Kid Rock Audience Trashes Venue After Concert Canceled

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CANCELLATION CHAOS
TMZ.com

Kid Rock canceled his concert Friday night in North Dakota due to bad weather ... triggering an angry backlash from fans who trashed the venue.

KR was supposed to take the stage around 9:30 PM at the North Dakota State Fair in Minot ... following a 2 1/2 hour performance by his opening act, Night Ranger.

We're told a storm was brewing on the outskirts of town with some wind and lightning, but no rain, which kept delaying KR's show.

By the time 11 o'clock rolled around, lots of folks in the 18,000-strong audience were pretty drunk ... and pissed because it seemed as if the storm had passed.

An officer from the Ward County Sheriff's Department then walked up to the mic and announced the concert was canceled.

The crowd went berserk and turned the place upside down, throwing beer cans at the stage.

One guy climbed onto the stage and took a threatening stance before security tackled him.

Another man was handcuffed and led away by the police.

KR took to Twitter to apologize to his fans, blaming Mother Nature. The North Dakota State Fair also released a statement citing safety concerns and promising to issue refunds to ticket holders.

Background Stars When People in The Back ... Become The Center of Attention!!!

Social media has made it possible for a new center of attention to emerge during sometimes serious events and broadcasts ... Thursday night was the man dubbed "Clark Kent's look-alike" at the Jan. 6 hearing, but he's not the first person in the background to steal the show.

Remember "Left Shark?" The costumed character, who we were first introduced to during Katy Perry's Super Bowl Halftime show in 2015, was trending on Twitter and has become a pop culture staple over the years.

There was also "Fiji Water Girl," who was simply tasked with holding the bottles for celebs at The Golden Globes back in 2019, but became something more by appearing in more red carpet shots than previously thought possible.

Before "Clark Kent" there was "Hot Debate Guy" who stole the spotlight during the Republican debates in 2015. Turns out he was Gregory Caruso, the 24-year-old son of now L.A. Mayoral hopeful, Rick Caruso.

Not even the Royal Family can escape background scene-stealers, Prince William and Kate Middleton's flower girl in 2011, Grace van Cutsem, showed the world her true feelings when the two kissed.

Of course, there are countless more, and social media users are always looking to find their next background obsession.

'Jeopardy!' Taylor Swift Fans Need to Calm Down After Contestants Whiff on Taylor Clue

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TICKIN' OFF TAYLOR NATION
Jeopardy!

Historic moment on "Jeopardy!" ... as all 3 contestants are LOSERS, at least in the eyes of Taylor Swift's legion of fans, who are destroying the competitors for missing a clue about the singer.

Yes, Taylor became the star of Wednesday night's episode when returning champ Matt Mierswa selected a $400 clue in the category, "Title That Completes the Rhyme."

The clue itself was pretty entertaining as Ken Jennings stiffly read, "And I'm just like oh-oh oh-oh oh-oh oh-oh oh-oh, you need to just stop, like can you just not, step on my gown?"

Matt and the other 2 contestants were dumbfounded ... no one buzzed in, and you could almost hear the Swifties screaming at their televisions!!!

DUH!!! Obvi the answer is: What is "You Need To Calm Down?"

Welp the outrage was, pardon the pun, swift as Swifties lost their collective minds on social media ... ripping into the contestants for the "triple stumper." One even demanded they "shut the whole show down."

Matt, as reigning champ, took most of the heat and, no, Swifties didn't care that he eventually took the W again.

He ended up taking home $26,644, but he better not spend a cent on attending a Taylor Swift concert. It wouldn't be pretty.

Drew Brees Buys Pickleball Team ... I'm An Owner Now!

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PICKING PICKLEBALL
Instagram/maddropspc

Drew Brees has found himself a job ... the retired superstar QB and former football broadcaster just bought a pickleball team, the Mad Drops, and now joins an ownership group that includes L.A. Lakers co-owner Jim Buss.

"I’m stoked to be the newest team co-owner for Mad Drops Pickleball Club in Major League Pickleball! Our 12-team co-ed league represents an incredibly competitive & exciting brand of Pickleball," Brees said when announcing the purchase.

