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  • The demo tape that launched Prince’s legendary career is now up for auction | CNN

    The demo tape that launched Prince’s legendary career is now up for auction | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    For years, the demo tape that launched Prince’s storied career had been tucked away in an attic of the home of the music executive that first signed him.

    Now, music enthusiasts and Prince fans worldwide have a chance to own the tape that landed the Minneapolis superstar his first record contract as it goes up for auction, according to Boston-based auction house RR Auction.

    The demo, recorded in 1976 and still in its original custom packaging, is part of the Marvels of Modern Music auction that ends on Thursday.

    It contains unreleased versions of the songs “Just As Long as We’re Together” and “My Love is Forever,” as well as the never-released “Jelly Jam.”

    Prince was just 18 years old when he recorded the tracks – all written, sung, arranged and played by himself – at Sound 80 Studios in Minneapolis, RR Auction said in a news release.

    “It is the original tape, so this is the birth of who became known as Prince,” Bobby Livingston, RR Auction’s executive vice president of public relations, told CNN.

    “It’s incredible because it comes from the record executive whom it was sent to, so it has this unbroken chain of custody,” Livingston said.

    The special artifact was discovered by Jeff Gold, a former Warner Bros. Records executive vice president and general manager who was friends with music industry executive Russ Thyret.

    Thyret, who later served as the record company’s CEO and chairman, signed Prince to Warner Bros. on June 25, 1977, shortly after his 19th birthday.

    Gold, who today runs an online business selling high-end collectibles and helps artists value their archives, said he received a call from Thyret’s widow, who lives in Los Angeles. Thyret died in 2021.

    “(She said), ‘Russ saved a lot of stuff and it’s all up in the attic of our house – would you come take a look and help me figure out what to do with it, and buy anything you’re interested in?’” Gold told CNN.

    He said he came across a couple of boxes containing tapes in the attic.

    The demo features unreleased versions of three original Prince songs.

    “When I saw (the demo tape), I knew exactly what it was,” Gold said. “I was very excited when I saw it, but guardedly so, because you never know if the tape’s going to be playable or if the tape has the wrong thing in the box – but happily, this one had the right thing.”

    The demo tape up for auction comes with a plexiglass display case, a business card belonging to Thyrett, a CD transfer of the tape’s audio and a letter of provenance from Gold, according to RR Auction.

    Several other Prince items are being auctioned, including the lace glove he wore on stage during the Purple Rain tour and a sealed first pressing of “The Black Album,” the auction house said.

    Previously auctioned Prince items have sold for big price tags. The original lyrics of his song, “Nothing Compares 2 U,” sold for $150,000, according to Livingston.

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  • King Charles III to ride on horseback in first official birthday parade | CNN

    King Charles III to ride on horseback in first official birthday parade | CNN

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    King Charles III will revive a royal tradition when he rides on horseback in the first Trooping the Colour of his reign, which marks the British sovereign’s official birthday.

    The traditional military spectacle returns on Saturday and is a staple in the royal diary drawing huge crowds to central London. Charles’ actual birthday is in November and is typically celebrated privately.

    He will join 1,500 soldiers, 300 horses and hundreds of musicians as they file from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade in St James’s Park for the ceremony watched by members of the royal family.

    It’s the first time a reigning monarch has ridden in the procession since Queen Elizabeth II in 1986.

    He’ll be joined on horseback by the royal colonels including Prince William, who is Colonel of the Welsh Guards and Princess Anne, Gold Stick in Waiting and Colonel of the Blues and Royals. The event is described by the palace as “a great display of military precision, horsemanship and fanfare.”

    Well-wishers dressed in fascinators and draped in Union flags gathered early to claim prime positions along the Mall outside the royal residence in the hours ahead of the parade.

    The monarch is head of Britain’s armed forces and would traditionally lead an army into war. During the ceremony at Horse Guards, the monarch will take the salute as Colonel in Chief of the Household Division’s seven regiments before he is given a chance to review and approve his army.

    Queen Camilla will join her husband as they watch the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards troop their color, or regimental flag, in front of hundreds of Guardsmen and officers. The regiment will carry out intricate battlefield drill maneuvers to music, with Kensington Palace describing this year’s musical program as having “a distinctly Welsh theme,” with new compositions from the band specially for the occasion.

    After the parade, the royal party will return to Buckingham Palace and watch an extended military flypast. A similar display had to be scaled back after the King’s coronation last month because of poor weather.

    Around 70 aircraft from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force will take to the skies from 15 locations around the UK before converging to fly across the British capital, according to the Ministry of Defence. The impressive aerial presentation will include aircraft from the Battle of Britain Memorial flight, the C-130 Hercules on its final ceremonial flight, Typhoon fighter jets and culminate with a display from the famous RAF Red Arrows.

    “We are very proud to be able to showcase our capabilities to our Commander-in-Chief, on this historic occasion for His Majesty the King,” Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Richard Knighton said ahead of the event.

    “We have planned a fitting and appropriate tribute for our monarch, that should be a true spectacle for the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.”

    There will also be a 41-gun salute in nearby Green Park from The King’s Troop, with a second salute of 62 guns fired at the Tower of London by the Honourable Artillery Company, the City of London’s Army Reserves.

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  • If You’ve Ever Wondered How High-Profile Moms ‘Do It All,’ Here’s Your Answer.

    If You’ve Ever Wondered How High-Profile Moms ‘Do It All,’ Here’s Your Answer.

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    Celebrity moms seem to have more hours in their day than the rest of us. They appear to be loving parents with highly successful careers and tidy homes. Somehow they manage to find time for socializing and self-care, too.

    You wonder how you’re barely holding it together while these moms are getting it all done — and then some. There’s an essential but under-discussed key to their success at home and at work: great child care.

    Recently, a few high-profile mom have peeled back the curtain to bring this conversation to light. Stars like Chrissy Teigen, Busy Philipps and Kaley Cuoco thanked their nannies and other caregivers on social media for allowing them to work and be the kind of parent they strive to be.

    “Grateful for all the people who make it possible for me to be the best mother I can possibly be,” Teigen wrote on Instagram on Mother’s Day. “I am endlessly thankful for your presence in this home and all our lives. we love you.”

    The same day Philipps wrote: “I wouldn’t have made it this far as a mom and a human without the incredible women who’ve helped me show up for my kids as my best self. Their love and care for my kids has allowed me to go to work and travel with the knowledge that the two humans most important to me will be taken care of.”

    Danielle Weisberg, co-founder and co-CEO of the digital media company theSkimm, shared a similar message in a June 5 Instagram post, writing that without her “fantastic” child care, “There is no way I could work the way I do — the hours, travel, mental space, stress, etc. — and still try to be the mom I want (/try) to be.”

    Her family’s support system includes a nanny they adore, relatives who live nearby and a part-time babysitter on the weekends. In the post, Weisberg called her care team “the backbone of my ability to work and still feel like a human (on good days).”

    Weisberg was inspired to talk about this after one of her followers commented, “I don’t know how you do it all,” in response to a picture she posted of her sons watching her on the “Today” show.

    “It hit me. I wasn’t transparently sharing what my day-to-day really looks like because if I did there’s no way they could think that I was doing it all,” Weisberg told HuffPost. “I certainly don’t feel like I am. The truth is no one can do it all. And I certainly don’t want to perpetuate the myth that you can or feel like you should have to.”

    It’s impossible to have a discussion about child care in the U.S. without talking about the exorbitant cost. Child care is a necessity for working parents, but many cannot afford it, which pushes people (mostly women) out of the workforce. And yet child care providers are “incredibly underpaid and undervalued,” as Stephanie Schmit, a child care expert at the Center for Law and Social Policy, told The New York Times.

    Recent proposed federal legislation included funding for child care costs, paid family leave and universal pre-kindergarten. But those provisions were cut from the final bill.

    Though some companies offer backup child care, on-site day care and strong parental leave policies, these benefits are the exception, not the rule. More support for families is needed.

    Why Being Transparent About Child Care Matters

    In the comments on Teigen’s, Philipps’ and Weisberg’s posts, many women wrote how grateful they were to see caregivers being recognized for the integral yet often behind-the-scenes role they play in families.

    Amber Noelle, a career nanny and host of the podcast “A Nanny’s Life,” told HuffPost that these posts make her “unbelievably proud.”

    “On one hand, I’m immensely proud of the work we do to both support and empower parents through parenthood,” Noelle said. “More importantly, I am so proud of parents who are transparent enough to acknowledge that raising tiny humans requires a village.”

    Highly visible parents opening up about what it takes to keep their households running helps to “normalize asking for help, hiring support and delegating some responsibilities,” Noelle said.

    Allison S. Gabriel is a professor at Purdue University’s Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. School of Business who studies women in the workplace. She said being transparent about child care arrangements “is so critical to help make the invisible visible.”

    “Often we look to high status or successful people with families, and we may have a knee-jerk reaction that they are just superhuman and able to do it all,” she told HuffPost. “But the reality is it takes a lot of support to raise a family and develop one’s career.”

    But The Onus To Talk About Child Care Shouldn’t Be On Women

    Historically, moms have been the ones tasked with care-taking duties. And even women who work outside the home today are usually responsible for figuring out child care arrangements.

