Irish rap group Kneecap will not be performing in Hungary next month, with the group now banned from the country for allegedly posing “a national security threat.”

Hungarian politician and spokesperson Zoltán Kovács announced the ban on social media on Thursday (July 24), explaining that the group’s planned appearance at Budapest’s Sziget Festival on Aug. 11 would not be going ahead.

“Kneecap are officially banned from entering Hungary—for antisemitism and glorifying terror,” Kovács stated. “When hate ignores the mail, we put it on a wall.”

“Kneecap’s members repeatedly engage in antisemitic hate speech supporting terrorism and terrorist groups,” he wrote in a follow-up statement. “Hungary has zero tolerance for antisemitism in any form.

“Their planned performance posed a national security threat, and for this reason, the group has been formally banned from Hungary for three years. If they enter, expulsion will follow under international norms.”

Kneecap themselves responded to the band with a statement hours later, apologizing to the “tens of thousands of fans who we were buzzing to see in person at Sziget.”

“The authoritarian government of Viktor Orban say we ‘pose a national security threat,’” the group wrote. “Which is f–king outrageous coming from a man who welcomed Netanyahu, a wanted war criminal, like a hero just a few weeks ago.

“There is no legal basis for his actions, no member of Kneecap has ever been convicted of any crime in any country. We stand against all hate crimes and Kneecap champions love and solidarity as well as calling out injustices where we see it.

“It’s clear this is political distraction and a further attempt to silence those who call out genocide against the Palestinian people,” they added.

Kneecap’s ban from the country takes place in the wake of their headline-generating actions of recent months, with the trio having gained greater attention following their appearance at Coachella in April. The group projected strong anti-Israel sentiments during their set – sentiments which they had claimed were censored during their first weekend appearance.

“Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” the projected messages read. “It is being enabled by the U.S. government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes. F–k Israel; free Palestine.”

While they would also gain similar attention for their performance at the Glastonbury Festival in June, and would be removed from the lineup of Scotland’s TRNSMT Festival, the group have also faced legal issues. Most notably, member Mo Chara (born Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh) was recently charged for allegedly showing support for militant organizations Hamas and Hezbollah – both of which are defined as terror groups by U.K. law – in resurfaced videos from a past concert

Chara appeared at Westminster’s Magistrates Court on June 18, where he was released on unconditional bail and set a hearing date of Aug. 20.

“Much like the good people of Budapest, who defied their own President’s ban on their ‘Pride Parade’ in June, we will fight on for what is right,” Kneecap promised in closing their latest statement.

Mariah Carey has cooked up another sweet fantasy with “Sugar Sweet,” her latest single featuring Shenseea and Kehlani that dropped on Friday (July 25).

“Sugar Sweet” is the second single released ahead of Carey’s 16th studio album Here For It All, which drops Sept. 26 via gamma. In June, she shared the lead single “Type Dangerous,” as well as an accompanying remix EP featuring collaborations with Busta Rhymes, Method Man and Red Man; Big Sean; DJ Snake and Luísa Sonza. “Type Dangerous,” which samples Eric B. & Rakim‘s 1986 track “Eric B. Is President,” became her 50th Billboard Hot 100 hit, reaching No. 95. It also entered the top 10 of R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay.

At the start of this month, the elusive chanteuse revealed she had finished Here For It All during a sit-down interview with Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden at the new Apple Music Studios in Los Angeles during a special live broadcast to celebrate the streaming platform’s 10th anniversary. Mimi said she was “very excited” about “Sugar Sweet” because “it’s very summery. I like the beat as well.” She also revealed that Here For It All will feature 11 or 12 songs, including “some Mariah ballads.”

Here For It All will arrive seven years after her last studio album, Caution. The 10-track project featured collaborations with Ty Dolla $ign, Slick Rick and Blood Orange, and Gunna. It reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and earned MC her eighth No. 1 project on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.

Listen to “Sugar Sweet” below.

Veronica Electronica has entered the club.

Madonna’s long-rumored Ray of Light remix album becomes reality today (Friday, July 25), with the project featuring rare and unreleased edits of songs from her 1998 masterpiece.

Remixers on the project include Ray of Light co-creator William Orbit and clubs kings Peter Rauhofer, Sasha, BT and Victor Calderone. Veronica Electronica also includes the original demo of “Gone, Gone, Gone,” a previously unreleased recording co-produced by Madonna and Rick Nowels, who co-wrote several Ray of Light tracks alongside her in the late ’90s.

The rest of the tracklist includes “Drowned World/Substitute For Love,” “Ray Of Light,” “Skin,” “Nothing Really Matters,” “Sky Fits Heaven,” “Frozen” and “The Power Of Good-Bye.”

