The Florida Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday in a case focused on whether satellite radio giant SiriusXM should have to pay royalties to The Turtles, a pop duo that recorded such iconic oldies as “Happy Together” more than four decades ago.
Flo & Eddie — a California-based company whose principals are Turtles vocalists Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan — filed the lawsuit in 2013 against Sirius, which has more than 100 channels and over 24 million subscribers. Flo & Eddie also filed lawsuits against the satellite radio company in New York and California.
Flo & Eddie accused Sirius XM of infringing on its common-law copyright of songs by making “unauthorized public performances” of the pop group’s hits.
But a federal district court judge in Florida sided with Sirius, finding in part that nothing in Florida statutes or common law dealt with copyrights of recordings that were made before 1972, when the federal Sound Recordings Act went into effect.
Flo & Eddie appealed, but the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case to the Florida Supreme Court, asking justices to decide, among other things, whether the state common law recognizes a property right in sound recordings.
According to gainesville.com, during Thursday’s arguments, both sides repeatedly referred to a 1943 Florida case involving Charles Hoffman, a magician who was also known as “Think-a-Drink Hoffman.” Hoffman, who made fancy drinks appear out of empty cocktail shakers and beakers filled with water, sought an injunction against Maurice Glazer, who went by the names “Think-a-Drink Count Maurice” or “Have-a-Drink Count Maurice.”
Because a court in the Glazer case sided in part with Hoffman, the three-judge federal appellate panel found that “there is at least a significant argument that Florida common law may recognize a common law property right in sound recordings.”
But during Thursday’s arguments, several justices appeared skeptical that Florida common law would apply to the Turtles case.
Cumulus Media-Albuquerque's Newsradio KKOB 770 AM and 9r.5 FM celebrated 95 years on-air at a big-time birthday bash in Albuquerque on Tuesday (April 5) night. 800 people packed the New Mexico Natural History Museum in Albuquerque to be a part of the celebration, including listeners, clients and past on-air talent.
The station signed on the air on April 5, 1922, in Las Cruces, NM, moved to Albuquerque in 1932, and in July 1941, went to 50,000 watts. Cumulus Media added the FM simulcast in August 2016.
New Mexico Governor Suzanna Martinez declared Tuesday as Newsradio KKOB Day, as did Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry. Mayor Berry and Lt. Governor John Sanchez were on hand to speak at the event.
The catered celebration included a photo booth and party gifts for guests and was worthy of the station's spectacular and historic 95 years serving the community.
Benztown, a global leader in radio imaging, has announced that Brad Leask, Network Imaging Producer, NOVA Entertainment, Victoria, Australia, has been chosen as the finalist in the sixth annual Iron Imager Contest, an international radio imaging contest where production professionals compete for the coveted title of World’s Best Imager.
Leask will face off against fellow countryman and Iron Imager 2016 titleholder, Sideshow Mike Andersen, Triple M Imaging, Southern Cross Austereo in Sydney, Australia, in a head-to-head live competition on Thursday, May 4, 2017, at the Worldwide Radio Summit at the W Hollywood Hotel.
Leask and Andersen will demonstrate their world-class imaging skills by producing an original imaging piece for a format unannounced until the day of the competition. Contestants will use elements from one of Benztown’s 20 production libraries, voiceover talent roster, and an original script created by the Benztown team. The 2017 Iron Imager will be declared and presented at 10:55 a.m. on Friday, May 5, in the General Session Room. Iron Imager is the first and only competition of its kind.
Brad Leask has been NOVA Entertainment’s Network Imaging Producer for the past three years. While undertaking an advanced Diploma of Sound Production at RMIT, Brad became part of NOVA Entertainment’s Internship Program. In February 2014, Brad joined that company as an Imaging Producer and within 12 months had developed his skills to take on his current role crafting the imagery for NOVA Entertainment’s Nova and smoothfm networks, Star 104.5 and FIVEaa.
