Los Angeles’ music industry, in recent years, has generally supported progressive causes. But as the primaries for the city’s mayoral race and California‘s governorship wrapped up Tuesday, some music executives and performers have supported and donated large amounts to Spencer Pratt, the right-leaning activist and reality TV star running for mayor.
According to data from the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, Pratt’s supporters include two members of the record industry’s most powerful family who donated the maximum amount allowed by law.
Pratt is a registered Republican whose heated rhetoric about homeless “zombies” and AI-created advertisements have rankled progressives and delighted conservatives. He has received support from President Trump, who told reporters that “I’d like to see him do well. He’s a character. I don’t know him, I assume he probably supports me… I heard he’s a big MAGA person.”
In response, Pratt told TMZ that “Everybody wants me to succeed because L.A. is the most important city in the country. The only support I need is from moms that wanna feel safe in Los Angeles. I’m laser-focused on that.”
Universal Music Group is home to some of music’s most outspoken progressives, including Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish, whose brother and collaborator Finneas O’Connell donated $250 to the progressive mayoral candidate Nithya Raman on May 6.
Earlier this year, UMG’s chairman and chief executive Lucian Grainge presented Rodrigo with the company’s Universal Music Group x REVERB Amplifier Award, which advocates for “social and environmental nonprofit campaigns through the cultural power of music,” according to a release.
On May 9, Grainge (listed as a resident of Pacific Palisades, where Pratt lost his home in the 2025 fires) maxed out with an $1,800 donation to Pratt’s campaign, as previously reported in The Times. A representative for UMG did not immediately return a request for comment on Grainge’s donation.
He’s not the only Pratt donor in the family.
Grainge’s son Elliot ascended through the record industry with his 10k Projects label, and now heads UMG’s competitor Atlantic Records. Vocal progressives like Cardi B, the Marías and Charli XCX are some of the label’s most high-profile acts.
On May 8, Elliot Grainge also gave $1,800 to Pratt‘s campaign. A representative for Atlantic did not immediately return a request for comment.
Last month, the record producer and composing titan David Foster and his wife, singer Katharine McPhee, performed at a fundraiser for Pratt where they crooned a version of Tina Turner’s hit “The Best” to the mayoral hopeful. “Spencer, you’re simply the best. Better than all the rest. Better than Karen Bass and Nithya Raman,” McPhee sang.
At Warner Music, Gabz Landman, the senior vice president for A&R at Warner Chappell, its powerful music publishing wing, who has worked with Dua Lipa, Laufey and Amy Allen, gave $105.24 to Pratt on Feb. 4. Through a Warner Music representative, Landman said the donation was for merchandise given to a friend, and was not intended as support for Pratt’s campaign.
The superstar EDM producer and DJ Kaskade has left supportive messages on Pratt’s social media, commenting on one of the candidate’s posts that “At this point, who is buying in to Bass’s fairytale narrative?! I am still shocked she hasn’t resigned!” The DJ and producer Diplo also left a supportive comment — a prayer-hands emoji and “please” — on one of Pratt’s social media posts. Records do not show any personal donations to Pratt’s campaign from either artist.
Public records do not show any donations to Pratt’s campaign from live-industry executives atop firms like Live Nation, AEG or Goldenvoice.
Two of music’s most powerful executives maxed out donations to Spencer Pratt
Los Angeles’ music industry, in recent years, has generally supported progressive causes. But as the primaries for the city’s mayoral race and California‘s governorship wrapped up Tuesday, some music executives and performers have supported and donated large amounts to Spencer Pratt, the right-leaning activist and reality TV star running for mayor.
According to data from the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, Pratt’s supporters include two members of the record industry’s most powerful family who donated the maximum amount allowed by law.
Pratt is a registered Republican whose heated rhetoric about homeless “zombies” and AI-created advertisements have rankled progressives and delighted conservatives. He has received support from President Trump, who told reporters that “I’d like to see him do well. He’s a character. I don’t know him, I assume he probably supports me… I heard he’s a big MAGA person.”
In response, Pratt told TMZ that “Everybody wants me to succeed because L.A. is the most important city in the country. The only support I need is from moms that wanna feel safe in Los Angeles. I’m laser-focused on that.”
