Comedian Jack Whitehall has responded to Becky Hill’s apparent lyrical swipe at him, saying he feels “absolutely honored” to have inspired a diss track.

The six-time BRIT Awards host addressed the song after pop star Hill seemingly referenced his widely criticized “Wetherspoons Whitney” joke in March 2025 on “Daddy’s Range Rover,” a track from her forthcoming album Rebecca (due Sept. 25 via Polydor). 

Whitehall shared his response Monday (June 1), speaking at the premiere of Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day at SXSW London. “I love her,” he said in a red carpet interview with influencer ThisIsMax. “Hey, there’s no beef from my side. I saw her at the F1, we were having a good ol’ laugh about it.”

He continued: “Do you know what? I feel honored that I’ve got a diss track written about me, and I’m surprised it’s taken this long. I’ve been throwing musicians under the bus for nearly a decade now — how has no one done this already!”

Hill had recently performed the song, which is yet to be released, at an intimate gig at The 100 Club in London on May 27. According to a report from Chortle, she introduced the track by dedicating it to Whitehall, telling the audience: “This song, I’m affectionately calling ‘Wetherspoons Whitney’, but you lot will know it as ‘Daddy’s Range Rover.’”

It arrives more than a year after Whitehall — the son of showbiz agent Michael Whitehall — sparked backlash for his joke about her during last year’s BRIT Awards, during which he compared the chart-topping singer to the British pub chain, suggesting Hill was less well-off because of her Midlands accent.

“Your daddy worked in showbiz, got you a job with his old boss,” goes her track. “I bet you didn’t even notice/ The opportunities you got.” Other lyrics include: “You judge me on my accent before I even start/ But you know nothing about me. What can I do? I’ll never be like you.”

Hill was vocal in her response to the original joke when it first made headlines, arguing that the comment reinforced class-based stereotypes. The singer, who has frequently discussed her working-class upbringing in Bewdley, Worcestershire, accused Whitehall of “punching down” in a post made to Instagram Stories at the time.

“Imagine being called a ‘Wetherspoons Whitney’ by some privately-educated nepo baby who has a TV show with daddy the showbiz agent on national TV,” wrote Hill March 11, 2025. “My parents worked so hard to provide a middle class life for me, even tho [sic] they couldn’t afford it, no one gave me a leg up, I wasn’t near London so I couldn’t go to the BRIT School. So if you associate a Midlands accent with a Wetherspoons that says more about the silver spoon in your mouth, jolly ol’ boy.”

In a subsequent post, she shared a selfie with a caption reading: “Me and my working class attitude off to work today. Remember not to be out of touch today kids, even if ur [sic] daddy is rich. Shout out Jack Whitehall for the fuel to my fire.” 

Ahead of the release of Rebecca, which marks Hill’s third full-length effort, the 32-year-old will perform at a series of festivals and outdoor shows across the U.K., including Bristol’s Forwards Festival and Creamfields in Cheshire. Her second LP, Believe Me Now?, arrived in 2024, peaking at No. 3 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart.

Whitehall, meanwhile, has been growing his slate of TV and film projects throughout 2026. Alongside his role in Virginia Woolf’s Night and Day, he has appeared in the Amazon Prime Video thriller Malice and Peacock comedy-drama series The ‘Burbs alongside Keke Palmer.

AllTrack, a U.S. performing rights organization for independent musicians, says it has been meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to dispel concerns about how PROs like itself can “increase transparency, improve ease of use, and reduce confusion for the businesses that license music.” The collection society also met with six other members of Congress to advocate for independent artists and songwriters and explain what it sees as the benefits of competition among PROs.

AllTrack, which was founded in 2017, notes that its meetings included one with Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) — the congressman who sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Dec. 8, 2025, urging the examination of “potential unfair or deceptive acts or practices by performing rights organizations (PROs).” Specifically, Fitzgerald’s letter, obtained by Billboard, centered its concerns on AllTrack and Pro Music Rights, the two smallest and newest PROs on the market.

