The Senate Judiciary Committee warned Ticketmaster that they’ll be watching what happens with ticket sales for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/beyonce" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Beyoncé</a>’s recently announced Renaissance tour.
The committee&#8217;s Twitter account said, “We’re watching, [Ticketmaster],” in response to a headline announcing the tour. The warning comes on the heels of a highly-publicized disaster with ticket sales for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/taylor-swift" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Taylor Swift</a>&#8216;s Eras Tour last November.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
We’re watching, <a href="https://twitter.com/Ticketmaster?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Ticketmaster</a>. <a href="https://t.co/LuWjoXrWX4">https://t.co/LuWjoXrWX4</a>
&mdash; Senate Judiciary Committee (@JudiciaryDems) <a href="https://twitter.com/JudiciaryDems/status/1621191756531236866?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 2, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Multiple senators blasted Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, during a hearing about the ticket sales fiasco. This was all spurred by allegations that Ticketmaster has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ticketmasters-botched-sale-of-taylor-swift-tickets-converted-gen-zers-into-anti-monopolists-ftc-chairman-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">monopolized</a> the industry after merging with Live Nation in 2010.
When fans tried to purchase <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/music-industry">tickets</a> for the Eras tour after pre-registering, the entire site crashed, leaving some people waiting in line for hours only to never secure their tickets. Eventually, the general sale was called off because demand was too high to match availability.
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino said they were simply not equipped to handle the demand for Swift concert tickets. 
“We invited a million and a half on that day to come and buy those tickets, but it’s kind of like having a party,” he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/taylor-swift-finally-breaks-silence-after-eras-tour-ticket-fiasco">explained</a>. “Everybody crashed that door at the same time with 3.5 billion requests.”
“We sold 2 million tickets, the most we’ve ever sold in one day in history, and another million tickets of other artists on the same day,” Rapino continued. “So although we regret it was a slowdown in some queues and some error codes for a short period for some fans, we did manage to recover.”
“This whole concert ticket system is a mess — it’s a monopolistic mess,” Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said during the hearing.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) agreed. “I believe in capitalism, and to have a strong capitalist system, you have to have competition,” she said. “You can’t have too much consolidation – something that unfortunately for this country, as an ode to Taylor Swift, I will say we know ‘All Too Well.’”
Live Nation anticipates that ticket demand for the Renaissance tour will be high, but they’ve put some new systems in place to help avoid what happened before. 
The company wrote in an email to fans this week that the number of pre-sale registrations “already exceed the number of available tickets by more than 800%” in some locations, <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/02/03/senate-warns-ticketmaster-were-watching-beyonce-tour-sales" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per</a> The New York Post. 
“It is expected that many interested fans may not be able to get tickets because demand drastically exceeds supply,” the email said. 
Some measures used to facilitate the buying process include staggered sales and Verified Fan technology, which was also used for Swift’s concert tickets. This is done to avoid tickets being resold by third-party sites for inflated prices.

Atlantis The Royal Grand Reveal Weekend 2023 – Red Carpet Arrivals

Senate Warns Ticketmaster ‘We’re Watching’ Beyoncé Tour Ticket Sales Following Taylor Swift Debacle

Senate Warns Ticketmaster ‘We’re Watching’ Beyoncé Ticket Sales Following Taylor Swift Debacle

Beyonce

Entertainment

Music

Music Industry

Taylor Swift

U.S.

A new <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/taylor-swift" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Taylor Swift</a> music video just dropped featuring <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/transgender" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transgender</a>-identifying model Laith Ashley as Swift’s love interest.
The highly anticipated <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/music" target="_blank" rel="noopener">music video</a> for “Lavender Haze” shows the Grammy Award-winning singer enjoying a new relationship, all in a smoky purple backdrop. The video, which was written and directed by Swift, shows Ashley in the main role next to Swift as the two lounge in bed and cuddle at a party.
“The ‘Lavender Haze’ video is out now. There is lots of lavender. There is lots of haze,” Swift <a href="https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/1618837765269098496" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shared</a> on social media Friday morning with a teaser clip.
“There is my incredible costar @laith_ashley who I absolutely adored working with. This was the first video I wrote out of the 3 that have been released,” she continued. “This one really helped me conceptualize the world and mood of Midnights, like a sultry sleepless 70’s fever dream. Hope you like it.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Taylor Swift - Lavender Haze" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h8DLofLM7No?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Ashley also shared about the video on social media. “Thank you so much [Taylor Swift] for allowing me to play a small part in your story. You are brilliant and this is an experience I will never forget,” the model <a href="https://twitter.com/laith_ashley" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shared</a>. 
“Still at a loss for words. Trying to gather myself and my thoughts. I am so grateful,” Ashley tweeted in a follow-up.
&#8220;Lavender Haze&#8221; is the third song off Swift&#8217;s very successful Midnights album to get a music video following videos for &#8220;Anti-Hero&#8221; and &#8220;Bejeweled.&#8221; The singer has hinted that more will be released later on.
Ashley, meanwhile, is well-known in the industry with a burgeoning modeling career. The 33-year-old has <a href="https://www.them.us/story/laith-ashley-actor-model-taylor-swift-midnights-video" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posed</a> for Diesel and Calvin Klein, and has appeared on the cover of Out magazine, Gay Times, and Vogue France. Ashley also appeared on Caitlyn Jenner’s reality show “I Am Cait” in 2016 and was a series regular on “Strut,” a short-lived series on Oxygen following the trans modeling agency Slay.
Ashley also appeared in other music videos and on television including “RuPaul’s Drag Race Pit Crew,” “Pose,” and “Unconventional.”
Swift’s inclusion of a transgender-identifying person in the music video is part of a larger trend in Hollywood and the media to increase trans representation. Recently, the fashion brand Burberry included what appeared to be a post-op trans person posing shirtless for one of their fashion ads on Instagram.
Hollywood has also been hyping the inclusion of trans-identifying stars, using their inclusion as a badge of honor in TV and movies.

