January 22, 2013

Anti-Obama artist Lupe Fiasco chose no less than a pre-inauguration event to bash the re-elected president. The rapper, who became infamous for referring to Pres. Obama as a "terrorist", surprised the crowd at the "StartUp RockOn" concert party at the Hamilton Live Theater held a day before the president's big inauguration ceremony in Washington D.C.

Fiasco took the stage at the unofficial inaugural ball to rap his anti-Obama sentiments, ranting about the administration's warfare program, before being pulled out from the stage by security personnel. "[Rush] Limbaugh is a racist, Glenn Beck is a racist, Gaza Strip was getting bombed, Obama didn't say s**t. That's why I ain't vote for him, next one either," the hip-hop artist rambled on before being kicked off.

As all eyes were on President Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony, Stephen Colbert argued Obama has become a three-term president. The comedian brought up the subject during a Monday, January 21 episode of "The Colbert Report".

"The president should be inaugurated on January 20," he read an excerpt of the U.S. Constitution, before showing footage of Obama being officially sworn in for second term during a private ceremony Sunday. The re-elected president also took an oath during public swearing-in ceremony on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Monday.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton unknowingly photobombed "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson as she was getting ready to perform the patriotic song "My Country 'Tis of Thee" at President Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony on January 21 in Washington D.C. In a picture and during televised broadcasts of the event, a wide-eyed President Clinton was captured leaning to the side seemingly to get a better look at Clarkson. The picture has now circulated online.

Clarkson didn't address the Clinton photo and instead posted a snapshot of her shaking Pres. Obama's hand on her Twitter account. "Maybe the coolest photo I've ever been in ....ever :)," she said. "What an honor to be a part of history!" the Grammy-winning singer tweeted. "Obama's presence was powerful and his words unforgettable. It's a proud day for America!"

Paramore have just released their brand new song "Now" off their much-anticipated self-titled album consisting of seventeen new tracks which will be released on April 9. The trio, lead vocalist Hayley Williams, bassist Jeremy Davis and guitarist Taylor York, have unveiled the first track from their forthcoming fourth album, which will follow up their 2009 studio release "Brand New Eyes", their highest-charting album to-date.

"Now" finds its lead singer Williams channeling Gwen Stefani of No Doubt, doing her speak-sing style in the verses and Muse's swagger in the climax. "If there's a future, we want it now," Williams sings in the hook, echoing the band's fresh start as a newly downsized group, following the departure of founding members Josh and Zac Farro, among others.

The CW has released a new promo for its newbie "Cult", highlighting the show's dark tone. The video is filled with creepy imagery of strange obsession, while voices of people who seem to be in fear are heard throughout the clip. Toward the end of it, a man is seen pulling a gun on his head, while another guy is holding a knife.

To premiere Tuesday, February 19 at 9 P.M. ET, "Cult" follows investigative journalist Jeff Sefton who searches for his missing brother. In the process, he uncovers the dark underworld of the TV show "Cult" and its rabid fans.

Justin Bieber is officially the king of Twitter. The Canadian teen sensation has become the most-followed person on the micro-blogging site, slightly surpassing previous record holder Lady GaGa.

Per Monday night, January 21, the Biebs successfully scored 33,315,521 followers, a massive amount that was enough to beat GaGa's 33,315,459 followers. The "Boyfriend" singer garners an average of 40,055 followers a day, while the Mother Monster adds around 30,495 users to her follower list each day.

Re-elected U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama danced to Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" as it was performed onstage by "American Idol" alum Jennifer Hudson. The 31-year-old Oscar-winning actress belted out the 70's classic during the Commander-in-Chief's Inaugural Ball held in Washington D.C. on January 21.

Hudson excitedly announced via Twitter, "Right now the President and First Lady will dance to Al Green's 'Let's Stay Together' to be performed by... ME!!! Yes! Amazing night!" First Lady Michelle also tweeted about the highlight of the inaugural ball, "Just danced to 'Let's Stay Together' with the love of my life and the President of the United States. I'm so proud of Barack."

Another audience-favorite film has found its buyer during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. On Monday, January 21, The Weinstein Company officially acquired the rights to "Fruitvale" for a reported $2.5 million. The deal also included guarantees to a sizable theatrical release, according to Variety.

TWC won the deal after having a heated bidding with some other studios. The film, which garnered positive reviews after it was screened over the weekend, drew intense interest from Fox Searchlight and Paramount Pictures. Following the screening, some people even began to predict that it could be a potential audience award winner.

