by Caitlin White 9 mins ago

On the list of things that qualify as good excuses, it seems like maternity leave is an air-tight reason, right? Wrong! A judge in Atlanta denied Stacy Ehrisman-Mickle’s request to postpone a hearing due to the fact that she had a baby only four weeks earlier. In response to her request, Judge J. Dan Pelletier Sr. wrote, “No good cause. Hearing date set prior to counsel accepting representation.”

Clearly, Ehrisman-Mickle was miffed at his decision, especially given that two other immigration judges had granted similar motions that she’d filed with a note from her doctor. She had accepted the immigration case in July, but her clients couldn’t afford to hire her right away and went to their first hearing alone. Then they hired her in the beginning of September, when she agreed to the case, assuming that her maternity leave request would be an acceptable reason to postpone the October date for their second hearing.

“I was in a state of panic. I didn’t know what to do with my baby,” she told The Associated Press in an interview on Thursday (October 16).

Left without options on such short notice—a four-week-old baby is too young for daycare and her truck-driver husband was out of the state—Stacy called her doctor to see if she could bring the baby to court with her. Her pediatrician assured her that as long as the baby was in a carrier facing her chest and didn’t touch anyone in the court room, it should be fine.

But ...

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by Caitlin White 1 hour ago

Are Katy Perry and Drake going to be on a song together at last? This internet rumor comes to us courtesy of the the somewhat unexpected source of producer Max Martin.

Martin often works with Perry—among a number of other huge stars—to create massive pop jams, and he chronicles this information on his Maratone production company’s official website.

And though Katy Perry’s sixth studio album Prism dropped last year, she’s continued to release singles off the project. It looks like the next one will be “Legendary Lovers,” which Martin co-wrote and co-produced, but this version will also feature OVO’s Canadian leader Drake as a possible remix.

Here’s a screenshot of Martin’s work with Perry:

Maratone

Okay yes, he spelled a word wrong on the song above. But did you miss that last entry? Here’s a close-up, just in case:

What’s more exciting than your favorite pop star and your favorite rapper on a track together?? And while this isn’t an absolute confirmation, it seems unlikely that Martin would mistakenly include Drake in his credits. Katy recently released a remix of “This Is How We Do” featuring the rapper Riff Raff, and her collaboration with Juicy J for “Dark Horse” went over extremely well, so teaming with Drake seems like a no-brainer.

We’re reaching out for comment from both camps and will obviously keep you updated when we know more! In the meantime, you can listen to the original version of “Legendary Lovers” Read More →

by Caitlin White 29 mins ago

Katy Perry has been having a good year. The pop star is currently on some international dates for her Prismatic tour in support of her 2013 album Prism, and was recently confirmed as 2015′s Superbowl halftime performer, but all those late night performances haven’t stopped her from taking time out to sight see during her travels.

She traveled to Mexico City for two performances—tonight (October 17) and tomorrow (October 18)—but Perry got to the city early to hang out in the Colonia del Carmen neighborhood of Coyoacán and visit the house-turned-museum dedicated to the legendary Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. And apparently, she’s a huge fan! Katy hung out at the La Casa Azul and snapped several pics of the place.

Known as La Casa Azul (or literally the Blue House) due to its striking cobalt blue paint, the structure has become something of a monument to Frida’s legacy, and features both her artwork and items from her personal life.

“Hanging @ Frida & Diego’s,” Perry captioned this pic, referencing Frida’s husband Diego Rivera who lived in the house with the painter after they were married.

She was also stoked to see Frida’s headpiece…

And her paints!

Will we see some of Frida’s style slipping into the rest of the costumes for Katy’s tour? That headpiece does look like something the “This Is How We Do” singer would rock—plus we already know her affinity for incorporating art into her style:

So we’ll keep an eye ...

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by Adam Fleischer 29 mins ago

Hip-hop. It started out in the parks of NYC.

And ever since then, place has been an essential element of the music. Artists usually rep where they’re from — early and often. Think Kendrick’s Compton-infused good kid, m.A.A.d city or Nas’ Illmatic, a 20-year-old journey through his native Queens.

