Janet Jackson will be honored with the prestigious ICON Award at the 2025 American Music Awards.
Janet has won 11 AMAs over her stellar career. She will be the third recipient of the ICON award, following Lionel Richie and Rihanna.
Janet is set to receive the ICON Award at the AMAs ceremony on May 26, where she will also perform on TV for the first time in seven years.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Janet Jackson
Jackson last performed on television in 2018 at the Billboard Music Awards. “I believe that for all the challenges, for all our challenges, we live at a glorious moment in history,” she said while praising the #MeToo Movement at the time.
The world’s largest fan-voted award show will be hosted by Jennifer Lopez from Las Vegas, on Memorial Day, Monday, May 26 at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT on CBS and stream on Paramount+ in the U.S. Tickets Available Now On Ticketmaster.
Janet will perform during her residency at the Resorts World Las Vegas, beginning on May 21.
Jackson has won 5 Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination for best original song, along with multiple MTV Video Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards.
According to a post on Tory Lanez’s official Instagram account, the rapper was stabbed 14 times, including 7 times in the back, 4 times in the chest, twice in the head and once to the left side of his face.
The incident happened on the yard on Monday morning while Tory was exercising. According to reports, a Hispanic male approached Tory and stabbed him as he ran for his life.
The post contained contradictory information, such as Tory is breathing on his own and talking with two collapsed lungs. That would not be possible if he really had 2 collapsed lungs. He would be on a breathing machine and he would have chest tubes to drain blood and fluid around his lungs to re-inflate the lungs.
It isn’t clear what motivated the attack, but Tory recently released an album in which he rapped about getting shanked on the yard.
A shank is a crude weapon crafted out of available material.
Tory was rushed to a hospital where he is listed in serious condition.
He was convicted of shooting fellow rapper Megan Thee Stallion after leaving Kylie Jenner’s pool party in 2020.
Five of Sean Combs’s 6 children were in court on Monday to hear extremely graphic testimony about their father’s extracurricular activities with his ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura and male escorts.
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images
Combs’s children, Justin, Christian, Chance, and twins D’Lila and Jessie were in court. Kim Porter’s son Quincy Brown (by Al B. Sure!) was also in court to support the man who helped raise him.
Contrary to popular belief, Sean Combs never adopted Quincy Brown. Quincy’s father, Al B. Sure! never terminated his parental rights.
Combs’s youngest daughter, Love Combs, was not in court.
Before attending their father’s trial in Manhattan, the twins and Chance attended Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter concert at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
John Lamparski/Getty Images
Also in court to support Combs were his mother, Janice Combs, Justin’s mother, Misa Hylton, and Chance’s mother, Sarah Chapman.
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images
Sarah Chapman is pictured with a bodyguard. He daughter, Chance (white top) walks behind her with her twin sisters.
Combs’ sex-trafficking and racketeering trial kicked off on Monday, May 5, with jury selection. The jury selection was completed on Monday, May 12, and opening arguments began.
The first to testify for the prosecution was a male escort named Daniel Phillip who gave graphic testimony about Combs’ alleged activities with Cassie.
According to Variety, the testimony was so disturbing that Combs’s three daughters got up and walked out of the courtroom twice.
The jury of eight men and four women leaned forward in their seats as Phillip testified.
Phillip told the court that he had multiple sexual encounters with Cassie between 2012 to 2014. He said he was paid between $700 and $6,000 to have sex with Cassie, under her direction, as Combs watched and masturbated.
Phillip said Cassie, 38, assured him that Combs, 55, was just an observer and he was “not gay.”
He described his first encounter with Combs and Cassie at the Gramercy Park Hotel in Manhattan in 2012. The manager of a male revue show asked him to go to the hotel. He believed he was there to strip tease for a group of women. But Cassie opened the suite door and handed him several thousand dollars.
She asked if he was okay having sex with just her. He didn’t recognize Combs who wore a bandana over his nose and mouth.
At one point, Phillip recognized Combs’ voice when he spoke. Combs asked him to rub baby oil on Cassie before engaging in intercourse. Afterwards, Cassie handed Phillip several more thousand dollars and he left.