    Moms are also the ones expected to be forthcoming about the support they have. This is a double standard, given that men also benefit from the child care providers in their lives.

    “It is fantastic that women are giving recognition to their care teams, but it is often because we still have societal norms where we ask questions of women such as, ‘Who watches your kids when you’re working?’ or ‘How can you juggle work and family?’ Gabriel said.

    “We often don’t ask these questions of men, despite the fact that they are likely to also be benefiting from having support behind the scenes,” she added.

    Carly Zakin, Weisberg’s business parter at theSkimm, pointed to an article she read recently with a headline “that insinuated women were hiding the fact that they have help — from nannies to housekeepers to chefs,” she told HuffPost.

    “And I had this reaction that this is something you’d never call men out for. Because historically they have leaned on their wives to handle all the child care and housekeeping responsibilities. It really made us stop and think about how women have been shamed and made to feel guilty if they can’t handle balancing their careers with having a family and managing the household.”

    It’s not that women are hiding the support they have, Zakin said, “it’s because no one’s talking about it.”

    Moms are often caught in this double-bind. Either they try to manage work, kids and the household stuff on their own and end up totally overwhelmed, or they get support and feel guilty that they couldn’t hack it alone.

    Weisberg said she’s been on both sides of the equation.

    “I have fallen into two buckets. The first is not having enough of the right support or resources and then feeling the overwhelming weight of responsibility and anxiety because of it,” she said. “The other is feeling guilty or ashamed of the amount of support that I have and then feeling like I’m not doing it all and I’m cheating. Neither of these are good. And it’s not what I want others to feel.”

    For change to happen, it’s crucial for dads to be a part of the child care conversation, too.

    “The more women and men talk about the complexities of child care — and how challenging it can be — the better,” Gabriel said, in order to “nudge organizations” to offer much-needed child care support for their employees.

    Weisberg and Zakin are hoping to start an open dialogue about child care within their community and beyond.

    “We need it as a society, and it hasn’t been made accessible,” they said. “The more transparent we all are, the more we can stop feeling guilty for needing help and start seeing that for women to stay in the workplace, it’s largely unsustainable unless we have some type of child care support.”

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  • Cormac McCarthy, among America’s greatest authors, dies at 89 | CNN

    Cormac McCarthy, among America’s greatest authors, dies at 89 | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Cormac McCarthy, long considered one of America’s greatest writers for his violent and bleak depictions of the United States and its borderlands in novels like “Blood Meridian,” “The Road” and “All the Pretty Horses,” died on Tuesday, according to his Penguin Random House publisher Alfred A. Knopf. He was 89.

    McCarthy died of natural causes at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Knopf said.

    Over a nearly 60-year career, McCarthy – hailed by the late literary critic Howard Bloom as the “true heir” of Herman Melville and William Faulkner – wrote a dozen novels, many of them critically celebrated if not commercial hits, though he would eventually achieve both. For years, he wrote while living on grants, most notably the MacArthur “genius grant,” which he was awarded in 1981.

    Despite accolades, McCarthy remained relatively obscure for much of his career; as recently as 1992, 27 years after his first book was published, the New York Times Book Review said he “may be the best unknown novelist in America.”

    Both before and since, McCarthy was seen and portrayed in the media as reclusive, eschewing the kind of book tours, signings, interviews and lectures other renowned writers would see as professional obligations. But McCarthy famously abhorred talking about his books, which principally featured male characters and profuse violence, as well as sparse punctuation.

    Still, he was a “writer’s writer,” the Times reported, with a cult following and a reputation “far out of proportion to his name recognition or sales.”

    “I never had any doubts about my abilities,” McCarthy told the Times in one of his few interviews. “I knew I could write. I just had to figure out how to eat while doing this.”

    That obscurity changed with “All the Pretty Horses,” the first installment of his “Border Trilogy,” which became a bestseller and won the 1992 National Book Award, at last marrying the critical acclaim he’d enjoyed with mainstream success.

    His Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Road,” which followed a father and son traveling through a post-apocalyptic America, further catapulted McCarthy to popularity, thanks in part to Oprah Winfrey selecting the novel for her book club. McCarthy, in turn, granted Oprah his first and only television interview.

    “The Road” was also one of several of McCarthy’s books adapted for film, most notably the Coen Brothers’ adaptation of “No Country for Old Men,” which won four Academy Awards, including best picture.

    The author was born Charles McCarthy Jr. on July 20, 1933, in Providence, Rhode Island. His family moved when he was still young to Knoxville, Tennessee, where his father was an attorney for the Tennessee Valley Authority. His was a relatively comfortable childhood, one that played out on a plot of wooded land in a large white house with maids.

    “We were considered rich,” he told the Times, “because all the people around us were living in one- or two-room shacks.”

    For all his later literary achievements, McCarthy was not a voracious reader in his childhood or adolescence. It wasn’t until he served in the US Air Force after dropping out of the University of Tennessee that McCarthy began reading extensively, in his barracks while stationed in Alaska, he told the Times.

    He would later move to Chicago, where he finished his first novel and in 1961 married his first wife, Lee Holleman, with whom he had a son. They soon divorced.

    That novel, “The Orchard Keeper,” was published in 1965, after shepherding by the famous Random House editor Albert Erskine, who also edited Faulkner. Erskine, who died in 1993, would go on to edit McCarthy for two decades despite the fact, Erskine admitted to the Times, that McCarthy’s books never sold.

    “Outer Dark” followed in 1968 and “Child of God” in 1973, after a stint in Ibiza and McCarthy’s subsequent return to Tennessee with his second wife, Annie DeLisle. But still, they lived in “total poverty,” DeLisle once said, “bathing in the lake.”

    “Someone would call up and offer him $2,000 to come speak at a university about his books,” DeLisle told the New York Times. “And he would tell them that everything he had to say was there on the page. So we would eat beans for another week.”

    But McCarthy didn’t become a writer to make money, instead “maybe simply, because I can do it,” he told the Maryville-Alcoa Times, a Tennessee newspaper, in 1971. “There are a lot of easier ways to make money. I could sell tickets to people and let them watch while I was run over by a truck.”

    His next novel, “Suttree,” was published in 1979. McCarthy was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship two years later, giving him financial security to focus on writing. McCarthy left DeLisle and used the money to abscond to the Southwest, where he spent the next several years steeped in research for “Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West,” published in 1985.

    The historically based novel – widely regarded as McCarthy’s masterpiece – follows a brutal gang of scalp hunters as they journey across the Southwest, massacring Apache and members of the Mexican Army.

    “All the Pretty Horses” was published in 1992 and was followed over years by “The Crossing” and “Cities of the Plain,” which together comprise “The Border Trilogy” – in all a more idyllic ode to the region that recounted the adventures of two young cowboys.

    “No Country for Old Men” in 2005 received a less positive critical reception than McCarthy’s earlier novels, though its standing improved with time. The book, which the author began as a screenplay, did well as a movie under the direction of Joel and Ethan Coen, with the talents of Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin, as well as Javier Bardem as the fearsome but unforgettable killer Anton Chigurh, a role that won Bardem Academy Award for best supporting actor.

    McCarthy’s attention turned away from the American West for 2006’s “The Road.” The book, dedicated to his then-young son – he had by then divorced and remarried again – was conceived on a trip to El Paso, Texas, he told Winfrey, as he looked out the hotel window one night.

    “I just had this image of these fires up on the hill and everything being laid waste, and I thought a lot about my little boy,” he said, and wrote a couple pages. Revisiting the idea several years later, he realized those pages were the beginning of a book about a man and his son traveling through that ashen landscape while staving off the threat of cannibals.

    The book wrote itself, he said, in a few weeks’ time.

    The ensuing years were quiet ones, with little in the way of new material. By this time, McCarthy was spending much of his time at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico, an independent research group of mostly scientists where he eventually became a lifetime trustee.

    McCarthy, whose interest in the sciences was well-documented, enjoyed the company of the physicists, biologists and geologists at the institute, and it was there he was often seen writing on his Olivetti typewriter, working on his next novels, “The Passenger” and “Stella Maris,” released just six weeks apart in 2022.

    The books dealt with the same story from different perspectives and featured a female main character as McCarthy’s dearth of well-developed women protagonists in his writing had long been a point of criticism. After being married three times, he told Oprah, “I don’t pretend to understand women.”

    But he alluded to the twin novels and their story’s female protagonist in an interview with the Wall Street Journal in 2009, saying, “I was planning on writing about a woman for 50 years. I will never be competent enough to do so, but at some point you have to try.”

    As for the lavish amounts of violence in his work, McCarthy told Vanity Fair in 2005 he didn’t know what resonated with him about that theme, only that he felt death was the principal motif at the heart of all our lives.

    “Death is the major issue in the world. For you, for me, for all of us,” he said. “It just is. To not be able to talk about it is very odd.”

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  • Indiana man charged with stalking, harassing Taylor Swift after allegedly sending threatening messages and showing up at concert | CNN

    Indiana man charged with stalking, harassing Taylor Swift after allegedly sending threatening messages and showing up at concert | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    An Indiana man has been arrested and charged with stalking and harassing Taylor Swift for several months.

