Billie Eilish to billionaires: ‘No hate, but give your money away, shorties’

Billie Eilish wants billionaires to donate more.

As the Grammy and Oscar winner accepted the music award at this year’s WSJ. Magazine Innovator Awards on Wednesday night, she urged the ultra-wealthy to address more of the world’s issues.

“We’re in a time right now where the world is really, really bad and really dark and people need empathy and help more than, kind of, ever, especially in our country,” Eilish said to an audience that included Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, as well as “Star Wars” creator George Lucas. “I’d say if you have money, it would be great to use it for good things, maybe give it to some people that need it.”

Late night host Stephen Colbert introduced Eilish on stage at New York’s Museum of Modern Art by announcing that she would donate $11.5 million of the proceeds from her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour to causes dedicated to food equity, climate justice and reducing carbon pollution.

Kimmel is back on ABC to big ratings, but some affiliates still refuse to air his show

NEW YORK (AP) — Jimmy Kimmel is back on his ABC late-night show, but it's still a mystery when — or if — viewers in cities such as Washington, Seattle and St. Louis will be able to see him again on their televisions.

ABC stations owned by the Nexstar and Sinclair corporations took Kimmel off the air last week on the same day the network suspended him for comments that angered supporters of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Those stations kept him off the air Tuesday, when ABC lifted the suspension. The unusual dispute attracted the attention of U.S. senators, who said they wanted to investigate the relationship between the affiliates and President Donald Trump's administration.

Kimmel returned with no apologies, but in an emotional monologue where he appeared close to tears, the host said that he was not trying to joke about the assassination. He also paid tribute to Kirk's widow.

And it got a large audience, with ABC reporting nearly 6.3 million people tuned in to the broadcast alone, despite the blackouts in many cities. As is often the case with late-night hosts' monologues, there was a larger audience online, with more than 15 million people watching Kimmel's opening remarks on YouTube by Wednesday evening. ABC says more than 26 million people watched Kimmel's return on social media, including YouTube.

Bidding an unfond farewell to the fitness test

Goodbye — and good riddance.

A new collective bargaining agreement means a long-standing pre-season ritual — timed sprint skates, measured jumps, weight-lifting contests and lung-capacity tests — is about to become a thing of the past. This September marks the final round of fitness testing, a development that Winnipeg Jets centre Mark Scheifele nearly commemorated with a T-shirt on Wednesday.

So why was this such a sore spot for players?

“I think it stems from last year and a lot of injuries coming in the pre-season, a lot of marquee guys around the league,” said Jets winger Kyle Connor.

New documentary revisits Lilith Fair, gives it the overdue kudos it deserves

In the opening moments of Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, a new documentary about the pioneering all-women touring festival co-founded by Canadian icon Sarah McLachlan in the late 1990s, there’s a series of TikTok videos fronted by gen Z women expressing wonder and astonishment that something like that ever even existed.

“There was an all-female music festival from 1997 to 1999 — and I am shook to my core,” one woman says.

Ally Pankiw, the film’s director, is not surprised younger generations have never heard of Lilith Fair.

“It was not celebrated for how massive it was,” says the Canadian film/TV writer and director (Feel Good, Shrill). “It was so commercially successful. It changed so many artists’ trajectories and careers. It raised so much money for charity.

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg set Emmy record with comedy wins for ‘The Studio’

After making a career of playing lovable underachievers, Seth Rogen is officially an overachiever: his show "The Studio" set a new Emmy record for the most wins by a comedy, racking up top prizes including best series.

The Vancouver comedian and his longtime collaborator Evan Goldberg dominated the comedy categories at Sunday's awards bash, when they also collected directing and writing trophies for their Apple TV Plus cringe comedy.

“It's getting embarrassing. I really appreciate it, in all honesty,” Rogen said with his trademark chuckle while accepting the best comedy series award.

“I’ll do my best attempt at sincerity here – if you watched our show, if you appreciated our show, if you voted for our show, especially, thank you very much. I'm legitimately embarrassed by how happy this makes me.”