A few minutes after he left the hotel, Phillip received a text message from Cassie asking him to text her a picture of his genitals, and to come back up to the room. He returned to the room, and for another few hours they rubbed baby oil on each other and had sex as Combs masturbated in a chair in a corner.
Phillip also recalled incidents when Combs roughed up Cassie for not moving fast enough when he called her.
He said Combs dragged Cassie by her hair into another room. “She was screaming, and he pulled her into the bedroom,” Phillip said. “I could hear what sounded like him slapping her. She was screaming, ‘I’m sorry! I’m sorry!'” Phillip said Combs said to Cassie, “B-tch, when I tell you to come, you come now. Not later.”
Phillip said he never intervened because it was a domestic situation and Cassie was never seriously injured.
“I was shocked. It came out of nowhere. I was terrified. I didn’t know what to do,” Phillip said. “In my mind … if I tried to do something I might lose my life.”
At one point, when Phillip had difficulty maintaining an erection, he said Combs gave him a Cialis pill for erectile dysfunction. He said on the occasions when he couldn’t perform, he didn’t get paid.
Following another abusive incident between Combs and Cassie, Combs left the hotel, and Cassie jumped into Phillip’s lap and began crying and kissing him.
The two of them began having sex, and Phillip did not have trouble staying erect. While they had intercourse, they noticed Combs sneaking back into the room to watch.
Remember when Michael Jordan was so rich that he owned his own NBA team? Michael Jordan was once considered one of the richest athletes on Earth with a net worth of over $2 billion.
Unfortunately, the poor economy is affecting everybody – even Michael Jordan.
Photo illustration
The NBA icon was forced to accept a job as a “special contributor” on NBC Sports.
According to reports, the six-time NBA champion and Chicago Bulls legend will be a special contributor for NBC’s NBA coverage next season.
A legendary addition to our team!
We’re thrilled to welcome Michael Jordan as a special contributor to the NBA on NBC and Peacock. pic.twitter.com/Pjsq8tokfi
The NBA will return to NBC for the first time since 2003.
“I’m excited to see the NBA back on NBC,” Jordan said in a statement on Monday. “The NBA on NBC was a meaningful part of my career, and I’m excited about being a special contributor to the project.”
The report made headline news on Monday. Everyone is shocked to hear that Michael will be a sports announcer.
Michael Jordan will join veteran announcer Mike Tirico, who will handle the play-by-play announcing, and Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller, who will serve as a game analyst.
Stephen A. Smith had a lot to say about Michael Jordan’s new gig.
“I just wanna know, is it gonna be the Michael Jordan you see on television?” Smith asked on ESPN. “Or is it gonna be the Michael Jordan we speak to? Because if it’s the Michael Jordan we speak to, it’s gonna be epic. This brother, the things that he will say and the way that he says them and the way that he breaks them down….that’s on another level.”
Jordan, 62, purchased a controlling stake in the Charlotte Bobcats in 2010. But he sold his majority stake in the team (now known as Charlotte Hornets) in 2023. He is currently a minority owner of the Hornets.
Rapper Tory Lanez was stabbed during an altercation in a California prison on Monday morning. The incident happened while Tory was exercising in the yard at California Correctional Institution.
According to reports, another inmate stabbed Tory with a shank – a homemade weapon made out of available material.
One source tells TMZ Tory was rushed by ambulance to a nearby hospital in Bakersfield, where he is being treated for a stab wound to the chest.
Instagram
Last week, the rapper posted a photo of himself to promote his next album that is dropping soon.
The photo shows Tory and 2 other inmates posing against a wall filled with graffiti.
Tory is serving a 10-year sentence at the California state prison for the 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion.
Tory recently sat for a deposition behind bars after Megan sued him for enlisting various bloggers to publicly smear and cyberstalk her.
Megan’s attorneys asked a judge to hold Tory in contempt when he refused to answer their questions.
One of the bloggers who allegedly smeared Megan is Milagro Gramz, who was banned on X (formerly Twitter). She created a new account under the username @newmediaaaa.
Former RHOA star NeNe Leakes debuted her own daytime talk podcast on YouTube in March. Since then, she has aired 5 episodes, while busy juggling several different projects.
