Singer Jon Bon Jovi and his oldest child recently shared a sweet father-daughter moment, and thousands of people got to witness it. 

The rock star, who is currently on his band’s This House Is Not For Sale tour, performed in Las Vegas on Feb. 25. His setlist for the tour includes “I Got the Girl,” a song he wrote years ago for his daughter Stephanie Bongiovi, who is now 23. Bon Jovi sings about his “5-year-old princess” during one of the verses, which made the performance the perfect occasion for Stephanie to join her dad on stage to dance.

The sweet father-daughter moment below starts around the five-minute mark.

In the middle of the song, the singer talked about his “little baby” who is now all grown up.

“Everybody’s got a little girl in their life,” Bon Jovi said to the crowd. “Their daughter, their girlfriend, their wife, their mama, but it all goes by so fast. And they start out as little bitty babies and their future is looking bright. And I wrote this song for that little baby, who’s now not such a little baby anymore.”

Shortly after, Stephanie ran on stage. The duo closed the song with a high five after Bon Jovi gave his daughter a few kisses on the cheek. 

The singer has four kids with his wife of almost 30 years, Dorothea Hurley Bongiovi. During an interview with Larry King, the rock star discussed his marriage and said he “got it right the first time.” 

“You know, not too many guys are able to say that, but it would be the worst deal I ever made if I blew it and I just don’t have any intention of blowing it,” he said. “I like her, first of all, you know, and then of course I love her and we’ve got four great kids and they’re healthy kids, what’s not to like? It’s a great deal.”  

H/T Today

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This week, one of the biggest names in pop music gave a very rare interview. And no, we’re not talking Beyoncé.

Producer Max Martin spoke to the Swedish publication Di about his process of writing hits for many big names, including but not limited to Adele, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Selena Gomez, Britney Spears, The Weeknd and The Backstreet Boys.

The interview mostly dealt with his career and process of songwriting. But it also touched on his thoughts about including more women in crucial behind-the-scenes roles.

“I don’t care where people are from, what their background is. If you’re killing it, you’re in,” Martin began.

The Swedish producer doesn’t like attention, so that’s why you might not know his name. But few people likely understand the music industry’s inner-workings over the past two decades quite like he does, which is what makes his take on the issue particularly noteworthy. 

“It’s crucial that we get more women in on the technical side,” he added. “Today, there are many great female songwriters but there are very few women producers. We need to change that.”

It’s true that, if women aren’t finding their way into production roles, it’ll take industry bigwigs like Martin to help them up. But that’s not all they’ll have to do.

When they’re not in front of a microphone, women in the studio have always had it tough. Still today, there are so few in music production that no one even bothers to count. The issue went largely unnoticed by the general public until a spate of sexual harassment claims cropped up a couple years ago, most notably Kesha’s lawsuit against Dr. Luke, another power producer and a mentee of Martin’s. Her lawsuit brought the process of creating all of that inescapable pop candy ― that is, hours spent in male-dominated spaces ― into the national spotlight, if only for the duration of a couple of news cycles.

For what seemed like the first time, the reality of music industry culture came into focus, and what we saw wasn’t nice.

Perhaps that revelation came as a surprise. Unlike other segments of the entertainment industry ― looking at you, Hollywood film ― women are front-and-center in pop, where they are sometimes known as much for their image in tabloids as their passionate vocals. (Their male counterparts, meanwhile, are rarely subjected to the same level of visual scrutiny ― Justin Bieber being an exception.) Pop’s image is that of a space where women reign. It’s a clever trick on the part of record companies and people who stand to make millions off women’s appearances in addition to their powerful pipes, but, not shockingly, it doesn’t tell the full story. A quick look at who takes the stage when the Album of the Year is announced at the Grammys says everything: Behind Adele (in 2017) and Swift (in 2016) is a crowd of men. In pop, women sing, often write or perform instrumental bits in songs; rarely does anyone who’s not a man handle the technical side of production. 

That means that while women may be the faces of pop, behind-the-scenes work is a space composed of men. It also means expecting women to fit the “cool girl” bill and ignore sometime misbehavior ― because music isn’t about HR bureaucracy and filing complaints with managers. It’s about throwing your heart into something, following your dreams, and having a fantastic time doing it. 

