San Francisco’s Portola Festival at the city’s Pier 80 experienced a crowd issue Saturday (Sept. 24) when a large group of people rushed an early evening set by English producer Fred Again.

The incident at the site occurred around 5 p.m. on the festival’s opening day. Video shared to social media shows members of the crowd jumping over the barricade surrounding the event’s Warehouse stage, a large enclosed space with two separate entrances for general admission and VIP attendees.

The crowd waiting to get in through the GA entrance began gathering outside the Warehouse roughly 30 minutes before Fred Again’s set was scheduled to begin. As the crowd ballooned in size, a large throng of people bottlenecked at the GA entrance, with many of them unable to get inside and with some members of this crowd then jumping over the barricade to gain entrance. According to festival promoter Goldenvoice and its owner AEG, no one is was injured. 

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“There was a minimal, isolated issue with a festival stage entrance yesterday,” a representative for Goldenvoice parent company AEG says in a statement. “This occurred within the confines of the grounds and was quickly addressed and corrected. There were no reported injuries and the festival continued for another six hours without incident.”

The festival also reported no incidents of gate-crashing and no on-site arrests during the first day of the two-day event, which is hosting its debut event this weekend.

On social media, festival attendees took aim at Portola regarding crowd flow issues primary concerning the Warehouse stage, a permanent structure located on Pier 80, a shipping pier at the San Francisco Bay. Portola features an outdoor mainstage, two tents and the Warehouse space.

Portola’s day one lineup included Flume, Kaytranada, Fatboy Slim, Arca, Jamie xx, Jungle and Bicep. The festival continues Sunday (Sept. 25) with The Chemical Brothers, SG Lewis, Duke Dumont, James Blake, The Blessed Madonna, Four Tet and more.

The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (CSHF) honored David Foster, Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance, Alanis Morissette and francophone legend Daniel Lavoie Saturday night (Sept. 24) at a gala ceremony at Toronto’s Massey Hall that highlighted their incredible hit-stacked careers, influence and legacy.

Hosted by platinum-selling Quebec singer-songwriter Marie-Mai, the three-and-a-half-hour show included tribute performances by such artists as Corey Hart, Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger and Ryan Peake, Alessia Cara, JP Saxe, Charlotte Cardin, Jessie Reyez, Serena Ryder and Chicago’s Neil Donell, backed by a house band.

Deborah Cox — the 2022 inductee into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame — kicked off the ceremony with a showstopping rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing,” written by Foster and Linda Thompson for The Bodyguard soundtrack.

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“It was a song that inspired me to write ‘Where Do We Go From Here’ that landed my own recording deal and got me signed,” she said from the stage. “So had it not been for you and your incredible music, I would not be standing here tonight.”

Her words epitomized an evening filled with praise for the inductees from other songwriters, most of them younger, writing and building on their own catalogue of hits. Serena Ryder — who performed a spot-on version of “You Oughta Know” — told Morissette her songs allowed her to “speak from a place of authenticity and truth.”

Foster, who was inducted into the New York-based Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010, was the first inductee of the night, “once known as the guy who drove Ronnie Hawkins’ tour bus,” Marie-Mae reminded us, who went on to pen hits for Celine Dion, Josh Groban, Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire and many more, and collect 16 Grammys. Fellow inductee Bryan Adams did the honors (Foster would later reciprocate), calling him “a superb creative legend in the Canadian music industry” with “as much talent as anyone has ever existed here.”

“He’s a musician, producer, performer, artist, label head and songwriter — and publisher too probably. Thank goodness he can’t sing; he’d be a f—in’ nightmare,” Adams’ quipped.

“Nevertheless, his talents are limitless. He’s somebody we all admire and appreciate for his contributions to the music world and philanthropy. I mean, he’s brilliant — and he’d be the first person to tell you himself. Here he is: David Foster.”

Foster, it is true, is not the most humble when it comes to his skills, and rightly so, but does have a sense of humor, used his acceptance speech time to say thank you to some instrumental people to his career, co-writers, managers, arrangers, label execs — and to Canada.

