Lil Nas X performs "Old Town Road" at the BET Awards on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Rapper Lil Nas X appeared to come out as LGBT on Sunday, marking the last day of Pride Month.
The 20-year-old “Old Town Road” breakout star made the apparent announcement on Twitter. "Some of y'all already know, some of y'all don't care," he tweeted, along with a rainbow emoji, which is the universal symbol for the LGBT community
"But before this month ends I want y'all to listen closely to c7osure."
C7osure (You Like) is a song from Lil Nas X’s new album “7” that talks about needing to be "free," according to the BBC.
Nas posted a second tweet a couple of hours later of images from his album cover, which displays a rainbow skyline.
“...thought I made it obvious,” he tweeted.
Nas’ “Old Town Road” has become a musical sensation, and its remix featuring Billie Ray Cyrus has spent 12 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The rap/country crossover song was initially met with controversy after Billboard pulled it from the Country music chart over claims it wasn’t “country enough.”
Critics suggested that the rapper, who is black, was singled out because of his race and pointed out that crossover songs are routinely included on country charts. Billboard fired back, stating that its decision to take the song off of the country chart "had absolutely nothing to do with the race of the artist.”
Fox News’ Bradford Betz and Janine Puhak contributed to this report.
Haven’t we been here before? Last year, Marvel Studios followed the earth-shattering impact of Thanos’ snap in Avengers: Infinity War with the decidedly more low-key and down-to-earth Ant-Man And The Wasp. They repeat that trick again with Spider-Man: Far From Home, a fitting epilogue to Avengers: Endgame that soars while keeping its feet firmly on the ground (as well as walls, bridges and ceilings).
In another franchise or ‘cinematic universe’, this would have been unthinkable, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has proven over and over again that every single one of its films can stand on its own. There is no need to strike while the iron is hot because the iron is ALWAYS hot.
Oh, if you haven’t watched Avengers: Endgame, you might want to look away now. But hey, the movie’s been re-released in cinemas, so there’s no excuse for NOT watching it now.
Anyway, Far From Home takes place eight months after Endgame, and takes a pretty poignant look at how the world is coping after the ‘Blip’, in which half the population was snapped away by Thanos in Infinity War and then ‘blipped’ back into existence five years later, in Endgame.
Man, I’ve missed the smell of spandex breath… NOT.
Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and most of his classmates – including his best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon), his crush MJ (Zendaya) and nemesis Flash – were blipped, and returned only to find that many of their peers have grown five years older, and that they have to start their school term all over again.
But don’t worry, we don’t have to sit through scenes of them studying and sitting for tests, because the gang are off to Europe for a school trip! While in Europe, Peter is recruited (more like hijacked) by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to help save the world from a group of destructive ‘Elementals’, with the help of the mysterious Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), who reveals that he is from another alternate Earth.
While all that is going on, Peter also has to live up to the expectations of being Tony Stark’s ‘chosen one’, with the help of Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). You see, after the sacrifice Tony made to save the universe from Thanos, his legacy (and tech) is passed on to Peter, who now has to deal with the idea of being the ‘next Iron Man’.
“You think spandex breath is bad? Try breathing inside a fish bowl.”
After the cosmic, multi-reality, multiple-timeline shenanigans of Endgame, the teenage trials of Peter Parker makes for a refreshing return to the MCU. Having lived (and blipped) through the events of Infinity War and Endgame, Peter is no longer the wide-eyed kid he was in Spider-Man: Homecoming. (“B****, you’ve been to space”, Fury points out when Peter claims he’s just a ‘friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.).
But is he ready to step up and fill the void left behind by Iron Man? It’s a huge burden for a high school kid to bear, especially when all he wants is to spend time with his friends and maybe tell the girl he really, really likes how he feels about her.
It’s fascinating to see how Far From Home builds Tom Holland’s Spidey into perhaps the most well-developed film web-crawler of them all. The superheroic action almost takes a back seat, as the classic Spider-Man notion of “with great power comes great responsibility” is given an almighty spin that pushes Holland’s Spidey further and harder than the Tobey MaGuire and Andrew Garfield versions ever did.
Never mind Uncle Ben – how do you shoulder the responsibility of living up to perhaps the greatest superhero that ever lived, one that literally gave his life to save the entire universe?
