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Published by Reuters By Jeff Mason and Daphne Psaledakis WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Actor George Clooney, singer-songwriter Amy Grant, singer Gladys Knight, composer Tania León and rock group U2 were celebrated on Sunday for their contributions to the arts at a White House reception ahead of the Kennedy Center Honors show. The Kennedy Center event, now in its 45th year, recognizes stars from music, stage and screen for their contributions to American culture. At a reception for the five honorees at the White House beforehand, President Joe Biden addressed each personally, praising their individual talents and said they embodied the spirit of the country. “To see each other, to see ourselves in one another, to unite in common cause – tonight we celebrate a truly exceptional…group of artists,” Biden said. The room was packed with celebrities, the White House’s second star-studded event in recent days. Actors Julia Roberts and Matt Damon were seated next to each other, in front of journalist Katie Couric. In the front row former Washington, D.C. police officer Michael Fanone, who was beaten defending the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was seated next to singer Eddie Vedder. Clooney, an actor and filmmaker who played a doctor on the popular NBC television show “ER” before launching a movie career that earned him two Academy Awards, has also drawn praise for his humanitarian work. Grant rose to prominence as a contemporary Christian music singer who later crossed over to pop stardom, amassing six Grammy Awards. Knight, who has won seven Grammy Awards, is famous for hit songs including “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “Midnight Train to Georgia” as the lead singer of The Pips, which became Gladys Knight & The Pips in 1962. Cuban-born León is a conductor as well as a composer, whose orchestral piece “Stride” won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Music. Irish band U2, with members Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr., has won 22 Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Will Dunham, Heather Timmons and Cynthia Osterman) View the full article

Published by OK Magazine @kellyripa/instagram Kelly Ripa never shies away from showing off her hunky husband, Mark Consuelos, on Instagram — and it turns out fans have none other than Madonna to thank for the endless shirtless snaps! Last month, the TV star explained on an episode of the “Everything Iconic” podcast that she purposely started posting sexy photos of her man after finding out the music icon followed her on social media. “I immediately sort of changed everything I posted,” confessed the mother-of-three. “I started posting only shirtless photos of Mark because I was like, ‘Madonna doesn’t want to see my kids. She wants to see eye candy.'” Nonetheless, the actor is guilty of sharing quite a few scantily clad photos himself — scroll down to see some of Consuelos’ hottest pics! @kellyripa/instagram This past August, Ripa shared what she called “a thirsty reminder” to watch her game showGeneration Gap, posting this sultry snap of the Riverdale star. “Objects may be thirstier than they appear ,” she quipped in the caption. Pals like Lisa Rinna couldn’t help but comment on the pic, with the reality star writing, “Thank you Kelly .” @kellyripa/instagram The Ed alum shared a cheeky post as her man worked on his tan poolside, captioning the photgraph, “Adequate sun protection? .” @kellyripa/instagram Oh, la, la! The parents-of-three never worry whether or not their PDA embarrasses their kids, as evidenced by this suggestive swimsuit-clad shot. @kellyripa/instagram Hot stuff! “#Tbt one year ago, when the air conditioner gave up, so did @instasuelos ,” the actor’s wife wrote alongside a photo depicting him sweating through his tank. @kellyripa/instagram Who wears short shorts? The blonde beauty decided to get in on the fun while celebrating a pal’s special day. “Happy birthday @jakeshears thank you for letting us be a part of your new album’s cover art. Coming soon!” she joked of the trio’s poses. @instasuelos/instagram A few years ago, the dad-of-three got to work on cleaning, joking he now has a “love story” with his power washer. “I’m not sure you have to wear these glasses or flex while using but it seemed appropriate,” the former soap opera star added. “I smell a side business.” View the full article

Published by Ultimate Prince Dolly Parton has revealed a few more details about her upcoming rock album, which she decided to make after being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year. She’s previously said that former Journey singer Steve Perry would be heard on the LP and that she was aiming to have Robert Plant and Jimmy Page guest on a new cover of Led Zeppelin classic “Stairway to Heaven.” In a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (video below), she unveiled the record’s title and said it would also include songs by Prince, the Rolling Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd, along with s… Read More View the full article

Published by AFP The US Supreme Court is to hear a suit filed by a Christian website designer who declines to provide wedding services to same-sex couples Washington (AFP) – Can a business owner cite her religious convictions in declining to provide service to a same-sex couple? The conservative-dominated US Supreme Court is to examine the question on Monday in a case that closely resembles one from just a few years ago, pitting religious liberty and free speech rights against anti-discrimination laws. In June 2018, the nation’s highest court partially ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who had refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. The latest case involves a suit filed by Lorie Smith, owner of 303 Creative, a website design company also in Colorado. Smith has said that as a devout Christian she cannot produce wedding websites for same-sex couples because it would be “inconsistent” with her religious beliefs. Colorado’s anti-discrimination law prohibits businesses from refusing service to someone on the basis of sexual orientation. An