| 1. HOW BRANDS ARE CASHING IN ON AREA 51 EVENT: This weekend’s proposed raid of Area 51, which has now turned into the Alienstock Festival, taking place September 19-22 in Rachel, Nevada, has inspired big-name brands such as Bud Light and Arby’s to get in on the alien action. Bud Light even hosted an event of its own last night, the Area 51 Celebration music festival at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center. CNN: “One look at the Bud Light Twitter page shows how dedicated the brand is with its feed saturated with Area 51-themed posts. Bud Light first threw its hat in the ring when it asked followers on Twitter to retweet its post about releasing limited-edition alien cans of Bud Light. That tweet currently has more than 62,000 likes and 40,000 retweets (they set a goal of 51,000 retweets), but Bud Light released the cans to fans anyway in Nevada, Arizona, and California on September 13. That's not all, though. Bud Light has an online shop where you can buy shirts, hats, a flag, and even socks. The shop's most expensive item is a $100 bomber jacket that is sold out.” 2. NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY DROPS EVENT CO-HOSTED BY SAUDI CROWN PRINCE’S ORGANIZATION: The New York Public Library has canceled an event co-hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s MiSK Foundation, after public outcry from human rights activists. The forum, billed as a global youth summit, was slated to take place at the Stephen A. Schwarzman location on Monday during the kickoff of United Nations General Assembly Week. Gothamist: “The Saudi foundation, which is active in American philanthropic circles, has been decried as a propaganda tool meant to smooth over wanton human rights abuses carried out by the crown prince. It also provides financial support to the UN’s global youth development initiative. On Wednesday afternoon, a handful of activists crashed the library’s Board of Trustees meeting, carrying signs reading ‘MBS out of the NYPL’ and ‘No Bone Saws NYPL’—a reference to the brutal murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which authorities say was ordered by the Saudi leader.” 3. TAYLOR SWIFT WILL BE FIRST WOMAN TO OPEN N.F.L. STADIUM: Taylor Swift has announced plans for her Lover tour, which will include just two U.S. stops that are being billed as music festivals. Lover Fest West will take place in July 2020 at Los Angeles’ SoFi stadium, the future home of the Rams and Chargers, making Swift the first woman to open an N.F.L. stadium. The event will be followed by Lover Fest East at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Los Angeles Times: “Kevin Demoff, Rams chief operating officer, told the Los Angeles Times in July that he didn’t envision a Rams or Chargers preseason game serving as the grand opening of the stadium next summer. ‘This is not only going to be a sports venue but a great entertainment venue,’ he said. ‘We’re thinking about a summer concert series, international soccer matches, and other events. Our hope is that fans of entertainment and sports will get to come and sample this building before we play a game.’” 4. ACTIVISTS PETITION GATES FOUNDATION TO NOT AWARD INDIA’S PRIME MINISTER: Activists presented a petition with more than 100,000 signatures to the Gates Foundation in Seattle on Monday, imploring the organization to not honor India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an event next week, citing the government’s recent crackdown in Kashmir. Actors Riz Ahmed and Jameela Jamil have dropped out of the event. Huffington Post: “In a statement to HuffPost India, the Gates Foundation said it would still be giving the award to Modi next week, saying it is for ‘the progress India is making in improving sanitation’ and credited the Indian government’s Swachh Bharat initiative with expanding access to ‘safe sanitation’ to millions. … As part of Modi’s visit to the U.S. next week, he will also participate in an event with President Donald Trump in Houston ‘to emphasize the strong ties between the people of the United States and India,’ according to the White House.” 5. CNN AND NEW YORK TIMES TO CO-HOST NEXT DEMOCRATIC DEBATE: CNN and the New York Times will co-host the next Democratic presidential debate, which will be the fourth Democratic primary debate this election cycle. The event will take place October 15 at Otterbein University in Ohio and will be moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett and Marc Lacey of the Times. ABC News: “The October debate will be just over a month after ABC News hosted a debate in partnership with Univision Thursday night at Texas Southern University in Houston. … For the September debate, the D.N.C. said only 10 candidates could be on stage at once. Thursday, speaking to reporters in Texas ahead of the debate, D.N.C. Chairman Tom Perez said, ‘It’s the same criteria for October,’ but didn't specifically say whether this next debate would be one or two nights.” | 