Chris Brown has become the latest victim of swatting prank call. On Monday afternoon, January 21, police responded to a report from someone saying that there was a domestic violence involving a gun in the rapper's Hollywood Hills home.

Los Angeles Police Department said the caller claimed a mother and father had a fight, and the father got a gun from a room in the house, without mentioning that it was Breezy's house. When police officers arrived, there was no indication of any dispute.

Joaquin Phoenix raised people's eyebrow last year when he dissed the film awards season, calling it "utter bulls***." Despite his controversial statement, the 38-year-old actor still bagged the Oscar nom for Best Actor and snatched an acting award at the London Critics' Circle Awards thanks to his movie "The Master". Following the victory, he released a statement, admitting that he couldn't believe he won the prize let alone defeating Daniel Day-Lewis.

"I struggle with the idea of winning awards for acting. Stating I'm Best Actor for something as subjective as film seems strange to me," the Puerto Rico-born thesp confessed. "To the uninitiated it implies I'm solely responsible for the creation and implementation of the character. I am not. I suppose that's why we thank our colleagues."

After initial speculations came out that Azealia Banks, Lady GaGa, Beyonce Knowles, and Rihanna were working on a collaboration entitled "Ratchet", a snippet of the track may have just leaked out. In what seems to be this generation's "Lady Marmalade", the four divas' rumored team-up is somewhat duplicating the 2001 musical feat done by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya and Pink.

Produced by frequent GaGa collaborator DJ White Shadow, the track opens with sirens followed by a deep voice that booms "ratchet" that segues into the hip-hop beat in the 24-second snippet. The short "Ratchet" audio file was posted on SoundCloud as a DJ White Shadow demo of the Lady GaGa track.

Bruce Willis shows no sign of slowing down with his action movie projects. After wrapping "A Good Day to Die Hard" and "Red 2", the veteran thesp will go in action again by returning to another sequel project "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For".

Willis' return to the "Sin City" sequel is confirmed by director Robert Rodriguez himself when attending the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Utah. Speaking to MTV News, the filmmaker reveals the news when dishing on what fans could expect from the upcoming movie.

Actor James Franco penned a poem for Barack Obama to mark the president's inauguration on January 21. The 34-year-old star of "Spring Breakers" was commissioned by Yahoo! News to write an ode to the re-elected president as he took oath for his 2nd term in Washington D.C.

Franco explained, "I was asked to write something for the inauguration of his second term, but what could I write? I was in Asheville, studying writing, but not the political sort; I write confessions and characters, and that sort of thing."

Sean has narrowed down the number of the girls on "The Bachelor" to 16, but not before a few more dates. Kicking off the third episode aired on January 21 was a one-on-one date with Lesley M. "I have something really special planned for Lesley today," the bachelor gushed, before taking her to the Guinness World Records Museum in Hollywood.

Sean's father holds the record for shortest drive of the contiguous 48 states. Sean wanted to set his own record, for the world's longest on-screen kiss, with Lesley. They had to kiss for at least 3 minutes and 6 seconds to set a new record.

Michael Winner, who's famous for directing "Death Wish" films, has died at the age of 77. He passed away Monday, January 21 at his home in Kensington, West London, his wife Geraldine said.

Chief column character Geraldine, who had been nursing Winner, stated, "A light has gone out in my life." She went on remembering the filmmaker as "a wonderful man, brilliant, funny and generous."

Prince Harry tells it all to the media. In a series of recent rare interviews in Afghanistan, the younger brother of Prince William opened up about his controversial naked photo scandal in Vegas, addressed her sister-in-law Kate Middleton's pergnancy, and shared his feeling of killing insurgents in the country.

Harry recalled his headline-grabbing nude photo scandal after a wild late August weekend in Las Vegas. He confessed, "I probably let myself down, I let my family down, I let other people down." Still, he defended himself, "But at the end of the day, I was in a private area and there should be a certain amount of privacy that one should expect."

Getting back on her feet after her latest breakup with boyfriend Justin Bieber two weeks ago, 20-year-old singer Selena Gomez has excitedly revealed during her UNICEF charity concert in New York that she will drop her new single in March. It will be the first single off her new album for which she has already recorded 18 tracks, but she has yet to decide which ones will make the cut.

If her edgy film "Spring Breakers" is of any indication, Gomez's new music is bound to be more intimate and more mature in contrast to her initial Disney darling persona. "Through 'Spring Breakers' and experiencing so much last year it will be interesting to kind of have my fans know everything I went through, through music," the actress/TV personality said.

