Nick Cannon has DaBaby’s back following the homophobic and misinformed remarks he made about HIV/AIDS.

During Cannon’s visit to The Breakfast Club on Monday (Aug. 9), host Charlamagne Tha God asked him what advice he had for DaBaby.

“First of all, I think not only in the Black community — and I’ve experienced it — but definitely just men a lot of times, we have that ego. We believe apologizing is weakness when it actually takes great strength to step up to anyone and say, ‘I was wrong,’” the 40-year-old actor/rapper started. “I know Baby. And that’s a strong brother…. That man just lost his pops, his brother, all the things that he… and still to have that big smile that he has every day, knowing everything….”

During DaBaby’s July 25 set at Rolling Loud in Miami, he told the crowd, “If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that’ll make you die in two to three weeks, then put your cellphone lighter up. Ladies, if your p—y smell like water, put your cellphone lighter up. Fellas, if you ain’t sucking di– in the parking lot, put your cellphone lighter up.” The 25-year-old rapper later issued a formal apology last Monday — which has since been removed from his Instagram account — “to the LGBTQ+ community for the hurtful and triggering comments I made” while emphasizing his need for education.

Cannon was in DaBaby’s shoes last summer after his anti-Semitic remarks during his Cannon’s Class podcast, which caused ViacomCBS to terminate its relationship with the Wild ‘n Out host. He later apologized to the Jewish community for his comments and announced he was taking a break from his radio show to allow for more “reflection and education,” and spoke with Rabbi Noam Marans of the American Jewish Committee for an hourlong educational Zoom conference, which was held a year ago on Aug. 10, 2020. In February of this year, ViacomCBS resumed its working relationship with Cannon following his apology and subsequent work educating himself and working with Jewish groups.

“He a fighter. We’ve seen his back against the wall. He’s swinging, he’s swinging just so he could get out of…. We all have to accept emotion,” Cannon continued. “To say ‘I’m sorry,’ that’s a self-proclamation. To apologize is an action. And to actually repent or atone is actually the next level because now you’re trying to understand, there’s education involved with that, there’s actually community involved with that. And that’s the other thing too, where I challenge all these people who actually want to cancel somebody, and even specifically in DaBaby’s situation, let’s use this as an opportunity for education. Because that’s what happened in my scenario.”

DaBaby has since been removed from seven music festivals and live performances following his homophobic tirade two weeks ago: Lollapalooza, Governors Ball, Austin City Limits, Day N Vegas, iHeartRadio Music Festival, Music Midtown Festival and a concert organized by Working Families Party. Fashion brand boohooMAN announced it was ending its 100-piece summer collaboration with the rapper, which launched in June. But Cannon doesn’t believe that was the best decision on the festivals’ part.

“I don’t agree with it. Just because it’s like, ‘What statement is that making other than you’re just following?’ It’s group think. It’s a mentality, it’s mob rule. Mob rule has never worked in any society, to where it’s like, ‘Oh well they did it! So we gotta do it,’” he explained. “Even when I watched my process, where people I rocked with was like, ‘Man, well, they did, so we gotta follow suit.’ … This is a moment where we should all gather around DaBaby and embrace him because if we can do that, watch how many mentalities will change in the hip-hop community.”

In the days following his controversial Rolling Loud Miami set, fellow artists T.I. and Boosie Badazz also came to DaBaby’s defense, while his “Levitating” collaborator Dua Lipa, Demi Lovato, Madonna, Elton John and Questlove clapped back at his misinformed comments by hitting him with the facts. About a dozen leading organizations in HIV/AIDS education, prevention and treatment penned an open letter to DaBaby requesting a private meeting to educate him.

“I’d guarantee you he’d sit down and talk with Madonna. I’d guarantee you he’d sit down and talk with Elton John. And it wouldn’t be for the bag. He good!” Cannon said in the new interview. “Was he wrong, though? Yeah, he was. But there are certain things about it that we’ve been trained to think that. Let’s unpack that. Let’s figure this out.”

