Pete Parada, the former drummer of The Offspring, has detailed the controversial circumstances surrounding his dismissal from the band in 2021.

Speaking on the Try That In A Small Town podcast, Parada recounted the events that led to his exit, citing medical advice and a turbulent interaction with the band’s management as key factors. Parada, who joined The Offspring in 2007, shared that his decision not to get vaccinated against COVID-19 was based on medical guidance.

Claiming he previously suffered from Guillain-Barré syndrome—a rare neurological disorder—his doctor advised against the vaccine due to potential risks. Despite presenting this exemption, Parada claimed it was dismissed outright by the band’s newly appointed manager.

“He was new with the band. He’d only been with them since Covid hit. So I didn’t have a lot of history with this guy,” Parada said. “He chose to come at me like a flamethrower. I’ve gotten crappy phone calls before, this was the most abusive and threatening call I’ve ever had in my entire career.”

“He made it clear that I was either to get vaccinated or I’d be replaced,” he added. “The phone call was so shocking.” 

Parada revealed that he reached out to his long-time bandmates to voice concerns about the manager’s behavior, but his attempts were met with indifference.

“I tried to talk to them about him and I said, ‘You might fire me over this but you should know, this guy is not representing you well and if he’s treating me like this, he’s treating your crew even worse’”, he claimed. “I was told, ‘That’s not the concern right now, he’s not the concern, your refusal to do this is the concern.’”

Communication broke down soon after, Parada claimed, adding that he realized he had been replaced when his flight to a rehearsal was unexpectedly canceled. “That’s how I found out,” he said.

At the time, The Offspring was gearing up to promote their tenth studio album, Let the Bad Times Roll, released in April 2021, which hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Albums Chart and No. 27 on the Billboard 200.

The band has yet to publicly address Parada’s recent comments, and they are currently preparing for their Supercharged Worldwide in ’25 tour in support of their 11th studio album, Supercharged., released in October. The album reached No.1 on the Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, while the lead single “Make It All Right” reached No. 1. reached No. 1 on both the Alternative Airplay and Active Rock charts. The band have since released “Light It Up”, as well as “Come To Brazil”.

The Offspring: Supercharged Worldwide in ’25 Australian tour will kick off on Sunday, May 4 in Adelaide, heading onto Melbourne and Sydney, and closing out on Wednesday, May 14 in Brisbane.

In a statement before its release, Dexter Holland revealed that Supercharged was recorded in Maui, Vancouver and the group’s home studio in Huntington Beach with legendary producer Bob Rock (Metallica, Bon Jovi). “I feel like this is the best we have ever sounded! We’ve been rocking out and headbanging to it for months! And we can’t wait for you guys to hear it!” he said.

Leighton Meester’s music career is experiencing a revival following the devastating loss of her Los Angeles home in the recent wildfires.

With encouragement from none other than Flavor Flav, fans have rallied behind the Gossip Girl actress and singer by revisiting her discography, sparking a wave of support across social media and music platforms. Flavor Flav took to TikTok on Jan. 14 to spotlight Meester’s 2009 single “Somebody to Love,” which features Robin Thicke.

In the video, the Public Enemy rapper danced to the pop track, urging fans to “Stream @LeightonMeester ‘Somebody to Love’ and use the song in yo TikTok’s.” He captioned the post, “Starting to hype up my girl Leighton Meester and help her family recover from the fire.”

The call for support comes amid reports that Meester and her husband, actor Adam Brody, are among the many families displaced by the wildfires that began last week, forcing thousands to evacuate. The couple, who share two children, have not publicly commented on the loss of their Pacific Palisades home.

Fans have since responded with overwhelming enthusiasm by revisiting Meester’s self-written debut album, Heartstrings, released in 2014. Meester wrote all nine tracks featured on the record by herself, and the album was produced by Jeff Trott.

The album has now climbed to No. 18 on the iTunes all-genre album chart, surpassing notable releases like Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion, and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N Sweet. Her single “Your Love’s a Drug,” released in 2010, has also cracked the iTunes songs chart.

This resurgence mirrors the support seen for Heidi Montag, another wildfire victim whose decade-old album, Superficial, recently topped the iTunes charts thanks to a viral TikTok campaign.

Flav has also been instrumental in promoting Montag’s music, posting several TikTok videos with the caption, “Doing my part to get Heidi Montag to #1.” Montag and her husband, Spencer Pratt, lost their Pacific Palisades home in the fires and turned to social media to share their journey and encourage fans to stream Montag’s music as a way to help them rebuild.

Following the success of Superficial, Montag’s album surged to No. 1 on iTunes. To celebrate, Montag and Pratt joined Billboard’s Tetris Kelly during a TikTok livestream to discuss future plans, including new music.