NeNe’s daytime talk series on YouTube is very well-received by her many fans.
In the recent episode, NeNe invited YouTuber Michelle “ATLien” Brown back on for her “All Things Tea” segment.
They discussed Onijah Robinson’s return to the USA; Shannon Brown’s unfortunate predicament with women in his life; and not responding to trolls in the comments section. They also discussed smelly BBLs and Kandi Burruss’s “Othello” Broadway show.
The Tea segment usually comes on last, but NeNe moved it up to the beginning of the show because it’s a popular segment.
Screengrab
Elsewhere in the episode, NeNe reunites with original “Real Housewives of Atlanta” cast member DeShawn Snow Brown for a must-see sit-down chat.
By the way, I heard through the grapevine that NeNe asked a certain beloved entertainment blogger to appear on her new series. But I… er, she declined.
I met NeNe several times and she was always pleasant. When she owned a clothing boutique over by my house, I was always in there shopping. She has great taste in clothes for everyone – not just the femme girly girls. NeNe is well aware that we don’t all wear spandex and crop tops.
Ashanti and Nelly‘s new reality series is set to premiere on the Peacock Network next month. The series is titled Nelly & Ashanti: We Belong Together, which will premiere in June.
The series will focus on the R&B singer and the rapper’s marriage and the birth of their first child after they were reunited.
WENN.com
“Can this unstoppable duo prove that their love truly can conquer all? A fun-filled exploration of love’s second chances,” reads a press release.
WENN.com
Nelly, 50, first met Ashanti, 44, at the Grammy Awards in 2003 and began dating shortly after. They broke up in 2013 after rumors of infidelity. But they found their way back to each other’s arms at Ja Rule and Fat Joe’s Verzuz battle in 2021.
WENN.com
The couple confirmed they were back together in September 2023. The following April, they announced that they were engaged and had a baby on the way. Later they announced they had been secretly married.
“Once we found out that she was pregnant, I was just like, yeah, we hadn’t talked about any of that yet,” he said. “But I was like, ‘Yo, you know what. Let’s just knock this out because we’re gonna be doing so much, and everything’s moving so fast.’ And I didn’t want her to be a baby mama.”
The couple’s son, Kareem Kenkaide Hayes, was born on July 18, 2024.
“Billionaire” Selena Gomez‘s mental health website startup, Wondermind, couldn’t pay its employees twice in recent weeks.
Selena, 32, is best known as pop singer Justin Bieber’s ex. Their on-and-off relationship lasted from 2010 to 2018.
Selena’s mom, Mandy Teefey, told employees she took out a loan against her house just to make payroll.
Wondermind/MEGA
Mandy (seated) co-founded Wondermind website in 2020 with Selena (left) and Daniella Pierson (right).
Wondermind was marketed as a “sexier, more entertaining competitor” to health websites like Psychology Today and WebMD.
But Wondermind ran out of cash and couldn’t pay its employees and vendors beginning in March, according to Forbes.
The Los Angeles-based company pays 15 employees to publish articles, interviews and podcasts about mental health topics on the website.
Advertising didn’t bring in enough revenue to keep the company afloat. Wondermind missed 2 employee pay periods in recent weeks.
Wondermind‘s CEO Mandy Teefey called a meeting last week and told employees she took out a home equity loan to pay the company’s outstanding debts, including payroll.
Mandy said she could pay one of their paychecks. But the second paycheck is still outstanding.
MEGA/WENN
Specifics about the meeting leaked to the local media and the story made national headlines because Mandy’s daughter, Selena, reportedly has a net worth of $700 million.
A Wondermind spokesperson said all of the company’s debts will be paid on Monday, May 12.
“Like many startups, Wondermind has been working through its own set of growing pains,” the spokesperson told Forbes in a written statement.
The spokesperson said the startup will continue its important work in mental fitness helping thousands of people.
Selena is one of America’s richest celebrities. Her wealth comes from her beauty cosmetics line, which is valued at $320 million.
Screengrab
In 2017, Selena (right) underwent a kidney transplant. Her best friend, Francia Raisa (left), donated one of her kidneys. Francia later expressed regret because Selena allegedly stopped returning her calls and stopped paying her living expenses.