appeals court ruled against Smith and she appealed to the Supreme Court. ‘To speak or stay silent’ In accepting the case, the court said it would examine whether Colorado’s law “to compel an artist to speak or stay silent violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment.” In their brief to the court, lawyers for Smith said she is “willing to create custom websites for anyone, including those who identify as LGBT, provided their message does not conflict with her religious views.” “Forcing artists like painters, photographers, writers, graphic designers and musicians to speak messages that violate their deeply held beliefs fails to comport with the First Amendment’s promise of ‘individual dignity and choice,'” they added. Attorneys for Colorado said the law “simply requires that, once a business offers a product or service to the public, the business sells it to all. “The company can define its service however it wants — including offering only websites that include biblical quotes describing marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” they said. “But the company must sell whatever it offers to customers regardless of their race, religion, sexual orientation or other protected characteristic,” they said. ‘Replay of Masterpiece Cakeshop’ David Cole, national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the latest case is a “replay of Masterpiece Cakeshop,” the earlier case involving the baker. “If the courts were to recognize a First Amendment right of the businesses that sell expressive services to discriminate, then architects could refuse to design homes for Black families,” Cole said. “Bakeries could refuse to make custom birthday cakes for Muslim children. Florists could refuse to provide flowers for a gay person’s funeral.” In the previous case, the justices voted 7-2 that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had displayed anti-religious hostility toward the baker, thus violating his constitutional rights. The court, however, did not squarely address the issue of whether a business can decline to serve gays and lesbians on religious grounds. The Supreme Court has undergone a radical transformation since that ruling, with two conservative justices nominated by Donald Trump replacing two liberal justices, giving conservatives a 6-3 majority. Trump’s Republican administration defended the position of the baker in the 2018 case, while this time the administration of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, is backing Colorado and its anti-discrimination laws. The Supreme Court is expected to deliver its ruling before the end of June. View the full article

Published by uInterview.com Brad William Henke, who was best known for his role on Orange Is the New Black, has died at 56. His manager issued a statement confirming the news. “Brad Henke was an incredibly kind man of joyous energy. A very talented actor, he loved being a part of this community….and we loved him back,” Matt DelPiano wrote. “Our thoughts are with his wife and family.” Henke reportedly died in his sleep, but the cause of death is unknown. IN MEMORIAM 2022: 100 GREAT CELEBRITIES WHO DIED THIS YEAR! Henke played college football at the University of Arizona and went on to be drafted by the New York Giants in… Read More View the full article

Published by Euronews (English) Anilya Boro may not have won the crown at India’s Miss Trans NE pageant this year, but competing while having her parents there to support her was a validation in its own right. “I must prove to my parents that I can do something as a girl,” said the 22-year-old. “I didn’t win a title, but I am very happy that my parents were at the show to support me. Now they have accepted my decision to live as a girl and undergo surgery, but they don’t want me to rush through.” Twenty transgender women walked on a stage dressed as ethnic and tribal characters in the beauty pageant, drawing rounds of applau… Read More View the full article

Published by uInterview.com Latin pop star Gloria Estefan has spoken about the complicated family dynamics around her daughter Emily‘s coming out. Estefan told CNN’s Chris Wallace about the fact that she was reluctant to allow Emily to come out to her late mother because it is such a “taboo” in the Latin community and the stress may have affected her health. >WATCH: EMILY ESTEFAN’s uINTERVIEW NOW! “In the Latin community, a lot of these subjects aren’t touched,” Estefan explained, though she assured viewers, “Emily, I thought, would feel comfortable coming out to me.” She then later explained that her mother suffered fro… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Sally Field has named Burt Reynolds as her “worst” on-screen kiss. The Oscar-winner, 76, shamed the late actor, with whom she starred in ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ and who she dated, when a viewer of Thursday’s episode (02.12.22) of ‘Watch What Happens Live’ asked her to describe her least favourite film smooch. She asked: “Shall I really name names here?” before host Andy Cohen urged: “I think you should,.” Sally went on: “OK, this is gonna be a shocker. Hold on, folks. Burt Reynolds. “It was just not something he really did very well. I could go into detail, but you don’t want to hear it.” When Andy asked if ‘Boogie Nights’ actor Burt, who was killed by a heart attack aged 82 in September 2018, used too much “tongue” Sally clarified: “Just a lot of drooling was involved.” Sally was in a relationship with Burt from 1976 to 1982 has called their bond “indelible” and told Page Six after the Hollywood veteran’s death: “There are times in your life that … never fade away. “They stay alive, even 40 years later. My years with Burt never leave my mind. “He will be in my history and my heart, for as long as I live. Rest, Buddy.” She also told ‘Good Morning America’ about their time together: “Four days felt like four years… we were sort of, you know, deeply entangled. “That nature of it wasn’t just, ‘Oh, this is a love affair.’ “There was some ingredient between us having to do with my caretaking and him needing to be taken care of.” View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega Spice Girl Mel B gave fans what they really, really wanted this week, dubbing late-night TV host James Corden the “biggest d**khead” in Hollywood. On Friday, December 2, the “Spice Up Your Life” artist appeared on popular U.K. talk series The Big Narstie Show, where she got candid about which celebrities are less than pleasant — a list prominently featuring the eponymous Late, Late Show star. “There’s a few. James Corden, Geri Halliwell, Jessie J and me,” she quipped before detailing that the famous funny man’s notoriously sour attitude seemingly swayed her sentiments. mega “I think you always have to be nice to the people that you work with — whether it be production, camera guys, sound, lighting,” explained the singer, who had previously appeared on the late-night talk show in 2016 and 2018. “We all work for the same thing, so you should always be nice, and he hasn’t been very nice.” JAMES CORDEN ADDRESSES RESTAURANT BAN ON ‘LATE LATE SHOW’: ‘I MADE A RUDE COMMENT & IT WAS WRONG’ Mel B’s comments come weeks after Corden’s alleged attitude made headlines due to high-end restauranteur Keith McNally calling the comic his “most abusive customer.” mega “I don’t often 86 a customer… today I 86’d Corden,” McNally, the owner of NYC hotspot Balthazar, wrote on Instagram. “It did not make me laugh.” Beyond her apparently shared disdain for Corden, the star also got candid about her relationship with Halliwell — a.k.a. Ginger Spice — revealing the fellow Spice Girl could be “really f**king annoying.” Yet it seems Halliwell isn’t the only Spice Girls member with a penchant for snark. Back in September, Mel C, a.k.a Sporty Spice, revealed she was almost booted from the band after telling off Posh Spice, Victoria Beckham, after the 1996 Brit Awards. mega “As we were all leaving, you know we’d all had a little bit of champagne. We were all a little tipsy, probably quite drunk and there was a little incident,” she recalled. “It was nothing huge in my mind. I told Victoria to f**k off. We all have these kerfuffles in our lives. It was under my breath. It wasn’t an aggravated or aggressive thing that I did.” Yet it seems her bandmates disagreed. “The next day the girls told me under no uncertain terms that it was unacceptable,” Mel C explained during a recent podcast appearance. “Then Simon Fuller, who was our manager at the time, wanted to speak to me. And I was threatened with being ousted from the band if any behavior like that happened again.” View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega It looks like Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have seemingly lost another person in their inner circle: Tom Cruise. According to Radar, the actor, 60, was put off by the pair’s TV-tell all, which aired in March 2021, in addition to their desire to constantly be in the press. “Tom has followed Harry and Meghan’s saga very closely and is shocked by it all,” a source said. “He used to be a big fan of theirs Meghan’s in particular, and even considered getting her involved in one of his movies.” When Meghan, 41, and Harry, 38, first moved to the U.S., the Top Gun alum was apparently looking forward to working with the Suits star — but now that is “off the table,” the insider stated. In May, Cruise was spotted hanging out with Prince William, 40, and Kate Middleton, 40, at the premiere, which didn’t seem to sit well with the California-based couple. mega DEATH THREAT TERROR: TOM CRUISE ENLISTS HEAVY-DUTY BODYGUARDS & RAMPS UP SECURITY TEAM AFTER RECEIVING CHILLING TAUNTS FROM EX CREW MEMBER “Meghan and Harry seem seriously envious that they’ve lost out on this Hollywood friendship, but he’s just the latest in a long line of power players who’ve given them the cold shoulder!” the insider claimed. As OK! previously reported, the handsome Hollywood star was also friendly with Queen Elizabeth before she passed away on September 8. “The Queen let it be known that she was really disappointed not to have met Tom at the pageant, so he was invited to have a special tour of Windsor Castle with everything laid on for him,” a source spilled of their first meeting. “Afterwards, just the two of them had tea together.” “She loved seeing him and they really hit it off, so much so that she invited him back for lunch,” the source added. “He was even allowed to fly in by helicopter.” mega While attending the Platinum Jubilee in June, Cruise praised the late monarch. “She’s just a woman that I greatly admire. I think she is someone who has tremendous dignity and I admire her devotion,” the Mission Impossible lead stated. “What she has accomplished has been historic.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Mike Stone WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Northrop Grumman Corp on Friday rolled out its new B-21 “Raider” jet, the first of a new fleet of long-range stealth nuclear bombers for the United States Air Force. The B-21 was unveiled during a dramatic ceremony at Northrop’s Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, offering members of the public the first look at the new bomber. The B-21, which carries a similar “flying wing” shape to its predecessor, the B-2, will be able to deliver both conventional and nuclear weapons around the world using long-range and mid-air refueling capabilities. The aircraft were projected to cost approximately $550 million each in 2010 dollars, or about $750 million in today’s inflation-adjusted dollars. The Air Force planned to buy at least 100 of the planes and begin to replace B-1 and B-2 bombers. Northrop beat out a team comprised of Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp when it won the 2015 contract to make the bomber. Engine-maker Pratt & Whitney, Collins Aerospace, GKN Aerospace, BAE Systems and Spirit Aerosystems are among the more than 400 suppliers in 40 states. Northrop is calling the plane a sixth generation aircraft given its ability to connect to other aircraft and easily integrate future weapons into its systems architecture. The B-21 also features more durable, stealth-enabling low observable surface material that will require less maintenance and keep operations costs and downtime to a minimum, Doug Young, sector vice president and general manager at Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems, told Reuters in an interview. The presentation provided the first video and photo images of the new bomber. Previously, only artist renderings have been published. Six of the planes, which is to have its first flight in mid-2023, are in various stages of assembly. More than 8,000 people from Northrop Grumman, industry partners and the Air Force currently work on the program. (Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by David Gregorio and Lincoln Feast.) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Pinocchio’ deals with the themes of love and death. The 58-year-old Mexican filmmaker is proud of his stop-motion take on Carlo Collodi’s 1883 story and says it has parallels to today’s world. He explained: “I thought it was important to deal with how briefly we have each other and how life is made valuable by death, which are concepts that are very, very Mexican, but [ones] that, ultimately, I believe in. “The film is thematically about different types of fatherhood — what it is to be a father, what it is to be a child. And there are different types of parental figures in the movie. Some are lethal, some are exploitative, some are permeable to love. And, finally, a very paternalistic concern is the fascist idea of the Fatherland and the father-figure style of leadership. ““I was hoping to talk about things that were very important for me and that would reflect today. One of the things that I cherish as a virtue is disobedience. I thought that the idea of Pinocchio behaving as a free agent and a disobedient soul in a time when obedience is expected of everyone would be very important, especially in a moment like now.” del Toro also revealed that ‘Pinocchio’ won’t be his last time working on animation. He said: “My hope right now is to slow down, and the ideal place to slow down for me is animation, because it is far more my speed. We were able to react to the material on a week-to-week basis. We were able to re-board sequences, we were able to add sequences. It is really a beautiful pace that is more deliberate, but also just simply more organic to the way I like to make movies. I intend to, if I can, transition between live action and animation, and slowly but surely lean toward animation.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Tom Balmforth KYIV (Reuters) -A group of people tried to take a mural by graffiti artist Banksy in Ukraine on Friday by cutting it off a battle-scarred wall where it was painted, the governor of Kyiv region said. The group managed to slice off a section of board and plaster bearing the image of a woman in a gas mask and dressing gown holding a fire extinguisher on the side of a scorched building. But they were spotted at the scene in the city of Hostomel near Kyiv and the mural was retrieved, Oleksiy Kuleba said in a statement. The image was still intact and police were protecting it, he added. “These images are, after all, symbols of our struggle against the enemy … We’ll do everything to preserve these works of street art as a symbol of our victory,” he said. Banksy, whose work can sell for millions of dollars on the art market, confirmed he had painted the mural and six others last month in places that were badly affected by heavy fighting after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. One of the other murals shows a girl gymnast performing a handstand on a small pile of concrete rubble. Another shows an old man having a bath. Police published images of the yellow wall in Hostomel, with a large patch cut all the way back to the brickwork. A number of people were arrested at the scene, they said. Russia’s war in Ukraine is now in its tenth month. Moscow’s forces were pushed back from around Kyiv in the first phase of the war, but fighting rages on in the east and south. (Reporting by Tom Balmforth; editing by Andrew Heavens) View the full article

Published by AlterNet At 2:00 PM ET on Wednesday the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security published its latest terrorism threat report, and for the first time LGBTQI+ people were listed as “targets of potential violence,” which DHS warned could be “lethal.” Barely hours later, MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace shared the news with Chasten Buttigieg, who was so stunned for several seconds he was speechless. “I don’t know, I didn’t see that, and that – that hurts to that hurts to hear,” replied Buttigieg, who is married to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. Chasten Buttigieg had been invited to discuss his moving Medi… Read More View the full article

Published by Taste of Country While some people are advocating to officially name Dolly Parton the Queen of Christmas, perhaps the Most Interesting Woman in the World would be more fitting. The country veteran stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Nov. 30 and shed light on some wild rumors swirling on the internet about her. Does Dolly Parton Dress Like Santa Claus Each Christmas?Perhaps Parton is the Queen of Christmas. After confirming that her holiday decorating does include a Christmas tree in every room, Fallon asked if it’s true that she dresses like Santa each year. “I do. That’s true. Well, see, I’m … Read More View the full article

Published by PopCrush It appears as though the tables have turned for fans of the embattled rapper Kanye West. Yesterday, (Dec. 1) West appeared on Alex Jones’ Infowars show, where he spewed several antisemitic remarks such as that he sees “good things about Hitler” and that “I love Hitler.” However, his fans have turned the artist’s Reddit page into that of a Taylor Swift appreciation area. The post that spearheaded the movement declared the new area: “This is now a Taylor Swift Subreddit. We had a good run fellas” and has more than 33,000 upvotes. Since its declaration as a Swift fan site, comments have come in a… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters UK By Kate Holton and Sarah Young LONDON (Reuters) -Elton John will headline Glastonbury next summer in the last British show on his lengthy global farewell tour at the renowned music festival on Worthy Farm. One of the biggest selling artists of all time, John has