Quoteworthy
Bono Pleads “Mea Culpa” for U2’s Misguided Songs of Innocence Apple Rollout
Bono took “full responsibility” for the controversial release strategy behind U2’s 2014 LP, Songs of Innocence, that installed the album on every Apple device for free, in his upcoming memoir, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story. In an excerpt shared via The Guardian, Bono detailed a meeting with CEO Tim Cook, U2 manager Guy Oseary, and other Apple executives where the frontman previewed the new album and proposed the tech giant “pay us for it, and then you give it away free, as a gift to people… like when Netflix buys the movie and gives it away to subscribers.” The plan was subsequently pushed forward despite Cook raising legitimate concerns like “we’re not a subscription organisation” and “this is just to people who like U2?” “I take full responsibility,” the singer reflected in response to ...
James Corden Banned from New York Restaurant for “Extremely Nasty” Behavior
James Corden has played host regularly on The Late Late Show for years, but it seems like he has a lot to learn about being a good guest before exiting the program in 2023. On Monday, the outgoing late-night television anchor was publicly banned from the upscale New York restaurant Balthazar by owner Keith McNally, who labeled Corden “the most abusive customer” via Instagram. The acclaimed restaurateur began the post by calling Corden “a tiny Cretin of a man” and shared two manager reports of alleged instances of his poor treatment of restaurant staff. The first alleges Corden was “extremely nasty” to a restaurant manager and told them “‘Get us another round of drinks this second. And also take care of all of our drinks so far. This way I write any nasty reviews in yelp [sic] or anything l...
BTS Say They’ll Perform Until They’re “70 Years Old,” Jin Announces Solo Project
BTS gave their first live performance together since announcing their “second chapter” (not hiatus) at the group’s “Yet to Come” concert in Busan, South Korea on Saturday. While the K-pop septet’s long-awaited reunion was momentous in itself, the event also broke the news that Jin will be releasing a solo project. The “Yet to Come” concert at Busan’s Asiad Stadium was a free event hosted by the group in an effort to bring awareness to the city’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo. Packed with 55,000 attendees, the performance was also livestreamed via Weverse. Featuring the full lineup of Jin, Suga, j-hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, the performance lasted two hours and shed more light on the boy band’s status as they explore solo work. According to Billboard, Jimin sent encouragement out to...
Garbage’s Shirley Manson Says Average Musician “Living Hand to Mouth”
Garbage singer Shirley Manson is the latest artist to speak up about the “enormous strain” musicians are facing due to the current state of live music. In a statement posted to Instagram, she said a “large percentage” of fellow musicians “are likely living hand to mouth” as a result. “Live music is under enormous strain,” Manson wrote in a caption accompanying the cover photo of a recent Vulture report titled The Live-Music Industry Is Broken. “The average musician can no longer survive let alone thrive under the current conditions. We are seeing so many precious talents buckle under the economic injustice of a system that does not pay the creative for their artistic output.” Manson continued, “Everyone is vying for a handful of venues in order to make a small amount of money to tide them ...
Lizzo Kept Love of Radiohead “Hidden” so She Wouldn’t Be “Made Fun Of” by Classmates
In a new interview, Lizzo said she felt compelled to keep her love of Radiohead “hidden” to avoid being “made fun of” by her classmates. “It was a Black school,” she explained in a Vanity Fair cover story, “mostly Black and brown, Caribbean, I had Nigerian friends… They were all listening to what was on the radio: Usher, Destiny’s Child, Ludacris, and I was into Radiohead’s OK Computer.” She said she “kept it hidden, even when I was in a rock band, because I didn’t want to be made fun of by my peers — they’d yell, ‘White girl!’ Also, I was wearing these flared bell-bottoms with embroidery down it — and they’d say, ‘You look like a white girl, why do you want to look like a hippie?’ I wanted to be accepted so bad; not fitting in really hurt.” Advertisement Related Video It wa...
Aubrey Plaza “Freaked Out” Robert De Niro: “I Did Some Questionable Things”
Aubrey Plaza is known for playing intense characters in projects like Parks and Rec and Ingrid Goes West, but in a recent panel promoting her upcoming movie Emily the Criminal, the actor admitted she took her method acting too far while working with Robert De Niro on the set of 2016’s Dirty Grandpa. While speaking at a London Film Festival ScreenTalk session (via Variety) on Monday (October 10th), Plaza said one of her agents “heard Bob’s a little freaked out” during the filming of Dirty Grandpa, in which she played a character named Lenore whose “one goal” was to have sex with De Niro’s Dick Kelly. “I didn’t have time to get to know him, he shows up in a puff of smoke and there’s no chatting at the water cooler,” Plaza explained. “By the time he’d show up, I’m in character. My c...