Telus drops the gloves with Rogers over alleged ad blocking on its media platforms

TORONTO - A Canadian telecom giant is asking the national regulator to call one of its competitors offside, saying it has been unfairly blocked from advertising on the other company's media platforms.

It's a battle between Telus Corp. and Rogers Communications Inc. that also extends to the ice, with the former alleging that Rogers has used its position as Canada's dominant TV rightsholder for NHL games to interfere with Telus' long-standing sponsorship of the Calgary Flames.

The issue was outlined in a complaint filed by Telus in June and posted to the CRTC's website Tuesday. It alleges Rogers has been engaging in "anticompetitive behaviour" that violates regulatory rules.

Rogers disputes that characterization, however, saying Telus' advertisements aim to harm its reputation and therefore don't comply with its content standards.

Winnipeg independent music magazine Stylus set to fold

The future of Stylus Magazine, Winnipeg’s flagship indie music publication, is in jeopardy.

American Eagle counts new customers after Sydney Sweeney ad frenzy and shares soar

Shares of American Eagle Outfitters spiked 34% Thursday after the teen clothing retailer said the frenzy surrounding its Sydney Sweeney ad campaign drew new customers during its most recent quarter.

American Eagle rolled out its new new ad campaign starring 27-year-old actor over the summer. The fall denim campaign sparked a debate about race, Western beauty standards, and the backlash to “woke” American politics and culture.

Negative reactions centered on ads that used the word “genes” instead of “jeans” featuring the blonde-haired, blue-eyed actor known for the HBO series “Euphoria” and “White Lotus.”

But American Eagle did get noticed, executives said late Wednesday in a call after the Pittsburgh retailer posted second quarter earnings.

Increasing restrictions could silence culture critics

It’s getting harder to see where reviews and other forms of cultural criticism fit in the current media ecosystem. Arts writing positions are being axed at outlets all over North America — but a landscape of all influencers and no critics means all promotion and no journalism.

NCAA partners with Venmo to assist athletes who face harassment on the payment app

Venmo announced a partnership Tuesday with the NCAA to support athletes who face harassment on the payment app, which has embraced its popularity on college campuses with school spirit-branded debit cards and an option for athletes to receive money from their school directly in the PayPal app.

The partnership includes a reporting hotline for athletes and the NCAA to call in potential cases of abuse, such as when former Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne said he received payment requests from angry sports bettors following a loss last season.

“The harassment we are seeing across various online platforms is unacceptable, and we need fans to do better," NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a news release. “We applaud Venmo for taking action, and we need more social media companies and online platforms to do the same.”

Venmo said it would provide a best-practices guide for athletes to “stay safe” on its platform.

bbno$, the Beaches warn approaching TikTok Canada closure will hurt homegrown artists

Several Canadian artists are worried about losing social media support that can make or break their careers as TikTok prepares to comply with a federal order to shut down its operations in Canada.

Key things to know about how Elon Musk has boosted hard-right figures in Europe

ROME (AP) — Elon Musk may have tumbled from political grace in Washington, D.C., but as he seeks to build a new political party, his power on X — where he commands the most popular account — remains unchecked.

Musk is a kingmaker on the platform he acquired in 2022 for $44 billion. He has used his influence to cultivate hard-right politicians and insurgent activists across Europe. A retweet or reply from Musk can lead to millions of views and tens of thousands of new followers, according to an Associated Press analysis of public data.

That fact has not been lost on influencers who have tagged Musk persistently, seeking a reply or a retweet. It has also fueled concerns in Europe about foreign meddling -- not from Russia or China, but from the United States.

“Every alarm bell needs to ring,” Christel Schaldemose, a vice president of the European Parliament who works on electoral interference and digital regulation, told AP.

Music streaming service Deezer adds AI song tags in fight against fraud

LONDON (AP) — Music streaming service Deezer said Friday that it will start flagging albums with AI-generated songs, part of its fight against streaming fraudsters.

