Taylor Swift To Turn Speak Now Rehearsal Into Charity Event

Country hitmaker will donate ticket sales from May 21 Speak Now Tour dress rehearsal in Nashville to tornado relief.
By Mawuse Ziegbe


Taylor Swift
Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images

Taylor Swift will give fans an early taste of her upcoming Speak Now Tour for a very good cause.

The country darling announced on Friday (May 6) that she will allow fans to buy tickets to the final dress rehearsal of her tour to benefit communities devastated by tornadoes in the South in late April. According to the Associated Press, Swift has been preparing for her upcoming trek over the past five weeks at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena, which will be the site of the "Speak Now ... Help Now" benefit.

Although the chart-topper is used to speaking frankly about her personal life in her music, Swift has never invited fans to check out how she gears up for her live shows. The songstress explained that witnessing the havoc-wreaking storms while putting the Speak Now Tour together inspired her to switch things up and take action.

"I was watching the coverage of the tornadoes backstage at rehearsals, and I wanted to do something for the families affected by the damage," Swift told the AP. "I've never opened a rehearsal to the public before, but I felt that inviting my fans to the last rehearsal for the Speak Now Tour would be a great way to raise money."

The songbird added that the benefit will be different from her other live appearances, as she is still hammering out the kinks of the production.

"We will probably still be doing some fine-tuning to the show that night, since this will be a true rehearsal, but I feel like it is so important for me and my fans to help if we can," she said.

Swift's Speak Now Tour is slated to kick off May 27 in Omaha, Nebraska, but before she hits the road, the Grammy-winning superstar is set to unveil her latest video, "Mean," on Friday night (May 6) on CMT and CMT.com at 10 p.m. ET.

Would you like to check out Taylor Swift's charity dress rehearsal? Let us know in the comments!

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1663445/taylor-swift-speak-now-tour.jhtml

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Consequence 'Disappointed' In Q-Tip's Public Beef With Tribe Documentary

'I was really disappointed in my cousin when he came up here and he had the email,' Cons tells MTV News of Tip's 'RapFix Live' appearance.
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway


Consequence on "RapFix Live"
Photo: MTV News

They say blood is thicker than water, but not even the blood bond Consequence shares with cousin Q-Tip would stop the Queens MC from expressing his displeasure to Sway on MTV News' "RapFix Live."

Before Consequence got down with Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music, he got his start as an affiliate of iconic hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest, appearing on four of the 15 tracks on the group's 1996 album Beats, Rhymes and Life. These days, Cons is on the outs with Q-Tip. He was critical of the way the ATCQ frontman aired out his grievances with Michael Rapaport's Tribe documentary "Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest."

"I was really disappointed in my cousin when he came up here and he had the email," Cons said of the email Q-Tip printed out and brought up to "RapFix Live" in March. The email, which was accidentally sent to Tip by one of the documentary's producers, indicated that there was a plan to cheat ATCQ out of getting producer credits on the film.

"Man, you're a superstar. What are you doing with a printout?" Consequence questioned. "That's what your lawyer is for. You gave us 'industry rule #4080.' We're still holding on to 4080," he said in reference to Q-Tip's 1991 "Check the Rhime" lyric "Industry rule #4080: Record-company people are shady."

"I don't want to see no scrolls. You Q-Tip. It's a vivrant thing, and if it's like that with Michael Rapaport, make it a violent thing," he continued to rant.

Ultimately, 'Quence seemed to be most critical of the way Q-Tip and the dissenting members of Tribe publicly handled their beef with Rapaport and the filmmakers. Consequence also questioned what all the dissention would ultimately do to A Tribe Called Quest's legacy. He pointed to the fact that the rap group was not on a unified front. On April 29, Phife Dawg appeared on "RapFix Live" and was in support of the film. "That's his legacy too," Cons said, referring to Phife. "And before y'all make a move, y'all gotta iron that out."

Do you agree with Consequence? Should Q-Tip have handled his grievances differently? Let us know win the comments.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1663436/consequence-q-tip-beef.jhtml

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'Eclipse,' 'Inception' Lead 2011 MTV Movie Awards Nominations

Voting is now open for the 20th annual show, airing live on June 5 at 9 p.m. ET.
By Eric Ditzian


Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in "Twilight Saga: Eclipse"
Photo: Summit

For the second time in three years, the vampires of "Twilight" are leading the charge at the MTV Movie Awards. For this year's show, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart's "Eclipse" flick nabbed eight nominations — including Best Movie, Best Fight and Best Kiss — narrowly besting the dream thieves of "Inception" (seven noms) and the wizards of "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 1" (six noms). All three films have been nominated for Best Movie and will compete with "Black Swan" (four nods) and "The Social Network" (five nods) for the night's top prize. (Here is the complete list of 2011 MTV Movie Awards nominees.)