“That’s one of the great things about this country, this incredible community of artists and performers. We support each other. We raise each other up, and to be recognized here, in such exceptional company, is a great honor,” he said, later adding, “To come home and be recognized for songwriting, it’s really the highest praise a musician can hope for.”

Foster then launched into a quick story about his fear of elevators (“Fosterophobia,” he called it) in a tangent; one wasn’t sure where it was going.  “A friend and great Canadian said, ‘You know why you don’t go in elevators? Because you’re afraid you’ll hear your own music in there,’” he said to roars from the mostly industry crowd. “I get it. It’s not Alanis. It’s not Bryan. It’s wallpaper music. It’s middle of the road. The kind of songs you play for your grandmother. I say ‘popular,’ but you can say whatever you want. It’s the music I hear and it’s the music that comes through my hands when I sit and play at the piano. I didn’t choose my sound; my sound chose me.

“And for the record,” he added. “I do love all kinds of music: Drake, Bieber, The Weeknd, Bublé — they’re all killin’ it — and they’re all uniquely” — he paused, his arms stretched out wide, as if conducting — and the audience yelled back “Canadian” along with him.

Morissette was next. Marie-Mae said she “has redefined the role and image of a female pop star,” while Jessie Reyez, who performed “Ironic,” lauded, “You contribute so f—in’ much to Canadian heritage and Canadian musicianship and making me feel at home in my imperfections.”

But the person CSHF brought in to induct Morissette is actually American, 19-year-old pop singer Olivia Rodrigo, not even born when Jagged Little Pill came out in 1995. The pair met last year for a Rolling Stone cover shoot. Rodrigo told the room she was 13 when she first heard that classic release.  “My life was completely changed. Alanis’ songwriting was unlike anything I’d ever heard before and I haven’t heard anything quite like it since. And that voice — fierce and tender and sometimes funny and playful. I became hooked for life.”

“Alanis captured the anger, the grief and the love of the human experience better than anyone. Her songs unite people and empower people and help them heal. Alanis, you’re a trailblazer and you’ve inspired an entire generation of uncompromising, radically honest songwriting. But even more than your long list of musical achievements, I look up to your character and your kindness most of all,” she said.

“If they had a Hall of Fame for being the most incredible human being with the biggest heart, I’m 100 percent positive you’d be inducted into that one as well,” Rodrigo added.

Morissette, whose speech ran 12 minutes, top and tailed it with a story of wanting to be a writer when she was just six years old. In between, she said, “I don’t want to be too precious about what it is to be a songwriter because there is an element of songwriting that is really non-precious and very stream consciousness.” She says her kids run around the house singing to her, instead of talking. (“I do hit record sometimes.”)

“The songwriting process for me is just so hyper present. It’s like a receptivity muscle that has to be cultivated because I hate writing, by the way; it’s the worst. So when I sit down to write, it’s that sort of daunting, torturous excitement, giddiness, and it’s incumbent upon me to just stop and listen and then hear it, heed it, write it, share it,” Morissette explained. “So when I write it, it’s for me, but when I share it, it’s yours. It’s everyone else’s to interpret as they will.” As an example, she recalled, bemused, of one lady who told her she loved “that song about being in love with your lesbian teacher,” and it was not her place to correct her.

She said she feels that writers and songwriters “mark a feeling that’s really intangible and hard to describe” and that she feels like “a distiller.” She credited Jagged Little Pill collaborator Glen Ballard and the late Tim Thorney for making her feel safe enough to express herself.

She ended her speech by actually reciting the lyric to the first song she wrote (and recorded) at age 6, called “Lungs.” “If that’s not the birth of a legend, I don’t know what is,” she said with a laugh.

After a 15-minute intermission, Manitoba-born francophone artist Daniel Lavoie was feted. His career spans 50 years and 24 albums, and he has written songs for Celine Dion and Nana Mouskouri, among others. His new album is No. 1 in Quebec this week. Fellow Hall of Famer Jim Corcoran inducted his friend, saying 1984’s hit “Ils s’aiment” “alone places Daniel Lavoie high in the tower of song, and that’s why he’s being honored here tonight.” He added that in the late ’90s, in France, “by popular demand” the single “was proclaimed the song of the century.”

