Over two decades after first joining the world of entertainment management — at the surprisingly young age of 19 — the infamous entrepreneur is finally hanging it up. In a lengthy Instagram post on Monday, captioned “23 years”, the 42-year-old went down memory lane through his entire career before announcing he’d made the decision to retire. He wrote in a carousel of images:

“23 years. That’s how long I have been a music manager. 23 years ago a 19 year old kid started managing an artist named Cato in Atlanta, GA and my journey began. Along the way I have had so many experiences I could never have dreamt of. I have been blessed to have had a ‘Forrest Gump’-like life while witnessing and taking part in the journeys of some of the most extraordinarily talented people the world has ever seen. I’m constantly pinching myself and asking ‘how did I get here?’ And after 23 years this chapter as a music manager has come to an end.”

He went on to explain how music management consumed his life 24/7 — and for a while he “loved it” — but now he’s ready to focus more on his kids after his “personal life took some hits”. But just because he’s disappearing from the management scene doesn’t mean he’s gone for good. He explained he’ll be continuing his role as the CEO of his company HYBE America:

“In this next chapter I have been honored to join as a board member of Hybe and serve as the CEO of Hybe America. My brilliant partner these past 3 years, Chairman Bang, has a vision I truly believe in. But even beyond that he has become a true friend who understands where I must be in my life these days. And that is a father first, a CEO second, and a manager no more.”

Scooter added how he felt he’d been heading toward retirement for a couple years now, saying it was God’s plan for him. Innerestingly he says doesn’t regret any of the time he spent as a manager. In particular, he said he still supports ALL his past clients and is cheering on “every single one of them”:

“I have nothing but love for those I have worked with over the years, and as we develop a different working relationship, I will always be in their corner to consult and support them whether it be directly or from afar. Every client I have had the privilege of working with has changed my life, and I know many of them are just beginning to see the success they deserve. I will cheer for every single one of them.”

No regrets, huh? Of course, the record exec has been mired in controversy ever since he bought Taylor Swift‘s discography masters — allegedly right out from under her. And when he name dropped all his current and past clients with to thank them for all their work and time over the years, every big name he collaborated, he notably left her name off the list.

Related: Taylor Swift Emotionally Gushes Over 100th Eras Tour Show!

He reflected on his work with artists like Andrew Watt, Lil Dicky, Tori Kelly, J Balvin, Martin Garrix, David Guetta, Steve Angello, Carly Rae Jepsen, PSY, Quavo, Kanye West, YG, The Kid LAROI, Dan+Shay, Asher Roth, and Usher. He also threw out the names of Demi Lovato and the Zac Brown Band, but it wasn’t until he started in on the successes of Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber did he really show his pride. The music pro said it had been an honor watching them grow up into the “legends they are today”:

“There will never be a day where I don’t take great pride and honor in what we accomplished together. The same can be said for so many I have had the pleasure of once being called “manager”.”

Scooter didn’t forget to address the elephant in the room, though! At least indirectly. He took a moment to reflect on how he says he’s always taken “the high road” when “attacked.” He wrote:

“There has been a lot said about what is happening in our company… and in my career. When we had success I smiled, and when we were attacked I always tried to take the high road. But for the last 3 years I have begin to feel that taking the high road has created confusion and ambiguity as to who we are.”

So Taylor “attacked” him, is what he’s saying? And he’s the better person for taking the high road, but also he now thinks taking the high road was a mistake? Hmm…

The record executive said his colleagues will now be the ones taking over the management positions while he oversees this new era diving into primarily K-Pop, new artists, new investments, and his family. Wrapping up his statement, he said:

“So yes, it’s been 23 your ears. And yes, this chapter has come to an end. But the great Berry Gordy once told me ‘young man, it never ends the way you wanted, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.’ That wisdom has proven to be correct. I never saw how this chapter would end, hell, I never even saw it happening. But it did. And I will cherish every moment of it. I made my plan… but it turns out I like God’s plan better. Cheers!”

See Scooter’s full post (below):

Wow! A lot to take in — and already a lot of discussion in the comments! What do U think, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF (below).

[Image via MEGA/WENN]

The post Scooter Braun RETIRES From Music Management -- And Shades Taylor Swift In His Announcement?! appeared first on Perez Hilton.

Bebe Rexha has a formula – and it works, damnit!

Her latest release sees her teaming up with David Guetta again. And, this time, in a self-referential wink they sample one of the French DJ/producers old hit.

We LOVED his early 2000s song with Kelly Rowland, When Love Takes Over, and we love the new life it has given One In A Million!

Check it out above!

The post Listen To This: Commander! appeared first on Perez Hilton.

LVL1 is giving us queer Euro house disco trash!!

We bow down!!!

FVN! has the energy and sound of early 2000s Miss Kittin!