“We just actually had one of the most famous writers and producers reach out to us, and I recorded it yesterday,” Montag revealed. “They asked us not to specify who they are […] We’re really excited, and there’s a lot of stuff in the works. We really want to focus on getting a portion back to the community too, so we’re trying to figure out how to incorporate charities into everything we’re doing.”

Meanwhile, Flavor Flav, a vocal advocate for using music as a means of recovery, also announced on Jan. 11 that he has donated to wildfire relief efforts through GoFundMe campaigns and nonprofit organizations.

He encouraged others to join his efforts, stating, “They need us right now.”

Meester’s music career includes standout moments such as her collaboration with Cobra Starship on the 2009 hit “Good Girls Go Bad,” her role in the 2010 film Country Strong, and the release of singles like “Somebody to Love” and “Your Love’s a Drug.”

Zach Bryan has turned his focus to the world of film, recruiting actor Matthew McConaughey to help tease a new project called Motorbreath.

Bryan’s new announcement came about in a pair of posts shared to Instagram on Wednesday morning (Jan. 15). In the first, he shared a clip of a new track ostensibly titled “Birdie”. Though no information was provided alongside the snippet, the intimately-recorded acoustic cut sees Bryan namechecking the likes of Elliott Smith in the lyrics.

The second post, however, is much more substantial, enlisting the help of McConaughey (who previously starred in Bryan’s “Nine Ball” music video in 2024) to announce the upcoming film.

“This is not a film about a band, this is a film about a boy from Oklahoma,” McConaughey explains. “A boy who joined the Navy, with a love of writing. That writing connected with people, a lot of people. This film is about a group of best friends taking a two-week motorcycle ride across America, while recording one final major label album. Oh, and the title of the film, you ask? Motorbreath.”

Currently, no further information has been shared in regard to the details surrounding Motorbreath, such as a release date. It does, however, follow on from a snippet of a song by the same name that Bryan shared to social media in early November.

Bryan’s latest release, The Great American Bar Scene, arrived in July as his third album since signing to Warner Records. The record – which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 – followed on from the arrival of his chart-topping self-titled effort the year prior.

Earlier in January, Bryan took to social media to defend his friends from the “harassment” they’ve received from “f–kin weird couch warriors” following his highly-publicized breakup with Brianna LaPaglia (aka Brianna Chickenfry) in October.

Actor David Schwimmer has looked back on some of his formative jobs, recalling the time he served Rod Stewart with divorce papers.

Schwimmer spoke about his previous career while appearing on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to promote his current role on Disney+ and Hulu’s Goosebumps: The Vanishing. While he’s spent more than 30 years as one of the most prominent actors in film and TV, his early career was far less stable, as he explained to host Stephen Colbert.

“One summer after my freshman year in college, I was just looking for work,” Schwimmer remembered. “And my mom said, ‘Well, you can be a process server for me’. My mom was a divorce lawyer. So I was the guy who would pop out of the bushes and serve you divorce papers. At the time I was 18, and I’m like James Bond. I’m not James Bond! ‘Cause you’re tipped off as to where they might be.”

As he continued, Schwimmer turned his focus to one of his more famous “targets” during this line of work. “Once, and oh man, thank goodness I’ve never run into him since,” added, “but I served Rod Stewart. I don’t even know if he knows. I don’t think he knows.”

“He knows now,” replied Colbert before jokingly giving Schwimmer some sage advice. “Change your locks, man. He is vengeful.”

Stewart was previously married to Alana Stewart from 1979 to 1984, which coincides with the timeframe of Schwimmer’s time as a process server. In 1990, Stewart married Rachel Hunter, though they would divorce in 2006 following a separation in 1999. Since 2007, he’s been married to Penny Lancaster-Stewart.

Stewart is set to hit the road once again in February, performing across the U.S. before returning to Las Vegas to continue his Caesars Palace residency. He’s also one of the few artists officially confirmed to be performing at England’s Glastonbury Festival on June 25.

Appearing in the Sunday teatime Legends slot, he joins Neil Young at the festival, who recently confirmed his appearance after previously distancing himself from the event based on what he now calls an “error in the information received”.

The times they are a-changin’, and with just a few days to go before a potential U.S. ban of TikTok, veteran musician Bob Dylan has finally joined the popular video-sharing app.

Dylan, 83, made his TikTok debut on Tuesday (Jan. 14), sharing a single post which urges potential followers to “Explore the world of Bob Dylan, now on TikTok”. The accompanying video features numerous clips, stills, and record covers from Dylan’s lengthy career, soundtracked to clips of “Like a Rolling Stone”, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, “Hurricane”.

While Dylan’s appearance on the app has been well-received by his fanbase, much of the attention is being focused on his somewhat late arrival, given the impending TikTok Ban.

“You’ve got 30 minutes king,” wrote one user on Dylan’s post, while another added, “Bob Dylan save tiktok.” Others still made reference to his catalog in their posts, noting that “tiktok is knocking on heavens door”.

