From MTV's hottest artists to Barbie in the Middle East, here's what's happening in entertainment.
'23 VMAs
With just over a month to go before the 2023 MTV Music Video Awards, the network has released this year's nominees.
Taylor Swift leads all artists with eight nominations, including major categories like Video of the Year, Artist of the Year and Song of the Year. SZA checked in with six nods, while a slew of other artists are tied at 5 nominations each.
The ongoing Hollywood writer's strike will likely impact the show, as it has other award shows this year. That means showrunners will have to get creative when selecting a host and creating segments to keep the show interesting.
The ceremony is set for September 12 at Newark, N.J.'s Prudential Center.
Travis Tour
Fresh off the release of his fourth solo studio album, UTOPIA, Travis Scott is set to hit the road.
Scott took to Instagram to confirm the news and announce U.S. and European dates will be publicized soon.
The tour will be Scott's first since Astroworld, which was marred by crowd crush in Houston that left 10 people dead and dozens others injured. Litigation around the deadly festival is ongoing and just as recently as two days ago, it was revealed that Scott settled with a third family who lost their 14-year-old son in the melee.
The announcement also comes days after a slated show at the Pyramids of Giza was cancelled by Egypt's Musicians Syndicate which cited Scott's image as going against its societal values.
The wild success of the Barbie movie won't be escaping the Middle East after all.
The film is set to debut in theaters this weekend after a three-week delay. It was set to go live two days before the rest of the world on July 19, however critics in the region wanted to censor parts of the movie that did not align with their societal values.
For example, there were concerns in the United Arab Emirates over LGBTQ+-related dialogue, according to Variety. Barbie isn't the first movie to face this type of reaction. This year, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was not released in Saudi Arabia or the UAE, presumably because of a "Protect Trans Lives" flag that appeared in a scene of the movie.
Vacasa is the largest full-service vacation rental property management company in the United States. Today, it announced the launch of a new homeowner app to help users monitor how the company is managing their vacation rental homes. It comes as consumer confidence in travel is on the rise ahead of the holiday season. Vacasa CEO Matt Roberts joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Everyone is stepping into the NFT space, including the Grammys. 'Oneof' is entering a three-year partnership with The Recording Academy to release exclusive NFTs commemorating the 64th, 65th, and 66th Annual Grammy Awards. A portion of the proceeds will also go to The Recording Academy's scholarship fund. Adam Fell, co-founder and board member of Oneof and the president of Quincy Jones Productions, joins Cheddar News to discuss the announcement.
'THEMAGIC5' produces swimming goggles that contour the face using advanced robot technologies and 3D printing. Both of the company's founders Bo Haaber and Rasmus Barfred went on ABC's 'Shark Tank' and caught a $1 million deal. The duo join Cheddar News to talk about what the new funding means for the company.
Molly Hayward, the founder of wellness brand Cora, joins Cheddar News to discuss the company's product, Period Balm, being a CEW Beauty Creators Awards Finalist.
Things are looking up for everyone's favorite crypto. Bitcoin rallied nearly 40% in October, hitting a record high of $66,975. That was the biggest single-month percentage rally since December 2020. On Monday morning, Bitcoin was trading 2.4% higher while Ethereum and Dogecoin were trading at 1.71% and 3.95%. Ben Armstrong, founder of BitBoy Crypto, joins Cheddar News to talk about the latest in the crypto space.
Laura Vozzella, local reporter for The Washington Post, joins Cheddar News to discuss the close gubernatorial race in Virginia and what voters are looking for in each candidate.
The U.S. Supreme Court takes a closer look at the Texas abortion law that was designed by its sponsors to evade constitutional review in federal court. Katie Barlow, journalist and social media editor at SCOTUSblog joins Cheddar News to breakdown what was discussed.
John Paul Mejia, the national spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement, joined Cheddar to talk about what the youth activist group wants to see from President Joe Biden as he attends the COP26 climate summit. Mejia admonished the president for having little to deliver on his own climate agenda domestically while at the conference. "We need the president to follow through with his promises because, frankly, it's a matter of life or death not only for communities here in the United States but also those looking to us around the world," he said.
ESG, or environmental, social, and governance, investing has surged in popularity recently, reaching new record highs in 2020. The goal is to invest in companies and products that advocate for social change, while earning markets returns at the same time. Lauren Dillard, EVP and Head of Investment Intelligence at Nasdaq, joined Cheddar to discuss the ESG investing fad and the potential risks associated with it.
For the second weekend in a row. 'Dune' topped the box office closing out a lucrative October for movie sales. October was the highest-grossing box office month in the COVID-19 era. Mike Reyes, senior movie contributor at Cinemablend joins Cheddar News to talk about future box office predictions.
