Shaun Roberts, former promoter of Fabric, has died

Shaun Roberts, the former promoter of London nightclub Fabric, has died.

He passed away on Christmas Eve after being diagnosed with colon cancer in 2019.

Fabric confirmed the news in a tribute posted to their social media. “As a team and a family we are devastated at your loss,” they wrote.

Roberts worked for the nightclub for 16 and a half years. He started out by helping to promote the venue’s launch in 1999 before taking on other roles in the wider team, later becoming a promoter. He was renowned for the help he gave unknown DJs by booking them to appear at Fabric.

“You were the dearest friend to us, a cherished fabric family member, professional raver, passionate music lover, full of strength, determination and so much more,” continued the post by Fabric. “We love you very much and you will always be a source of inspiration.

“You paved the way for so many artists that are now at the top of their game and helped shape fabric into the club it is today. We are all so grateful. We will miss your humour, your banter, your rants, your anarchy, your cheeky smile and everything amazing that made you, you,” the post said.

“Forever with us – there will always be a space for you on the Fabric dancefloor, and in our hearts.”

Roberts had raised over £160,000 for his cancer treatment. Writing on his Crowdfunder, Roberts confirmed he was diagnosed was Stage 4 Metastatic cancer and “my life expectancy was not good at all. Initial thoughts were that I probably had 18 months and any treatment would be designed to make life comfortable rather than to cure.”

“I went through more than 20 rounds of pretty punchy chemotherapy, 25 sessions of pelvic radiotherapy, had half of my liver cut out, three other operations on my liver, some lymph nodes chopped out, my rectum cut out (I shit you not) and a colostomy created. Oh, and I got a hernia too! Amazingly, all the visible cancer was removed from my body,” said Roberts before confirming it had returned. “The name of the game is to stay alive as long as possible,” he added.

He finished the post by saying “I wouldn’t be in this sorry state if I had paid more attention to what my body was telling me. I put it off for ages, made excuses why I was too busy to get to the doctor and told myself it would get better. Ultimately that’s my fault. Please don’t be stupid like I was. It’s scary to face it but what I have been through is much worse. Catch cancer early and you will give yourself much better odds of beating it.”

Tributes have since poured in for Roberts following his passing. Radio DJ Lauren Laverne tweeted: “Rest well, Shaun Roberts. My heart is with your friends and family today xxx.”

Hudson Mohawke added: “RIP Shaun Roberts. So sad. Lot of people myself included owe him a great deal. Responsible for a lot of pivotal moments in peoples careers [and] took a lot of risks in the stuff he booked at Fabric. And more importantly just a brilliant guy.”

Sacha Lord, the Night Time Economy adviser for Greater Manchester, also paid tribute, saying that Roberts “was known and loved by everyone in the industry”.

Enormously saddened by the loss of Shaun Roberts. We used to message about music often, and even at what must’ve been very low moments, he seemed to find great joy in simply talking about songs. Here are some of his impeccable shows for Amateurism Radio: https://t.co/AHFvWpqAlJ

— Laura Barton (@missbarton) December 27, 2022

RIP Shaun Roberts, a Fabric legend and lovely guy who gave myself and many others their first breaks at the club

— High Contrast (@HighContrast) December 26, 2022

RIP Shaun Roberts. Such a beautiful human being. We’ve really lost a good one

— Madam X (@DJmadamX) December 26, 2022

RIP Shaun Roberts. Rest easy

— DJ ZINC (@djzinc) December 26, 2022

RIP Shaun Roberts. Few clubs played a comparable role in shaping my growth as a DJ as Fabric in London, and I credit Shaun with those bookings and that vision. My first gig there, I was opening for A Guy Called Gerald. I don’t even remember the year…

— Nappin 4Tay (@atrak) December 26, 2022

RIP Shaun Roberts. Nothing but good times whenever he was around. Opened the door for me to play Fabric for the first time. Was instrumental in Dubstep & Grime being represented in the club.

But first of all, just a genuine guy. He’ll be sorely missed.

— Plastician / Stish (@Plastician) December 27, 2022

Rest in peace Shaun Roberts of fabric, who looked out for me early in my career, and was always a lovely guy to be around. My love to anyone close to him pic.twitter.com/JOxUv78R46

— DJ Yoda (@DJYodaUK) December 26, 2022

Very sad to hear that UK club land has lost one of the nicest, most genuine people, to his battle with cancer.

Integral to @fabriclondon success, he was responsible for creating many artists careers.

