Entertainment
Camila Cabello Speaks Out Against ‘Oppressive Regime’ in Cuba: ‘People Are Starving’
Camila Cabello is using her platform to raise awareness for her home country of Cuba.
In a Friday (Feb. 20) post on Instagram, the Fifth Harmony alum shared photos of herself as a young girl living in the Caribbean nation alongside present-day pictures of Cuban citizens protesting conditions under the current government. “There is so much going on here at home and so much I can say about the heartbreaking things the immigrant community is experiencing here in the US,” she wrote. “I also feel a personal responsibility to speak about what’s happening in Cuba, I still have family on the island that we speak to and send medicine, food and clothes to.”
“It has been 67 years of a failing dictatorship and an oppressive regime,” Cabello continued. “The Cuban people are suffering in an echo chamber where no one can hear them because to speak is to risk your life. Many people are starving, looking for food in trash heaps, and the only way to survive is having relatives ship you boxes of medicine because not even the hospitals have medicine.”
The pop singer went on to say that sometimes the country’s electricity is “gone for so long that food spoils and water becomes scarce” and wrote that when some “people have peacefully protested, they have disappeared or been put behind bars, some as young as 13 years old.”
“This is a reality where a post online costs you your life,” she added. “The Cuban people have lived without dignity and without hope for too long. It’s no wonder so many Cubans have thrown themselves into shark infested waters, making boats out of tires and sticks and risking their lives for freedom.”
Cabello ended her post by encouraging fans to donate to Caritas Cuba, a Catholic humanitarian organization.
Cuba’s infrastructure changed forever in 1959, when Fidel Castro assumed power after the Cuban Revolution. He was succeeded by his brother, Raúl Castro, after which current president Miguel Díaz-Canel took office in 2018 — although Raúl still holds a seat in the National Assembly as well as the title of Army General.
Cabello’s ties to Cuba are deeply personal, as she lived there until she was about 7 years old, after which she moved with her mom to Miami.
“I didn’t speak any English,” she recalled to Grazia in 2021. “My parents brought me here for the same reason that a lot of migrant families immigrate, which is just there’s opportunities that aren’t available in the country where you live, or violence. My parents were looking for a better life for me.”
Entertainment
How to Buy Tickets to J. Cole’s The Fall Off Tour Online
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
After announcing his latest (and possibly final) tour for his album The Fall-Off earlier this week, fans can now shop J. Cole tickets online. Spanning 50-plus tour dates worldwide, the headlining arena run will cross the globe, visiting more than 50 cities across 15 countries, making stops through New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Sydney and Johannesburg. If you want to secure concert tickets to the The Fall-Off tour at a venue near you, keep reading on for our guide on buying affordable tickets online.
Where to Buy Tickets to J. Cole’s The Fall-Off Tour, At a Glance:
- General Sale: Ticketmaster
- Resale: StubHub, SeatGeek, TicketNetwork, VividSeats
- Dates: July 11 – Dec. 12
Whether or not he retires, this will be Cole’s first global tour in nearly a decade. Fans have already shown their hype levels for the show when almost 250,000 fans queued up on Ticketmaster to get first dibs at presale access. His seventh studio album also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, which he’s previously done with The Off-Season (2021), KOD (2018), 4 Your Eyez Only (2016), 2014 Forest Hills Drive (2014), Born Sinner (2013), and Cole World: The Sideline Story (2011).
Learn how to shop J. Cole tickets below.
How to Buy Tickets to J. Cole’s The Fall Off Tour Online
Here’s where to find affordable tickets still available and on sale online below.
TOP PICK
Find J. Cole Tickets at StubHub
Stubhub has J. Cole tickets available as low as $114 for certain tour stops. Stubhub’s Fan Protect Guarantee ensures valid tickets or your money back. And if your event is canceled and not rescheduled, you’ll receive 120% in credit or be given the option of a full refund.
EARN REWARDS
Find J. Cole Tickets at Vivid Seats
You can also find J. Cole tickets online at Vivid Seats for as low as $85, which lets you search by price, location and “Super Sellers,” which denotes reputable sellers with the best deals on tickets.
Vivid Seats is also great for group tickets: the site has a rewards program that gives you your eleventh ticket free (in the form of a credit) after you buy ten tickets online. And as a bonus, you can use our exclusive promo code BB30 to take $30 off your purchase at VividSeats.com.
BEST PRICES
Find J. Cole Tickets at SeatGeek
More affordable prices we’re seeing for J. Cole tickets is at SeatGeek, which has stubs from $82 and up. Use our discount code BILLBOARD10 to save an additional $10 at check out.
PROMO CODES
Find J. Cole Tickets on TicketNetwork
TicketNetwork has tickets to J. Cole’s concerts with all-in pricing that lets you see exactly what you’ll pay up front (fees included). For a limited time, you can use our exclusive code BILLBOARD150 to save $150 off $500 or BILLBOARD300 to save $300 off orders of $1000 and up.
