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Swedish Pop Duo Roxette Cancels 40th Anniversary North American Tour

Published

29 minutes ago

July 25, 2026

Roxette, the Swedish pop duo that scored some U.S. hit radio singles in the late 1980s and early ’90s, won’t be touring in North America this year despite the recent announcement that their 1990 song “It Must Have Been Love” has racked up more than a billion YouTube views.

In an Instagram post this morning, founder/co-frontman Per Gessle announced that due to “logistics and hugely increased touring costs,” Live Nation US has decided to postpone the tour.

Gessle, on behalf of himself, current singing partner Lena Philipsson and their band are disappointed by the Live Nation decision, and noted that the U.S. “is by far our biggest streaming market.”

“This decision was made by Live Nation USA,” he writes, “which they probably based on their own calculations. I hope we can play for our fab fans in the USA and Canada at some point in the near future.”

The 40th anniversary amphitheater tour was to have included other ’80s-era stars Taylor Dayne (“Tell It To My Heart”) and Nick Lowe (“Cruel To Be Kind”).

Roxette’s song “It Must Have Been Love” was initially released in 1987 but achieved its peak popularity came following its inclusion in the 1990 hit film Pretty Woman. The duo’s other hits included “The Look” and “Listen To Your Heart,” all of which were sung by Gessle and Marie Fredriksson, who died in 2019 years after being diagnosed with a brain tumor.

The original duo last performed together in 2016, and Roxette reformed in 2024 with Gessle and Swedish singer Lena Philipsson. While the revamped Roxette remains a successful overseas touring unit, the duo’s touring popularity went largely untested in the U.S. following its last full series of concerts here in the 1990s.

While Live Nation’s cancellation of the Roxette tour could be due to what is being called “blue dot fever,” in which sluggish tour ticket sales result in cancellations or postponements (seating plans on ticketing platforms mark unsold or available seats with a blue dot.) Among those hit by the fever include Meghan Trainor, Zayn Malik, Post Malone, Jelly Roll and the Pussycat Dolls.

The weak Roxette sales, however, can’t be so easily attributed to blue dot fever, at least not entirely. While the duo’s hits remain popular on YouTube, those videos feature the original line-up of Gessle and Fredriksson.

Among the canceled 14 North American tour dates are stops previously announced for September and October in Toronto, Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles, among others. July and August tour dates for Germany and Switzerland remain scheduled.

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‘Futurama’ Gets 3 Extended Special Episodes; Season 14 Trailer Debuts

Published

1 hour ago

July 25, 2026

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There’s plenty more Futurama on the way.

Hulu has given the green light to three extended-length episodes of Futurama, which are currently in production, it was revealed during the series’ panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday. The first of the “XXXL-sized” specials will be Christmas themed and is expected to launch in 2027.

Details about the other two specials are being kept under wraps for now. To hold fans over, the streamer also has treated audiences to a new trailer for the upcoming 14th season of Futurama.

Watch the trailer, which teases an intergalactic and perhaps inter-dimensional mission. Here’s the logline: “Brace yourselves… The future is about to get a whole lot stranger! It’s a non-stop onslaught of swaggering space pirates, lab-grown meats, sexy scams… plus the shocking return of Dr. Zoidberg’s lost love! You didn’t see that coming, prior to being told about it just now!”

Season 14 stars John DiMaggio, Billy West, Katey Sagal, Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, Lauren Tom, Phil Lamarr, and David Herman.

Futurama is created by by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen. Executive producers include Groening, Cohen, Ken Keeler and Claudia Katz. The series hails from 20th Television Animation, a part of Disney Television Studios. Animation is provided by Rough Draft Studios.

Futurama premieres Monday, August 3 with two new episodes on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers and Disney+ internationally. New episodes will stream Mondays.

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Katy Perry “Deeply Appalled” At White House Use Of Her Song ‘Firework’

Published

2 hours ago

July 25, 2026

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Katy Perry says she’s “deeply appalled and angry” over the Trump Administration’s TikTok use of her song “Firework” that accompanied video footage of U.S. military strikes in Iran.

