Author: Rap Hooks

Jimmie Allen has been judged liable for sexually assaulting and secretly filming a woman in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2022, accusations the once-rising country star denied but forfeited his right to defend by flouting multiple court-imposed deadlines and orders in the lawsuit.

A Monday (Aug. 18) ruling in Tennessee federal court holds Allen liable by default for battery, assault, invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress. The civil claims had been scheduled to go to trial this summer, but a pattern of disobedience by Allen and his lawyers earned them a premature judgment instead.

“The defendants throughout have failed to comply with case management discovery deadlines and even failed to comply with specific orders of this court,” wrote Judge Aleta A. Trauger. “For these reasons, the plaintiff’s motion for sanctions and judgment against defendants Jimmie Allen and Aadyn’s Dad Touring Inc. is granted.”

Aadyn’s Dad Touring is the company that employed Allen’s bodyguard, Charles Hurd, who allegedly helped the singer pursue the anonymous woman at the center of the case. Judge Trauger says the plaintiff’s lawyers can now put in a request for financial damages from both Allen and the touring company.

The case is one of two civil sexual assault lawsuits brought against Allen in 2023, derailing the singer’s promising career after a run of No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. He was subsequently dropped by his label, BBR Music Group, as well as his booking agency, publicist and management company.

The first lawsuit accused Allen of sexually harassing and abusing his day-to-day manager over a period of 18 months from 2020 and 2022. Allen denied the claims and countersued his ex-manager for defamation; that case was settled in 2024.

The second lawsuit brought against Allen is the one at issue in Monday’s ruling. That case, filed by a woman going by the pseudonym Jane Doe 2, says she met Allen on a flight to Nashville in May 2022 and began to regularly text and FaceTime with the singer.

Doe claims she met up with Allen in Las Vegas the following July. While the two had consensual sex, the woman says Allen ejaculated inside her without a condom despite her explicit and repeated protests against this.

After Allen allegedly “passed out” following sex, Doe says she discovered that he had surreptitiously set up his cellphone to record the entire encounter without her knowledge.

Allen denied assaulting Doe and said she consented to the video recording, countersuing her as well. But things didn’t go so smoothly for Allen as the litigation progressed, with the singer cycling through various lawyers and blowing past deadlines for producing evidence and sitting for a deposition.

In December, Judge Trauger axed Allen’s counterclaim as a penalty for his failure to produce the cellphone used to record the sexual encounter. And in March, he was ordered to pay nearly $6,000 to Doe’s lawyers for canceling a mediation session at the last minute.

The final straw came earlier this summer when, with the case’s June trial date fast approaching, Allen still hadn’t paid that $6,000 sum or hired a new local Tennessee lawyer to replace yet another attorney who was leaving his team. Doe’s counsel moved for default judgment in May, saying Allen had already been given his fair share of warnings.

“There are no alternative sanctions to judgment that this court has not already attempted — e.g., extensions, discovery orders, the payment of costs, and the replacement of counsel,” wrote Doe’s attorney Elizabeth Fegan. “There is no reason to believe that entering similar orders would magically now result in defendants’ compliance.”

Allen’s lawyers did not respond to the default judgment request, leading Judge Trauger to cancel the trial date and grant Doe’s motion on Monday. In a comment to Billboard, Fegan says, “We are pleased that the court entered judgment in her favor and look forward to proving her damages.”

“Jimmie Allen’s abuse has had a profound impact on Jane Doe 2,” adds Fegan. “The court’s ruling makes clear that Allen cannot simply ignore the serious consequences of his actions.”

Allen’s reps did not return requests for comment.

The news comes as Allen has been attempting to mount a country comeback. On Aug. 6, he released his first new song, “Beer 99,” to the country format since 2023 and quickly followed up on Tuesday (Aug. 12) with “Country Boys Never Learn.”

Allen has also announced a 14-city tour that kicks off Sept. 5 in Dallas and concludes Nov. 29 in Rochester, N.H. 

Melinda Newman assisted in preparing this story.

Hailey Bieber is having a little fun with a new photo featuring her husband, Justin Bieber, and her best friend, Kendall Jenner.

