Entertainment

Macklemore Draws Support From Artists Amid Ed Sheeran Tour Controversy

For the two nights he made it through as an opener on Ed Sheeran‘s Loop tour, Macklemore used his position in front of an audience of thousands to advocate for Palestinians living in Gaza, where the death toll has surpassed 73,000 as Israeli military operations continue despite an alleged ceasefire, according to the Associated Press. The rapper’s “Free Palestine” call led to his removal from the tour, a decision ultimately made by the venue owners who opposed his statements.
While he no longer has the platform afforded to him by stadium stages, Macklemore has found support in fellow artists, activists, and public figures who have taken to social media to stand by him amid the controversy.
Kehlani embraced Macklemore from a position of having similarly experienced a loss of access and opportunity. “A LOT of venues / owners are rallied together this way,” she commented on his Instagram post addressing the removal. “Honored to know you brother. Adore you. Behind you!” In 2025, Kehlani was pulled from two separate performances, one at Cornell University and the other at New York’s SummerStage, over her public support of the Palestinian people.
In response, she said at the time, “If you want to cancel me from opportunity, stand on it being because of your zionism,” adding: “I am anti-genocide, I am anti the actions of the Israeli government, I am anti an extermination of an entire people, I’m anti the bombing of innocent children, men, women. That’s what I’m anti.” Her firm stance similarly drew support from fellow artists including Vic Mensa, who penned a lengthy open letter in which he commended Kehlani for choosing “to center humanity and courage as boldly and uncompromisingly as you have.” (Humanitarian groups and a United Nations commission have said Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute a genocide. Israel and its allies, including the United States, have denied this.)
This has become a familiar occurrence. Last year, the Irish band Kneecap faced criticism for speaking in defense of the Palestinian people during their performance at Coachella. In an email to Rolling Stone at the time, band member Mo Chara explained that Kneecap have spoken “at every single gig since the band’s formation, long before October 2023 as the oppression and brutal occupation of Palestine has been ongoing for 77 years.” Beneath Macklemore’s post, Kneecap commented, “They can never silence the truth.”
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The band also shared a photo captured backstage at a festival with the rapper. “All love and solidarity to Macklemore,” they said. “Free Palestine.” Rapper Robby Vylan of the group Bob Vylan also commented, echoing his quote, “There is no thanks for a duty.” Earlier this summer, the duo announced plans to sue the BBC for defamation over the corporation’s reaction to their 2025 Glastonbury performance, during which they led crowds in chants of “Free, free Palestine” and “Death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces].”
These artists have a much more limited audience reach than someone like Sheeran, who operates on a much more global scale of success. In his statement, Macklemore acknowledged this reach, writing, “I didn’t need 10 shows from Ed. I needed 2. Two chances to stand in front of 90,000 people and say the words that somehow became too dangerous to say. Free Palestine. But if those words cost me the stage, while turning the conversation back to Palestine, then it was the most successful tour I’ve ever been on.”
Sheeran responded to the controversy in a multi-slide Instagram post of his own. “I am not complicit,” he said. “I have my personal views on this devastating conflict. Just because I choose not to speak publicly, it doesn’t mean I don’t have them, and it doesn’t mean I don’t care.” Sheeran, who boasts more than 47 million followers on the platform, disabled comments on the post.
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Finneas, who was scheduled to open for Sheeran later this year on the South American leg of the Loop tour, has “decided to withdraw” from the run. “Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed,” Finneas wrote on Instagram. “I stand with Palestine and its people.”
Opener Aaron Rowe also dropped out. “I don’t take the decision lightly. Ed has been a friend to me and has changed my life, I could never thank him enough for this,” Rowe said on Instagram. “But as Irish people, we know all too well about genocide, forced famine and violent occupation. I cannot stand by and allow billionaires to use their position of power to silence the rightful voices of those who speak up against Israeli genocide and who highlight the savage murder of children.”
