Politics

The Democrats chose John Legend, one of the most outspoken advocates for social justice in pop, to close out the second night of their 2020 convention. But it wasn’t the fiery side that sometimes turns up in interviews and on social media he was showing — it was Legend as healer and romantic, singing “Never

Michelle Obama finished off the first night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday with a dire warning about the future of America if President Trump is re-elected. Obama invoked the memory of Rep. John Lewis in urging supporters of Joe Biden to vote “like our lives depend on it.” “If you think things cannot

Meg Whitman’s appearance at the Democratic National Convention on Monday was brief — even shorter than a Quibi — but she got her point across. Whitman, now the CEO of the short-form streaming service, threw her backing behind Joe Biden, seeking to showcase the Democrat’s appeal to Republican voters. “Donald Trump has no clue how

As the 2020 Democratic and Republican conventions unfold, one race will come more sharply into focus: the music race. Joe Biden has revealed his running mate, but has he selected a theme song? Will Donald Trump continue to keep using his already well-known music picks from the rally circuit, almost all of which have had

On Tuesday, “Veep” showrunner David Mandel will sit down for a panel with two other writers, Etan Cohen (“Idiocracy”) and Eli Attie (“The West Wing”), for a conversation entitled “Screenwriting the White House.” It sounds like the sort of virtual roundtable that somebody like, well, Variety, would do. But this is actually a fundraiser for

With presumptive democratic nominee Joe Biden announcing Kamala Harris as his running mate last week, this year’s presidential race is heating up – and just in time for the Democratic National Convention. The convention will take place virtually this year rather than in its originally planned location of Milwaukee, Wis., and will feature a slew

Newsweek has apologized for an op-ed published on Wednesday that questioned Kamala Harris’ eligibility as Joe Biden’s pick for vice president. An editor’s note added to the article on Friday apologized and said the original piece was “being used by some as a tool to perpetuate racism and xenophobia.” The op-ed was written by conservative

Protesters gathered outside the home of Louis DeJoy, the Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service, on Saturday morning as fears over mail-in voter suppression grow ahead of the 2020 election. A crowd of people brought air horns, drums, pots and pans and other noisemakers outside DeJoy’s Washington, D.C., home for a “noise demonstration.”

President Trump, in a new executive order Friday evening, set a 90-day deadline for China’s ByteDance to fully divest the U.S. assets of TikTok based on the U.S. government’s fears that the video app threatens America’s national security. That means Beijing-based ByteDance will have until Nov. 12 to find a U.S.-based buyer for TikTok operations

Marge Simpson responded to a tweet uploaded by a senior advisor to president Donald Trump in which she mocks vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, comparing her voice that of “The Simpsons” character. In a video uploaded to Twitter, Marge (voiced by Julie Kavner) said that she feels disrespected by Jenna Ellis’ comment, which she interpreted

HeadCount is a banner that concertgoers are familiar with from past election years, as an organization renowned for voter registration drives at U.S. concert tour stops. With that being a non-existent way of finding latent voters in 2020, the organization is teaming up with the Global Citizen for a new partnership that will use music

Former presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten will be honored by Equality California during its virtual Golden State Equality Awards celebration. The event will be hosted by “Pose” star Angelica Ross and take place on Sept. 13. The Buttigiegs will receive the Equality Trailblazer Award. The Netflix documentary “Disclosure” will also be feted

Sen. Kamala Harris wasted no time in attacking President Trump in her introduction on Wednesday afternoon as Joe Biden’s running mate. Harris spoke for the first time since Biden selected her to be the first Black woman and first Asian American on a major-party ticket on Tuesday. She presented what she called an “open and

When Joe Biden and Donald Trump meet for their first presidential debate in 2020, a lot of TV news executives are betting it might look like something from 1960. That was the year Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy squared off in various TV studios without a live audience to gasp, boo or cheer

The news that Kamala Harris would join the Democratic presidential ticket hit Hollywood with a jolt on Tuesday, as the entertainment community celebrated the elevation of its home-state senator. Harris has long-standing connections to the industry, thanks to more than a decade as a rising star in California politics. Her showbiz connections also come close