Deezer, based in Paris, is grappling with a surge in music on its platform created using artificial intelligence tools it says are being wielded to earn royalties fraudulently.

The app will display an on-screen label warning about “AI-generated content" and notify listeners that some tracks on an album were created with song generators.

Deezer is a small player in music streaming, which is dominated by Spotify, Amazon and Apple, but the company said AI-generated music is an “industry-wide issue.” It's committed to “safeguarding the rights of artists and songwriters at a time where copyright law is being put into question in favor of training AI models," CEO Alexis Lanternier said in a press release.

‘Elio’ is an intergalactic tale — but for Toronto’s Domee Shi, it hits close to home

TORONTO - For Domee Shi, making a movie about an introverted kid getting abducted by aliens felt oddly familiar.

Not because she’s had any close encounters, but because she remembers being a teenager longing to be taken away to a world where her weirdness was understood.

The Toronto native co-directs “Elio,” a Pixar animated sci-fi film about an 11-year-old orphan who yearns to be snatched by extraterrestrials to escape his loneliness — and gets his wish when an interplanetary organization mistakes him for Earth’s ambassador.

“He's this lonely artsy kid who just wants to belong somewhere. I definitely felt that way growing up,” says the Oscar-winning animator behind 2022’s coming-of-age Toronto-set hit “Turning Red.”

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ lawyers say ex-assistant’s social media posts undercut her rape allegation

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs ' lawyers confronted his rape-alleging former personal assistant on Friday with her social media posts praising the hip-hop mogul as a mentor, “my brother” and “friend for life” for years after she says he assaulted her.

Defense attorney Brian Steel quizzed the woman about some of the dozens of posts she made about Combs in the wake of the alleged rape, portraying the warm messages as contradictory to her claims that working for him was often toxic and terrifying.

The woman, testifying under the pseudonym “Mia" for a second day at Combs’ federal sex trafficking trial, read some of the messages aloud as they were displayed for jurors.

Mia told the jury that the posts were a facade: “Instagram was a place to show how great your life was, even if it was not true.”

Taylor Swift has regained control of her music, buys back first 6 albums

NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Swift has regained control over her entire body of work.

In a lengthy note posted to her official website on Friday, Swift announced: “All of the music I’ve ever made now belongs to me.”

The pop star said she purchased her catalog of recordings — originally released through Big Machine Records — from their most recent owner, the private equity firm Shamrock Capital. She did not disclose the amount.

In recent years, Swift has been rerecording and releasing her first six albums in an attempt to regain control of her music.

Carrie’s voice is back. So is the show’s soul as ‘And Just Like That…’ grows up

PARIS (AP) — “She’s messy. It can be messy. But it’s real.”

So says Cynthia Nixon — not just of Miranda Hobbes, the character she’s embodied for almost three decades, but of the show itself. “And Just Like That...,” HBO’s “Sex and the City” revival, has come into its own in Season 3: less preoccupied with pleasing everyone, and more interested in telling the truth.

Truth, in this case, looks like complexity. Women in their 50s with evolving identities. Not frozen in time, but changing, reckoning, reliving. Queerness that’s joyful but not polished. Grief without melodrama. A pirate shirt with a bleach hole that somehow becomes a talisman of power.

At its glittering European premiere this week, Nixon and co-star Sarah Jessica Parker, flanked by Kristin Davis and Sarita Choudhury, spoke candidly with The Associated Press about how the show has evolved into something deeper, rawer and more reflective of who they are now.

Tony Hawk, Mark McMorris help open skateboard park expansion in Smithers, B.C.

Tony Hawk and Mark McMorris wanted their presence at the Smithers Skate Park expansion unveiling to amplify skateboarding's importance in the remote, northern B.C. community.

Skateboarding icon Hawk and Canadian snowboarding star McMorris travelled to the town of 5,000 people for Thursday's opening. They lauded the community's pluck in raising $1.8 million to increase the size of the street park and build a bowl for skateboarders next to the Yellowhead Highway that runs from Winnipeg to the West Coast.