The meetings included a group of AllTrack executives and songwriters, and according to a representative, “led to a set of mutually agreeable resolutions with Rep. Scott Fitzgerald’s office to strengthen AllTrack’s commitment to transparency, eliminating the need for further inquiry.”

Fitzgerald’s FTC letter at the end of last year was the most recent attempt by the congressman to get the federal government to look into the practices of U.S. PROs. His calls for investigation first started in September 2024, when House Judiciary Committee members Fitzgerald, along with committee chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), wrote a letter to the Copyright Office, expressing concerns about the “proliferation” of new PROs and the lack of transparency about the distribution of general licensing revenue.

The 2024 letter led to the Copyright Office opening a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) into U.S. PROs, starting in February 2025, and created the opportunity for venues, restaurants, bars, and other music licensees — as well as the PROs — to share their misgivings and opinions about PROs’ operations. However, this inquiry ended on Nov. 20 with the Copyright Office declining to force any changes on the PROs.

The lack of action spurred Fitzgerald to continue his fight with the FTC letter, which stated that AllTrack and Pro Music Rights are soliciting businesses about purchasing their licenses and “leveraging the specter of statutory damages for those who do not comply,” but alleges that “while both entities feign legitimacy, it is unclear whether AllTrack or Pro Music Rights have amassed a repertoire that a licensee would find valuable to its business. Worse, however, it appears both entities may be misrepresenting to licensees the bodies of work they actually manage, thereby pressuring businesses to obtain a performance license they may not need.”

Fitzgerald points to AllTrack’s website as a source of concern, noting that artists like Billy Ray Cyrus and No Doubt are listed as clients, even though “AllTrack represents only a partial interest in one Billy Ray Cyrus song, and a composition once recorded by No Doubt.”

Since the FTC letter was issued, AllTrack tells Billboard it voluntarily enhanced disclosures on its site beneath artist images on their homepage to clarify that the artists it features are sometimes not personally clients of the collection society. Instead, some are just the performers of compositions or recordings that are related to AllTrack’s business, which spans performance, mechanical and neighboring rights collections.

AllTrack also notes that it used its time with Fitzgerald to talk through his concerns related to its search function, which allows users to see what rights they represent. “The office’s suggestion during the meeting was to change the navigation of AllTrack’s website,” says a representative for the collection society. “While a link to AllTrack’s repertory has always been available in AllTrack’s footer, the office also asked AllTrack to add an identical link to its header. This modification was made and is now live, to the satisfaction of Rep. Fitzgerald’s office.”

Hayden Bower, founder and CEO of AllTrack, says of its trip to D.C.: “One of AllTrack’s core missions is to help businesses clear the music rights they need simply, affordably, and with confidence, on behalf of the creators we represent. Well-informed licensees and fairly compensated creators are signs of a healthy performance licensing market, and we welcome any conversation, whether with businesses, creators, or regulators, that makes music licensing clearer.” 

StubHub is expanding its FanProtect Guarantee with the launch of the new FestProtect platform, which gives fans the ability to request benefits to counteract disruptions — including everything from weather cancellations to crowd complaints.

The FestProtect tiered rewards and protection system is built around common pain points fans experience at festivals. Tier 1 includes major disruptions including severe weather cancellations and last-minute artist dropouts. If fans who purchased their tickets via StubHub face these disruptions, they can receive access to future tickets at the festival in question or tickets to a future performance from the artist they missed.

The second tier includes scheduling conflicts such as overlapping set times that force fans to miss artists they planned to see, and can include remediation of tickets tied to artists whose sets they were unable to attend during the festival weekend.

Tier 3 is meant to address everyday festival frustrations such as long lines, blocked views, crowd congestion and other “Instagram vs. reality” festival moments. Fans who submit concerns about these frustrations to the FestProtect platform could receive surprise upgrades, rewards or future festival perks. FestProtect is not a guarantee of compensation, and not all claims will see rewards.

