Camila Cabello Responds to Backlash Over Dancer in ‘Don’t Go Yet’ Performance

Camila Cabello’s new single “Don’t Go Yet” made its live debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Friday night (July 23).

Joining Cabello onstage for the song were a number of dancers, all dressed in ’80s costumes, reflecting the theme of the new track’s music video.

On Saturday (July 24), Cabello’s name trended on Twitter with comments about the performance — including criticism from people offended by her performing with a white dancer whose skin appeared much darker in his stage makeup. Some Twitter users expressed that they felt the dancer performed in blackface.

In response to the tweets, Cabello said that the intention was for the dancer to look like a character with a bad fake tan.

On Saturday afternoon Cabello shared an iPhone Notes app statement that said: “hey! so this dude was just supposed to be a white man with a terrible spray tan. we purposefully tried to pull together a multicultural group of performers, the expectation was not that everyone in the performance needed to be Latin. There are white people, African American people, latin people, etc. and so the point wasn’t to try to make everyone look Latin either. There are a lot of people in the performance who are not.”

“The point was to try to make each person look like an over the top 80’s character just like in the video, including a white dude with a terrible orange spray tan,” Cabello wrote. Billboard reached out to a representative for Cabello for further comment.

The singer’s tweet also included a screenshot of the dancer’s Instagram Story, where he posted a selfie with the caption “In case you missed my spray tan last night on @jimmyfallon with @camila_cabello.”

In another tweet, Cabello shared a clip of the Fallon performance and said, “on my team we try to create a culture of kindness, joy, & love & you could feel that this week. none of this could be possible without the dream team that makes it happen & the fans that continue to support.”

“Don’t Go Yet” premiered on Friday. It’s her first new music since the release of her sophomore album, 2019’s Romance.

See Cabello’s note and watch the “Don’t Go Yet” performance below.

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Prosecutors Air More Claims in R. Kelly Case, One Involving an Underage Boy

Federal prosecutors in R. Kelly’s sex trafficking case say he had sexual contact with an underage boy in addition to girls, and the government wants jurors in his upcoming sex trafficking trial to hear those claims.

Prosecutors aired a wide-ranging raft of additional allegations — but not new charges — against the R&B star in a court filing Friday (July 23). Jury selection is due to start Aug. 9 in a New York federal court for Kelly, who denies ever abusing anyone.

A message was sent Saturday to his lawyers about the additional allegations.

The Grammy Award-winning singer is charged with leading what prosecutors call a criminal enterprise of managers, bodyguards and other employees who allegedly helped him recruit women and girls for sex and pornography and to exercise a lot of control over them.

The charges involve six different women and girls, who aren’t named in court filings.

Now, prosecutors would also like jurors to hear about more than a dozen other people whom the government alleges that Kelly sexually or physically abused, threatened or otherwise mistreated.

Among them, the government says, was a 17-year-old boy and aspiring musician whom Kelly met at a McDonald’s in December 2006 and later invited to his Chicago studio. After asking the boy what he would do to make it in the music business, Kelly propositioned and had sexual contact with him while he was still underage, according to prosecutors’ court filing.

And when Kelly was about to go on trial on child pornography charges in Chicago in 2008, the same youth told the singer he had access to a juror, and Kelly asked him to contact the juror and vouch he was a “good guy,” prosecutors wrote.

The filing doesn’t say whether the youth did so. Kelly was acquitted in that case.

The boy also introduced Kelly to a 16- or 17-year-old male friend, with whom prosecutors say the singer began a sexual relationship several years later. Kelly also filmed the two youths in sexual encounters with other people, including some of Kelly’s girlfriends, according to the filing.

Prosecutors wrote that the accounts of the boys and others would help show that the actual charges “were not isolated events and were part of a larger pattern.”

The multiplatinum-selling singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, is known for work including the 1996 hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and the cult classic “Trapped in the Closet,” a multi-part tale of sexual betrayal and intrigue.

Kelly’s sex life has drawn scrutiny since the 1990s, and he currently is also facing sex-related charges in Illinois and Minnesota. He has pleaded not guilty.