2019 American Music Awards – Arrivals

Taylor Swift Cavorts With Transgender Model Laith Ashley In New ‘Lavender Haze’ Video

Taylor Swift Cavorts With Transgender Model Laith Ashley In New 'Lavender Haze' Video

Transgender

Twitter users lost it over videos of U.S. Senators from both sides of the political aisle quoting lines from Taylor Swift songs during the Ticketmaster hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
The Senate Judiciary Committee included Minnesota Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Connecticut Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal along with Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, quoting lyrics from the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/taylor-swift">33-year-old</a> pop singer&#8217;s long catalog of songs.
Klobuchar said during the hearing, &#8220;To have a strong capitalist system, you have to have competition. You can&#8217;t have too much consolidation. Something that unfortunately for this country — as an ode to Taylor Swift, I will say — we know all too well.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
“To have a strong capitalist system, you have to have competition. You can’t have too much consolidation,” Sen. Klobuchar says of Ticketmaster.
“Something that unfortunately for this country—as an ode to Taylor Swift, I will say—we know all too well.” <a href="https://t.co/PE451AFhPO">https://t.co/PE451AFhPO</a> <a href="https://t.co/o0vJ2YHExY">pic.twitter.com/o0vJ2YHExY</a>
&mdash; ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) <a href="https://twitter.com/ABCPolitics/status/1617906997956943874?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
One person wrote, &#8220;This Ticketmaster hearing is taking me out. All these grown senators using Taylor Swift lyrics in their arguments is everything I didn&#8217;t know I needed.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This Ticketmaster hearing is taking me out. All these grown senators using Taylor Swift lyrics in their arguments is everything I didn’t know I needed. 😂 <a href="https://t.co/r7FYRfz15R">pic.twitter.com/r7FYRfz15R</a>
&mdash; Perla 🧚🏼‍♀️ (@MexicanFairyy) <a href="https://twitter.com/MexicanFairyy/status/1617953169568583680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Another person on the social media platform tweeted, &#8220;This has me rolling. The Karma quote during the Ticketmaster hearing  #TaylorSwiftTheErasTour.&#8221; The post included a clip of Lee at the hearing saying, &#8220;Karma&#8217;s a relaxing thought, aren&#8217;t you envious, that for you it&#8217;s not.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This has me rolling. The Karma quote during the Ticketmaster hearing 😭😂 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TaylorSwiftTheErasTour?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TaylorSwiftTheErasTour</a> <a href="https://t.co/LGiCybEuxl">pic.twitter.com/LGiCybEuxl</a>
&mdash; Gabe Kanae (@GabeKanae) <a href="https://twitter.com/GabeKanae/status/1617944307847286785?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;HE [Lee] JUST SAID TICKETMASTER IS A NIGHTMARE DRESSED LIKE A DAY DREAM YALL IM F***ING GAGGINGGGG SENND THE POLICE LMFAOOO,&#8221; another person tweeted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
HE JUST SAID TICKETMASTER IS A NIGHTMARE DRESSED LIKE A DAY DREAM YALL IM FUCKING GAGGINGGGG SENND THE POLICE LMFAOOO <a href="https://t.co/8TKXaASllJ">pic.twitter.com/8TKXaASllJ</a>
&mdash; Gina 🌙 ✨IS SEEING TAYLOR NASHVILLE NIGHT3 SEC A (@whatamind13) <a href="https://twitter.com/whatamind13/status/1617939809938608128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
this ticketmaster hearing is so unserious 😭 <a href="https://t.co/p5NPpmp12h">pic.twitter.com/p5NPpmp12h</a>
&mdash; jules (@tayylorde13) <a href="https://twitter.com/tayylorde13/status/1617943892447596544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
While another shared in response to hearing Sen. Lee, &#8220;The Ticketmaster hearing is absolutely wild. I can&#8217;t believe I just heard a U.S. Senator say &#8216;karma&#8217;s a relaxing thought, aren&#8217;t you envious that for you it&#8217;s not&#8217; in a tone of voice that makes it so clear he has not listened to this song even once.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The Ticketmaster hearing is absolutely wild. I can&#39;t believe I just heard a US Senator say &quot;karma&#39;s a relaxing thought, aren&#39;t you envious that for you it&#39;s not&quot; in a tone of voice that makes it so clear he has not listened to this song even once
&mdash; Maayan 🍅 (@AgentMaayan) <a href="https://twitter.com/AgentMaayan/status/1617943223028305922?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Lmfao I really can’t <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TaylorSwift?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TaylorSwift</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ticketmaster?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Ticketmaster</a> <a href="https://t.co/A5OevfXjfa">pic.twitter.com/A5OevfXjfa</a>
&mdash; Kelly Keegs (@kellykeegs) <a href="https://twitter.com/kellykeegs/status/1617904832995786753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;This literally so funny,&#8221; one person tweeted. Their post included a clip of Blumenthal stating that &#8220;Ticketmaster had the temerity to imply that the debacle involved in pre-ticket sales was Taylor Swift&#8217;s fault because she was failing to do too many concerts. And may I suggest &#8230; Ticketmaster ought to look in the mirror and say, &#8216;I&#8217;m the problem. It&#8217;s me.'&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This literally so funny. Ticketmaster shaking when republicans and democrats are united in this “I’m the problem, it’s me” 💀 <a href="https://t.co/6IDJ4Po5VP">pic.twitter.com/6IDJ4Po5VP</a>
&mdash; Alicia (@Sleeecy) <a href="https://twitter.com/Sleeecy/status/1617925619660230657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
They were clearly not the only ones who couldn&#8217;t believe what they were hearing in the cringeworthy moments.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
all the senators at this ticketmaster hearing after they drop a taylor swift lyric in the middle of their arguments <a href="https://t.co/0A4X0meNrM">pic.twitter.com/0A4X0meNrM</a>
&mdash; zoë begins 🪴 (@filmsbyzoe) <a href="https://twitter.com/filmsbyzoe/status/1617942793317666816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
TAYLOR SWIFT REFERENCES IN A COURTROOM WHERE TICKETMASTER IS GETTING GOT WHAT IS 2023 LIKE ACTUALLY??,/,/, <a href="https://t.co/kM9ZDksaUR">pic.twitter.com/kM9ZDksaUR</a>
&mdash; erin 💌 (taylors version) (@livoftheparty) <a href="https://twitter.com/livoftheparty/status/1617904712669605889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
government officials are literally quoting taylor swift lyrics in fighting w ticketmaster <a href="https://t.co/OdVQBWdX15">pic.twitter.com/OdVQBWdX15</a>
&mdash; Kathryn (@kathrynm_99) <a href="https://twitter.com/kathrynm_99/status/1617924676193517568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I did not have “Hearing Taylor Swift lyrics in a courtroom as she sues Ticketmaster” on my 2023 Bingo card but here we are.😂 <a href="https://t.co/UG9HkSp4fv">pic.twitter.com/UG9HkSp4fv</a>
&mdash; Tyler Roney (@TylerJRoney) <a href="https://twitter.com/TylerJRoney/status/1617916756378669056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
And those weren&#8217;t the only lyrics that were thrown out, as the account of Taylor Swift Facts noted, posting out a list of all the songs/lyrics they heard during the Senate hearing.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Songs/Lyrics by Taylor Swift which were mentioned today at the Ticketmaster Senate hearing.
• “Anti-Hero” • “You Belong With Me” • “All Too Well” • “Shake It Off” • “Blank Space” • “Karma” • “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” <a href="https://t.co/peVzmTyUel">pic.twitter.com/peVzmTyUel</a>
&mdash; Taylor Swift Facts (@TSwiftFTC) <a href="https://twitter.com/TSwiftFTC/status/1617958014698520576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Songs/Lyrics by Taylor Swift which were mentioned today at the Ticketmaster Senate hearing,&#8221; the tweet read.
<ol>
<li>&#8220;Anti-Hero&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;You Belong With Me&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;All Too Well&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;Shake It Off&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;Blank Space&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;Karma&#8221;</li>
<li>&#8220;This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things&#8221;</li>
</ol>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/taylor-swift-announces-2023-eras-tour-in-us-her-first-since-2018">Taylor Swift Announces 2023 &#8216;Eras Tour&#8217; In U.S., Her First Since 2018</a>