The Mad Drops play in the Major League Pickleball league. Gary Vaynerchuk (Vee) also owns a team in the league.

Pickleball, if you aren't familiar, is essentially a mix between tennis, badminton and ping pong. Players use a paddle to hit a plastic ball over a net, onto a court.

Brees -- who played 20 seasons in the NFL -- retired after his 2021 campaign, trading the huddle for the NBC broadcast booth.

In May, the Super Bowl-winning QB had some fun with fans speculating what his future held ... and he actually mentioned Pickleball.

"Despite speculation from media about my future this fall, I’m currently undecided," Brees wrote on Twitter. "I may work for NBC, I may play football again, I may focus on business and philanthropy."

"I may train for the pickleball tour, senior golf tour, coach my kids or all of the above. I’ll let you know," he continued.

Brees' Mad Drops will begin their quest to win a championship in Newport Beach, CA on Aug. 5-7 ... and Drew's pumped!

"This is fun. This is what sports is all about."

Elon Musk Sunning at His Own Risk on Yacht Vacay!!!

Elon Musk has bigger fish to fry than the Twitter lawsuit right now ... like getting his hands on some SPF during his trip to Mykonos, where he's doing the yacht thing with famous friends.

The richest man in the world also looked to be one of its most fair-skinned as he took a dip in the Aegean Sea. His pal Ari Emanuel, CEO of William Morris Endeavor, was waiting to hose him down with some fresh water when he got back on the deck of their yacht.

Elon looks to be third-wheeling it -- Ari's new wife, Sarah Staudinger, was also lounging on the boat with the guys.

BTW, Musk is kinda hanging himself by his own petard here. You might recall, back in April, he jabbed at Bill Gates by tweeting a photo of BG side-by-side with the emoji of a guy with a big belly.

What's that saying about multi-billionaires in glass houses? Just sayin' ...

One thing's for sure ... if Elon's worried about Twitter suing him for backing out of the $44 billion deal to purchase the platform, he's not showing it.

Billie Eilish Credited for 'Sad Girl' Pop Genre ... Fiona Apple Fans Rage

Billie Eilish might be responsible for crystalizing what you could call "sad girl" pop in this day and age ... an argument that's got fans of Fiona Apple, and others, up in arms.

Here's the deal ... a fan account that chronicles Billie music news tweeted Saturday that the Recording Academy -- which, of course, is responsible for the Grammys -- credited BE with creating the above-mentioned genre ... also employed by Olivia Rodrigo, Tate McRae, etc.

They're referencing an article from the Recording Academy that was written a few days ago, titled ... "The Psychology Of "Sad Girl" Pop: Why Music By Billie Eilish, Gracie Abrams, Olivia Rodrigo & More Is Resonating So Widely."

While the Billie fan account isn't quite accurate in characterizing what the article actually says -- namely, that Billie has more or less popularized "sad girl" pop into its own subgenre, especially for a new generation -- it does sorta capture the spirit ... which seems to be giving artists like Billie and all the other Gen-Zers a bit more credit than they perhaps deserve.

That's where Fiona fans are coming out in force against this narrative ... dive into the "Fiona Apple" trend on Twitter right now and you'll see what we mean. They're sour over this.

A lot of them are pointing out that musicians like Fiona and Alanis Morissette are the actual trailblazers that the Recording Academy thinks Billie, Olivia and other young'ns are -- and there are other names getting thrown in the mix too as pioneers.

There's Lana Del Rey ... who's been in this lane for years. Others who've been mentioned as stalwarts of "sad girl" pop -- Michelle Branch, Taylor Swift, Avril Lavigne, Marina Diamandis, Lorde, Hope Sandoval ... and even older acts like Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell.

While the article in question DOES actually shout out a lot of these ladies, they also seem to kinda downplay their impact a bit. Of course, the other argument is ... maybe Billie and co. actually did help turn all this sad girl stuff mainstream??? The debate rages, no doubt.

Lamar Jackson Slams Ex-Ravens DB In Wild Twitter Beef 'I Had To Google You Lil Bra'

Lamar Jackson went after ex-Ravens safety Bernard Pollard for dissing him this week ... calling him all kinds of names in a wild Twitter beef.