Known and loved by everyone in the industry.

RIP Shaun Roberts.

— Sacha Lord (@Sacha_Lord) December 26, 2022

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Elon Musk denies issues with Twitter as thousands report outage

Elon Musk has responded to thousands of people reporting issues using Twitter by saying it “works for me”.

Shortly before midnight last night (December 28) DownDetector, a website which tracks traffic on Twitter, reported that the social media site was having issues.

While many users were still able to use Twitter, others received an error message that said “something went wrong, but don’t fret – it’s not your fault”.

Internet observatory Netblocks also confirmed an issue. “Twitter is experiencing international outages affecting the mobile app and features including notifications The incident is not related to country-level internet disruptions or filtering. #TwitterDown.”

Note: Twitter is experiencing international outages affecting the mobile app and features including notifications; incident not related to country-level internet disruptions or filtering #TwitterDown pic.twitter.com/eA3n5ow1aZ

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) December 29, 2022

However Twitter boss Elon Musk seemed to deny any such issues. “Can anyone see this, or is Twitter broken,” asked one user. “Works for me,” replied Musk.

A few hours later, Musk confirmed “significant backend server architecture changes” had been rolled out. “Twitter should feel faster,” he added.

Significant backend server architecture changes rolled out. Twitter should feel faster.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 29, 2022

Elon Musk took over Twitter in October and immediately fired several top executives and half of its workforce.

The layoffs reportedly gutted teams that covered human rights, machine learning ethics, curation, communications, accessibility and moderation at Twitter.

Musk followed that up by telling the remaining staff they “work long hours at high intensity” or leave the company. Users were then advised to archive their Twitter history after speculation the platform could collapse. 

Earlier this month, Elon Musk said he will step down from his role as CEO of Twitter as soon as he finds “someone foolish enough to take the job”.

“After that, I will just run the software & servers teams,” he added. It comes after Musk asked Twitter users if he should resign, with over 57 per cent of people voting “yes” in the poll.

During his time as CEO of Twitter, Musk has banned then unbanned several journalists who wrote about him, stopped the platform’s COVID misinformation policy and seen the use of antisemitic, homophobic, racist and transphobic language on Twitter spike. He has added a feature that allows users to see how many times their Tweets have been viewed though.

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James Corden auditioned to play a hobbit in ‘Lord Of The Rings’

James Corden has revealed he originally auditioned to play the part of Samwise Gamgee in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

Peter Jackson’s epic started with Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring in 2001 and was followed by The Two Towers in 2002 and Return Of The King in 2003.

Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz, Corden said he auditioned for the role of Frodo Baggins’ loyal friend Samwise Gamgee but was unsuccessful. Baggins was played by Elijah Wood, while the part of Gamgee ultimately went to Sean Austin. According to Corden, the audition was “not good”.

“Every single person in London auditioned for Lord Of The Rings. Everybody,” said Corden. “I auditioned for Samwise. I was doing the accent and everything.”

Corden continued: “Two of my other friends went in [to audition] and then we all got called back the next day. Then we got called back the next day, and then none of us got called back after that.”

He went on to say that despite the rejection, he still “enjoyed” the films.

James Corden has also opened up about leaving his role as the host of The Late Late Show, calling it a “terrifying” prospect.

Corden first announced his decision to leave the chat show back in April this year. “This will be my last year hosting the show,” he said in a statement at the time. “When I started this journey, it was always going to be just that. It was going to be a journey, an adventure.”

Earlier this year, Corden confirmed that he’ll return to the UK full-time once he finishes the current season of the show in spring 2023. He’s been host of The Late Late Show since 2015 and has described it as “such a wonderful job. It’s the best eight years of my life.”

Since his announcement, a petition was launched to ‘ban’ his return to the UK and he’s been embroiled in controversies including allegedly stealing jokes from Ricky Gervais and Noel Fielding and admitted making a “rude ungracious comment” to a restaurant waiter in New York.

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James Cameron cut ten minutes of glorified gun violence from ‘Avatar 2’

James Cameron has revealed that Avatar: The Way Of Water was originally going to be ten-minutes longer but footage that glorified gun violence was cut.

READ MORE: ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’ review: bold, beautiful and very, very blue

The three-hour epic was released earlier this month with the sequel to 2009’s Avatar following former soldier Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), his partner Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) and their kids in a new adventure on Pandora.