As it stands, TikTok is facing an imminent ban because the American government is worried about its Chinese ownership. After the Supreme Court last month agreed to hear TikTok’s challenge to the law that would either force ByteDance to sell the app or bar it from the U.S., the Court’s imminent decision means that if the law is upheld, ByteDance will be forced to sell off the app or face a ban on Sunday (Jan. 19).

Dylan’s immediate future, however, looks a little more certain, especially given that the response to James Mangold’s A Complete Unknown biopic has seen his catalog earn 11.6 million U.S. on-demand streams in the week ending Dec. 26.

While it’s unknown whether Dylan’s debut on TikTok is part of a biopic-inspired decision to reach a newer fanbase, it does come about shortly after his recent decision to ostensibly begin using social media with greater frequency. In November, Dylan shared a Tweet praising a performance from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in France, leading Cave to respond with gratitude.

“I was elated to think Bob Dylan had been in the audience,” Cave wrote on his sporadically-updated Red Hand Files website. “And since I doubt I’ll get an opportunity to thank him personally, I’ll thank him here. Thank you, Bob!”

Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt are turning loss into creativity.

The couple, who first found fame on the reality series The Hills, lost their home in the Pacific Palisades wildfire. Amid the tragedy, the pair turned to social media to share their journey and encourage fans to stream Montag’s previous music as a way to help them rebuild.

Since then, Montag’s 2010 album Superficial surged to No. 1 on social media and iTunes. To celebrate, the couple joined Billboard‘s Tetris Kelly during a TikTok livestream to discuss what they have in store in the upcoming months, including some more new music. “We just actually had one of the most famous writers and producers reach out to us, and I recorded it yesterday,” Montag revealed. “They asked us not to specify who they are […] We’re really excited, and there’s a lot of stuff in the works. We really want to focus on getting a portion back to the community too, so we’re trying to figure out how to incorporate charities into everything we’re doing.”

Montag also thanked fans for their support in a video posted to TikTok and Instagram on Saturday night, “Thank you so much to everyone, No. 1 on iTunes charts, oh my gosh. Thank you for the overwhelming love and support of my music and really rallying behind us in this devastating time and making it such a blessing.”

“Thank you for helping support us, helping build us back up, helping to encourage us, give us that hope and faith and excitement in such a dark, dark time,” she added, noting the “crazy” timing of it being the album’s 15-year anniversary.

Lil Baby isn’t letting up.

The Atlanta rapper recently dropped off the deluxe version of his fourth solo album WHAM and is planning on releasing another project entitled Dominique some time in February. He’s also mentioned working on a tape with Future, but made sure to mention Young Thug may be involved in what they had planned.

Baby confirmed to Complex that he’s also been working on new music with the aforementioned Thugger. “We’ve been in the studio together [every day] almost since he came home. So we got tons of songs,” he said. “Me and Future were also going to drop a project, but it was Thug’s idea. The whole time while he’s locked up, I’m talking to him and trying to talk about the trial. He’s like, “You need to get with Pluto and drop the tape with Pluto.” I’m trying to talk about the trial. He ain’t even tripping. He’s like, “Bro, go to Miami. You need to lock in with Pluto, y’all need to drop an album. Do that for me.”

However, he revealed the album might feature all three rappers instead of two separate projects. “There probably won’t be a me and Future tape anymore because Thug is back. So, whatever it would be, it’ll be all three of us.” Adding, [And that’s] super exciting, because to me, those are two of the main people that I would say I look up to in the rap game. So to be able to spar with them, I feel like that’s sharpened me up a whole lot.”

WHAM is Lil Baby’s fourth No. 1 album, but what may be more impressive is that his album blocked Bad Bunny from taking the top spot.

DJ Khaled and 50 Cent have a rocky history dating back to around 2005 when G-Unit was in the midst of a beef with Fat Joe and they can thank baseball legend Reggie Jackson for bringing them together all these years later.

The two former foes dapped it up at Reggie Jackson’s annual “Mr. October Foundation Celebrity Golf Classic” in Port St. Lucie, Florida earlier this week and the footage was captured by 50, whose Sire Spirits liquor brand helped sponsor the event.

Tony Yayo once told a story on Drink Champs about the time the Miami DJ told him to “get the f—k outta here” when he went down to South Florida to promote a song for the radio. “I had ‘[So] Seductive’ dropping. I didn’t know nothing about the music business,” he told hosts N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN. “We beefing with [Fat Joe]. You f—k with Fat Joe, Khaled ain’t f—king with you. I got my record I’m trying to promote, so they like, ‘Yo, you gotta got to Miami … You gotta go to DJ Khaled.'”