The two's tiff initially started after ESPN's Ryan Clark said Tuesday that LJ is arguably a top 10 QB ... but, Pollard disagreed, saying Jackson is "a top 10 talent," not a top signal-caller.

Pollard also said no top receivers want to play with LJ 'cause he can't throw the ball ... and that's when Jackson got to typing.

"🤣🤣you sound dumb asf," Jackson replied via Twitter on Wednesday.

"You been cappin since I been playing for the ravens I never heard of you tbh my boy you got your Super Bowl cause of Ray Lewis and Ed Reed 🤣🤣 that year."

Pollard did win Super Bowl XLVII with Lewis and Reed, and because of that, he said he feels LJ (who hasn't won an SB yet) should put respect on his name by calling him Champ.

Jackson refused ... and told the 37-year-old that he's so irrelevant, he had to look Pollard up on the internet before jumping into the drama.

"Nobody speak of you," Jackson said. "I had to Google you lil bra. I never heard of you until I seen you keep dissing like you was a HOFMER BUT YOU FARRRRRRRRRRR FROM IT ACROSS THE OCEAN LIKE OVERSEAS."

LJ took things further by reposting a video of Pollard doing a silly dance in the locker room. He also reposted a clip of Pollard missing an easy tackle in Super Bowl XLVII.

"Bra we almost lost cause of this mf," Jackson said of one of the clips. "I wanted to slap tf outta 31 and it's you???? 🤣🤣"

Guess we won't see these two hanging out at a Ravens reunion anytime soon.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren Elon Thinks Twitter Deal's Dead??? LOL, Yeah ... We'll See!!!

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HE'S GOT ANOTHER THING COMING
TMZ.com

Elon Musk may think he's getting out of this Twitter deal scot-free, but Senator Elizabeth Warren thinks he might be setting the table for a healthy helping of crow.

The Massachusetts legislator gave us her two cents on the situation Tuesday on Capitol Hill, where she seemed to be in a hurry (per usual). Still, she shot us a little insight of her read into EM trying to pull out of the $44 billion mega-deal ... and she kinda laughed at him.

Watch ... sounds like SEW is team Twitter, saying the Tesla chief may think the rules don't apply to him -- but that he's in for a big surprise as the bird app prepares to fight back.

As you know ... Elon has said he's halting the buy-out because he claims Twitter hasn't handed over the info he wants on suspected bot accounts, among other things, which he claims gives him the right to kill the whole thing.

Twitter, meanwhile, is now taking him to court ... and seems dead set on forcing him to pay what he's agreed to, even though the price in Twitter stock has dropped drastically. The company says Elon is only trying to drop out because the stock market took a big drop after he signed the deal in April ... and both his personal and Twitter's value dropped too.

Elon sounds confident he'll win in front of a judge, but Sen. Warren isn't so sure -- although she stops short of saying why she might feel that way. We know she's no fan of his (or billionaires in general), so maybe she's simply telegraphing what she wants for an outcome.

Interestingly, Warren was against a Musk takeover to begin with -- calling it too much power for one individual person -- but now ... she apparently wants him to reap what he's sowed.

Elon Musk Sued by Twitter for Backing Out of Deal ... You Said $44 Bil, Now Pay Up!!!

Twitter's delivering on its promise to sue Elon Musk for backing out of what they say was his promise to buy the platform -- and they want a judge to force him to follow through.

In the lawsuit, Twitter says it's clear that Elon's only backing out because the stock market tanked right after he signed the deal in April to purchase for $44 billion. The company says that dip reduced Musk's wealth by $100 billion, and Twitter's value also slumped ... making his offer even more over the company's market value.

Translation: His offer suddenly looked ridiculous, and that's the only reason he wanted out.

According to the suit, Twitter's not buying his excuse about the platform being riddled with bot accounts ... calling that a "model of hypocrisy." As Twitter puts it ... Elon had very publicly said one of the reasons he wanted to buy Twitter was to "defeat the spam bots."