“Now Daniel, I don’t want to rain on your parade, but you know more than anybody in this hall that the French are inclined to exaggerate,” Corcoran joked, adding, “On every one of his albums, there are profoundly poetic lyrics and beautifully inspired moments.”

Lavoie did his first acceptance speech in French, and then English. “I did go through 50 some years of songwriting and I realized something I hadn’t realized before — most of us who practice this craft with a good amount of passion, well most of us know how to write a good song. You give us a good subject and a couple of days and maybe a glass of wine or a joint, and we will write a good song. None of us — maybe David Foster excepted — none of us knows how to write a great song. The great songs are decided by you — the public.”

“You decide which of our good songs become great songs, and great songs are important because the great songs are the ones that pull us out of poverty and get us to meet celebrity and get us to make speeches like this at great soirees.”

Capping the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame inductions was the masterful pop songwriting team of Adams and Vallance, honored together, but inducted separately, since they both have distinct and thriving solo careers.  

The two met in 1978 at a musical instrument shop in Vancouver; Adams was 18. They worked seven days a week, 12-hour days in Vallance’s basement studio. And yet it took eight years to get their first No. 1 hit, and then their success was meteoric, particularly with 1984’s Reckless which was six singles deep, including “Run to You,” “Summer of ‘69” and “Heaven.” Still working together, they penned the score for Pretty Woman: The Musical, which debuted on Broadway in 2018, and they have three songs together on Adams’ 15th and latest studio album, So Happy It Hurts.

Vallance has also written songs for Ozzy Osbourne, Aerosmith, Joan Jett, Heart, Glass Tiger, Anne Murray and the Go-Gos. Adams has 20 Juno Awards, five Golden Globe nominations and three Academy Award nominations.

Vallance was inducted by Lawrence Gowan, a solo artist and frontman for Styx. They wrote two songs together. Gowan recalls suggesting they could writing something “on the fringes and a little esoteric.” But Gowan recalls Vallance “refreshingly, bluntly said, ‘Um, well, I’m interested in the top 10.” Added Gowan, “Jim has lived and triumphed by that credo all his life” and “never once have I ever heard him sing his own praises.”

Vallance kept his speech relatively short. He said he knew he wanted to be a songwriter after seeing The Beatles in 1964 on Ed Sullivan. “60 years later I feel blessed to say music is the only job I’ve ever had. I didn’t do it it alone. I’ve had the good fortune to collaborate with and learn from some amazing artists, producers and songwriters. They taught me to dig deep, work hard and set the bar high.” But meeting Adams “changed everything,” he says. “18 years old, talented and tenacious. The only direction he acknowledged was up and I was ready to go on that ride with him.”

Adams, whose video tribute included lovely words from is “When You’re Gone” featured singer Melanie C (“you put so much confidence in me that that helped me go forward and have my own solo career”), was likewise inducted by Foster, who called him “the groover from Vancouver,” although born in Kingston. “You know how you can tell an icon from a pop star? You can recognize him by just their silhouette,” Foster said.

“These soulful ballads, and rock songs about heartache, longing and yearning for simpler times struck a chord with the public and would come to define the Adams-Vallance sound,” he said, noting that “sound reached zenith” on the milestone album, Reckless, “every song a perfectly crafted gem.” “I know for Bryan, success means waking up and getting to do it all again, write a song, record a song and hit the road again.” He’s currently on tour behind So Happy It Hurts.

Adams, who did get more “I love yous” yelled from the balcony than the other inductees, save maybe Corey Hart, congratulated all the other recipients, and praised the tribute musicians and house band. He watched all the performances, tapping his foot and often giving a standing ovation.

