In December Amanda revealed that she had lost over 28lbs with the assistance of Ozympic.
Posting on social media to celebrate the achievement, Amanda penned to her followers that she was “down 152lbs” to date.
Amanda first announced that she was going to begin her Ozympic journey last June when the craze of weight loss injections swept the entertainment industry by storm.
At the time she described feeling “so excited” to shed some pounds and that she’ll “look better in paparazzi pictures”.
Amanda had previously opened up about battling depression and cited it as one of the reasons behind her weight gain.
She was a child star on Nickelodeon back in the 2000sCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
It led to her becoming increasingly insecure, hoping to someday return to her teenage weight of 110lbs.
As she grew up, Amanda underwent some different procedures to alter her appearance.
Last August Amanda confirmed that she had gotten excess skin surgically removed from her eyelids.
She described the procedure, known as a blepharoplasty as “one of the best things [she] could have ever done for [her] self-confidence.”
Amanda has also had various tattoos done over the years, including a Roman numeral on her finger and a heart on her face.
Some of the popular TV shows that she featured in include All That and The Amanda Show.
She won several Kids’ Choice Awards for both programmes, and later went on to star in sit coms and teen comedy films including What I Like About You, Hairspray, and Living Proof.
After the end of her conservatorship, Amanda pivoted to try out other creative pursuits including releasing music.
She released her first singles, Diamonds and Fairfax, back in 2022.
She’s ditched her signature blonde hair for a bold new lookCredit: TikTok / @amanda.bynes1986
On the first Sunday night of Coachella, headliner Karol G told her American fans, and her global audience, to keep fighting.
“This is for my Latinos that have been struggling in this country lately,” the Colombian superstar told the tens of thousands watching her in person, and many more on the fest’s livestream. She’d recently criticized ICE in a Playboy interview, but this set was about her fans’ resolve. “We want everyone to feel welcome to our culture, so I want everyone to feel proud of where you come from. Don’t feel fear — feel pride!” she said.
Any artist would be proud to play that caliber of headline slot. But right now, many foreign acts also feel fear — or at least wariness — about booking substantial tours in the United States. A year of brutal ICE raids, tensions at border crossings and policed political speech, coupled with sky-high prices for expedited visas, fuel and other touring logistics, could push international acts away from the U.S.
“The fears that ICE would raid shows didn’t really materialize, but there is a chilling effect,” said Andy Gensler, editor of the touring-biz trade bible Pollstar. “Trump’s only been back in office a year, so we haven’t fully seen the effects, but it does send a message that if you’re a political artist you won’t get a visa. With the economic shock of gas prices and tourism way down, the signifiers are out there.”
The music economy is still thriving in SoCal. Coachella sold out with record spending from fans, and fears that ICE might show up for a prominent Latin headliner proved unfounded. (The agency did not respond to a request for comment on Coachella, and Lt. Deirdre Vickers of the Riverside County Sheriff’s office said that their office “does not participate in immigration enforcement operations.”)
But in smaller venues featuring emerging and mid-tier global acts, some see trouble ahead.
Pollstar’s Gensler estimates that the total number of concerts in the U.S. they tracked for the first quarter of 2026 was down about 17% from last year. That could be due to many economic factors — but slower international touring could be contributing.
“The U.S. is still incredibly lucrative market, the arena and stadium level buildings are vast and you can make more money here than any market in the world,” Gensler said. “But I’ve heard anecdotally that fewer people are going to South by Southwest, and tourism from Canada is way down, and that includes music tourism to California. As barriers go up, and the economic shock of gas prices impacts touring, it’s hard to know how that will all shake out.”
Talent firms who specialize in bringing young acts to the U.S. began noticing pullback before this year’s festival season. Adam Lewis is the head of Planetary Group, a marketing agency that produces and promoting musician showcases in the U.S., with a significant roster of artists from abroad. He said that performers who ordinarily would leap at the chance to play U.S. festivals are taking hard looks at the payoffs and risks.
“Artists are thinking twice, based on what the government is doing right now,” Lewis said. “You can look at the economics — the fees are cost prohibitive to get a visa. People are scared, at the bottom line. Artists and industry people are afraid to come to the U.S. for any music event. The money is going elsewhere.”