Like Cannon, Miley Cyrus shared an educate-don’t-cancel message on her Instagram earlier this month. “It’s easier to cancel someone than to find forgiveness and compassion in ourselves or take the time to change hearts and minds,” she wrote, also tagging the rapper and inviting him to talk to her. “There’s no more room for division if we want to keep seeing progress! Knowledge is power!”

See Cannon speak on DaBaby around the 53-minute mark below.

The Hollywood Park complex in Inglewood, California, has a brand-new asset to lure artists the short drive south from Los Angeles. On Monday (Aug. 9), the owners of So-Fi Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Rams, unveiled their 6,000-capacity venue — YouTube Theater.  

The state-of-the-art theater is part of the 300-acre Hollywood Park being built by Rams owner and chairman E. Stanley Kroenke. It falls under the same signature ETFE roof as So-Fi Stadium and American Airlines Plaza. The three-story venue can be curtained off to offer reduced capacities for more intimate performances and size-wise rivals the AEG-owned Microsoft Theater next to the Staples Center at L.A. Live in Los Angeles.

Hollywood Park and So-Fi Stadium managing director Jason Gannon says YouTube Theater is complimentary to the stadium, which can hold 45,000 to 100,000 guests. “From a flexibility standpoint, it was really important for us to do something like this in a conditioned space,” he says. 

“We’re very excited to open it up in a couple of weeks from a technology standpoint,” Gannon continues. “There’s a lot of screens and a lot of interactive things around here. That was important in putting this together and also in the partnership with YouTube.”

YouTube Theater features a 13 feet by 10 feet digital signage display of the YouTube icon, which can be transformed into an immersive video screen for guests to interact with. The theater also includes an interactive digital wall on the interior that can be used to celebrate YouTube creators and artists by showcasing them in a gallery-like setting.

The theater was partially constructed during the pandemic, but YouTube’s vp brand marketing Angela Courtin says many of its digital components like streaming capabilities were envisioned even before 2020.  

“YouTube Theater offers a unique business opportunity for us to combine the digital world with the physical one,” says Courtin. “We imagine that whatever is happening here, we could put directly onto YouTube through livestream. The technology is state-of-the-art: the cameras, the sound, everything. That way when we work with artists, creators, gamers and the like, we can partner with them and say, ‘How do we take this experience and put it out to our 2 billion users worldwide?’” 

The theater is slated to host its first performance on Sept. 3 with the Hollywood Black Comedy Festival Presents Deon Cole and Friends. On Sept. 4 the venue will welcome Caifanes, followed by Los Angeles Azules, Pitbull and Black Pumas throughout the month. The current roster of shows includes comedy, R&B, Latin music, classic rock, and pop. With Live Nation as venue’s the exclusive promoter, Gannon says they intend to have an eclectic lineup of shows going forward.  

Inglewood mayor James T. Butts Jr. says it’s surreal to see the theater finally opened.

“The reality far exceeds the dream,” says Butts, who adds that the venue was recently opened up to host three local high school graduations. “It had an impact on the children and their parents. It was a manifestation of the dreams that we had when we first started bringing back the city of champions. We went from being the city of champions to the home of the Sizzler and the big donut and an $18 million structural deficit. Now we have the opportunity not just to grow the city, but to provide an environment of growth and success for our children.”

Britney Spears shared an update about her social media activity during her ongoing conservatorship battle on Monday (Aug. 9).

The 39-year-old pop superstar has been posting more freely on Instagram following her two breakthrough court hearings this summer, when she gave a harrowing account on June 23 during the first one and when she was granted permission by the judge to hire her own lawyer during a second hearing on July 14. Between her first time publicly addressing the #FreeBritney movement to topless photos, Spears is not holding back. And according to her, the public doesn’t know the full story.

She posted a Boomerang of a fan named Chris proudly waving his pink “#Free Britney” flag outside his home.