“The best advice I ever got as a songwriter came from a guitarist I was working with when I was at teenager,” Adams said. “This was when I was playing clubs and this was when I was about 16. It seemed to me the best way to get out of the sh-tty clubs and into the better sh-tty clubs was to have original music, so I said to him, ‘Man, we should write our music.’ And he looked at me and he said, ‘Yeah! — You do it!” he recounted to laughter.

“I want to acknowledge that songwriting for me has always been a team effort. So thanks to all my collaborators, Mutt Lange and Elliott Kennedy and Gretchen Peters. And the thing that makes me most happy about tonight about receiving this award is seeing my great friend Jim Vallance be properly honored. Seriously, I met Jim, as you heard, at a music shop in Vancouver not long after the advice I’d been given, and I still don’t understand why Jim thought it would be a good idea to work with me because I hadn’t done anything. I was just 18 and I couldn’t even afford bus fare to his house; I had to borrow it off him. But Jim’s instincts were right because the first day we got together to write songs, we wrote songs.”

He then told a true story about Vallance’s roommate’s cat marking its territory at the rented house by pissing on their instruments in the basement studio. “The cat was either very territorial or he just hated music because he only pissed where we worked. Each day would start with us searching out what instrument had [been] pissed on, followed by writing songs,” he said with a laugh, making wiping gestures with his hand, then putting it up to his nose to smell — by far the best story of the night.

Adams got a record deal some years later. “The rest of the story is kind of a big catalogue of songs, which some of you may have heard,” he says. “And as my late father would say to me, when something went right, ‘Hats off.’ So in this case, hats off, Jim — and thanks for the bus fare.” He then invited Vallance to join him onstage and finished his speech by thanking his mom (she in the video for the title track to his new album) and longtime manager Bruce Allen.

The evening ended with a special surprise performance of “Tears Are Not Enough,” the 1985 charity single for famine relief, co-written by Vallance, Adams, Foster (and Rachel Paiement). Almost all of the performers from throughout the evening — plus another 2022 inductee, Murray McLauchlan (inducted at Mariposa Folk Festival) — joined some of the performers from the original recording, including Dan Hill, Jane Siberry, and Andy Kim. Foster played piano, and Adams stayed in his seat to take it all in.

Wynonna Judd is sharing her emotional journey following the passing of her late mother, Naomi Judd, the other half of the Grammy-winning duo The Judds.

In an interview with CBS News Sunday Morning, the country singer opened up about her relationship with her mother before her death in April, her experience of saying goodbye to Naomi and the various emotions she’s grappled with since.

“I did not know that she was at the place she was at when she ended it because she had had episodes before and she got better,” the singer recalled. “And that’s what I live in is like, was there anything I should have looked for or should I have known?”

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Naomi died by suicide on April 30 at the age of 76, a day before The Judds were to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was an event Wynonna ultimately attended with her sister, Ashley, by her side. The singer says that since her mother’s passing she’s leaned on her husband but also that the half-sisters have become closer, even as the family — which Wynonna says are “all very different” — grieves in their own ways.

“We both kind of look at each other, like, ‘I’ve got you,’ right? And we look at each other and we say, ‘Yeah,’” Wynonna explained. “We’re so united right now, I think more so than we have been in a long time.”

Throughout the interview, the singer discussed the fluctuating nature of her relationship with her mother and noted that in her grieving she has at times felt anger. But ultimately, it’s the love between them that has come through stronger.

“Sometimes I laugh and sometimes I say, ‘I really miss you. Why aren’t you here so we can argue?’” the singer shared. “She told me one time, she took my hand and she said, ‘My life is better because of you.’ Those are the memories that are starting to come through more and more.”

“I think when you lose your mother, a lot of that crap goes away because it doesn’t matter anymore,” she added.

Wynonna, who continues making music and touring, said she “has no idea” if it’s “therapy” in a way to perform, but that it’s in tune with her mother’s spirit of forging on and helps her handle her grief.

“I think it’s important to do it, if that makes sense. I feel like I have my marching orders,” she explained. “I want to come out on stage and sing from my toenails a song that helps someone out in that audience. It’s about me singing to help someone feel better. That’s always in my spirit.”