Lukas Graham, one of the only remaining openers left at the time, soon followed. “Money doesn’t give you the right to own the conversation. Nobody’s bank balance should decide who gets to speak or which suffering we’re allowed to acknowledge,” Graham wrote on Instagram. “I love Ed, and I’m grateful for everything we’ve shared. That hasn’t changed. But I can’t put these words out into the world and carry on with this tour as things stand. We’re withdrawing from the remaining dates. I’m sorry we won’t be there. This is a difficult decision, but it’s one I need to stand by.”
Shortly after, Sheeran lost part of his backing band, which performs with him for a number of songs each night. “We have made the decision to depart as Ed Sheeran’s band on the remaining US Loop tour, following the silencing of Macklemore by zionist lobbies,” the band Beoga wrote on Instagram. “We are a traditional Irish band who never saw ourselves playing in stadiums of that size and that opportunity is not lost on us. We have been friends with Ed for over 10 years now and will continue to be. We believe in dialogue as a means of progressing the plight of the Palestinian people.”
As members of the tour, Beoga were able to catch the two sets Macklemore played before being pulled from the bill. “We were there for Macklemore’s performance and speech. We fully supported his message, so did most of the audience in Met Life Stadium which terrifies the lobbies. Go back and read the transcript if you’re in doubt,” they wrote.
Sheeran reiterated in his post that the decision to pull Macklemore from the Loop tour came down to the venue owners and promoters, including the Kraft Group’s Robert Kraft. “I have spent this week trying to build bridges, to find a solution and unfortunately, was unable to do so,” he said. “I know who I am, both as a person and as an artist, and those who know my heart know my values too.” In their statement, Boega encouraged readers to “research how much Robert Kraft has done to fight the BDS movement. That will give you a sense of what we’ve all been up against.”
In an Instagram Story, actress Rowan Blanchard reposted the slide from Macklemore’s statement in which he acknowledged “Ed was in a fucked up position … His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had before.” She added the comment, “How many people refuse to get past their public facing ‘I don’t take sides.’” The indie pop band Muna also responded, writing on Instagram, “Everyone involved in the move to silence free speech about a genocide is utterly pathetic. Solidarity with Macklemore.” The model Gigi Hadid added, “Macklemore we stand with you. Free Palestine.”
Paloma Faith and Rachel Chinouriri, who both performed at the Together for Palestine benefit concert at Wembley Stadium last year, voiced their support in Macklemore’s comments section. “What a fantastic and selfless way to use your platform,” Chinouriri wrote. Faith added, “You are a rare and important voice … thank you for existing… This is so articulate and so powerful. You are a hero.” More remarks poured in from Gigi Perez, who said, “True integrity. We stand with you and Palestine,” as well as Zara Larsson and PinkPantheress, who commented with heart emojis.
An additional note came from the activist Greta Thunberg, who was detained by Israeli forces last summer after it halted a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid ship. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz “instructed the IDF to ensure that the ‘Madleen’ flotilla does not reach Gaza,” he said at the time. “Full solidarity and free Palestine,” Thunberg commented on Macklemore’s post. “Artists’ very active silence in the face of injustice and genocide will not be forgotten.”
Massive Attack criticized Sheeran for allowing Macklemore to be pushed out of the tour, even if it wasn’t his direct decision. “No artist should tolerate the censorship of another artist, however many millions of dollars are in play,” the band said. “We stand in solidarity with all artists risking their careers in defence of the rights of the Palestinian people, & against the illegal occupation, apartheid, war crimes & ongoing genocide perpetrated by the State of Israel.” Earlier this year, two band members were banned from Singapore after being detained and questioned for displaying the Palestinian flag onstage during a concert.
Kraft, in his own statement about deciding to bar Macklemore from performing at Gillette Stadium, said it was based on his “recent actions, material shared from the stage during Ed Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey, and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community.”