Universal Music Group is home to some of music’s most outspoken progressives, including Olivia Rodrigo and Billie Eilish, whose brother and collaborator Finneas O’Connell donated $250 to the progressive mayoral candidate Nithya Raman on May 6.
Earlier this year, UMG’s chairman and chief executive Lucian Grainge presented Rodrigo with the company’s Universal Music Group x REVERB Amplifier Award, which advocates for “social and environmental nonprofit campaigns through the cultural power of music,” according to a release.
On May 9, Grainge (listed as a resident of Pacific Palisades, where Pratt lost his home in the 2025 fires) maxed out with an $1,800 donation to Pratt’s campaign, as previously reported in The Times. A representative for UMG did not immediately return a request for comment on Grainge’s donation.
He’s not the only Pratt donor in the family.
Grainge’s son Elliot ascended through the record industry with his 10k Projects label, and now heads UMG’s competitor Atlantic Records. Vocal progressives like Cardi B, the Marías and Charli XCX are some of the label’s most high-profile acts.
On May 8, Elliot Grainge also gave $1,800 to Pratt‘s campaign. A representative for Atlantic did not immediately return a request for comment.
Last month, the record producer and composing titan David Foster and his wife, singer Katharine McPhee, performed at a fundraiser for Pratt where they crooned a version of Tina Turner’s hit “The Best” to the mayoral hopeful. “Spencer, you’re simply the best. Better than all the rest. Better than Karen Bass and Nithya Raman,” McPhee sang.
At Warner Music, Gabz Landman, the senior vice president for A&R at Warner Chappell, its powerful music publishing wing, who has worked with Dua Lipa, Laufey and Amy Allen, gave $105.24 to Pratt on Feb. 4. Through a Warner Music representative, Landman said the donation was for merchandise given to a friend, and was not intended as support for Pratt’s campaign.
The superstar EDM producer and DJ Kaskade has left supportive messages on Pratt’s social media, commenting on one of the candidate’s posts that “At this point, who is buying in to Bass’s fairytale narrative?! I am still shocked she hasn’t resigned!” The DJ and producer Diplo also left a supportive comment — a prayer-hands emoji and “please” — on one of Pratt’s social media posts. Records do not show any personal donations to Pratt’s campaign from either artist.
Public records do not show any donations to Pratt’s campaign from live-industry executives atop firms like Live Nation, AEG or Goldenvoice.
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Olivia Rodrigo slams babydoll disses, says it normalizes pedophilia
Some are calling the controversy over Olivia Rodrigo’s recent outfit choices babydoll-dress-gate, Olivia Rodrigo calls it “weird.”
The dress debacle kicked up in early May when Rodrigo released the music video for “Drop Dead,” in which she runs through the Palace of Versailles wearing a pink-and-blue ruffled babydoll set while singing about the intensity of a crush. Then on May 8, she wore a cottage-core pink-and-white floral babydoll dress with knee-high Dr. Martens during a live performance in Barcelona.
Rodrigo was drawing from subversive feminist and punk fashion of yore, but internet critics were quick to slam the “deja vu” singer, saying the ensemble was sexualizing child-like imagery. In an hour-and-a-half interview with the New York Times Popcast that dropped on Thursday, Rodrigo staunchly defended the dress and called the criticism disturbing.
“I have worn outfits that are maybe revealing on stage, like I’ve been on stage in a sparkly bra and little shorts — which is my right — that’s fun,” she said. “I felt cool and comfortable in that, and that wasn’t inappropriate, but me fully covered up in a dress that people deemed to be, like, childlike was inappropriate, and I think it shows how we really normalize pedophilia in our culture.”
Rodrigo further decried the criticism as rhetoric that girls are fed from a young age, “which is ‘don’t wear that, because then a man is going to sexualize your body, and it’s your fault’ — it’s so weird.”
Rodrigo said she didn’t think she looked “sexy” in the babydoll dress; she was going for a cool look à la Kathleen Hannah or like Courtney Love, musicians whom the pop star said are her heroes. Love appeared to defend Rodrigo on social media by resharing posts defending the singer-songwriter in since-expired Instagram stories.