"I don't go to many grand openings, to be honest, but this seemed like a really unique situation," Hawk said. "I don't want to say it's the most remote area, but in remote areas, skateboarding is still a valid option for kids to choose, and they want to do it. We need to provide facilities for them."

McMorris, a three-time Olympic slopestyle bronze medallist whose 24 X Games medals is the most among snowboarders, has a special place in his heart for skateboarding.

Oilers defenceman Stecher understands Scheifele’s pain: ‘Still affects me day to day’

DALLAS - Edmonton Oilers defenceman Troy Stecher felt for bereaved Mark Scheifele when the Winnipeg Jets centre suited up for an NHL playoff game with the knowledge his father had just died.

Stecher's father Peter died of diabetes complications at age 65 in 2020, shortly before the defenceman entered the NHL's summer playoff bubble with the Vancouver Canucks.

Scheifele scored Winnipeg's lone goal in Saturday's Game 6 loss to the Dallas Stars — Edmonton's opponent in the Western Conference final — after learning his father, Brad, had just died at age 68.

"A lot of respect for him," Stecher said Friday before Game 2 of the conference final.

‘Soup Nazi’ actor dips ladle for victims of Vancouver festival attack

VANCOUVER - "Soup Nazi" actor Larry Thomas, best known for his guest role as a strict soup seller on the sitcom "Seinfeld," will be picking up his ladle again to raise money for victims of last month's attack on Vancouver's Lapu Lapu Day festival.

The Los Angeles-based actor said he will be serving at the Greens And Beans Deli in New Westminster, B.C., on Sunday as part of the restaurant's fundraising efforts.

Thomas said the April 26 attack that killed 11 people was a "terrible thing," prompting him to reprise his fundraising relationship with the deli that stretches back 20 years.

Leona Green, owner of the deli, first reached out to Thomas to ask him to serve soup at a fundraiser for the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

Hot diggity dog! Wienermobiles put on riveting race in Wienie 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Give the Borg-Wiener Trophy at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to the Wienermobile affectionately known as Slaw Dog.

In a down-to-the-wire race among the six iconic Wienermobiles that serve as goodwill ambassadors for Oscar Mayer, the hot dog-on-wheels representing the Southeast proved to be the big dog on Carb Day ahead of Sunday's running of the Indianapolis 500.

It made a dramatic pass of the Wienermobile repping Chicago at the finish line to win the inaugural Wienie 500 on Friday.

The margin was about a half a bun.

Josef Newgarden fastest in final Indy 500 practice. Takuma Sato and other contenders have problems

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Josef Newgarden spent the final 2-hour practice for the Indianapolis 500 on Friday carving through a track full of cars.

He'll have to do the same thing when it counts on Sunday.

The two-time defending Indy 500 winner, who will start in the last row as punishment for an illegally modified part found during qualifying, had the fastest lap of the 2-hour final practice on Carb Day at 225.687 mph. Teammate Will Power, who will also start at the back, was fifth while fellow Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin was just 27th on the chart.

“We have the tools and the people to battle to the front,” Newgarden said, “which is what we plan to do.”

Paul Reubens tells his story in ‘Pee-wee as Himself.’ Here’s how it came together after his death

Paul Reubens did not tell his director that he was dying.

On July 31, 2023, the news of Reubens' death came as a shock to documentary filmmaker Matt Wolf, who had spent a year trying to convince him to make the ambitious two-part documentary “Pee-wee as Himself,” now streaming on HBO Max, and over 40 hours interviewing him on camera.

But in 2023, the project was in danger of falling apart: The two had been at an impasse for a while over the issue of creative control and they’d finally found a way forward. He had one last interview scheduled, set for the first week of August. Then the texts started coming in. Wolf sat there shaking.

They’d spoken about everything — Reubens' childhood, his complicated relationship with fame, his ambitions, his commitment to his alter-ego Pee-wee Herman, his sexuality, his arrest — except the fact that he’d been battling cancer for the past six years. But after the initial shock, a renewed purpose set in.