Speaking to Esquire, Cameron (who directed and co-wrote the screenplay) admitted he “actually cut about 10 minutes of the movie” that focused on “gunplay action.”

“I look back on some films that I’ve made, and I don’t know if I would want to make that film now,” Cameron explained. “I don’t know if I would want to fetishize the gun, like I did on a couple of Terminator movies 30-plus years ago, in our current world. What’s happening with guns in our society turns my stomach.”

“I’m happy to be living in New Zealand where they just banned all assault rifles two weeks after that horrific mosque shooting a couple of years ago,” he said.

‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’. CREDIT: 20th Century Studios

Talking about Avatar: The Way Of Water, Cameron added: “I wanted to get rid of some of the ugliness, to find a balance between light and dark. You have to have conflict, of course,” he continued. “Violence and action are the same thing, depending on how you look at it. This is the dilemma of every action filmmaker, and I’m known as an action filmmaker.”

In a four-star review NME wrote: “Bigger, bolder and definitely better than the original, Avatar: The Way Of Water pushes the technical boundaries of cinema without feeling like a science experiment. It really does need to be seen on the biggest screen possible through a pair of awkward 3D glasses. Unlike its predecessor though, you won’t forget this experience in a hurry.”

The sequel to Avatar: The Way Of Water, provisionally titled Avatar 3, is scheduled to be released on December 20, 2024. Filming on the third entry concluded in December 2020, after it was shot back-to-back with Avatar: The Way Of Water in New Zealand  to avoid Stranger Things-style ageing issues with the younger cast members.

A further two sequels are planned following Avatar 3, which are scheduled to be released on December 18, 2026 and December 22, 2028 respectively, though they could be scrapped if the series doesn’t perform at the box office. 

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Andrew Tate says Greta Thunberg is a “slave of the matrix” in bizarre video rant

Andrew Tate has responded to Greta Thunberg calling out the “small dick energy” of his car collection with a strange video rant.

READ MORE: “I’d rather be called a hypocrite than do fuck all”: how music is tackling climate change

Earlier this week, Tate tried baiting Thunberg into an argument on Twitter, posting a photo of himself fuelling a Bugatti with the caption: “Hello [Greta Thunberg]. I have 33 cars. My Bugatti has a W16 [eight-litre] quad turbo [engine]. My TWO Ferrari 812 Competizione have [6.5-litre] V12s. This is just the start. Please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions.”

Rather than taking the bait, Thunberg simply replied: “Yes, please do enlighten me. Email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com.”

yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com https://t.co/V8geeVvEvg

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 28, 2022

Thunberg’s “carbon neutral burn” quickly went viral with a majority of replies supporting Thunberg, however Tate soon responded.

“Strange as it may seem, there is a teenager out there who believes your government should tax you into poverty to stop the sun from being hot,” he wrote. When that didn’t get the response he wanted, he posted a an odd video message to Thunberg.

In the bizarre clip, Tate can be seen sitting at a desk, wearing a silk robe and smoking a cigar. “Release some greenhouse gases,” he starts, winking at the camera.

“I’m obviously a stranger to online controversies but now the mainstream press is commenting on the fact that I was informing Greta that my extensive car collection, with internal combustion engines which run on dead dinosaurs, has an enormous emission…profile. And she replied by telling me her own email address. I have small dick energy, why would that be your own email,” said Tate, not getting the joke.

Thank you for confirming via your email address that you have a small penis @GretaThunberg

The world was curious.

And I do agree you should get a life https://t.co/mHmiKHjDGH pic.twitter.com/SMisajQRcf

— Andrew Tate (@Cobratate) December 28, 2022

“I’m not actually mad at Greta,” he continued before asking someone to bring him pizza and “make sure the boxes are not recycled”.

“She doesn’t realise she’s been programmed, she doesn’t realise she’s a slave of the matrix. She thinks she’s doing good,” Tate added, before denying climate change. “Someone has sat her down and convinced her, to beg you, to beg your government, to tax you into poverty, to stop the sun from being hot.”

“And then, because I called her out on it, the global matrix got this bot farm to like, retweet and comment to try and pretend that she’s somehow teaching me a lesson.”

Greta is yet to reply, but several others have called out Tate. “Responding to a sharp one-liner ten hours later with a two-minute rant of seemingly disconnected thoughts isn’t the W you want it to be, Mr Tate.”