In a social media post today, Perry writes, “I am deeply appalled and angry to see ‘Firework’ used on the @WhiteHouse TikTok account as a backing track for video footage of military strikes. I did not approve this, I was not asked, and I absolutely do not condone it.

“I wrote this song to be an anthem of hope, healing, and inner strength for people going through their darkest personal moments,” she continues. “To see a message of self-worth and upliftment weaponized to soundtrack destruction and violence is a complete violation of everything my song stands for. My music is for bringing people together, not celebrating warfare.”

The White House TikTok account posted the video Thursday, with the military strikes set to the “Firework” lyrics “boom boom boom.” The TikTok post carries the caption “Iran has been warned.”

See the video and Perry’s response below.

The video arrived as President Donald Trump has been threatening to continue and even increase its bombing campaign in Iran. At a press briefing Friday, a reporter asked Trump, “You’re talking about blowing up civilian power plants and bridges. Much of the civilized world would consider that a war crime. Do you?”

Trump answered by saying, “I won’t respond to that question,” and then asked where the reporter works. Told The New York Times, Trump said, ‘Figures. Failing New York Times,” repeating a much-debunked claim about the news organization’s fiscal health.

Perry, a former American Idol judge, is just the latest musician to take issue with the Trump Administration’s use of their songs. Last month, Ariana Grande slammed the White House for using her 2024 song “Bye” in a video promoting the Trump-signed Secure America Act, which would fund ICE and Border Patrol.

“Please do not ever use my music ⁠in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense,” wrote Grande in the comment section of the White House post.

I am deeply appalled and angry to see “Firework” used on the @WhiteHouse TikTok account as a backing track for video footage of military strikes. I did not approve this, I was not asked, and I absolutely do not condone it.

I wrote this song to be an anthem of hope, healing, and…

— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) July 25, 2026

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‘Bob’s Burgers Sets Exclusive Holiday Short For Hulu

Published

2 hours ago

July 25, 2026

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Bob’s Burgers is finally joining fellow 20th Television Animation comedies for Fox The Simpsons and Family Guy in releasing an original installment exclusively on its Disney streaming home.

At the Bob’s Burgers San Diego Comic-Con panel Saturday, creator and executive producer Loren Bouchard announced “On the Fort Day of Christmas“, a holiday short premiering during this year’s holiday season exclusively on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally in most markets.

In “On the Fort Day of Christmas”, a record-breaking Christmas snowstorm means one thing to the Belcher kids — a record-breaking Christmas snow fort.

The Simpsons and Family Guy started making exclusive episodes for Disney+ and Hulu, where their libraries are housed, respectively, when the series’ longtime broadcast network Fox a couple of years ago started ordering shorter seasons. The shows’ studio, 20th TV Animation, kept the annual output relatively steady, diverting the surplus episodes to its streaming platforms.

Bob’s Burgers, the third of the long-running Fox series from 20th TV Animation, had not done original streamlining specials until now.

The Simpsons in May revealed the latest episodes to stream exclusively on Disney+: double-episode “Extreme Makeover: Homer Edition,” released June 17, followed by full-length episodes “Simpsley” on July 3 and “Yellow Mirror,” a take on Black Mirror, on Aug. 26. Family Guy has been doing a Halloween and Christmas specials the last two years.

Bob’s Burgers centers on the working-class Belcher family — parents Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) and Linda (John Roberts) and their three children, Tina (Dan Mintz), Gene (Eugene Mirman), and Louise (Kristen Schaal) — who run a seaside New Jersey hamburger restaurant and their adventures interacting with the eccentric members of their community.

Bouchard was joined on the Comic-Con panel by stars Benjamin, Roberts, Schaal, Mirman as well as Supervising Director Bernard Derriman.

Season 17 of Bob’s Burgers debuts on Fox in midseason 2027, and will stream on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers in the U.S.

Bouchard executive produces alongside Nora Smith, Dan Fybel, Rich Rinaldi, Jon Schroeder, Steven Davis, Scott Jacobson, Holly Schlesinger, Wendy Molyneux, Lizzie Molyneux-Logelin and Janelle Momary-Neely. The series was co-developed by Jim Dauterive.