So it has been, anyway, for ages. Asked about his active attempts to involve more women producers ― after working with a “homogenous” slate of Swedish men in the ‘90s ― Martin had a somewhat encouraging response, heaping praise on one woman he’s started working with, the Swedish singer-songwriter-producer Laleh.

“Laleh is a genius. The best way to change things around is to bring in more role models like her. It sucks that there are so many men in my profession,” he said.

It does suck, for the women who might be interested in production work but are assumed incapable, even if they aren’t. The musician and producer Grimes explained in a 2014 interview with Fader how men in one studio discouraged her from making herself useful after a session.

“I was like, ‘Well, can I just edit my vocals?’ And they’d be like, ‘No, just tell us what to do, and we’ll do it.’ And then a male producer would come in, and he’d be allowed to do it. It was so sexist,” she said. “I was, like, aghast. It made me really disillusioned with the music industry.”

It also sucks for any women who’ve experienced what Kesha says she’s gone through ― gross mistreatment at the hands of a male producer. 

Elevating more women producers behind the scenes is certainly a step toward parity. But if the men already there are continually allowed to create unwelcome spaces, it’s not going to fix the problem ― and part of that stems from the way music professionals seem to view themselves.

Whereas Hollywood embraces itself as an industry ― loving nothing more than to gaze at its reflection, pushing out films about the process of making a film or becoming an actress (looking at you, “La La Land”) ― pop seems allergic to mirrors. For some reason or another, music has managed to aggressively protect the idea that it’s nothing but the organic product of a few pure, creative souls who head into a small glass room to do their thing and out comes a hit. But that often hasn’t been the case for decades ― and, deep down, we know it. There are the Taylor Swifts and Kaley Cuocos, and there are people on the other side hunched over knobs and directing camerapeople. It’s manufactured, a process that saps innovation from all over the landscape of music genres so out may come a pop hit.

Making pop music isn’t so different from making any other form of entertainment that involves the exchange of millions of dollars. It’s creative work in a professional environment. As Hollywood has begun to realize, bad behavior will have corresponding consequences. 

Sure, elevating the work of women as Martin suggested is one way to help the industry. But once they’re there, women producers need to be able to work in an environment not bent on pushing them out.

You can be highbrow. You can be lowbrow. But can you ever just be brow? Welcome to Middlebrow, a weekly examination of pop culture. Read more here.

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An Alabama theater is scrapping plans to show Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast” after catching wind of the remake’s inclusion of a gay subplot. 

The film’s director, Bill Condon, told Attitude magazine this week that Josh Gad’s LeFou will be shown questioning his feelings for antagonist Gaston, played by Luke Evans. “LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston. He’s confused about what he wants,” Condon said, before noting that the film concludes with “a nice, exclusively gay moment.”

Gad said he was “really proud” to be a part of the milestone, telling USA Today, “What was most important to me was taking a character that is wonderful and so iconic, but is defined by cartoon conceits in the [original] movie... and expanding on that, giving him dimension, making him human.” 

Thus far, critics are divided over the implications of Disney’s first gay character being a comedic sidekick who dotes on the film’s straight villain, as seen in early snippets of the musical number, “Gaston.” However, it’s already enough to prompt Alabama’s Henagar Drive-In Theatre to nix “Beauty and the Beast” from its lineup, citing its “homosexual” elements. 

Henagar’s owners made the announcement in a Facebook post Thursday. 

“When companies continually force their views on us we need to take a stand. We all make choices and I am making mine,” the owners wrote. “If we can not take our 11-year-old granddaughter and 8-year-old grandson to see a movie we have no business watching it. If I can’t sit through a movie with God or Jesus sitting by me then we have no business showing it.”

The post continued, “We are first and foremost Christians. We will not compromise on what the Bible teaches.” 

If The Hollywood Reporter’s review of the film is any indication, there may be more pushback ahead. “Rabid red-state homophobes may be incandescent with fury,” critic Leslie Felperin wrote, “to see how things end up for him in the finale.” 

The Huffington Post has reached out to Henagar Drive-In Theatre for further comment. 

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A Nigerian family is going viral for being delightfully extra on an episode of Steve Harvey’s “Family Feud.”

Five siblings of the Obu family charmed Harvey and the audience alike during their pre-game introduction where they share some hilarious banter with Harvey. The best part is when Harvey loses it after asking one of the Obu children about his unique name:

“Your name is Obu? And your last name is Obu?" Harvey asks. "What is your middle name, Obu?”