“You’re not going to quote Ezekiel 25:17 again, are you, sir?”
That’s not to say the actual superhero stuff isn’t great. It’s not Endgame-scale epic mayhem, but some of the action sequences are quite ingenious, and are tailor-made for Spidey to utilise all of his abilities, including the newly-coined ‘Peter Tingle’ (otherwise known as Spider-sense). Gyllenhaal adds a degree of gravitas to a role that requires him to wear a fishbowl helmet most of the time, but does well as a father figure/superheroic companion for Peter.
While it’s been claimed that this is the TRUE ending to the Infinity Saga, Far From Home doesn’t provide many clues on where the MCU is headed now that the Infinity Saga is finally over. I guess we’ll just have to wait a little longer to see where Phase Four will take us. However, the final film in the Infinity Saga does provide an excellent epilogue to what has been arguably THE most ambitious and epic film sagas of all time.
Spider-Man: Far From Home
Director: Jon Watts Cast: Tom Holland, Samuel L. Jackson, Zendaya, Cobie Smulders, Jon Favreau, J. B. Smoove, Jacob Batalon, Martin Starr, Marisa Tomei, and Jake Gyllenhaal.
On Sunday, June 30, Taylor Swift penned a scathing letter about music manager Scooter Braun following the news that his company, Ithaca Holdings LLC, had purchased her back catalog from her former label Big Machine Label Group. “All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years,” she wrote, referring to past experiences with Braun and his former client Kanye West (particularly the song “Famous” and its video). “This is my worst case scenario,” she wrote.
Late Sunday, Big Machine Label Group CEO Scott Borchetta posted an open letter on the label’s website disputing multiple points made by Swift. "So, it’s time for some truth...” is the title.
In her post, Swift claimed that any time she said Braun’s name in front of Borchetta, “it was when I was either crying or trying not to.” Borchetta responded, “I certainly never experienced that.” He also characterized Braun as someone who supported Swift’s career.
Scooter was never anything but positive about Taylor. He called me
directly about Manchester to see if Taylor would participate (she
declined). He called me directly to see if Taylor wanted to
participate in the Parkland March (she declined). Scooter has always
been and will continue to be a supporter and honest custodian for
Taylor and her music.
The note features a document that allegedly outlines the label’s final offer for Swift to acquire her masters. Borchetta claims that Swift was given an offer that would have given her all the masters immediately upon re-signing with the label.
Swift opened her post by writing that she “pleaded” with the label to own her masters. “Instead I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in.” While Borchetta didn’t elaborate on the details of the offer, he wrote, “Taylor had every chance in the world to own not just her master recordings, but every video, photograph, everything associated to her career. She chose to leave.”
Borchetta also expressed doubt about Swift’s claim that she learned of Braun’s purchase “as it was announced to the world,” saying he personally texted her the news before it was announced.
I guess it might somehow be possible that her dad Scott, 13 Management
lawyer Jay Schaudies (who represented Scott Swift on the shareholder
calls) or 13 Management executive and Big Machine LLC shareholder
Frank Bell (who was on the shareholder calls) didn’t say anything to
Taylor over the prior 5 days. I guess it’s possible that she might not
have seen my text. But, I truly doubt that she “woke up to the news
when everyone else did.”
Scooter Braun’s client Justin Bieber and wife Yael Cohen Braun have rushed to his defense in response to Swift.
Pitchfork has reached out to Swift’s representative for comment.
Toy Story 4came to life in its second weekend, dominating the competition with another $57 million haul that brought its domestic total to $237 million. To give you a sense of the skewed expectations for major tentpoles, this actually flies under the expectations for the movie’s second weekend, which initially hovered around the $64 million mark. Worldwide, the Disney Pixar film directed by Josh Cooley has now notched $360 million.
Toy Story 4‘s second-weekend success comes at the expense of another, extremely different toy story. Annabelle Comes Home debuted in second place with a $20.3 million weekend. This marks the lowest opening for a movie set in Warner Bros. and New Line’s Conjuring Universe started by James Wan in 2013, with the other two entries in the deadly doll trio—Annabelleand Annabelle: Creation—opening to $37 million and $35 million. Annabelle Comes Home should be fine in the long run given its assumedly minor budget, but WB will have to keep an eye on those diminishing returns.