As a friend of the arts, though, I recognise and appreciate the range of expressions. Here’s just some of my favourites. pic.twitter.com/6mTVG5jGai

— Toby Hussey (@TobyHusseyWA) December 29, 2022

“Most people never even knew this guy existed until today and now we’ll forever remember him as the guy with a teeny tiny weenie who got owned by a brilliant 19 year old girl. Excellent job, Greta,” wrote one Twitter user. “You paid to edit this tweet and it’s still one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever seen on this website,” added another.

Earlier this year, Lil Nas X took to Twitter to tell Tate to stop mentioning him, after Tate called the rapper dangerous.
Responding to a now-deleted tweet that accused him of being “the problem in this new society”, Lil Nas X said: “No, people like you are the problem. While ‘real men’ like me provide for their family and community, n****s like you sit on Twitter using Andrew Tate’s dick as a pacifier because you were never taught how to be your own man.”

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Theophilus London reported missing by family

Theophilus London has been reported missing by his family, with the rapper last having contact with someone in October.

According to the missing person’s report (via the LA Times), London left his Los Angeles home on October 15 and was last seen on Skid Row. The same day, London was in contact with someone via text message but hasn’t been seen or heard from since.

“Over the last few weeks, friends and family of Theophilus London have been working together to piece together his whereabouts,” said his representatives in a statement. “On December 27, family members of Theophilus London traveled to Los Angeles to file a missing persons report with the LAPD. They are now seeking the public’s help with any information as to London’s whereabouts.”

Anyone with information on London’s whereabouts is asked to reach out to London’s cousin Mikhail Noel through his Instagram account or to contact the LAPD’s Missing Persons Unit.

London’s cousin Noel took to Instagram to write: “Theo, we will find you. Your family and friends love you. We need you. We want you to be here with us in our presence. We are looking for you to bring you home. Any and all information is appreciated to help us find our loved one, Theo.”

London’s record label Secretly issued a statement on his family’s behalf, who haven’t heard from London since August. “Theo, your Dad loves you, son,” the rapper’s father said. “We miss you. And all your friends and relatives are searching for you. Wherever you are, send us some signal. No matter what, we will come get you son.”

His friend Mayah Hatcher took to Instagram to say London’s family had “tried contacting him in various ways through various channels over the months and have hit a wall.”

“Folks who know Theo in any capacity have not heard from him in months, nor has he posted since July 11, which is extremely unusual of him.”

Theophilus London released his debut album ‘Timez Are Weird These Days’ back in 2011 before following it up with ‘Vibes’ in 2014. That record was executively produced by Kanye West, while London’s most recent album was 2020’s ‘Bebey’. 

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STAYC celebrate winter with vibrant live cover of Miss A’s ‘Only You’

STAYC have delivered a vibrant new cover of Miss A’s hit single ‘Only You’.

READ MORE: The 25 best K-pop songs of 2022

The ‘Only You’ cover was done in collaboration with MUPLY, a K-pop production house, and was uploaded to its official YouTube channel earlier today (December 29). The cover was also part of MUPLY’s Ply Arts High School series of videos, where various K-pop artists and acts are invited to perform song covers upon the same stage, set up to resemble a high school auditorium. Other artists previously invited as part of the series include VIVIZ, LE SSERAFIM, SEVENTEEN’s Jun and more.

In the clip, the six members of STAYC perform both a dance and vocal cover of the classic track live, up on the same stage decked in winter and Christmas-themed decorations. The group’s take on ‘Only You’ largely stays true to the original song by Miss A.

STAYC last released music earlier this year in July with the ‘We Need Love’ single album. The four-track record was led by title track ‘Beautiful Monster’, with the three remaining songs being ‘I Like It’, ‘Love’ and a TAK remix of the girl group’s previous title track ‘RUN2U’. The original ‘RUN2U’ was released as the lead single of their their February mini-album ‘YOUNG-LUV.COM’.

All four tracks on ‘We Need Love’ were written and composed by hitmakers Black Eyed Pilseung, frequent STAYC collaborator Jeon Goon, and producers Rado and Flyt. Black Eyed Pilseung also act as executives at STAYC’s label High Up Entertainment.

In a mixed three-star review of ‘We Need Love’, NME’s Tanu I. Raj criticised the girl group for playing it safe on the album. “Despite the individual strengths of its songs, ‘We Need Love’ leaves much to be desired as a whole. It seems to be missing not only the aforementioned experimental streak STAYC have become synonymous with, but also complexity in the story they build.”