Taylor Swift-2

Twitter Loses It Over Senators Quoting Taylor Swift Songs At Ticketmaster Hearing

Capitol Hill

Celebrities

Ticketmaster

Zoomers — members of Generation Z, meaning Americans born from the late 1990s to the early 2010s — aren&#8217;t big readers.
A 2019 survey by the National Literacy Trust <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/feb/29/children-reading-less-says-new-research">found</a> that just 26% of people below the age of 18 spent at least some time each day reading, the lowest level since records began in 2005.
But the Gen Z kids got a real lesson last month when they logged onto their laptops and tried to buy tickets to Taylor Swift concerts.
The presale for the singer&#8217;s upcoming Eras Tour concerts was a debacle. Ticketmaster crashed, buyers hoping to snag tickets at face value (instead of sky-high prices jacked up by after-market scalpers) were on hold for hours, and eventually, the whole mess was called off.
Lina Khan, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, said Ticketmaster&#8217;s disastrous sale reverberated in the Gen Z world. &#8220;I think this one incident ended up converting more Gen Zers into anti-monopolists overnight than anything I could have done.&#8221;
Speaking at The Wall Street Journal&#8217;s CEO Council Summit, Khan noted that the Justice Department approved the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation in 2010, creating a monolith that controls much of the live concert ticketing and venues across America.
&#8220;There can be concerns that when firms become large they can become too big to care,&#8221; she added, saying giant firms may feel no need to invest in innovation because they do not face tough competition.
The Swift mess prompted the Department of Justice to announce it is opening a probe into the monopoly.
But Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts wrote a letter to the attorney general saying that&#8217;s not enough, noting &#8220;an investigation alone does nothing for the stakeholders already harmed by Live Nation’s market dominance and seemingly ongoing anticompetitive behavior.&#8221;
They argued the company, which controls about 60% of the market — including many of the biggest venues — &#8220;has continued to abuse its dominant market position,&#8221; and the senators said, &#8220;we urge the Department to consider unwinding the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger and breaking up the company.&#8221;
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), one of the younger members of Congress, jumped in with some insightful observations.
&#8220;I was watching what was going on with the pre-release of Taylor Swift’s tickets,&#8221; she <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/aoc-ticketmaster-live-nation-monopoly-interview-1234634599/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Rolling Stone. &#8220;It came up on a more personal level; I actually have quite a few staff who were trying to get tickets that day.&#8221;
&#8220;Between seeing their experience and seeing all the people online talking about it, I think it really showed how widespread the problem is and reflects the degree of market consolidation in this industry,&#8221; Ocasio-Cortez continued.
&#8220;It’s getting to a point where if you want to see one of these large acts, there’s so little protection for everyday people that if you go into a secondary market, we are no longer in this realm of someone even charging double of what a ticket was,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Tickets are going as high [as tens of thousands of dollars] after what was supposed to be a presale operation designed for people who are actually going to be using the tickets that they purchase.&#8221;
Maybe Taylor Swift can tape a few lectures about communism for the Zoomers.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

2019 iHeartRadio Wango Tango Presented By The JUVÉDERM® Collection Of Dermal Fillers – Show

Ticketmaster’s Botched Sale Of Taylor Swift Tickets ‘Converted Gen Zers Into Anti-Monopolists,’ FTC Chairman Says

Ticketmaster's Botched Sale Of Taylor Swift Tickets 'Converted Gen Zers Into Anti-Monopolists,' Federal Trade Commission Chairman Says 