On Saturday (Aug. 16), the 31-year-old pop superstar shared a series of Instagram photos from a night out with friends at a Los Angeles bar. In one candid shot, Justin — sporting a shaved head and light tank top with baggy pants — appears slightly confused as Jenner, 29, animatedly gestures beside him, seemingly mid-story.

Hailey, 28, couldn’t resist dropping a cheeky comment aimed at her longtime friend. “It’s always Kendall telling a story with her hands,” the Rhode founder wrote.

Her playful comment quickly racked up hundreds of thousands of likes, with Jenner joining in on the fun by replying, “God forbid I’m a visual storyteller.”

Hailey and Kendall have been close friends for over a decade. The Kardashians star was part of the Biebers’ wedding celebration in 2019, and the two even dressed up as Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie from their Simple Life days for Halloween in 2024.

Earlier this summer, the longtime friends went paintballing together, and the outing quickly turned hilariously competitive. In one moment captured on Kendall’s Instagram Story, Hailey playfully flipped her the bird after the game.

Justin also shared several other photos from his night out in L.A., including a cute selfie with Hailey. “Secrets out we’re dating!” she joked in the comments.

The “All I Can Take” singer’s Instagram photo dump also included snaps of himself taking a cigarette break outside the bar, racking pool balls and dancing with a cue stick.

Meanwhile, the Bieber family is gearing up to celebrate their son, Jack Blues’ first birthday on Aug. 22. Last month, Justin gave fans a glimpse of their baby boy during a visit to the recording studio, where he was likely working on his latest album, Swag. The project dropped on July 11 and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

Check out Bieber’s photo with Jenner on Instagram here.

Ronnie Rondell Jr., a veteran Hollywood stuntman best known for being set on fire for the cover of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here album, has died. He was 88.

Rondell Jr. passed away on Tuesday (Aug. 12) at a senior living facility in Osage Beach, Mo., his family announced, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A cause of death was not given.

Throughout his decades-long career, Rondell Jr. appeared in numerous films, including How the West Was Won (1962), Lethal Weapon (1987) and The Matrix Reloaded (2003). To music fans, however, he is most famously remembered as the man engulfed in flames on the cover of Pink Floyd’s 1975 album, Wish You Were Here.

The striking image was shot on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif., and features a half-burning Rondell Jr. shaking hands with fellow stuntman Danny Rogers, both dressed in business suits.

“I’d been doing a lot of fire work in those days, and I had the special suits and all this stuff for fully enveloped fire,” Rondell Jr. recalled in the documentary Pink Floyd: The Story of Wish You Were Here (via Rolling Stone). “It was pretty easy to do, not too life-threatening, and paid well.”

The iconic photo, created by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell of the English art design group Hipgnosis, took around 15 attempts to shoot due to wind and other factors — and even resulted in Rondell Jr. having part of his eyebrow and mustache burned off.

“We repeated the process 14 times, took the shot, and then on the 15th a gust of wind blew up and wrapped the fire around his face and burnt him,” Powell told The Guardian in 2020. “He threw himself to the ground and his whole team piled on blankets to put him out.”

He added, “I knew I had got a special picture. It took a long time to persuade Ronnie to stand exactly as I wanted but in the end he was very brave and it was a perfect composition.”

Rondell Jr.’s extensive list of film credits includes Kings of the Sun (1963), Shenandoah (1965), Grand Prix (1966), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Blazing Saddles (1974), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), They Live (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Thelma & Louise (1991), Last Action Hero (1993), Speed (1994) and The Crow (1994).

He also worked as a stunt coordinator on several Aaron Spelling-produced television series, including The Rookies, S.W.A.T., Charlie’s Angels, Fantasy Island, Dynasty, Vegas, Hart to Hart and T.J. Hooker, according to THR.

Rondell Jr. retired in 2000 but returned to perform in a chase scene for The Matrix Reloaded (2003), where his son R.A. Rondell was the supervising stunt coordinator.

Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem clocks an 11th nonconsecutive week atop the Billboard 200 chart (dated Aug. 23). The project earned 126,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending Aug. 14 (down 7%), according to Luminate. I’m the Problem debuted at No. 1 on the May 31-dated chart, spent it first eight weeks in the pole position, stepped away from the top for two frames and then returned to No. 1 for the three weeks running.