Bottom line for Twitter ... Musk signed on the dotted line, so he should have to pony up. It's asking the court to force him to close the deal at the agreed upon price of (GULP) ... $44 BILLION.

Soulja Boy Flames Wizkid For 12-Year-Old Diss ... You're Famous Now, Delete Those Old Tweets!!!

Some tweets live forever -- a tough lesson Soulja Boy and Wizkid are learning the hard way, thanks to some ancient posts from the Afrobeats music star, and they ain't pretty from Soulja's perspective.

This tweet from May 10, 2010 popped up on Soulja's timeline -- “I swear soulja boy is wack!..jeeeezzzzz!”

The now-viral diss originally dropped about 3 years after Soulja's iconic “Crank Dat” hit, and nearly a decade before Wizkid linked with Drake to blow up on the American side with his “Come Closer” collab.

SB later launched an animated 15-minute Instagram Live session explaining “30 minutes or 30 years” still warrants a response ... and added that when you become rich and famous ... you should delete your old tweets that could lead to moments like this.

He’s not mad … just a lil mad. 😬

While WizKid has yet to respond, Nigerian civil rights activist Rinu Oduala inserted herself into the mix … only to catch a stray shot from Big Draco.

'Thor: Love and Thunder' Film Twitter Apparently Hates It ... Too Joke-y, Too Kiddish

The newest 'Thor' movie crushed it at the box office this weekend -- but as far as how people actually feel about it ... well, it seems much of the internet thought it was trash.

The numbers are in, and per estimates ... "Thor: Love and Thunder" raked in a whopping $143 million domestically, landing as one of the highest-grossing openings in the MCU. That's all fine and good for Disney, we're sure, but general reactions to the film aren't great.

For starters, critics gave it a relatively low score -- just 68% on RT -- which is a drastic drop  compared to other Marvel movies, historically ... most have held up much better over the years under professional scrutiny, but that's not the case with 'L&T.'

Not only were the pros unimpressed ... it sounds like "Film Twitter," as it were, also found the movie to be absurdly bad -- especially compared to other 'Thor' entries. Sooo, what's their beef exactly??? It ain't hard to tell ... people seem to have found it to be juvenile.

Scroll through some of the "Thor" trends and you'll see -- it's either folks crapping on the movie, or a bunch of others piling on those same people while trying to defend 'Love and Thunder,' with their argument being ... it's a freaking comedy, turn off your brains and enjoy!

That might be true, but it looks like a good majority aren't thrilled with the direction 'Thor' is going under the watch of Taika Waititi -- who helmed the last beloved installment, "Ragnarok," and who apparently did more of the same in this new one ... perhaps too much.

Many say 'Love and Thunder' relies too heavily on gags and punchlines rather than savor in the heavy stuff -- and some feel like the character/franchise has jumped the shark.

There's also people saying Christian Bale's bad guy character, Gorr, doesn't get enough screen time -- nor does Natalie Portman, it seems, based on some of these recaps. In short, there's a good handful of viewers who felt the movie was all over the place and uneven.

The Rotten Tomatoes audience score is at just 81%, which might sound okay for a regular movie -- but for Marvel, that's fairly awful. To be honest, we haven't seen it yet ... so it's difficult to say if there's any validity to all this criticism -- or if it's overblown/exaggerated.

But, from the outside looking in ... don't go in expecting a Marvel masterpiece this time.

Anne Frank She Had White Privilege?!? ... Twitter Debates

Twitter is yet again proving it's the worst for bulk bad takes -- this time, debating whether Anne Frank, who was hunted and killed by Nazis, had white privilege while alive. 🥴

You might've noticed the late Holocaust victim was trending Saturday, but finding out why is disheartening ... some, it seems, have floated an argument that Frank benefited from white privilege in Nazi Germany -- an argument that is rightly being shot down left and right.

Unclear how this toxic discourse first started, but it seems to stem from a warped notion that Jews had the benefit of their skin color to go unnoticed in public, if only temporarily, during that bleak time in history ... while POC, historically, haven't been able to do so.

