Russia And Belarus Figure Skaters Banned Over Ukraine Invasion, Keeping Olympic Trio Out Of World Championships

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine continues and more music companies have ceased doing business with the country, many in the songwriting, music-publishing and especially the performing-rights communities have looked to CISAC, the global confederation of authors societies such as ASCAP and PRS, to make a unilateral decision.However, on Monday, the organization announced that although it “deplores and condemns the war waged by the Russian government against the Ukrainian population,” it will leave such decisions to individual societies, although it continues to develop a relief fund for Ukraine, first announced on Wednesday.“While abhorring the actions of the Russian armed forces, CISAC is not empowered to impose sanctions on member societies based only on the actions of their government,” the statement says in part. “Russian authors, just as their counterparts elsewhere, cannot be blamed for the grotesque actions of their government.” “CISAC’s global network of authors societies deplores and condemns the war waged by the Russian government against the Ukrainian population,” the statement reads.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn what is rapidly becoming a mass music exodus out of Russia, Kobalt became the third major company to announce on Thursday that it is suspending business activity in Russia due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Of the three global major labels, Sony and Warner announced their pullout within an hour of each other on Thursday morning, and Universal made the move on Tuesday.Kobalt’s move is doubly significant because although it is a global company, Kobalt was founded in London by Swedish-born Willard Ahdritz and in many ways is a European company.

Less than two weeks ago, Dmytro Pidruchnyi was competing at the Winter Olympics in Ukraine’s national colors. Now he’s wearing a military uniform and ballistic helmet.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorGreen Day have canceled their concert scheduled for May 29 at Spartak Stadium in Moscow over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the band announced on Sunday.“With heavy hearts, in light of current events we feel it is necessary to cancel our upcoming show in Moscow at Spartak Stadium,” the band said in a statement to Variety. “We are aware that this moment is not about stadium rock shows, it’s much bigger than that.  But we also know that rock and roll is forever and we feel confident there will be a time and a place for us to return in the future.

John Mulaney just reached a huge milestone – becoming an official member of the five-timers club as he hosted the latest episode of Saturday Night Live.

extended hiatus to accommodate NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage, with former “SNL” writer John Mulaney hosting for the fifth time.The comic addressed his recent rehabilitation from cocaine addiction in his monologue.“It’s wonderful to be in a place that’s always emphasized sobriety and mental health,” he cracked, while discussing his recovery.In the lead skit, Mulaney played a monkey who presided over a civil case where a woman was mauled by a monkey, as lawyers Kenan Thompson and Cecily Strong appealed to the primate’s animal instincts to win the judge’s favor.The animal-related humor continued in a fake commercial as Strong and Heidi Gardner portrayed dog owners who got into a heated supermarket argument about the quality of their dog food. Mulaney played an impotent man who successfully pressured Gardner into spending $74 on a grass-fed poultry blend.One sketch lampooned the ever-evolving CDC mask mandates, as a group of politically correct people tiptoed around the effectiveness of mask-wearing at a dinner fraught with tension.“Did I have to dump my oldest friend just because he didn’t get a booster?” Mulaney asked, as his friends played by Thompson, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant and Bowen Yang recoiled in horror.A video by the “Please Don’t Destroy” comedy group video imagined a new COVID-19 variant that only had wonderful side effects.

Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t escape the Saturday Night Live treatment this week. The 69-year-old was spoofed by Colin Jost on the Saturday, Feb. 27 episode, where the ‘Weekend Update’ host got in multiple shots as he spoke about Putin’s current spearheading of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

This year’s Eurovision Song Contest will be down one big competitor.

Russia has been banned from this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

The 2022 Beijing Olympics concluded Sunday with icy fanfare,  a spirited speech from International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach and an audience count that pales in comparison to previous Winter games.

A cross-country skier from Finland had a chilling realization in his run at the Winter Olympics in Beijing this past weekend.

Despite all the high-tech tricks, political posturing and pyrotechnics, the best part of the Closing Ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics proved to be the athletes.

Coverage of the 2022 Winter Olympics wraps up Sunday with the Closing Ceremony, which will air live from Beijing National Stadium on Peacock, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app beginning at 7 a.m. ET/4 a.m. PT. NBC and Peacock will rebroadcast the finale gala in an “enhanced primetime presentation” beginning Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

“We have reason to believe the Russian forces are planning to and intend to attack Ukraine in the coming week, the coming days,” Joe Biden said unequivocally Friday for the first time after weeks of looming crisis in the former USSR.