1. 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.’” 2. ICELAND HOSTS FIRST INTERNATIONAL #METOO CONFERENCE: Iceland is hosting the first major international conference focused on the #MeToo movement. The three-day event, which kicked off in Reykjavik on Tuesday, aims to explore why the movement became a phenomenon and its effect on different countries and industries. The Guardian: “Halla Gunnarsdóttir, the Icelandic government’s adviser on gender equality, and one of the main organizers of the conference, said #MeToo Moving Forward would analyze what it revealed about different countries, including the U.S. and Britain, where it has been explosive since the emergence of sexual abuse allegations against the film producer Harvey Weinstein, which he denies, as well as in the Nordic countries where it has dominated headlines. … The idea for the conference started 18 months ago as ‘a tiny idea in my head,’ Halla said. Invitations were sent out to a range of potential speakers with 50 originally expected to attend.” 3. TRUMP’S HOLLYWOOD FUND-RAISER DOESN’T DRAW CELEBRITIES: President Trump appeared at a fund-raiser in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, which wasn’t expected to draw many celebrities. The dinner, held at developer Geoffrey Palmer’s house, sold tickets ranging from $1,000 to $100,000. The event was expected to raise $15 million. Variety: “The fund-raiser stirred controversy late last month, when actress Debra Messing asked for a list of all attendees. Her Will & Grace co-star Eric McCormack also chimed in, saying he wanted a list so ‘the rest of us can be clear about who we don’t wanna work with.’ Trump feuded with Messing on Twitter for a few days afterward, and his supporters see it as another case of liberal Hollywood run amok.” |