never played Britain’s leading music festival and said an appearance on the Pyramid Stage on the last night of the 2023 event would be the perfect way to bow out in Britain. The 75-year-old activist and singer of hits such as “Tiny Dancer” and “Rocket Man” is coming towards the end of a “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour after more than… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Cher says her relationship with her younger boyfriend Alexander ‘AE’ Edwards is “ridiculous on paper”. But the ‘Believe’ singer, 76, added on ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show’ on Friday (02.12.22) it is different in reality and praised the 36-year-old for being kind, intelligent and handsome. She said: “On paper, it is kind of ridiculous. But, in real life, we get along great.” After admitting she does not usually give men praise “they don’t deserve” the singer hailed Alexander as “fabulous,” “very kind,” “very smart,” “very talented” and “really funny.” She added: “And I think he’s quite handsome.” It comes after Cher insisted she and Alexander are in love. The ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ singer also used social media to defend their 40-year age gap by saying they “kiss like teenagers”. Her declarations came after Cher tweeted a photo of the music executive at the end of November, prompting one of her fans to ask which of his qualities she admires most. She wrote back: “He’s Kind, Smart, Hilarious… and We (kiss) Like Teenagers.” The Grammy winner added in another tweet: “I (love) HIM BECAUSE HE WASNT AFRAID. HES KIND,HILARIOUS, SMART,TALENTED, BEAUTIFUL. WE TALK AND LAUGH. “WE R PERFECTLY MATCHED. DO I WISH I WAS YOUNGER, YAH, I’M NOT BOO F*N HOO… He’s 36 and In End He Came after me, Till we met in the middle. He’s Consistent one, I’m The Skittish one. We love each other.” The couple first made headlines last month when they were photographed after a dinner date in Los Angeles holding hands. Cher has previously hit back at criticism of their age gap by tweeting: “Love doesn’t know math, it sees.” She added they were “happy and not bothering anyone,” and said: “Let Me Explain…I DONT GIVE A (flying) F* WHAT ANYONE THINKS.” Cher previously dated Tom Cruise, 60, when they had a 16-year age gap. She has also been married twice, to Sonny Bono from 1964 to 1975 and Gregg Allman from 1975 to 1979 – and shares sons Chaz, 53, and Elijah, 46, with the late musicians respectively. Alexander has dated Amber Rose and had son Slash, three, with the model in October 2019. View the full article

Published by OK Magazine @madonna/instagram She certainly is a material girl! On Thursday, December 1, Madonna turned heads as she arrived to the Miami Art Basel exhibition celebrating the 30th anniversary of her book Sex. For the party, the mom-of-six slipped on a black lace and sequined bustier bodysuit, topping off the piece with a short tuxedo coat. She accessorized with fishnet stockings, fingerless gloves, plenty of silver jewelry and black heels, styling her new copper locks in multiple braids. mega Also in attendance was daughter Lourdes Leon, 26, who wowed in a black cutout gown, as well as actor Vincent Gallo and singer Grace VandeWaal. The mother-daughter duo have been partying it up all over the country this year, even stepping out to a New York Fashion Week shindig together. MADONNA SHARES RARE PHOTO OF ALL 6 OF HER CHILDREN DURING HOLIDAY FESTIVTIES — SEE PICS Leon, whose father is actor Carlos Leon, has been following in her famous mother’s singing footsteps, but she insisted she’s trying to carve her own path. “I want to feel like I deserve things and not just like I’ve been given things. And, yes, there’s undeniable privilege that I’d be stupid to not realize,” the model acknowledged of her upbringing. “Nepotism babies are pretty awful usually, and my mom and my father raised me to be so much smarter than that.” The brunette beauty also appears to be OK with her mom’s recent headline-spinning antics, as the superstar is constantly uploading suggestive photos and videos, with some fans slamming her for “sexualizing” her social media posts. The “Express Yourself” songstress has mostly ignored the hate, though as OK! reported, she did once post a selfie with the words “stop bullying Madonna for enjoying her life.” Meanwhile, a few of Madonna’s other children are allegedly hiding their faces out of embarrassment. “It makes them cringe to see her writhing around naked and making a fool of herself,” a source spilled. “They can’t understand why [her behavior] needs to be so hyper and gratuitous.” The source added the brood wanted to address her behavior head-on before she “ruins her legacy.” View the full article

Published by Al-Araby An influential Iraqi cleric who announced his withdrawal from politics four months ago has broken a period of relative silence to launch an anti-LGBTQ campaign. Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr posted a statement on Twitter Wednesday calling for “believing men and women (to) unite all over the world to combat (the LGBTQ community).” He added that this should be done “not with violence, killing or threats, but with education and awareness, with logic and ethical methods.” The religious leader’s call has stoked fears in the LGBTQ community, particularly given that al-Sadr’s followers have a history o… Read More View the full article