Hosted by Jason Sudeikis, the 20th annual MTV Movie Awards airs live on Sunday, June 5, at 9 p.m. ET, from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. Starting Tuesday (May 3) you'll be able to head to MovieAwards.MTV.com to vote for a winner in every category until June 4. Voting for Best Movie, however, will stay open throughout the awards show — meaning you'll have a chance to affect the night's biggest prize until the very last minute.

Stewart and Pattinson, who each took home a best performance win at last year's show, are again competing in those respective categories. For Female Performance, Stewart ("Eclipse") goes up against Emma Stone ("Easy A"), Emma Watson ("Deathly Hallows"), Jennifer Aniston ("Just Go With It") and Natalie Portman ("Black Swan"). Pattinson ("Eclipse") vies for Male Performance with Radcliffe ("Deathly Hallows"), Jesse Eisenberg ("The Social Network"), Taylor Lautner ("Eclipse") and Zac Efron ("Charlie St. Cloud").

This year, MTV is introducing a new category, Best Line From a Movie, which pits the likes of Jessie Eisenberg in "Social Network" ("If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you'd have invented Facebook") against Tom Hardy in "Inception" ("You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling") and Alexys Nycole Sanchez in "Grown Ups" ("I want to get chocolate wasted").

Justin Bieber makes his debut in the Movie Awards nomination process, as the 17-year-old pop phenom enters the Best Jaw-Dropping Moment fray. The "Never Say Never" star faces off against James Franco ("127 Hours"), Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page ("Inception"), Natalie Portman ("Black Swan") and Steve-O ("Jackass 3D").

The Best Kiss category features a lip-smacking showdown of "Twilight" franchise stars: Stewart and Pattinson versus Stewart and Lautner, in addition to Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt ("Inception"), Watson and Radcliffe ("Deathly Hallows") and Portman and Mila Kunis ("Black Swan"). Reigning Best Villain champ Tom Felton ("Deathly Hallows") returns to the fold once again to battle Christoph Waltz ("The Green Hornet"), as well as Leighton Meester ("The Roommate"), Mickey Rourke ("Iron Man 2") and Ned Beatty ("Toy Story 3").

Head over to MovieAwards.MTV.com to vote for your favorite flicks now! The 20th annual MTV Movie Awards air live on Sunday, June 5, at 9 p.m. ET.

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1663146/2011-mtv-movie-awards-nominations.jhtml

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Oksana Grigorieva Dropping Abuse Claim Against Mel Gibson

Oksana Grigorieva Dropping Abuse Claim Against Mel Gibson

As the custody battle between Oksana Grigorieva and Mel Gibson over their 18-month-old daughter Lucia continues to rage, a source tells the Associated Press that Grigorieva has dropped her domestic abuse claim against Gibson.

Grigorieva, 41, had claimed that Gibson, 55, threatened her with a gun and beat her during a fight at Gibson's Malibu, Calif., home last year. Things have just gotten uglier and uglier since, with the revelation of Gibson's tirade against her caught on tape (Gibson claims the tapes were edited), as well as Gibson accusing Grigorieva of trying to extort millions of dollars from him (those charges have since been dropped).

In March, Gibson pled no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge as part of a bargain that requires him to undergo domestic violence counseling and serve three years probation -- but the plea deal did not include an admission of guilt.

A source close to the Grigorieva-Gibson case tells Radar Online that Oksana withdrew the abuse allegations as a way of extending an "olive branch" to her ex. "Oksana says the move was made to demonstrate to the court that she is a good parent who doesn't want this case drawn out any longer than it has to go, because the interests of their daughter are paramount. Oksana wants to move toward a fair custody agreement with Mel."

Gibson's lawyer has said, "Mel's only priority throughout all of this has been that the best interests of his young daughter Lucia and the rest of his children be put first in any decisions made."

Apparently, Grigorieva and Gibson have been holding secret talks to hash out the details. So could these two warring parents finally be coming to an agreement? Radar's source says, "Oksana wants what is best for Lucia and if her decision to drop the domestic violence claim isn't proof enough of that, it should be remembered that she walked away from a $15 million settlement, too, because she is a good parent."

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/oksana-grigorieva-dropping-abuse-claim-against-mel-gibson/1-a-346814

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