They continued: “But if this is a segue into another era, it’s a transition STAYC have made without the curiosity and complete disregard for the rules that characterised their previous material.”

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LadBaby Rings up Chart Record With U.K. Christmas No. 1

LadBaby lands the ultimate Christmas present with “Food Aid” (via BMG) earning the coveted Christmas No. 1 in the U.K. — and doing so in record-busting fashion.

The charity single debuts at No. 1 on the Official Singles Chart with more than 65,000 chart sales, the Official Charts Company reports, for the fastest-selling week of any recording in 2022.

The husband-and-wife duo of Mark and Roxanne Hoyle become the first act to nab five Official U.K. Christmas No. 1 singles, beating the old mark held by the Beatles, who bagged four non-consecutive Christmas leaders in 1963, 1964, 1965 & 1967.

Previously, LadBaby ruled the Christmas chart with “We Built This City” (in 2018), “I Love Sausage Rolls” (2019), “Don’t Stop Me Eatin’” (2020) and 2021’s “Sausage Rolls For Everyone” with Ed Sheeran and Elton John.

Proceeds from the single, a re-interpretation of Band Aid’s ‘80s classic “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” are split equally between food bank charity The Trussell Trust and the Band Aid Trust.

“It only seems yesterday that LadBaby turned up with their first festive campaign four years ago, so it feels slightly surreal to be sending hearty congratulations on their fifth successive Official Christmas No. 1,” comments Martin Talbot, chief executive of the OCC. “Securing one Christmas No. 1 is a huge achievement in itself – to do it five times, in successive years, is unprecedented and frankly incredible.”

There’s Christmas cheer to be found up and down the chart, as Wham’s “Last Christmas” (RCA) dips 1-2, but racks up a market-leading 12.9 million streams. Meanwhile, another fundraising holiday number, Sidemen’s “Christmas Drillings,” is the highest climber, blasting 41-3; while yuletide favorites from Mariah Carey (“All I Want For Christmas Is You” down 2-4 via Columbia), Ed Sheeran and Elton John (“Merry Christmas” down 4-5 via Atlantic) and Brenda Lee (“Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” down 5-8 via MCA) impact the top 10.

It’s the season to be jolly, and it’s also the season for punk act the K**ts to stage a return with a protest song. At No. 7, “F**k The Tories” (via Tactical Voting) is the highest new entry on the chart, published Dec. 23. It’s the English act’s third consecutive Christmas top 10, following “Boris Johnson Is Still A F**king C**t” in 2021 and “Boris Johnson Is A F**king C**t” in 2020, both peaking at No. 5.

The Christmas albums crown belongs to Taylor Swift, whose 2022 smash Midnights (EMI) lifts 3-1 on the Official Chart, with over 17,000 chart units, according to the OCC.

Midnights joins 2020’s Folklore as Swift’s only LPs to log three weeks at the U.K. summit, and it’s the only non-Christmas album to inhabit the current top 3, as Cliff Richard’s Christmas With Cliff (EastWest/Rhino) lifts 8-2, and Michael Bublé’s Christmas (Reprise) improves 4-3.

Twitter went down for thousands of users

Thousands of Twitter users reported having issues accessing the website tonight on Downdetector. Based on people’s reports, the outage started just before 7PM Eastern time and reached its peak at around 7:44PM. We haven’t had any issues from our end, but reports continued well into the night and (as of this writing) is still ongoing for some users. Downdetector reports also indicate that most people have had issues accessing the website itself — only a fraction had problems loading the social network through its apps. 

According to The Guardian, users who couldn’t access the website were met with a message that read “something went wrong, but don’t fret — it’s not your fault.” Twitter has yet to issue an official statement for the outage. The Twitter Support account hasn’t tweeted about it, and when some users posted about Twitter being broken, Elon Musk responded that he wasn’t having any trouble loading the social network.

Works for me

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 29, 2022

On Christmas Eve, Musk revealed that he had disconnected one of Twitter’s more sensitive server racks, but that the social network still works. Musk famously purchased Twitter for $44 billion in October, months after initiating the acquisition and trying to back out of the deal. The company had laid off around half of the workforce and thousands of contractors since then, and one former employee told The Washington Post in November that they knew of six critical systems that “no longer have any engineers.”

Isik Mater, the director of research at internet monitoring service NetBlocks, told The New York Times that “the problems with Twitter exhibit in multiple countries and are widespread.” Mater also said that the “platform API is affected, which serves the mobile app as well as many aspects of the desktop site.”