“I just think if we start dressing in a way that’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t want some f— freak to think that I am sexy like a baby’ or some crazy thing like that, I think it’s losing the plot a little bit,” she said. “I’m very protective of younger women and girls, and I don’t ever want them to be fed that rhetoric. You shouldn’t be responsible for some guy sexualizing you in a way that was never your intention.”
Rodrigo’s third studio album, “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love,” which features hit singles “Drop Dead” and “The Cure,” will be released June 12.
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How to get Olivia Rodrigo tickets and full list of her 2027 UK tour dates
OLIVIA Rodrigo is set to embark on a huge world tour later this year.
She is releasing a new album in the summer, and to mark it, the superstar singer will be performing across the globe.
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What are Olivia Rodrigo’s UK tour dates?
To mark the release of her upcoming record, Rodrigo is going on a world tour that will span North America, Europe and the UK, with over 60 dates announced.
It is titled ‘The Unravelled Tour’ and will start in the US in September 2026.
The tour will start its UK leg in April 2027, with four nights at London’s O2 Arena the only dates announced so far in Britain. The dates announced for the London shows are:
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How can I get tickets for Olivia Rodrigo’s tour?
Tickets for the tour go on general sale on Friday, May 7 at 12pm, and will be available on Ticketmaster here – but there are ways to grab tickets ahead of that date.
There are various presales in which you can secure your place at one of the gigs:
There will also be tickets available on secondary ticket websites, such as Viagogo here.
No prices have yet been confirmed for the tour, however for an idea of how much they could be, her 2024 GUTS tour ranged from around £65 to £200 for non-VIP tickets.
Cheaper “silver star” tickets will also be made available during the tour. In the US they’ll cost just $20, with the UK dates priced at ‘a local currency equivalent’.
These tickets will be made available at a later date.
When is Olivia Rodrigo’s new album released?
Olivia’s new album “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love” comes out on June 12.
So far, she has only released one track from her new record, a song called “Drop Dead”.
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Addison Rae brings out Olivia Rodrigo at Coachella weekend 2 to perform new single Drop Dead
ADDISON Rae surprised music lovers at Coachella weekend two by bringing out Olivia Rodrigo to perform her new single Drop Dead.
The track came out on Friday, marking itself as the lead single off of Olivia’s much-anticipated third album “you look pretty sad for a girl so in love.”
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The Diet Pepsi singer turned to the crowd and asked them if they had been listening to any new music during the week, before beginning to sing her 2025 single, Headphones On.
However, when Addison sung the lyrics “I compare myself to the new IT girl,” Olivia came out of nowhere and joined in the performance.
The moment was met with enormous cheers from the crowd, as no one expected a special guest to arrive.
But the roaring reception only got louder as the ladies launched into singing Drop Dead.
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Olivia announced that she was releasing her third album earlier this month via a post to her Instagram channel.
In the post she shared a photo of the front cover, showing her with her eyes shut on a swing set.
In the caption she revealed the release date as June 12, sharing: “My third album ‘You seem pretty sad for a girl so in love’ is out June 12th.
“I am so proud of this record and I can’t wait for you to hear it.”
Drop Dead is the first new music to arrive from Olivia since September 2023 when she released her Sophomore album, GUTS.
GUTS achieved massive success with hits including Vampire and Bad Idea Right?
It followed the success of her debut album SOUR from 2021, adored for smash-hit Drivers License.
Weekend two of Coachella has been incredibly popular, abundant with A-list celebrities and more surprise guests.
Sabrina Carpenter wowed the audience on Friday night with a long set that told the story of a young girl navigating Hollywood throughout each song.
But just when fans thought the show couldn’t get any better Sabrina brought out Madonna, and they dueted a rendition of Like A Prayer.
Justin Bieber also wowed the crowd and got them in their feelings, bringing a laptop on stage to sing along to his old hits karaoke-style.
But PinkPantheress pulled out all the stops when it came to surprise guests.
The songstress brought out not one but three fellow musicians including Zara Larsson and Janelle Monae.
KATSEYE concluded the trio of surprise singers, and the crowd absolutely loved it.
Coachella festival is held annually at the Empire Polo Club in California.
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