The Spanish rapper and singer is definitely one we are very excited to keep following!

Check out this new runway classic above!

Then CLICK HERE to listen to more from LVL1!

The post Listen To This: Girls Just Wanna... appeared first on Perez Hilton.

Bebe Rexha has teamed up with David Guetta once again and we have social media to thank!

The song leaked. It was just a forgotten demo. And because of the response we now have this finished track.

And it’s a BANGER!!! Yes, it samples Blue (Da Ba Dee) by Eiffel 65!

You must check out I’m Good (Blue) above!

Then CLICK HERE to listen to more music from Bebe Rexha!

The post Listen To This: Down For Whatever! appeared first on Perez Hilton.

Little Mix have still got it as a trio!

The Brits’ new song is a power collab with Galantis and David Guetta!

And what makes Heartbreak Anthem so special is that it sounds like all three of those acts. Doing what they do best. It could be any one of their singles!

This is wonderful, uplifting pop!

It will put you in such a great mood! Make you wanna dance and be grateful!

Check it out above!

Then CLICK HERE to listen to more music from Little Mix!

And CLICK HERE for more from Galantis!

And CLICK HERE for more from David Guetta!

The post Listen To This: Be Okay! appeared first on Perez Hilton.

The actor was one of many high-profile celebs and “influencers” brought out to Saudi Arabia this past weekend for the MDL Beast Music Festival in Riyadh. As we reported on Monday, the Western celebs were all roundly criticized by fans and followers for helping to promote the festival, and the government of Saudi Arabia, despite significant human rights abuses in the country.

Related: Ryan Phillippe Settles Assault Lawsuit Hanging Over His Head

The 45-year-old film star has now gone above and beyond just going to the festival, though — he’s waging war with followers in the comments section of his posts! Evidently a little touchy after being called out for his defense of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Cruel Intentions star is responding by… defending it even further? How much are they paying you, man?!

Twitter users have captured screenshots of Phillippe’s nasty comments to his critics, including one where he calls a commenter a “moron,” and adds (below):

“Your government is without fault? Cool. I’ve never known of one. Progress and change take time. It is happening here and was an awesome place to visit.”

Hmmm… sounds like a false equivalency followed by completely glossing over the real, current dangers women and LGBT people routinely face in the Middle Eastern nation, but, whatever!

In several other nasty exchanges, Phillippe told commenters to “go see Cats” and called on a “racist loser” for suggesting the Kingdom has done some very bad things.

You can see all the receipts (below):

pic.twitter.com/aZ0GvSnuXw

— Off Colour (@OffColourInc) December 23, 2019

Uh-oh!

And that was just part of the drama! In another exchange captured in this thread, Phillippe tells one commenter to “f**k off” and then really blows up at another, writing:

“1st of all I’m traveling many places in the mid east. 2nd, find me a country without issues, i’ll wait. 3rd things are changing and progressing rapidly in KSA and the people are lovely. pay better attention and quit virtue signaling, princess.”

WTF!!!

Here are both of those exchanges (below):

“Quit virtue signaling, Princess,” he tells another commenter asking how much he’s getting paid for these posts. pic.twitter.com/fliS8XArBr

— Ξvan Ross Katz (@evanrosskatz) December 22, 2019

Yeah, so, the I Know What You Did Last Summer star is not having a very good week, is he?! YIKES!!!

Related: Jessica Biel Hasn’t ‘Fully Forgiven’ Justin Timberlake Yet…

BTW, here’s a full list of all the Instagram influencers and other celebrities who were brought out to Saudi Arabia this past weekend (below). It includes big names like Phillippe, Armie Hammer, Olivia Culpo, Irina Shayk, Stella Maxwell, Sofia Richie, Scott Disick, Winnie Harlow, Ed Westwick, David Guetta, Steve Aoki, and more:

Speaking of the Saudi regime trying to buy the appearance of progress—

Here are names of western celebs and influencers that the regime paid this weekend to post feel-good IG photos of concerts in Riyadh. @MDLBeast

All of this is blood money. #JamalKhashoggi pic.twitter.com/fHVtknue0X

— Karen Attiah (@KarenAttiah) December 23, 2019

Wow.

Obviously, we knew a few of those from our earlier reporting on Monday, but a lot of celebs and influencers just looking for a payday made a questionable decision here. Not great…

What do y’all think about this controversy, Perezcious readers?! What about Phillippe’s little meltdown trying to defend the Kingdom?? Sound OFF with all your comments on this whole situation (below)!!!

[Image via Brian To/WENN]

The post Ryan Phillippe Melts Down Defending Government Of Saudi Arabia Following MDL Beast Music Festival: 'Quit Virtue Signaling, Princess' appeared first on Perez Hilton.

