Anne Feeney, a folk singer who collaborated with Pete Seeger, John Prine and Peter, Paul and Mary and an impassioned activist who fought for workers’ and women’s rights, died Wednesday in Pittsburgh of COVID-19 complications. She was 69.

“It is with a very heavy heart that we must announce the passing of our courageous, brilliant, beautiful mother,” her daughter, Amy Sue Berlin, wrote on Facebook. “We were very lucky that she fought hard enough to open up her eyes and give us a couple days to be with her before she finally decided it was time to let go.”

Starting in 1987, when she was inspired by folk singer and activist Faith Petric to quit her job as an attorney and dedicate her life to touring and making music in support of workers, Feeney played more than 4,000 shows across North America and Europe.

She performed for striking workers on picket lines, in union halls and at protests, including the one that shut down a World Trade Organization conference in Seattle in 1999 — she is seen in the 2000 documentary This Is What Democracy Looks Like — and another at the March for Women’s Lives held in 2004 at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Feeney’s 2000 anthem “Have You Been to Jail for Justice?,” sung on picket lines and in jail cells around the world, is considered one of the last true folk songs. She also gave life to classic union hymns like Woody Guthrie’s “Union Maid” and Joe Hill’s “Dump the Bosses Off Your Back.”

“Anne Feeney was a deeply committed songwriter/activist in the grand tradition of Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie,” Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary said in a statement. “She was joyous and fiery in her determination to use her music to elevate those who are most marginalized and to move toward greater justice in the land. For Annie, it was a way of life. Her song ‘Have You Been to Jail for Justice?, which our trio recorded, was an anthem for all of us who joined with Annie in ‘the good fight.’”

Guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine called her “a fearless and formidable force for justice and workers’ rights onstage, in the studio and on the picket line.”

Feeney organized dozens of tours supporting various causes, including the Sing Out for Single Payer Healthcare tour in 2009, and raised tens of thousands of dollars for strike funds and progressive causes. She also served as the first female president of a musicians’ union in the U.S.

Born on July 1, 1951, in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, and raised in the Brookline neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Feeney was influenced by her grandfather William Patrick Feeney, who was a first-generation Irish immigrant and violinist who used music to support working-class organizing.

Feeney performed publicly for the first time in 1969 when she sang a Phil Ochs song at a protest against the Vietnam War. In 1972, she was arrested at the Republican National Convention while objecting to Richard Nixon’s second nomination for president.

Feeney received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1974 and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law four years later. She practiced as a trial lawyer for 12 years, primarily representing refugees and survivors of domestic violence.

Inspired by the group that founded “Women Organized Against Rape” in Philadelphia, she began a campaign for a rape crisis center that evolved into Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, which still provides services to survivors of sexual assault. She also served on the executive board of the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Organization of Women and as the president of the Pittsburgh Musicians’ Union from 1981-97, the only woman to hold that position.

Feeney released 12 albums during her career and shared stages with Seeger, Prine, Loretta Lynn, Toshi Reagon, The Mammals, Dan Bern, Indigo Girls and Billy Bragg. A lover of Irish music, she led annual singing tours of Ireland and was a regular at Kerrville Folk Festival, Oregon Country Fair and other major festivals.

Survivors include her son, Dan. Donations in her name may be made to the Thomas Merton Center, a social justice activist hub in Pittsburgh.

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.

The Crown star Emma Corrin has joined Harry Styles in My Policeman, a romantic drama for Amazon Studios.

Michael Grandage will direct the adaptation of the Bethan Robert novel of the same name and will use an adapted screenplay by Ron Nyswaner. My Policeman will be produced by Greg Berlanti, Robbie Rogers and Sarah Schechter of Berlanti-Schechter Films, in association with Cora Palfrey and Phillip Herd at Independent Film Company and MGC.

The story takes place in the late 1990s when the arrival of elderly Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years prior, namely a passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal.

Styles and Corrin are set to star as Tom and Marion, respectively.

Corrin is best known for her role as Lady Diana Spencer in the fourth season of Netflix’s The Crown, which earned her Golden Globe, SAG and Critics Choice nominations. Last year, Corrin made her debut film appearance in Misbehaviour, a historical drama film where she starred alongside Keira Knightley, Keeley Hawes and Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

Corrin’s earlier TV roles include a recurring role in the 10-part Warner Brothers/EPIX series Pennyworth.

She is repped by Insight Management, Circle of Confusion and Public Eye.

This article was originally published  by The Hollywood Reporter.

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A fantasy theme park in Utah is suing Taylor Swift, claiming she infringed its “Evermore” trademark when she released her latest album with that title in December.

Evermore Park in Pleasant Grove, Utah, is an immersive-experience theme park that opened in 2018 where performers portray characters to create an interactive fantasy world. Since 2015, it has held a variety of trademarks for the “Evermore” brand covering clothing, park services and entertainment services including live visual and audio performances by an actor.

Not only did Swift use “Evermore” to promote her own merchandise, the park claims that since Swift released her album evermore it created “actual confusion” around its own trademark. Visitors asked staff whether the album “was the result of a collaboration between Evermore and Taylor Swift or some other type of relationship,” the suit states. And on the day of the evermore album release (Dec. 10), the park says traffic on its website spiked 330.4% in comparison to traffic on the previous day.

While one may think that’s a good thing for the park, the suit addresses that too. When Swift’s counsel responded to a cease-and-desist letter sent by the park on Dec. 29, the suit says they claimed, “If anything, your client’s website traffic has actually increased as a result of the release of Ms. Swift’s recent album which, in turn could only serve to enhance your client’s mark.”

To this idea that the park is “receiving a benefit from Defendant’s promotion of its trademark,” the park says Swift’s team shows a “misunderstanding of trademark law.” To back this, the lawsuit cites Audi v. D’Amato (2004), which states, “The Court finds that the loss sustained by a trademark holder from the unauthorized use of its trademarks is the loss of the trademark holder’s ability to control its reputation. In the context of trademark litigation, grounds for irreparable harm include loss of control of reputation, loss of trade, and loss of goodwill, regardless of whether the infringer is putting the mark to a good or favorable use.”

Since the theme park’s trademark specifically covers “live visual and audio performances by an actor,” the lawsuit is sure to identify Swift as an “actor,” citing her acting in the “willow” video and other credits in film and TV.

The lawsuit also cites two original music scores that the park commissioned under the “Evermore” trademark and sells and streams online, claiming Swift’s album has made those releases harder to find. And it points to Swift’s “willow” music video, where she emerges from a hole in a tree, saying it mimics the art from those albums the park released.

“Despite her publicly stated concerns for small and struggling artists facing larger and better-funded opponents,” the lawsuit states, “Ms. Swift now seeks to bury the previously released Evermore albums created by Evermore and misappropriate the EVERMORE Trademark with no compensation to Evermore because the company is facing ‘financial difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic’ and cannot afford to engage in protracted litigation.”

Swift’s team responded to the suit, calling it “frivolous” in a statement to Billboard. It cited a Utah Business report stating park founder and CEO Ken Bretschneider has had at least five lawsuits filed against him and the Evermore group by major construction companies, claiming they are owed between $28,000 and $400,000 in construction, mechanic and landscaping fees. Smaller subcontractors who did work on the park have also filed more than 20 construction liens on the Evermore property, according to the story.

“The true intent of this lawsuit should be obvious,” said a Swift spokesperson.

The lawsuit is seeking to prevent Swift’s further use of the “Evermore” trademark and statutory damages of $2 million per “counterfeit mark per type of goods or services sold,” or a portion of revenues derived from use of the trademark plus costs and fees.