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried accumulated an impressive number of high-profile celebrity brand ambassadors for his <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/cryptocurrency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cryptocurrency</a> empire, but he was especially dogged in his devotion to securing a nod from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/taylor-swift" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Taylor Swift</a>.
FTX filed for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/30-year-old-billionaire-loses-entire-fortune-overnight-as-his-bahamas-based-cryptocurrency-empire-implodes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bankruptcy</a> after users discovered that the company was likely intertwined with Alameda Research, a trading firm controlled by Bankman-Fried. Among other aggressive marketing efforts, FTX solicited a number of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/from-brady-to-shaq-here-are-the-celebrities-who-lost-big-on-the-ftx-implosion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cultural icons</a> to participate in advertisements featuring the exchange platform; Taylor Swift could have joined the ranks of Golden State Warriors point guard Steph Curry and celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary, as well as Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and supermodel ex-wife Gisele Bündchen.
The singer-songwriter and the digital asset startup neared the late stages of negotiating a $100 million sponsorship deal that never came to fruition, according to a <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2b0601e2-d371-404d-8531-227f11d4a83f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the Financial Times. Discussions included a ticketing scheme based on digital certificates known as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). According to one unnamed employee, Bankman-Fried is “a fan of Tay Tay.”
Fellow executives disapproved of the idea and questioned the value of previous celebrity marketing efforts. “No one really liked the deal. It was too expensive from the beginning,” one person familiar with the negotiation told the outlet. “That’s front of the soccer jersey level prices.&#8221;
<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://get.dailywire.com/readers-pass/read-only-v2?utm_campaign=dwplus&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=dwsite&amp;cid=dwplus&amp;mid=z&amp;xid=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://get.dailywire.com/readers-pass/read-only-v2?utm_campaign=dwplus&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=dwsite&amp;cid=dwplus&amp;mid=z&amp;xid=0" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-54730">TIRED OF THE LEGACY MEDIA’S BIAS CONTROLLING THE NARRATIVE AND OBSCURING THE TRUTH? JOIN US.</a>
Swift may have dodged a legal bullet even as she dodged her unlikely fan. Brady, O’Leary, and other former celebrity ambassadors are the subject of a class-action lawsuit claiming that they <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tom-brady-steph-curry-other-celebrities-sued-for-pushing-ponzi-scheme-ftx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">participated</a> in a “fraudulent scheme” against unsophisticated investors. The lawsuit contended that the brand ambassadors, many of whom received equity stakes in the company, neglected to perform “any due diligence” before marketing FTX to the public, adding that their failure to disclose “the nature, scope, and amount of compensation they personally received” in exchange for promoting FTX is “a violation of the anti-touting provisions of the federal securities laws.”
Another <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/07/sam-bankman-fried-lobbied-for-taylor-swift-deal-as-ftx-bled-cash.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from CNBC showed that Bankman-Fried was incredibly determined to cut a deal with Swift, who recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/taylor-swift-finally-breaks-silence-after-eras-tour-ticket-fiasco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">made headlines</a> for crashing Ticketmaster as millions of fans tried to purchase seats for her next tour. Three individuals close to FTX told the outlet that Bankman-Fried ignored his lieutenants’ admonitions to refrain from the sponsorship deal, despite the company’s worsening business environment.
Bankman-Fried, who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/left-of-center-media-accepted-millions-from-democrat-donor-and-disgraced-crypto-wunderkind-sam-bankman-fried" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cultivated a public image</a> as an unkempt and easygoing young executive, was reportedly “insular” in his leadership style, blaming underlings for his mistakes when angry and lecturing dissenting employees, according to CNBC. The would-be wunderkind allegedly ignored messages from top executives if he disagreed with them and avoided face-to-face confrontations. He lived in a luxury penthouse in the Bahamas with a handful of FTX employees who may have been part of a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/amphetamine-fueled-polycule-or-undersexed-group-of-nerds-inside-ftxs-bahamas-culture" target="_blank" rel="noopener">romantic network</a> called a “polycule.”
The 30-year-old former billionaire told CNBC that he disagrees with the description of his leadership style, but did not offer comment on his desire to collaborate with Swift. “Partnerships were an area that was more contentious and on the margin I originally was in favor and ultimately started pushing back on new ones,” he remarked.
FTX emerged three years ago as an overnight success. Headquartered in the Bahamas and incorporated in Antigua and Barbuda, multiple leaders within the cryptocurrency empire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/here-are-the-democrats-and-republicans-who-received-campaign-cash-linked-to-bankrupt-crypto-empire-ftx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">donated extensively</a> to Democratic and Republican campaigns. Bankman-Fried was the second-largest contributor to the Biden campaign during the 2020 election cycle and the sixth-largest overall contributor during the recent midterm elections.

Collage Maker-07-Dec-2022-03.17-PM

Sam Bankman-Fried Was A ‘Fan Of Tay Tay,’ Badly Wanted Her To Sign $100 Million Marketing Deal With FTX

