Taylor Swift Cancels All 2020 Tour Dates

Taylor Swift has canceled her 2020 tour dates — including her Lover Fests — due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Please, please stay healthy and safe. I’ll see you on stage as soon as I can but right now what’s important is committing to this quarantine, for the sake of all of us.”

3 Investing Lessons From Jay-Z

In 2019, Shawn Corey Carter became hip-hop's first billionaire. Better known as Jay-Z, Mr. Carter didn't just make his money by rapping, although he's one of the industry's best-selling artists. Instead, he built a sprawling empire, including a music label, a sports management company, a streaming service, and a high-end sports bar.

With the Brooklyn-born rapper continuing to grow his net worth, there are certainly many investing lessons to learn, both from his business ventures as well as from his lyrics. Here are three of them.

Are Americans out of poverty?

 

The child tax credit helped push a key measure of poverty to its lowest level on record, according to new Census Bureau data Tuesday that signaled just how critical government assistance was to propping Americans up in the second year of the coronavirus pandemic.

Median income remained essentially static in 2021, and the official poverty rate did as well. But the Supplemental Poverty Measure, which adjusts for government assistance like tax credits and stimulus checks, dropped 1.4 percentage points to 7.8%.

Feds Say They Found $1.2M Of R. Kelly's Money

Federal prosecutors say a bank account controlled by R&B singer R. Kelly received at least $1.2 million last year and was created shortly after the singer was charged with sex crimes in Cook County Circuit Court.

They also say Kelly opened the bank account in the name of a nominee, and, in recorded jail calls, the singer appears to have directed people to contact that person “to receive payments indirectly from Kelly.”

That, in part, is what prosecutors say investigators were looking into when they unexpectedly wound up with bank records belonging to an attorney representing R. Kelly in federal court in Brooklyn. Kelly’s defense team accused the feds last month of an “unreasonable, intimidating, and harassing fishing expedition into the records of Mr. Kelly’s current counsel.”

People Are Dying From The COVID-19 Vaccine

 

A California resident who was vaccinated against COVID-19 died just hours later — and authorities are trying to find out why.

The Placer County Sheriff’s Office announced the death and the investigation Saturday in a Facebook post, but gave few details.

The county, which is in the greater Sacramento area, was “recently notified” of the person’s death, the police said.

The person had tested positive for coronavirus in December and had been vaccinated just hours before their Jan. 21 death.

New York City Workers Fired Over Vaccine Mandate

 

The mandate, which was first announced by former Mayor Bill de Blasio ahead of an expected winter surge in COVID-19 cases, came to fruition last week amid a much less dire coronavirus situation in the city and the country at large. Nevertheless, nearly 3,000 workers were at risk of termination on Friday over the rule, but many submitted their proof of vaccination or chose to get the shot after being notified of their imminent termination.

Jay-Z Net Worth Is $1 Billion In 2020

Jay-Z’s fortune holds flat at $1 billion nearly a year after Forbes first crowned him hip-hop’s first billionaire. He boasts an expansive kingdom encompassing spirits (his Armand de Brignac champagne and D’Ussé cognac), art (including work by Jean-Michel Basquiat), real estate (homes in Los Angeles, the Hamptons, Tribeca) and stakes in companies from Uber to Robinhood.

Jay-Z’s latest banner year of earnings ($81 million in 2019, good for No. 20 on our Celebrity 100) offset more recent declines across the market, helping to keep him on our list of Billionaires. And though the coronavirus has impacted the value of his holdings from ride-sharing to real estate, many of Jay-Z’s core assets are in areas well-positioned to weather the downturn.

Jennifer Lopez, Alex Rodriguez endorse Joe Biden

 

The couple had a virtual chat with the former vice president and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, where they voiced their support for the Democratic nominee.

Jennifer Lopez, 51, and Rodriguez, 45, also discussed their concerns about the economy, the coronavirus pandemic, racism, and the importance of the Latino community voting.

"We're thrilled and we're excited to vote. I think our voice has never been more important," Rodriguez said in the video posted to Biden’s social media on Friday. "We want to come together as a team to defeat Covid and to rebuild this U.S. economy that needs us all so much."

Rihanna, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift named 'Music's Most Iconic Figures'

 

Beyoncé, Rihanna and Taylor Swift are the only music acts included on Forbes’ annual list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women, where they’re sharing rarefied air with the likes of Queen Elizabeth II, Oprah Winfrey and Vice-President elect Kamala Harris.

“The leaders on Forbes’ 2020 list of the World’s Most Powerful Women are playing a critical role in determining what the post-pandemic world will look like.” “Their influence is being leveraged beyond economic and political might to transform industries and solve for society’s most urgent issues. The power they hold to move us all forward has never been more apparent — or needed.

Rihanna ranks highest among the singing icons, at No. 69, mostly for her charitable efforts. The$800 million Bajan beauty donated millions of dollars to various charities, including coronavirus relief efforts, and to help abuse victims in L.A. and the needy in New York City. Of course, the “Only Girl in the World” chanteuse is also a business maven, thanks to her Fenty Beauty line and Savage X Fenty lingerie line — expanded through a landmark partnership with LMVH, the French conglomerate, which is at the helm of Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, and Louis Vuitton.

New York City begins vaccination checks

 

People dining indoors at New York City’s restaurants, browsing art at its museums or sweating in its gyms had to show proof Tuesday that they were at least partially inoculated against COVID-19 as the city began the nation’s largest effort yet to exclude the unvaccinated from public places.

50 Cent Reacts To New COVID Suggestion To Film Industry

 

The Los Angeles health department is urging film and television productions to implore stopping for the next little while as the pandemic continues to rage on but, with 50 Cent currently in the midst of several different shows, including Power Book II: Ghost, Power Book III: Raising Kanan, Black Mafia Family, and more, he's not down to pause for another lockdown.

As cases continue to rise, the L.A. health department is asking the television and film industries to lead by example, asking them to stop shooting for the time being until things are more under control. One of the movers-and-shakers in the industry, 50 Cent is seemingly very frustrated about these guidelines, waking up and immediately "needing a drink" upon reading the reports.