Published by PopCrush Holland is shooting his shot with Lil Nas X and has a legion of fans are shipping the two together. On Thursday (Dec. 1), the “Neverland” singer posted a video speaking about his encounter with the “Montero” hitmaker and even tagged him in it. He began by sharing that he recently met Lil Nas X for the first time and jokingly told his videographer to “cut” the next part. “I really wanted to have sex with him,” he said with a laugh. “I said ‘hello,’ but he was so busy.” Despite the quick meeting, the rapper did compliment Holland. “Lil Nas X told me I have a good hairstyle,” he recalled. “I told… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Katie Paul and Sheila Dang (Reuters) -Elon Musk’s Twitter is leaning heavily on automation to moderate content, doing away with certain manual reviews and favoring restrictions on distribution rather than removing certain speech outright, its new head of trust and safety told Reuters. Twitter is also more aggressively restricting abuse-prone hashtags and search results in areas including child exploitation, regardless of potential impacts on “benign uses” of those terms, said Twitter Vice President of Trust and Safety Product Ella Irwin. “The biggest thing that’s changed is the team is fully empowered to move fast and be as aggressive as possible,” Irwin said on Thursday, in the first interview a Twitter executive has given since Musk’s acquisition of the social media company in late October. Her comments come as researchers are reporting a surge in hate speech on the social media service, after Musk announced an amnesty for accounts suspended under the company’s previous leadership that had not broken the law or engaged in “egregious spam.” The company has faced pointed questions about its ability and willingness to moderate harmful and illegal content since Musk slashed half of Twitter’s staff and issued an ultimatum to work long hours that resulted in the loss of hundreds more employees. And advertisers, Twitter’s main revenue source, have fled the platform over concerns about brand safety. On Friday, Musk vowed “significant reinforcement of content moderation and protection of freedom of speech” in a meeting with France President Emmanuel Macron. Irwin said Musk encouraged the team to worry less about how their actions would affect user growth or revenue, saying safety was the company’s top priority. “He emphasizes that every single day, multiple times a day,” she said. The approach to safety Irwin described at least in part reflects an acceleration of changes that were already being planned since last year around Twitter’s handling of hateful conduct and other policy violations, according to former employees familiar with that work. One approach, captured in the industry mantra “freedom of speech, not freedom of reach,” entails leaving up certain tweets that violate the company’s policies but barring them from appearing in places like the home timeline and search. Twitter has long deployed such “visibility filtering” tools around misinformation and had already incorporated them into its official hateful conduct policy before the Musk acquisition. The approach allows for more freewheeling speech while cutting down on the potential harms associated with viral abusive content. The number of tweets containing hateful content on Twitter rose sharply in the week before Musk tweeted on Nov. 23 that impressions, or views, of hateful speech were declining, according to the Center for Countering Digital Hate – in one example of researchers pointing to the prevalence of such content, while Musk touts a reduction in visibility. Tweets containing words that were anti-Black that week were triple the number seen in the month before Musk took over, while tweets containing a gay slur were up 31%, the researchers said. ‘MORE RISKS, MOVE FAST’ Irwin, who joined the company in June and previously held safety roles at other companies including Amazon.com and Google, pushed back on suggestions that Twitter did not have the resources or willingness to protect the platform. She said layoffs did not significantly impact full-time employees or contractors working on what the company referred to as its “Health” divisions, including in “critical areas” like child safety and content moderation. Two sources familiar with the cuts said that more than 50% of the Health engineering unit was laid off. Irwin did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the assertion, but previously denied that the Health team was severely impacted by layoffs. She added that the number of people working on child safety had not changed since the acquisition, and that the product manager for the team was still there. Irwin said Twitter backfilled some positions for people who left the company, though she declined to provide specific figures for the extent of the turnover. She said Musk was focused on using automation more, arguing that the company had in the past erred on the side of using time- and labor-intensive human reviews of harmful content. “He’s encouraged the team to take more risks, move fast, get the platform safe,” she said. On child safety, for instance, Irwin said Twitter had shifted toward automatically taking down tweets reported by trusted figures with a track record of accurately flagging harmful posts. Carolina Christofoletti, a threat intelligence researcher at TRM Labs who specializes in child sexual abuse material, said she has noticed Twitter recently taking down some content as fast as 30 seconds after she reports it, without acknowledging receipt of her report or confirmation of its decision. In the interview on Thursday, Irwin said Twitter took down about 44,000 accounts involved in child safety violations, in collaboration with cybersecurity group Ghost Data. Twitter is also restricting hashtags and search results frequently associated with abuse, like those aimed at looking up “teen” pornography. Past concerns about the impact of such restrictions on permitted uses of the terms were gone, she said. The use of “trusted reporters” was “something we’ve discussed in the past at Twitter, but there was some hesitancy and frankly just some delay,” said Irwin. “I think we now have the ability to actually move forward with things like that,” she said. (Reporting by Katie Paul and Sheila Dang; editing by Kenneth Li and Anna Driver) View the full article