Sam Bankman-Fried Wanted Taylor Swift As A Brand Ambassador

Business

Crime

Cryptocurrency

Money

Sam Bankman-Fried

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/taylor-swift">Taylor Swift</a> tour drama continues as fans are now suing Live Nation Entertainment for breach of contract and fraud following the presale fiasco for her “Eras Tour” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/music">tickets</a>.
News of the Ticketmaster website crashing and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/entertainment">fans</a> waiting hours to secure tickets they pre-registered for made headlines following the presale event on November 15 and 16. The general sale scheduled for November 18 wound up getting canceled due to “extraordinarily high demands on ticket systems” and “insufficient remaining ticket inventory.”
Now fans are coming together to sue Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation, for the events that unfolded, per <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/taylor-swift-fans-sue-ticketmaster-fumbled-presale-rcna60014">NBC News</a>.
The plaintiffs accuse the company of breach of contract, intentional misrepresentation, fraud, fraudulent inducement, and antitrust violations. They are seeking a penalty of $2,500 against Ticketmaster for every violation of the Business and Professions Code, section 17200, NBC noted.
<a class="c-link" tabindex="-1" href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus?utm_campaign=dwplus&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=dwsite&amp;cid=dwplus&amp;mid=z&amp;xid=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus?utm_campaign=dwplus&amp;utm_medium=editorial&amp;utm_source=dwsite&amp;cid=dwplus&amp;mid=z&amp;xid=0" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-remove-tab-index="true">TIRED OF THE LEGACY MEDIA’S BIAS CONTROLLING THE NARRATIVE AND OBSCURING THE TRUTH? JOIN US AND SAVE 30%.</a>
“Based on information and belief, Ticketmaster has effectuated this anticompetitive scheme by forcing fans of musicians to exclusively use Ticketmaster for presale and sales prices, which are above what a competitive market price would be,” the lawsuit says. 
“Ticketmaster has also forced attendees to exclusively use Ticketmaster’s ‘Secondary Ticket Exchange’—i.e., the platform Ticketmaster operates for the resale of concert tickets.”
Plaintiffs also accuse Ticketmaster of “intentionally and purposefully” tricking customers by allowing “scalpers and bots” to attain codes for the presale. They further allege that the company was fully aware the general sale would be canceled due to demand.
“We believe that both Taylor Swift and her fans were hurt by Ticketmaster,” attorney Jennifer Kinder said in a statement, per NBC. “Ticketmaster messed with the wrong fan base.”
Meanwhile, Ticketmaster had previously stated that it did not anticipate the demand for “Eras Tour” tickets. The company said that 3.5 million fans pre-registered for the Verified Fan program, the largest registration in its history, and that 2.4 million tickets were sold in the presale. 
“Even when a high demand on sale goes flawlessly from a tech perspective, many fans are left empty handed,” the company said. “For example: based on the volume of traffic to our site, Taylor would need to perform over 900 stadium shows (almost 20x the number of shows she is doing)… that’s a stadium show every single night for the next 2.5 years.”
Swift also addressed the situation, sympathizing with fans who wanted tickets but could not get them. 
“Well it goes without saying that I’m extremely protective of my fans,” the “Anti-Hero” singer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/taylor-swift-finally-breaks-silence-after-eras-tour-ticket-fiasco">shared</a>. “We’ve been doing this for decades together and over the years I’ve brought so many elements of my career in house. I’ve done this SPECIFICALLY to improve the quality of my fans’ experience by doing it myself with my team who care as much about my fans as I do.”
“It’s really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse,” she continued. “There are a multitude of reasons why people had such a hard time trying to get tickets and I’m trying to figure out how this situation can be improved moving forward. I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them multiple times if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could.”
“It’s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them,” Swift concluded. “And to those who didn’t get tickets, all I can say is that my hope is to provide more opportunities for us to all get together and sing these songs.”

Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, SZA And Becky G Perform at The Prime Day Concert, Presented by Amazon Music

Taylor Swift Fans Sue Live Nation Over ‘Eras Tour’ Ticket Presale Fiasco

Taylor Swift Fans Sue Live Nation Over 'Eras Tour' Ticket Presale Fiasco

Lawsuit

In politics nowadays, there&#8217;s this general feeling that anybody from the party you don&#8217;t support is wrong, wrong, wrong.
But that&#8217;s silly, right? Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut. And nobody is wrong 100% of the time.
Take Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic socialist from New York. She&#8217;s wrong about a lot &#8212; but not everything.
The young and hip AOC weighed in over the weekend on the Ticketmaster brouhaha. To refresh your memory, the concert ticket monopoly burst into the news last week during the sale of Taylor Swift tix, leaving thousands of fans frustrated and prompting scalpers to jack their prices into the tens of thousands.
Buying tickets for sports and music events has long been a joke. Even for the largest venues, tickets sell out online in minutes. Then they reappear on sites like SeatGeek and StubHub, but now that $35 ticket costs $300. And then there are the fees &#8212; the service fee, facility charge, order processing fee, and the ever-popular convenience fee.
AOC&#8217;s got it just right &#8212; and she correctly calls the company a &#8220;monopoly.&#8221;
&#8220;I was watching what was going on with the pre-release of Taylor Swift’s tickets,&#8221; she told <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/aoc-ticketmaster-live-nation-monopoly-interview-1234634599/">Rolling Stone</a>. &#8220;It came up on a more personal level; I actually have quite a few staff who were trying to get tickets that day. Between seeing their experience and seeing all the people online talking about it, I think it really showed how widespread the problem is and reflects the degree of market consolidation in this industry.&#8221;
She&#8217;s spot on. Ticketmaster and Live Nation merged in 2010, and it&#8217;s been a mess ever since. Ticketmaster controls the tickets and Live Nation often owns the venue, which means they&#8217;re 100% in control. Don&#8217;t like it, tough, don&#8217;t go to the show.
&#8220;One of the things we’ve been increasingly seeing,&#8221; AOC said, &#8220;is that these price increases because of inflation and abuse of market power are due to market consolidation. It’s gotten so bad that we’re really seeing it affect our everyday lives, from how much we’re paying at grocery stores, to not being able to see our favorite artists without paying an arm and a leg.&#8221;
The Swift mess prompted the Department of Justice to announce it is opening a probe into the monopoly.
But Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, and Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts wrote a letter to the attorney general saying that&#8217;s not enough, noting &#8220;an investigation alone does nothing for the stakeholders already harmed by Live Nation’s market dominance and seemingly ongoing anticompetitive behavior.&#8221;
They said the company, which controls about 60% of the market &#8212; including many of the biggest venues &#8212; &#8220;has continued to abuse its dominant market position,&#8221; adding, &#8220;we urge the Department to consider unwinding the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger and breaking up the company.&#8221;
AOC once again nailed the exact problem. &#8220;It’s getting to a point where if you want to see one of these large acts, there’s so little protection for everyday people that if you go into a secondary market, we are no longer in this realm of someone even charging double of what a ticket was. Tickets are going as high [as tens of thousands of dollars] after what was supposed to be a presale operation designed for people who are actually going to be using the tickets that they purchase.&#8221;
And she was right again here.
&#8220;Other industries have oligopolies; Live Nation is a true monopoly. And it’s affecting our culture if regular people can’t even see a live show for a major act in person anymore, and this just becomes a domain for the wealthy. I think that that’s also something to consider, because If you can’t even see your favorite artists without paying [the equivalent of] a down payment on a house or a car, it’s so antithetical to what music really is,&#8221; she said.
One hundred percent right, congresswoman!
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

