTok to share things from life Down Under they've noticed surprise Americans. The Worst Person Alive singer, born Georgia Flipo, posted a video on Thursday explaining to viewers the iconic Aussie tradition of meat tray raffles. 'So you go to the pub, and you can buy raffle tickets to win a meat tray — and you just win a tray of various meats and sausages, and then you go home with the meat tray,' the singer explained in the video, which has already amassed more than 666,000 views. Loading TikTok Post 'Everyone I've ever told that to who's American can't believe it, they're like what the f***.' The singer explained that the first time their wife, Selling Sunset star Chrishell Stause, came to Australia they had attended a Darwin pub together but failed to take home the tray. Stause was quick to comment about their attempt, saying she wants to win a tray 'even though I know it will give me meat sweats and likely food poisoning'. Other Americans, however, weren't as sold on the idea of a meat tray. 'So, you just carry around a bunch of raw meat for the rest of the night and let it warm up in your famously hot weather?' one stumped American queried. 'As a Texan, I am SHOCKED this is a thing,' another chimed in. Aussies were quick to defend the time-honoured tradition, with even Aussie beer legends Victoria Bitter rallying behind Down Under culture. 'A hard-earned raffle deserves a big cold meat tray,' the brand wrote, earning a like and shocked 'VB!?!' reply from G Flip. 'Winning the meat tray is like winning three million dollars,' another Aussie wrote. Despite shocking Americans with the meat tray, the star wasn't done discussing the cultural divide — following up with a video about pen licenses on Wednesday morning. 'In Australia, when you're like eight or nine — roughly like grade three I think – you do a test to deem if you're ready to upgrade from a pencil to a pen,' the singer explained. Loading TikTok Post 'You've got to make sure (your writing)'s all legible and your letters look great, and then your teacher will grade you and you'll get a certificate that says now you can use your pen — meaning you earned your pen license. 'But apparently Americans, you don't get a pen license and you're out here using pencils until you're in your teens... what?! That's a lot of sharpening,' they joked. Americans, including the musician's wife Stause, were again quick to flood the comments of the videos shocked over the information. 'This cannot be true at all,' Stause commented about the revelation. 'A license?! You mean we're just out here using these things illegally??' a fan said. Another American chimed in with follow-up questions for the singer: 'Can you get it revoked? Who would revoke it?' The Drink Too Much singer is set to begin their Dream Ride tour next month, with a show at the Fremantle Arts Centre lined up for March 2026.
7NEWS
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
Eve Markoski-Wood: Snezana Wood's daughter reveals hurtful comment her biological dad said
Former Bachelor star and Perth resident Snezana Wood's eldest daughter, Eve, has exposed her biological father after he told her she didn't deserve the life she has. The 19-year-old influencer recently moved from her family home in Melbourne to the hustle and bustle of New York and was interviewed by Dose of Society on TikTok, an account sharing real stories from strangers. When asked what the most painful comment she has ever received was, Eve revealed that her biological dad once said that 'I don't deserve the life I'm living.' She said she believed her dad, who she hasn't seen in eight years, wanted to see her mum suffer out of jealousy. 'I grew up with just my mum, single mum, and she raised me to (be) the woman I am today. He wanted to see my mum suffer and I think when he saw that my mum's built a life for both of us, I think it was just more of a reaction,' she said. Throughout the video, Eve can be seeing getting emotional as she opens up about her traumatic past. In the comments section of the video, Eve said she learnt to protect her public image by never taking herself seriously and laughing things off rather than addressing them. Loading TikTok Post 'The question really caught me off guard. It had been such a long time since l'd been that honest with myself, and I didn't expect to get that emotional,' she said. 'I was nervous about how this would be received especially being vulnerable on social media, knowing how harsh it can be. 'But the kindness and messages l've received have meant more than I can explain.' Evie also said her real dad was never around when she was younger and he 'did some things a while back that ended with him in places he shouldn't have been in'. 'He just got involved with the wrong people,' she said. Eve continued by saying how proud she was of her mum who was working a 9-5 job as well as tackling a university degree in molecular genetics and biochemistry. 'She's done a lot, she sacrificed a how strong and how much strength she's got to keep on going through all this, it makes me proud to be a mother's daughter,' she said. Snezana became well-known in 2015 after she met Sam Wood on the third season of The Bachelor Australia. She stole Sam's heart and Snezana and Eve moved to Melbourne to start a family together. The couple share three girls — Charlie, Willow and Harper — after getting married in 2018.