Adding, “So we go up there. I told these n—as, ‘Yo, don’t take me to DJ Khaled. Fat Joe, that’s his man. He damn near Terror Squad,’” before revealing Khaled pretended to shake his hand while yelling his tagline. “Go to Khaled to shake his hand — ‘DJ Khaled, get the fuck outta here! I respect Khaled for that ’cause [Fat Joe] is his man … But I did go ’cause this is radio. I don’t understand this sh—t, I’m getting out of jail … So I’m like, ‘Yo, f—k you Khaled!’ I swear to God. You can ask him.”

Khaled confirmed Yayo’s story during an appearance on Club Shay Shay. “At that time, I work at a radio station,” he told Shannon Sharpe. “Everybody’s welcome at a radio station so you could never involve them type of situations and I understood that. And I’ve always been somebody that showed love, but when they told me [Yayo] was coming up I was like, ‘Wow.'”

Adding, “You know, him and my man don’t get along. [Fat Joe] is my brother, for real. I was just saying to myself, ‘This is gonna be hard for me’ because if I would have completely embraced him, I probably wouldn’t have been able to sleep at night. And if I did, I would have called [Fat Joe] immediately like, ‘This is what happened.’ That’s how much I care.”

He then said that’s “it’s all love now” which is try judging by 50 including their greeting in his recap of the charity event and Khaled telling the Queens rapper and filmmaker, “Nothing but love and respect.”

Bad Bunny has expanded his residency at the iconic Coliseo de Puerto Rico, adding nine more dates for a total of 30 shows at the venue. The summer stint is set to kick off Friday, July 11 and wrap on Sunday, Sept. 14.

The addition of dates comes two days after the Puerto Rican hitmaker shared with his millions of followers on social media that while he does plan to unveil dates for shows in countries such as Mexico, Brazil and Spain later this year, for now, “I’m in Puerto Rico, I’m home, having fun and, to be honest, I don’t want to leave,” he says in the video.

“Thanks to music and the love you give me through my music, I’ve had the privilege of traveling to sing in different places of the world. I appreciate and love to do it,” Bad Bunny explains. “There are places I for sure will return to like Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia. And some I’ve never been to but would like to visit, like Brazil and Japan. And there are places I haven’t been to in a long time, like Italy, London, Spain, I know, and I promise before the year ends, I’ll tell you the date and time I will be visiting.”

As he walks down a hallway passing by posters of all his previous tours, including El Último Tour del Mundo and World’s Hottest Tour, Bad Bunny (real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) unveils a new poster that announces his No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí residency at El Choli. Set to kick off July 11, the 30-date venture will launch with the first nine shows exclusively reserved for Puerto Rico residents. According to a press release, the residency has sold over 125,000 tickets through its island-wide in-person sales.

Bad Bunny’s residency announcement follows the release of Debí Tirar Más Fotos, his latest album released Jan. 5. The set debuts at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, securing Bad Bunny his seventh top 10-charting set. Meanwhile, the LP opens at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Streaming Albums chart (dated Jan. 18), the largest streaming week for a Latin title in over a year.

Debí is Bad Bunny’s sixth studio album, and it’s a celebration of Puerto Rico and the sonic heritage that has soundtracked the island for generations, including plena and jíbara. The 17-track album includes collaborative efforts with Chuwi, Dei V, Omar Courtz, Pleneros de la Cresta and RaiNao — all Puerto Rican acts.

Ticket sales for those with pre-sale codes will begin on Friday, Jan. 17, at 10 a.m. See the complete list of dates to Bad Bunny’s No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí residency at Coliseo de Puerto Rico here.

Lil Yachty delivered one of the most memorable Hot Ones episodes in 2018 with his first hot sauce experience, and the album has returned to the table for another bout.

Rocking a hot pink wig and a Coogie sweater from The Notorious B.I.G.’s closet, Lil Boat appeared on Wednesday’s (Jan. 15) episode of Hot Ones and gave a much-improved performance dealing with the spicy wings as he crossed the finish line.

After trying out the mozzarella sticks dipped into the hot sauce, Yachty recalled his most awkward performance when he performed at a festival in Thailand.

The disaster began when he saw a few hundred at the stadium that could have fit 50,000 people. He hit the stage ahead of All Time Low. “Those fans were not there for me,” he said. “If there was a 100 people, maybe 10 of them were there for me and I had an hour set. It was so empty, you could see far and it was raining.

Yachty continued: “They don’t speak English and it’s nine people here in a capacity of f—ing 50,000. They don’t understand me in between the breaks when I’m speaking English, and they’re not there for me. It was tough.”

Hopefully, Boat won’t face any more crowds that sparse as he’s slated to open on Tyler, The Creator’s Chromakopia Tour, which starts on Feb. 4 and will run through North America.

On the music side, he teamed up with James Blake for their Bad Cameo joint project last June.

Watch the full episode below.