Queen’s Brian May shared some thoughts about Eric Clapton, who recently said he will not play any live shows that require attendees to show proof that they’ve received the COVID-19 vaccine.

In July, Clapton made it clear that he won’t grace “any stage where there is a discriminated audience present. Unless there is provision made for all people to attend, I reserve the right to cancel the show.”

“I love Eric Clapton,” May said in an interview with The Independent published on Saturday (Aug. 7). “He’s my hero, but he has very different views from me in many ways. He’s a person who thinks it’s OK to shoot animals for fun, so we have our disagreements, but I would never stop respecting the man.”

“Anti-vax people, I’m sorry, I think they’re fruitcakes,” May added.

Clapton previously said he feared he would “never play again” after receiving both doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Meanwhile, May — who says he’s become a bit of a “health and exercise addict” after suffering a heart attack and having three stents put in, in May 2020 — supports the science behind the COVID-19 vaccine.

“There’s plenty of evidence to show that vaccination helps,” he noted. “On the whole they’ve been very safe. There’s always going to be some side effect in any drug you take, but to go around saying vaccines are a plot to kill you, I’m sorry, that goes in the fruitcake jar for me.”

Seven years after the Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj collab “Bang Bang” popped on the charts, the trio’s song is making headlines again.

It turns out that Jessie J and Nicki Minaj remember the beginnings of the superstar single a little differently, and Minaj called out Jessie J’s version of the story — which the singer had discussed in a recent interview with Glamour — on Friday (Aug. 6).

As Jessie J recalled, “Nicki was played it in the studio and was like, ‘I’ve got to jump on this.’ We didn’t go to her and ask; she wanted to do it.”

But according to Minaj, who responded to Jessie J’s quotes on Thursday with a correction, “I didn’t hear the song & ask 2get on it.”

“The label asked me2get on it & paid me,” Minaj tweeted. “How would I have heard the song? Chiiille what am I the damn song monitor? Snoopin around for songs chile? This was said by another artist recently as well. Yall gotta stop. LoveU.”

For what it’s worth, Minaj did want to get on Jessie J’s “Do It Like a Dude” after catching it on the radio. “but the worst part about this no1EVER asked me,” she tweeted with laughing face emojis. “I have been obsessed with that song since the min I heard it.”

On Friday, Jessie apologized to Minaj over the confusion about how “Bang Bang” — which peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 in 2014 and was nominated for a Grammy — came to be with a meme-filled, lengthy post on Instagram, writing, “I respect you publicly being yourself @nickiminaj.”

“So here I am being myself,” she continued. “This is a video of me back in 2015 on stage taking the piss out of myself which is basically an hour of my set. It was made into a meme about 2 weeks ago. Is that what this is really about? And where this weird energy between us began? Or maybe it was when you used me as a stair rail at the AMAs. That was also funny af.”

“If we can’t laugh in the lives we have been blessed with. What’s the point. It really isn’t that deep,” added Jessie.

“From the moment I met you to now I have shown you nothing but love and gratitude for how f—ing blessed I was to have you and @arianagrande who btw wrote Bang Bang with the insanely talented Max Martin which I found out today. Jesus. What a day. Sorry Ari. I never knew. Wild. I felt like I had won a competition did back then and still do now. I’m the first person to admit Bang Bang would NEVER have been what it was without you guys,” she said.

“I’m sorry I got the story wrong all these years,” she noted. “I was told you heard the song and wanted to be on it by someone clearly gassing me up at the label. (Bless them and my naive a–) Thank you for clarifying I was wrong on that and Do it like dude. Told me huh.”

“What a way for us to celebrate the 7 year anniversary of the song. Should we all go for dinner? No… Probably not right.. Too soon? Bang bang part two?… No…. Ok got it. Do it like a dude remix? Ok. I’ll stop,” she wrote.

“Look, the song did it’s damn thing,” said Jessie. “I will never say you asked to be on the song ever again. Although all this drama means memes and man have the memes of me have kept me entertained all day.”

As of press time, Grande, who’s taking over Fortnite and celebrating her husband’s birthday this weekend, has not yet joined 2021’s “Bang Bang” conversation.