The singer and songwriter Jensen McRae, who has opened for the likes of Muna, Hozier, and Noah Kahan, wrote about the controversy on Substack. “While Macklemore has said and done some questionable things in the past, I have immense admiration for his commitment to apologizing, learning more, and doing better,” she said. “As a Jew, I am baffled by the fact that the statement ‘Free Palestine’ continues to be controversial. It is routinely disappointing to see so many people prioritize social comfort over actual human lives. We have to be able to acknowledge government atrocities without viewing them as indictments of civilians. None of us are free til Palestine is free – til all victims of global imperialism are free.”
Singer Mary Lambert, who performed alongside Macklemore on the single “Same Love,” published a statement on Instagram, in which she expressed being similarly baffled by the decision to remove Macklemore from the Loop tour. “Macklemore has been loud and outspoken about this for years now,” she said. “It should be embarassing to everyone involved in this decision. What Ben said on stage at that show is not radical.
“I’m not Jewish, and I don’t know what religious persecution feels like, I don’t know what antisemitism feels like, but I know Ben. He has contended and learned from past mistakes. And I also know that Jewish people are not a monolith. The Jewish people in my life advocate for and loudly support Palestine,” Lambert continued. “If I put myself in the shoes of a Jewish person, hearing a phrase like ‘from the river to the sea,’ even though I don’t personally hear that as being an alarming phrase because I haven’t heard it used any other way, I can imagine it bringing up fear and discomfort. But discomfort and fear does not supercede that the highest number of child amputees per capita in the entire world is in Palestine.”
Drag artist and climate activist Pattie Gonia noted in a separate Instagram post she has been “rejected from countless venues and i’ve seen other political artists and politicians be denied to do events in their spaces because they stand up for basic human rights,” adding, “This isn’t just about artists — this is about venue owners who are united together to support zionism.”
In a longer statement, she said, “Every single fucking thing is political. You don’t get to be neutral about a genocide. If your favorite artist isn’t speaking up, that’s an active choice. Every artist could do this. They choose not to. Silence by artists in the face of genocide and apartheid will not be forgotten. By the way, anti-zionism is not antisemitism. I love my jewish friends. And children are not a political opinion.”
In his statement, Sheeran said he doesn’t use his platform to discuss politics because “my audience includes young people, often children, of all backgrounds. Those who come to my shows do not expect a political forum. I respect Macklemore’s strength of purpose to stand up and shout for what he believes. However, there is room for multiple approaches to the same end: peace.”
The children’s YouTuber Ms. Rachel — who boasts more than 21 million subscribers and has amassed as many views as Sheeran has Spotify streams on his most popular songs (upwards of 17 billion) — has adamantly defended Palestinians living in Gaza regardless of the age of her audience. “Imagine looking back 20 years from now at yourself kicking someone off a tour because they spoke out during a genocide that has killed over 20,00 kids,” she wrote on Instagram.
“Palestinian kids are still being killed, have had almost all of their homes, schools and hospitals bombed – live in tents without proper sanitation among rats – dying of easily treatable diseases – malnourished – highest number of child amputees in modern history – 58,000 have lost one or both parents,” Mr Rachel added. “THEY NEED OUR VOICES – their human rights are being violated and they are KIDS – also free Palestine – It’s not wrong to say Palestinian kids should be able to grow up and Palestinian people should be able to be free. It’s wrong to be silent during a genocide.”
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Former Pink Floyd singer-songwriter Roger Waters voiced his frustration on Instagram, opting to talk directly to the camera. “There’s two kinds of people in this world. There’s people who do the right thing, that rapper Macklemore would be one of those people, and there’s people, many of them sadly little ff… — excuse me I nearly used the F-word then — pricks like you who do the wrong thing,” he said, directly addressing Sheeran.
The band Garbage see the response to Macklemore being dropped from Sheeran’s tour as “a major turning point.” “This is a clear and undeniable sign that the global consciousness has shifted. The normalisation of an apartheid state, and the attempts to sanitise or justify its actions, will no longer be tolerated,” the band wrote on Instagram. “Ed, there is only one victim here: the Palestinian people.”

