Saweetie‘s set was cut short at Sunday’s Vegandale in Chicago following an alleged fight in the crowd.
In a clip that surfaced on social media, she asked the DJ to stop the music and addressed those who appeared to be part of the altercation.
“I know y’all ain’t doing what I think y’all doing. Is everybody safe?” Saweetie asked, before some in the area took off. She later wrote on the social platform X, “[I] hope everyone got home safe tonight. That crowd looked crazy.”
When an X user accused her of worrying more about her performance than the fight, Saweetie took the opportunity to defend herself.
“It was a festival! Straight [clown]. Don’t bring your a** back to Chicago; you’ve done enough,” the X user wrote. “It was babies out there getting trampled on for nothing. Then, [you came] back [talking about], ‘I’ma tell y’all what my type is.’ We [don’t give a f***] at this point.”
Saweetie replied, “The crowd did look crazy, which is why I hope everyone got home safe. Also, I could’ve [gone] home after the fight broke out, but I stayed [and] waited after 2 [Chainz] performed. I went back on stage to finish my set [because] I care… [You] clearly don’t like me, so why [did] you stay for the rest of my set when the festival was clearly over?”
Spanish album or not? That is the question Cardi B asked fans on Sunday night when trying to gauge their interest in the project.
While singing her verse to “Put Em in the Fridge” with Peso Pluma, Cardi posted a poll asking fans whether they were interested in her releasing a Spanish album. She then shared the results on her Instagram Story, which showed that the majority of people (79 %) said yes.
Ms. Lauryn Hill is heading back on the road to keep the Miseducation parties going. She’s teamed with the Fugees for a co-headlining tour commemorating her one and only solo album, The Miseducation of Ms. Lauryn Hill.
The trek will start on Aug. 9 and make its way through the U.S. before going abroad to London, Manchester and other international stops. Music from The Score and other Fugees albums will be also performed, with her son YGMarley showing up as support on select dates; surprise guests are still to announced.
Presale tickets for U.S. shows will be available, starting with the Citi presale on Tuesday at 10 a.m. local time through the Citi Entertainment program. For those going abroad, a Mastercard presale starts Wednesday, with others becoming available later in the week.
General tickets for both go on sale Friday. Two dollars from each ticket sold will go toward organizations focused on mental health, women’s wellness, community small-business development and education via the MLH fund.
Kendrick Lamar took to the streets of Compton to film the “Not Like Us” music video. Footage surfaced of him performing the song in front of a large crowd that had awaited his arrival. The clips, some of which also featured the song’s producer, DJ Mustard, made their way through social media after TMZ reported K.Dot hired extra security for the shoot. He reportedly asked the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to deploy deputies, paying them $120 an hour.
Cardi B was the Inspiration Award recipient at the 2024 Hollywood Unlocked Awards, and she delivered a speech that included a message to her haters. “I just want to say thank Jason [Lee] so much for this award. I’m really my biggest critic and I always say this: ‘Nobody has it harder than in the industry and in every genre than a female rapper.’ And I’m going to tell you why,” she said. “You have to have the best verse. Not only that, you have to kill the charts. On top of that, your personal life has to be perfect, or then the opp b****** are going to use that against you.”
If you’re wondering how Kid Cudi‘s doing after his foot surgery, he says he’s doing just fine. Responding on the social platform X to a fan who asked how his feet are feeling, he said, “Its healing! Barely any scars from surgeries, f***** unreal. Im Wolverine now.” He then shouted out his surgeon for doing “a really fantastic job.”
Tinashe has new merch to go with her current song, “Nasty.” The line offers booty shorts, boxer briefs, thongs, heart pendants and more, some of which include the phrases “I’ve been a nasty girl” and “Match my freak” from the hit song.
(NEW YORK) — Prosecutors on Monday told the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s federal classified documents case that a limited gag order was necessary to prevent the former president from inviting a “violent act” on the law enforcement agents involved in the case.
As assistant special counsel David Harbach attempted to demonstrate that Trump was aware of the “predictable response of some of his supporters” when he made false statements about FBI’s August 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago — including a campaign statement that President Joe Biden was “locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger” — Judge Aileen Cannon challenged the prosecutor to produce evidence and justify the constitutionality of the proposed gag order.
“The most important thing is it talks about an event that is central to this case in utterly misleading terms,” Harbach argued. “The government is at a loss to conceive any possible reason Mr. Trump would say something so false … and inviting of retributive violence.”
“Where on the attachments do you see a call for violence?” Cannon responded after criticizing prosecutors for not producing ample evidence of a pattern of conduct from Trump’s other criminal and civil cases.
Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get the documents back. Trump has denied all charges and denounced the probe as a political witch hunt.
Cannon pressed Harbarch on the argument that a modification of Trump’s release conditions — rather than a standalone gag order like in the former president’s federal election interference case — would avoid issues related to the First Amendment.
“Do conditions of release still need to comport with the Constitution?” Cannon asked. “The First Amendment is in the Constitution.”
Cannon also expressed skepticism about the impact of Trump’s statements on the law enforcement officers, highlighting that any public filings included redactions for the names and identifying information of law enforcement agents. Harbach responded by arguing that some agents were previously doxed, and described Trump’s recent statements as “beyond irresponsible.”
Harbach argued that there is “ample danger between now and trial … that some sort of violent act will occur” because of Trump’s conduct, and said that Cannon needed to impose the restrictions on Trump’s speech to protect the integrity of the proceedings. When Cannon suggested waiting until trial to impose any restrictions on speech, Harbach argued immediate action was necessary.
“That die has already been cast … by defendant’s conduct,” Harbach said.
The first hour of the hearing grew contentious at times, as Cannon pushed Harbach for evidence and details.
“I don’t appreciate your tone,” Cannon told Harbach at one point. “I expect decorum in this courtroom at all times.”