The theory is so twisted, and yet ... it's being defended by a select few on the bird app ... despite a vast majority of folks swooping in to bat down the rhetoric by noting that Jews were, in fact, seen and treated as an inferior race in an ethnic sense ... and that Anne Frank was murdered specifically because she was Jewish. Plus, she was in hiding!

As someone wisely put it, "Anne Frank didn’t have white privilege…you wanna know why? Jewish people aren’t included when white nationalists define the perfect Aryan race. If you think she did, tell that to all the other innocent jewish people forced into concentration camps for not being white enough."

In other words, Jews were not considered one and the same as Nazis at the time, by said Nazis, even pigmentation-wise -- evidenced in their literal extermination by the millions.

This harkens back to another weird debate from a few years ago, when folks were going after Hellen Keller -- who was both blind and deaf -- for only have achieved such notoriety and success in her day due to her own "white privilege." That was bad, this is much worse.

This also seems to be in the same vein as what Whoopi Goldberg put forth on 'The View' this year ... when she likened the Holocaust to one group of white people against another, and not wanting to conflate that with the plight experienced by African-Americans.

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THE CONTROVERSIAL COMMENTS
ABC

She was suspended, and ultimately apologized. As some have noted, convos like these devolve into a contest of suffering -- with this new trend just being the latest iteration.

No, Anne Frank was not an oppressor ... toss that thinking into the garbage, immediately.

Elon Musk No Deal, Twitter!!!

UPDATE

3:01 PM PT -- Apparently, Elon's backing out on the sale isn't sitting well with Twitter execs ... the company's chairman, Bret Taylor, just tweeted, "The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery."

Elon Musk isn't going to be taking over Twitter after all, he just notified the company he wants to terminate the potential deal they had for the sale of the company.

CNBC reports Musk's lawyer sent a letter on his behalf Friday, claiming the social media company "has not complied with its contractual obligations.”

According to Elon's side ... Twitter allegedly didn't hand over business information that the Tesla CEO had requested, unclear specifically what he was looking for, but he's spoken in the past about wanting to look into the company's claims about spam accounts before a deal could be reached.

As we reported, Musk announced he was pumping the brakes on his $44 billion deal back in May ... and the stock tanked in pre-market trading -- down 25%.

While he said the pause had to do with the spam accounts, other theories began to circulate -- one idea suggested he wanted to make execs at Twitter sweat and get a better deal, while another theory believed it to be the beginning of the end of his deal with the platform.

Originally Published -- 2:51 PM PT

Katy Perry Abortion Tweet Dragged ... Don't You Back Caruso???

Katy Perry sent a message this holiday weekend to express frustration about the Roe v. Wade decision -- but all Twitter wants to do is point out what it sees as hypocrisy.

The singer tweeted Monday about the 4th of July and what it means in her eyes in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling to reverse the landmark decision ... effectively outlawing abortions almost immediately in several states across the country, and more to come.

She sarcastically writes, "'Baby you’re a firework' is a 10 but women in the US have fewer rights than an actual sparkler smh" -- clearly referencing her 2010 track of the same name.

NBD, or so you would think ... rather than getting praised for her pro-choice sentiment here -- as many celebs have been lately -- Katy is actually getting dragged to no end right now. And it all has to do with who she publicly supported for L.A. Mayor ... aka, Rick Caruso.

As we reported ... KP was one of many celebs who endorsed the billionaire entrepreneur and real estate developer running for Mayor. And while he didn't outright win in June's election -- he has a chance to take it home in Nov. in a runoff race with Rep. Karen Bass.

The problem ... Caruso, who's running as a Dem, has been perceived as wish-washy on his abortion stance over the years, at least that's what old interviews from the 2000s suggest. Until recently ... Rick was a Republican and has donated to a lot of GOPers, including folks some say have it out for abortion rights -- all of which he's been called out over of late.

Now, he says he's pro-choice and touts himself as an advocate for women's rights. Unfortunately for him (and for Katy, it seems) ... Twitter's not buying it, and they're telling Katy to sit this one out due to her very vocal support for him.

She's far from the only celeb who backed Caruso, though -- Kim Kardashian also got behind him in the run-up to the election last month ... but she appears to have wisely dodged Twitter to lament the abortion sitch lately.