South by Southwest, the March Texas confab for music, film and tech, was among the first festivals to feel a pinch this year. Several sources said they saw fewer foreign showcases and acts amid a broader culling of music. In 2025, Canada canceled its popular annual showcase, after deciding that hostile policies made the risks not worth the rewards. Many still pulled off successful events, but acknowledged the mood has shifted.
“The perception of how hard it’s gotten has taken root, and that has meant that not as many acts will take the chance on the threat of being turned away or risking future entry,” said Angela Dorgan, the director of Music From Ireland, the Irish Music Export office (which is funded by Culture Ireland). That organization has helped break acts like CMAT (a hit at Coachella this year) and Fontaines DC in the U.S.
“Artists want to continue to come here in spite of the trouble and not stay away because of it. There’s a unique pull to America for all Irish people, so we don’t want to see you hurting,” Dorgan said. ”Irish artists feel that their U.S. fans need music more than ever now and want to continue to connect with and support their fans.”
Takafumi Sugahara, the organizer of “Tokyo Calling X Inspired By Tokyo,” a Japanese showcase at South by Southwest, agreed: “Bringing artists to the United States has always been challenging when it comes to obtaining visas, but it feels like the process has become even more difficult than before — perhaps due to the current political climate under the current administration.”
Fans watch Karol G perform at the Coachella stage last weekend. “We want everyone to feel welcome to our culture, so I want everyone to feel proud of where you come from. Don’t feel fear — feel pride!” the Colombian superstar said.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
After high-profile incidents of tourist detainments and fear of reprisals for political speech, those worries and long-dreaded expenses may shift their priorities. “From my point of view, the impact of global conflicts or wars does not seem to be affecting artists’ decisions very strongly for now,” they said. “However, if the current situation were to worsen, it’s possible that we could begin to see that change.”
Coachella usually hits a few visa snafus every year (this year, the English electronic artist Tourist had to cancel. Last year, it was FKA Twigs). Yet the Grammy-winning Malian Algerian group Tinariwen had to cancel a major tour this year, after the Trump administration placed severe new travel restrictions on 19 countries, including Mali. Folk legend Cat Stevens scotched a book tour after visa problems. Outspoken acts like the U.K.’s Bob Vylan have been denied U.S. visas for criticizing Israel, and the Irish rap group Kneecap faced hurdles after their visa sponsor, Independent Artist Group, dropped them for similar reasons last year.
The Times spoke to one European band (who asked not to be named, for fear of reprisals from the U.S. government) who had a substantial tour of U.S. theaters booked last year, before their visas were denied just days before the tour was due to begin. They were forced to cancel those dates and reschedule for spring 2026, losing tens of thousands of dollars in up-front costs and non-refundable fees. (A performance visa routinely costs $6,000 with now-necessary expedited processing.)
“Our manager said, ‘This has never happened before, but even though you paid lot of money and the check cleared, you won’t have visas,’” the band said. They wondered if their pro-Palestinian advocacy might have played a role, but now believe it was due to changes in their application forms.
That small discrepancy “meant we lost tens of thousands of [dollars], which for a mid-tier band with a loyal cult following, was quite ruinous,” they said. “We had to put on fundraising shows to get to zero, then re-apply for visas, and paid four grand extra to expedite them. We took out a loan to pay it. We felt relentlessly fleeced,” they said. “We love the U.S., but now there is a reality in which we have to cut our losses and stop coming. A lot of bands are giving up on the U.S., for sure.”
“It’s a different feeling now where the U.S. government can do anything to us, and we just have to take it,” they added. “They’re moving the goalposts the whole time. It’s scary.”
That fate can befall even major acts, particularly those from Latin America.
Last year, superstar Mexican singer Julión Álvarez canceled his concert for a planned 50,000 fans in Arlington, Texas, when his touring visa was revoked. Grupo Firme faced a similar fate at the La Onda festival in Napa Valley. Los Alegres del Barranco saw their visas canceled after they projected an image of drug kingpin “El Mencho” during a concert.
“That was a moment where people realize how serious or scary it can get for promoters with this administration when comes to the visa situation, how quickly things can change and you can lose millions,” said Oscar Aréliz, a Latin music expert at Pollstar.
