GoneTrending

After spending most of the week focusing on new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and his radical fundamentalist beliefs, Stephen Colbert turned his attention to the hot political scandal of the moment: Ron DeSantis allegedly wearing lifts in his cowboy boots. The Florida governor has been plagued by reports that theorize he’s attempting to amplify his height through some boot-based chicanery, and Colbert had some fun with the topic by tying into Halloween.

“The next day, you’ll see some of the little ones still in their costumes. Isn’t that great?” Colbert said. “I saw this cute little fella going around in adorable cowboy boots. What was his name? Governor Ron DeSantis.”

“You see, DeSantis wears only cowboy boots,” Colbert continued. “And here’s the thing. Cowboy boots, they’re great — if you’re a cowboy. If you’re the governor of Florida, you look like a dork. Nobody believes he’s roping dogies in Tampa. Even though Dogie Style is Tampa’s number one strip club.”

The Late Show host then proceeded to get into the finer details of Liftgate.

“Now, the rumored scandal is, I don’t know if you heard this, the scandal is that DeSantis isn’t wearing the boots for fashion,” Colbert said. “No, America’s top cobblers believe that inside his boots DeSantis is probably wearing height-boosting insoles. No, this is a true scandal. This is the greatest political height scandal since we found out Lincoln wore that hat to hide his stove pipe forehead.”

“The theory goes, and follow me down the rabbit hole, you can tell DeSantis is wearing lifts because his foot is too far back in the boot, which makes the toes curl up. Ok, let’s check that. There he is giving a speech, zoom in on the boots,” Colbert said as a photo of DeSantis shows the governor’s toes are curling up in his boots. “Sweet Keebler Elf! Governor, are you wearing lifts, or are your toes just happy to see me?”

However, Colbert couldn’t help but note that the whole thing doesn’t make any sense because cowboy heights already boost your height.

“Why are you wearing lifts?” Colbert asked DeSantis. “If you’re wearing cowboy boots, you’re lifted already. I’m wearing cowboy boots tonight, right here, look at this. I’ve got cowboy boots on. Now, this is a good look. I’ll grant you that. Look how much height they already give me. I got like two inches of loft just from that heel. It’s ridiculous. I need supplemental oxygen up here. They make you walk funny. I feel like the world’s shortest Uncle Sam in a parade in these things.”

(Via The Late Show with Stephen Colbert)

After spending most of the week focusing on new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and his radical fundamentalist beliefs, Stephen Colbert turned his attention to the hot political scandal of the moment: Ron DeSantis allegedly wearing lifts in his cowboy boots. The Florida governor has been plagued by reports that theorize he’s attempting to amplify his height through some boot-based chicanery, and Colbert had some fun with the topic by tying into Halloween.

“The next day, you’ll see some of the little ones still in their costumes. Isn’t that great?” Colbert said. “I saw this cute little fella going around in adorable cowboy boots. What was his name? Governor Ron DeSantis.”

“You see, DeSantis wears only cowboy boots,” Colbert continued. “And here’s the thing. Cowboy boots, they’re great — if you’re a cowboy. If you’re the governor of Florida, you look like a dork. Nobody believes he’s roping dogies in Tampa. Even though Dogie Style is Tampa’s number one strip club.”

The Late Show host then proceeded to get into the finer details of Liftgate.

“Now, the rumored scandal is, I don’t know if you heard this, the scandal is that DeSantis isn’t wearing the boots for fashion,” Colbert said. “No, America’s top cobblers believe that inside his boots DeSantis is probably wearing height-boosting insoles. No, this is a true scandal. This is the greatest political height scandal since we found out Lincoln wore that hat to hide his stove pipe forehead.”

“The theory goes, and follow me down the rabbit hole, you can tell DeSantis is wearing lifts because his foot is too far back in the boot, which makes the toes curl up. Ok, let’s check that. There he is giving a speech, zoom in on the boots,” Colbert said as a photo of DeSantis shows the governor’s toes are curling up in his boots. “Sweet Keebler Elf! Governor, are you wearing lifts, or are your toes just happy to see me?”

However, Colbert couldn’t help but note that the whole thing doesn’t make any sense because cowboy heights already boost your height.

