Mother Monster taps her own mom, Cynthia Germanotta, in push to fight bullying and inspire young fans. By Jocelyn Vena Lady Gaga Photo: Credit KCSPresse / Splash News Lady Gaga has always made it her mission to empower her little monsters. On Wednesday (November 2), Mother Monster announced she’s launching the Born This Way Foundation, which aims to further inspire young people. The pop superstar is even getting some help from her very own Mother Monster, Cynthia Germanotta. “My mother and I have initiated a passion project. We call it the Born This Way Foundation,” Gaga said in a statement about the foundation, which takes its name from her hit single and album . “Together we hope to establish a standard of Bravery and Kindness, as well as a community worldwide that protects and nurtures others in the face of bullying and abandonment.” The foundation will work with a number of partners, including the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the California Endowment and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. According to the statement, the foundation will focus on “youth empowerment and equality by addressing issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring and career development and will utilize digital mobilization as one of the means to create positive change.” Gaga has been a leader in shedding a light on the issue of bullying. She met with President Obama at a fundraiser in September to talk about the bullying epidemic, after she was touched in particular by the suicide of bullied 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer . “The past days I’ve spent reflecting, crying, and yelling,” she tweeted when news of the teen’s death broke in September. “I have so much anger. It is hard to feel love when cruelty takes someone’s life.” She went on to post Rodemeyer’s “It Gets Better” video, urging that bullying “must become illegal. It is a hate crime.” Lady Gaga isn’t the only pop star using the public spotlight to give back. On Tuesday, Justin Bieber announced the creation of his Believe Charity Drive and noted that partial proceeds from the sale of his brand-new Under the Mistletoe album will be donated to charitable organizations. Related Videos MTV First: Lady Gaga Related Artists Lady Gaga
‘Let’s work harder, so Rozay doesn’t have to work as hard,’ he says on ‘RapFix Live’ after Ross’ pair of seizures. By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway Wale Photo: Natasha Chandel/ MTV News Rick Ross says his unwavering work ethic is what contributed to his recent health problems — and Maybach Music’s Wale is ready to ease the load. The D.C. rapper and Rozay prot
Trailer references Jonah Hill’s ‘Superbad’ and includes an appearance by a certain ‘Parks and Recreation’ star. By Eric Ditzian Jonah Hill in the “21 Jump Street” trailer Photo: Columbia Pictures The Twitter war between Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum to see who’d get to tweet the “21 Jump Street” red-band trailer didn’t exactly work out as planned. Hill won, yet for some reason didn’t send out the link, so Tatum stepped in and executed the tweetage. But the new footage is nonetheless here. The action-comedy — based on Johnny Depp ‘s ’80s TV series, of course — stars Hill and Tatum as two young cops who join a resurrected undercover unit, pose as students and infiltrate a local high school to get to the bottom of a synthetic-drug ring. Depp’s cameo , unsurprisingly, doesn’t pop up in the new footage, but what else does? Let’s go ahead and take a look at the trailer’s five key moments. A Lifetime of Being Badass Mother$#@*&%s! Yes, that’s basically the professional goal of Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) when they join the police force. Once in uniform, though, badassery is hardly in the job description. Just look at those poor dudes biking around a park, their helmets and shorts almost as lethal to their images as their guns would be to the bad guys. One botched drug bust later, however, and it’s on to the Jump Street squad. Fitting In, Getting High The kids at the drug-filled high school are understandably skeptical of the two new students. As Dave Franco puts it, Tatum looks like he’s 40. So the cops have to fit in, which involves them taking the synthetic drug that comes in a package with a logo that looks, well, like a red pile of dog poop with a halo above it. So what does the drug do? According to the trailer, it makes you run through hallways and be rude to teachers, plus it leaves your tongue feeling really, really weird. Do the Honors, Ron Swanson You knew it was coming, that moment when one character urges a few others to head on down to 21 Jump Street. In theory, there’s something inherently nod-to-the-TV-show cheesy about it. Luckily, the honors are bestowed on Nick Offerman, otherwise known as Ron Swanson from “Parks and Recreation.” In his hands, with that man’s-man beard of his, the line comes out as both hokey and humorous. Well done, Mr. Swanson, or whatever your name in this movie is. The “Superbad” Callbacks The trailer doesn’t just hearken back to Depp’s TV show. It also includes two moments unmistakably linked to Hill’s 2007 breakout comedy, “Superbad.” In one, Hill and Tatum exit a liquor store that looks a whole heck of a lot like the one where McLovin’ tried to score booze for a party. Later, Hill is hit by a car and flung backward, yet isn’t so banged and bruised that he can’t pop off a curse-filled one-liner. Remember how a similar car-crash-and-curse befell Hill outside McLovin’s liquor store in “Superbad”? Guns, F-Bombs and Prom For years, Hill has been promising that his “21 Jump Street” wouldn’t be a parody, some weak-sauce bastardization of the TV series. He wasn’t kidding. This is a hard-R action-comedy filled with foul language, guns galore, a few explosions and the odd sight of Hill asking Tatum to go to prom with him, a date that requires both of them to suit up with enough firepower to take on the T-1000. Now that is a brawl we’d kill to see. Check out everything we’ve got on “21 Jump Street.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .
“We’re not very good at deciding song names,” Marcus Mumford laughs about tune, which will be called “Ghosts That We Knew” or “Ghosts.” By James Montgomery Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons Photo: Gus Stewart/ Getty Images They’ve been working on the follow-up to their breakout (on both sides of the pond) Sigh No More album since early 2011 and have been road-testing new material during a recent run of U.S. summer shows . But now, finally, Mumford & Sons have given fans a proper taste of what they can expect on their upcoming album. The problem is, they can’t seem to settle on a name for the new track. Called either “Ghosts That We Knew” or, simply, “Ghosts” (“We’re not very good at deciding song names,” frontman Marcus Mumford laughed, “we’ll hash it out, we’ll have a physical fight later”), Mumford & Sons unveiled the brand-new song during a performance at Philadelphia station Radio 104.5 . Regardless of the title they settle on, there’s a pretty good chance their fanbase is going to be rather happy. Because, frankly, the song is a stunner, rolling along on a rail of acoustic guitar, banjo and accordion, while Mumford keens about a love destroyed (“You saw no fault/ No cracks in my heart/ And you kneel beside/ My hope torn apart/ But the ghosts that we knew, will flicker from view/ Will live a long life”) and the misguided hope that all can be repaired (“So give me hope in the darkness/ That I will see the light/ Because oh, it gave me such a fright/ But I will hope as long as you like/ Just promise me we’ll be all right”). There’s a hushed majesty to it all, a muted sense of despair and grace, and it finds them building on their Bluegrass roots. Shoot, Mumford even replicates the staggered “I-I-I-I” that helped propel “The Cave” to smash status both here in the States and back home in England. There’s still no official release date for the follow-up to Sigh (it is reportedly set for February), but based on “Ghosts,” that disc can’t come soon enough for Mumford’s fans. Hopefully, they’ll figure out all the song titles by then. What are you expecting from the next Mumford album? Let us know in the comments! Related Artists Mumford & Sons
MTV News’ Jim Cantiello takes us backstage as the top 12 prepare to perform. By Jim Cantiello Justin Bieber Photo: FilmMagic MTV News’ own Jim Cantiello is exclusively covering “The X Factor” rehearsals. Read on for his fly-on-the-wall backstage report! Bieber Fever has hit the halls of “X Factor”! On Tuesday, when Justin Bieber was performing on neighboring production “Dancing With the Stars,” all the teenage “X Factor” ladies were on a mission to meet the Biebz. It seemed like a no-brainer to orchestrate a Drew/Justin meet-up — her audition was all about how obsessed she is with him — which sparked a smidge of jealousy from the other teen contestants. One even playfully griped overdramatically, “But I’m a bigger fan than she is!” All the backstage drama was for naught: Drew didn’t get to meet Bieber after all. Also spotted Tuesday: Senior “X Factor” producers whistling and catcalling at a shirtless Derek Hough, who was rehearsing his “Dancing” results-show routine in the CBS hallways. Derek was unfazed. Inside the house, Nicole Scherzinger was sitting in on the girls’ rehearsals, even though she’s mentoring the Over 30s. Was she scoping out the competition? Where was girls’ mentor Simon? Turns out, Cowell sat in for Nicole’s category, since she was overseas performing on the U.K. “X Factor” when her singers were booked to rehearse. Simon joked backstage: “Her Over 30s were relieved to have me.” As showtime approached, the expected last-minute wardrobe tweaks were in full effect. One group was spotted getting magic tape applied to their glamorous footwear to prevent slippage. (Am I evil for hoping that they fall on live TV anyway? I love a good spill.) Two weeks into the live shows, the contestants are still getting along swimmingly. They’re so comfortable with one another that one of the girls was able to have a pretend diva fit over being jealous about one contestant’s over-the-top set piece, and everyone could laugh about it. We’ll see if the chummy vibe continues as the competition heats up, especially now that the singers’ fates are in voters’ hands. Eek! And here’s a little tidbit: Keep your eyes peeled for one of the male contestants’ arms tonight. In his (little) free time, he ran to a local tattoo parlor for new ink! Happy viewing! You can catch Jim on the “X Factor Pepsi Pre-Show,” streaming at 7 p.m. ET tonight on TheXFactorUSA.com ! Related Artists Justin Bieber