But rising rapper Iggy hasn’t made her native Australia a major part of her music. And on Friday (October 17), she was emphatic in saying her Aussie roots won’t ever be a topic for musical discussion, saying that she felt left out as a teen hearing MCs rap about their stories.

I have no doubt your feelings were true to your experience, Iggy. But for me, as a kid growing up in Boston, hearing those authentic tales about an upbringing is part of what drew me to rap; it’s what makes it such a unique and powerful art form. Listening to rap was both my portal to everywhere else and a way for me to better contextualize my own surroundings. And it still is today.

Nas brought me to Queensbridge. I saw similarities to places I knew in Boston in his music, and I heard plenty of differences that allowed me, through his words, to build pictures in my mind and learn about a place I otherwise knew little about.

Related: Snoop Dogg Apologizes To Iggy Azalea After A Call From T.I.

Big L took me to “The Danger Zone,” of his native 139th Street and ...

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by Adam Fleischer 33 mins ago

After a few months of rumors — fueled largely by some hand-holding backstage at the VMAs in August — Ariana Grande finally confirmed her relationship with Big Sean earlier this week, calling him “one of the most amazing men in the whole world.” On Friday (October 17), Sean sang similar praises of his now-confirmed significant other.

“She’s amazing, too,” the Detroit rapper told Angie Martinez on Power 105, responding to the singer’s quote about him. “She’s great, man. We just enjoy other. We’re happy; everything’s good.”

Not only are they “good” personally, but professionally, too. Just check Ariana’s “Right There” or “Best Mistake” — both of which feature the G.O.O.D. Music MC — for the proof. And it looks like we’re going to get to hear them together again soon.

“She’s on a song on my album,” he confirmed, adding that it’s unlike either of the collabs we’ve heard from the two in the past. “It’s kind of more my element than hers.”

Last month, he gave MTV News some details about their working relationship. “Me and her make a lot of music together and the chemistry between me and her when we work is great,” he said. “We got more in the works too. I feel like her voice is crazy, [just] that that big voice comes out of her is insane. I was probably one of the first people to tweet about her music; me and her been ...

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by Brenna Ehrlich 46 mins ago

Remember Fall Out Boy‘s epic new single, “Centuries”? Well, it just got an equally epic music video. And we do mean epic.

A classic story of the little guy versus the giant, the video sees the band facing off — gladiator-style — against a massive monster with murder in its eyes.

“Getting back up. Dusting it off. My dad used to tell me the most important part of any of it was getting back up on the horse –- I didn’t grow up on a farm –- but it still applied,” Pete Wentz said of the video’s themes. “David vs. Goliath, us vs. them, you vs. the world… brains, talent and luck are great but heart will always trump them. That is the sentiment of this video.”

Replete with lions, loincloths and tons of religious imagery, “Centuries” culminates in a massive fight to the death — with Rick Ross stepping in at the end for a surprise, and twisted, cameo.

We’ll be watching this video — and listening to Fall Out Boy’s other single, “Immortals” — for centuries… or at least until the band’s as-yet-unnamed record drops.

by Brenna Ehrlich 17 mins ago

At 2015′s Glastonbury music festival you will likely not be able to purchase such incendiary devices as: cigarettes, flares and Native American headdresses.

Yup, the U.K. fest is just the latest in a growing number of organizations that are perking up their ears and taking note when Native people point out that something seemingly innocuous is actually offensive. You know, like putting on a sacred piece of ceremonial garb and twerking on a muddy field.

The restrictions on the sale of headdresses came about after U.K. citizen Daniel Round created a Change.org petition, according to The Guardian.

Related: Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Wear A Native American Headdress

“There has long been consensus among indigenous civil rights activists in North America about the wearing of headdresses by non-Natives — that it is an offensive and disrespectful form of cultural appropriation, that it homogenises diverse indigenous peoples, and that it perpetuates damaging, archaic and racist stereotypes,” Round wrote in the petition.

Only 65 people signed the digital document, but that was apparently enough to tip the fest organizers’ hands. There has been no public statement on the issue, however; headdresses have merely been added to the list of things you cannot sell at the fest “without prior authorisation or discussion with the markets’ management” — right after flags and before gazebos.