Entertainment

AGT Live Results: Season 21 Finalists

The votes are in, and we now know which acts will be competing in next week’s Season 21 finale of “America’s Got Talent.”
Prior to the Wednesday, September 16, results show, four acts — magic group Hundred Fingers, rocker Nene Royal, singer Lai Noelle, and robot dance troupe Unitree — had already secured their spot in the finals after receiving Golden Buzzers from the judges during the quarterfinals.
This left just six open spots for the season’s remaining semifinalists — dog group Acro Canine Crew, magician Kameron Marshall, comedic singer Cesar Dias, aerialist Veronika Goroshkova, rapper Luke Taleno, Royal Lasers, dog act Olivia Befus, magic duo Young & Strange, dance troupe Come Here, comedian Daniel Alvarez, magician Geno Ploeger, and singer Travis Garland — to fight for. And fight they did, delivering a night of unforgettable performances on Tuesday, September 15.
With Simon Cowell still on medical leave from the competition, regular judges Howie Mandel, Mel B, and Sofia Vergara presided over Wednesday’s dramatic results hour, as host Terry Crews gradually revealed which acts America chose to vote into the finals.
Read on for a complete breakdown of Wednesday’s results to find out which acts are competing in the two-night Season 21 finale, beginning on Tuesday, September 22.
For their semifinals performance on Tuesday, the Acro Canine Crew invited “America’s Got Talent” viewers to an all-pink sleepover, complete with more impressive flips and tricks from humans and dogs alike. The soundtrack? Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun,” of course.
“I mean, we’ve had dogs on the show before, but what you do and what you bring is something so different,” Mel B told them after their latest routine. “So fun, so exciting. Your dogs are brilliant, your company is brilliant — I just have the biggest smile on my face. Thank you!”
And we’re sure the viewers had similar smiles on their faces as they voted Acro Canine Crew through to next week’s finals.
Determined to leave a good impression on the judges and voters, Kameron Marshall returned to “America’s Got Talent” for the semifinals with another mind-boggling act, this time revealing a new tattoo that matched the card Sofia Vergara came up with.
“Kameron, you really keep getting better and better and better,” she told him. “That is a commitment to tattoo part of your act! I helped you a lot, I did a great job. But I am so proud of you, you deserve to be here tonight!”
Marshall might be regretting that tattoo after Wednesday’s results show; he was the first act eliminated during the live broadcast.
Shocker: nothing went “according to plan” during Cesar Dias’ semifinals performance of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” on Tuesday. From a wardrobe malfunction to a fall from the stage, it was more of the same shtick we’ve come to expect from him.
“I said it last time, but you’re a clown, and now the surprise is kind of over as far as what’s going to happen,” Howie Mandel told Dias. Fortunately, he pivoted to compliments from there: “I’ll tell you what the joy is — the joy is when you’re performing, looking over at Sofia’s face and seeing the tears and the laughter and the joy that you are putting on that woman’s face is worth more than $1 million.”
Sadly, Dias will have to spread his signature brand of joy elsewhere, as the “America’s Got Talent” voters eliminated him during Wednesday’s live results show.
Olivia Rodrigo’s “Stupid Song” provided the soundtrack for Veronika Goroshkova’s semifinals routine on Tuesday, which is fitting, as the gravity-defying display was nothing short of stupefying.
“I mean, I’ve said this before, but you’re so elegant, and what you’re doing seems so seamless and effortless,” Mel B told Goroshkova, asking if she ever gets dizzy when she’s spinning around on stage. The short answer? No, but only after a lot of practice.
And Terry Crews had good news for Goroshkova on Wednesday: she earned enough votes to spin her way right into next week’s finals.
Luke Taleno hoped to impress the judges and the voters at home with another uplifting original song, this time titled “The American Dream,” during Tuesday’s live semifinals.
“You know what? You are the American dream,” Howie Mandel told Taleno. “You have had to battle your whole life through your health, and then you manifested yourself last year backstage, telling Simon you were going to end up on that stage. … You are making your dream come true, and now it is up to America. You’ve got to keep this dream happening! You are, to me, the new Eminem.”