    Mitchell Taebel, 36, was booked into the LaPorte County Jail on June 2 on charges of stalking, intimidation, invasion of privacy and harassment, according to LaPorte County Jail records.

    Taebel has been accused of sending threatening messages from March to May of this year to Swift, her team and management.

    The affidavit from LaPorte Superior Court does not name Swift, but has multiple references to the singer throughout the document. This includes mentioning Swift’s management team, 13 Management; the Eras Tour, which is her current tour; Joe Alwyn, one of her recent boyfriends; and a song off Swift’s latest album.

    According to the affidavit, Taebel sent a voice message to Swift through Instagram on March 29 saying “he would happily wear a bomb if he cannot be with his soul mate.”

    He later sent messages to those closely related to Swift, including her father and dancers, the affidavit says.

    The affidavit says that on May 5, Taebel traveled from Long Beach, Indiana, to Swift’s home in Nashville and was escorted away from the property by security. He then went to Nissan Stadium, where Swift was performing that night.

    Before the show, Taebel was placed on a security threat/concern list so he wouldn’t be able to purchase any ticket for the show, the affidavit says. However, he was able to purchase a ticket through a third-party company and entered the stadium. He was recognized by security and was escorted off the site by security and venue personnel, according to the affidavit.

    A temporary restraining order, requested by 13 Management’s legal counsel, was granted on May 11 and served to Taebell on May 13.

    But the affidavit said Taebel violated the restraining order and continued to send messages to Swift through the month until at least May 18.

    A $15,000 bond was set on June 1 for the stalking charge. Online court records indicate his next court appearance will be July 27 at 8:30 a.m.

    CNN has reached out to 13 Management, Swift’s team and Taebel for comment.

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  • Prince Harry gives tense testimony in historic courtroom battle against British media | CNN Business

    Prince Harry gives tense testimony in historic courtroom battle against British media | CNN Business

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    Prince Harry has become the first senior British royal to give evidence on a witness stand in 132 years, as his bitter fight against the UK’s tabloid press came to a head in tense courtroom showdown on Tuesday.

    Harry is suing a big British newspaper group, Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), alleging the publisher’s journalists hacked his phone and used other illicit means to gather information about his life between 1996 and 2009.

    Follow live updates from the courtroom here.

    As the landmark hearing got underway at the High Court in London, Prince Harry answered questions in a measured, almost hushed tone. He appeared nervous at first, and was at one point asked to raise his voice.

    He faced forensic and detailed questioning from MGN’s lawyer, Andrew Green who probed him on the specifics of his claims and occasionally left him scrambling to recall sections of his written statement or find pieces of evidence.

    But the Duke of Sussex brought to court an overriding argument that he has previously made on television programs and in podcast interviews: that the media’s intrusion and tactics caused him significant distress and wrecked some of his closest relationships.

    And he increasingly asserted himself as the testimony wore on, clashing at times with the publisher’s lawyer as they dissected reams of press coverage and legalese.

    “Some editors and journalists do have blood on their hands” for the distress caused to him, Harry told the court at one point – and “perhaps, inadvertently death,” he added, in reference to his mother Princess Diana.

    Here’s what we learned as Harry began giving evidence on Tuesday.

    Tuesday’s courtroom session touched on dozens of snippets from Harry’s youth, repeated aloud in court as the prince and MGN’s lawyer parsed over the fine details of several news articles.

    Harry’s diagnosis with the “kissing disease,” also known as mono; his teenage trips to the pub; his broken thumb and a back injury sustained in a game of polo; his gap year afternoons on the beach; and Princess Diana’s trips to collect him from school – all were all the subject of stories entered into evidence, and each was dissected by Green and the duke.

    Overall, the prince alleges that about 140 articles published in titles belonging to Mirror Group contained information gathered using unlawful methods, and 33 of those articles have been selected to be considered at the trial.

    In the courtroom on Tuesday, Harry said that “every single article has caused me distress.”

    “All of these articles played an important role – a destructive role – in my growing up,” Harry said. The newspapers in question were on constantly display “in every single palace, unfortunately,” while he was growing up. At school, fellow students and others would read the articles, he said. Harry described the level of coverage as “incredibly invasive.”

    Green began by attempting to establish whether Harry remembered reading the articles in question at the time of publication. When the duke conceded he could not always recall, Green pressed him on how he could realistically argue they could have affected him so strongly. It was a theme to which Green would often return.

    In a written statement entered into the court record on Tuesday, Harry expressed concern that his conversations with family and friends may have been intercepted. He noted that he and his brother, Prince William, “naturally discussed personal aspects of our lives as we trusted each other with the private information we shared.”

    He said private information about his life was raised on voicemails left on the phones of his father Charles and his mother Diana.

    Prince Harry at his school, Eton, in 2003. The period being examined in the trial covers Harry's teenage years and his early 20s.

    Harry said that he would discuss “private and sensitive matters regarding our family and personal lives” on voicemails left on the phone of the then Kate Middleton, now the Princess of Wales, he said. The Duke listed a number of other friends with whom he had been in contact, including the late TV presenter Caroline Flack, in his witness statement.

    He said he recalled “unusual mobile activity” relating to his voicemails that he dismissed at the time, but now alleges was caused by phone hacking.

    “I remember on multiple occasions hearing a voicemail for the first time that wasn’t ‘new’,” he wrote. “I would simply put it down to perhaps a technical glitch, as mobile phones were still relatively new back then, or even just having too many drinks the night before (and having forgotten that I’d listened to it).”

    Also in his written statement, Harry argued that the press actively tried to ruin his relationships. “I always felt as if the tabloids wanted me to be single, as I was much more interesting to them and sold more newspapers,” Harry wrote.

    “Whilst they would, of course, report on my successes in life, it seemed to me that they took far greater pleasure in knocking me down, time and time again,” he added.

    Harry claimed that papers would go about that task by putting “strain” on his relationships and creating distrust between him and his partners. He spoke regularly about one of his former girlfriends, Chelsy Davy, alleging journalists would find out about flight details to photograph her at airports, and would book rooms in the same hotels as the couple when they were on vacation.

    The duke evidently believes that continues to be the case since his marriage to Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. “This twisted objective is still pursued to this day even though I’m now married,” he wrote.

    There was a throng of media outside the court on Tuesday.

    The atmosphere in court was occasionally tense. “Are we not, Prince Harry, in the realms of total speculation,” Green asked Harry at one point on Tuesday, after an exchange over a story about the teen prince breaking his thumb. Green had quizzed the duke about which specific illicit means of newsgathering Harry was alleging.

    “I’m not the one who wrote the article,” Harry replied.

    “No, but you’re the one who’s bringing the claim,” Green said.

    Earlier in the morning, when discussing Harry’s use of a landline phone to talk to his mother from school, Harry suggested that either that phone or Diana’s could have been hacked.

    “That’s just speculation you’ve come up with now,” Green said in response.

    The exchanges between Harry and Green ultimately settled into a predictable pattern; when a new article was brought up, Green would press Harry on how he could know that the information was obtained illegally, and not through typical means.

    Harry would often respond that he couldn’t fathom how information would have made its way into newspapers without illicit involvement. And he would repeatedly assert that the journalists who wrote the stories, not the subject of the stories, should answer questions about their sourcing.

    There were times during the back-and-forth between Harry and Green when the prince appeared uncomfortable or unaware of the minutiae of his case.

    Harry at one point joked that he was being put through a “workout” by having to repeatedly reach for bundles of evidence, stacked in folders beside him.

    Green offered to arrange for someone to help the prince navigate the evidence, and Harry would often reply “if you say so,” when Green sought to establish details of the articles the prince’s team entered into evidence.

    After a brief mid-morning recess, the judge asked Harry to raise his voice to ensure he could be heard throughout the courtroom, telling the duke that a number of observers in the courtroom had struggled to hear him.

    The questioning was far more intense and detailed than anything Harry has experienced in the many television and podcast interviews he has given on the topic of press intrusion.

    And Green sought to poke a number of holes in Harry’s argument, including that Harry was initially unaware of several specific stories, or that details in those stories could not have come through phone hacking as they had already been reported by other outlets.

    In a lengthy witness statement and over the course of an hours-long testimony, the Duke of Sussex touched on a number of topics. They included:

    The British government: Harry criticized the current Conservative government in his written testimony, in particular for what he described as an overly close relationship with the media.

    “On a national level as, at the moment, our country is judged globally by the state of our press and our government – both of which I believe are at rock bottom,” Harry wrote.

    He added that Rishi Sunak’s government “clearly have no appetite” for press regulation, “because their friends in the press said so.”

    Piers Morgan: The British broadcaster was the editor of The Mirror from 1995 to 2004, and has been intensely critical of the duke and his wife, Meghan, in recent years. “The thought of Piers Morgan and his band of journalists earwigging into my mother’s private and sensitive messages … makes me feel physically sick,” Harry wrote in his evidence.

    He claimed that, in response to his lawsuit, “myself and my wife have been subjected to a barrage of horrific personal attacks and intimidation from Piers Morgan,” suggesting that Morgan has taken the stance “in the hope that I will back down.”