“It’s Obu.” 

The episode seems to have originally aired in October 2016 according to a Facebook post by the Obu’s opponents, the Jacksons. But their hilarious appearance has now gone viral after resurfacing on the “Family Feud” YouTube  on Feb. 22. 

Watch the video above and try not to smile. 

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You haven’t seen rivalry until you’ve seen “Catfight,” the wild new comedy starring Sandra Oh and Anne Heche as college frenemies who pulverize each other physically and emotionally after reuniting years later. Heche plays a struggling artist furious at the world, and Oh plays an entitled housewife who often overdoes it on the wine. These despicable adversaries clash in every possible way, leading to a three-act, hyperviolent roller-coaster.

Above, The Huffington Post has an exclusive clip from the movie, which opens in theaters and premieres on-demand Friday. Below, writer/director Onur Tukel wrote a few words to set up the scene and establish his point of view in making the film. 

I love this scene from “Catfight.”

It’s one of the rare moments in my movies where my characters experience joy.

We shot this with two cameras. One was pointing at the lovely and amazing Lisa Haas, who plays the OB-GYN. The other camera was directed at our brilliant movie stars Anne Heche and Alicia Silverstone.

I was initially very nervous about working with such high-caliber talent. Sandra Oh is in this as well. I was afraid they wouldn’t be comfortable with my particular style of low-budget filmmaking. If you know my work, you’re aware I’m closer to Ed Wood than Orson Welles. I was afraid their Hollywood egos might get in the way. But Anne Heche, Sandra Oh and Alicia Silverstone are angels. They’re not just brilliant actresses, they’re brilliant human beings. They came to New York to make something amazing, and they own this movie.

We had fun shooting “Catfight.” My film sets can be a bit wild at times, but the atmosphere is social. Anyone is invited to watch the monitor, and there’s lots of talking and sharing ideas. Filmmaking represents the best of humanity. People come together to tell a story. And on my sets, everyone has a voice. Sometimes, that humanity informs my work, like in this scene.

We have a couple receiving some very good news. There’s a baby on the way.

The baby represents hope, a chance to start over, mold a fertile mind into something better than the people who created it. That’s a lot of responsibility.

Society places a lot of value on that responsibility, for good reason. With the right guidance, that child might grow up to be president or a teacher or a filmmaker. But filmmakers can sometimes be self-important (as evidenced by some recent Oscar speeches). So can teachers. So can presidents. So can parents.

That’s the point of “Catfight.”

To be American is to be privileged. Everyone. All of us. From the right-wing, gun-carrying conservative, to the avocado-toast-eating social-justice liberal. From the priest who loves God (and supports war) to the fanboy (who celebrates culture yet doesn’t know how to critique it), we are all the same. Our self-importance, our hypocrisy; it reveals so much. We are fucking spoiled.

But if every new child presents a new opportunity, so does every new film. Every song. Every piece of art. Every tweet. Every podcast. Every reaction to a podcast.

It’s a chance to say something important.
If you get that chance, use it wisely.
Some people are paying attention.

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Nine-year-old Brendan O’Brien loves theater, so when he had to choose an icon to honor for a Black History Month project at school, the decision was a no-brainer. 

Brendan is in the fourth grade at the Condon K-8 School in South Boston. For Black History Month in February, all of the students in his class had to do a research project on an influential black figure, past or present. Each child created a presentation and dressed up as their icon of choice for a “wax museum,” in which they would recite a speech about their person’s history.

When Brendan learned of the assignment, he immediately knew who he wanted to be: Tony winner Audra McDonald.

The 9-year-old chose a 1920s-inspired dress, fishnets, heels and a wig inspired by McDonald’s recent role in Broadway’s “Shuffle Along.”

On Feb. 28, the kids put on their “wax museum” exhibit, which featured historical figures like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., sports stars like Jackie Robinson and Michael Jordan, political icons like the Obamas, STEM heroes like Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, and of course, a tiny Audra McDonald. 

“Brendan loved that he was able to share with his friends something he is passionate about,” his mom, Nicole, told The Huffington Post. “He told us no one knew who Audra McDonald was. Just as important as her awards and Tony records, Brendan has been inspired by the work she does on behalf of marriage equality and NOH8. He shared that with his classmates.”