Judge allows Lohan to complete Playboy shoot before going to jail. By Gil Kaufman Lindsay Lohan arrives at the Airport Courthouse in Los Angeles on Wednesday Photo: Toby Canham/Getty Images Lindsay Lohan is once again headed back to the sadly familiar confines of the Los Angeles County jail. The troubled actress appeared in court Wednesday morning (November 2) and was sentenced to 30 days in jail for violating her probation for not attending court-mandated therapy sessions and getting tossed from a community-service gig. According to TMZ , Lohan admitted in court Wednesday that she violated the terms of her probation from a theft case by getting booted from her community-service assignment at the Downtown Women’s Center. Judge Stephanie Sautner was adamant that she would not put up with any more slipups from Lohan, telling her, “This is known as putting the keys to jail in the defendant’s pocket … the first time you violate, you will go to jail.” Lohan will have to serve 12 days at the Los Angeles County morgue — where she’s already been logging some time — and then attend four therapy sessions by December 14. Sautner warned that if Lohan does not meet all those conditions, she will put a warrant out for her arrest and sentence her to an additional 270 days in jail. Sautner revoked Lohan’s probation in October following the revelation that the actress had not completed her obligations from a 2011 arrest on theft charges . What do you think of Lindsay’s return to the big house? Tell us on Facebook! This time around, Lohan will not have the option of serving her time at home , and given the overcrowding situation in L.A. jails, she is only expected to serve 20 percent of the 30 days, or around six days. She has to complete another 12 days at the morgue and four psychotherapy sessions by January 17 and complete her community service (53 days total) and therapy obligations by March 29. If she successfully meets those obligations, her probation will be over. Shockingly, TMZ also reported that Lohan was not immediately sent to jail because Judge Sautner decided to give her time to complete her nude photo shoot for Playboy magazine. Lohan lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley told the judge Lindsay must complete the shoot this week, which is reportedly netting her a cool $1 million. Lohan has one week to surrender and begin her fifth jail term, which is expected to start November 9. Related Videos Lindsay Lohan: Crime And Punishment Related Photos Lindsay Lohan Goes To Court The Highs And Lows Of Lindsay Lohan Related Artists Lindsay Lohan
Judge allows Lohan to complete Playboy shoot before going to jail. By Gil Kaufman Lindsay Lohan arrives at the Airport Courthouse in Los Angeles on Wednesday Photo: Toby Canham/Getty Images Lindsay Lohan is once again headed back to the sadly familiar confines of the Los Angeles County jail. The troubled actress appeared in court Wednesday morning (November 2) and was sentenced to 30 days in jail for violating her probation for not attending court-mandated therapy sessions and getting tossed from a community-service gig. According to TMZ , Lohan admitted in court Wednesday that she violated the terms of her probation from a theft case by getting booted from her community-service assignment at the Downtown Women’s Center. Judge Stephanie Sautner was adamant that she would not put up with any more slipups from Lohan, telling her, “This is known as putting the keys to jail in the defendant’s pocket … the first time you violate, you will go to jail.” Lohan will have to serve 12 days at the Los Angeles County morgue — where she’s already been logging some time — and then attend four therapy sessions by December 14. Sautner warned that if Lohan does not meet all those conditions, she will put a warrant out for her arrest and sentence her to an additional 270 days in jail. Sautner revoked Lohan’s probation in October following the revelation that the actress had not completed her obligations from a 2011 arrest on theft charges . What do you think of Lindsay’s return to the big house? Tell us on Facebook! This time around, Lohan will not have the option of serving her time at home , and given the overcrowding situation in L.A. jails, she is only expected to serve 20 percent of the 30 days, or around six days. She has to complete another 12 days at the morgue and four psychotherapy sessions by January 17 and complete her community service (53 days total) and therapy obligations by