    Morgan has been unapologetic about his criticism of the pair, calling them “repulsive narcissistic hypocrites” in one December tweet.

    The Queen’s concerns: Harry said he had recently learned that Queen Elizabeth II had a member of her staff secretly fly to Australia in 2003, and stay in a house down the road from where Harry was staying on his gap year.

    “She was concerned about the extent of the coverage of my trip and wanted someone I knew to be nearby, in case I needed support,” Harry wrote.

    At the time Harry had been photographed on the beach with friends – photos that Harry claims must have been obtained illicitly, because he did not understand how any journalists would know he was there.

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  • Unbelievable facts

    Unbelievable facts

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  • Armie Hammer will not face charges following sexual assault investigation, according to LA District Attorney | CNN

    Armie Hammer will not face charges following sexual assault investigation, according to LA District Attorney | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Actor Armie Hammer will not face charges following an investigation by Los Angeles police into an allegation of sexual assault against the actor, the LA District Attorney’s Office told CNN on Wednesday.

    “Sexual assault cases are often difficult to prove, which is why we assign our most experienced prosecutors to review them. In this case, those prosecutors conducted an extremely thorough review, but determined that at this time, there is insufficient evidence to charge Mr. Hammer with a crime,” Tiffiny Blacknell, Director of the Bureau of Communications told CNN.

    “As prosecutors, we have an ethical responsibility to only charge cases that we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt. We know that it is hard for women to report sexual assault. Even when we cannot move forward with a prosecution, our victim service representatives will be available to those who seek our victim support services. Due to the complexity of the relationship and inability to prove a non-consensual, forcible sexual encounter we are unable to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt.”

    Hammer posted a statement to Instagram following the news:

    “I am very grateful to the District Attorney for conducting a thorough investigation and coming to the conclusion that I have stood by this entire time, that no crime was committed. I look forward to beginning what will be a long, difficult process of putting my life back together now that my name is cleared.”

    The LAPD opened an investigation into the matter in February 2021, after a woman, identified by her attorney at the time as Effie, accused him of raping her in 2017.

    Hammer was not charged in the case and has denied any wrongdoing, at the time saying through his attorney that the allegation was “outrageous” and that his interactions with the woman and other partners have been “completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory.”

    CNN reported last month that the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office was reviewing claims of sexual assault made against the actor. They did not specify the identity of the complainant or complainants.

    In a statement made on Wednesday to CNN following the DA’s decision, Effie said in part, “I am disappointed with the LA County District Attorney’s decision not to prosecute Armie Hammer. I felt a duty to speak out and file a report in order to try to hold Armie accountable for all the harm and trauma he has caused me and in order to protect other women from experiencing similar abuse.”

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  • Taylor Swift sets summer’s hottest dress code: Sequins, boots, cowboy hats | CNN Business

    Taylor Swift sets summer’s hottest dress code: Sequins, boots, cowboy hats | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    What’s the dress code of Summer 2023? Call it TikTok-approved coastal cowgirl aesthetic. Or, in other words, the Taylor Swift look.

    With the superstar entertainer pulling in record-breaking crowds for “The Eras Tour,” retailers across the country are marketing to “Swifties,” aggressively and inventively, as her 52-stadium tour hits their towns.

    Women’s clothing-company founder Taylor Johnson said that, from one Taylor to another, she owes Swift a big “Thank You” for going on tour again and making sparkly sequined dresses, cowboy hats and rhinestone boots massively saleable. “This has become a wild year already for us because of Taylor Swift,” said Johnson, CEO of Hazel & Olive.

    One of their dresses in particular, called aThe Eras Sequin Fringe Dress, which retails for $129, is on fire. “Our phones have been blowing up and we’ve been getting hundreds of calls and Instagram messages about that dress,” she said.

    Francesca’s, a fashion chain with 454 boutiques nationwide, expected Swift’s tour to have an impact. But ruffle, prairie, babydoll and bow-back style dresses get a 30% jump in sales at the stores when Swift is in town, said Leanne Neale, vice president of concept and creative with the Houston company.

    Trendy clothing chain Altar’d State has proactively gone all-in on Swift mania by curating looks from its collection for every one of the Swift albums. “Enter your Era,” it invites.

    Swift’s “The Eras Tour,” was infamous before it even began. The concerts were so wildly anticipated that ticket presale on Ticketmaster became a highly publicized debacle. Ticketmaster blamed extraordinary demand for crashing its website and eventually canceled ticket sales to the public. Many were left without a ticket even after purchase.

    The mess drew the ire of lawmakers, leading to a Justice Department investigation and a congressional hearing.

    Taylor Swift performs onstage during night one of Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour at Nissan Stadium on May 05, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee.

    Ticketmaster apologized to Swift and her fans for the “terrible experience” and said it would work to “shore up our tech for the new bar that has been set by demand” for Swift’s tour.

    That was too little too late for some fans who took Ticketmaster (and parent company Live Nation) to court.

    But the show must go on, and it did, with Swift headed to New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium (seating capacity: 82,500) for shows into and over the Memorial Day weekend.

    At Altar’d State, “We’ve never prepped stores this way but we’re calling it Taylor week,” said Callie Lewis, chief merchandising officer. Mannequins wearing Swift-inspired looks are placed front and center in their stores along with other concert-friendly merchandise such as clear handbags that meet security protocols at concert venues.

    What’s moving? Everything from sundresses and metallic boots to romantic, breezy long dresses, tulle tops, daring red gowns and lots and lots and lots of fringe. “We can’t restock fast enough,” said Lewis. Hot sellers include lavender-colored clothing (inspired by Swift’s song Lavender Haze.)

    Altar'd State stores have curated Taylor Swift looks for concert goers.

    Swift isn’t the only hot concert tour influencing the fashion business in 2023. Neale at francesca’s said she’s looking to Beyonce’s “Renaissance” tour firing up demand for concertwear, too. Francesca’s stores, she said will also curate looks that appeal to the BeyHive.

    Retailer Johnson admits that all this mad dash for product is a good problem to have, given that as much as 80% of Hazel & Olive’s monthly orders currently are for concert looks. (She declined to disclose her annual sales but said she operates a multimillion-dollar-a-year small business.

    Beyonce fans queue to enter to the Friends Arena to watch her first concert of the World Tour named

    Johnson said she’s been ordering the maximum quantity of the most in-demand concert styles from her supplier, but even that’s not enough, lately.

    “As soon as I get more inventory in, it sells outs quickly,” she said, adding that she’s even flying in merchandise at a higher cost from her suppliers in China, instead of shipping it via sea as she usually does, in order to speed up delivery. As for the Taylor Swift bump to business, Johnson said she’s grateful for it.

    “This is crazy. I need Taylor Swift to go on concert year-round because we’re now on pace to have our biggest sales year yet,” she said.

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  • W. Kamau Bell found inspiration at home for ‘1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed’ | CNN

    W. Kamau Bell found inspiration at home for ‘1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed’ | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    W. Kamau Bell isn’t the only star in his home.

    The comedian and television host credits his three daughters, Sami, Juno and Asha, with inspiring his latest project, “1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed.”

    Sami and Juno both appear in the HBO documentary about the experiences of multiracial children and their families.

    Bell told CNN he thought about what life would be like for his children even before they were born.

    “I’m Black, my wife’s white, and before even Sami, our oldest daughter, was born, we sort of knew that she was going to have an experience that we wouldn’t necessarily be able to relate to a hundred percent, because she was going to be mixed,” he said. “Luckily, we live in the Bay Area, so we had mixed folks in our lives.”

    It was definitely a pivot for Bell and his wife, Melissa.

    While he is well known for his Emmy award-winning CNN series, “United Shades of America,” Bell’s family has been less visible.

    “We’ve always sort of tried to keep them out of the spotlight and they understood that,” Bell told CNN. “But once the opportunity came to make a documentary about mixed-race kids, we knew our kids had something to say.”

    Bell talks to a few of his eldest daughter’s friends and their parents in the documentary, as well as some adults who are multiracial.

    There are plenty of moments of introspection, including for Bell, who recounted asking Sami about what she sees when she looks in the mirror.

    “I was asking her a question that was literally about skin tone in my mind and she said, ‘I don’t think mirrors tell you everything. I don’t think mirrors show everything’ and she’s talking about who she is inside,” he recalled. ” And it’s that moment of like, she went way deeper than I was expecting. I can’t take all the credit, but it felt like a moment of thank God this kid is deeper and more thoughtful than I even realized.”

    Bell hopes more conversations will be sparked by “1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed.”

    “The kids are inspiring. I don’t often make things that end on a hopeful message,” he said. “I was happy to make something that felt lighter and feels more like ‘Everybody sit down [and watch]’.There is definitely some moments, some difficulty and the word trauma is used multiple times … but I definitely feel like these kids can provide hope.”

    The film is currently streaming on HBO Max, which like CNN is part of Warner Bros. Discovery.

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  • Here’s what some ‘Drag Race’ queens have to say about the anti-drag and anti-trans laws cropping up | CNN

    Here’s what some ‘Drag Race’ queens have to say about the anti-drag and anti-trans laws cropping up | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    An original reality competition series featuring drag queens might seem like a no-brainer today, but when “RuPaul’s Drag Race” debuted in 2009 on Logo TV, no one could have guessed that the show would slowly explode in popularity over 15 seasons, across three networks, winning 26 Primetime Emmys and spawning spin-off “All Stars” series, international versions, and even a Monopoly game along the way.