And while the festival itself had a lot of the makings of a ‘normal’ electronic music fest — lights, beats, thousands of people hanging out together in the desert, a million social media posts — MDL Beast quickly came under fire because of its back story, and the entire reason for its existence.

Related: Ryan Phillippe Settles That Pesky Assault Lawsuit!

First, let’s go through that back story: the festival was sponsored and put on by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — a government that has long been criticized worldwide for human rights violations against journalists, their horrific treatment of LGBT people, and the many restrictions they put on women living in the Middle Eastern nation.

Most recently (and infamously), Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated and dismembered in October 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. The murder was determined to have been carried out by Saudi nationals; multiple intelligence sources report it was done specifically at the direction of the Saudi royal family, due to Khashoggi’s vocal criticism of the government in that country. In the months after the assassination, Saudi Arabia received swift, strong criticism from many governments and politicians around the world.

In September, to rehab the nation’s image, the Saudi government announced they were opening up the kingdom to allow foreign tourists to visit. They enacted policy changes nationwide, too, like allowing unmarried foreign couples to book hotel rooms together, and allowing solo female travelers to rent rooms. MDL Beast is an extension of this bald-faced attempt at public relations — to make the nation more appealing to Westerners, despite the Kingdom’s long-standing history of human rights violations and abuses.

Enter the celebs…

Unaware (or uncaring) of Saudi Arabia’s brazen attempt to buy them off, actors including Ed Westwick, Armie Hammer, and Ryan Philippe, and super models including Winnie Harlow, Alessandra Ambrosio and Joan Smalls made the trek to Riyadh and gleefully posted pics of the festival on social media.

Big-name electronic music acts like David Guetta and Steve Aoki were there to perform, further legitimizing the event for the government’s propaganda machine. Even Sofia Richie and Scott Disick showed up… because, of course!

Hammer got destroyed on social media after posting pics to his Instagram account from the festival — which he dutifully called a “cultural shift” akin to Woodstock. OK, there, buddy. Here’s that post (below):

Commenters blasted him for, as one follower wrote, “promoting a country that kills journalists, LGTBQ+ people, restricts the lives of women.” Wow!

But he was far from the only one who gleefully posted on social media, seemingly doing the propaganda work for the Saudi government.

For one, Sofia Richie put up a remarkably tone deaf pic, captioned “Saudi girls,” that immediately drew thousands of critical comments (below):

Wow. It sure is something to simply post “Saudi girls” about a place in which women are treated so poorly…

BTW, that Sofia pic was posted at Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel. According to The Guardian, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman detained political opponents in that same hotel in the fall of 2017. Nice work, Sofia…

Related: Whatever Happened To Kristen Stewart And Stella Maxwell??

Irina Shayk and Stella Maxwell also drew ire from commenters for posting multiple photos from the festival throughout their trip:

“Cool,” one commenter wrote sarcastically. “Getting a paycheck and a glamorous trip in exchange for being a propaganda piece for MBS and a country that kills journalists and the LGBT. Do better.”

Fashion industry watchdog Diet Prada best summed up the MDL Beast Festival controversy with their own collage of celeb influencer posts from the event. To go along with it, the account wrote a scathing criticism of any celeb taking part in the naked, obvious propaganda, as you can see (below):

Along with the series of posts revealing attendees (and some who turned the festival down, like Emily Ratajkowski), the account shared this statement below the photos:

“What’s worse than an all white @revolve influencer trip? Cashing big fat checks in exchange for #content creation (aka propaganda) to rehabilitate the image of Saudi Arabia, a country said to be causing ‘the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,’ according to the United Nations. According to anonymous sources, six-figure sums were offered for attendance and geo-tagged posts …

… Saudi Arabia has been spending billions to change its image in the west, but this is sure to be the most expensive campaign yet. In a series of Instagram stories posted by transgender model @teddy_quinlivan, it was revealed that fellow model @emrata had turned down the trip, evidently aware of the country’s human rights crisis. ‘It is very important to me to make clear my support for the rights of women, the LGBTQ community, freedom of expression and the right to a free press. I hope coming forward on this brings more attention to the injustices happening there,’ said Ratajkowski in a statement to Diet Prada.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Unfortunately, not all shared the same sentiments. There are simply too many attendees to name.”

Whoa. Too many attendees to name… no kidding!!

The whole thing is quite a bit to take in, but it’s very clear a LOT of people are rightfully very pissed off at a LOT of celebs after this weekend. And say what you will about influencers getting paid to promote shady (or stupid) products on their IG page or whatever, but it goes to another level when the thing they’re promoting is a notoriously dangerous and deadly government, ya know?!