Jill Gonzalez, StubHub’s head of consumer, product and tech communications, says the secondary ticketing site decided to create the FestProtect platform as demand for festival experiences continues to grow and fans increasingly share their event frustrations online. “You should never feel bad about crossing this [festival] off your bucket list or seeing the artists you’ve been waiting to see for years,” Gonzalez says. “You should be happy with that experience through and through. It’s about showing up for fans.”

Fans can submit a claim with proof of purchase from StubHub via the FestProtect platform, along with additional proof of the frustration — such as a lineup with conflicting artist sets or even a photo of another festivalgoer blocking their view. StubHub will then provide select fans with various rewards.

StubHub is not a promoter or primary ticketer (primary tickets are sold directly by event promoters or venues) for festivals — but, Gonzalez says, the platform still wants to ensure fans have a good experience. “Fans might not necessarily realize that StubHub is a secondary marketplace. They have their ticket and, if anything goes wrong, they know how they got their ticket and that’s StubHub,” she says.

New survey data from StubHub found that nearly 60% of festival-goers spend more than $300 per weekend outside the cost of tickets, and more than half have experienced major disruptions. The ticketing platform says the data also revealed that more than 70% of those surveyed said a protection guarantee would make them more likely to buy tickets.

“It’s been a big year for the [live music] industry. We’ve seen court cases. We’ve seen legislation, and that backs up what the fan experience has been and how fans have been feeling, which is ‘we want options’ and ‘we want to make sure we’re secure in those options,’” says Gonzalez. “It’s good for the industry. We hope to see as many buyer protections as possible.”

FestProtect launches one day after StubHub announced its largest festival partnership to date with promoter Danny Wimmer Presents (Aftershock, Bourbon & Beyond, Lounder Than Life). As Danny Wimmer Presents’ official open distribution partner, StubHub gives fans a trusted marketplace to buy tickets, resell tickets if plans change and receive support through StubHub’s customer service and onsite presence at select festivals.

Beginning Tuesday, fans can submit festival-related claims and experiences through the FestProtect landing page.

BTS have added a third Melbourne show to their Australian tour leg of BTS World Tour ‘ARIRANG,’ responding to overwhelming presale demand with a new date at Marvel Stadium on Wednesday, Feb. 10.

The addition brings the Australian run to five shows — three nights at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne (Feb. 10, 12 and 13) and two nights at Accor Stadium in Sydney (Feb. 20 and 21).

ARMY Membership presale for the new Melbourne date opens Wednesday, June 3 at 10 a.m. AEST. General on sale for all five Australian shows begins Thursday, June 4 at 10 a.m. AEST for Melbourne and 1 p.m. AEST for Sydney via btsworldtourofficial.com. Only ARMY Membership holders who registered in advance will be eligible for the presale queue, and a Global membership number — a nine-digit number beginning with “BA” — is required for access.

The Australian dates are part of what is already shaping up to be the largest global K-pop tour of all time, spanning stadiums across Asia, North America, Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia. The production features a 360-degree, in-the-round stage design placing fans at the centre of the experience while expanding overall stadium capacity.

It marks BTS’ first headline tour together since the Permission to Dance on Stage tour, which included 12 sold-out shows across Seoul, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

The tour supports ARIRANG, BTS’ fifth studio album, released in March 2026. The record debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with the group’s sixth No. 1 on the chart since 2020. The seven-member group — RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook — are five-time Grammy nominees and were named TIME’s Entertainer of the Year in 2020.

BTS World Tour ‘ARIRANG’ — Australia 2027

Feb. 10 — Melbourne, AUS — Marvel Stadium (new show)

Feb. 12 — Melbourne, AUS — Marvel Stadium

Feb. 13 — Melbourne, AUS — Marvel Stadium

Feb. 20 — Sydney, AUS — Accor Stadium

Feb. 21 — Sydney, AUS — Accor Stadium