• Taylor Swift donated $113,000 to an LGBT rights group in Tennessee.
• The group is specifically fighting several bills that are currently floating in various stages of the state’s government and that will impact the rights of the LGBT community.

Taylor’s Donation

Pop star Taylor Swift donated $113,000 dollars on Monday to an LGBT rights group in Tennesse.

Swift’s donation was given to the Tennessee Equality Project, which fights to stop anti-LGBT legislation from passing within the state, and aims to educate the community on equality.

TEP’s Executive Director, Chris Sanders, posted news of Swift’s charitable contribution to Facebook. He thanked her for being a long-time ally and said, “she sees our struggle in Tennessee and continues to add her voice with so many good people.”

With his post, he also shared a hand-written letter Swift addressed to him, where she said she was “inspired” by TEP’s work, specifically noting their stance against the “Slate of Hate.”

Anti-LGBT Bills in Tennessee

The “Slate of Hate” Swift mentions in her letter refers to a series of bills proposed in Tennessee’s General Assembly that could negatively impact the LGBT community. TEP created “The People’s Petition Against the Slate of Hate” to fight against them.

These bills include HB1152 and HB836, which both aim to allow adoption agencies to deny services based on religious beliefs, which TEP called “state-sanctioned discrimination.”

The slate also includes HB1369, which is known as “The Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act.” This act defines natural marriage as between a man and a woman and allows courts to void the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that effectively legalized gay marriage.

There are also two pieces of legislation that TEP specifically believes will target the transgender community. The first being HB1151, which is an amendment to the state’s indecent exposure rules that expand it to specifically include incidents in restrooms, fitting rooms, and locker rooms. The TEP called this bill a “devious attempt to criminalize transgender and gender nonconforming people” in these settings.

Then there is also HB1274, which some refer to as the “bathroom bill.” This would require the state’s Attorney General to defend schools that mandate that students and faculty use the bathroom of their “biological sex.” This bill also just passed through Tennesee’s House on Monday.

TEP released a statement on these bills, that was also backed by over 100 religious leaders in the state, ranging from pastors to rabbis.

“As residents of Tennessee, we oppose these bills in the Tennessee General Assembly,” the statement reads. “They promote discrimination rather than justice and demean the worth of LGBTQ people in our state.  We call on people of good will to join us in speaking out for basic fairness.”

Reactions to Swift’s Donation

The “Shake it Off” singer’s donation trended online, and was met with positivity.

Ellen Degeneres tweeted her praise.

The Human Rights Campaign thanked her for supporting their “incredible partners.”

Taylor’s Past Political Actions

This hefty donation is not Swift’s first jump into Tennessee politics. Back in October, she made a long post on Instagram about her choice to use her voice for politics and endorsed Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen.

View this post on Instagram

I’m writing this post about the upcoming midterm elections on November 6th, in which I’ll be voting in the state of Tennessee. In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now. I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent. I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love. Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me. She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry. These are not MY Tennessee values. I will be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives. Please, please educate yourself on the candidates running in your state and vote based on who most closely represents your values. For a lot of us, we may never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote anyway. So many intelligent, thoughtful, self-possessed people have turned 18 in the past two years and now have the right and privilege to make their vote count. But first you need to register, which is quick and easy to do. October 9th is the LAST DAY to register to vote in the state of TN. Go to vote.org and you can find all the info. Happy Voting! 🗳😃🌈

A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Oct 7, 2018 at 4:33pm PDT

She also encouraged her followers to head to Vote.org to register before the upcoming midterms, which lead to a surge of registrations. The site said they received 65,000 new registrations in the 24 hours after she posted, which is more than they received throughout the whole month of August.

See what others are saying: (Tennessean) (The Hollywood Reporter) (Jezebel)

• Old explicit images of actress Amanda Seyfried have resurfaced online.
• The photos were stolen from the star and released n 2017 during the second wave of celebrity nude photo leaks.
• Fans have defended Seyfried in recent days, calling for social media users to stop sharing the photos.

Photos Resurface

Explicit nude photos of actress Amanda Seyfried resurfaced on social media over the weekend, prompting fans to speak out in her defense and condemn the invasion of privacy.