Nicole said she loved seeing Brendan’s enthusiasm in sharing his knowledge about McDonald’s life and career. “For a kid like Brendan this kind of project is engaging and makes learning come to life,” she said. “He had quite a crowd.” 

Even Audra McDonald herself loved Brendan’s project. Nicole tweeted a photo of him in his costume, which she retweeted. “I am honored!!!!!” the Broadway star wrote.  

Brendan fell in love with theater when he saw his first show at Boston Children’s Theatre at the age of 4. “He told us that day that he wanted to be on stage,” Nicole said. The little boy attends the summer camp at BCT, has appeared in some of its productions throughout the year and performed with other theater programs as well. 

Last year, Brendan’s friends were able to see him perform in a show and do what he loves, which was an exciting experience for everyone.

“His dream is to perform on Broadway,” Nicole said. “He spends hours learning about shows, actors and actresses and performing at home.”

Brendan “screamed with excitement” when he sawMcDonald’s tweet about his project. “For him that kindness and acknowledgment meant the world,” said Nicole. He also received an autographed photo of the actress from her assistant.

The day of the wax museum was particularly fun for Brendan because he got to wear his costume all day, though he removed the heels during recess. He also loved how much interest his friends showed toward his project.

This sort of experience is typical for Brendan, Nicole explained, noting that his large public school is a place where her son feels loved and supported.

“We love that he has always felt comfortable being who he is in his school,” Nicole said. “He brings a pink lunch box, sits with the girls and likes to braid their hair. For Halloween this year he dressed up as Marilyn Monroe!”

She added, “His school is a wonderfully inclusive place where every child is celebrated. He is authentically himself and is loved for that.”

The O’Briens hope all kids can have that kind of experience some day. Nicole said they’re “thankful every day” for the Condon K-8 School, its administration, faculty and the other families.

Nicole hopes Brendan’s interaction with Audra McDonald reminds others that there are good people in the world

“Small acts of kindness go a long way to supporting and encouraging kids like Brendan who want to be like them when they grow up,” she said. “And having a school and a community that is supportive of all kids is so important.”

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When Amber Bush was finally ready to welcome her baby a week after her due date, her birth plan “kind of got thrown out the window.” She did manage to check one thing off her list, though, and danced before meeting her new addition.

On Dec. 28, Bush was pregnant at a hospital in Newport News, Virginia, awaiting the arrival of her daughter, Amelia. While six centimeters dilated and wearing mesh underwear because her water had broken, Bush decided to start dancing with her sister-in-law to try to speed up the process.

Bush’s doula, Jessica Weisbrod, captured Bush dancing to the V.I.C. song “Wobble” and posted it on her Facebook page Birthing in Love, where it has been viewed more than 8 million times. 

Bush told The Huffington Post she also danced to songs by Pitbull, Nicki Minaj and Daddy Yankee. Dancing had been part of her original birth plan, but many of the other things she wanted to do didn’t go as planned. When her doula asked if she could post the video on Facebook, Bush agreed because she wants other moms to know what really happens before and during birth. 

“Honestly what I want to do is just empower women,” she told HuffPost. “This is my first baby, and there’s so much about the birth process and labor that women just don’t know. They don’t tell you you’re going to be wearing a big pad once your water breaks.”

Amelia finally arrived on Dec. 29. Bush said she had so much support on the day of her daughter’s birth from her husband and from Weisbrod, who was “fantastic” as she encouraged Bush to do squats and suggested other ways to speed up her labor. 

Two months later, Bush said she’s surprised the video has been viewed by millions of people. She told HuffPost she’s glad it can be a reminder that she made her birthing experience memorable.

“Making things fun and making the most of the experience is what I wanted.”

The HuffPost Parents newsletter offers a daily dose of personal stories, helpful advice and comedic takes on what it’s like to raise kids today. Sign up here.

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Ceridwen Hughes, a photographer from North Wales, wants the world to view disabilities differently.

In an effort to change people’s perspectives, he created a photo project called “We Can…” that focuses on what people with disabilities can do, rather than what they cannot.

“People make assumptions based on the way people look and act and do not always see the person behind the condition,” Hughes told The Huffington Post.

The photographer visited Coleg Cambria, a school in Northop, North Wales, that has a program teaching independent living skills to people with disabilities. He spoke to students while taking their portraits.

“Just because a person has a disability does not mean that they do not have dreams and hopes for the future,” Hughes said. “Many people with disabilities want to work and be valuable members of the community, and often they just need that opportunity.”