Also in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200, Gunna, mgk and Jonas Brothers all arrive with their latest efforts, while BABYMETAL gets its first top 10 with the bow of METAL FORTH.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Aug. 23, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (Aug. 19). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of I’m the Problem’s 126,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Aug. 14, SEA units comprise 121,000 (down 7%, equaling 159.73 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs — it leads Top Streaming Albums for a 12th nonconsecutive week), album sales comprise 4,000 (down 3%, it falls 13-21 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 1,000 (down 12%).

The KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack is steady at its No. 2 high on the Billboard 200, with 104,000 equivalent album units earned (its best week yet by units earned, up 4%). The set has posted a gain every week since its debut on the list eight weeks ago.

Gunna logs his seventh top 10-charted effort on the Billboard 200, as The Last Wun arrives at No. 3 with 80,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 79,000 (equaling 104.49 million on-demand official streams of its songs — it debuts at No. 3 on Top Streaming Albums), while album sales comprise 1,000 (it was available to purchase only as a standard widely available download album) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The Last Wun was preceded by its charted songs “Him All Along” (No. 58 peak last November on the Billboard Hot 100) and “Won’t Stop” (No. 70, June).

mgk debuts at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 with lost americana, marking his seventh top 10 project. The set bows with 63,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 40,500 — it debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales, SEA units comprise 22,000 (equaling 28.63 million on-demand official streams of its songs; it debuts at No. 18 on Top Streaming Albums), and TEA units comprise 500. The album was preceded by the charted song “cliché,” which peaked at No. 62 on the Hot 100 in June.

The first-week sales of lost americana were bolstered by the set’s availability across 10 vinyl variants (including two signed by mgk), four CD variants (including one signed by the artist), a standard widely available download and four deluxe CD boxed sets (each containing a branded clothing item and a copy of the CD).

Alex Warren’s You’ll Be Alright, Kid rises 6-5 on the Billboard 200, matching its peak rank, with 42,000 equivalent album units earned (down 3%).

Jonas Brothers achieve their eighth top 10-charted project on the Billboard 200 as Greetings From Your Hometown starts at No. 6 with 39,000 equivalent album units. Of that sum, album sales comprise 26,000 (it debuts at No. 3 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 13,000 (equaling 16.49 million on-demand official streams of its songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The album was preceded by a trio of charted songs on the Pop Airplay chart: “Slow Motion” (with Marshmellow, No. 37 peak in March), “Love Me to Heaven” (No. 34, May) and “No Time to Talk” (which rose to a new peak of No. 27 on the most recently published chart, dated Aug. 23).

The first-week sales of Greetings were aided by its availability as a widely available 10-song standard vinyl and CD album. The set was also available in two additional vinyl variants (one signed) and more than 50 CD variants (including 50 signed editions, individualized for each of the 50 States of the U.S.), a deluxe download edition with four bonus tracks, a deluxe download edition with six bonus tracks and an artist webstore-exclusive download edition with bonus live tracks.

Justin Bieber’s SWAG falls 5-7 on the Billboard 200 with 38,000 equivalent album units earned (down 13%) and Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time dips 7-8 with nearly 38,000 units (down 3%).

BABYMETAL scores its first top 10 album on the Billboard 200 as METAL FORTH debuts at No. 9 with 36,000 equivalent album units earned — the act’s best week by units. Of that sum, album sales comprise 33,500 (the act’s best sales week ever; it debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 2,500 (equaling 3.28 million on-demand official streams of its songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

METAL FORTH’s first-week sales got a boost from its availability across 15 vinyl variants (including two signed editions), six CD editions (five signed), two deluxe CD boxed sets (one of which was signed, both containing branded merch and a copy of the CD), three cassettes, a widely available standard digital download album and three deluxe expanded digital download albums (each with two different bonus tracks, exclusive to the band’s webstore).

Rounding out the latest top 10 of the Billboard 200 is SZA’s former leader SOS, which shifts 8-10 with 35,000 equivalent album units earned (down 4%). SOS clocks its 100th nonconsecutive week in the top 10 — the first album by a woman that has claimed 100 weeks in the top 10 in the chart’s history, which dates to March 1956.