IowaSanders

Wait, Hear Me Out Here: AOC Is Exactly Right This Time

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Exactly Right This Time On Breaking Up Ticketmaster-Live Nation Monopoly

Congress

Politics

Rolling Stone

Taylor Swift blasted into the headlines last week, but not for the reason you&#8217;d think.
The singer ripped Ticketmaster for a debacle over the sale of concert tickets for her new tour, which completely crashed at one point and led to scalpers posting tickets for upwards of $50,000.
The whole thing was a fustercluck. First, fans had to sign up for Ticketmaster&#8217;s Verified Fan program just for a chance to score tickets. But even those fans hit error messages and long waits. Then, when they were finally able to buy tickets, the system wouldn&#8217;t accept their presale code or credit card information.
Eventually, Ticketmaster was forced to cancel the sale, claiming it had experienced &#8220;historically unprecedented demand.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them,&#8221; Swift said in a social media <a href="https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/taylor-swifts-3-paragraph-response-to-ticketmaster-debacle-is-a-masterclass-in-owning-your-brand.html">post</a>.
Buying tickets nowadays to concerts or sporting event borders on the criminal. Ticketmaster and Live Nation own many of the venues and have the exclusive right for ticket sales. Me, I think they also cash in via the secondhand market for tickets, like StubHub and SeatGeek, where tickets with a face value of $35 often sell for hundreds, even thousands of dollars (but there&#8217;s no evidence of that).
I feel sad for the young people of today. Going to catch a National Football League game for a family of four costs at least a thousand dollars (and that&#8217;s just for decent seats, not front row on the 50-yard line). And catching your favorite band often costs a couple hundred dollars — assuming you don&#8217;t get the tickets the minute they go on sale (a rare accomplishment these days).
Back in my day, tickets costs next to nothing. I saw The Rolling Stones back in 1975, shortly after they released their now classic album, &#8220;It&#8217;s Only Rock &#8216;n Roll.&#8221; The ticket cost $9.50. Sure, that&#8217;s $51.01 in today&#8217;s dollars, <a href="https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm">according</a> to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, but it ain&#8217;t hundreds of thousands.
<div id="attachment_466530" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-466530" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-466530 size-large" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/IMG_5502-1024x570.jpg" alt="Rolling Stones ticket 1975" width="1024" height="570" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/IMG_5502-1024x570.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/IMG_5502-300x167.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/IMG_5502-768x428.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/IMG_5502-1536x856.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2022/11/IMG_5502-2048x1141.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Joseph Curl/The Daily Wire</div>
When I caught the Stones in Philly last year (they didn&#8217;t play D.C. and I&#8217;ve seen them in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s and 10s so I needed a 20s show), I paid more than $600 for after-market tickets (and again, just for decent seats). And don&#8217;t get me started on the endless fees (a service fee, facility charge, order processing fee, and that absurdly named &#8220;convenience&#8221; fee), which sometimes cost as much as the ticket.
Let&#8217;s take the upcoming Rod Wave concert at the Capital One Center in D.C. Tickets in a nosebleed section about as far away as you can be from the stage run $158.75, so that&#8217;s $317.50 for a pair. But then this:
<ul>
<li>Service Fee: $24.10 x 2 = $48.20</li>
<li>Facility Charge: $4.00 x 2 = $8.00</li>
<li>Order Processing Fee = $6.00</li>
</ul>
Total, $379.70. Want to actually see him? A pair of seats down on the floor (not front row, mind you) will cost you nearly $840.
Finally, someone&#8217;s going do something about this mess (watch this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-HCqL38WdY&amp;t=7s">video</a> for more insight).
&#8220;The Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into the owner of Ticketmaster, whose sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets descended into chaos this week, said two people with knowledge of the matter,&#8221; The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/technology/live-nation-ticketmaster-investigation-taylor-swift.html">reported</a> over the weekend. &#8220;The investigation is focused on whether Live Nation Entertainment has abused its power over the multibillion-dollar live music industry.&#8221;
&#8220;That power has been in the spotlight after Ticketmaster’s systems crashed while Ms. Swift fans were trying to buy tickets in a presale for her tour, but the investigation predates the botched sale, the people said,&#8221; the Times said.
Live Nation defended itself in a <a href="https://www.livenationentertainment.com/2022/11/a-statement-from-live-nation-entertainment-2/">statement</a>.
&#8220;The concert promotion business is highly competitive, with artist management in control of selecting their promoting team. The demand for live entertainment continues to grow, and there are more promoters than ever working with artists to help them connect with fans through live shows. The Department of Justice itself recognized the competitive nature of the concert promotion business at the time of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger. That dynamic has not changed,&#8221; Live Nation said.
Back in my day, if you wanted tickets, you had to go to the ticket seller and buy them. That seemed to work. And some bands have figured out ways to sell tickets to their fans at a reasonable price (in their heyday, Fall Out Boy played the small 930 Club venue in D.C. and concertgoers had to present ID and the credit card they used to get the tickets, but then had to go straight in, thus no resale of tickets at all).
Let&#8217;s hope the DOJ actually follows through on its probe, but most likely, nothing will happen. And that&#8217;s just sad.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

2022 American Music Awards – Inside

Ticketmaster, Live Nation Are A Joke. Break Up Their Monopoly.