Hughes’ striking photos are accompanied by honest interviews with his subjects about what they wish other people understood about their condition. The images highlight the unique abilities of those with disabilities; in the United States, that’s approximately one in five people.

“We wanted to make people think and realize that disability has benefits,” he said. “I want to encourage people to look beyond the disability and see the opportunities that being different brings.”

Check out Hughes’ photos and get to know his subjects below:

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This is Tilda Swinton. She’s a wonderful actress and, frankly, a goddamn chameleon. 

She usually looks like this:

Over the course of her varied and illustrious career. Swinton has taken on roles that require dramatic transformation. 

Here are a few examples: 

Now, the 56-year-old actress is undertaking what appears to be her greatest on-screen transformation yet.

The British star is apparently playing an elderly man in her latest movie, “Suspiria.” The look is impressive, to say the least. 

According to Deadline, the film is a remake of Dario Argento’s 1977 Italian horror movie and follows an American ballet dancer studying at a prestigious dance academy in Europe. She finds herself in peril as she begins to learn of the school’s dark history. 

Dakota Johnson, Chloe Grace-Moretz and Mia Goth also star in the film.

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Welcome to “The Walled Off Hotel,” a nine-room guesthouse located in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. The dystopian inn looks out onto the barrier that separates Israel from Palestine, and its walls are covered with work by iconic anonymous street artist Banksy. 

“The aim is to tell the story of the wall from every side and give visitors the opportunity to discover it for themselves,” Banksy said in a statement. The artist hopes his newest art project, a functional hotel, will entice young Israelis to visit the controversial site, even though the journey would entail an illegal journey through Palestinian-controlled land. 

“I would like to invite everyone to come here, invite Israeli civilians to come visit us here,” hotel manager Wisam Salsaa said. “We want them to learn more about us, because when they know us it will break down the stereotypes and things will change.”

The hotel itself is also designed to educate visitors and incite dialogue between them ― in typical Banksy fashion, with a dark sense of humor. On one bedroom wall, a mural depicts an Israeli man and a Palestinian man engaged in a pillow fight. Another wall features an array of surveillance cameras lined up like trophies of a hunt. 

The hotel website described its piano bar as follows: “Guests can peruse a collection of Banksy artworks that include vandalized oil paintings and statues choking on tear gas fumes. Warm scones and freshly brewed tea are served daily on fine bone china and the Walled Off Salad should not be missed.”

The piano bar is a visual nod to Britain’s colonial legacy on Palestinian territory. The hotel’s opening was coordinated to correspond with the centennial of the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which declared the U.K.’s support for Palestine serving as a national home for the Jewish people.

Also included on the hotel premises is a gallery devoted to showing the work of Palestinian artists. Curated by Housni Alkhateeb Shehada, the space is meant to provide artists who often have trouble traveling access to a wider audience. 

The hotel will open to guests on March 11, and rooms start at just $30 a night. Not too shabby to be up close and personal with artworks worth millions of dollars. You will, however, be forced to put down a $1,000 deposit up front, to ensure that the valuable artworks are not stolen or vandalized. 

“The artwork here has been donated to the community and their struggle,” the artist wrote online, “and any person found attempting to steal from them, or deface hotel property, will be arrested, transported to the police station in Ramallah and prosecuted to the full extent of local law.”

Book your room at the Banksy hotel here. 

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Dealing with a mental health condition is no laughing matter.

But British illustrator Gemma Correll is channeling her depression and anxiety into her art — and the results are hilarious.

“I hope that those who can relate to them can find some light relief,” Correll told the Huffington Post. “Mental illness is horrible to live with but I believe in art as a form of self-care. Whether it’s making art or looking at it.”

To check out 10 of Correll’s most poignant pictures, just scroll down:

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Every Friday, HuffPost’s Culture Shift newsletter helps you figure out which books you should read, art you should check out, movies you should watch and music should listen to. Sign up here.

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One of the most universally beloved contestants on Nick Viall’s season of “The Bachelor” was undoubtedly Kristina Schulman. The 24-year-old Kentucky dental hygienist won over Bachelor Nation when she spoke movingly about her childhood in Russia and her eventual adoption and emigration to the United States. 