Those words from Mandel only make it more painful for us to say that Taleno was, in fact, eliminated during Wednesday’s live results show.
You could say that Royal Lasers took things to the next level in their semifinals performance on Tuesday, performing a video game-themed routine set to Benson Boone’s “Mr. Electric Blue.”
Covered in streamers, Mel B couldn’t stop singing Royal Laser’s praises when all was said and done. “I absolutely thoroughly enjoyed that,” she said. “By the way, your choreography is on point. The way that you are so precise, following along with [the game], it’s just brilliant.”
Unsurprisingly, the “America’s Got Talent” voters beamed Royal Lasers into the finale during Wednesday’s live results show.
The other Season 21 dog act, Olivia Befus, was done playing around when her moment on stage arrived on Tuesday — well, except for the impressive game of volleyball she played with one of her canine companions, set to BTS’ “Dynamite.”
“My favorite thing about your act is that I can tell that those dogs love you,” Sofia Vergara told Befus. “They can’t wait to be on stage on with you, and that makes me very very happy. Congratulations!”
Well, the dogs aren’t the only ones who love Befus, as we learned when she was became the first act sent through to the finals during Wednesday’s live results show.
Claiming to have the “greatest magic prop in ‘AGT’ history” is a pretty tall order, but that’s exactly what Young & Strange alleged in Tuesday’s semifinals — but not everyone was impressed.
“You know I love you guys, you know I do, that did not cut it for me,” Mel B told them. “Your last performance was so much better. But it’s not up to me, it’s up to America!” (For the record, Howie Mandel couldn’t have disagreed with her more.)
The voters, apparently, sided with Mel B, eliminating Young & Strange during Wednesday’s live results show.
Olivia Rodrigo also provided the soundtrack to Come Here’s semifinals performance. The dance group moved, posed, and wowed their way through her smash hit “Vampire.”
“You are my favorite human dance troupe on this season,” Howie Mandel told them. “If they vote you through, your competition is robots,” he said, alluding to Unitree. “But you came off like machines. The synchronicity that you [displayed] wasn’t human. The way you all move, it was perfection. I wish you luck.”
And that luck came in handy! It was revealed during Wednesday’s live results show that the “America’s Got Talent” viewers voted Come Here through to the finals.
Daniel Alvarez returned for the semifinals on Tuesday with more self-deprecating humor (“I love dancing, because every dance is a lap dance for me”) and jokes about his fellow competitors (“It’s so hard to compete against dogs, because we’re all thinking the same thing… could I pet that dog?”).
Alvarez got high praise from fellow comedian Howie Mandel, who said, “I love you, and I think America loves you, and I think this audience loves you.”
Maybe Mandel misjudged the love this time around, as Alvarez was sadly among the acts eliminated during Wednesday’s results show.
Fall is officially here, and magician Geno Ploeger took the “America’s Got Talent” audience back to school with a homework-themed routine during the semifinals on Tuesday.
Ploeger’s routine left the audience roaring — and the judges’ heads spinning. “They’re chanting his name in here,” Sofia Vergara said. “I’m going to say it again, I’m so glad we’re not the ones voting or picking tonight. Every act has been spectacular. That was amazing.”
Fortunately for Ploeger, the people who were responsible for voting did so in his favor. He was the last act sent through to the finals on Wednesday.
Travis Garland closed out Tuesday’s semifinals with an appropriately emotional take on Billie Eilish’s “when the party’s over,” hoping that America would keep his own party going with their votes.
“You know I have loved your voice from the very beginning, and I love how you keep on taking risks,” Mel B told Garland. “Now, this song started off not very good, I have to say. But by the middle, when you did the key change and you did all those trills, you got me.”
Sadly, Garland will not be singing on the “America’s Got Talent” stage again; he was the final act eliminated on Wednesday.
How do you feel about the way Wednesday’s results shook out? Vote for the acts you would have sent to the finals in our poll below, then drop a comment with the act you predict will win Season 21.