Mike Anderson
Title defender Sideshow has been pushing buttons and writing great creative at Australia’s top rock station, Triple M in Sydney since 1995. He worked with breakfast team Andrew Denton and Amanda Keller in the 90s, before moving into the imaging slot. His style is a quirky mix of rock riffs and clever, subtle scripts. In his 20 years at Triple M he’s racked up a record 20 Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRA’s) for his production. In Australia, Sidey is also a well known voiceover artist, lending his voice to national campaigns for Qantas, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Mitsubishi, Energizer, Coca Cola, Universal Music, Warner Music, Sony Music, Virgin Mobile and many more, including being the station voice for TV networks Channel 7 and FX.
Dave “Chachi” Denes, Benztown President, said: "Andy and I have always been impressed with how great radio is in Australia. It’s amongst the most creative in the world. Sidey and Brad are both instrumental in the sound of their respective station groups and we’re honored to have them participate."
Paul O'Neill, the founder and leader of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, passed away Wednesday in a Tampa Hotel. according to Fox13.
According to the 911 call placed by a hotel employee at the Embassy Suites near the University of South Florida, O'Neill's daughter and a hotel staff member broke into his room and found the composer's body "cold" and "stiff."
An autopsy is underway to determine the cause of death. USF Police said foul play did not appear to be a factor in O'Neill's death. In a statement on the website for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO), band members said O'Neill suffered from a "chronic illness." No other details were provided.
O'Neill's unique style of music, blending symphonic metal, heavy metal and Christmas classics, gained him fans across the nation. He was known for putting on elaborate productions.
"It was a grandiose experience. You had laser lights, you had smoke and fire. You had snow falling. All of these things, and it just made for a spectacular show, that with the music," said Mason Dixon, a long-time friend and radio personality with Tampa's WRBQ 104.7 FM Q105.
Paul O'Neill
During his Tampa shows, O'Neill credited Dixon with giving him his first break in radio.
Dixon recalled back in 1995, when a CD from a little-known band called "Savatage" came across his desk. He and his music director at Mix 96 listened to the feature song on the album, "Christmas Eve Sarajevo 12-24."
"We put it on, it started playing, we sat there and both our jaws hit the floor," said Dixon. "It was like, this is amazing. That night, my music director put it on 'Make it or Break it.' He called me that night and said, whatever you do, when you get on the air in the morning, you're going to have to play this song. He said, I have never seen phone response on anything like this," said Dixon.
The song became O'Neill's biggest hit, and a Christmas staple among neighbors syncing music to their Christmas light displays.
O'Neil, a New York native, formed Savatage along with two band members from Tarpon Springs. He later renamed the band the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and expanded the band, adding mostly musicians from Tampa Bay.
"They never forgot where it started, and every year they were here in Tampa Bay, they gave credit," said Dixon.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Don Rickles, the master insult comic who created laughs with ridicule and sarcasm in a decades-long career that earned him the facetious nickname "Mr. Warmth," died on Thursday at his Los Angeles home from kidney failure, his publicist said. He was 90.
Rickles, who said he devised his brand of mockery-based humor because he was no good at telling traditional jokes, had developed a bacterial infection in recent months that led him to cancel a number of performances.
His death was confirmed by his spokesman, Paul Shefrin, who said Rickles is survived by his wife of 52 years, Barbara, as well as their daughter, Mindy Mann, and two grandchildren. He would have turned 91 on May 8.
Rickles' last appeared on stage in Las Vegas in late October. But he continued to work after falling ill in February, taping segments of an upcoming internet series for the American Association of Retired Persons titled "Dinner with Don," hosting one-on-one conversations with various celebrities, Shefrin said.
The New York-born Rickles had an intense, often-ad libbed, rapid-fire delivery and a wide, impish grin. He delighted nightclub audiences, Hollywood royalty and politicians by hurling invective at them, all in good fun.
Encountering Frank Sinatra for the first time during a stand-up act in 1957, Rickles greeted the mercurial singer as Sinatra walked in with a retinue of tough guys by saying, "Make yourself at home, Frank - hit somebody."
Luckily for Rickles, the line amused Sinatra, who became one of his biggest boosters and took to calling the short, bald Rickles "Bullethead." The comedian soon became an ex-officio member of the Sinatra-led group of popular entertainers known as the "Rat Pack."
DISHING IT OUT
Performing decades later at the second inaugural gala of U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1985, Rickles did not hesitate to zing the commander-in-chief, asking, "Is this too fast for you, Ronnie?"