J. Cole The Fall Off 2026 Tour Dates
July 11: Charlotte, N.C. (Spectrum Center)
July 14: Miami (Kaseya Center)
July 15: Tampa, Fla. (Benchmark International Arena)
July 17: Atlanta (State Farm Arena)
July 20: Philadelphia (Xfinity Mobile Arena)
July 23: Baltimore (CFG Bank Arena)
July 25: Montreal (Bell Centre)
July 27: Toronto (Scotiabank Arena)
July 31: Brooklyn, N.Y. (Barclays Center)
Aug. 4: New York (Madison Square Garden)
Aug. 5: Queens, N.Y. (UBS Arena)
Aug. 7: Boston (TD Garden)
Aug. 11: Chicago (United Center)
Aug. 15: Cleveland (Rocket Arena)
Aug. 16: Detroit (Little Caesars Arena)
Aug. 18: Minneapolis (Target Center)
Aug. 19: Kansas City, Mo. (T-Mobile Center)
Aug. 21: Denver (Ball Arena)
Aug. 24: Vancouver, British Columbia (Rogers Arena)
Aug. 25: Seattle (Climate Pledge Arena)
Aug. 27: Sacramento, Calif. (Golden 1 Center)
Aug. 29: Oakland, Calif. (Oakland Arena)
Sept. 1: Los Angeles (Crypto.com Arena)
Sept. 3: Inglewood, Calif. (Intuit Dome)
Sept. 6: Las Vegas (T-Mobile Arena)
Sept. 9: San Diego (Viejas Arena)
Sept. 10: Phoenix (Mortgage Matchup Center)
Sept. 13: San Antonio (Frost Bank Center)
Sept. 14: Austin, Texas (Moody Center)
Sept. 16: Houston (Toyota Center)
Sept. 19: Dallas (American Airlines Center)
Sept. 23: Fayetteville, N.C. (Crown Coliseum)
Oct. 7: Berlin (Uber Arena)
Oct. 9: Zurich, Switzerland (AG Hallenstadion)
Oct. 12: Amsterdam, Netherlands (Ziggo Dome)
Oct. 15: Cologne, Germany (LANXESS Arena)
Oct. 17: Antwerp, Belgium (AFAS Dome)
Oct. 19: London (The O2)
Oct. 20: London (The O2)
Oct. 22: Dublin, Ireland (3Arena)
Oct. 25: Birmingham, England (Utilita Arena)
Oct. 26: Glasgow, Scotland (OVO Hydro)
Oct. 28: Manchester, England (Co-op Live)
Oct. 31: Nottingham, England (Motorpoint Arena)
Nov. 5: Paris (Accor Arena)
Nov. 8: Hamburg, Germany (Barclays Arena)
Nov. 9: Copenhagen, Denmark (Royal Arena)
Nov. 11: Stockholm, Sweden (Avicii Arena)
Nov. 12: Oslo, Norway (Unity Arena)
Nov. 25: Brisbane, Australia (Brisbane Entertainment Centre)
Nov. 28: Melbourne, Australia (Rod Laver Arena)
Dec. 1: Sydney, Australia (Qudos Bank Arena)
Dec. 5: Auckland, New Zealand (Spark Arena)
Dec. 12: Johannesburg, South Africa (FNB Stadium)
Entertainment
Live Nation Deletes Post Telling DOJ ‘It’s Time to Move On’ From Monopoly Lawsuit
Live Nation has quietly taken down a blog post in which its top lawyer publicly urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to settle its antitrust case against the promotion giant without forcing the sale of Ticketmaster.
On Thursday (Feb. 19), Live Nation head of corporate and regulatory affairs Dan Wall argued in a post titled “It’s Time to Move On” that the DOJ has already lost its legal arguments for breaking up Live Nation and Ticketmaster. But as of Friday morning (Feb. 20), that post had become a dead link on Live Nation’s site.
Live Nation reps did not return inquiries from Billboard as to why the post was deleted.
A trial is currently scheduled to begin next month in the DOJ’s blockbuster legal action — in which it was joined by dozens of state attorneys general — that seeks to reduce Live Nation’s market share across the live music industry. The lawsuit alleges that Live Nation has monopolistically impeded competition — claims the company strongly denies.
Wall’s now-deleted blog post appealed to the DOJ to enter into a “realistic, common-sense” settlement rather than take the case to trial. It was an unusual public negotiating tactic, but not the first sign that Live Nation wants a deal; Semafor recently reported that Kellyanne Conway and Mike Davis, allies of President Donald Trump, are lobbying the administration on the company’s behalf.
The crux of Wall’s post was his interpretation of a key Wednesday (Feb. 18) court ruling in the lawsuit. In that ruling, Judge Arun Subramanian held that the trial should go forward on the legality of both Ticketmaster’s exclusive venue contracts and Live Nation’s policy of “tying” its artist promotion services to shows at its amphitheaters — though he ruled there’s insufficient evidence for the DOJ’s claim that the company has broadly monopolized the national concert promotion market.