Seyfried is one of several stars who had personal photos stolen and released without consent in 2017. The leak was dubbed “The Fappening 2.0” which is a reference to the first major celebrity nude photo leak that happened in 2014.

Along with Seyfried, the second wave of leaks affected stars like Emma Watson and Jillian Murray. The leaked photos of Seyfried reportedly show the actress performing a sex act on her then-boyfriend, Justin Long.

Seyfried and others have taken legal action to fight back against the invasion of privacy, but the images have been lingering on the internet for years.

Fans React

Many Twitter users make jokes about the photos, calling the actress “goals” and “iconic.”

However, the jokes outraged fans who reminded users that this is a huge invasion of privacy.

amanda seyfried is probably having THE worst moment of her life knowing that this picture will follow her for the rest of her fucking life, compromising her job as an actress and the respectability in the industry. and y’all got JOKES?! whew. the lack of humanity. tragic.

— alexi (@90sgypsy) April 7, 2019

See what others are saying: (Hollywood Life) (Celebrity Insider) (The Inquisitor)  

• At least 19 people were injured Monday night after a stampede broke out at a vigil for the late rapper Nipsey Hussle.
• Later that evening, Los Angeles Police identified the suspect in the killing as 29-year-old Eric Holder.
• Police are now asking the public for help locating the suspect.

Vigil Turns Into Madness

At least 19 people were injured in a stampede Monday night when a candlelight vigil for the late rapper Nipsey Hussle turned into chaos.

Around 300 fans gathered to mourn the loss of the rapper outside his Marathon Clothing shop in South Los Angeles, the same area where he was gunned down Sunday afternoon.

The memorial in front of @NipseyHussle’s store is huge. Hundreds of people are still gathered. The crowd has hardly shrunk since late last night. @ABC7 pic.twitter.com/NWICnVqgRZ

— Veronica Miracle (@ABC7Veronica) April 1, 2019

The memorial ended abruptly when multiple people were trampled and local authorities began forming containment lines.

According to Los Angeles Police Chief Michael Moore, it’s not immediately clear what caused the panic at the memorial. Initial reports suggested that gunfire had broken out, however, police later confirmed that no shots had been fired.

Musician DeAndre Harvey, who was at the memorial, to the LA Times that the event was initially peaceful, with fans and friends passing around a megaphone and sharing stories about Hussle.

Harvey said that things changed after a fight broke out. The fight caused liquor bottles and candles to break, which then caused some in the crowd to think there was a shooting.

“I didn’t hear gunshots,” he said. “I just saw everyone running for their lives.”

A HUGE stampede of people rushed out of the @NipseyHussle memorial area. People thought they heard something break or a loud noise and started running. @ABC7 pic.twitter.com/rVp84eNCYi

— Veronica Miracle (@ABC7Veronica) April 2, 2019

Injuries

The Los Angeles Fire Department said that 19 patients were transported to local hospitals. The department said the majority of the patients had non-life threatening “trample injuries.” However, at least two people had critical injuries and two others had serious injuries.

One person was injured after being struck by a vehicle, while another suffered a penetrating wound of an unknown cause.

Police spokeswoman Meghan Aguilar said that one police officer was also injured. She said rocks and bottles were thrown at officers clearing the area and at least one person was detained for disorderly conduct.

Suspect Indentified

Late Monday night, Los Angeles police also released the name of the suspect who they believe shot and killed Hussle and injured two others.

The alleged gunman was identified as 29-year old Eric Holder. According to police, he walked up to the men and fired serval shots at them. He then fled into an alley where a sedan was waiting. The sedan was driven by a woman who has not been identified.

Eric Holder is wanted for Homicide in the shooting of Nipsey Hussle. He was last seen in a 2016 white 4 door Chevy Cruze CA license plate 7RJD742. Anyone with information related to his whereabouts or this deadly shooting is urged to contact South Bureau Homicide at 323-786-5100 pic.twitter.com/3pX4fbezDs

— LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) April 2, 2019

Holder was last seen in a white, four-door, 2016 Chevy Cruze, with the California license plate 7RJD742, the police department said on Twitter.

“Anyone with information related to his whereabouts or this deadly shooting is urged to contact South Bureau Homicide at 323-786-5100.”

See what others are saying: (CNN) (Fox News)(The New York Times)