Published by AFP InfoWars founder Alex Jones speaks to the media outside Waterbury Superior Court during his trial, in Waterbury, Connecticut in September 2022 Washington (AFP) – American radio host Alex Jones reaped millions spouting conspiracy-laden falsehoods that helped drive up sales of products like libido boosters, exploiting an internet ecosystem that experts say makes misinformation a lucrative business. Jones, a serial provocateur who founded the far-right website InfoWars, has been ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion in damages for calling a 2012 mass shooting in an elementary school –- which left 20 first graders and six adults dead — a “hoax.” Defamation cases in Texas and Connecticut against Jones have spotlighted the challenge of curbing misinformation on the internet, where false and inflammatory content often spreads faster, generates more engagement — and more revenue -– than the truth. “The modern internet business model consists of building an audience and then monetizing that audience, either through ads, merchandise sales, or direct donation,” Danny Rogers, cofounder of the nonprofit Global Disinformation Index, told AFP. “Alex Jones perfected that model by peddling the most adversarial narratives in the form of virulent conspiracy theories and unbridled anger, building a receptive audience, and then soaking that audience for profit.” Jones, who was back in the spotlight this week when rapper Kanye West declared his admiration for Adolf Hitler on his show, has amassed what experts call a fortune by successfully merging the conspiracy theories with merchandise and dietary supplements from his InfoWars store. Jones has hawked male vitality supplements and testosterone boosters, while claiming the government was feminizing men or turning them gay by using chemical pollutants. He accused the government of deliberately putting fluoride in drinking water, while his store peddled fluoride-free toothpaste. His audience, he claimed, can survive various doomsday scenarios with other products that his store can supply — storable food, body armor and even components for homemade guns. Bankruptcy – The extent of his wealth is opaque but a forensic economist testified during the Texas trial that the combined net worth of Jones and Free Speech Systems –- the parent company of Infowars –- likely fell between $135 million and $270 million. But while bashing the trials as an assault on free speech, Jones has said he has little money to pay the damages and has repeatedly implored his audience for donations. As he battled the defamation cases, an anonymous bitcoin donor sent Jones cryptocurrency worth $8 million, the nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center reported in May. This week, Jones declared personal bankruptcy in his home state of Texas, saying his liabilities far exceeded his assets that were worth between $1 million and $10 million. InfoWars declared bankruptcy in April and Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy in July. Last month, the Washington Post reported that Jones had transferred millions of dollars out of Free Speech Systems to firms that he or his family members controlled, citing financial records. Families of the victims in the 2012 shooting in Sandy Hooks Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, have alleged that Jones was trying to hide his wealth to avoid paying the damages. A jury in Connecticut awarded $965 million in October to relatives of eight Sandy Hook victims and an FBI agent. The judge later tacked on an additional $473 million in punitive damages. In a separate trial, a jury in Texas ordered Jones to pay nearly $50 million damages to a couple whose six-year-old son was killed in the shooting. Free Speech Systems and Jones did not respond to a request for comment. ‘Clicks and cash’ The families of the school shooting victims say they were harassed and threatened for years by Jones’s fans, with strangers showing up at their homes to confront them and hurling abuse online. Some even reported receiving rape and death threats. “Their children got slaughtered — I saw it myself,” Bill Aldenberg, the FBI agent, said in an emotionally charged testimony during the Connecticut trial in September. “And these people (Jones and company) made millions upon millions. They’ve destroyed everybody and they don’t give a damn.” InfoWars sales data presented during the Connecticut trial showed a major spike in revenue after Jones peddled a new lie about the school shooting. On September 25, 2014, when he falsely claimed that an FBI report showed that “no one died in 2012 in Sandy Hook” his site’s daily revenue jumped to more than $230,000, according to the data published by the Huffington Post. On the previous day, before he peddled that claim, the site made only $48,000. That underscores, what experts say, is the financial incentive of content creators to push out conspiratorial material that has potential to go viral. “The fundamental problem is larger than Jones and is really the business model itself and its toxic externalities,” said Rogers. “This creates an entire world of Alex Jones polarizing the global discourse, sowing fear and anger for clicks and cash. Until this changes, we’ll simply go from one Alex Jones to the next and little will change.” View the full article

Published by AFP President Donald Trump meets with rapper Kanye West in the White House Oval Office in 2018 Washington (AFP) – President Joe Biden’s emphatic condemnation of anti-Semitism Friday was driven by an alarming normalization of anti-Jewish tropes and hate speech by influential public figures and on social media, experts said. One day after hip-hop and fashion mogul Kanye West voiced a “love” for Nazis and 10 days after ex-president Donald Trump dined with West and white supremacist Nick Fuentes, Biden blasted a message about open anti-Semitism on Twitter. “Silence is complicity,” Biden said. “The Holocaust happened. Hitler was a demonic figure. And instead of giving it a platform, our political leaders should be calling out and rejecting anti-Semitism wherever it hides.” Experts said the most recent controversies underscore a difficult new-generation fight against bigoted memes and conspiracy theories about Jews entering the mainstream. Some of the new anti-Semitism has been propelled through Trump’s MAGA movement and the parallel QAnon conspiracy community. Some has also been advanced through youth and African American communities by influential celebrities like West and basketball star Kyrie Irving, boosted by largely uncensored social media platforms. West capped weeks of stoking anti-Semitic fires on Thursday when, in a podcast joined by Fuentes and extremist Alex Jones, he praised Hitler and then posted online a Nazi swastika interlaced with a Star of David. Trump factor Oren Segal of ADL, which fights