Instead, she's voiced her displeasure via IG Stories -- where random people can't comment or go after her as easily as they could on the old bird app . Smart move in hindsight.

Bette Midler Invokes Trans Argument ... Talking Abortion, Women's Rights

UPDATE

5:45 PM PT -- Macy Gray appears to concur with Bette. While talking to Piers Morgan, she expressed similar views ... albeit not necessarily in the context of abortion.

UPDATE
UPDATE

It appears the convo was more broad about trans people in general -- and on the front, Macy says ... "Just because you go change your parts, (that) doesn't make you a woman."

Bette Midler has embraced an argument some are invoking to address the abortion crisis in the country -- bringing up transgender people to make a point ... a lightning rod one at that.

The actress has been very active on Twitter these past couple days, blasting the Supreme Court for reversing Roe v. Wade -- mostly hitting out at Clarence Thomas, it seems -- and in the same breath ... she's speaking up on women's rights. Emphasis on that first part.

BM writes, "WOMEN OF THE WORLD! We are being stripped of our rights over our bodies, our lives and even of our name! They don’t call us 'women' anymore; they call us 'birthing people' or 'menstruators', and even 'people with vaginas'!"

She adds fervently ... "Don’t let them erase you! Every human on earth owes you!" Of course, that gets to trans/non-binary people ... and some are calling this POV transphobic.

Interestingly, her comment piggybacks on a now-viral op-ed published in the NYT this weekend, titled "The Far Right And Far Left Agree on One Thing: Women Don't Count" ... in which the author makes similar arguments about cisgender women being "erased" on the extremes of both sides of the aisle ... either for inclusivity's sake, or outright oppression.

While some might agree, others say it's a false equivalency to compare trying to be sensitive to trans people/using mindful language to what the GOP seems to be doing (banning abortions) ... suggesting one is clearly a far more serious and dire threat than the other is.

In any case, we know where Bette stands on the issue. She seems to be very much an old-school feminist who's pretty pissed off about all this. One crisis at a time, though, perhaps.

Originally Published -- 11:58 AM PT

Marilyn Manson Abuse Case Compared to Depp's Amid Viral Twitter Thread

Marilyn Manson's legal situation with Evan Rachel Wood -- who's accused him of abuse -- is being compared to Johnny Depp's ... this as a Twitter thread linking the two is going viral.

The thread -- consisting of several tweets that attempt to paint MM as an abuser -- got started Friday ... with the author, who says she's an IPV survivor/advocate, laying out what she claims is evidence that she insists backs ERW's horrific allegations against her ex.

At a few different points in her deep dive, the Twitter user mentions ties between Manson and Depp -- including the fact that they're close friends ... while suggesting Manson may be ripping a page out his JD's playbook by taking his accuser to court with a defamation suit.

As TMZ reported ... Manson accused Wood of concocting her claims against him in an alleged elaborate scheme he says was meant to ruin his reputation and career. He's denied all of her allegations, including those from the other women who've also accused him.

Back to Johnny for a minute, though, because there's a debate raging about whether the claims he leveled against Amber Heard -- which were found to be mostly true by a jury -- are, in fact, comparable to Manson ... who is also alleging his accuser is making all this up.

The Twitter user notes that the cases are totally separate with differing evidence and allegations -- but throughout, she appears to be implying that JD has established a dangerous precedent for men accused of abuse ... including Manson.

A handful online agree -- namely, that the support Depp amassed throughout his trial could backfire by automatically lending itself to other stars in similar scenarios ... in this case, Manson, who some believe has been credibly accused, considering the deets of his case.

Others, however, are standing firm that supporting Depp doesn't automatically mean support for Manson ... and that trying to conflate the two cases just because they're pals is wrong.

What almost everyone seems to be missing is that Johnny was within his right to take his accuser to court and have the facts laid out ... as is Manson, as is anyone else. It's called due process -- and everyone is entitled to exercise it if they have a legal bone to pick.

Johnny had his day in court, and Manson will have his too. Trying to firm up public sentiments one way or another before that seems like a fool's errand ... and yet.