Aaron Spears, who worked as a drummer for Usher, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus and countless other music stars, has died at age 47, his family announced Monday (Oct. 30).

The drummer was nominated for a Grammy for his work on Usher’s 2004 album Confessions and had just turned 47 last week.

“It is with a heavy heart and overwhelming sadness that I share the news of the passing of my beloved husband, Aaron Spears,” Spears’ wife, Jessica, said in an Instagram post. “Aaron was not only an incredibly accomplished drummer, admired by many for his unparalleled talent and passion for music, but he was also a devoted father to our precious son, August. His love, guidance, and warmth were the pillars of our family, and his absence leaves a void that words cannot describe. We were blessed to have him in our lives, and his legacy will live on through the beautiful rhythms he created and the love he shared with us. We appreciate all the thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. Please remember Aaron for the incredible person he was and the amazing music he brought into our world. At this time we ask for privacy as we work our way through this.”

The many artists who worked with Spears shared an outpouring of condolences to social media.

Along with a photo of Spears, Grande shared this message to her IG Story: “I can’t wrap my head around this. We were all so incredibly lucky to know Aaron. The absolute brightest light of a human being. Always the kindest, always smiling. I am so honored and thankful that our paths crossed and to have spent so much very special time together. Thank you for your utter brilliance, for our laughs, and for your kindness always. I will miss your hugs. You are so, so loved and will be so very missed.”

“It’s been a painful season for all of us,” Justin Bieber wrote in an Instagram post, adding in his Story: “We lost a beautiful man and inspiration to all of us drummers. @aspears prayers for your family and loved ones you will be remembered and celebrated.”

Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker commented on Jessica’s post, “I have no words. I love you so much my brother and will miss you. This doesn’t seem real. Praying for you Jessica and August.”

The Roots’ Questlove shared a video of Spears drumming along with a heartfelt message about his fellow drummer on Instagram. “The world lost a legend today. Husband, father, producers music director, leader drumgod & just a Cotdamn BEAST in Aaron Spears. You’ve seen Aaron drum prolly 5-10 times in your life if you attend concerts & sometimes without knowing. That’s how much in demand his services were. … Condolences to his wife, family, community and all who loved him and were given joy through his musical contributions. This is devastating … rest in melody brother.”

See Jessica’s announcement below:

A federal judge in San Francisco ruled Monday (Oct. 30) that artificial intelligence (AI) firm Stability AI could not dismiss a lawsuit claiming it had “trained” its platform on copyrighted images, though he also sided with AI companies on key questions.

In an early-stage order in a closely watched case, Judge William Orrick found many defects in the lawsuit’s allegations, and he dismissed some of the case’s claims. But he allowed the case to move forward on its core allegation: That Stability AI built its tools by exploiting vast numbers of copyrighted works.

“Plaintiffs have adequately alleged direct infringement based on the allegations that Stability downloaded or otherwise acquired copies of billions of copyrighted images without permission to create Stable Diffusion, and used those images to train Stable Diffusion,” the judge wrote.

The ruling came in one of many cases filed against AI companies over how they use copyrighted content to train their models. Authors, comedians and visual artists have all filed lawsuits against companies including Microsoft, Meta and OpenAI, alleging that such unauthorized use by the fast-growing industry amounts to a massive violation of copyright law.

Last week, Universal Music Group and others filed the first such case involving music, arguing that Anthropic PBC was infringing copyrights en masse by using “vast amounts” of music to teach its software how to spit out new lyrics.

Rulings in the earlier AI copyright cases could provide important guidance on how such legal questions will be handled by courts, potentially impacting how UMG’s lawsuit and others like it play out in the future.

Monday’s decision came in a class action filed by artists Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan and Karla Ortiz against Stability AI Ltd. over its Stable Diffusion — an AI-powered image generator. The lawsuit also targeted Midjourney Inc. and DeviantArt Inc., two companies that use Stable Diffusion as the basis for their own image generators.

In his ruling, Judge Orrick dismissed many of the lawsuit’s claims. He booted McKernan and Ortiz from the case entirely and ordered the plaintiffs to re-file an amended version of their case with much more detail about the specific allegations against Midjourney and DeviantArt.

The judge also cast doubt on the allegation that every “output” image produced by Stable Diffusion would itself be a copyright-infringing “derivative” of the images that were used to train the model — a ruling that could dramatically limit the scope of the lawsuit. The judge suggested that such images might only be infringing if they themselves looked “substantially similar” to a particular training image.