7NEWS
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
Labubu: Harmless treat or sinister addiction? Expert sounds alarm on buying into ‘gambling' blind box craze
When Sam Todd laid eyes on a cute-yet-creepy creature dangling – like an oversized keyring – from the luxury handbag of an Asian influencer she follows on TikTok, the Queensland content creator made it her life's mission to get one. But the Brisbane-based social media star never imagined her intense lust for a Lychee Berry Labubu would see her scouring Pop Mart stores around the world and lining up for hours in the dark for a mere chance to own it. 'I just saw her and thought, 'oh my god, what a cute, quirky sort of bag charm'. I just really liked the look of it. It was that simple,' she said. 'I really, really wanted to get the pink one. 'Then trying to get it became so hard and the harder it was to find it, the more I wanted it, so it became like this cycle.' For the uninitiated, Labubus are collectible plush toy monster elves created by Hong Kong-born designer Kasing Lung and sold by Chinese toy company Pop Mart, which now has 11 stores in Australia. They have quickly become the must-have fashion accessory for 2025, with celebrities including Rihanna, Dua Lipa and David Beckham authentically endorsing them. Loading TikTok Post They've featured in The New York Times best-dressed list this year, on the runway for brands like Coach in New York and Bottega Veneta in Milan, on the bags of the style-conscious set at Copenhagen Fashion Week and, closer to home, at Australian Fashion Week. The furry critters are sold in blind boxes, which means customers do not know which one they are getting until they rip open the packaging. Heightening the excitement is a one-in-72 chance of scoring a 'secret', rare Labubu. And the popularity of the viral sensation has translated to a big win for Pop Mart's bottom line — shares in the company have reportedly soared more than 500 per cent in the last year. Now, experts are warning that the marketing strategy behind the Labubu's extraordinary success mimics the tactics casinos use to entice and exploit problem gamblers. Ms Todd, who considers herself an 'OG Labubu superfan', says buying Labubu feels like 'low-stakes gambling'. 'It's addictive either way, because if you get the one that you want, you're like, 'oh my god, I have such good luck, so I should get more',' she said. 'And if you don't get the one that you want, then you're like, 'oh my god, I have to try and get the one that I want'. 'So it's win-win either way for the brand, but I don't know about the consumer.' The 30-year-old admits she is 'a marketer's dream' and became a full-blown Labubu fiend in a matter of months. 'I got into Labubu last year before the craze really hit,' she said. 'At the start it was impossible to get them in Australia. 'I'm not proud but after going to every single Pop Mart in Singapore, I did end up going to a reseller and paying $50 per Labubu.' She bought four of the elf-like vinyl and plush figures that day in an attempt to hedge her bets to acquire one in a colour she would like. The millennial, who has about 260K TikTok followers, then dramatically unboxed her 'little treats' on social media so her followers could share in her excitement. In one video, her glittery manicured nails tap on the side of a pretty box before she rips off the cardboard strip, tears the loud crinkly plastic pouch and gasps with joy as she pulls out a plush character. 'Getting the Exciting Macaron collection was like the gateway, because then it opened up to the special edition of Labubu, country-exclusive Labubu and the big Zimomo which is like the boy version of Labubu. There's just so many elements to it,' she said. 'And because I do a lot of content around travelling and shopping while travelling, naturally, I was like, 'I need to be getting the country exclusive Labubus'. So that really became a big thing.' Ms Todd's Labubu content goes gangbusters, outperforming – by far – any other category of videos she creates. Loading Instagram Post Consumer psychologist Christina Anthony from the University of Sydney said it was because Labubus were more than mere 'toys' for many collectors. 'A lot of consumers are using the Labubus, not only as a social currency, but also as a social connection with others,' she said. 'Anytime you go on TikTok or social media, all you see is unboxing videos. Everyone's sharing it and everyone's becoming immersed in that sharing experience. 'But some would say it is not just a toy. It's gambling disguised as a treat.' Dr Anthony, a marketing lecturer at Sydney University's Business School, said buying Labubus in blind boxes taps into the same psychological triggers as gambling. 'It's the 'little treat' economy. It's affordable. It's cheap. It gives you that quick dopamine hit that you (crave) when you're feeling a little bit low,' she said. 