Photo illustration
Other A-listers who are in serious financial trouble include “billionaires” Jay-Z and his wife, pop and country music singer Beyoncé.
In an amended extortion lawsuit against Houston attorney Tony Buzbee, Jay-Z said a lender rejected Roc Nation’s application for a $115 million loan, and Jay-Z was denied a $55 million personal line of credit.
Lenders usually deny loans and lines of credit when the applicants can’t prove they have enough assets or cash flow to repay the loans on time.
The power couple is reportedly “cash poor,” meaning they have wealth tied up in assets but no liquid cash to pay their day-to-day expenses.
Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour is reportedly in shambles due to low ticket sales. Soon, she will run out of money to pay her dancers, band, caterers, airlines, and production crew.
Lil Wayne’s fiancee, Denise Bidot, claims the 42-year-old rapper kicked her and her daughter out of his house on Mother’s Day.
“Wayne literally kicked me and my daughter out on Mother’s Day today, and I’m just recovering from surgery,” the plus-size model said. “I am five weeks out from a full mommy makeover. I can’t even lift boxes,” she said in livestream video.
Denise, 38, said Lil Wayne sent people to help remove her and her daughter from his home. She added that he broke up with her via a “text message.”
Denise continued: “And I leave for New York this week for all the Sports Illustrated press. Like, when I tell you that I am absolutely unsure of how to even process my emotions…”
Denise asked her followers for lawyer recommendations because Lil Wayne allegedly put his hands on her.
“I know he has 2 girls being flown in today and who knows how many plethora of girls he has. I’ve been nothing but supportive to this man. Loved him ’til the end of the f***ing world… You literally flew me – uprooted me from New York City, where I was living, and brought me here for this bullsh*t?”
She continued: “Like, that’s crazy you guys. Like these men really be taking advantage.”
Under the circumstances, Denise and her daughter didn’t enjoy their Mother’s Day today.
Denise is best known as a plus-size model for national brands. She became the first plus-size to walk the runway during New York Fashion Week in 2014.
Lil Wayne and Denise began dating quietly in 2019 after calling off his engagement to model La’Tecia Thomas. Wayne and Denise broke up in 2020. But they were back together again in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, in January 2022, Bidot opened up about being single. “Today I feel like a much more complete woman: I learned to love, not only another person as a couple, but the world, life, to value time, my heart has opened,” the Puerto Rican and Kuwaiti model told the Hola!.
Watch Denise’s video below.
Denise Bidot, a model and Lil Wayne's fiancée, claims that he ended their relationship and kicked her and her daughter out of his house on Mother’s Day. She also alleges that he has physically assaulted her in the past. pic.twitter.com/6f9TRcVfIW
— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) May 11, 2025
Kanye West made a shocking revelation about his oldest daughter, North West. In a livestream video on Instagram, Kanye said the 11-year-old has dyslexia and issues with her bowel movements.
“That’s just a little girl not knowing what TF is going on,” he said.
“Comedians is making f—— jokes, and they don’t know that she’s dyslexic and they got her in a f—— corner at the school.”
LA.GOSSIPTV / BACKGRID
Kanye, also known as Ye West, continued: “They don’t know that she — and this is Ye oversharing, but they don’t know that she’s having problems with her bowel movements and sh-t… and MFs on TV talking, bro.”
What is Dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a learning disorder that affects the way children process written words and language. The disorder makes it difficult for children to recognize words accurately while reading. It can cause delayed early language development.
Neil Mockford/GC Images)
In other news, Kanye’s spokesperson shut down rumors that the rap producer sent his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, a cease and desist letter ordering her to stop posting their four children on social media.
Best Image / BACKGRID
Kanye, 47, and Kim, 44, share North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm.
The letter accused Kim of denying Kanye “meaningful access to his children” despite their joint legal and physical custody agreement.
However, Kanye’s spokesperson said the letter is a hoax that was widely published by mainstream media outlets after TMZ first reported it.
“TMZ didn’t ask for comment before running the story,” Kanye’s spokesperson said in a statement to E! News on Friday, May 9. “This morning, they finally emailed us with second thoughts, asking if it had been a ‘publicity stunt.’ No.”