But the most frequent targets of the "Merchant of Venom" were the fans who packed his performances for a chance to be belittled as a "dummy," a "hockey puck" or worse. Celebrities often showed up just for the honor of being mocked by Rickles, and no minority or ethnic group was immune to a Rickles tongue-lashing.
"He was called 'The Merchant of Venom' but in truth, he was one of the kindest, caring and most sensitive human beings we have ever known," actor-comedian Bob Newhart and his wife, Ginnie, said in a statement.
Comic actor Jim Carrey tweeted: "Don once begged me for a couple of bucks, then told me to twist myself into a pretzel. Ego slayer! Comic Everest!" Oscar winner Tom Hanks also tweeted a tribute to his "Toy Story" co-star, saying, "A God died today. Don Rickles, we did not want to ever lose you. Never."
Rickles also mocked himself and shied away from describing his act as insult comedy, insisting his humor stemmed not from mean-spiritedness but from wild exaggerations played for laughs.
"If I were to insult people and mean it, that wouldn't be funny," he once said.
Much of Rickles' material played on racial and ethnic stereotypes that did not always keep up with cultural evolution.
He came under fire in 2012 for a joke that characterized President Barack Obama as a janitor. His spokesman defended the line as just "a joke, as were the other comments Don made that night."
"Anyone who knows him knows he's not a racist," the spokesman told Politico then.
HECKLING THE HECKLERS
Rickles, a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, proved especially adept in early nightclub engagements at handling hecklers. Eventually, poking fun at audience members would become a major part of his act.
In an interview with Reuters to promote his 2007 memoir "Rickles' Book," he said his flair for impromptu insults grew out of his shortcomings as a conventional comic.
"I just can't tell jokes," he said. "As a young man I had a personality that I could rib somebody and get away with it."
Rickles, who served in the U.S. Navy during World War Two, also built a resume as an actor, making his film debut as a junior officer alongside Clark Cable and Burt Lancaster in the 1958 submarine drama "Run Silent, Run Deep."
He went on to appear in a series of 1960s "beach party" movies with Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon and in 1970 played Army hustler Sergeant Crapgame in the wartime caper "Kelly's Heroes," with Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas and Donald Sutherland.
He endeared himself to an entirely new generation by providing the voice of Mr. Potato Head in the computer-animated "Toy Story" movie and its two sequels in the 1990s. In 1995 he had a dramatic role in Martin Scorsese's Las Vegas crime film "Casino."
But Rickles' biggest exposure came on television, both as a frequent sitcom guest star and late-night and variety show regular, especially on NBC's "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" and "The Dean Martin Show."
On Carson, Rickles was typically introduced by Spanish matador music, signifying someone was about to be metaphorically gored.
Several Rickles TV series were short-lived, the most popular of which was the NBC comedy "C.P.O. Sharkey," in which he starred as a U.S. Navy chief petty officer in charge of new recruits. The series lasted just two seasons.
A TV documentary, "Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project," directed by John Landis, aired on HBO in 2007.
In 1897...gossip columnist/broadcaster Walter Winchell was born in Minneapolis.
He was the first to break the journalistic taboo against exposing the private lives of public figures, permanently altering the shape of journalism and celebrity. He broke into radio in 1930, and two years later had his own weekly quarter hour, the Jergens Journal, on the NBC Blue network (which became ABC.) “Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea.” The Journal, gossipy news mixed with his opinion, was on the air for most of the next 30 years. Later his star would brighten for a new generation when he narrated the TV series The Untouchables.
He died a recluse of prostate cancer Feb. 20 1972 at age 74. In 1908...orchestra conductor, arranger and composer Percy Faith was born in Toronto.
He began by playing music for silent films in the city’s movie houses, later turning to arranging and composing when his hands were severely burned in an accident. After a stint at the C-B-C from 1933 to 40, Faith moved to the U-S and became an arranger-conductor for Columbia Records. He worked with Tony Bennett and other singers, plus his own orchestra and chorus. His “Theme From a Summer Place” won the 1960 Grammy for Record of the Year.
Percy Faith died Feb 9 1976 at age 67.
