Bill Ackman Calls Off SPAC Deal for Universal Music Group

Trigger Warning: This story has details of homophobic language and violence, which might be distressing to some readers. For 24 hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.Street had earlier pleaded guilty to the charge of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm over the incident dating back to February 25, 2021.Street, a security guard was partying at a night club with his friends at Airlie Beach on his day off. Airlie Beach is a coastal town in the Whitsunday Region of Queensland in Australia.Street had worn a glow stick through his ear. A man yelled out homophobic slurs at Street from across the room, calling him a “poofter” and “fa#%ot”.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFollowing its recent launch in the U.S., Viaplay has acquired domestic rights to Erik Poppe’s “The Emigrants” from REinvent International Sales.Produced by SF Studios, “The Emigrants” is a big-budget epic drama based on Vilhelm Moberg’s story about Swedes who left misery behind for a new life on the other side of the Atlantic in the mid-19th century. The film’s cast includes Lisa Carlehed (“In Your Arms”) and Gustaf Skarsgård (“438 days”), who star opposite Sofia Helin, Lena Strömdahl and Swedish pop sensation Tove Lo.REinvent International Sales has also closed deals for former Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Film Europe) and Hungary (Vertigo).Helene Aurø, REinvent sales and marketing director, pointed out that “The Emigrants” will be one of the first films shown by Viaplay’s newly launched US platform.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefBlackOps Studios Asia from the Philippines, Story Arch Pictures from the U.S. and Agog Film from Hong Kong have joined forces to develop, produce and finance a slate of genre movies that target the streaming marketplace.The 16-title slate comprises nine films and seven series in the action, horror and sci-fi genres, with 11 flowing from BlackOps, two from Story Arch and three from Agog.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorGlobal Screen has closed a raft of presales for 3D-animated feature film “My Fairy Troublemaker,” and will present new scenes to buyers at Berlin’s European Film Market.The film has been sold to U.K. and Ireland (Signature Entertainment), Australia and New Zealand (Rialto), Spain and Portugal (Big Picture Films), Italy (Koch), Scandinavia (Selmer Media), Poland (Kino Swiat), CIS (Silver Box), Ukraine (UFD), Baltics (Garsu Pasaulio), former Yugoslavia (Karantanija), Bulgaria (Pro Films), Middle East (Gulf Film), South Korea (Big Film), Malaysia (Suraya) and Vietnam (Lightening McQueen).In the film, Violetta, a cheeky fairy, smuggles herself into the human world.

Elle Driver has acquired world sales rights outside Spain and France to “La Maternal,” the second film from Pilar Palomero.Palomero’s 2019 film “Schoolgirls” (“Las niñas”) made her only the fifth first-feature director to win a Spanish Academy best picture Goya.BTeam Pictures is handling distribution in Spain.“Schoolgirls” also won Goyas for director, original screenplay and cinematography (Daniela Maciela), establishing Palomero as a leading light of Catalonia’s newest — and often female — generation of cineastes, making movies that are grounded in authentic local realities, but alert to broader social trends.Produced by Spain’s Inicia Films (“Schoolgirls,” Carla Simon’s “Summer 1993”) and BTeam Prods., “La Maternal” sees Palomero once more explore the borders between child and adulthood. Billed as a “sensitive and heartbreaking journey into teenage parenthood,” the film follows a pregnant Carla, fleeing social ostracism, eventually arriving at La Maternal shelter.There, she’ll learn to live with her teen classmates and prepare to be a mother.

Ciara and Russell Wilson nail the power couple pose while arriving at the 2022 NFL Honors at YouTube Theater at the SoFi Entertainment District on Thursday night (February 10) in Inglewood, Calif.

Becky G and Karol G have released a new song together!

Nicki Minaj has a new song out!

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLeon Bridges is a 33-year-old Texan R&B singer who launched his career as a retro R&B singer so successfully that his 2015 debut, “Coming Home,” scored two Grammy nominations, earned him an appearance on “Saturday Night Live” and even a performance for the Obamas at the White House. But he felt typecast and basically rebelled, veering off into a more esoteric, contemporary direction with his follow-up “Good Thing” — which scored him a Grammy win, for the song “Bet Ain’t Worth the Hand.” Over the past few years he’s worked with everyone from Kacey Musgraves and John Mayer to Macklemore and Bun B and even left-field Houston alt-rock trio Khruangbin.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorBillie Eilish will celebrate the release of her forthcoming album in style with a tribute concert to her hometown — “Happier Than Ever: a Love Letter to Los Angeles” — filmed at the Hollywood Bowl and accompanied by the L.A. Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Rolling Stones have announced rescheduled dates for their “No Filter” tour, which was originally slated for 2020 and postponed due to the pandemic.The 2021 dates are set to kick off September 26 in St. Louis, with rescheduled stops in Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Minneapolis, Tampa, Dallas, Atlanta, Detroit and Austin following. The Stones have also added three new dates, including their very first time playing at this year’s New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on October 13, along with dates in Los Angeles (October 17) and Las Vegas (November 6).