Hollywood was left buzzing after Democratic candidate Joe Biden officially announced that Sen. Kamala Harris will be his running mate in this year’s presidential race. Many celebrities shared their reaction to the news on Twitter, including actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner, who celebrated the fact that Harris is the first Black and South Asian woman

Joe Biden has chosen Sen. Kamala Harris as his vice presidential running mate, making her the first Black woman and the first Asian American to join a major party presidential ticket. Harris, 55, was seen as the frontrunner for the No. 2 spot for the last few months, especially in the wake of George Floyd’s

MeidasTouch, a progressive Democratic PAC founded by brothers Ben, Brett and Jordan Meiselas, has released an LGBTQ+-targeted ad under the banner “Enough is Enough.” The group has partnered with Vote Proud, a voting initiative for the LGBTQ community founded by Bruce Roberts, Lisa Halliday and Jake Resnicow and co-chaired by Sharon Stone, Elton John and

U.S. President Donald Trump last week signed an executive order that will effectively ban TikTok, unless the app is sold to a U.S. buyer by mid-September. Here’s what you need to know to get up to speed on what’s happening and what this will mean. What is TikTok, and what is its relationship to China?

Hong Kong police arrested prominent pro-democracy campaigner and newspaper mogul Jimmy Lai on Monday morning on charges of colluding with foreign forces, an offence under the new National Security Law. Later in the morning, more than 100 police officers raided the offices of Lai’s Next Media, publisher of the Apple Daily newspaper. The police said

Facebook has shut down one of the biggest QAnon conspiracy-theory groups on its platforms, citing repeated policy violations. The Official Q/Qanon group, which Facebook said it shut down Tuesday (Aug. 4), was identified as having violated Facebook policies prohibiting bullying and harassment, hate speech, and misinformation. “We’ve removed this group for repeatedly posting content that

TikTok responded to Donald Trump’s executive order issued Thursday night — to effectively ban the app if its parent company cannot complete a sale to a U.S. entity within 45 days — saying it was “shocked” and that TikTok would launch a legal fight against the president’s move. TikTok, owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance,

Following a deadly shooting at a mansion party, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is going after people throwing illegal large house parties during the COVID-19 crisis, vowing to have the water and power turned off. “While we have already closed all bars and nightclubs, these large house parties have essentially become nightclubs in the hills,”

UPDATED: Facebook removed a video posted by Donald Trump’s campaign because it violated the social network’s policy banning false claims about the coronavirus. The content in question was a video clip of a Trump interview on Fox News Channel on Wednesday, uploaded by the Trump campaign, in which he claimed children are “virtually immune” to

Nonprofit PEN America on Wednesday issued a moral clarion call to Hollywood to step up its efforts to resist Chinese censorship and increase transparency, criticizing studios and the MPA for appearing to defend free speech at home only when financially convenient. The New York-headquartered free speech advocacy group detailed the mechanisms by which China influences

Pete Hamill, perhaps the last of a generation of celebrity newspaperman, has died of heart and kidney failure after undergoing emergency surgery for a fractured right hip. He was 85 and had been in failing health for several years. Hamill, in columns, profiles, novels, and memoirs, was hailed for his muscular, energetic prose. His writing pulsated

Neil Young has made good on his threat to file a lawsuit against the Donald Trump campaign over its continued — and he contends legally unauthorized — use of his music for political purposes. Among the songs at issue in the suit is “Rockin’ in the Free World,” a long-contentious staple of the president’s campaign

As the future of TikTok hangs in the balance, the general manager of the Chinese-owned app’s operations in North American said she wanted to “dispel any disinformation” — saying that none of TikTok’s businesses are based in China itself. However, in practical terms, any distinction between TikTok’s U.S.-based operations and its ownership by Beijing-based ByteDance

Donald Trump said he will move as soon as Saturday to ban TikTok from the U.S., several weeks after the administration first said it was considering taking such an action against the popular Chinese-owned social video app over concerns that it’s a threat to national security. “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them

Donald Trump is gearing up to issue an order requiring ByteDance to sell its ownership interest in TikTok, according to multiple reports — otherwise, he’s threatened to ban the short-form video app in the U.S. over security concerns related to its ties to China. At the same time, Microsoft is currently in talks to buy