In 1915...Billie Holliday, probably the greatest jazz singer ever, was born Ellinore Harris in Baltimore. Her greatest recordings — “Strange Fruit,” “God Bless the Child” and “Yesterdays” — were made in 1939 and ’40. Holliday was jailed for a narcotics offence in 1948, and died in a New York hospital of liver failure July 17, 1959 while facing another possession charge. The 1972 film “Lady Sings the Blues” is based on her life. In 1927...The first official demonstration of television was presented at the AT&T Bell Telephone Laboratories auditorium in New York City. The live picture and voice of then Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover were transmitted over telephone lines from Washington, D.C. to New York
In 1956…The CBS Radio Network debuted the first regularly scheduled, nationally broadcast rock 'n' roll show, "Rock 'n' Roll Dance Party," with Alan Freed as host.
Jim, Marian Jordon 1937
In 1961...radio comedienne Marian Jordan lost her battle with cancer at age 62. For nearly 30 years she played the wife opposite her husband Jim Jordan on NBC’s hit comedy show “Fibber McGee & Molly.”
Fibber McGee & Molly broadcast 1937
In 1967...KMPX-FM, San Francisco unveiled what became known as the "Progressive Rock" format on Radio.
On December 10, 1959, the station, owned by San Francisco businessman Franklin Mieuli, signed on at 106.9 MHz with the KPUP call letters. In July 1960, the call letters were changed to KHIP and the station aired jazz music programming. Mieuli sold KHIP on July 1, 1962 to Leon Crosby, who had previously owned KHYD in Hayward.
Under Leon Crosby's ownership, the station began operating in multiplex stereo and the call letters were changed to KMPX (for "MultiPleX") the following month. Soon after, Crosby gained authorization by the FCC to increase the station's power from the original 37,000 watts to 80,000 watts. The transmitter was in Marin County on Wolfback Ridge above Sausalito.
By mid-1964, KMPX was airing a middle of the road music format. As the money-strapped station struggled, by 1966 the schedule became dominated by various foreign language and other brokered programs.
KMPX Staff Photo May 1967
Though KMPX's daytime schedule was heavy with ethnic programming, the midnight-6 AM slot was mostly open. On February 12, 1967, on-air personality Larry Miller was given the shift, where he played his preferred folk rock music whenever a foreign language show was not scheduled. But even with this impediment and the station's high-end-of-the-dial position, word spread that "rock and roll is on FM".
Tom Donahue
A month later, Tom Donahue, a former well-known local Top 40 disc jockey on KYA, fledgling record label owner and concert promoter, was looking for an opportunity to do something unique on the radio. According to his then-girlfriend (and future wife) Raechel's recollection, mentioned in Jim Ladd's book Radio Waves, after spending a night listening to The Doors' first album at home, Donahue wondered why radio stations weren't playing it. He soon started calling around town to local stations on the less-desirable FM dial. When he found that KMPX's phone was disconnected, he decided to approach Crosby with his plan, as he felt the station had nothing to lose. Donahue proposed to take over some of KMPX's programming and replace the brokered foreign-language shows with freeform album-based rock music, declaring, "no jingles, no talkovers, no time and temp, no pop singles." Advertisers would come in the form of local businesses serving the local hippie and Haight-Ashbury communities. As Donahue was a well-known and respected person in local radio, Crosby hired him.
On Friday, April 7, 1967, Donahue went on the air at KMPX for the first time, working from 8 PM to midnight, leading into Miller's show. The station's programming evolved over the weeks and months that followed, and Donahue sought out air personalities who fit what he envisioned for the format. Early staffers included Edward Bear (1967 aircheck: Click Here), Dusty Street, and even future actor Howard Hesseman. Donahue's rock music format expanded to full-time on August 6, 1967, as the last of the foreign-language program contracts expired. The station at the time employed an unheard-of all-female studio engineer staff. The presentation of music on the station stood in stark contrast to most other stations of the day. Instead of a hit music-dominated playlist, KMPX played more album cuts, local, emerging and cutting-edge artists, and a wide mix of genres such as rock, blues, jazz and folk music. Some of the music played in the Spring of 1967 included Jefferson Airplane's album Surrealistic Pillow, the first Grateful Dead album, Jimi Hendrix's Are You Experienced and The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which KMPX played uninterrupted in its entirety.