March 29. If she successfully meets those obligations, her probation will be over. Shockingly, TMZ also reported that Lohan was not immediately sent to jail because Judge Sautner decided to give her time to complete her nude photo shoot for Playboy magazine. Lohan lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley told the judge Lindsay must complete the shoot this week, which is reportedly netting her a cool $1 million. Lohan has one week to surrender and begin her fifth jail term, which is expected to start November 9. Related Videos Lindsay Lohan: Crime And Punishment Related Photos Lindsay Lohan Goes To Court The Highs And Lows Of Lindsay Lohan Related Artists Lindsay Lohan
‘People were like, ‘Oh my God, are you kidding? Coldplay is going to kill you!’ Stronger singer tells MTV News of Billboard face-off. By Christina Garibaldi Kelly Clarkson Photo: MTV News Kelly Clarkson ‘s fifth studio album, Stronger , landed her at the #2 spot on the Billboard album chart, selling 163,000 copies in its first week. While her first-week sales may have been softer than what Clarkson had hoped for, when the former “American Idol” winner sat down with MTV News on Friday, she acknowledged that she had some fierce release competition in Coldplay . But she had a refreshingly positive take on the matchup. “My album came out this week, Coldplay came out at the same time, and people were like, ‘Oh my God, are you kidding? Coldplay is going to kill you!’ I don’t care if they kill me,” Clarkson said of the rock band, whose Mylo Xyloto topped the charts with 447,000 copies sold. “It’s more like, how many people are going to buy their album, and then my album is right there, ’cause it’s out too,” she said. “I always think competition is healthy.” Clarkson, who told us she thinks Stronger is her “best album” to date, is now prepping the second single off the LP, “What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger).” “I think we might be going with ‘Stronger,’ the title track.” Clarkson revealed. “It’s just a great song, so I think we might go with that one.” Much like the first single off the album, “Mr. Know It All,” “What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger)” is a powerful breakup anthem somewhat reminiscent of “Since U Been Gone.” ” ‘What Doesn’t Kill You,’ I can’t wait to perform that live,” the singer, who plans to tour in January, told us recently. “We’ve already rehearsed it, and it’s so much fun. It’s like this big dance anthem.” As much fun as “What Doesn’t Kill You (Stronger)” will be to perform, Clarkson says another song takes the top spot on her list of favorite songs off her latest album. ” ‘You Love Me,’ that’s my favorite,” she said. “Even before I wrote a song to it, the track is just unbelievably cool. It doesn’t sound like anything else that’s out right now. It’s very like Prince, Tina Turner, but nowadays; it’s more contemporary. And the message of the song, too, I love that, the fact that saying like, ‘Your love feels like a punch in the face.’ I just think it’s a fun song.” Share your review of Stronger in the comments! Related Videos MTV News Extended Play: Coldplay MTV News Extended Play: Kelly Clarkson Related Artists Kelly Clarkson Coldplay
‘In a tough situation I’m trying to do the best that I can,’ she says on radio show while promoting handbag line. By Jocelyn Vena Kim Kardashian in Sydney on Tuesday Photo: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images The hoopla around the Kim/Kris split has yet to die down. Kim Kardashian is currently in Australia promoting a line of handbags with her sister Khlo
We hammer down with the year’s most brilliantly unapologetic banger, in Bigger Than the Sound. By James Montgomery Chad Kroeger of Nickelback Photo: Getty Images I don’t want to talk about Lana del Ray’s lips, chillwave or Drake’s feelings anymore. Those topics are all bookish and ultimately pointless, the kind of things debated by folks who enjoy nothing quite as much as the sound of their own voice, discussion points during shift breaks at the co-op or between courses at winter solstice parties. You know, nerd stuff. No, today, I want to talk about Nickelback , and their stupendous new single “Bottoms Up,” a song that is about nothing more than getting totally sh–faced, and one whose brilliance I am unapologetically in awe of. To the uninitiated, “Bottoms Up” is one of two singles Nickelback released simultaneously last month, in the lead-up to their sure-to-be-massive Here and Now album. It is not the one that features lines like “Hand in hand forever/ That’s when we all win,” because that’s the bruising ballad “When We Stand Together.” It is very much the one about consuming every inebriating substance under the sun, a list that includes, but is not limited to: Jim Beam, Jack Daniel’s, Black-Tooth Grins — Dimebag certainly would’ve approved — 80-proof hooch and, of course, “straight gasoline.” In other words, it is the kind of song a band like Nickelback (who, and take this however you wish, seem to write songs only as excuses to finance their latest Can-Am three wheeler ) was practically placed on this earth to write. It is not, by any means, a smart song — it is a sublimely stupid one, in which frontman Chad Kroeger growls about wanting to “kick a hole in the sky” and rhymes “bar” with “fire” — mainly because he can — over a bed of snarling, skuzzy riffs and flammable solos (and drums that sound like they were lifted from Eddie Money ). It seems destined to take its rightful place alongside tracks like AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” or Ratt’s “Round and Round” on strip-club playlists all across this great land. It sounds like it was unearthed from a time capsule buried in 1999 (or 1984), which automatically makes it the most rock-and-roll song released this year. So why is it brilliant? Well, several reasons spring to mind. For starters, there’s the chorus, which goes ” ‘NOTHER ROUND/ FILL ‘ER UP/ HAMMER DOWN/ GRAB A CUP/ BOTTOMS UP!” (CAPS mine, but, I mean, if it were possible to sing in ALL CAPS, Nickelback would certainly do it here.) It’s sort of ingenious in a totally not-genius way and will instantly worm its way into your brain. There are the reactions the song gets from folks I’ve played it for, which run the gamut from “Two minutes in and all I want to do is shotgun a beer” and “This should be the official song of being in a boat on a lake” to “It sounds like Slaughter.” There’s the fact that I’ve listened to it something like 467 times since I interviewed the band last week, and it’s made me want to do pushups, fight someone, put the hammer down and go to the bathroom. But most of all, it’s that its very existence proves that no one knows their audience quite like Nickelback. Because unlike Coldplay , Linkin Park or Metallica — who are busy making electro albums , albums that reference the Bhagavad Gita and albums with Lou Reed , respectively — Nickelback know better than to mess with what got them here. “Bottoms Up” is an unabashed ode to boozing it up, keeping the good times rolling and setting things ablaze. It is precisely the kind of jam their fans want to hear them making, the soundtrack to Saturday night and a million tailgate extravaganzas. It is big and bold and brash and ballsy, because that’s exactly the kind of band Nickelback are. There will be no Rihanna cameos , thank you very much. And I’m not just making this up, either. Kroeger told me as much when I sat down with him, admitting that “Bottoms Up” may very well be their masterwork. “It’s a drinking anthem. I mean, it’s harder to write those songs than it is to write those social-awareness type songs — it really is. Some of the stuff’s got to be a little tongue-in-cheek. There’s got to be some clever stuff there, you know, and you’ve got to be descriptive. But when you get done listening to it, you need to have the feeling of just wanting to grab a bottle of Jack. And I think we got there, because we’d bring friends over all the time, and it was just like, ‘You are now a test subject! Hit play; turn it up nice and loud.’ And the song’s over, and they’d be like, ‘I want to drink. I want to drink something right now. ‘ And we were like, ‘Yes!’ ” Yes, indeed. Because listening to “Bottoms Up,” I am struck with no other notion quite as much as “I want to drink. I want to drink something right now, ” which means that in every conceivable way, the song is a success. Forget LMFAO and all their DayGlo excess; Nickelback don’t need that crap to make a “Party Rock Anthem.” You may hate them, but you cannot discount their brilliance — not any more. “Bottoms Up” is the kind of slammer no other band is capable of making, mostly because the bands that were making them no longer walk this earth. It is a market-tested, precision-guided party, with no hangover in sight. Because NB are smart enough to leave the headaches to the brainy folks. They just wanna rock. And drink. A lot. Hammer down, now and forever. What do you think of the Nickelback party-starter? Let us know in the comments! Related Artists Nickelback