    “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” Season 8 kicked off and the ninth annual Drag Con LA convention took place last weekend, where notable queens from the franchise as well as “Drag Race” executive producers (and Drag Con producers) Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato spoke with CNN about the current political climate as more state and local policies target LGBTQ individuals – specifically trans people and drag performers, two communities that span cultures and geographical divides, with long and storied histories dating back centuries. They also spoke of their collective spirit of resilience in the face of opposition.

    Drag Con attracts all walks of life, from the very young to the old, individuals who say they are drawn to the swirl of color, opulence and activity that goes part and parcel with drag performances.

    “I like being able to connect with the fans. I think a lot of interaction with the fans is online, which is fine, but that is an environment that has never felt really real or human to me,” Alaska, who appeared in “Drag Race” Season 5 and won “All Stars” Season 2, told CNN. “So actually interacting with people face-to-face is really powerful and really connecting.”

    “This year’s Drag Con is different to all the previous ones because of the presence of so many international queens,” observed Barbato. “There are now 17 versions, maybe 18 versions of ‘Drag Race’… produced all over the world. And many of those queens – from the Philippines, and Spain, from Down Under – they’re here, and it’s great to watch all those queens connect with one another. It’s like a sisterhood.”

    “There’s so many new queens here,” Detox, Alaska’s outspoken contemporary on her seasons of “Drag Race” and “All Stars,” observed. “There’s so many different franchise queens here. The last few years with the pandemic going on, we haven’t been able to commune as much as we used to do.”

    And those franchises are expanding – in addition to many of their American counterparts, Drag Con this year welcomed the casts of “Drag Race UK” Seasons 3 and 4, as well as “Canada’s Drag Race” Season 3. On Friday, Queens Lolita Banana and Valentina revealed they will host the upcoming series “Drag Race Mexico” in front of thousands of excited fans.

    “There’s more support, and I feel like that’s more important because of how much negative legislature is against our community right now,” Detox added. “People are really showing out and showing up in a way that they weren’t before, to be more vigilant and prideful of the celebration of our queer community and our drag.”

    “I actually have met so many people that are just now getting into it, which has inspired me a lot,” noted “Drag Race” Season 13’s Gottmik. “I am a punk rock diva, in my heart, and RuPaul is the ultimate punk rock diva who literally took an art that no mainstream person wanted to see and made it the most mainstream thing in the world. So now there’s so many new people watching it.”

    Gottmik at this year's Drag Con.

    Barbato’s producing partner Bailey remarked that this year’s Con “comes at a different point in the culture. Over the last few years, we have seen drag be recognized as the art form that it is, and I suppose inevitably, with that has come some pushback. I don’t understand why that should be the case, because the whole mission and intention and message of drag is that it’s very inclusive, it’s all about self-expression, and being whoever you want to be, and not taking it all too seriously.”

    He added that “it’s interesting to see how this has been turned into a threat by those opposed to drag, when really, it’s no threat at all. And in fact it brings a message of peace, love and inclusivity that as a culture we’re really in need of right now.”

    Barbato pointed to the “over 400 pieces of legislature that are in some stage throughout the country” targeting drag performers, trans people or proposing educational restrictions like banning books or movies that are deemed to go against the gender binary.

    “Ultimately these laws aren’t just about banning drag, their ultimate intent is to erase the LGBTQ experience from the culture,” Fenton said.

    If given the chance to speak to proponents of this legislation, “Drag Race” queens who spoke with CNN offered differing approaches.

    “I would first want to listen. I would love to have that conversation, instead of getting a sign out and screaming at one another,” said Mrs. Kasha Davis, from “Drag Race” Season 7 as well as the newly premiered Season 8 of “All Stars.”

    Alaska agreed, saying, “it’s less about what I would want to say. I would want to hear what they had to say, really, face-to-face.” She observed that this spate of prosecution almost feels like “our turn.”

    “In the last major election, it was about immigration and a fear over people who are moving to the country. So it could really land on anybody who is marginalized at any time.”

    Kween Kong performs during RuPaul's Drag Con LA 2023 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

    Gottmik said she wished those opposed to drag could simply see her as “a person,” and “an artist.”

    “Trans people, gay people, everyone on the spectrum of life, we’re artists, we’re senators, we’re librarians, honey, we’re teachers, we’re everywhere,” she continued. “We’re never going anywhere, and we have always been here. So I would just try to be loving and educate.”

    “If I were in a room with ‘the other side,’ I would hope that that room was Drag Con,” Barbato observed. “I would spend the day with them at Drag Con. They can all come. Judgment evaporates when you actually experience and connect with people. Experience is more valuable than words.”

    Part of that experience at Drag Con this year was also devoted to raising money for the Drag Defense Fund, which is affiliated with “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” MTV and the American Civil Liberties Union, geared toward protecting the rights of drag performers and others targeted by homophobic and transphobic legislation.

    The Drag Defense Fund has raised $1.4M so far.

    RuPaul DJs during RuPaul's Drag Con LA 2023 on Friday.

    “We’ve been very deliberate about how we are responding to this threat,” Barbato noted. “It feels like this is a fight that needs to happen in the courts, and it’s a fight we need to be smart about.”

    He also mentioned that the money is being used “A, to raise awareness and B, to help support legal battles.”

    “This weekend, our tribe came together for the most joyful and spectacular RuPaul’s DragCon ever,” RuPaul herself shared in a statement. “Once again, our talented queens from around the world showed us what love, light and courage look like.”

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  • Billie Eilish And Rocker Jesse Rutherford Split After Less Than A Year

    Billie Eilish And Rocker Jesse Rutherford Split After Less Than A Year

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    Billie Eilish’s monthslong relationship with the Neighbourhood vocalist Jesse Rutherford has reportedly reached a dead end.

    On Wednesday, a representative for the “Bad Guy” singer confirmed the breakup to Page Six, saying that “Billie and Jesse did split amicably and remain good friends.”

    First linked in October, the pair were most recently spotted together in mid-April during the Coachella music festival in California. Earlier this month, Eilish attended New York’s Met Gala alone.

    From the start of their romance, Eilish, now 21, and Rutherford, 31, faced criticism over their 10-year age difference.

    Billie Eilish and Jesse Rutherford arrive at an Oscar party in Beverly Hills, California, on March 12.

    Instead of ignoring the topic, the couple decided to poke fun at the controversy. On Halloween, they goaded detractors by dressing like a baby and an old man in an Instagram photo together.

    Eilish swooned over the relationship in a November interview with Vanity Fair, saying, “It’s really cool, and I’m really excited and I’m really happy about it.”

    Explaining how she considered the romance an accomplishment, she said, “I managed to get … to a point in my life … where I not only was known by a person that I thought was the hottest fucking fucker alive, but pulled his ass! Are you kidding me? Can we just [get a] round of applause for me?”

    The pop star’s brother and recording partner, Finneas O’Connell, remarked on the relationship in December.

    “I want my sister to be happy and safe,” he wrote to a critic on TikTok. “And she is a 21 year old adult perfectly entitled to make her own life decisions.”

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  • Jason Sudeikis says he changed his Ted Lasso character because of Donald Trump | CNN

    Jason Sudeikis says he changed his Ted Lasso character because of Donald Trump | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Ted Lasso is a nicer character because of Donald Trump.

    That’s according to star and creator Jason Sudeikis, who plays the loveable, folksy coach on the Apple TV+ series.

    In an interview with The Guardian’s The Observer, Sudeikis said he was having dinner with his then romantic partner Olivia Wilde in 2015 when he “wondered if he could revisit a character called Ted Lasso that he had created for a comedy skit two years earlier.”

    Lasso, according to Sudekis, was originally “belligerent.” Growing political tensions at the time inspired him to develop the character in a new direction.

    “It was the culture we were living in,” Sudeikis said. “I’m not terribly active online and it even affected me. Then you have Donald Trump coming down the escalator. I was like, ‘OK, this is silly,’ and then what he unlocked in people… I hated how people weren’t listening to one another. Things became very binary and I don’t think that’s the way the world works. And, as a new parent – we had our son Otis in 2014 – it was like, ‘Boy, I don’t want to add to this.’ Yeah, I just didn’t want to portray it.”

    As a result, the character became the warm, affable, positive quote machine viewers first came to love at the height of the pandemic in 2020.

    Sudeikis and some of the other members of the “Ted Lasso” cast recently visited President Joe Biden at the White House in March for a discussion about mental health.

    While there, the star called the character he plays “wish-fulfilment.”

    “You know, ‘Be the change you want to see in the world,’” Sudeikis told The Observer, paraphrasing Mahatma Gandhi. “Well, how about, ‘Write the change you want to see in the world’? Part of the joy of getting to do this neat job I’ve got to do is the wish-fulfilment. Not just getting to play the characters, but also, what do you want to put out there into the world?”