This isn’t the first time headdresses have been effectively banned from a fest. The Bass Coast Festival in Canada previously nixed war bonnets from their event partly because ...

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by Aaron Goldfarb 27 mins ago

What’s the harm in making a few jokes? Typically, nothing…oh, you might hear groans or mock-offended shouts of “Too soon!” We’ve all laughed at something inappropriate. Still, think before you speak, because there’s a chance you could say something so incredibly offensive, your entire life will be over. Here are six times when people should’ve stuck to seriousness.

The guy who joked about flying with Ebola

Just last week, a US Airways passenger in Philadelphia joked, after a coughing fit while boarding the plane, “I have Ebola — you are all screwed.” With the highly-deadly disease on everyone’s mind, a compact flying tube was probably not the right venue for this sort of humor, and Hazmat-clad authorities came to escort him away. Other passengers booed him, and even the flight attendant told everyone, “I think the man who said this is an idiot.”

The publicist who failed miserably at public relations

Who can forget Justine Sacco, the P.R. flack who tweeted an unbelievably offensive AIDS joke while boarding a flight to Africa? Unbeknownst to her, it got thousands of retweets while she was in the air — and by the time Sacco landed in Cape Town, she’d been canned by her employer, IAC, which must have been the easiest business decision any company’s ever made.

The TSA worker with a bag of fake drugs

Getty Images

It’s not always passengers who pull the pranks. Back in 2010, a TSA agent planted a plastic bag of white powder ...

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by Alex Zalben 18 mins ago

At long last, the biggest outstanding question in the “Star Wars” universe has been answered: Emperor Palpatine’s first name is Sheev.

Oh, that wasn’t your biggest question? Really? Well, it got answered anyway, as the big bad leader of the Empire’s name was revealed as part of an excerpt from the upcoming novel “Tarkin: Star Wars*.”

The book, which hits stores November 4, focuses on the “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope” character Grand Moff Tarkin, and his rise to power in the Empire (before ultimately being blown up in the first Death Star). During the course of the in-continuity book, it’s revealed for the first time that Palpatine is actually named, “Sheev Palpatine.”

We won’t dwell on the fact that it sounds like the usually lisping emperor is mispronouncing the name Steve, and instead can speculate that – like most of the names in “Star Wars” – it has a pretty obvious double meaning. Specifically the villainous Sith characters don’t have the most subtle hidden meanings ever: Darth Maul, Darth Sidious and even Darth Vader (loosely German for “Dark Father”) all have very surfacey analogues.

So if we were to venture a guess, Sheev isn’t secretly “Steve Palpatine,” it’s probably short for Shiva, the Hindu deity who is both benefactor and destroyer. In “Star Wars,” Palpatine – or Sheev, if you’re friendly with him – initially poses as the savior of the galaxy, before ultimately turning out to be the villainous Darth Sidious.

Regardless, ...

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by Adam Fleischer 4 mins ago

When the NFL announced that it had banned its players from wearing non-Bose headphones during games, as well as televised pre- or post-game appearances, Beats by Dre would have been justified if they were upset. A lot of players have made a habit of wearing the popular headphones during warm-ups and at the podium after games. But it sounds like they’ve taken the news in another way.

“We didn’t do anything, and now the players are going out and putting black tape on our logo,” the company’s co-founder, Jimmy Iovine, said during a talk at University of Southern California’s Global Conversation, according to Business Insider. “It’s like, I can’t believe I’m this lucky. I feel like sending them the tape.”

After his San Francisco 49ers played against the St. Louis Rams on Monday night, quarterback Colin Kaepernick wore a pair of the headphones with a piece of tape over the logo. The previous week, he was fined $10,000 for wearing the headphonens in a post-game press conference — with the logo showing.

“What happened there, you have a tech company that’s culturally inept,” Iovine added, making reference to Bose. “There’s no one at the company that said, ‘If you ban these guys, you’re going to look bad to the young people, and they’re going to look like superheroes even though they’re just pure capitalists — well they’re not pure capitalists, but they’re real capitalists and [they] sold that company to Apple — but you’re going to make them ...

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