But Judge Orrick included no such critiques for the central accusation that Stability AI infringed Andersen’s copyrights by using them for training without permission — the basic allegation at the center of all of the AI copyright lawsuits, including the one filed by UMG. Andersen will still need to prove that such an accusation is true in future litigation, but the judge said she should be given the chance to do so.

“Even Stability recognizes that determination of the truth of these allegations — whether copying in violation of the Copyright Act occurred in the context of training Stable Diffusion or occurs when Stable Diffusion is run — cannot be resolved at this juncture,” Orrick wrote in his decision.

Attorneys for Stability AI, Midjourney and DeviantArt did not return requests for comment. Attorneys for the artists praised the judge for allowing their “core claim” to move forward and onto “a path to trial.”

“As is common in a complex case, Judge Orrick granted the plaintiffs permission to amend most of their other claims,” said plaintiffs’ attorneys Joseph Saveri and Matthew Butterick after the ruling. “We’re confident that we can address the court’s concerns.”

Halle Bailey and DDG have officially won Halloween. The duo dressed up as the lead characters from 1993’s Poetic Justice, played by Janet Jackson and the late Tupac Shakur.

Bailey, who resembles Jackson in general, also took to TikTok to share a video in which she and DDG re-create an NSFW scene from the film.

Bailey is no stranger to channeling her iconic look-alike, as she’s paid tribute to Jackson throughout the years. She even got Jackson’s approval this year: The iconic pop star shared Bailey’s Halloween costume to her Instagram story along with a red-heart emoji.

“Poetic justice, put it in a song,” Bailey captioned a series of photos of the couple’s costumes, quoting Kendrick Lamar’s 2012 song “Poetic Justice.” DDG captioned his photos “tupac & janet” with a black heart. The pair re-created a dozen photos of Jackson and Shakur, from the film’s poster to a series of black-and-white publicity photos.

Find the pics below:

Halle’s sister Chloe went a more mystical route for her Halloween costume this year, dressing as Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones, also known as Khaleesi. As part of Chloe x Halle, the duo contributed the haunting song “Wolf at Your Door” to the 2019 album For the Throne: Music Inspired by the HBO Series Game of Thrones, which also featured contributions from Maren Morris, Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers as well as a collaborative track from SZA, The Weeknd and Travis Scott.

Matthew Perry, who starred as sarcastic but sweet Chandler Bing in the hit series Friends, has died. He was 54.

The Emmy-nominated actor was found dead of an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home Saturday (Oct. 28), according to the Los Angeles Times and TMZ, which was the first to report the news. Both outlets cited unnamed sources confirming Perry’s death.

His publicists and other representatives did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Asked to confirm police response to what was listed as Perry’s home address, LAPD Officer Drake Madison told the Associated Press that officers had gone to that block “for a death investigation of a male in his 50s.”

Perry’s 10 seasons on Friends made him one of Hollywood’s most recognizable actors, starring opposite Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and David Schwimmer as a friend group in New York City.

As Chandler, he played the quick-witted, insecure and neurotic roommate of LeBlanc’s Joey and a close friend of Schwimmer’s Ross. By the series’ end, Chandler is married to Cox’s Monica and they have a family, reflecting the journey of the core cast from single New Yorkers to married and starting families.

The series was one of television’s biggest hits and has taken on a new life — and found surprising popularity with younger fans — in recent years on streaming services.

Friends ran from 1994 until 2004, and the cast notably banded together for later seasons to obtain a salary of $1 million per episode for each.

Unknown at the time was the struggle Perry had with addiction and an intense desire to please audiences.

“Friends was huge. I couldn’t jeopardize that. I loved the script. I loved my co-actors … I loved everything about the show but I was struggling with my addictions which only added to my sense of shame,” he wrote in his memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing. “I had a secret and no one could know.”

“I felt like I was gonna die if the live audience didn’t laugh, and that’s not healthy for sure. But I could sometimes say a line and the audience wouldn’t laugh and I would sweat and sometimes go into convulsions,” Perry wrote. “If I didn’t get the laugh I was supposed to get I would freak out. I felt that every single night. This pressure left me in a bad place. I also knew of the six people making that show, only one of them was sick.”

An HBO Max reunion special in 2021 was hosted by James Corden and fed into huge interest in seeing the cast together again, although the program consisted of the actors discussing the show and was not a continuation of their characters’ storylines.

Perry received one Emmy nomination for his Friends role and two more for appearances as an associate White House counsel on The West Wing.

Perry also had several notable film roles, starring opposite Salma Hayek in the rom-com Fools Rush In and Bruce Willis in the the crime comedy The Whole Nine Yards.