Today 106.9 FM simulcasts the All-News format of KCBS 740 AM.
In 1972..Toronto radio-TV host Al Boliska, whose unpredictabilty made him a breakfasttime star on first 1050 CHUM and then CKEY 1010 AM, choked to death on his own vomit at the much too young age of 39.
In 1976...Broadcaster/author/syndicated newspaper columnist Mary Margaret McBride, a popular radio interview show host on various networks for more than four decades, died at the age of 76.
McBride
McBride first worked steadily in radio for WOR in New York City, starting in 1934. This daily women's-advice show, with her persona as "Martha Deane", a kind and witty grandmother figure with a Missouri-drawl, aired daily until 1940.
In 1937, she launched on the CBS radio network the first of a series of similar and successful shows, now as Mary Margaret McBride.
She interviewed figures well known in the world of arts and entertainment, and politics, with a style recognized as original to herself. She accepted advertising only for products she was prepared to endorse from her own experience, and turned down all tobacco or alcohol products.
She followed this format in regular broadcasts on
CBS until 1941
NBC (where her audience numbered in the millions) from then until 1950
ABC from then until 1954
NBC again until 1960, and
The New York Herald Tribune's radio broadcasts with a wider audience via syndication.
In 1997...the "Howard Stern Radio Show" debuted on WRXK-FM, Fort Myers, Florida.
In 2012...radio announcer/TV newsman/game show host Mike Wallace, for 38 years the main man at CBS-TV “60 Minutes,” died at age 93.
In 2015...Stan Freberg, a humorist whose sprawling imagination fueled a multifaceted career that included pretty much inventing the idea of using satire in commercials, died at age 88 on Tuesday in Santa Monica, Calif.
Freberg, born Stanley Friberg in 1926. was an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer and advertising creative director, whose career began in 1944. He remained active in the industry into his late 80s, more than 70 years after entering it.
He made hit comedy records, voiced hundreds of cartoon characters and succeeded Jack Benny in one of radio’s most prestigious time slots. He called himself a “guerrilla satirist,” using humor as a barbed weapon to take on issues ranging from the commercialization of Christmas to the hypocrisy of liberals.
“Let’s give in and do the brotherhood bit,/Just make sure we don’t make a habit of it,” he sang in “Take an Indian to Lunch,” a song on the 1961 album “Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America,” a history lesson in songs and sketches. Time magazine said it may have been the “finest comedy album ever recorded.”
His radio sketches for CBS in 1957 included some of the earliest put-downs of political correctness (before that idea had a name). One sketch entailed a confrontation with a fictional network censor, Mr. Tweedlie, who insisted that Mr. Freberg change the lyrics of “Ol’ Man River,” starting with the title. He wanted it renamed “Elderly Man River.”
Scott Shannon with John Elliott, Patty Steele and Joe Nolan
WCBS 101.1 FM morning host Scott Shannon has announced that veteran NYC Traffic reporter/personality Joe Nolan is leaving the show. His last day is Friday, April 7.
The reason is strictly business.
Nolan doesn't work for WCBS-FM, he's employed with iHeartMedia's Total Traffic and Weather Network. CBS has ended its business relationship with Total Traffic and has partnered with Radiant Traffic for future reports.
The new business relationship means Nolan and several other well-known voices will no longer be heard on CBS stations, such as WINS 1010 AM , Newsradio WCBS 880 AM, Sports WFAN 660 AM /101.9 FM, Top40 WBMP AMP 92.3 FM and HotAC WNEW 102.7 Fresh-FM. The change also impacts CBS stations across the country.
In a Facebook post Thursday, Nolan stated, the good news is he is still employed. However, his reports will be heard on different station, yet to be announced.
According to Nolan, "I have come to be very close with the people I work with. Much closer than ever before. We truly are very good friends and I consider all of them my “other” family. Everything that I have achieved in my career is because of Scott Shannon. I have been with him for just about 25 years (My son Conor’s whole life). We have had ups and downs but working with Scott everyday has made me the broadcaster I am today. I learn something just about every day from him. There is a reason he is in just about every hall of fame there is. He is a giant!!!