    The third season of “Ted Lasso” is currently streaming on Apple TV+. The show is produced by Warner Bros. Television, which like CNN is part of Warner Bros. Discovery.

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  • The agony and ecstasy of scoring last-minute face value Taylor Swift tickets | CNN Business

    The agony and ecstasy of scoring last-minute face value Taylor Swift tickets | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    When Julia Thomas woke up at her home in Cleveland last Saturday, she spontaneously decided to drive 15 hours to the Taylor Swift concert that night in Nashville, picking up her sister in Cincinnati along the way. But they were missing one thing: tickets.

    Like so many Swift fans, she couldn’t get tickets on Ticketmaster when they went on sale last fall, nor could she afford the four-figure price tag listed for them on resale sites. About halfway through the drive, however, her sister found $350 floor seats after refreshing various Swift-focused Twitter accounts: Ticketmaster had just dropped a handful of last-minute tickets at face value on its website.

    “We seriously just got super lucky,” she told CNN. “We made it to Nashville with about an hour to spare before the concert started.”

    Thomas is one of many devoted fans who closely monitor a mix of Twitter accounts dedicated to alerting fans when Ticketmaster releases a new batch of Swift tickets after the initial sale.

    Ticket drops are not new. They’re ostensibly due to additional seats being added to a venue, or if tickets are returned. But these drops have become an obsession among Swift’s most devoted fans, who are struggling to find tickets for the artist in the face of Ticketmaster’s broader ticketing snafus.

    Ticketmaster has been under scrutiny for fumbling the online sales to the mega-star’s latest tour, in an era where it already completely dominates the live event industry, leaving few, if any, alternatives. In November, “Verified Fans” were sent a presale code — but when sales began, heavy demand snarled the website and millions of Swifties could not get their hands on a ticket. Presale tickets for Capital One card holders brought similar frustration — and then Ticketmaster canceled sales to the general public, citing “extraordinarily high demand” and “insufficient remaining ticket inventory.”

    In testimony before Congress, Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation President and CFO Joe Berchtold partly blamed the ticketing incident on bots. He also emphasized that Ticketmaster does not set ticket prices, does not determine the number of tickets put up for sale and that “in most cases, venues set service and ticketing fees,” not Ticketmaster.

    Ticketmaster and Live Nation are currently face a lawsuit from Swift fans across the country for “unlawful conduct,” with the plaintiffs claiming the ticketing giant violated antitrust laws, among others. A preliminary hearing was held in March; Ticketmaster has denied the allegations.

    Millions of fans are still unable to buy tickets. In recent weeks, however, Ticketmaster has been sending out more Verified Fan codes to people who were originally selected from the pre-sale to purchase from leftover tickets. For people without codes, Ticketmaster is also doing routine ticket drops ahead of shows.

    It’s not unusual, however, that thousands of fans are trying to secure the same tickets at the same time. Sometimes the seats are purchased by bots and scalpers, and reposted to third-party sites like StubHub within minutes.

    Ticketmaster did not respond to a request for comment about its ticket drops.

    But that’s not deterring Swift fans. Some are spending hours searching for tickets online and driving long distances to concert venues without a ticket in hand, even if it risks ending in heartbreak.

    Molly Ramsey, an 18-year-old fan from Bristol, Tennessee, said she recently stumbled across the Twitter account @erastourticks, which often tweets about Ticketmaster’s drops. “My family [last weekend] took the gamble to drive down the 5 hours to Nashville to see if we could get face value tickets,” she said.

    After nearly nine hours of refreshing Ticketmaster, she secured four tickets right before the show started. “We were sitting outside of the stadium while the openers were playing, but as soon as our payment went through, it was an out-of-body experience,” she said. “My sister started screaming and dancing.”

    In a nod to Swift’s hit song “Anti-Hero” and the rush to find drop tickets, the Twitter account – which has about 22,000 followers – recently tweeted: “It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero aka @Ticketmaster.”

    Molly Ramsey, left, and her sister score last-minute Taylor Swift concert tickets

    A similar site, @concertleaks, has been connecting its 62,000 followers to last-minute Swift tickets. The account was originally set up years ago to post concert setlists, merchandise, and tickets for various artists, but has evolved to help connect followers with ticket drops, too.

    Another Twitter account called @ErasTourResell, which has 120,000 followers, has gained significant traction working with resellers who want to sell their tickets at face value. The account is run by longtime friends Courtney Johnston, Channette Garay and Angel Richards. The trio of twenty-somethings aim to make Swift tickets as accessible to fans as possible without them overpaying or getting scammed.

    “So far we’ve posted somewhere between 2,700 and 3,000 tickets, all for face value,” the trio said in a DM conversation on Twitter. “It’s truly so rewarding seeing these tickets go to real fans for face value when the resale market has insane prices with people making three times the profit. It’s also been amazing to meet people who follow the account at shows, especially if the only reason they were even able to attend was through our account.”

    They spend hours, in between working and going to school, sifting through daily submissions to make sure the tickets are real. The group encourages buyers to ask for video proof of tickets, to pay only via Paypal Goods and Services due to its protection plan and to never pay over the face value. (They also said they don’t make any money off the process, and do it only to help fellow Swifties, but they do have a Ko-Fi account where people can donate funds for food or coffee).

    “Surprisingly, the vetting process has gone immensely well and smoothly because by now we know what a sketchy screen recording looks like or what a forged or hacked email can look like,” the group said. “It’s all about being able to catch the super small details – what color an image is supposed to look like, what link is clickable, where that link has to take you, what message is supposed to pop up at any certain point.”

    But getting these tickets isn’t easy. After an alert for tickets is posted to their Twitter page, many users say they never hear back from sellers, and it’s unclear how they select a buyer from the hundreds of fans who reach out to them.

    “It has definitely gotten harder with our amount of followers increasing,” the friends behind @ErasTourResell told CNN. “Some [sellers pick] based off of the first direct message and mention, and others go for someone with a touching story so it truly varies. Having our notifications on helps as we tend to do a little warning and tease before posting most tickets.”

    Beyond Twitter, many fans are turning to sites such as Reddit, including the R/Taylor Swift page, for play-by-play details on Ticketmaster drops. Some say they’ve spotted them several times throughout the day but most frequently about 30 minutes before a show starts. (Tickets have even appeared an hour into the show.) Others suggest using Apple Pay to expedite the payment process and avoid losing tickets while typing in credit card information.

    Despite these massive efforts, not all fans find luck online.

    Katy Blackman, 33, from Birmingham, Alabama, said she spent all day in a Nashville hotel last weekend refreshing the site. Only once did she manage to get a single ticket into her online shopping cart, but it was gone before she could check out.

    Katy Blackman spent all day in her hotel room refreshing Ticketmaster looking for same-day Taylor Swift ticket

    Still, she headed to Nissan Stadium that night and stood in the parking lot alongside hundreds of other fans without tickets trying to get in. When the lights dimmed minutes before Swift took the stage, the crowds scattered; she was nearly the only one left, still refreshing Ticketmaster.

    “All my searching and combing Ticketmaster and resell sites was worthless,” she said. “But then all of a sudden, a random girl came running up to me truly seconds before she came on and said, “Hey, wanna come in with me?”

    The stranger had just scored last-minute tickets and had an extra to sell. “A miracle happened,” Blackman said. “My new friend and I sang every single song. We cried, danced, hugged. It was worth the absolute hell to get there.”

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  • Pakistan on edge as Imran Khan’s supporters face-off against powerful military | CNN

    Pakistan on edge as Imran Khan’s supporters face-off against powerful military | CNN

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    Islamabad, Pakistan
    CNN
     — 

    Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is expected to appear in front of a judge Wednesday on multiple corruption charges, less than 24 hours after he was dramatically arrested by paramilitary troops in a significant escalation of a year-long political standoff that has put the South Asian country on edge.

    Riot police were seen arriving at police headquarters Wednesday, where police said Khan’s hearing will take place rather than a court to “keep him away from the public.” Khan’s lawyer Faisal Chaudhry told CNN Wednesday he has had “no contact” with his client.

    The stage is now set for the possibility of a tumultuous showdown between the country’s powerful military and Khan’s supporters following deadly and unprecedented clashes Tuesday that saw angry crowds break into and vandalize the homes of army personnel.

    Video before Khan’s arrest on Tuesday show paramilitary forces breaking a window to get to the politician as he watched impassively at the unfolding chaos. Khan was then led into a vehicle surrounded by dozens of security officers and escorted away.

    In a pre-recorded statement released on YouTube by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) political party after his arrest, the former prime minister said he was “detained on incorrect charges” and told his supporters “the time has come for all of you to come and struggle for your rights.”

    “I have always followed the law. I am being apprehended so that I can’t follow my political path for this country’s fundamental rights and for me to obey this corrupt government of crooks which has been hoisted on us,” he said in the video.

    Hundreds of Khan supporters responded to his call to take to the streets and violent protests broke out in several cities.

    Khan supporters armed with sticks broke into the military’s headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi, just outside the capital, chanting in support of the former leader.

    Protesters also blocked one of the main thoroughfares into Islamabad, throwing stones and pulling down street signs. A police vehicle was set ablaze, resulting in police retaliating with tear gas.