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Shots, tear gas, burning tires mar Moïse funeral, prompt U.S., U.N. delegations to leave

Jovenel Moïse, the Haitian president who was assassinated in his home in the middle of the night, was laid to rest Friday afternoon in this historic city, but not before … Click to Continue »
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The anti-Florida man voiced his opinion at a gas station. Now, he’s got a felony rap

Alex Lasnik, a Cape Coral Floridian, apparently doesn’t like the current state of affairs in his state, and he isn’t shy about expressing his opinions. The anti-Florida man is not … Click to Continue »
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‘They’re not alone.’ Hundreds march on Miami’s Eighth Street to support Cuban protesters

The Kiwanis Club of Little Havana teamed up with Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo to hold a Friday evening march in solidarity with the demonstrators in Cuba protesting against the communist … Click to Continue »
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Hackers expose personal data of 58,000 claiming unemployment benefits in Florida

Hackers targeting Florida’s unemployment website potentially stole the personal data, including Social Security numbers, of nearly 58,000 people. The Department of Economic Opportunity said Friday that hackers targeted the site, … Click to Continue »
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Border officials cancel entry appointments for vulnerable asylum seekers in Tijuana

SAN DIEGO — San Diego Customs and Border Protection officers are canceling appointments meant to allow particularly vulnerable asylum seekers into the United States while pandemic border policies continue to … Click to Continue »
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How to Watch Rolling Loud Miami 2021 Live

Rolling Loud Miami is back, and you can see all the action live from the comfort of your home.

The three-day festival returns to Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium with mega performances by Post Malone, A$AP Rocky, Travis Scott, Roddy Ricch, Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby, and Lil Uzi Vert. After previewing his yet-released 10th studio album Donda in Atlanta on Thursday, Kanye West will also be on the bill.

Below, find the artist breakdown by stage, and then find each stage’s livestream. Also, check out 5 things to look forward to at this year’s festival, straight from co-founders Matt Zingler and Tariq Cherif.

Here’s a day-by-day breakdown of the Rolling Loud stages:

Ciroc Stage

AudioMack stage

Monster Energy Stage

Best of Rolling Loud Miami 2021 (with interviews and performances)

Stick with Billboard all weekend for coverage on the ground from the festival.

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Lil Nas X Claps Back at ‘Industry Baby’ Criticism & Comparison to ‘Montero’ Video

Lil Nas X is drawing the line between his new music video for “Industry Baby,” featuring Jack Harlow, and the one he filmed for his Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Montero (Call Me by Your Name).”

After the Friday (July 23) release of the new NSFW video — which, to be fair, he provided very clear warning for ahead of time — the rapper discovered critics on Twitter were still hard-pressed from his controversial “Montero” visual, where he pole-dances down to hell and gives Satan a lap dance before killing him. One user asked for prayers for Kanye West, who co-produced “Industry Baby” with Take A Daytrip, because of LNX’s previous “demonic” release after sharing Billboard’s original article about “Industry Baby” being out.

“I’m happy he’s found Christ but there’s so much compromise,” the Twitter user wrote, referring to the direction ‘Ye’s music has taken since his back-to-back 2019 gospel projects Jesus Is King and Jesus Is Born, the latter of which is credited to the Sunday Service Choir. “And then to find out that he helped produce that demonic sonf/video that Lil Nas X made is so upsetting.”

But the 22-year-old rapper shut that down immediately by responding, “There was nothing demonic about the industry baby video. just say u hate gay people musty.”

LNX was also surprised to find out that people took issue with his latest video, which in one widely discussed scene depicts a group of naked men dancing in a prison shower. “Lil nas is definitely doing too much now,” another Twitter user wrote, to which Nas wrote back, “N—a i literally went to hell and twerked on satan but gay prison is where you draw the line ?!”

The only through-line between the two visuals is the beginning of the “Industry Baby” video depicts a fictional courtroom scene between the rapper and Nike following the temporary release of his viral “Satan Shoes” in March, which he announced after dropping “Montero.” (The actual court case between Nike and MSCHF settled in April.)

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First Stream Latin: New Music From Gloria Trevi & Guaynaa, Myke Towers, More

First Stream Latin is a compilation of the best new Latin songs, albums and videos recommended by the Billboard Latin editors. Check out this week’s picks below.

Myke Towers, “Almas Gemelas” (Warner Music Latina/Warner Records/One World International)

On the heels of his third studio album, Lyke Mike, where he blessed fans with 100 percent of his hip-hop essence, Myke Towers returns with a more commercial sound on his new single “Almas Gemelas.” Helmed by Colombian hitmaker Ovy on the Drums, the track is a hypnotic reggaeton song with futuristic beats that can easily be dedicated to your twin soul. “Baby you and I are the same/ We look like twin souls/ We’re rivals in bed/ We kiss as in the novelas/ She invades my territory/ It’s not that she does it, it’s how/ And if earthly demons existed/ You’re an angel that can’t fly,” says the infectious chorus. Towers officially debuted his new single at the 2021 Premios Juventud. “It’s such a pleasure working with you, much respect,” Ovy on the Drums expressed on Instagram. The official music video for “Almas Gemelas” landed on YouTube’s trending music page Friday (July 23). – JESSICA ROIZ