"Patty and Brad are smart, funny and just wonderful incredible family people. I am honored to call them friends and I truly love both of them. I have no idea some days how Patty does it. She is an incredible woman, professional news caster and most importantly a mom. Day to day, I will miss her more then I probably know. She is as close to a sister as I have. Brad has been my running partner for years. Like J.B.J. says “we have secrets we will take to our graves”. Trevor (Kermit) -- well -- is Trevor. Funny, talented, smart young man who is more or less another son. I kid around with him a lot but that is out of a genuine love and respect. He is far from a “stupid frog”. John Elliott and I had worked with before at Fresh-FM and when we needed a weather guy I was thrilled he was chosen. No one could have been better in his slot and no one in New York is as accurate. Louie-Louie our producer is the guy who drives the bus. He puts up with a lot, deals with 4 giant personalities every day and to be honest I don’t know why he didn’t walk out more than once. He will be running a communications company one day and I will be able to say I knew him when!!!!"
A New Jersey native, Nolan has been a traffic reporter on radio and television in the New York metropolitan area since 1979. He joined Metro Traffic Control when it opened in New York in 1988. He is also the stadium voice of the New York Jets and Rutgers football.
Record labels would be able to yank their music off U.S. radio airwaves under federal legislation introduced on Wednesday, reports The Tennessean.
That means hits by Taylor Swift, Drake, Adele or Miranda Lambert would be taken down if their record labels choose to do so. The bill was filed by U.S. Reps. Darrell Issa, R-California, and Ted Deutch, D-Florida.
It's a controversial proposal. Current U.S. copyright law gives broadcast companies the right to play any song they like, but only music publishers and songwriters get paid.
Rep. Darrell Issa
Record labels and artists have been pushing for years to have a performance royalty created for terrestrial radio. Last week, a bi-partisan Fair Play Fair Pay Act was reintroduced to create the performance royalty.
Broadcast companies have argued that there is substantial promotional value when they play an artist's songs, talk about their upcoming album releases and nearby concert performances. Traditional radio is still the No. 1 form of music discovery in many genres, according to experts.
Issa and Deutch's bill gives record labels the right to decide whether the promotional value outweighs the fact they don't get paid. Internet radio and streaming companies like Pandora, Apple Music and Spotify pay record labels when their songs are used. The bill has been dubbed the PROMOTE Act, which stands for Performance Royalty Owners of Music Opportunity To Earn Act.
“The PROMOTE Act calls the bluff of both sides in the debate over performance rights," Issa said. "The terrestrial stations playing these works without compensating the artists argue that airtime provides exposure and promotional value, while the artists argue the status quo allows radio stations to profit on artists' performances without providing any due compensation.
"Our bill puts forward a workable solution that would allow those who would otherwise be paid a performance right to opt out of allowing broadcasters to play their music if they feel they’re not being appropriately compensated. This is a win-win that helps solve this decades' long problem in a way that’s fair to both parties."
Rep. Ted Deutch
Deutch said it it is unfair that artists haven't been able to choose if their songs are played on the radio.
"It should be the artist’s choice whether to offer their music for free in exchange for promotional play, or to instead opt out of the unpaid use of their music," Deutch said. "I am proud to join my colleague Rep. Issa in introducing the PROMOTE Act to give recording artists more control over their work.”
In response to performance royalty legislation introduced today by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) that would require radio stations to obtain permission from record labels to play their songs, the following statement may be attributed to NAB Executive Vice President of Communications Dennis Wharton:
“NAB has significant concerns with this legislation that would upend the music licensing framework that currently enables broadcasters to serve local communities across the country, and would result in less music being played on the radio to the detriment of listeners and artists. NAB thanks the almost 200 Members of Congress who support the Local Radio Freedom Act and recognize the tremendous benefits of free, promotional airplay for musicians and labels."
(Reuters) -- PepsiCo pulled a commercial featuring model Kendall Jenner on Wednesday after the ad prompted outrage and ridicule from those who said it trivialized rights protests and public unrest in the United States.
The ad, released late on Tuesday, shows the fashion celebrity and reality TV star in a photo shoot when she sees protesters marching. Removing her wig and makeup, Jenner joins the crowd and hands a baseball cap-wearing police officer a can of Pepsi, prompting him to smile while marchers cheer and hug.
"Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding," the company said in a statement. "Clearly we missed the mark, and we apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are removing the content and halting any further rollout."
Pepsi also apologized to Jenner. A representative for Jenner did not return a call for comment.
The spot drew criticism on Twitter, with users saying it belittled the anti-police violence protests over recent years in cities including Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore following police killings of unarmed black men and women.
Pepsi said the ad was created by its in-house shop, Creators League Studio. Charlie Hopper, principal and writer at advertising agency Young & Laramore said such backlash is a risk brands take when they lack outside perspective.
"This is a good example of what happens when you don't get the objective input of a classic agency relationship that can say, 'We need to save you from your worst impulses,'" he said.
'THIS AD IS TRASH'
Observers quickly condemned the ad, which did not make clear what the marchers were protesting.
"If I had carried Pepsi, I guess I never would have gotten arrested. Who knew?" activist DeRay McKesson, one of the best-known voices of the Black Lives Matter movement, tweeted. "Pepsi, this ad is trash."
Bernice King, daughter of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whose assassination occurred 49 years ago on the day Pepsi's ad debuted, tweeted a picture of her father protesting as an officer's hand grips his chest, with the caption: "If only Daddy would have known about the power of #Pepsi."
Many on Twitter criticized the advertisement as a play on today's Black Lives Matter movement, and circulated a 2016 image of Leshia Evans as a point of comparison. Evans, standing passively and wearing a dress, was detained by police in riot gear during a protest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, not long after the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling by police.
It was not the first time Pepsi has touched a nerve. In 2013, it pulled an online ad for its Mountain Dew beverage amid complaints the spot embraced racial stereotypes and made light of violence toward women. The ad featured a battered white woman on crutches trying to pick out her assailant from a police lineup featuring five African-American men and a goat.
Dr. Boyce Watkins, a social commentator and author, had called that ad "arguably the most racist commercial in history."
Wall Street appeared unfazed by the flap, with PepsiCo trading marginally higher at $112.17.
(Reuters) -- Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) is launching a faster version of its mobile service on Wednesday aimed at people with sporadic connections or little data on their smartphone plans, hoping to pick up users in harder-to-reach emerging markets.
The company calls the version Twitter Lite and it will be aimed largely at users outside the United States. Twitter Lite works through a web browser, not a stand-alone phone application, but its appearance and functionality are nearly identical to what app users experience, according to a preview shown to Reuters.
The launch comes on the heels of similar products from other U.S. tech firms. Facebook Inc (FB.O) released Facebook Lite in 2015 and on Tuesday, Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) YouTube unveiled a low-data mobile app designed for India.
San Francisco-based Twitter lags behind those companies in building a user base. It had 319 million average monthly active users at the end of last year, up 4 percent year-over-year but still a fraction of Facebook's 1.9 billion users.
A primary reason in some parts of the world is how much data its app and earlier website consumed, Keith Coleman, Twitter's vice president of product, said in an interview.
"We didn't feel like we were reaching these other countries well enough, and this will allow us to do it faster, cheaper and with a better experience than we've had before," he said.
The company estimates that, with several changes it is making to its mobile website, mobile.twitter.com, users will see their average data consumption on the browser version go down 40 percent.
With an additional data-saving feature users can turn on, data consumption will drop some 70 percent on average, said Patrick Traughber, a Twitter product manager. The reduction will come from differences such as initially displaying previews of pictures instead of full pictures.
Like YouTube, Twitter is eyeing India's 1.3 billion people, and it timed the release of Twitter Lite in part to coincide with the start this week of a major cricket event there, the Indian Premier League's Twenty20 tournament.
Cricket is the most popular sport in India and following sports in real time is one of the main ways people use Twitter, which unlike many other social media networks still has a chronological timeline to emphasize immediacy.
Other countries where the company said it expects Twitter Lite to be most useful include Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.
(Reuters) -- Facebook Inc (FB.O) is adding tools on Wednesday to make it easier for users to report so-called "revenge porn" and to automatically prevent the images from being shared again once they have been banned, the company said.
"Revenge porn" refers to the sharing of sexually explicit images on the internet, without the consent of the people depicted in the pictures, in order to extort or humiliate them. The practice disproportionately affects women, who are sometimes targeted by former partners.