'But it has these similarities to gambling processes and a lot of what casinos use to keep consumers coming back and gambling more. 'It does function a lot, psychologically, like a gambling habit.' The quest to complete your entire Labubu collection can also drive addiction. 'We're interested in building collections and that's where it kind of gets into the gambling links, because a lot of these blind box toys use the same psychological tricks that slot machines do, and a lot of it is based on these random rewards,' Dr Anthony said. 'Every time you're opening this little box and you don't know what's in there, there's that anticipation and it feels a little bit like a gamble. 'It's a lottery, because you don't know what the outcome is going to be.' Dr Anthony said blind boxes also create repetitive buying behaviour. 'It's not just about the individual toy. You're trying to complete a set of these toys, and you're pushing to have the whole collection,' she said. 'Our brains don't like open loops so when you buy one of the collectibles, you're then like, 'I need to get the next one to complete the entire set'. 'As humans, we like completion and closure and that's what we're trying to achieve.' Dr Anthony said the hunt for Labubus, with their devilish grins, can become all-consuming. 'That's the addiction part of it,' she said. 'It's always on your mind, because there's so many stages in this consumption process. 'There's the anticipation before purchase, there's the actual purchase, there's the showing of the purchase, and then it's a loop that starts all over again because you need to move on to the next one.' But that next fix can be hard to find as new stock regularly sells out within seconds, creating surprise, scarcity and deep disappointment for those who miss out. Labubus range in price and size but retail from about $32 in Australia. However, the coveted toys are often resold online for hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars. Recently, a human-sized Labubu figure sold in Beijing for an eye-watering $231,535. Director of the Australian National University Centre for Gambling Research, Associate Professor Aino Suomi, said the mystery box strategy to sell products was not new – think cereal box prizes, Kinder Surprises and Pokémon cards – but this tactic, along with manufactured scarcity, is 'ethically problematic'. 'The definition of gambling is that you're using money – fake money or real money – for something of value, and you don't know the outcome of that purchase before you put the money in and that's exactly what these mystery boxes are,' she said. 'It's just the anticipation of the outcome that gives you the dopamine hit that goes into exactly the same reward pathways as other addictions. 'What's really concerning is that these are targeted at children and obviously not regulated like gambling.' Dr Suomi said that like gambling, Labubu boxes present 'a random chance outcome'. 'I've seen them pop up on my social media and it's really similar to these other gambling-like features marketed to children,' she said. 'So there's these unboxing parties and it's the rarity of the secret Labubus. 'The rarer (Labubu), the bigger dopamine hit you get, or even just the anticipation of it so it's absolutely (tapping into the same) gambling impulses. 'It's definitely doing exactly the same thing in the brain.' Dr Suomi, a public health researcher and psychologist, said Labubu blind boxes were like loot boxes in video games. 'What's quite problematic in these kinds of blind boxes, whether they're online or whether they're physical boxes, is that there's the gambling element when you engage with it,' she said. 'We know that engaging in these types of activities, with gambling-like features, is related to experiencing gambling harm in the future.' The expert, whose work focuses on child and family wellbeing in the context of gambling harm, said she would like to see blind box toys regulated to prevent children from purchasing them, given how addictive they are. 'I would like to see that, but where do you draw the line because there's so many things like this,' she said. 'I think there should be at least some kind of warning system that this is a random chance feature and parents should be taking note of that. 'Children are vulnerable because their brains are not fully developed.' Ms Todd, who has collected about 20 of the plush toys, said that while she loves her Labubus, the quest for new ones no longer consumes her. 'I think a lot of people can be really negative about Labubus now that they've reached this sort of new height of popularity but it's just fun,' she said. 'It's whimsical. It's a reclaiming of the inner child. It's collecting. It's just not that deep.'
7NEWS
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
Should celebrities and influencers speak out on social issues?