“Why are you wearing lifts?” Colbert asked DeSantis. “If you’re wearing cowboy boots, you’re lifted already. I’m wearing cowboy boots tonight, right here, look at this. I’ve got cowboy boots on. Now, this is a good look. I’ll grant you that. Look how much height they already give me. I got like two inches of loft just from that heel. It’s ridiculous. I need supplemental oxygen up here. They make you walk funny. I feel like the world’s shortest Uncle Sam in a parade in these things.”

(Via The Late Show with Stephen Colbert)

The Beatles‘ “Now And Then” arrived today (November 2), which has been billed as the iconic band’s “the last Beatles song” and was preceded by a short film capturing how the track was finished. This June, Sir Paul McCartney gave a little insight into how making The Beatles: Get Back, directed by Peter Jackson, fed into the process of piecing “Now And Then” together.

“Now And Then” is a bookend, but the 2021 documentary series also addressing the role Dick James, The Beatles’ original music publisher, played in the convoluted ownership of the band’s entire catalog (as chronicled by Forbes at the time of the docuseries’ release).

The publication provided context of the first changing-of-hands:

“In that scene (Part 1, starting at 2:09:40), you sense a scent of resentment, chilling the humor, killing the vibe. It’s the ‘suit’ in the room, the one who in 1963 had convinced Lennon and McCartney to sign over the copyrights to all of their Beatles songs, including ones not yet written.

How the Beatles signed away their publishing, a year before they blasted off globally, was unusual then as now. Neither a straight copyright purchase nor a co-publishing deal, James creatively set up Northern Songs as a copyright holding company that he would own with ‘the boys.’”

However, as Forbes continued to relay, James held a 50-percent ownership stake, while McCartney and John Lennon only had 20 percent — later reduced to 15 percent in 1965. Come 1969, James was out of the picture.

As Dan Rys wrote for Billboard in January 2017, “James sold his stake in Northern Songs to ATV Music, owned by Lew Grade, and despite Lennon and McCartney’s attempts to offer a counter bid, ATV gained control of the catalog. Later that year, the duo sold their remaining shares to ATV, leaving them without a stake in the publishing of their own songs (they both controlled their own respective songwriting shares).”

Fast forward to 1985, and the situation took an even more peculiar turn: Michael Jackson outbid McCartney for publishing rights to approximately 251 Beatles songs for $47 million (as per History).

As laid out by Billboard, the landscape shape-shifted several times between 1985 and 2016, including Jackson selling half of ATV to Sony to form Sony/ATV Music Publishing (in 1995), Jackson’s sudden June 2009 death shuffling his ownership share of The Beatles’ catalog to his estate, and Sony buying out Jackson’s 50 percent Sony/ATV stake to become the sole owner of McCartney and Lennon’s catalog.

In January 2017, McCartney sued Sony/ATV “to get a declaratory judgment that states he will soon regain his copyright ownership share” while leveraging the Copyright Act in his favor, The Hollywood Reporter reported at the time. That summer, various outlets reported that McCartney and Sony/ATV had “resolved this matter by entering into a confidential settlement agreement.”

“But since this termination right only applies within the US, Sony continues to publish the songs elsewhere, as confirmed by databases of music rights organizations outside the US,” Forbes‘ Bill Hochberg wrote in December 2021. “Sony Music Publishing – they dropped ATV from the name in 2021 – still owns the vast majority of the Beatles songbook worldwide and is unlikely to sell any of it, even in the current record-setting valuation heat wave.”

And that appears to be the state of things in 2023, as there have not been any publicly disclosed changes in the two intervening years.

The Beatles‘ “Now And Then” arrived today (November 2), which has been billed as the iconic band’s “the last Beatles song” and was preceded by a short film capturing how the track was finished. This June, Sir Paul McCartney gave a little insight into how making The Beatles: Get Back, directed by Peter Jackson, fed into the process of piecing “Now And Then” together.

“Now And Then” is a bookend, but the 2021 documentary series also addressing the role Dick James, The Beatles’ original music publisher, played in the convoluted ownership of the band’s entire catalog (as chronicled by Forbes at the time of the docuseries’ release).

The publication provided context of the first changing-of-hands:

“In that scene (Part 1, starting at 2:09:40), you sense a scent of resentment, chilling the humor, killing the vibe. It’s the ‘suit’ in the room, the one who in 1963 had convinced Lennon and McCartney to sign over the copyrights to all of their Beatles songs, including ones not yet written.

How the Beatles signed away their publishing, a year before they blasted off globally, was unusual then as now. Neither a straight copyright purchase nor a co-publishing deal, James creatively set up Northern Songs as a copyright holding company that he would own with ‘the boys.’”