Anyways, what do U think about this controversy, Perezcious readers? Are people right to be mad as hell at celebs over stuff like this?! We wanna know what U think about this crazy story!! Sound OFF in the comments (below)…

[Image via FayesVision/WENN/Instar]

The post Sofia Richie, Armie Hammer, Irina Shayk & More Celebs Slammed Over Attending Saudi Arabian Music Festival! appeared first on Perez Hilton.

Over the past few hours the Internet has been having fun with the #FaceAppChallenge, in which they use the new FaceApp to transform photos of themselves into hypothetical elderly versions.

It’s really trippy — especially when you see it done on celebs whose faces you know OH SO WELL.

Take for instance the Jonas Brothers. We’ve watched the trio grow up, so seeing what they’ll look like when they grow old is… disturbing.

Whatever, Nick could still get it.

The FaceApp tech turned this pic:

into this:

Yeah. Wow.

If only we had some way to look at the Jonas Brothers YOUNG, too.

Oh wait LOLz! We do!

Awwww! So cute!

The JoBros weren’t the only celebs who took part in the challenge.

Here’s Drake, looking nothing like his dad…

The image apparently left Drake speechless, as he instead tossed the gig to his IG followers:

“Best caption wins ovo tickets”

Ha! So far the most liked comment is someone simply quipping, “OLDVOLD.”

Cardi B must have hated hers, because she deleted it!

Sam Smith will apparently be a dignified old queen:

Ludacris shared a pic with his Fast and Furious costar Tyrese, joking:

Lil Nas X was his typically meme-fluent self, writing:

“feeling cute might delete later ?”

Ha!

Gordon Ramsay revealed his “MasterChef Season 50” look:

David Guetta posted:

Piers Morgan joked he apparently needs “a break”:

And then there’s us, Perez Hilton, who really put the tech to the test with a shirtless pic…

But maybe not as much as Courtney Stodden, who showed almost the full Monty!

That… is something…

Funny enough, one celeb isn’t so stoked about this whole thing.

Nick Jonas posted his own solo version, one he was less happy with we guess.

Yeah, life was tougher on this Nick… But that’s not what was upsetting him.

No, the Jealous singer got pretty tin foil hat about the whole thing, reminding everyone we all just did the ten year challenge — perhaps giving the FaceApp folks all the data they needed for free…

Just sayin… #realtalk pic.twitter.com/YXeyITg3KZ

— Nick Jonas (@nickjonas) July 17, 2019

Ha!

And he might not be wrong to be mistrustful of the app — and not just the source of their algorithm either.

Some users are also noticing there’s a disturbing amount of fine print in the terms of service.

The exact wording is…

“You grant FaceApp a perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully-paid, transferable sub-licensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform and display your User Content and any name, username or likeness provided in connection with your User Content in all media formats and channels now known or later developed, without compensation to you.”

They just OWN the rights to your likeness? And the likenesses of any friend’s pics you upload? Whoa, that’s severe.

And this ain’t Google or Apple we’re talking about. FaceApp is made by a company called Wireless Lab, based in St. Petersburg, Russia.

A Russian tech company with access to all of our personal data? What could go wrong??

[Image via Jonas Brothers/Instagram.]

The post Celebs Who Took The #FaceAppChallenge -- And Why It's Making Some Folks Nervous! appeared first on Perez Hilton.

1. Liam Payne
2. Donald Trump
3. Justin Bieber
4. Barack Obama
5. Cristiano Ronaldo
6. Niall Horan
7. Bruno Mars
8. Amitabh Bachchan
9. David Guetta
10. A.R. Rahman

Liam, who didn’t even make the top 10 last year, was pleased with the result, tweeting to his followers:

Wow can’t quite believe this ????couldn’t have done it without you … thanks for listening ???????????????? pic.twitter.com/iCQLBNAGnh

— Liam (@LiamPayne) November 28, 2018

Since he didn’t make #1, we imagine Trump will ignore this. Which is actually a good thing for a POTUS to do.
However, he does love his Twitter, so we wouldn’t be altogether shocked if he tweeted out how happy he was to have won the top spot.
Speaking of which NO man actually got the real top.
Nope, Taylor Swift beat everyone with a phenomenal score of 98 which surpassed even Liam’s 97. Here are the rest of the top ladies:

1. Taylor Swift
2. Katy Perry
3. Kim Kardashian West
4. Demi Lovato
5. Ellen DeGeneres
6. Selena Gomez
7. Shakira
8. Jennifer Lopez
9. Rihanna
10. Lady GaGa

No wonder Fox News wants her to shut up about politics!
How many of these top influencers do YOU follow??
[Image via Phil Lewis/Brian To/Gisele Tellier/Future Image/WENN.]

The post Donald Trump Loses To Liam Payne (And Taylor Swift) On Twitter! LOLz! appeared first on Perez Hilton.

The post Jason Derulo & Nicki Minaj Drop Sexy 'Goodbye' Video! appeared first on Perez Hilton.