Actress Ashley Judd has also spoken publicly about her mother’s passing and in a Sept. 1 essay for the New York Times described how her and the family’s grieving process has been affected by privacy laws around police reports and the initial procedures authorities followed while responding to Naomi’s passing.

The Double Jeopardy actress said that after being the one to discover her mother, she was interrogated and at one point considered a possible suspect in her death. It was a “traumatizing” experience for the Judd sibling, who along with fellow family members had to share elements of Naomi’s “mental illness and its agonizing history” through “terrible, outdated interview procedures and methods of interacting with family members who are in shock or trauma.”

Ashley added that now the family faces a potential new media cycle with the release of certain police reports. The actress noted that currently undisclosed details around her mother’s death — found in toxicology reports and autopsies — are allowed to be made public in states after they are closed. That includes Tennessee, where her mother passed.

In her essay, she advocated for changes to these laws on the state and federal levels that would stop this information from becoming public. She said, “The raw details are used only to feed a craven gossip economy, and as we cannot count on basic human decency, we need laws that will compel that restraint.”

“We have asked the court to not release these documents not because we have secrets,” Ashley said. “We ask because privacy in death is a death with more dignity. And for those left behind, privacy avoids heaping further harm upon a family that is already permanently and painfully altered.”

This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.

Rihanna is heading to the Super Bowl!

After rumors swirled on Sunday morning (Sept. 25) that she was in discussions to headline the 2023 Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show, the 34-year-old superstar further stoked the chatter by sharing a photo of herself holding an NFL-branded football on Instagram.

Shortly after her post, the NFL confirmed the news by retweeting a post by Roc Nation, which featured the same image RiRi had shared. “Let’s GO,” the label and management company captioned its tweet. The NFL also posted Rihanna’s football teaser pic on its official Twitter account.

Super Bowl LVII will take place on Feb. 12, 2023 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.

The Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show telecast will be produced by DPS, with Roc Nation and Jesse Collins serving as executive producers, and Hamish Hamilton serving as director. Roc Nation will also serve as the strategic entertainment advisors for the live performance.

“Rihanna is a generational talent, a woman of humble beginnings who has surpassed expectations at every turn,” Jay-Z, founder of Roc Nation, said in a statement. “A person born on the small island of Barbados who became one of the most prominent artists ever. Self-made in business and entertainment.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Rihanna to the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show stage,” Seth Dudowsky, NFL head of music, added in his own statement. “Rihanna is a once in a generation artist who has been a cultural force throughout her career. We look forward to collaborating with Rihanna, Roc Nation and Apple Music to bring fans another historic Halftime Show performance.”

Apple Music, which was recently named the official sponsor of the annual music and pop culture event, succeeding Pepsi, noted that fans will see more details and sneak peeks about the upcoming Super Bowl performance in the coming months through Apple Music’s various social media platforms.

“Rihanna is an incredible recording artist who is a favorite for many millions of Apple Music customers around the world,” Oliver Schusser, Apple’s VP of Apple Music and Beats, said. “We’re excited to partner with Rihanna, Roc Nation and the NFL to bring music and sports fans a momentous show — what an incredible artist for the inaugural Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show.”

The 2022 Super Bowl Halftime Show was lesson in hip-hop mastery, as a star-packed concert led by Dr. Dre and joined by EminemSnoop DoggMary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar took the stage at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Other past performers in recent years have included The Weeknd, Lady Gaga, and Beyonce.

See Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show teaser on Instagram below.

Maluma shares five interesting facts about himself.

Post Malone called off Saturday night’s concert in Boston due to pain that brought him to the hospital.

“Boston, I love y’all so f—ing much,” he wrote to fans on his social media accounts on Sept. 24, just before a scheduled performance at the city’s TD Garden. “On tour, I usually wake up around 4 o’clock PM, and today I woke up to a cracking sound on the right side of my body. I felt so good last night, but today it felt so different than it has before. I’m having a very difficult time breathing, and there’s like a stabbing pain whenever I breathe or move.”