Just a little over a month before the 85th Academy Awards takes place, AMPAS unleashes a first ever official poster to promote the world's biggest film awards. The classy one-sheet features none other than this year's Oscar host Seth MacFarlane.

The black-and-white poster boasts classic design with the "Ted" helmer sporting a dapper look in a sleek tuxedo and a bowtie. He is all smiles as his hand is clutching a graphic outline of the famous golden Oscar statuette.

Katherine Webb may score not just one, but two reality series gigs. The former Miss Alabama is reportedly mulling appearance on "Dancing with the Stars" and signs up for ABC's new show "Celebrity Diving".

Per New York Post, Webb who plans to move to New York permanently to pursue her modeling career has got an offer to star on "DWTS". The 23-year-old Alabama native was reportedly heard saying about this at Meatpacking District restaurant Toy on Thursday, January 17, but didn't reveal whether she would appear or not.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt's directorial debut, "Don Jon's Addiction", has found its buyer at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The film was obtained by Relativity Media for around $4 million on Monday, January 21, marking the biggest Sundance deal so far.

Relativity plans to unleash the movie Stateside later this year. The company doesn't hesitate to acquire the film despite the fact that it has stolen a lot of attention for boasting graphic nudity and sex that could push its R or even NC-17 rating.

R'n'B-pop diva Beyonce Knowles, "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson and Grammy Award-winning artist James Taylor all gave outstanding performances during the inauguration ceremony of re-elected U.S. President Barack Obama held on January 21 in front of the White House in Washington D.C. The three were all personally handpicked by Mr. Obama to perform the country's most patriotic songs at his inauguration, ushering his second term as President of the United States.

Accompanied by the U.S. Marine Band, Beyonce sang the national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner". She seemed to have some problem with the sound equipment as she took off her inner ear monitor midway into her rendition, but it was not enough to distract the diva from giving an impeccable live performance, even giving some of her own flair to the song towards the end with her trademark R'n'B runts.

As "Downton Abbey" is getting more popular in the U.S., Fox News' host Stuart Varney pondered the political impact of the British show in America. On "Fox & Friends" Monday, January 21, he claimed that the period series posed a threat to Liberals.

"The politics of Downton are very important and it's important that they are popular in America today," Varney said. "Rich people, powerful people, in America today, are reviled. They're dismissed as fat cats who don't pay their fair share. We just hate 'em - 'Rich people are evil.' "

Jana Kramer has just given the best birthday present for her boyfriend Brantley Gilbert. The "One Tree Hill" star said "Yes!" when the country star proposed to her during his 28th birthday celebration at the famous Ryman Auditorium Theater in Nashvile on Sunday, January 20.

Sharing their excitement of getting engaged, the couple told PEOPLE via their representative, "We could not be happier!" The happy couple gushed, "We are so excited to share this special time with our loved ones and cannot wait to start the rest of our lives together."

After the royal family of Monaco blasted Olivier Dahan's Grace Kelly movie, "Grace of Monaco", the director has now broken silence to defend the Nicole Kidman-starring film. Though admitting that there are several historical inaccuracies, Dahan insists that the movie is not a biopic, but just a portrayal of Kelly's role as a modern woman.

The filmmaker tells French paper Le Journal de Dimanche, "I am not a journalist or historian. I am an artist." He claims, "I have not made a biopic. I hate biopics in general. I have made a human portrait of a modern woman who wants to reconcile her family, her husband, her career, who gives up this career to invent another role."

Celebrities were braving the cold to attend the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 21 in Washington, DC. Among those grabbing the attention were John Mayer and Katy Perry who made their official public appearance as a couple.

After rocking the 2013 Kids' Inaugural Concert over the weekend, the "Teenage Dream" songstress mingled with celebrity pals in the VIP seats to watch the Monday swearing-in ceremony. Keeping themselves warm in a striped coat and a black overcoat respectively, the California-born singer and her rocker beau looked happy as they were spotted grinning ear to ear most of the times they were pictured.

An intense first trailer for "The East" has been dropped online. Compiling random footage of some politicians, a group of youngsters, graffiti, polluted river and more, the promo video focuses on a serious message sent by the titular gang who vow to bring "guilty" people and corporates to justice.

The thriller movie itself follows an operative for an elite private intelligence firm that goes into deep cover to infiltrate a mysterious anarchist collective attacking major corporations. Bent on apprehending these fugitives, she finds her loyalty tested as her feelings grow for the group's charismatic leader.