Entertainment

Netanyahu Moves To Get ‘NAZA’ Directors’ Israeli Citizenship Revoked

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has joined the chorus of Israeli government officials seeking to punish the directors of the Venice Film Festival’s Special Jury Prize-winning documentary NAZA.
After decrying what he described as “global antisemitic incitement,” Netanyahu said he will be introducing two bills in his country’s parliament, the Knesset.
“We will hit them in their pockets and also in their citizenship, because their place is not among us,” declared Netanyahu. He also described the bills specifically.
“The first: to revoke the citizenship of anyone who slanders IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] soldiers.
“The second: to hit them in the pocket, raising the defamation damages they can be sued for twentyfold.”
The co-directors of NAZA, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, are both Israeli.
The prime minister’s comments followed those of his Culture Minister, Miki Zohar, who also threatened to revoke the filmmakers’ citizenship.
On Friday, former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett criticized NAZA and its filmmakers, saying in a statement that that he is “proud” and “deeply grateful” to the Israeli reservists and soldiers “standing between us and that next massacre.” He added, “To portray them as perpetrators of ‘genocide’ is not courageous art. It is a cowardly blood libel.”
NAZA, a late addition to the competition lineup in Venice, received a record 25-minute standing ovation at its premiere there. On Saturday night, it won the festival’s Special Jury Prize. The film is directed by Israeli Jews Abraham and Szor, who were also two of the four directors of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land.
In NAZA, Abraham appears on camera, interviewing his subjects on the rooftop; they explain that “NAZA” is a Hebrew acronym used by the Israel Defense Forces to signify collateral damage (נזק אגבי, or Nezek Agavi, per an interview included in press notes), in other words, an acceptable loss of civilian life incurred while trying to kill suspected Hamas militants. The film suggests the number of “NAZA” considered acceptable in each attack was elastic. In some cases, it would be under a dozen, but in others it could be 200 or even 500 people deemed permissible collateral damage, according to Israeli military personnel interviewed in the film.
Matt Carey contributed to this report.

Entertainment

Matthew Lillard On Returning To ‘Scream’ After Melissa Barrera Firing

As the Scream franchise continues to serve as a cultural lightning rod in the Israel-Hamas conflict, Matthew Lillard is making his voice heard.
The Scream 7 star recently admitted that he’s “embarrassed” to have reprised his role as Stu Macher in this year’s seventh installment in the slasher franchise, explaining that Melissa Barrera was “on the right side of history” when she was fired for speaking up in support of Palestinians in 2023.
“It’s just human, it’s who we are… I don’t know what else to do,” he explained in a video from a recent Q&A. “For me, I have queer kids, if I’m not standing up for queer kids or kids in the trans community, what the fuck am I doing?”
Lillard continued, “But if I’m not standing up about the silencing of Melissa Barrera—listen, I don’t think it’s easy all the time. Melissa Barrera, who’s a beautiful actor, was fired for what she said. It’s really fucking bullshit and really hard, and she’s on the right side of history.”
“And when they start coming after your job, sometimes things are worth it. But I’m just gonna say, what happened to Melissa, the whole world didn’t pipe up. She was like a year early on what the fuck’s going on, but the whole world should have piped up and said, ‘she’s right,’ and they didn’t. And that’s brutal,” he said.
In January 2025, Deadline exclusively revealed that Lillard would reprise his role in Scream 7 as killer Stu Macher, who was believed to have been killed at the end of the first movie.
“And then I went back to do Scream, and I got called out,” said Lillard. “And I was like, ‘Oh fuck, that’s brutal.’ I feel bad about that, I feel shame about that. Because in that moment, I was so excited to got back, I didn’t really think about Melissa and the journey, and I didn’t say ‘no.’ I’m embarrassed, and that’s the truth.”
As the seventh installment of the slasher franchise premiered at Paramount Studios in February, “Free Palestine” protesters lined up outside the entrance to the lot. Back when the first trailer for Scream 7 was released last October, fans quickly began slamming the movie on social media, calling for a boycott.
Spyglass fired Barrera in November 2023 over her social media posts on the Israel-Hamas conflict and the “atrocities being committed against Palestinians,” explaining the company has “zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech.”
Following her ousting, Jenna Ortega also exited the franchise, later noting that the sequel “was all kind of falling apart” without Barrera to play its new “final girl” Sam Carpenter. Director Christopher Landon dropped out of the project as well, citing “highly aggressive and really scary” death threats targeting his children.