“We’re in the hospital now, but with this pain, I can’t do the show tonight,” Malone said. “I’m so f—ing sorry. Everyone’s tickets for tonight’s show will be valid for the reschedule that we’re planning right now. Once again, I’m so f—ing sorry, I love y’all so much. I feel terrible, but I promise I’m going to make this up to you. I love you Boston, I’ll see you soon. I’m so sorry.”

TD Garden also shared the news on Twitter, noting that the show was “being postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.”

The concert cancelation comes a week after taking a nasty spill during a show in St. Louis on Sept. 17. Malone accidentally fell into an open trap door while on stage performing his Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Circles.”

“Whenever we do the acoustic part of the show, the guitar’s on the guitar stand and it goes down,” he’d explained in a short video on on Twitter. “And there’s this big a– hole, so I go around there and I turn the corner and I bust my a–. Winded me pretty good; got me pretty good.”

He said he was taken to the hospital at the time and given a clean bill of health, as well as some pain medication “so we can keep kicking a– on the tour.” Manager Dre London added that Malone didn’t break anything, bud did suffer bruised ribs.

“F U Hole,” Posty wrote a couple days later on Instagram, where he posted a performance picture in which he’s giving the middle finger to the stage shaft.

See his full message from this weekend’s update below.

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has canceled concerts planned in Poland amid outrage over his stance on Russia’s war against Ukraine, Polish media reported Saturday (Sept. 24).

An official with the Tauron Arena in Krakow, where Waters was scheduled to perform two concerts in April, said they would no longer take place.

“Roger Waters’ manager decided to withdraw … without giving any reason,” Lukasz Pytko from Tauron Arena Krakow said Saturday in comments carried by Polish media outlets.

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The website for Waters’ This Is Not a Drill concert tour did not list the Krakow concerts previously scheduled for April 21-22.

City councilors in Krakow were expected to vote next week on a proposal to name Waters as a persona non grata, expressing “indignation” over the musician’s stance on the war in Ukraine.

Waters wrote an open letter to Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska early this month in which he blamed “extreme nationalists” in Ukraine for having “set your country on the path to this disastrous war.” He also criticized the West for supplying Ukraine with weapons, blaming Washington in particular.

Waters has also criticized NATO, accusing it of provoking Russia.

Former Disney CEO Bob Iger and Star Wars composer John Williams are the latest Hollywood industry members to receive an honorary knighthood.

The honor grants both entertainment titans with the title of KBE, which is more formally known as Knight Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Sept. 7 at the age of 96, Iger and Williams are just two among a larger 2022 class of approved honorary British awards.

Iger, who received his honor as part of his contributions to U.S.-U.K. relations, remembered the queen and her “extraordinary life and service” in a statement.

“It is truly special and one of the great honors of my life to have the honorary Knight of the British Empire conferred on me by her before she passed,” he continued. “Our two nations share a strong bond, which I have seen up close over many years through my deep personal and professional connections to the United Kingdom. I have great affection for the people of the UK, and have always appreciated and been inspired by their extraordinary contributions, particularly in the creative arts.”

Williams was honored separately for his services to film music. The KBE honor is typically given to non-Britons who have made important contributions to the relations between Britain and their own country.

Iger led the Walt Disney Company for 15 years between 2005 and 2020, serving as the chief executive officer as well as the chairman of the Board and executive chairman. Williams, a legendary, award-winning composer and conductor, has frequently collaborated with Steven Spielberg and worked on a number of iconic Hollywood scores beyond Star Wars, including Jurassic ParkHarry Potter and Indiana Jones.

The honors make Iger and Williams among the last people to receive the honor from the late queen. Previous recent recipients include Bono, Ralph Lauren and Rod Stewart.

The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Williams’ reps for comment. 

This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.

Jennifer Lopez has a unique parenting style in the first teaser for The Mother.

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Lopez plays an assassin who comes out of hiding to protect a daughter she gave up years before in The Mother, which also stars Joseph Fiennes, Lucy Paez, Omari Hardwick, Paul Raci and Gael Garcia Bernal.