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFollowing on their podcast series earlier this year, former President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen will release a book titled “Renegades: Born in the USA” via Higher Ground and Penguin Random House on October 26.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorCTS Eventim, the German-based global ticketing and live-entertainment company, is launching in Asia as, naturally enough, Eventim Live Asia. The new company is run by CEO Jason Miller, who previously led all touring activity for Live Nation Entertainment’s Asia and Middle East offices.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorA month after Sony Music Entertainment announced that it will waive unrecouped debts for artists who signed with the company before 2000, its publishing company has joined the program as well. The program, part of a larger effort called Artists Forward, means that eligible artists who had not recouped their advances and/or other expenses will now receive royalties that previously had gone toward paying down those expenses.Sony Music Publishing chairman/CEO Jon Platt writes in a letter titled “Legacy Unrecouped Balance Program”:Dear Songwriters,Today, I am pleased to share that we are launching Songwriters Forward, an initiative designed to expand our support of careers at every stage.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorColdplay have announced the release of their ninth studio album, “Music of the Spheres,” arriving on October 15.The band announced the Max Martin-produced album on Instagram via a handwritten note alongside an album trailer, which combines an animated cosmic journey through the album’s planetary artwork with short clips of the album’s 12 tracks.The band’s note also seemed to hint at further sci-fi themes with the phrase ‘Everyone is an alien somewhere’.In May, the band released the album’s first single, “Higher Power,” and will follow with another track, “Coloratura” on Friday and a new single in September.The band have also revealed the full album tracklisting – with five of the twelve tracks represented by

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFor today’s finale of “Mind Wide Open,” the IGTV series and podcast hosted by Chris Cornell’s daughter, Lily Cornell Silver, she welcomes her mother, longtime Alice in Chains and Soundgarden manager Susan Silver. According to the announcement, Susan — who rarely does interviews — and Lily will talk about “the relationship between a parent and child with respect to the relationship between mental health and addiction, anxiety, the benefits of therapy and their own journey with wellness.” The final episode is airing a year to the date after the first episode, and once again on the birthday of Lily’s late father, who would have been 57.They also speak about how Susan set the stage for Lily’s openness around mental

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJudging by a trailer released early Monday, Lil Nas X is unleashing another salvo in his campaign against haters with his Kanye West-co-produced new single “Industry Baby,” which drops on Friday. The clip takes on the recent controversy around his sneaker line — which brought on a lawsuit from Nike — as well as his sexuality, both of which got prominent treatment in his “Montero” video earlier this year.In the new trailer, in which Nas plays every major role, we see him in court hearing billed “Nike Vs.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe War on Drugs will release “I Don’t Live Here Anymore,” their first studio album since 2017’s “A Deeper Understanding,” on October 29 on Atlantic Records. A North American and European tour scheduled to follow next year, including a date at Madison Square Garden.The group previews the album with its first song and video, “Living Proof” — watch it below.The album began after the group received the 2018 Grammy for Best Rock Album, with frontman/guitarist Adam Granduciel, bassist Dave Hartley and multi-instrumentalist Anthony LaMarca hammering out demos in Upstate New York.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRepublic Records as promoted Kevin Lipson to executive vice president of global commerce and digital strategy, the company’s executive VP/general manager Jim Roppo announced. He is based in Republic’s New York headquarters.In this role, Lipson, a seven-year veteran of the Universal Music Group company, will oversee commerce and streaming for the label’s acts worldwide.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorKanye West apparently premiered new material at a small listening event in Las Vegas, according to multiple unconfirmed but reliable-seeming social media reports that surfaced Sunday — several of which apparently include snippets of at least two songs.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFor all the thousands of words typed and thumbed about singer-songwriter Clairo since her 2017 song “Pretty Girl” went viral, it’s astonishing — and just as astonishingly unsurprising — how few of them actually focus on her music. Even when people are writing specifically about her songs and albums — including this remarkable latest one, “Sling” — the focus is usually on her personality, her sexuality, her background, her battles with depression and other non-musical aspects.