Tommy Torres, El Playlist de Anoche (Rimas Entertainment)

For his first album in almost a decade, Tommy Torres teamed up with Bad Bunny to co-produce and co-write the nine tracks on El Playlist de Anoche. Torres and Bunny may not have a lot of things in common but both are very intentional with the music they write; they want their fans to feel via lyrics that are packed with tangible emotions. The pair does just that with this set that touches on love and heartbreak where Torres remains true to his signature alt rock-tinged, sentimental pop but integrates a rock star attitude after learning how to phrase the way Bunny does. The eclectic set kicks off with the sentimental pop track “Toda La Noche” – the only song on the album where you’ll hear Bunny as he sets the mood for the guitar-powered track with a short intro – and is then followed by alt-rock/pop anthems such as “Cactus” and “Inmortal” and contemporary ballads including “Demasiado Amor” and “Quisiera Ser El.” A departure from the album’s signature ballad-pop-rock sound, “Marea” transports you to a different mindset with its reggae/ska beat, showcasing Torres’ chameleonic ability to traverse between multiple styles. – GRISELDA FLORES

Gloria Trevi & Guaynaa, “Nos Volvimos Locos” (UMG Recordings)

A couple of weeks back, Gloria Trevi told Billboard about an upcoming collaboration she was excited about. She now presents her new single “Nos Volvimos Locos” alongside Puerto Rican artist Guaynaa. Penned by Trevi, Leonel Garcia and Marcela de la Garza, the track is a back-and-forth between two people who like each other and, ultimately, hook up. “We have already gone crazy/ We have already lost control/ This is so different/ There is a risk of falling in love,” says the chorus. The flirtatious track, co-produced Yo Fred, Eduardo Bladinieres, and Gil Elguezabal, is an urban-pop song fused with clever EDM beats. – J.R.

CNCO, “To’a La Noche” (Sony Music Latin)

Marking the start of a new era, four-member boy band CNCO has released their new single “To’a La Noche,” a head-bobbing reggaeton track with an earworm chorus that drops before the minute-mark. “Please stay, I won’t ask for anything else. I know you won’t forget this night,” they sing over a sparse drum beat. Produced by Puerto Rican producing duo Los Legendarios, the track was recorded in Puerto Rico at Wisin’s La Base studios. “We wanted to bring joy and positivity with this song,” CNCO previously told Billboard. “It’s the perfect summer jam.” “To’a La Noche,” featuring band members Christopher Velez, Erick Brian Colon, Richard Camacho and Zabdiel de Jesus, is the first single from their forthcoming album. – G.F.

Zion y Lennox, “Estrella” (Warner Music Latina)

Zion & Lennox celebrate a prolific 20-year career with the release of their new single “Estrella,” part of their fourth studio album and first in five years, El Sistema. Though the duo has recently collaborated with artists such as Justin Quiles, Natti Natasha, and Lenny Tavarez, to name a few, on this single, they have gone solo, further proving why they’re one of the highly-respected duos in urban music. In true la Z y la L fashion, the captivating reggaeton song, co-produced by Dynell, Legazzy, and Yazid, highlights Zion’s high-pitched, sugary vocals and Lennox’s signature raspy voice. “Estrella” tells the story of a woman who’s enjoying the best stage of her life and a man who’s trying to catch her attention. “Estrella,” according to the Puerto Rican duo, was chosen as a focus track of the album because it best showcases their essence. – J.R. 

La Santa Cecilia & Lila Downs, “Quiero Verte Feliz” (Rebeleon Ent./Virgin Music Latin)

Los Angeles-based bolero-punk quartet La Santa Cecilia has joined forces with Mexican singer-songwriter Lila Downs for a feel-good cumbia anthem titled “Quiero Verte Feliz (I Want to See you Happy).” Penned by Xieman Muñoz and La Santa Cecilia’s La Marisoul, Pepe, Oso and Alex Bendaña, the rhythmic track finds La Marisoul and Downs exchanging uplifting verses. “I need to stop and smell the plants and flowers, I want to dance and laugh and not apologize for it. Enough with all the suffering, I want to see you happy,” they sing. “I think that we’re experiencing one of the most complicated periods of our time because of the pandemic and ‘Quiero Verte Feliz’ is an invitation to get back to the great dance of life, and enjoy all the wonderful things that make us happy again!” La Santa Cecilia said. “Quiero Verte Feliz,” which follows La Santa Cecilia’s “Ella Me Enamoró,” preview’s the band’s forthcoming album. — G.F.

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