Wall’s post argued that the ruling “undermines any serious argument for breaking up Live Nation and Ticketmaster.” He suggested the DOJ’s case has been seriously weakened now that it can no longer claim a concert promotions monopoly, and that the best path forward is a settlement that contains some “meaningful” relief without spinning off Ticketmaster.
Separately from Wall weighing in, the implications of Judge Subramanian’s Wednesday order are already being litigated in court. Live Nation’s outside lawyers filed papers on Thursday arguing that the dismissal of promotion-monopoly claims fatally dooms the tying allegations, and that the decision also should bar the DOJ from introducing evidence at trial that Live Nation allegedly threatened to withhold Live Nation acts from venues if they didn’t use Ticketmaster.
The government has been ordered to respond to these arguments by midday on Saturday (Feb. 21).
Entertainment
Live Nation Must Face Lawsuit Over 2023 Beyond Wonderland Shooting
Live Nation will have to either go to trial or settle a lawsuit that blames the concert promotions juggernaut for a deadly 2023 shooting at the Beyond Wonderland festival in Washington, a judge ruled.
The Feb. 13 court ruling rejected Live Nation’s motion for summary judgment over its alleged culpability in the June 2023 shooting at the Gorge Amphitheatre, which saw a man, James Kelly, open fire at the festival campgrounds after allegedly taking hallucinogenic mushrooms.
The case was brought in 2024 by the families of Brandy Escamilla and Josilyn Ruiz, who died in the shooting, as well as by Lily Luksich, Kelly’s then-girlfriend, who was shot but survived. The victims claim Live Nation, which operates the Gorge and promoted the EDM festival through its partial subsidiary Insomniac Events, could have prevented the shooting if it had more carefully screened festival attendees for drugs and weapons or ejected Kelly after he began acting suspiciously.
Live Nation maintains that it could not have foreseen that Kelly, an upstanding Army servicemember with no known violent history, would go on an “unprovoked homicidal rampage” during a “bad trip.” The company says it can’t be held liable for failing to prevent something so random — and that its security team’s gun-sniffing dogs did in fact search Kelly’s car when he entered the Gorge campground, but found nothing.
But Judge Patrick Oishi was apparently unconvinced by this argument, refusing to dismiss the case in a one-page order that did not specify his reasoning. The case will now move towards a trial currently scheduled for June, though it’s possible Live Nation will opt to settle the claims rather than go before a jury.
A lawyer for the Escamilla and Ruiz families, Brian Panish, said in a statement on Thursday (Feb. 19) that the ruling is “a critical step toward accountability for the tragic 2023 Beyond Wonderland shooting.”
“The court correctly rejected Live Nation’s attempt to avoid responsibility by claiming it owed no duty to take reasonable measures to protect concertgoers from the foreseeable risk of gun violence at its venue,” added Panish. “Our clients’ families deserve their day in court and will continue to pursue justice to ensure this never happens to another family.”
Luksich’s attorney, Tomás Gahan, told Billboard that the decision “was not only correct, it was expected.”
“The thrust of Live Nation’s argument was that it could not be liable for failing to take any reasonable actions to keep firearms out of its concert and campground venue because the risk of a mass shooting resulting from allowing firearms inside the venue under these circumstances was somehow ‘not foreseeable,” said Gahan. “This contention flew in the face of the facts of the case, which made clear that Live Nation knew that there was a real risk of a mass shooting should guns be permitted inside its venue.”
A rep for Live Nation did not return a request for comment on the decision.
The families of Escamilla and Ruiz are suing for wrongful death and seeking unspecified financial damages for funeral costs, lost earning capacity and emotional suffering. They’re also bringing negligence claims alongside Luksich, who wants monetary damages for both physical and mental pain.
The 2024 lawsuit alleges that the joint Live Nation-Insomniac venture “prioritized profit over security.” The victims say Live Nation didn’t adequately search Kelly’s car, even though they knew illicit drugs and weapons were an issue on the premises; they pointed out that in 2022, just one year earlier, a man had been arrested during the Bass Canyon festival at the Gorge, also promoted by Live Nation, after he inhaled an intoxicant and then loaded two pistols in the venue’s parking lot.
“Despite that history and knowledge, Live Nation failed to take reasonable steps to make the venue and campgrounds safe for concertgoers,” reads the lawsuit.
Live Nation contends that the events of June 2023 were “heinous, random acts of murder.” The company notes that this was the first shooting to take place at the Gorge in its 20 years overseeing the venue, and that Beyond Wonderland had always been peaceful before the incident.
Another injured victim in the shooting, Andrew Cuadra, is also suing Live Nation in a separate case. A summary judgment hearing in that lawsuit is set for March.
Kelly, meanwhile, is facing criminal murder charges and has maintained a plea of not guilty. His case is being prosecuted in military court because he was serving as a field artillery coordinator at a Washington army base at the time of the shooting, according to the NBC affiliate KHQ.
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