Facebook has been sued in the United States and elsewhere by people who said it should have done more to prevent the practice. The company in 2015 made clear that images "shared in revenge" were forbidden, and users have long had the ability to report posts as violating the terms of service.
Beginning on Wednesday, users of the world's largest social network should see an option to report a picture as inappropriate specifically because it is a "nude photo of me," Facebook said in a statement.
The company also said it was launching an automated process to prevent the repeat sharing of banned images. Photo-matching software will keep the pictures off the core Facebook network as well as off its Instagram and Messenger services, it said.
Users who share "revenge porn" may see their accounts disabled, the company said.
Facing criticism, the company last year met representatives from more than 150 women's safety organizations and decided it needed to do more, Antigone Davis, global head of safety at Facebook, said in a phone interview.
A specially trained group of Facebook employees will provide human review of each reported image, Davis said.
The process to prevent repeat sharing requires Facebook to retain the banned pictures in a database, although the images are blurred and only a small number of employees have access to the database, the company said.
Prosecutors and lawmakers have also sought ways to prevent the spread of "revenge porn," seeking additional penalties for a practice that they said has ruined careers and families and even led to suicide.
More than 30 advertisers have fled the airwaves of “The O’Reilly Factor,” the most popular cable television show on the most popular cable network, after a New York Times report on previously unknown sexual harassment allegations against the host spurred yet another woman to step forward.
According to The Washington Post, big brand names like Eli Lilly, Mercedes-Benz and Allstate are among the companies seeking distance from O’Reilly in an unusually bold snub that could create financial woes for the conservative firebrand and his bosses.
In its statements about pulling its “O’Reilly Factor” advertising, Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai both called the allegations “disturbing.” Credit Karma used the word “concerning.” And many companies said they prioritized “diversity,” “a respectful and inclusive workplace environment” and only advertising on programs consistent with their “core values.”
But one company has publicly announced the opposite, reported CNN Money.
Angie’s List, the Indianapolis-based online community that functions like a high-end Yelp, has said it will not self-censor, but instead let its customers think for themselves.
“We do not have plans to change our ad buy,” the company said in a statement. “The advertising strategy we have long used at Angie’s List is meant to reach as many people as possible with news that our service exists and is available to them. We place ads across a wide spectrum of venues intending to reach as many viewers/listeners/readers as possible without taking a position on the viewpoints of the venues themselves.”
“Just as we trust members to make their own hiring decisions,” the statement continued, “we trust them to make their own media consumption decisions.”
Fox News host Bill O'Reilly may have apologized for saying Maxine Waters had a "James Brown wig," but Wednesday night the California congresswoman performed the big payback, according to USAToday.
"Bill O'Reilly needs to go to jail," Waters said in an interview on MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes, in which she also called O'Reilly's network a "sexual harassment enterprise."
O'Reilly, whose comments about Water's hair were widely condemned, is currently in the media spotlight after The New York Times reported that he and Fox paid five women $13 million to settle harassment or other allegations against the star pundit. Advertisers have been fleeingThe O'Reiilly Factor since the allegations surfaced.
The report about O'Reilly comes less than a year after Fox News' former chairman Roger Ailes was ousted following a sexual harassment lawsuit.
Waters comments came in response to a question about President Trump's defense of O'Reilly.
"I don’t think Bill did anything wrong," Trump told The New York Times. “I think he shouldn’t have settled; personally I think he shouldn’t have settled."
"It's coming out of the mouth of a man who has said some horrible things about women," Waters said of Trump's comments. "Don't forget he talked about grabbing women in their private parts, and because he was important, he could get away with that."
Waters said Trump and O'Reilly "are two of a kind." She went on to say "it's all catching up with Bill O'Reilly and that sexual harassment enterprise that they created over there at Fox.
Fox has "treated women very badly," Waters said, adding that she supported a criminal investigation of the matter.
"This really is a sexual harassment enterprise," Waters said. "It shouldn't be, in America, that you can sexually harass women and then buy your way out of it because you're rich. If they continue to do this, in the way that they have done, they need to go to jail. You know, the president is over there, talking today about Susan Rice going to jail. They need to go to jail. Bill O'Reilly needs to go to jail."