The teaser begins with Lopez’s character living in a remote cabin, and builds to show off various locales the film will cover. The Mother hails from director Niki Caro, who most recently helmed Disney’s Mulan live-action remake. The film has a script from Andrea Berloff, Peter Craig and Misha Green, based on a story by Green.

The Mother is slated for a May 2023 release, with the first teaser coming as part of Tudum, the online fan event produced by Netflix to promote its upcoming slate of films and TV shows.

Watch Lopez in The Mother teaser below.

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.

BEVERLY HILLS — After years of pandemic postponements, Irving and Shelli Azoff were feted by the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills on Wednesday night, with a local who’s-who gala of their family, friends and supporters.

Only, Shelli wasn’t there.

Mrs. Azoff, Irving’s wife of more than four decades and business partner on a variety of projects, was home sick with COVID-19. And while it was surely disappointing, somehow, it was hardly surprising. In true power couple fashion, the Azoffs brought in about as high-profile substitute as you can get: Kris Jenner, the Kardashian-Jenner family matriarch who has been a longtime friend of the family. (“I’d say she was the best manager if the world if I was at any other event,” said James Corden, who emceed the presentation.) And, as Jenner told the audience, this was a somehow fitting turn of events.

“Let’s be honest, this is the most Shelli Azoff move of all time,” said Jenner, who acted as a stand-in to receive the night’s honor with Irving. “She insisted that each and every one of you … come here tonight. She tortures us about everything, we’re scared if we don’t come because we’re going to get so much in trouble, but Shelli’s not here, she’s devastated to not be here tonight.”

Even without Shelli’s physical presence, the event was an overwhelming success for the Azoffs and The Wallis, as the performance center is commonly referred to. Together, they raised $2.6 million to support education, access, participation, equity and inclusion across a variety of programs there, with 340 guests in attendance contributing anywhere from $1,000 per ticket to $100,000 for the Platinum Patron package (which featured 10 tickets). Irving’s clients Meghan Trainor, Gwen Stefani and John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival all performed to close the evening, which also included a buffet dinner. Ellen DeGeneres and After years of pandemic postponements, Irving and Shelli Azoff were feted by the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills on Wednesday night, with a who’s-who gala of their family, friends and supporters. were there, as well as CAA managing partner Rob Light, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, Giant Music chief Shawn Holiday, Full Stop Management co-CEO Brandon Creed and, naturally, his partner and Irving’s son, Jeffrey. (That same night, Jeffrey’s client Harry Styles, wrapped a 15-show run at New York’s Madison Square Garden, becoming just the third musician ever to have a banner raised to rafters in his honor.)

Additionally, a video presentation honoring the power couple also included John Mayer, Adam Levine, Judd Apatow, Jon Bon Jovi, Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge, Kim Kardashian and Kendall and Kylie Jenner.

Even if Shelli wasn’t in attendance, that did not excuse her from some mild roasting. While Corden noted the superstar manager’s prowess, he also razzed his wife’s savvy business acumen. “Irving has worked with everyone: The Eagles, Nicki Minaj, Maroon 5,” he said. “He’s touched every single corner of the music business. Let’s put it this way: If you snorted cocaine off a CD case in the ’90s, Irving Azoff produced that CD. And if the cocaine was good, you got it from Shelli.”

Corden continued: “As I stand onstage, hosting this event, and I think about Shelli, it reminds me of something my father told me when I was young. He said, ‘Son, there is no such thing as a favor from Shelli Azoff that won’t at one point be called in.’”

But most of all, the theme of the evening was incredibly heartfelt, honoring Irving’s success and Shelli as the woman behind Irving’s success — while she has plenty of her own, as well. (“But I love Shelli, I love Irving, I love Shelli more than I love Irving — and I think that’s true of all of us tonight,” said Corden.) While Irving and Shelli got incredible praise from their friends, family and Irving’s star clients, it was Mayer who made a promise he may wind up regretting: “You know what? 30%,” he said, referencing the cut his manager would take. “30% to the both of you.”