See Minaj’s tweets embedded below, and head over to Instagram to check out Jessie J’s post on the topic.

Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores said he does not want to trade Xavien Howard and progress is being made on resolving his contract situation. Howard has asked for a trade … Click to Continue »

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Giddy up, because Beyoncé‘s got a new Ivy Park collection on the way.

Houston’s Queen Bey took channeled her Southern roots in a two-minute teaser on Friday (Aug. 6) for Ivy Park Rodeo, Adidas x Ivy Park’s upcoming collection. The clip features the superstar herself, along with her mom Tina Knowles Lawson, Houston rapper Tobe Nwigwe, singer Snoh Aalegra, real-life cowboy Glynn Turman and more — all rocking rugged yet chic outfits in denim, cow print and more rodeo-inspired fabrics and colors.

Bey told the Houston Chronicle that Ivy Park Rodeo was inspired by “how much of the Black, brown and Native cowboy stories are missing in American history.”

“I am proud to represent Houston culture, my roots and all the people who understand fried Snickers and fried turkey legs,” she continued.

The nearly 60 pieces in the collection will go on sale on Aug. 19 here. See the teaser below.

Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music have collectively filed a second lawsuit against Charter Communications, alleging that the company — which does business as Spectrum — has continually failed to rein in copyright infringement committed by thousands of its subscribers.

The complaint, filed July 26 in U.S. District Court in Colorado by the big three labels and their respective publishing companies and subsidiaries, follows a previous, ongoing suit lobbed by the labels against Charter in March 2019. That suit covered alleged infringement activity that occurred on Charter’s network between March 24, 2013, and May 17, 2016, while the new complaint covers infringement which took place from July 26, 2018 to present.

“Charter has insisted on doing nothing — despite receiving thousands of notices that detailed the illegal activity of its subscribers, despite its clear legal obligation to address the widespread, illegal downloading of copyrighted works on its Internet services, and despite being sued previously by Plaintiffs for similar conduct,” the complaint maintains.

The new lawsuit says the labels continued to “monitor and detect infringement” occurring on Charter’s network during the current claim period and sent over 150,000 additional notices identifying the illegal download, copying and distribution of their copyrighted music through BitTorrent and other digital file-sharing services. The notices allegedly flagged the unique IP addresses of what the labels claim are “tens of thousands” of “flagrant and serial infringers” operating on Charter’s network.

“In reality, Charter operated its service as an attractive tool and safe haven for infringement,” reads the complaint, which further alleges that the company turned a “blind eye” to said activity in order to “attract and retain new and existing subscribers,” who in turn would purchase more bandwidth to accommodate faster download speeds. “In other words, the greater the bandwidth its subscribers required for pirating content, the more money Charter made,” the complaint adds.

Neither reps for Charter nor the labels responded to request for comment by time of publishing.

The plaintiffs are asking for maximum statutory damages — which, under U.S. law, would amount to $150,000 per infringed work — or, alternatively, actual damages in an amount to be proven at trial. If awarded statutory damages in the maximum amount for each infringed work — which total 1,719 sound recordings and 1,086 compositions, according to two exhibits filed with the complaint — Charter would be on the hook for more than $420 million.

The new lawsuit is just the latest in a series of copyright infringement suits filed against internet service providers by music companies over the past several years. In Dec. 2019, the big three labels won a $1 billion verdict against Cox Communications after the ISP was deemed liable for customers’ infringement of more than 10,000 musical works on its network (the verdict was upheld by a U.S. District Court judge this past January). In Dec. 2015, Cox was ordered to pay $25 million in a separate copyright suit brought by BMG; though that decision was reversed on appeal in early 2018 and ordered for a retrial due to an error in instructions to the jury, Cox settled with BMG for a “substantial” amount before a new trial could commence.

A similar, still-pending infringement lawsuit was filed by 17 record companies against internet service provider RCN Corporation in August 2019. Also ongoing is a suit filed by the RIAA in April 2017 against Texas-based ISP Grande Communications, which is also accused of failing to crack down on copyright pirates.