People: Taylor Swift honors U.S. women’s soccer team in concert
Taylor Swift was a true all-American girl at her concert as she honored the U.S. women’s soccer team by bringing them onstage.
Fresh off their World Cup championship, the players joined Swift on Friday night during “Style” at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Four of the players are from New Jersey.
Concertgoers screamed loudly for the players, who waved two American flags and sang along to Swift’s hit song. They also brought their trophy and let the singer hold it.
“I wanna hold it one more time,” Swift said.
They huddled like a team at the end of the performance, and the audience chanted “USA” after they exited.
Swift’s girl-power swagger continued when she and her famous friends re-created her popular “Bad Blood” video onstage. Lena Dunham, Hailee Steinfeld, Gigi Hadid and Lily Aldridge – all dressed in character from the song’s action-filled music video – joined the pop star during the beat-driven track.
But the night wasn’t completely dominated by women. Swift brought R&B pop singer The Weeknd onstage to sing his latest hit, “Can’t Feel My Face.” Swift even sang some of the second verse.
Tarantino film timely in flag debate
Quentin Tarantino’s latest film, “Hateful Eight,” takes place a few years after the end of the Civil War – and cast members had the Confederate flag on their minds.
Comic-Con audiences were introduced to the film’s motley crew of eccentrics Saturday in San Diego in classic Tarantino fashion, with edgy banter and memorable nicknames, like “The Hangman,” “The Confederate” and “The Mexican.” Set in a Wyoming haberdashery, this explosive group of bounty hunters, lawmen, outlaws and veterans – played by the likes of Kurt Russell, Tim Roth and Walton Goggins – take shelter from a blizzard and try (poorly) to keep the peace.
Roth and Goggins found the film incredibly timely, even before South Carolina removed the Confederate flag from its Statehouse on Friday.
“Ferguson had just happened when we were rehearsing … it seems very pertinent, oddly enough,” Roth said. “And even more so now with what’s happening in Charleston.”
Goggins spent the last few months in South Carolina, and he said his wife watched the flag lowered on Friday.
“To be there, and to have witnessed the pain of that city coming off doing this movie, is extraordinary,” he said. “And if there’s any person to bring this topic (of race and justice) back to the young people in this country, Tarantino is the one to do it.”
The birthday bunch
Comedian Bill Cosby is 78. Singer-musician Christine McVie is 72. Fitness guru Richard Simmons is 67. Actor Jay Thomas is 67. Actress Cheryl Ladd is 64. Rock guitarist Dan Murphy (Soul Asylum) is 53. Olympic gold medal figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi is 44. Actress Anna Friel is 39.