SOS already had the record for the most weeks in the top 10 among albums by women, when it surpassed Adele’s 21 in April. Among individual artists (excluding multi-act soundtracks and cast recordings), only Morgan Wallen and SZA have albums with at least 100 weeks in the top 10. Wallen has done it twice, with Dangerous: The Double Album (165) and One Thing at a Time (121). The album with the most weeks in the top 10, overall, is the original cast recording of My Fair Lady, with 173 weeks in 1956-60.

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

BLACKPINK fittingly honored the Spice Girls during the closing night of their two-day run at London’s Wembley Stadium.

Over the weekend, the global K-pop sensations made their long-awaited return to London with the Deadline World Tour, marking their first visit since headlining a sold-out BST Hyde Park show in 2023.

In a nostalgic nod to the British pop legends, BLACKPINK capped off their Wembley stint on Saturday (Aug. 16) with a surprise performance of the Spice Girls’ debut single “Wannabe.” The song, which spent four weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in 1997, had the crowd singing along as the group put their own spin on the iconic ’90s hit. Watch fan-captured clips of the performance here, here and here on X.

This wasn’t the first time JENNIE, LISA, JISOO and ROSÉ took on “Wannabe.” They previously performed the iconic track during a “Carpool Karaoke” segment with James Corden on The Late Late Show in 2023. During the ride, LISA shared that she was obsessed with the Spice Girls growing up, while JENNIE said she admired how each member had her own distinct personality. Corden even gave the BLACKPINK members their own “Spice” names, with ROSÉ becoming “Aussie Pink,” LISA as “Boss Pink,” JENNIE as “Shy Pink” and JISOO dubbed “Nail Pink.”

On Saturday, the Wembley crowd got a surprise encore when BLACKPINK returned to the stage to perform “Wannabe,” dancing and singing together to close out their second and final night in London.

Fittingly, BLACKPINK’s latest single “Jump” includes the line “spice up your life,” a clear reference to the opening track on the Spice Girls’ 1997 album, Spiceworld. Produced by Diplo, “Jump” debuted at No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts in late July.

For those who missed BLACKPINK’s opening night at Wembley on Friday (Aug. 15), Billboard has rounded up the seven best moments from the show here.

The Backstreet Boys welcomed a very special guest to their residency at Sphere Las Vegas Saturday night, pointing out their longtime collaborator Max Martin in the crowd.

“He helped us create our legacy and the soundtrack to our lives,” Howie Dorough said, just before the group broke into a rendition of the Martin-helmed Millennium track, “Don’t Want You Back.” “He wrote all those hit songs that we get a chance to sing for you guys. We are very indebted to Mr. Max Martin.”

“Let him feel the love y’all,” added Kevin Richardson, urging the audience to give Martin a standing ovation. “Let him feel the love.”

A Martin fan site reposted the moment on their Instagram stories, adding a video of the producer standing up and acknowledging the sold-out crowd. Recently named Billboard’s Top Producer of the 21st Century, the Swedish hitmaker has worked with the Backstreet Boys since the very beginning, writing and producing the group’s debut single, “We’ve Got It Going On,” which was released in September 1995. He went on to work on memorable BSB hits like “I Want It That Way,” “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” and “Shape of My Heart,” to name just a few.

Martin has also been tapped to produce Taylor Swift’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl. After working almost exclusively with Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner for the last eight years, Swift announced last week that she reunited with Martin and his frequent producing partner Shellback for the new LP. Martin and Shellback are responsible for some of Swift’s biggest hits to date, including “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “Blank Space” and “Shake It Off,” each of which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Martin wasn’t the only BSB collaborator in attendance Saturday night. Dorough also shouted out songwriter Andrew Fromm, who wrote the Millennium album cuts, “I Need You Tonight” (which Nick Carter performs solo in the residency) and the Howie D-led “Spanish Eyes.” “This song is normally dedicated to my mom,” Dorough said about the latter, “but the man who wrote it is in the house tonight, so we’re dedicating it to Andrew.”

Saturday’s outing marked date number 17 of the Backstreet Boys’ well-received Vegas residency, which celebrates the 25th anniversary of their chart-topping album, Millennium. The group recently added seven more dates to their run at Sphere, taking them into 2026.