Released in February of 1998, Ray of Light spent 78 weeks on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 2. (The Titanic soundtrack blocked it from the top spot.) It generated four Hot 100 hits with the title track, “Frozen,” “The Power of Goodbye” and “Nothing Really Matters” and won four Grammy awards, including the trophy for best pop album, in 1999.

Ray of Light was of course a major moment for electronic music’s mainstream crossover, with Madonna being the first major pop artist to do an entirely electronic album and thus helping push ’90s club culture onto radio and into pop culture. While Veronica Electronica was originally intended to be a remix companion to Ray of Light, it was shelved due to the success of the album, which ultimately sold more than 16 million copies.

27 years later, the project is out and ready for the weekend. Stream it below.

If only they had an “Ask a Billboard Charts Department Member” lifeline.

On the season premiere last night (Wednesday, July 23) of ABC’s Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, contestants Drew Carey and Aisha Tyler were cruising along, until they got to a question about the Hot 100.

The two stars (who each previously hosted Whose Line Is It Anyway?) had won $16,000 for their charities — La Maida Project and International Rescue Committee, respectively — when they were faced with the following question from host Jimmy Kimmel: “With a whopping 11, which of these singers has more #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 than the other three combined?”

The choices: “A: Whitney Houston / B: Celine Dion / C: Tina Turner / D: Britney Spears”

Carey and Tyler were originally on the right track. “I think it’s A or B,” Carey said. “I actually think it’s A or D,” Tyler countered. As they pondered the question further, they drifted toward Spears, given, in part, that Houston died in 2012.

They decided to ask the audience, who voted and settled on Spears (60%) as the consensus correct answer, followed by Houston (38%) and rounded out distantly by Dion (2%) and Turner (0%).

The pair trusted the audience and Tyler the delivered the fateful words: “Britney Spears, final answer.”

The correct answer then flashed in green … Whitney Houston.

“The answer rhymed with ‘itney’,” Kimmel consoled Carey and Tyler.

Unfortunately not the students of the Billboard charts that they needed to be for that particular question, the tandem learned that Houston achieved 11 career Hot 100 No. 1s. Spears has scored five; Dion, four; and Turner, one.

Houston’s 11 leaders, between 1985 and 1995: “Saving All My Love for You,” “How Will I Know,” “Greatest Love of All,” “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me),” “Didn’t We Almost Have It All,” “So Emotional,” “Where Do Broken Hearts Go,” “I’m Your Baby Tonight,” “All the Man That I Need,” “I Will Always Love You” and “Exhale (Shoop Shoop).”

Spears has topped the Hot 100 with “…Baby One More Time,” “Womanizer,” “3,” “S&M” (with Rihanna) and “Hold It Against Me,” between 1999 and 2011.

Houston boasts the ninth-most No. 1s in the Hot 100’s 67-year history. The Beatles lead with 20, followed by Mariah Carey (19), Rihanna (14), Drake, Michael Jackson (13 each), Madonna, the Supremes and Taylor Swift (12 each). Janet Jackson and Stevie Wonder (10 each) have also each earned double-digit totals.

Despite their elimination, Carey and Tyler’s night ended on an important positive, as they received $32,000 for their charities.

Also good: the next Who Wants To Be a Millionaire contestants got their own Hot 100 question correct. Jeopardy host Ken Jennings and Kimmel frenemy Matt Damon knew that the briefest hit ever on the chart, Jack Black’s “Steve’s Lava Chicken,” is from A Minecraft Movie.

“We hear that a lot in my house,” Kimmel noted of the 34-second-long (or, short) hit.

Kesha had someone special in her corner ahead of her New York City concert on Wednesday night (July 23): Cassie Ventura.

On the evening of her performance at Madison Square Garden, the pop star shared a photo of a bouquet of pink roses and wrote on X, “Thank u Cassie.”

“Love you sweet girl, my good luck angel for MSG,” Kesha added.

During the show — which marked the latest stop on Kesha’s Tits Out Tour — she also gave Ventura a special shoutout. “Earlier tonight, Cassie sent me flowers backstage,” she told the crowd, according to E News. “I just want you to know that all of this love is not only for me, it’s for anyone who survived anything that they shouldn’t have had to survive.”

The exchange comes just a few weeks after the conclusion of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ criminal trial, at which Ventura was a witness. Despite the R&B singer’s days of testimony — during which she detailed claims that Combs abused and trafficked her during their past relationship — Combs was ultimately only convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He was acquitted on other, more serious charges of sex-trafficking and racketeering, all of which his legal team vehemently denied throughout the legal process.

When the verdict came out, Kesha wrote on X, “Cassie, I believe you. I love you. Your strength is a beacon for every survivor.”

See Kesha’s post below.

Thank u Cassie 💕
Love you sweet girl.
my good luck angel for MSG pic.twitter.com/F0bV7RO79i

— kesha (@KeshaRose) July 24, 2025