Watchmen Creator Alan Moore Says Superhero Movies Can Be a “Precursor to Fascism”
Watchmen creator Alan Moore has famously been vocal about his distaste for superhero movies, and in a new interview with The Guardian, he said the “infantilization” of adults who love them can often act as “a precursor to fascism.” “I said round about 2011 that I thought that it had serious and worrying implications for the future if millions of adults were queueing up to see Batman movies,” Moore recalled. “Because that kind of infantilization — that urge towards simpler times, simpler realities — that can very often be a precursor to fascism.” As proof, Moore pointed out that many of the biggest films were superhero movies when Donald Trump was elected as president of the United States in 2016 and “when we ourselves took a bit of a strange detour in our politics.” Despite ...
Jack Antonoff Reacts to Kanye West’s Antisemitic Comments: “Don’t Fuck With Us”
Jack Antonoff, like the majority of us, wasn’t too pleased with the antisemitic remarks Kanye West made across his social media over the weekend. The Bleachers frontman took the opportunity to condemn the rapper onstage during a recent tour stop in Columbia, Missouri. The venting began after Antonoff’s stage banter landed on the topic of basketball: “I’m Jewish, and we take a lot of pride in our basketball skill,” the musician said. “So don’t fuck with us until we roll our ankle in our platform Docs. And still don’t fuck with us.” And then, after a stifled snicker: “Kanye, don’t fuck with us.” “Here’s the thing about that little bitch,” Antonoff continued amid a roar of applause. “So Bowie went through the fascism phase, right? It’s dicey shit, but the motherfucker’s making some of th...
Kanye West Tried to Intimidate Adidas Executives by Showing Them Porn
Kanye West has released a new 30-minute documentary, Last Week, which includes footage of a disturbing meeting with Adidas. Ye can be seen shoving a phone displaying a pornographic video in an executive’s face in an apparent attempt to intimidate the man. West has had an apparel partnership with Adidas since 2016, though their relationship has deteriorated as West has publicly criticized the CEO and drawn criticism for wearing “White Lives Matter” clothes. In the new footage, West smiles as the pornography plays. “He’s got the same voice, doesn’t he?” Ye says, pointing to the executive. “Is this a porn movie?” the man asks. West moves the camera closer to his face. “He’s got a northern European accent,” the exec objects, noting that their voices don’t sound very similar...
Instagram and Twitter Restrict Kanye West’s Accounts for Antisemitic Comments
Kanye West’s Twitter and Instagram accounts have both been restricted after the controversial artist made antisemitic comments on the platforms over the weekend. According to Rolling Stone, sources confirmed that certain content from West’s Instagram was restricted or deleted by Meta on Friday (October 7th). The action came after the rapper posted screenshots of a text exchange with Diddy in which Ye made several antisemitic innuendos. The post was subsequently deleted and condemned by groups like the American Jewish Committee via Instagram. West then jumped to Twitter for the first time since 2020 on Saturday, where he posted a photo of him and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg along with the caption, “Look at this Mark – How you gone kick me off instagram.” Despite a warm welcome from would-be Tw...
William Shatner Reflects on “Overwhelming Sadness” from 2021 Space Flight: “It Felt like a Funeral”
William Shatner has opened up about his 2021 space flight with Blue Origin in an excerpt from his newly-released book, Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder, shared via Variety. The essay details the preparation for the space shuttle launch on October 13th, 2021, which included Star Trek’s original Captain Kirk in a record-breaking endeavor as the oldest person to travel to space at his then-90 years of age, as well as some of the surprisingly grim takeaways from his ascended viewpoint. After admitting to some apprehension that stemmed from engine anomalies, a contingency plan if the rocket exploded pre-flight, and a recurring image of the Hindenburg disaster, Shatner shared his experience with g-force and his impression once the four-person crew reached weightlessness. “Every...
Christian Bale on Leonardo DiCaprio: “Any Role That Anybody Gets, It’s Only Because He’s Passed on It Beforehand”
Christian Bale is an Academy Award-winning actor (who’s even played Batman, lest we forget), but according to him, Leonardo DiCaprio is a bigger deal. Bale recalled losing several roles to DiCaprio in a recent interview with GQ, even thanking him for passing on the roles he has secured. “Look, to this day, any role that anybody gets, it’s only because he’s passed on it beforehand,” Bale said. “It doesn’t matter what anyone tells you. It doesn’t matter how friendly you are with the directors. All those people that I’ve worked with multiple times, they all offered every one of those roles to him first. Right? I had one of those people actually tell me that. So, thank you, Leo, because literally, he gets to choose everything he does. And good for him, he’s phenomenal.” Bale eve...
