Yungblud speaks out on Mahsa Amini: “The right to express yourself is your right, and your right alone”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor There’s a new wrinkle in the six-month-plus saga of Elon Musk’s mercurial attempt to buy Twitter. The multibillionaire is being investigated by federal authorities over his “conduct” in connection with his proposed Twitter acquisition, according to a letter from the company’s lawyers filed with the Delaware Chancery Court. The letter was filed Oct. 6 and released publicly Thursday. Twitter sued Musk in the Delaware court, demanding that he fork over the $44 billion he had agreed to under the binding pact reached in April. Twitter asserted that Musk’s legal team “exchanged substantive correspondence” with federal authorities — and that despite Twitter requesting copies of those documents “months ago” they had still not materialized. Twitter filed a motion seeking to have the court order Musk to produce the documents. Its letter cited drafts of a May 13 email to the SEC and a slide presentation to the FTC that Musk’s attorneys had identified as privileged documents.

Elon Musk is under federal investigation in connection with his long-aborning deal to buy Twitter, according to multiple credible reports which cite a legal filing today by the social media company. There were no specifics in the document beyond the indication that authorities are probing Musk’s “conduct” in relation to the deal which, to say the least, has been unusual.

Putative Twitter purchaser Elon Musk has begun hawking a perfume called Burnt Hair via his tunneling firm The Boring Company, and has encouraged folks to pony up so he can acquire the social media platform.

The contours of the upcoming November midterms seem clear. President Joe Biden scarcely polls above 40% approval.

Elon Musk, who is poised to take control of Twitter, has raised a new round of questions about how the climate of social media could change with his revelation that he reached out to Kanye West after the rapper’s anti-Semitic tweets.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor One of the new honors the Grammy Awards will introduce at their next ceremony is song for social change — a special-merit award that “recognizes creators of message-driven music that responds to the social issues of our time and has the potential for positive global impact.” While the honor is “curated by a blue-ribbon committee,” there’s little question that the number of submissions will have an impact — and according to the Recording Academy, 95,000 of the 115,000 submissions received have been for Iranian musician Shervin Hajipour’s song, “Baraye,” a protest song about 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody after being arrested and beaten by Iran’s so-called morality police for not wearing a proper head covering, in line with the country’s Islamic law.

The state broadcaster of Iran appeared to be hacked on air this weekend, including a news bulletin being interrupted with a protest.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor UDPATED: A Delaware judge granted mega-billionaire Elon Musk’s motion to halt Twitter’s upcoming trial — seeking to compel him to pay what he promised for the company — until Oct. 28 in order to allow the parties to close on the $44 billion deal. Musk, after trying for three months to exit his deal to buy Twitter, in the last few days has grown frustrated that Twitter wasn’t calling off its lawsuit. Lawyers representing Musk, in a filing Thursday with the Delaware Court of Chancery, requested that the trial, slated to commence Oct. 17, be suspended while he works out a deal to finalize the required debt financing to swing the acquisition. Musk expects that to happen by Oct. 28, per the court filing.

sent a letter suggesting they close the deal at the agreed-upon price of $54.20 per share. Twitter ostensibly accepted those terms – but for reasons that aren’t yet clear is dragging its feet on vacating the lawsuit to enforce them.“Astonishingly, they have insisted on proceeding with this litigation, recklessly putting the deal at risk and gambling with their stockholders’ interests,” according to Musk’s filing.Filed in a chancery court in Delaware, the suit seeks to enforce the contract sale that Musk tried to back out of over his concerns about the number of spam accounts among Twitter’s nearly 400 million users.To recap: When Musk first expressed interest in buying Twitter, leadership flew into a panic and introduced a poison pill provision to stop him.

Elon Musk’s attorneys formally asked a judge to stay the trial set to start Oct. 17 after the Telsa CEO earlier this week agreed again to buy Twitter for the original deal price of $44 billion.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Trading in shares of Twitter was halted Tuesday following a report that Elon Musk has proposed to complete the $44 billion deal to buy the social network at the original agreed-on terms. Musk made the proposal in a letter to Twitter, offering to close the deal at the $54.20 per share price, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources. There’s been no official comment from Musk or Twitter yet. If Musk has in fact come back to his original buyout price, it indicates that he has concluded that he would likely lose his legal fight with Twitter in trying to back out of the deal.

Shares of Twitter are up 13% Tuesday as investors took heart that Elon Musk will move ahead with his tortured acquisition of the social media platform. The billionaire Tesla founder has proposed going forward with the deal for its original pricetag of $54.20 a share, or $44 billion. according to a Bloomberg report.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Award-winning filmmakers Alice Diop (“Saint Omer”), Audrey Diwan (“Happening”), Julia Ducournau (“Titane”), Michel Hazanavicius (“The Artist”), Jacques Audiard (“Dheepan”), and actors Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Isabelle Huppert, Lea Seydoux are among nearly 1,000 prominent French film figures who have signed an open letter to support Iranian women and civil rights activists in their revolt over the death of 22 year-old Mahsa Amini, as well as denounce the “murderous violence” of the Iranian regime. Amini, a Kurdish woman, died in custody on Sept. 16, three days after being arrested in Tehran because she allegedly breached the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women. Her death has sparked protests across Iran, including in Tehran, Isfahan and Yazd, and in cities around the world, including in Paris, Istanbul and Los Angeles. Amnesty International said Iranian authorities have been “intentionally using lethal force against the protesters,” causing more than more 52 deaths (as of Sept. 30). The organization has urged international action “beyond statements of condemnation” to prevent more people from being killed.

Editors note: The death of Mahsa Amini earlier this month after being detained by Iran’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab according to official dictates has sparked outrage and protests within the Islamic Republic and around the world, with Global Day of Action for Iran set for Saturday with rallies around the globe (more information below). Currently seen as one of the stars of Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Iran-born actress and Amnesty International UK ambassador Nazanin Boniadi reflects on Amini’s tragic death and the potentially pivotal time for her homeland.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ari Emanuel, the legendary Hollywood agent who is CEO of Endeavor, reportedly got involved in the dispute between Twitter and Elon Musk over Musk’s attempt to nix his takeover of the company — but it’s not exactly clear why. Within the “past few weeks,” Emanuel had reached out to Twitter board member Egon Durban to suggest the social network work with Musk to “find a solution” to their legal fight ahead of a trial scheduled to commence Oct. 17 in Delaware Chancery Court, according to a report by Bloomberg Law citing anonymous sources. Emanuel has ties to both Durban and Musk. Durban, co-CEO of tech investment firm Silver Lake, currently sits on Endeavor’s board. Musk had been on Endeavor’s board of directors before resigning in March 2022.

Angelina Jolie and Dua Lipa have publicly expressed their support for the protesters in Iran. Protests broke out across the country earlier this month following the death of Mahsa Amini - a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by Iran's "morality police" for wearing her hair outside of her hijab. As the death toll from the protests reached 76 this week, demonstrations in support of Iranian activists have appeared in London, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Berlin, and Paris.

Angelina Jolie has joined in with those demanding freedom for Iranian women, as protests continue after the death of Mahsa Amini.

It has been over a week since the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested in Tehran by the Islamic Republic of Iran's morality police for not wearing her hijab properly. Amini, who died in a hospital after falling into a coma, was allegedly beaten for not wearing a proper headscarf.