“I didn’t mean to be unprofessional. I apologize for that,” Harbach later said
The request for a gag order by the special counsel follows a month of escalating rhetoric from Trump about federal agents’ use-of-force policy during their August 2022 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate for classified documents.
In a filing last month, Smith argued that Trump’s statements that law enforcement officers were “complicit in a plot to assassinate him” were intentionally false and misleading, and “put a target on the backs of the FBI agents.”
Trump’s defense attorneys responded to the request by claiming that prosecutors have failed to demonstrate that Trump’s statements resulted in any material threats or harassment against law enforcement.
Echoing the former president’s defense against the limited gag order in his New York criminal hush money case, Trump’s lawyers wrote that the proposed gag order — which they describe as a “shocking display of overreach and disregard for the Constitution” — amounts to political interference by limiting Trump’s statements ahead of this week’s presidential debate and the Republican National Convention in July.
“[T]he motion is a naked effort to impose totalitarian censorship of core political speech, under threat of incarceration, in a clear attempt to silence President Trump’s arguments to the American people about the outrageous nature of this investigation and prosecution,” defense lawyers said in a June filing.
The gag order hearing, being conducted by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, follows a continuation this morning of Friday’s hearing in which defense attorneys are seeking to have the documents case dismissed on the grounds that Smith was unlawfully appointed as special counsel.
‘False and extremely dangerous’
Trump’s recent public statements related to the Mar-a-Lago search, during which agents found more than 100 documents with classified markings, have emphasized the use-of-force policy in place during the raid, which Trump has repeatedly associated with “Biden’s DOJ.”
Prosecutors argue that law enforcement employed the Department of Justice’s standard use-of-force policy, which allows the use of force “when the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.”
In filings, Smith also emphasized that the search was scheduled in the off-season when Trump and his family were not present at Mar-a-Lago and that it was conducted with coordination with Secret Service and Mar-a-Lago staff — and that Trump’s lawyer was notified before the search was executed.
In a rare public rebuke, the FBI issued a statement last month to confirm that law enforcement used standard protocols related to use of deadly force during the raid, adding that, “No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland also described accusations that the DOJ authorized Trump’s assassination as “false and extremely dangerous” and added that the same policy was in place during the search of President Biden’s home during the investigation into his retention of classified documents.
Threats against law enforcement
Prosecutors have emphasized that the proposed gag order against Trump would be narrowly limited — solely prohibiting Trump from falsely speaking about “FBI agents intending to murder him and his family” — in order to protect the safety of law enforcement officials.
To illustrate the threat against law enforcement officials, prosecutors claimed that Trump’s rhetoric encouraged a supporter to make threats to an FBI agent associated with the Hunter Biden case, including threatening that supporters would “hunt you down” and “slaughter you” if Trump does not win the 2024 election.
Prosecutors also argued that a Trump supporter attacked an FBI field office in Cincinnati with an AR-15 and a nail gun in August 2022 after the raid on Mar-a-Lago — an attack which prosecutors say was partially inflamed by Trump’s comments on social media after the raid.
Defense lawyers wrote that Trump has engaged in his “constitutionally protected campaign speech” and that prosecutors have failed to prove that Trump’s statements have directly resulted in threats or harassment.
In addition to highlighting two examples of threats or violence, prosecutors broadly argued that Trump’s inflammatory language about the raid has created a “combustible atmosphere” that poses an immediate risk to law enforcement.
“No court would tolerate another defendant deliberately creating such immediate risks to the safety of law enforcement, and this Court should not wait for a tragic event before taking action in this case,” prosecutors said in a filing last week.
Trump’s other gag orders
Trump has generally been unsuccessful in challenging the gag orders imposed in his other criminal and civil cases, occasionally securing stays of the orders but failing to overturn the orders as unconstitutional.
New York’s highest court declined to take up Trump’s challenge to the gag order in Trump’s civil fraud case, which prohibited Trump from making comments about judicial staff.
Last week, the same court declined to immediately consider Trump’s challenge to the gag order in his New York hush money case — which prohibits Trump from making statements about jurors, witnesses, and others involved in the case — after determining that “no substantial constitutional question is directly involved” in Trump’s challenge. A mid-level appeals court last month found that the gag order “properly weighed petitioner’s First Amendment Rights against the court’s historical commitment to ensuring the fair administration of justice.”
Trump also unsuccessfully challenged the gag order in his federal election interference case that prohibited from making statements about prosecutors other than Smith, witnesses, and courthouse staff.
“Given the record in this case, the court had a duty to act proactively to prevent the creation of an atmosphere of fear or intimidation aimed at preventing trial participants and staff from performing their functions within the trial process,” a panel of Court of Appeals judges in Washington, D.C., wrote in an order last year upholding the gag order.
Culture’s Biggest Night has just gotten a little bigger. Added to the lineup of the BET Awards 2024 is Grammy-winning actor and recording artist Will Smith. He’ll be taking the stage to debut a brand-new song.
“From his start as a rapper to The Fresh Prince to being a box office king as one of the Bad Boys, Will Smith is truly a global icon, and we are honored to welcome him back to grace the BET Awards stage,” Connie Orlando, EVP of specials, music programming & music strategy at BET, said in a statement. “We look forward to Will adding to yet another defining night for the culture that is not to be missed.”
Will, who stars in the recently released Bad Boys: Ride or Die, joins performers GloRilla, Ice Spice, Latto, Ms. Lauryn Hill & YG Marley, Muni Long, Sexyy Red, Shaboozey, Tyla, Victoria Monét and BET Amplified stage performer Tanner Adell.
Taraji P. Henson will serve as host, and Usher will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The BET Awards 2024 will air live on BET on Sunday, June 30, at 8 p.m. ET.