“Geez look at that flag !!!! I was like ‘My flag up over the American Flag !?!?’ … Yes … I’m tooting my own horn  .. is that bad ?????” she said. “I know in my previous post I said you guys know my situation but LET ME CLARIFY … you only know half of it !!!! And for a lot of you who say I should be cautious with what I post … I mean if you REALLY THINK ABOUT IT … with what I’ve been through I believe I been WAAAY TOO CAUTIOUS !!!! One day I will live on the edge !!!! One day.”

However, she shared a seemingly contradictory message in her follow-up Instagram post, where the “Gimme More” artist vowed to “post a little less from now on” underneath a soothing how-to video of avocado toast, supplemented by some wise words from fellow artist Selena Gomez and her 2015 hit “Kill Em With Kindness.”

“In a system where I’ve felt completely hopeless for so long, at least I do have a platform to share !!!! As Selena Gomez says it best – The world can be a nasty place … I know it … you know it … kill them with kindness !!!” she captioned her second post. “Unfortunately the news has been pretty nasty saying horrible and mean lies about me so I’m gonna post a little less from now on !!!! Pssss this was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life and it’s inspired me to take on a new passion in the cooking field !!!! God bless you beautiful people … TA TA !!!!”

Gomez, who has her own HBO Max cooking series Selena + Chef, commented underneath the expert culinary clip, “Love you @britneyspears! You’re welcome to come cook with me any time!”

On July 23, Spears’ new attorney Matthew Rosengart filed a petition to officially request the replacement of Jamie Spears as conservator. The petition seeks to appoint CPA Jason Rubin as the next conservator of the pop star’s estate, and notes that the singer selected him herself. In an Aug. 6-dated court filing, her father Jamie Spears claimed that there are “no grounds whatsoever” for removing him from the conservatorship that has controlled her personal and financial affairs for the last 13 years.

See Spears’ latest Instagram posts below.

A multitude of college football fans must have thought it on Sunday morning, or said it with reverence when they heard the news: Dadgumit. Bobby Bowden has died. It was … Click to Continue »
Exactly what happened around 2 a.m. Sunday in West Park remains under investigation, but Broward Sheriff’s Office is certain of one thing: a man was shot dead. BSO deputies answering … Click to Continue »
Remote learning during the pandemic halted the fun part of school for many students, as after-school clubs and activities were either curtailed or pivoted to Zoom. For many students, school … Click to Continue »

The 2021 Tokyo Olympics came to an end on Sunday, and the Jonas Brothers got to join in on the closing ceremony celebration.

The group’s anthemic “Remember This” was paired with a feel-good montage of moments from the Olympics.

“A moment I’ll never forget,” Kevin Jonas said after their Olympics-inspired edition of the song aired.

“What an honor,” Nick Jonas added in a tweet.

NBCUniversal aired the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games programming across its broadcast, cable and digital platforms.

The Jonas Brothers are about to kick off their Remember This Tour, with special guest Kelsea Ballerini.

Watch their performance for the Olympics below.

Billie Eilish earns her second No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, as her latest release, Happier Than Ever, debuts atop the list with 238,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 5, according to MRC Data. Happier launches with the fifth-largest week of 2021 by equivalent album units earned. The year’s biggest week belongs to Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour, which charged in at No. 1 on the June 5 chart with 295,000 units.

Happier is Eilish’s first studio effort since 2019’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, which also launched at No. 1 (April 13, 2019-dated chart), and spent a total of three nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1. The set finished 2019 as the year-end Top Billboard 200 Album and went on to win the Grammy Award for album of the year, and the 2020 Billboard Music Award for Top Billboard 200 Album. So far, the album has earned just over 5 million equivalent album units in the U.S., with 1.2 million of that in album sales.

All told, Happier is Eilish’s fifth charting effort on the Billboard 200, and third top 40-charting set, after When We All Fall Asleep and her debut chart entry Don’t Smile at Me (No. 14 peak in 2019). She also hit the chart with Live at Third Man Records (No. 55 in 2020) and Prime Day Show x Billie Eilish (No. 87 earlier this year).