Image via Universal
Meanwhile, Danny Boyle‘s Yesterday premiered in third place with $17 million. It’s a bit of a disappointing note to start on given Boyle’s skill, the script from Richard Curtis, and general buzz around a Beatles-focused movie. It’s possible audiences are just getting tired of films built around the classic rock hits they could get from a Spotify playlist, considering Rocketman has only garnered $84 million domestically after five weeks. (Although you can’t ignore the insane success of Bohemian Rhapsody last year.)
Avengers: Endgame continued its bid to become the highest-grossing movie of all time, “returning” to theaters with “new” content this weekend. It looks like the Russo Brothers‘ massive Marvel movie landed just short for now, garnering another $5.5 million domestic and around $2.3 million abroad, leaving it $26 million behind Avatar‘s all-time record.
Speaking of milestones, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellumcrossed the $300 million mark worldwide over the weekend, a major accomplishment for the Keanu Reeves-led franchise considering the first two entries made $88 million and $171 million worldwide, respectively.
Check out the weekend’s top 10 estimates below, and be back here next week to see if Spider-Man: Far From Home can swing to the top of the box office.
During his speech, a tearful Duane revealed (via TMZ) that he tried to get Beth to "call [him] 'Dog' for so many years," and she finally did on her deathbed when she told him, "Hawaiian style [memorial] please, Duane 'Dog' Chapman ... Please do this right."
"She loved Hawaii and she loved the people. The people mostly, she loved," he told the crowd. "Thank you all, God bless you all."
“Those wishing to post photos and videos are asked to tag with #alohaoemrsdog,” the Chapman family said in a statement. “'Oe' means 'you' in Hawaiian. It is customary to say, 'Aloha oe' especially when saying farewell. There is a song by the same name which Hawaiians often sing at the end of a party, funerals, or when people are leaving the islands.”
Duane, 66, announced Beth's passing on Twitter on Wednesday, writing, "It’s 5:32 in Hawaii, this is the time she would wake up to go hike Koko Head mountain. Only today, she hiked the stairway to heaven. We all love you, Beth. See you on the other side.”
A Colorado memorial is also being planned for the late star.
Fox News' Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.
During his speech, a tearful Duane revealed (via TMZ) that he tried to get Beth to "call [him] 'Dog' for so many years," and she finally did on her deathbed when she told him, "Hawaiian style [memorial] please, Duane 'Dog' Chapman ... Please do this right."
"She loved Hawaii and she loved the people. The people mostly, she loved," he told the crowd. "Thank you all, God bless you all."
“Those wishing to post photos and videos are asked to tag with #alohaoemrsdog,” the Chapman family said in a statement. “'Oe' means 'you' in Hawaiian. It is customary to say, 'Aloha oe' especially when saying farewell. There is a song by the same name which Hawaiians often sing at the end of a party, funerals, or when people are leaving the islands.”
Duane, 66, announced Beth's passing on Twitter on Wednesday, writing, "It’s 5:32 in Hawaii, this is the time she would wake up to go hike Koko Head mountain. Only today, she hiked the stairway to heaven. We all love you, Beth. See you on the other side.”
A Colorado memorial is also being planned for the late star.
Fox News' Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.
During his speech, a tearful Duane revealed (via TMZ) that he tried to get Beth to "call [him] 'Dog' for so many years," and she finally did on her deathbed when she told him, "Hawaiian style [memorial] please, Duane 'Dog' Chapman ... Please do this right."
"She loved Hawaii and she loved the people. The people mostly, she loved," he told the crowd. "Thank you all, God bless you all."
“Those wishing to post photos and videos are asked to tag with #alohaoemrsdog,” the Chapman family said in a statement. “'Oe' means 'you' in Hawaiian. It is customary to say, 'Aloha oe' especially when saying farewell. There is a song by the same name which Hawaiians often sing at the end of a party, funerals, or when people are leaving the islands.”
Duane, 66, announced Beth's passing on Twitter on Wednesday, writing, "It’s 5:32 in Hawaii, this is the time she would wake up to go hike Koko Head mountain. Only today, she hiked the stairway to heaven. We all love you, Beth. See you on the other side.”
A Colorado memorial is also being planned for the late star.
Fox News' Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.