HuffPost’s Here To Make Friends podcast got a chance to speak with Kristina about how she ended up on the show, her take on all the Corinne-Taylor drama, what it was like to have her immigration story air during such a politically-charged moment, what it was like to be on a news blackout during election season, and why she might be taking a permanent break from margaritas.

She also explained that she still believes that Nick didn’t give her a fair chance. “Our time came so late,” she said. “And I’m the type of person to try it all before I really call it quits. And to this day I feel like I’m left with, ‘what if?,’ but I’ve come to terms with it.”

Take a listen below:

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An acclaimed new documentary is putting the drag kings, drag queens and transgender performers of Columbus, Ohio in the national spotlight.

The Huffington Post got an advance look at “Kings, Queens, & In-Betweens,” which opened in select theaters March 3, with an exclusive clip that can be viewed above. In it, the documentary’s subjects explain the challenges of navigating queer nightlife in the Buckeye State. “Being embraced by straight people has not only challenged their viewpoints, but it’s also challenged ours,” one man says. Adds another: “I think [nightlife] really breaks down, little by little, every bit of stereotyping there is.”

Columbus boasts a queer-friendly, if unassuming, reputation; though New York and San Francisco dwarf it for scope, the city ranked 15^th in a 2015 Gallup poll in regard to U.S. cities with the highest LGBTQ populations. As a whole, however, the Midwest has consistently leaned conservative. That dichotomy piqued the interest of director Gabrielle Burton, who was particularly fascinated by Columbus’s “incredible, thriving” drag scene.

“It’s obviously unexpected and surprising to a lot of people… that this is happening in the middle of the Midwest,” Burton, who runs Five Sisters Productions, a film production company, with her four real-life sisters, told The Huffington Post. “There are a lot of assumptions that people make about [LGBTQ] issues or certain types of people, that they’re only in big coastal cities. That’s just not true… If they’re here, they’re going to be everywhere, and that’s something we have to acknowledge as a country.”

“Kings, Queens, & In-Betweens” took Burton six years to complete. “I wanted it to only be in the voice of the performers,” the director, who opted against using a narrator, said. “I wanted to capture the diversity in the performances and experiences of people here.”  

Given that the LGBTQ community is facing an uncertain future under President Donald Trump, Burton said she ultimately hopes her film “can contribute, in some way, to the importance of remembering that everyone is human and everyone is deserving of equal human rights.”

“I hope that people will come to see the film and then enter into conversation with more of a sense of respect and compassion for all people, whatever their identity, sexuality or biology,” Burton, whose next project will explore the relationship between parenting and gender identity, told HuffPost. “Our base line should be that all humans deserve equal rights, and hopefully that film can contribute to that in some way.”

“Kings, Queens, & In-Betweens” opened in New York and Columbus, Ohio on March 3, with screenings that include appearances by cast members. In addition, the film will be available on iTunes and other streaming platforms March 7. 

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A groundbreaking culmination of years of underground queer performance by a married artist duo is set to take place this April ― and they need your help to make their dream a reality.

YACKEZ is comprised of Larissa Velez-Jackson and her husband Jon Velez-Jackson, veterans of the underground queer performance scene. The pair’s upcoming project, “Give It To You Stage,” is a multimedia dance concert performance incorporating pro-wrestling as a form of alternative marriage therapy. To make their vision a reality, the pair are enlisting a diverse cast of queer performers from around New York City.

“Our ultimate goals are simple but far-reaching,” Velez-Jackson told The Huffington Post. “We want to provide healing during the current political climate, as well as redefine family entertainment while being subversive and radically inclusive. We also wish to redefine what a concert and dance performance can be and how they function. During this process, we happily skewer pop culture.”

Want to learn more about YACKEZ and “Give It To You Stage”? Check out the video above and head here to visit the project’s Kickstarter page.

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The same night “Moonlight” won Best Picture, “Get Out” ended its fruitful theatrical debut with $33.4 million in North American grosses, surpassing forecasts that estimated a $28 million opening. Jordan Peele’s horror film is expected to net another $26 million this go-round, remarkable for a genre known for steep second-weekend revenue declines.

One week alone cannot presage a seismic shift, but the coupled victories for “Moonlight” and “Get Out” send a clear message about the types of stories worth telling on the big screen. “Moonlight” is a delicate coming-of-age masterpiece with an exclusively black cast, and “Get Out” is a scalding satire that indicts America’s racial bigotry as thoroughly as any slavery movie.