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Aug. 14, 2021-dated chart (where Happier Than Ever bows at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard’s website on Aug. 10. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Of Happier Than Ever’s 238,000 equivalent album units earned in the tracking week ending Aug. 5, album sales comprise 153,000 (making it the top-selling album of the week as well), SEA units comprise 84,000 units (equaling 113.87 million on-demand streams of the album’s 16 songs) and TEA units comprise a little more than 1,000.

Happier was preceded by five top 40-charting songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart: “My Future,” “Therefore I Am,” “Your Power,” “Lost Cause” and “NDA.” Of those, “My Future” was first out of the gate, hitting the Hot 100 on the Aug. 15, 2020-dated chart.

Happier’s first week was supported by sturdy sales, with its 153,000 sold marking the third-biggest sales week of 2021, and the second-largest debut sales week of the year. Only Taylor Swift managed bigger sales weeks, when her 2020 album Evermore was released on vinyl in May, causing a huge surge in total sales (rising to 192,000 on the chart dated June 12) and when Fearless (Taylor’s Version) was released, selling 179,000 copies in its first week (April 24).

Happier was available in a great number of physical album formats. They include eight different colored vinyl LPs (including retail-exclusives for Amazon, independent record stores, Target, Urban Outfitters and Walmart), 10 CD variants (including a signed CD for indie stores, a version with alternative packaging hand-painted by Eilish, three premium boxed sets and a Target-exclusive edition packaged with a poster) and even multiple cassette tape variants (including a deluxe boxed set).

All those different configurations added up. Of the 153,000 Happier sold across all its permutations, physical sales comprise 129,000 (with a whopping 73,000 on vinyl, 46,000 on CD and nearly 10,000 on cassette) and 24,000 via digital download.

Happier’s vinyl sales of 73,000 were so large, the album would have been No. 1 on the Billboard 200 this week from just vinyl sales alone, as the No. 2 title, The Kid LAROI’s F*ck Love, earned 65,000 equivalent album units (down 23%). Happier’s vinyl sales start of 73,000 marks both the second-largest sales week, and debut week, for a vinyl album since MRC Data began tracking sales in 1991. The only larger week was registered by the arrival of Swift’s Evermore on vinyl earlier this year (102,000; chart dated June 12).

Evermore’s vinyl release on May 28 trailed the wide digital release of the album by five months, as the digital and streaming editions were released on Dec. 11, 2020. Evermore’s vinyl debut was aided by five months of banked pre-orders (the vinyl went up for sale in mid-December), while Eilish had three months of pre-orders (her pre-order went live at the end of April). And lastly, Evermore was initially available in three vinyl variants for its May 28 release, as compared to Eilish’s eight vinyl variants.

The 19-year-old Eilish replaces another teenager at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, as Happier bumps F*ck Love, by the 17-year-old The Kid LAROI, down to No. 2 after one week in the lead. F*ck Love earned 65,000 equivalent album units (down 23%).

The top three of the Billboard 200 albums chart is ruled by teens, as 18-year-old Olivia Rodrigo is No. 3 with her former No. 1 Sour. It dips 2-3 in its 11th week on the list.

Prince’s archival studio album Welcome 2 America debuts at No. 4, marking the 20th top 10 for the legend and his highest charting new release since 2009. (Prince died in 2016.) Recorded in 2010, but not released until July 30 of this year, Welcome starts with 55,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise just over 50,000 (bolstered by an array of available configurations), SEA units comprise 4,000 (equaling 5.9 million on-demand streams of the set’s 12 songs) and TEA units comprise less than 1,000.

Welcome 2 America is the late legend’s highest charting new album since 2009’s Lotus Flow3r/MPLSound/Elix3r (with Bria Valente) debuted and peaked at No. 3 on the April 18, 2009-dated chart. (Prince charted higher since then, but only with previously released titles following his death in 2016, including the No. 1 The Very Best of Prince.)

Doja Cat’s Planet Her falls 3-5 on the new Billboard 200 (55,000 equivalent album units earned; down 4%) and Morgan Wallen’s former No. 1 Dangerous: The Double Album dips 4-6 (44,000 units; up less than 1%).