    Meanwhile, in the southwestern city of Quetta, a Khan supporter was shot and killed by police at a protest, according to a CNN journalist at the scene.

    Authorities blocked mobile internet services shortly after in a bid to quell the chaos, disrupting access to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube in the nation of 270 million.

    At least 43 protesters were arrested in Islamabad, the city’s police said on Twitter.

    Protesters burn tires to block roads in Peshawar, Pakistan on May 9, 2023 following Imran Khan's dramatic arrest.

    Khan, 72, was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote last year and has since led a popular campaign against the current government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, accusing it of colluding with the military to remove him from office.

    The former star cricketer turned populist politician denies the charges leveled against him, instead accusing Sharif and the military of playing a political game. The military and Sharif – who is in the United Kingdom after attending the coronation of the British monarch – deny Khan’s accusations.

    The tensions have brought Pakistan, a nuclear-armed country that has for decades grappled with political instability, into unknown territory and have often boiled over into violence.

    Last November, Khan survived a shooting at a political rally, in what his party called an assassination attempt.

    A demonstrator is seen as Pakistani police use tear gas against supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan during a protest in Peshawar, Pakistan on May 9, 2023.

    His claims have struck a chord with a young population in a country where anti-establishment feelings are common, and are being fueled by a rising cost of living crisis as soaring inflation makes ordinary goods increasingly unaffordable.

    Amid the crisis, the government has so far failed to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to restart a $6.5 billion loan program that has stalled since November, in an effort to keep the economy afloat.

    But the political upheaval appears to have bolstered Khan’s popularity. Last year, his PTI party won local elections in the country’s most populous Punjab province, seen as a litmus test for national elections.

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  • 5 things to know for May 8: Texas shooting, King Charles, Title 42, Measles, ChatGPT | CNN

    5 things to know for May 8: Texas shooting, King Charles, Title 42, Measles, ChatGPT | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    American flags will be lowered to half-staff this week at the White House, on military bases, and at all public buildings to honor the victims of the deadly mass shooting in Texas over the weekend. In the wake of the massacre, President Joe Biden again urged Congress to act: “Too many families have empty chairs at their dinner tables. Tweeted thoughts and prayers are not enough,” he said.

    Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day.

    (You can get “CNN’s 5 Things” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.)

    Eight people were killed and at least seven others were wounded when a gunman opened fire at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas, on Saturday — the latest mass shooting to shatter an American community. A Dallas-area medical group said it was treating patients ranging from age from 5 to 61 years old. The 33-year-old shooter was killed by a police officer who was already at the Dallas-area mall on an unrelated call. The gunman was armed with an AR-15 style rifle and had multiple weapons in his vehicle, according to police. The shooter’s motive remains unclear at this time, but officials are investigating his potential ties to right-wing extremism after he was found with an insignia on his clothing worn by some members of extremist groups, a law enforcement source said. Officials have also found he had an extensive social media presence that included neo-Nazi and White supremacist-related posts.

    Britain’s King Charles III was crowned Saturday in a once-in-a-generation royal event witnessed by hundreds of high-profile guests inside Westminster Abbey, as well as tens of thousands of well-wishers who gathered in central London. Scores of foreign dignitaries, British officials, celebrities and faith leaders attended the deeply religious ceremony. Once the King was crowned, his wife, Queen Camilla, was crowned in her own shorter ceremony. On Sunday, thousands of events and parties took place across the UK as part of the “Coronation Big Lunch.” But the historic weekend did not go without a display of dissidence. Police arrested more than 50 people during the coronation after controversially promising a “robust” approach to protesters.

    Missed it? Here’s King Charles’ coronation in 3 minutes

    The US is expecting to see an influx of border crossings when Title 42, the Trump-era policy that allowed officials to swiftly expel migrants who crossed the border illegally during the Covid-19 pandemic, expires on Thursday. Without Title 42, the primary border enforcement tool since March 2020, authorities will be returning to decades-old protocols at a time of unprecedented mass migration in the region, raising concerns within the Biden administration about a surge in the immediate aftermath of the policy’s lifting. Also on Thursday, the House is set to vote on Republicans’ wide-ranging border security package, GOP leadership sources told CNN. Last month, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Republicans have the necessary votes to pass the legislation in the chamber.

    exp NYC prepares migrant surge Pazmino 05072PSEG1 cnn world_00002001.png

    U.S. prepares for a surge of migrants ahead of the end of Title 42

    A child in Maine has tested positive for measles, officials said, marking the first case in the state since 2019. Measles was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 thanks to an intensive vaccination program, according to the CDC. But vaccination rates in the US have dropped in recent years, sparking new outbreaks. The CDC recommends all children get two doses of the MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccine; the first dose between 12 to 15 months of age and the second between the ages of 4 to 6. The child who tested positive had received a dose of the measles vaccine, but is being considered “infectious out of an abundance of caution,” the Maine CDC said. There have been a total of 10 documented cases of measles in eight states this year.

    vaccines 2 cfb

    How vaccines stop the spread of viruses

    ChatGPT, a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence, can pick stocks better than your fund manager, analysts say. A recent experiment found that the bot far outperformed some popular UK investment funds — and funds managed by HSBC and Fidelity were among those selected. Between March 6 and April 28, a dummy portfolio of 38 stocks gained 4.9% while 10 leading investment funds clocked an average loss of 0.8%, the results showed. The analysts asked ChatGPT to select stocks based on some common criteria, including picking companies with a low level of debt and a track record of growth. Microsoft, Netflix, and Walmart were among the companies selected. While major funds have used AI for years to support their investment decisions, analysts say ChatGPT has put the technology in the hands of the general public — and it’s showing it can potentially disrupt the finance industry. 

    MTV Movie & TV Awards 2023: See who won

    Tom Cruise accepted an award for “Top Gun: Maverick” while flying a plane — because he’s Tom Cruise. Here are the other stars who received golden popcorn statuettes on Sunday.

    A mother-daughter moment: Regal twinning at coronation catches eyes

    Princess Catherine of Wales and her daughter, Princess Charlotte, made a statement in matching silver headpieces. See the photo here.

    Bronny James, son of NBA superstar LeBron James, commits to the University of Southern California

    The NBA’s all-time leading scorer made headlines last year when he said he wanted to play his final season in the league alongside his son Bronny. The father-son duo is now one step closer to that reality.

    ‘Saturday Night Live’ didn’t air a new episode this past weekend

    Former cast member Pete Davidson was set to return as host for “SNL” but things didn’t go as planned due to the ongoing film and TV writers strike.

    Climate activists dye iconic Italian fountain water black

    Onlookers snapped pictures as protesters were arrested for defacing this popular monument.

    111 degrees Fahrenheit

    That’s how high temperatures reached in Vietnam over the weekend, the highest ever recorded in the country. Neighboring Laos and Thailand also recently shattered various temperature records as a brutal heat wave continues to grip Southeast Asia. 

    “This tangled web around Justice Clarence Thomas just gets worse and worse by the day.”

    — Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin, telling CNN on Sunday that “everything is on the table” as the panel scrutinizes new ethics concerns around Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The conservative justice is receiving criticism after a bombshell ProPublica report detailed he accepted several lavish trips and gifts from GOP megadonor Harlan Crow. Thomas also accepted free rent from the Republican billionaire for his mother and allowed him to pay the boarding school tuition for his grandnephew, according to ProPublica.

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    ‘It embarrasses me’: Senate Judiciary chair on Justice Thomas revelations

    Check your local forecast here>>>

    Parrots learn to call their feathered friends on video chat

    These parrots were taught to ring a bell whenever they want to caw their fellow bird friends! See them in action. (Click to view)

    Parrots Video Chat 3

    Parrots learn to call their feathered friends on video chat

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  • Usher And Chris Brown Play Same Las Vegas Music Festival Hours After Alleged Violent Altercation

    Usher And Chris Brown Play Same Las Vegas Music Festival Hours After Alleged Violent Altercation

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    By Alex Nino Gheciu.
    Published:
    Last updated:

    Usher and Chris Brown played the same music festival, on the same stage, just hours after allegedly getting into a physical confrontation on Saturday.

    According to reports, a heated argument between the two artists became violent early Saturday morning, leading to the “U Remind Me” singer sustaining a bloody nose and bruised ribs. The news was originally reported by Hollywood Unlocked. 


    READ MORE:
    Usher And Chris Brown Get Into Heated Argument in Las Vegas, Allegedly Turns Violent

    A video from TMZ purports to show an argument between Usher, 44, and Brown, 34, during the “With You” singer’s birthday party at Skate Rock City roller rink in Las Vegas. According to the outlet, Brown was trying to talk to Teyana Taylor and became incensed when she ignored him. This prompted Usher to intervene in an attempt to deescalate the situation. It’s said Brown and his crew then left the skating rink, but not without Usher following them.

    TMZ goes on to report, citing eyewitnesses, that Usher met the group behind a string of charter buses and reemerged with a bloody nose.

    Neither Usher, Brown nor Taylor have confirmed the story.


    READ MORE:
    Kim Kardashian Gets Serenaded By Usher After Finally Making It To Las Vegas Residency

    Later that same day, both artists performed at the Lovers & Friends music festival, also in Las Vegas, which featured a stacked bill of stars from the ’90s and early 2000s, including Mariah Carey, Missy Elliot, Christina Aguilera, Shaggy and more.