The two share another commonality: rapturous reception. “Moonlight” drew near-universal acclaim and placed high on many critics’ year-end lists. It was, in many ways, the defining art film of 2016, doing first-rate business for a project that cost a mere $1.5 million to make. Similarly, “Get Out” promos boasted of the movie’s 100 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, at least until critic Armond White published his characteristically contrarian review in the National Review.

Because “Moonlight” is an austere drama, it found an obvious portal into the Oscar race, eventually securing eight nominations. “Get Out,” on the other hand, hails from a genre regularly ignored by awards groups. Movies released in the first half of the year aren’t often remembered by the time Oscar campaigns rev up around September anyway. But those constructs should change because “Get Out” is every bit as worthy an Oscar candidate as much of the prestige fare that floods theaters every winter.

Making his directorial debut, Peele positions “Get Out” within a through-line of classics chronicling social terrors. He has cited “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Stepford Wives” ― nightmares about female subjugation and spousal manipulation ― as key influences. Except instead of demonic neighbors or patriarchal fascism, the fear in “Get Out” is something far more common: white people. 

Peele has crafted a postmodern indictment of racial bondage that requires astute viewership. Some will call this a “horror comedy,” but that’s a simplistic label: The humor is often a tongue-in-cheek result of the terror, which derives from white faces preying on black bodies. It is history, modernized and largely depoliticized, aside from the central milky clan insisting they would have voted for Barack Obama for a third term.

As Chris (Daniel Kaluuya), a black photographer, meets his white girlfriend Rose’s (Allison Williams) family for the first time at their suburban WASP manor, his anxieties are reflected in common horror tropes. Chris oozes paranoia, leaving us at first wondering, as we did with Rosemary, whether his misgivings are unfounded.

We are all familiar with, or can at least imagine, the stresses of meeting a partner’s relatives. (In-laws are terrifying, after all.) Abetted by the tension of a psychological thriller, that familiarity invokes skeptical amusement. We chuckle nervously as Rose’s family dotes over Chris like a trophy while their black house-servants mill about like zombies. We titter as his fears are seemingly confirmed and dismissed at once. Jump-scares ― those cheap “Boo!” tricks that have come to define the horror genre ― end in us laughing at ourselves for giving in to the scene the way it wants us to. We don’t yet know Rose and her parents (Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener) have brewed a sinister plot that lobotomizes and enslaves black people, but we can detect an intangible racism beneath the surface, and that careful escalation leaves the viewer feeling susceptible. (It must be said, however, that the film does pepper in earnest comedy, mostly thanks to Chris’ loyal best friend, played by a boisterous Lil Rel Howery.) 

“Get Out” is a piece of craftsmanship, seemingly made by a veteran director. It takes a skilled filmmaker with a deep connection to the nature of storytelling to create something that twists our familiarity with movies into something original. That it follows familiar patterns is precisely the point. In Peele’s heightened narrative, well-meaning white people ― those clueless social liberals who would gladly dedicate their avocado toast to Black Lives Matter ― are villains without masks. These boogeymen and -women are all around us. You might even be one of them. And that idea, however brashly it is outlined, fosters a sociological commentary as complex as any prestigious Oscar title.

Whether “Get Out” will remain one of the year’s best, thereby sealing its Oscar worthiness, is yet to be seen. The last Best Picture champ released in January or February was 1991’s “The Silence of the Lambs,” the only horror movie that’s ever won. But Universal would be wise to start pondering an awards campaign, particularly for Kaluuya’s effective performance and Peele’s direction and script. Even if the Academy hasn’t delivered on its promise, the Best Picture category expanded to a potential 10 slots so the Oscars could recognize popular movies regularly edged out by more somber conventions. “Get Out” is every bit as nuanced and layered as many intimate indie dramas, and at a time when our country can seem more racially polarized than ever, it’s just the sort of topical confrontation that Americans should be encouraged to embrace.

“Get Out” is now in theaters.

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The 2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards kicked off with a bang on Sunday night as Katy Perry performed her new smash hit, “Chained To The Rhythm.” 

Then host Ryan Seacrest opened with a nice hello before winners were announced and speeches were made. All in all, the ceremony was a great time and it celebrated multiple genres of music.  

Below, check out the winners list, which will be updated as awards are announced.

Note: Most winners were not revealed during the award show.  