Rapper Isaiah Rashad lands his first top 10 album and third charting effort as The House Is Burning debuts at No. 7 with 41,000 equivalent album units earned. The album is his first since 2016’s The Sun’s Tirade, which debuted and peaked at No. 17 (Sept. 24, 2016-dated chart). Of House’s starting sum of 41,000 units, SEA units comprise 36,000 (equaling 46.89 million on-demand streams of the album’s 16 tracks), album sales comprise 5,000 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

Rounding out the new top 10 on the Billboard 200: Lil Baby and Lil Durk’s former No. 1 The Voice of the Heroes (6-8 with 30,000 equivalent album units earned; down 6%), Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia (10-9 with 29,000 units; up 2%) and Polo G’s former leader Hall of Fame (8-10 with 27,000 units; down 7%).

Rihanna nearly had a role opposite a puppet in Annette, the movie musical starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard that hit theaters Friday.

Director Leos Carax told USA Today that there was a small role written for the singer in the script by Ron Mael and Russell Mael.

“It was a small part written specifically for her,” Carax said. “She was supposed to play Rihanna.”

The film centers on stand-up comedian Henry (Driver) and opera singer Ann (Cotillard), who marry and then welcome a child.

As The Hollywood Reporter’s chief film critic David Rooney described it in his review: “They marry and she soon becomes pregnant, prompting visions of blood-drenched childbirth and a baby with a garish clown face. That child is Annette, represented by a marvelous Pinocchio-like wooden puppet, its features both innocent and inscrutable yet unexpectedly expressive.”

Annette goes on to become a famous singer, and Rihanna would have played a fellow performer threatened by the young star.

“When Baby Annette becomes famous, there was a duet between the puppet and Rihanna,” Carax told USA Today. “But then Rihanna feels upstaged by this baby.”

Early reports of the film noted Rihanna was attached to the project, but her rep later said she was no longer part of the cast. Instead of replacing Rihanna, the scene was cut from the film, Carax said.

Annette is portrayed by a puppet in the film until the final scene, where Devyn McDowell takes on the role and performs a song alongside Driver.

Annette, which hit theaters Friday, premiered earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival, where Carax won the best director award, and will be available for streaming on Amazon later this month.

This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.

Robert Ringwald, the pianist who played and promoted jazz in California for more than half a century, has died, according to his daughter, the actor and musician Molly Ringwald. He was 80.

Ringwald, known to friends and fans as Bob, died Aug. 3, Molly Ringwald wrote in an obituary Saturday for the Sacramento Bee. No cause was given.

Born in Roseville, California with vision problems, Ringwald went blind at an early age. He began taking piano lessons at 5 and started his first band at 13.

“Four years later, at the age of 17, he was able to grow enough of a beard to be able to pass for an adult to play in nightclubs as a professional musician, an occupation he held for the next six decades,” his daughter wrote.

At first drawn to modern jazz, the music of Louis Armstrong instilled in Ringwald a lifelong passion for the performance and preservation of traditional New Orleans jazz.

By the 1970s, Ringwald was playing piano at clubs seven nights a week.

He co-organized the first Sacramento Jazz Festival in 1974, and his band headlined the event, which became an annual city tradition. In 2012, Ringwald was honored by the festival as “The Emperor of Jazz.”

In addition to music, Ringwald’s passions included ham radio and the Los Angeles Dodgers, for whom he once served as a guest announcer, reading the lineup in Braille.

“Anyone who knew Bob also knew his mischievous streak, and his ever-present, slightly ribald sense of humor. If you didn’t sufficiently beg to get off of his email joke list, you would have received one just a couple of days before he died,” Molly Ringwald wrote.

Besides his daughter Molly, Robert Ringwald is survived by Adele, his wife of 60 years; a sister, Renée Angus; another daughter, Beth Ringwald Carnes; a son, Kelly Ringwald; two grandsons; two granddaughters; two step-granddaughters; one great-grandson; and one step-great-grandson.

A memorial service is pending.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made either to the Foundation Fighting Blindness or to CURE Childhood Cancer.