However, as Forbes continued to relay, James held a 50-percent ownership stake, while McCartney and John Lennon only had 20 percent — later reduced to 15 percent in 1965. Come 1969, James was out of the picture.

As Dan Rys wrote for Billboard in January 2017, “James sold his stake in Northern Songs to ATV Music, owned by Lew Grade, and despite Lennon and McCartney’s attempts to offer a counter bid, ATV gained control of the catalog. Later that year, the duo sold their remaining shares to ATV, leaving them without a stake in the publishing of their own songs (they both controlled their own respective songwriting shares).”

Fast forward to 1985, and the situation took an even more peculiar turn: Michael Jackson outbid McCartney for publishing rights to approximately 251 Beatles songs for $47 million (as per History).

As laid out by Billboard, the landscape shape-shifted several times between 1985 and 2016, including Jackson selling half of ATV to Sony to form Sony/ATV Music Publishing (in 1995), Jackson’s sudden June 2009 death shuffling his ownership share of The Beatles’ catalog to his estate, and Sony buying out Jackson’s 50 percent Sony/ATV stake to become the sole owner of McCartney and Lennon’s catalog.

In January 2017, McCartney sued Sony/ATV “to get a declaratory judgment that states he will soon regain his copyright ownership share” while leveraging the Copyright Act in his favor, The Hollywood Reporter reported at the time. That summer, various outlets reported that McCartney and Sony/ATV had “resolved this matter by entering into a confidential settlement agreement.”

“But since this termination right only applies within the US, Sony continues to publish the songs elsewhere, as confirmed by databases of music rights organizations outside the US,” Forbes‘ Bill Hochberg wrote in December 2021. “Sony Music Publishing – they dropped ATV from the name in 2021 – still owns the vast majority of the Beatles songbook worldwide and is unlikely to sell any of it, even in the current record-setting valuation heat wave.”

And that appears to be the state of things in 2023, as there have not been any publicly disclosed changes in the two intervening years.

The Beatles haven’t been an active band for decades, and yet their music is still immensely popular all these years later. A lot of the group’s current fans never got to experience the excitement of a new Beatles song getting released, but that changes today (November 2): The band has unveiled “Now And Then,” which is being billed as “the last Beatles song.”

As explained in a short film released yesterday, the band first had the thought to finish “Now And Then,” from an old John Lennon demo tape, back in 1994, but the technology available to them at the time wasn’t able to produce the results they wanted. Now, here in 2023, the tech finally caught up and “Now And Then” is here.

McCartney previously explained how AI technology was used to help make the song possible, saying, “[Peter Jackson] was able to extricate [John Lennon’s] voice from a ropey little bit of cassette. We had John’s voice and a piano and he could separate them with AI. They tell the machine, ‘That’s the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar’ So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles’ record, it was a demo that John had [and] we were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI. Then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. So it gives you some sort of leeway. We just finished it up and it’ll be released this year.”

Listen to “Now And Then” above.

The first half of the fifth and final season of Yellowstone aired from November 2022 to January 2023. The second half was slated to return sometime this year, but then came the WAG and SAG-AFTRA strikes, not to mention all the drama with Kevin Costner, so production was shut down. The actors are still on strike, but dust off your cowboy hats, dads: according to Variety, the Paramount Network’s western mega-hit will return in November 2024.

Additionally, Paramount ordered two more Yellowstone spin-off series, 1944 and 2024 (which might star Matthew McConaughey), joining 1883 and 1923. Also, Lawmen: Bass Reeves is my favorite Sheridan series because the title isn’t a year.

“Within five years, we grew Yellowstone from a hit U.S. cable show with five million viewers into a global hit franchise with over 100 million fans around the world and multiple extensions, Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of Showtime & MTV Entertainment Studios, said in a statement. “On the heels of 1883 and 1923’s success, our new planned spinoffs, 1944 and 2024, will take audiences on a thrilling, new, and unexpected journey with the complex and compelling storytelling that has become a hallmark of the franchise and has helped turn it into a worldwide cultural phenomenon – thanks to the creative mastermind of Taylor Sheridan.”

It’s unclear if Costner will return for the final batch of episodes, but at the moment, it’s not looking promising.