    If there was any bad blood between the two artists, they certainly didn’t show it. They both seemed in good spirits during their sets, which were back-to-back on the “Friends” stage — Brown’s set was at 6:30 p.m. while Usher’s was at 8:10 p.m., separated by a quick 50 Cent performance on the adjacent “Lovers” stage.

    Neither Usher nor Brown referenced the alleged fracas during their respective sets, although 50 couldn’t resist: “Usher did a great job putting this festival together; Chris didn’t like that, busted him in the face,” he told the crowd at one point.

    Chris Brown appeared first, smiling often while delivering a high-energy performance of some of his greatest hits, including “With You” and “Go Crazy”.

    Chris Brown performing at Lovers & Friends 2023.
    — Photo: Meg Blair, Lovers & Friends

    Ahead of his set, Usher took to his Instagram Story to post a video of himself backstage at the festival, showing no signs of injury to his face and telling fans he was “having a great time.”

    The positive energy continued during Usher’s smouldering set, which saw him beaming and flashing his abs on more than one occasion while crooning through an hour of his many hits, from “My Boo” to “Yeah!”

    Usher performing at Lovers & Friends 2023.
    Usher performing at Lovers & Friends 2023.
    — Photo: @justnjames, Lovers & Friends

    At one point, the eight-time Grammy winner spoke to the crowd to express his gratitude for their support.

    “These songs that we’ve made for you have been a connection for all of us, and I appreciate all the love throughout all of these years,” Usher told the audience.


    READ MORE:
    Zendaya Sings Along At Usher Concert During Outing With Tom Holland

    “Whether going through tough times or just celebrating and turning up with y’all, I just don’t get a chance to see you at all but I wanna let you know I appreciate you tonight for the love and the support. 

    “More than anything, I’ve got an appreciation for the fact that God has allowed me to be able to be that vessel to be able to make that connection with y’all.”

    Usher and Brown have been longtime friends, and have collaborated on several songs, including “Party” and “New Flame.”

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  • Jennifer Coolidge shows support for writers’ strike in MTV Movie & TV Awards acceptance speech | CNN

    Jennifer Coolidge shows support for writers’ strike in MTV Movie & TV Awards acceptance speech | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Jennifer Coolidge loves two things: popcorn and screenwriters.

    Coolidge made this clear in a pre-recorded speech shown during Sunday’s MTV Movie & TV Awards broadcast, where the “White Lotus” star accepted a special Comedic Genius award.

    After commenting on the irony that the golden popcorn statuette is that of her favorite food (she was later seen snacking on some real popcorn while accepting another award for best frightened performance), Coolidge showed some love to the members of the Writers Guild of America, who are currently on strike.

    “Almost all great comedy starts with great writers and I just think that as a proud member of SAG (the Screen Actors Guild), I stand here before you tonight side by side with my sisters and brothers from the WGA that are fighting right now, fighting for the rights of artists everywhere,” Coolidge said.

    She went to quote William Shakespeare, saying, “the play is the thing.”

    “I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but I think it’s EVERYTHING,” she concluded, before breaking out in a dance while “Jump Around” by House of Pain played in the background.

    Joseph Quinn, who won best breakthrough performance for his role of Eddie Munson in Season 4 of “Stranger Things,” also referenced the ongoing strike, saying in his pre-recorded speech, “being a writer is a hard job, and it deserves respect.”

    Pedro Pascal gave a shout-out to writers as well, while accepting the best show award for “The Last of Us” on behalf of showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann. “We’re standing in solidarity with the WGA that is fighting very hard for fair wages,” he said.

    Members of the WGA began picketing on May 2 after the guild and the major studios and streamers failed to reach a deal on a new contract. The strike has already affected numerous productions, including the MTV Movie & TV Awards itself.

    Drew Barrymore stepped down from her hosting duties to support the writers, and a pre-taped broadcast aired instead of what was supposed to be a live show after the WGA West announced plans to picket outside the Los Angeles event venue. Pre-recorded bits featuring Barrymore and pre-taped speeches by winners were aired, with clips of past MTV Movie & TV Award moments filling the space in between award handouts.

    Other productions impacted by the strike include all of the network late night shows, which went dark on Tuesday as the strike began, along with “Saturday Night Live,” which canceled this weekend’s show that would’ve seen alum Pete Davidson returning as host.

    Netflix’s “Stranger Things” also announced on Saturday that they’ve halted production on Season 5 due to the strike, further delaying the highly anticipated final season.

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  • Prince Harry is already back in the US after quick coronation appearance | CNN

    Prince Harry is already back in the US after quick coronation appearance | CNN

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    It was just a short trip back to the UK for Prince Harry, who attended the coronation of his father, King Charles III, in London on Saturday.

    The Duke of Sussex immediately flew back to California, where he resides with his wife and two children, catching a commercial flight shortly after the coronation service concluded, according to the UK’s PA Media news agency.

    British Airways flight attendants confirmed Prince Harry had been on a flight that landed at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) at around 7:30 p.m. local (10:30 p.m. ET) Saturday, PA Media reported.

    Harry’s appearance at his father’s big day was the first time he had been seen publicly with his family since the release of his explosive memoir “Spare.”

    CNN understands that Prince Harry did not receive an invitation to join the family on the Buckingham Palace balcony following the Westminster Abbey service. The King and Queen waved to huge crowds outside the royal residence, joined by “working royals” and their children, among others.

    The balcony moment, which featured a slimmed-down flypast by the Royal Air Force, has become a flagship part of royal occasions. Prince Andrew wasn’t present either.

    See the moment King Charles III was crowned

    Earlier Saturday, Prince Harry was among the first group of royals to enter Westminster Abbey, arriving alongside his uncles, Prince Edward and Prince Andrew, and two of his cousins, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.

    Harry, wearing a morning suit and medals, sat with Andrew in the third row of the service. Both are non-working royals and did not perform any duties during the ceremony.

    He did not join members of his family to ride in an impressive procession back to the palace. Instead, he got into a car alone and departed the abbey shortly after the service had ended.

    Prince Harry was among the first royals to enter the Abbey.

    The King’s youngest son had reportedly returned to London on Friday. His wife, Meghan, stayed behind in the California with their children to celebrate Prince Archie’s fourth birthday.

    There was widespread speculation in the build-up to Saturday’s celebrations over whether Harry would have a role in proceedings – and if his return might suggest the family has moved on from the rift that saw the Sussexes step back from their role as senior members of the royal family.

    Harry did not join members of his family for the balcony greeting at Buckingham Palace.

    Harry launched a series of incendiary accusations against members of his family in “Spare,” in which he recalled a number of private confrontations between him and other senior royals and detailed his split from the family.

    Among the most explosive claims in the autobiography, published January, was Harry’s allegation that his older brother, Prince William, knocked him onto the floor during an argument over Meghan.

    Britain's Camilla walks wearing a modified version of Queen Mary's Crown during the Coronation Ceremony inside Westminster Abbey in central London, on May 6, 2023.. - The set-piece coronation is the first in Britain in 70 years, and only the second in history to be televised. Charles will be the 40th reigning monarch to be crowned at the central London church since King William I in 1066. Outside the UK, he is also king of 14 other Commonwealth countries, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand. (Photo by Richard POHLE / POOL / AFP) (Photo by RICHARD POHLE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

    Watch archbishop formally crown Queen Camilla

    CNN royal historian Kate Williams previously described Harry’s appearance at the coronation as a “flying visit.”

    “[Prince Harry] is coming for this major event of his father’s coronation but it’s not going to be a family reunion. We’re not going to see lots of big family meet-ups. Certainly, there has been damage done,” she explained.

    Williams added that Harry’s presence was a “show of unity” – but the extent of that unity remains to be seen.

    Sign up for CNN’s Royal News, a weekly dispatch bringing you the inside track on the royal family, what they are up to in public and what’s happening behind palace walls.

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  • Why is ‘Saturday Night Live’ not new tonight? | CNN

    Why is ‘Saturday Night Live’ not new tonight? | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Due to the continued film and TV writers’ strike, “Saturday Night Live” will not air a new episode on Saturday evening, as originally planned.

    Former cast member Pete Davidson was set to return as host for the long-running NBC comedy sketch show, along with musical guest Lil Uzi Vert.

    Davidson was seen on Saturday morning in a video on social media handing out pizza to striking writers in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

    “Gotta support the writers, man!” Davidson is heard saying in the brief clip. “No writers, no shows without the writers.”

    NBC announced the cancellation of new episodes going forward on Tuesday. A rerun from March 11, featuring Jenna Ortega as host and The 1975 as musical guest, will air on Saturday instead.

    Preparation for the new episode featuring Davidson was halted when the Writers Guild of America called for a strike on Monday, after failing to reach an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers when the WGA’s current contract expired just before midnight.

    Other late night network programs, including “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and “The Tonight Show” have also gone dark due to the strike.

    A writers’ strike could shut down production on most television shows and cause a domino effect in the wider realm of the entertainment industry, pushing back the return of many programs set for the fall.

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