Taylor Swift finally broke her silence on Friday after Ticketmaster crashed this week for fans with presale codes for her &#8220;Eras Tour&#8221; and then the site canceled the public sale of tickets because of &#8220;extraordinarily high demand.&#8221;
In a message shared on the <a href="https://twitter.com/PopBase/status/1593652003959279617?s=20&amp;t=ivMZQgl85vvyzjcJImSnUg">32-year-old singer&#8217;s</a> Instagram story, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/taylor-swift">Swift</a> said she was &#8220;assured&#8221; by Ticketmaster, owned by Live Nation, multiple times that it could &#8220;handle this kind of demand&#8221; and admitted the debacle &#8220;really pisses [her] off.&#8221;
&#8220;Well it goes without saying that I&#8217;m extremely protective of my fans,&#8221; the pop star wrote. &#8220;We&#8217;ve been doing this for decades together and over the years I&#8217;ve brought so many elements of my career in house. I&#8217;ve done this SPECIFICALLY to improve the quality of my fans&#8217; experience by doing it myself with my team who care as much about my fans as I do.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Taylor Swift releases statement regarding the Ticketmaster sale of her Eras Tour:
“It’s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them.” <a href="https://t.co/zrDWK8dIHg">pic.twitter.com/zrDWK8dIHg</a>
&mdash; Pop Base (@PopBase) <a href="https://twitter.com/PopBase/status/1593652003959279617?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 18, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;It&#8217;s really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse,&#8221; she added. &#8220;There are a multitude of reasons why people had such a hard time trying to get tickets and I&#8217;m trying to figure out how this situation can be improved moving forward. I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them multiple times if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them,&#8221; Swift continued. &#8220;And to those who didn&#8217;t get tickets, all I can say is that my hope is to provide more opportunities for us to all get together and sing these songs.&#8221;
The &#8220;Love Story&#8221; hitmaker closed out her post by thanking fans for &#8220;wanting to be there&#8221; and telling them they have &#8220;no idea how much&#8221; it means to her.
The &#8220;Shake It Off&#8221; hitmaker&#8217;s comments came after Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino offered an explanation for the crash of the Ticketmaster site on the day presale tickets were available, the <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/taylor-swift-tour-tickets-pre-sale-1235264178/">Hollywood Reporter</a> reported.
&#8220;We invited a million and a half on that day to come and buy those tickets, but it&#8217;s kind of like having a party,&#8221; Rapino shared. &#8220;Everybody crashed that door at the same time with 3.5 billion requests.&#8221;
&#8220;We sold 2 million tickets, the most we&#8217;ve ever sold in one day in history, and another million tickets of other artists on the same day,&#8221; he added. &#8220;So although we regret it was a slowdown in some queues and some error codes for a short period for some fans, we did manage to recover.&#8221;
On Thursday, fans who were still hoping to get tickets to Swift&#8217;s upcoming concert tour were upset when Ticketmaster posted a message on Twitter that read, &#8220;due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand, tomorrow&#8217;s public on-sale for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour has been cancelled.&#8221;
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/taylor-swift-announces-2023-eras-tour-in-us-her-first-since-2018">Taylor Swift Announces 2023 &#8216;Eras Tour&#8217; In U.S., Her First Since 2018</a>

Taylor Swift Finally Breaks Silence After ‘Eras Tour’ Ticket Fiasco

Taylor Swift Finally Breaks Silence After 'Eras Tour' Ticket Fiasco

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/white-house">White House</a> Chief of Staff Ron Klain has a message for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/taylor-swift">Taylor Swift</a> fans struggling to purchase tickets for her upcoming tour: the government does it better, apparently.
Klain took to Twitter bragging about the efficiency of the Biden administration&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/student-loan-cancellation">student debt</a> relief website, which was created for borrowers to take advantage of the president&#8217;s plan to cancel $10,000 or $20,000 worth of debt, depending on income level.
The White House staffer noted how well the application process worked.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Over my years in the public and private sectors, I&#39;ve had people tell me: If only the government could work like business.
Well, the team at <a href="https://twitter.com/usedgov?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USEdgov</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/USDS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USDS</a> built a Student Loan Forgiveness portal that processed 8 MILLION applications in the first 30 hours without a crash. <a href="https://t.co/VaaoTMVycg">https://t.co/VaaoTMVycg</a>
&mdash; Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) <a href="https://twitter.com/WHCOS/status/1592567836475785217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 15, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 &#8220;Over my years in the public and private sectors, I&#8217;ve had people tell me: If only the government could work like business,&#8221; Klain shared on Twitter. &#8220;Well, the team at @USEdgov and @USDS built a Student Loan Forgiveness portal that processed 8 MILLION applications in the first 30 hours without a crash.&#8221;
With that, Klain shared the link to an Axios article titled, “Ticketmaster crashes during Taylor Swift ticket presale.”
Swift fans have become increasingly frustrated as they experienced technical difficulties trying to obtain tickets. Ticketmaster&#8217;s pre-sale <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/music">tickets</a> for Swift’s &#8220;The Eras Tour&#8221; opened to fans with registered codes on Tuesday. 
The ticket sales and distribution company explained why the site crashed, blaming the overloaded system on the sheer number of people trying to get on simultaneously.
Ticketmaster <a href="https://twitter.com/Ticketmaster/status/1592579481449168898">shared</a> on Tuesday that “there has been historically unprecedented demand with millions showing up” to buy tickets. The company addressed fans waiting in the virtual queue, confirming that the line was moving and they needed to “hang tight.” They also defended themselves, saying “hundreds of thousands” of tickets had been successfully purchased. 
“The Eras Tour” tickets have been popping up on third-party resale sites for thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. 
But at least fans will likely get to see a Taylor Swift concert if they jump through the hoops required to secure tickets. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for applicants to the student debt relief website Klain is so proud of, as a federal judge in Texas <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-doubles-down-on-student-loan-cancellation-despite-federal-ruling">ruled last week</a> that Biden’s student loan bailout is illegal. 
The Biden administration is appealing the decision, but there are no guarantees that they’ll prevail, and the legal process will likely drag on for months. Meanwhile, the Education Department is not accepting any new applications for debt relief as these issues go to court.