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Justin Timberlake looked pleasantly surprised to win Song of the Year at Sunday’s iHeartRadio Music Awards, but he seemingly had a heartwarming message for minority and LGBTQ youth prepared.

The singer took the stage to accept his award, explaining that his song “Can’t Stop The Feeling” is about “inclusion” and “being together.”

“If you are black or you are brown or you are gay or you are lesbian or you are trans, or maybe you’re just a sissy singing boy from Tennessee,” Timberlake said, “anyone that is treating you unkindly ― it’s only because they are afraid, or they have been taught to be afraid of how important you are.”

“Being different means you’re making a difference,” Timberlake continued. “So ... f**k ‘em.” 

Watch a clip from Timberlake’s touching acceptance speech below: 

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Noah Cyrus is fairly new to the music scene. Though she’s been writing songs since age 14, she finally dropped her debut single, “Make Me (Cry)” with Labrinth, and it was an instant success. The music video skyrocketed to over 50 million views and the song has been climbing the Billboard Hot 100 chart ever since its release. 

At the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards on Sunday, Noah proved she is far more than just Miley Cyrus’ little sister, even if that’s who introduced her to the stage. Miley sported an “I Heart Noah” T-shirt and poster as she praised her little sister before her first-ever award show performance. 

“I am really excited because this next performer is without a doubt the coolest person that I now. Her voice is amazing, her songwriter is beautiful and totally relatable.”

Gotta love that Cyrus family love!

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Chris Martin left the stage breathless after his iHeartRadio Music Awards performance with The Chainsmokers, but the Coldplay singer still had energy for a good prank. 

Coldplay won Best Tour at Sunday’s show, and it turned out Martin was the only member there to accept the award. Instead of taking the stage solo, Martin brought up three kids ― who performed during Katy Perry’s opening number ― to give his speech. 

“Hello, we are Coldplay,” one child announced, before Martin brought her a chair to stand on.

”Thank you so much for this award,” she continued. “Three of us are still looking good and feeling great. You wouldn’t believe it, but we are in our late 30s.”

“If it wasn’t for this one weird-looking guy,” she added, gesturing to Martin, “we would give One Direction some good competition.”

These kids are the best partners in crime Martin could’ve asked for, and it looks like they’ll be partying the night away with him, as well.

“Thank you. Now we are going to party hard,” Kid Coldplay concluded.

Maybe Chris Martin will show them some moshing skills. Watch the hilarious speech below.

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A bill introduced in the Arkansas state legislature aims to bar public schools in the state from assigning books by the late author and historian Howard Zinn, the Arkansas Times reported last week.

Republican state Rep. Kim Hendren brought forth HB1834, a one-page bill that would halt the use of any book or other material authored by Zinn between the years of 1959 and 2010 in public schools and open-enrollment public charter schools. With these parameters, Zinn’s bestselling 1980 book, “A People’s History of the United States,” would be banned. The collection is a groundbreaking and controversial work that analyzed American history from the perspective of the poor and marginalized, or as Zinn put it, “the people who have been overlooked in the traditional history books.”

When the work was released, it was considered radical even for liberal historians. 

“It’s not an unbiased account; so what?” Zinn told The New York Times. “If you look at history from the perspective of the slaughtered and mutilated, it’s a different story.”

More than 2 million copies of the book have been sold, and historians continue to evaluate the work’s claims, merits and accuracy. Zinn, who was a professor at Boston University, died in 2010.

Three years before Zinn’s death, his publisher released a young people’s version of the 1980 text. It also served as a companion volume to “The People Speak,” the 2009 film adaptation of Zinn’s works.

A 2009 college tour promoting the film featured performances by A-listers reading archival letters that the historian had included in his books. 

The bill targeting Zinn’s work is not unprecedented. In 2013, the Associated Press obtained a series of emails sent by former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R), in which he attempted to remove the historian’s work from classrooms across the state. Daniels, who was in office from 2005 to 2013, is now the president of Purdue University.

According to local CBS news station KTHV, the Arkansas state bill will go before the House committee on education this week. In response, the Zinn Education Project, an organization that promotes the teaching of Zinn’s work in middle and high school classrooms, will offer free copies of the tome to Arkansas teachers.

“Democracy is in dissent,” Zinn said in 2009. “Democracy is in resistance. Democracy doesn’t come from the top, it comes from the bottom.”

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