anti-Semitism, said the trend has been building for some time, with more people, intentionally or unintentionally, spreading anti-Semitic ideas. “When you have celebrities who are promoting classic anti-Semitism like Kanye West, who has more followers on Twitter than there are Jews on the planet Earth, that is going to make that part of the public discussion,” Segal told AFP. Aside from Trump dining with West and Fuentes, Segal noted, several Republican elected officials readily attended a pro-Trump conference organized by Fuentes earlier this year. “That normalisation is not something that just began when Kanye lost his mind. It’s something that we have seen in the public, frankly, for a long time,” Segal. Trumpism is an important factor, he added. “If Trumpism is understood as normalising disinformation and conspiracy theories, the normalisation of anti-Semitism is not far behind,” he said. That has real consequences, he said, pointing to the deadly extremist attacks on synagogues in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Poway, California in 2018 and 2019. Fringe ideas hit the mainstream The fact that West and Irving are both Black raised concerns about a surge of anti-Semitism among African Americans and young minorities. But Cheryl Greenberg, a professor at Trinity College, said they reflected general trends in their communities. “What I think it is, is the trend of mainstreaming otherwise fringe ideas.” For example, she said, Irving highlighted an old video by the Black Hebrew Israelites, who are critical of Jews. “They’ve been preaching the same stuff for decades,” Greenberg said. “What’s unusual, I think, or what’s new, is that they’ve managed to move from New York street corners and elsewhere into the mainstream.” A big reason for that is social media, which makes it easier to preserve and share anything, including hate. Elon Musk’s haphazard takeover of Twitter showed how fast objectionable material of any kind — against Jews or others — can return if a platform is not extremely diligent. Segal said bigger problems are the “ecosystem” of algorithm-based video hosts like TikTok and mostly uncensored messaging and discussion boards like Telegram and Reddit, where virtual, global communities are built around anti-Semitism. “It’s just a toxic online environment, where the most vulnerable people are getting their worldview, where I think we’re starting to see the consequences,” said Segal. Alliances unraveled Greenberg said another problem is that anti-Semitism’s importance has dissipated among younger Americans who are less knowledgeable about the Holocaust and are focused on the issues of other marginalized or oppressed groups, whether ethnic minorities or LGBTQ. “The ways the Jews have made anti-Semitism a primary issue has made it much more difficult to engage with the many groups,” said Greenberg. She said the 1950-60s alliance between African Americans and Jews for civil rights has mostly unraveled. A younger generation of Blacks and other minorities today don’t see Jews as “fellow sufferers,” in part because they consider Jews as successful whites, Greenberg said. “There are many groups out there, it is not just about Jews, it’s about lots of people,” she said. Greenberg said the only answer is to work more closely with other groups — even those critical of Israel — to keep the issue of anti-Semitism in the mix. “It’s never-ending because as soon as people forget, we fall off the radar,” she said. View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega Love was in the air out in California on Thursday, December 1, which marked Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi‘s 18th anniversary. To celebrate the couple’s long-time love, they were seen out and about in Montecito to pick up some sweet treats for their special day. The television personality, 64, and Arrested Development actress, 49, picked up two freshly baked chocolate chip cookies from Honor Market before heading back to their car. @theellenshow/instagram Walking arm-in-arm, the Hollywood couple was seen exchanging laughs while complimenting each other in cozy fall sweaters. ELLEN DEGENERES ALL SMILES IN FIRST OUTING AFTER SHOCKING ALLEGATIONS FROM EX-PROTÉGÉE GREYSON CHANCE Their PDA outing came shortly after The Ellen DeGeneres Show alum gushed over her partner in a tribute post to honor their 18th anniversary. “It’s our 18 year anniversary today. I fall in love with her more every day,” she lovingly shared with her more than 127 million Instagram followers. “I’m so grateful for her love.” mega The post featured two snaps of the famed couple, one being a selfie with their heads pressed together in front of the sunset and the latter of the actress cracking up as she holds on to her partner’s waist. With DeGeneres’ hand affectionally placed on de Rossi’s arm, the comedian sweetly smiles at the camera. Though de Rossi doesn’t appear to be active on the social media platform — she last posted in May — and did not comment on DeGeneres’ sweet snap, the comments section was flooded with friends and fans congratulating the couple on their love. mega “Aww love you both! Happy anniversary,” famous author and life coach Jay Shetty wrote, with Kris Jenner echoing: “Happy Anniversary we love you!!!!!” Mario Lopez also chimed in writing, “Happy Anniversary! #AnniversaryTwins,” referring to his own 10-year celebration with wife Courtney Lopez. DeGeneres and de Rossi began dating in 2004 after first meeting three years prior at a party. The lovebirds tied the knot in 2008 after the overturn of the same-sex marriage ban in California. ELLEN DEGENERES LOOKS GLUM DURING LUNCH DATE WITH WIFE PORTIA DE ROSSI, MARKING HER FIRST OUTING SINCE EX ANNE HECHE’S DEATH De Rossi’s last Instagram upload was of her famous wife upon the end of her long-running show. Alongside a carousel of throwback moments of DeGeneres, de Rossi wrote, “To my utterly beautiful, supremely talented, insanely accomplished wife on the day of your final show….I married an icon. I married my idol. I’m so proud of you for making this platform one that not only entertains but inspires and uplifts people… I love you.” Daily Mail obtained photos of the couple’s outing. View the full article