Ron Klain and Taylor Swift

White House Brags That Student Debt Relief Site Never Crashed As Taylor Swift Fans Struggle To Secure Concert Tickets

Executive

Student Loan Cancellation

White House

Recording artist <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/taylor-swift">Taylor Swift</a> just said she’s going on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/music">tour</a> in the United States for the first time in five years.
The 32-year-old singer made the announcement Tuesday morning with a list of upcoming dates for her “Eras Tour.” Swift promised to share international dates later on. 
Fans were beyond excited to hear the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/entertainment">news</a>, especially since the singer hadn’t been touring since her pre-pandemic “Reputation” tour in 2018. Swift will kick off “Eras” in Glendale, Arizona, in March 2023, which is the same city where she began her last tour.
She’ll then travel the country before wrapping up the tour near Los Angeles with two nights at Inglewood&#8217;s SoFi Stadium on August 4 and 5. That location is also significant as it was the place she was scheduled to perform on her “Love Fest” mini tour in 2020, but the show was canceled when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Opening acts for the tour include Paramore, beabadoobe, Phoebe Bridgers, girl in red, MUNA, HAIM, GAYLE, Gracie Abrams and OWENN.
The “Bad Blood” singer is fresh off the success of her newest release “Midnights,” which saw all 20 songs make it onto the Billboard Hot 100 chart. But that’s not the only music she’ll be performing on the Midnights tour. Swift wrote in a Twitter post that &#8220;Eras&#8221; would be “a journey through the musical eras of my career (past and present!),” with an accompanying graphic depicting throwback photos from different stages of her career.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I’m enchanted to announce my next tour: Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour, a journey through the musical eras of my career (past &amp; present!) The first leg of the tour will be in stadiums across the US, with international dates to be announced as soon as we can!<a href="https://t.co/KFuqvrhSGo">https://t.co/KFuqvrhSGo</a> <a href="https://t.co/eVyTcuW8sK">pic.twitter.com/eVyTcuW8sK</a>
&mdash; Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) <a href="https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/1587420273325838336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Regular ticket sales begin at 10 a.m. local time on November 18 while Capital One cardholders will have access starting November 15. Variety <a href="https://variety.com/2022/music/news/taylor-swift-announces-2023-tour-1235419454/">noted</a> that these shows would have a Ticketmaster Verified Fan program “to ensure tickets get into the hands of fans.” Pre-registration for tickets starts November 9.
Swift announced that ticket prices will range from $49 to $449, while VIP packages start at $199 and go up to $899.
The singer reacted strongly to making history by nabbing all 10 top spots on Billboard charts as of Monday, with “Anti-hero” sitting at number one. “10 out of 10 of the Hot 100??? On my 10th album??? I AM IN SHAMBLES,” she <a href="https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/1587140950186512386">wrote</a>.

NSAI 2022 Nashville Songwriter Awards

Taylor Swift Announces 2023 ‘Eras Tour’ In U.S., Her First Since 2018

Taylor Swift Announces 2023 ‘Eras Tour’ In US, Her First Since 2018

Taylor Swift fans noticed on Thursday that a scene was edited from her new &#8220;Anti-Hero&#8221; music video on Apple Music and later on YouTube after critics called it &#8220;fatphobic.&#8221;
In the five-minute long <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1kbLwvqugk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a> from her latest album &#8220;Midnights,&#8221; the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/taylor-swift" target="_blank" rel="noopener">32-year-old</a> singer is seen basically battling herself in a bathroom and stepping onto a scale. The &#8220;anti-hero&#8221; version of the singer then looks at herself with disappointment, reports <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/taylor-swift-anti-hero-video-fat-scale-scene-cut-after-backlash-1235161678/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Billboard magazine</a>.
In the original video, the &#8220;Shake It Off&#8221; hitmaker and the &#8220;anti-hero&#8221; version of herself look down at the scale and read the message &#8220;Fat&#8221; with no numbers shown. In the stealth version, Swift steps onto the scale, both version&#8217;s of herself look down, and the scale shows no message.
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Taylor Swift - Anti-Hero (Official Music Video)" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b1kbLwvqugk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Shortly after the video came out, critics labeled the singer “fatphobic&#8221; and more.
&#8220;Taylor Swift&#8217;s music video, where she looks down at the scale where it says &#8216;fat,&#8217; is a s***ty way to describe her body image struggles. Fat people don&#8217;t need to have it reiterated yet again that it&#8217;s everyone’s worst nightmare to look like us,&#8221; one person wrote.
&#8220;It is possible to appreciate Taylor Swift and midnight as an artist AND call her out on her blatant fatphobia,&#8221; another added. &#8220;Taylor Swift should have done better because even if it is relatable and an &#8216;intrusive thought&#8217; it is damaging and fatphobic. Listen to fat ppl when they tell you it is.&#8221;
&#8220;There is no explanation for portraying fatness as bad and as something to fear which doesn&#8217;t justify the hatred of fat people,&#8221; another explained.
While another person tweeted, &#8220;fearing fatness is a basic pinnacle of how fatphobia operates. Having an eating disorder doesn&#8217;t make you exempt from this harm, including Taylor Swift.&#8221;
In an <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj-aRShOmf8/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Instagram</a> post about the &#8220;Anti-Hero&#8221; video, Swift described the music as reflective of her &#8220;nightmare scenarios and intrusive thoughts [playing] out in real time.&#8221;
One lyric in the song reads, &#8220;Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby / And I&#8217;m a monster on the hill.&#8221;
The verse connected to the bathroom scale scene reads, &#8220;I&#8221;ll stare directly at the sun/ But never in the mirror/ It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero.&#8221;

Taylor Swift’s ‘Anti-Hero’ Music Video Edited After Critics Call It ‘Fatphobic’

Taylor Swift’s 'Anti-Hero' Music Video Edited After Critics Call It 'Fatphobic'

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