Entertainment

Madonna to Perform at MTV VMAs for First Time in 23 Years

Madonna is set to make her return to the MTV Video Music Awards stage for the first time in 23 years, MTV and CBS announced Wednesday.
The pop icon will return to the award show after the release of her chart-topping album Confessions II. The last time Madonna performed at the show was in 2003, during an iconic collaboration with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera that opened that year’s show.
Madonna’s nominated for 11 awards this year, the most of any performer — not the first time she’s done that. The pop icon’s led the nomination count two other times throughout her career, once in 1990 and again in 1998. This year, she’s followed by Taylor Swift with nine nominations and Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande, who are tied with seven each. Madonna’s won a career total of 19 wins at the award show, including video of the year, artist of the year and song of the year.
Hosted by Snoop Dogg, the 2026 MTV VMAs will once again air on CBS and simulcast on MTV. They’re set to air live from Los Angeles on Sept. 27. It’s the first time the show has taken place in the city in nearly a decade — the last time being in 2017 when Katy Perry hosted the ceremony at The Forum.
The ceremony is produced by Gunpowder & Sky. Van Toffler serves as producer. Jesse Ignjatovic of Den of Thieves, Barb Bialkowski and Bruce Gillmer are set to serve as executive producers alongside Barry Barclay and Floris Bauer. Melanie Block will co-executive produce, while Gary Lanvy serves as co-producer. Snoop will also executive produce alongside producers Sara Ramaker and Jasmin Ratansi. Jen Proctor serves as executive talent producer.

Entertainment

Is Paramount Bluffing About Leaving California?

Paramount has been threatening to leave California since July, when the state sued to block it from merging with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Attorney General Rob Bonta has called it “blackmail” meant to stop him from enforcing antitrust law. But Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, for one, is taking the threat seriously and is trying to do whatever she can to persuade the company to stay.
“We’ve heard the same information that everybody has,” said Steve Kang, the mayor’s film czar, on Wednesday. “We need to be prepared for every option to be available — whether it’s true or not.”
Paramount faces an Oct. 1 deadline to close its transaction or begin accruing a $7-million-a-day “ticking fee” owed to WBD shareholders. In recent days, the noise about a potential relocation has started to pick up with reports in Politico and TMZ that the company is taking affirmative steps toward a move.
Bass has already done most of what she can do, urging Bonta last month to come to the table and reach a deal.
Bonta’s office has repeatedly said that it is open to good faith talks, but has said it will only agree to a resolution that includes “robust structural remedies.” A court-supervised settlement conference has been set for Oct. 14-15.
In a statement on Wednesday, Bonta’s office said the threat to move out of California is nothing new.
“We cannot comment on a company’s plans,” the A.G.’s office said. “It’s no secret that Paramount has been making this threat, despite its alleged commitment to California and Hollywood. What Paramount decides to do is Paramount’s choice alone. We’ll continue to apply the law without fear or favor and continue to be open to coming to the table for good faith discussions.”
Paramount declined to comment.
Kang was appointed in 2025 to serve as Bass’ liaison to the film community. Asked what steps Bass could take, aside from pressuring Bonta, to get Paramount to stay, Kang cited her support for increased subsidies for production in California and in Washington, D.C.
“Creating a film-friendly environment is our first and foremost priority,” he said. “We’re hoping they don’t leave. We’re hoping all sides are speaking to one another. This is an issue between the attorney general and Paramount. All we can do is encourage discussions among all parties.”