(Via Variety)

50 Cent is currently on his Final Lap Tour. Yet, in a new interview with Europa 2 (via HotNewHipHop), the rapper revealed that he isn’t slowing down any time soon. Although he’s been on the road since July, playing shows across the globe, he also will be treating fans to some new music very soon.

“When I’m not moving around and I’m not touring and doing things, it’s going to permit me to focus on creating music,” 50 shared, hinting that he spends his downtime in the studio. “You’ll get a little more of what you get from Dr. Dre and Eminem from me at that point.”

While 50 didn’t exactly share much else about his new music or a potential album beyond that, it is nice to know that it’s still being planned. His last record was back in 2014 with Animal Ambition: An Untamed Desire To Win — making next year a full decade since that.

However, he has stayed busy in recent years with other creative endeavors. 50 has been a co-creator in the Power television franchise, as well as shows like BMF, Raising Kanan, and Ghost. He also joined the Expendables movie franchise, appearing as a new character in Expendables 4 earlier this year.

One thing is for sure: he is very very busy.

Melania Trump was spotted with her frequently-indicted husband Donald for the first time in seven months on Halloween. Spooky! The not-so-happy couple “partied it up with all the Mar-a-Lago ghouls,” host Jimmy Kimmel joked during Wednesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live, including a man carrying a blow-up doll and a Bang energy drink, for some reason. There was sadly no Diet Coke Button costume. Also sad: that Melania didn’t dress up as Stormy Daniels “just to mess with [Trump],” Kimmel joked. “It would be fun to maybe scare him a little. Maybe give him his first erection since January 6th.”

Later in the monologue, Kimmel covered every parent’s dream: to watch their children testify after being accused of fraud. On Wednesday, sniffly Donald Trump Jr. became the first member of the Trump family to take the witness stand after being named a defendant in the $250 million lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general’s office against the former president, his company, and several executives,” according to CNN. Next up: Eric and Ivanka.

Once Trump Jr. and Eric have testified, their loving father “will claim he’s never met either one of them,” Kimmel cracked.

You can watch the Jimmy Kimmel Live clip above.

In a video shared on November 1st, Mariah Carey was thawed from a block of ice in order to get ready for Christmas and for “All I Want For Christmas Is You” to dominate the music landscape once again. Freshly unfrozen Carey has something perhaps more pressing to deal with now, though: a lawsuit over the song.

As Rolling Stone reports, Andy Stone, a country musician who performs as Vince Vance, has refiled a $20 million copyright infringement lawsuit. The case was previously dismissed in federal court in New Orleans due to it being the wrong venue, but has now refiled in federal court in Los Angeles.

Stone claims he didn’t receive proper credit for Carey’s song, and that it infringes the copyright of his 1989 song that’s also called “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” Douglas M. Schmidt, Stone’s lawyer, told the publication, “If you look at both songs, you can see that about 50 percent of the words are the same, in almost the same order. I think it’s a pretty strong claim.”

Schmidt also said attempts to settle the case ended without resolution, hence when they’re going back to court.

Jay Ceravolo, Stone’s manager, said in a statement, “Now we are moving forward to a financial conclusion either through settlement or a trial. It is simply a case of copyright infringement.”

Given that The Beatles broke up in the 1970s, and that John Lennon and George Harrison have since passed away, the band hasn’t exactly been releasing a ton of new music in recent years. That’s actually about to change soon, though: “Now And Then,” which is being billed as “the last Beatles song,” is set to be released today (November 2). Ahead of that, yesterday, the band shared a short film looking at the making of the track.

The video runs for 12 minutes and it looks back at how the song came to be, a story that began in 1994, when Yoko Ono offered up a demo tape by Lennon to the surviving Beatles (Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and Harrison at the time). From there, the film gets into more detail, creating a timeline of what happened between 1994 and present day.

McCartney previously said of the song, “[Peter Jackson] was able to extricate [John Lennon’s] voice from a ropey little bit of cassette. We had John’s voice and a piano and he could separate them with AI. They tell the machine, ‘That’s the voice. This is a guitar. Lose the guitar’ So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles’ record, it was a demo that John had [and] we were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI. Then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. So it gives you some sort of leeway. We just finished it up and it’ll be released this year.”

As for what the song will sound like, BBC notes, “The original demo has circulated as a bootleg for years. An apologetic love song, it’s fairly typical of John Lennon’s solo output of the 1970s — in a similar vein to ‘Jealous Guy.’”

Check out the short film above.