How often do you see your favourite influencer or celebrity talk about social issues? Whether it's on the Israel and Gaza conflict, the Los Angeles riots over US immigration and mass deportation, or the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, these events have sparked a wave of pressure on celebrities and influencers to speak up. So, it begs the question: Do celebrities and influencers have a responsibility to speak on social issues? Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today To settle this debate, we spoke to two academics and someone in the entertainment industry. 'We should always be responsible. Our responsibility in some sense, is also proportional to the kind of audience that we have in front of us,' said lecturer in data analytics at the University of Sydney, Francesco Bailo. Bailo said influencers, specifically, have created 'a sort of intimacy with their audience' and with that comes an expectation of authenticity. These people share their lives, bringing viewers into their homes, their travels and their families. Loading TikTok Post 'Authenticity' is key So, subconsciously we can develop an expectation that they should they also share 'what they think, what they're doing and, and their opinions'. 'People are expecting authenticity and are expecting intimacy. And you can't have intimacy if you don't have authenticity.' 'As soon as people think that the authenticity was actually constructed, so was not authentic at all, then of course you have a huge backlash.' 'So, when it comes to influencers, the whole bubble is extremely productive for them ... but also is extremely fragile.' Senior lecturer in government and international relations at the University of Sydney, Peter Chen described this as a 'parasocial relationship' where the audience feels like the people they are watching have become their friends. Dr Chen said this kind of relationship can put a lot of pressure on influencers. Pressure to share opinion But, he believes, they're 'not obligated necessarily to speak' and 'that it is extremely contextual'. 'The first thing we should say to ourselves is, are we holding other people to a standard we wouldn't hold ourselves to?' Dr Chen also said that 'it's a requirement for their audiences to be informed too' and even though we expect influencers and celebrities to speak out, 'we don't have to accept what they say'. Now, let's pivot to someone who's in the industry. 'The question that influencers and people with platforms need to ask themselves is, if 'I'm only sharing something, do I actually give a f--k?',' Aussie comedian and influencer Lewis Spears said. 'You cannot care about everything. It's impossible. You can't. There are so many horrible things happening every single minute of every single day. It's impossible to care about everything.' Spears has received backlash and criticism for jokes he has made in the past, and says he often gets pressured into speaking out on issues. 'I will always try to only speak when I have something to say or something that I think is impactful.' 'Because personally, I've certainly shared things about issues that I care about, but I've also attended rallies. I've also donated money.' 'So, I'm not saying that people should not raise awareness, but people should ask themselves, 'why am I raising awareness?'.' The Rock and Oprah backlash Spears said when celebrities and influencers are pressured into sharing information on social issues, this can lead to misinformation and, ultimately, can 'dilute' the message rather than fix the problem. 'I think shaming people who don't lend their voices to a certain cause when they have lent their voices to something else that they do care a lot about and that they do understand, seems silly.' 'Awareness is great, but it doesn't do things. People who do things, do things.' In 2023, American personalities Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and Oprah Winfrey received backlash after launching the People's Fund of Maui fund, to raise money for people who were affected by the deadly wildfires in Lahaina and Kula in Maui, Hawaii. In a joint Instagram post, Johnson and said they had donated $US10 million and asked others to contribute further saying, 'we thank you in advance for your contribution'. However, many were quick to criticise the fund questioning why they were asking others to give money instead of donating more themselves. Johnson acknowledged this backlash, saying he 'could have been better'. Bailo urges the audience to be 'more critical' of the content received from celebrities and influencers. 'I'm not saying we need to distrust everything because that will be the wrong response, but we need to be more critical in terms of understanding the content that we are receiving, also in the context of the source of that content.' 'So, what is problematic is not that influencers are expressing their opinions, of course, they should feel free to say whatever they want. 'But at the same time, again, they're not journalists.' Dr Chen said celebrities and influencers who speak on issues they are ill-informed about is 'harmful' to not only their reputation, but to the causes they speak out about. And the infamous 'Imagine video' during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic could be a 'cringeworthy example' of this. The video orchestrated and posted by actress Gal Gadot, is two-minutes long and features a number of celebrities, including Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig and Natalie Portman. The A-list stars sang, in acapella, line-by-line to the song Imagine by John Lennon, intending to be in solidarity, with Gadot captioning the video with, 'we are in this together, we will get through it together'. Many criticised this as being tone-deaf, as most of the celebrities were filming from their multi-million mansions whilst singing lines such as 'imagine having no possessions'. Actor Chris O'Dowd, who was in the video, told Louis Theroux in his BBC podcast Grounded, that the backlash was 'justified'. 'It was just a bunch of people running around thinking they had to do something, when we really didn't,' O'Dowd said. 'We just needed to chill out and just take everything in. So, I think any backlash was fairly justified.' Dr Chen said, 'at the end of the day, it is hard always to determine, are people genuine when they say things?' 'Speech is easy. You are your actions. So, what have you done?'