An act the caliber of Karol G might not face quite the same risks, though she told Playboy that “If you say the thing, maybe the next day you’ll get a call: ‘Hey, we are taking your visa away.’ You become bait, because some people want to show their power.”
If it can happen to a stadium-filler like Álvarez, it can happen to anyone. That might make some Latin acts prioritize other regions.
Bad Bunny demurred on touring the continental U.S. for fear of ICE raids at his shows, opting for a lengthy residence in his home territory of Puerto Rico instead.
Local Latin music hubs like Santa Fe Springs and Pico Rivera have suffered greatly under recent ICE raids and have seen fans retreat in fear. Las Vegas is a major touring destination for acts during Mexican independence celebrations in September, but now “it feels different,” Aréliz said. He expects the city — typically boisterous with Latin acts then — to lose a big chunk of music tourism from the north and south.
“Vegas’ top tourist countries are Canada and Mexico, so we’re going to see other countries benefit from this. If acts struggle to tour here because of the visa situation, they’re going to tour Mexico and Latin America instead,” he added.
Tours typically book a year in advance, so the full effects of the visa issues and ICE fears may not be felt until later in 2026 or 2027. The results of the midterm elections may change global perception of America’s safety. The country is still an incredibly valuable touring market for acts that can make it work.
But the world’s music community now looks at the U.S. like an old friend going through a rough patch: They’ll be happy to see us once we pull it together.
“Certainly over the last number of years in the U.S., we have been thinking of where we could find these new audiences for Irish music,” Dorgan said. “The unofficial theme of our at home showcase Ireland Music Week was, ‘America. We are not breaking up with you, but we are seeing other people.’”
Arrest comes after police found the body of Celeste Rivas in a car registered to the musician last year.
Published On 17 Apr 202617 Apr 2026
American rapper David Anthony Burke, known by his stage name d4vd, has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a 14-year-old girl whose dismembered body was found in a car registered to him.
Los Angeles police took the 21-year-old singer into custody on Thursday “for the murder of Celeste Rivas”, the city’s police department said in a statement. He is being held without bail.
Investigators found two black bags in the vehicle – one holding a decomposed head and torso and the other containing other body parts, according to a court filing. An autopsy revealed that Rivas “appeared to have been deceased inside the vehicle for an extended period of time before being found”. The discovery occurred one day before Rivas would have turned 15.
The LA County District Attorney’s office will review the case against Burke on Monday for formal charges, according to police.
Burke’s lawyers issued a statement saying they would “vigorously defend” his “innocence”.
“Let us be clear – the actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death,” lawyers Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter said in a statement quoted by NBC News.
Burke, from Queens, New York, shot to internet fame in 2022 when his Romantic Homicide became a breakout hit on TikTok.
Last year, the musician cancelled the last part of his US and European tours amid growing fallout from the investigation into Rivas’s death.
The steaming giant on Wednesday said it is partnering with the National Independent Venue Assn. (NIVA) to promote local music nationwide, including at dozens of clubs in L.A.
In the yearlong partnership, the company said it aims to boost visibility for independent music venues through its live events feed that will feature links to music from local artists and their performances at clubs in the Los Angeles area.
As part of the initiative, NIVA will choose someone who books the acts for these indie venues to work with Spotify’s editorial team and create a playlist featuring artists.
Spotify is launching the playlist this summer to celebrate and highlight the people shaping independent live music from behind the scenes.
The Regent Theater, Gold Diggers, the Teragram Ballroom and the United Theater on Broadway will be included in the program, Spotify said in its statement.
“Independent venues are the heartbeat of live music,” said Rene Volker, Spotify’s senior director of live music. “They’re where artists take risks, build devoted communities, and where fans discover what they’ll love for the rest of their lives.”
Spotify’s history in the music industry is complex, and it has previously faced some criticism over how it compensates artists whose songs stream on its platform.
Bill Werde, the director of Syracuse’s recording and entertainment industries program, said Spotify’s support for indie musicians could help them during a difficult time.
“It costs money to market, to collect good data and to do most of the things required to break through in today’s attention economy,” Werde said in a statement. “This creates a disadvantage for smaller music companies and smaller artists, who may not have the resources of larger acts and larger venues.”
