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Janet Jackson Performs Alongside YOLA at Sold-Out Concert in Los Angeles with Special Guest Ludacris

Singer Janet Jackson performs during the European MTV Awards in Bilbao, Spain, on Nov. 4, 2018. (AP)
Singer Janet Jackson performs during the European MTV Awards in Bilbao, Spain, on Nov. 4, 2018. (AP)
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Janet Jackson Performs Alongside YOLA at Sold-Out Concert in Los Angeles with Special Guest Ludacris

Singer Janet Jackson performs during the European MTV Awards in Bilbao, Spain, on Nov. 4, 2018. (AP)
Singer Janet Jackson performs during the European MTV Awards in Bilbao, Spain, on Nov. 4, 2018. (AP)

Janet Jackson inserted some youthful spirit into her normally mature concert during a Saturday night tour stop in Los Angeles.

In a show filled with nostalgic hits, Jackson took a moment to perform her 1993 ballad “Again” alongside the LA Phil’s Youth Orchestra Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl. Before the 16-member ensemble’s performance with the pop icon, the five-time Grammy winner had a brief conversation with an 11-year-old percussionist who has only been a part of the orchestra for a year.

“Tonight, is very special to me because we’re here to support LA Phil,” said Jackson in front of a sold-out crowd, which collectively rose to its feet to applaud the singer. She paid homage to the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the YOLA program that serves around 1,700 young musicians across five sites with free instruments, intensive music instruction, academic support and leadership training.

Last year, YOLA accompanied gospel duo Mary Mary to perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing” at the Super Bowl.

Jackson hugged the young percussionist then asked how she became aware of the program.

“My mom probably found YOLA on Instagram or social media, and she asked me if I was interested in a music program and I said ‘Sure, I’ll try it,’” the percussionist said. After their chat in front of thousands of concertgoers, Jackson told her “Let’s do something a little special.”

It was indeed.

Many in the audience pulled out their phones as Jackson sang alongside the orchestra - conducted by Thomas Wilkins - played the melody of “Again” from her fifth studio album “Janet.” The ballad also earned an Oscar nomination through the 1993 film “Poetic Justice.”

After Jackson’s performance with YOLA, the singer turned back to her more mature content with “Any Time, Any Place” before she segued into “I Get Lonely.” During her hour-plus long set, she put on an impressive show performing a plethora of her other hits including “That’s the Way Love Goes,” “Nasty,” “Control” and “Scream,” a song she recorded with her late brother, Michael Jackson.

Jackson had several notable names in attendance including “Fast X” stars Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster along with actors Larenz Tate and Lil Rel Howery.

Rodriguez and Brewster showed support to their cast mate Ludacris who performed as a guest ahead of Jackson. During the rapper’s 35-minute set, Tate danced in the aisle as other attendees rose to their feet and recited the lyrics to his songs from “What’s Your Fantasy,” “Area Codes” and “Welcome to Atlanta.”

After his performance, Ludacris joined the audience for a brief chat with his “Fast X” crew and Howery separately at their box seats during the beginning stages of Jackson’s show.

In all, it was an eventful night for Jackson who closed out her concert with “Rhythm Nation” - a Grammy-winning song from 1989 that drew a slew of fireworks at the venue. Her tour kicked off in April and will finish in Seattle on June 21.

Jackson's show opened the Hollywood Bowl's summer concerts from June and September that'll include performances by the Beach Boys, Gladys Knight, Jill Scott, Maxwell and Quincy Jones' 90th birthday tribute.

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Francis Ford Coppola Sues Variety Over Story Alleging ‘Megalopolis’ Misconduct 

Francis Ford Coppola, the writer/director of "Megalopolis," poses at the premiere of the film at Roy Thomson Hall during the Toronto International Film Festival, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Toronto. (AP)
Francis Ford Coppola, the writer/director of "Megalopolis," poses at the premiere of the film at Roy Thomson Hall during the Toronto International Film Festival, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Toronto. (AP)
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Francis Ford Coppola Sues Variety Over Story Alleging ‘Megalopolis’ Misconduct 

Francis Ford Coppola, the writer/director of "Megalopolis," poses at the premiere of the film at Roy Thomson Hall during the Toronto International Film Festival, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Toronto. (AP)
Francis Ford Coppola, the writer/director of "Megalopolis," poses at the premiere of the film at Roy Thomson Hall during the Toronto International Film Festival, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Toronto. (AP)

Francis Ford Coppola has sued Variety, saying that a July story that said he ran an unprofessional set with impunity and touching and tried to kiss female extras during the production of his film “Megalopolis” was false and libelous.

The suit, which seeks at least $15 million from the entertainment trade publication, was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, two weeks before the director's long-dreamed-of and self-financed epic is to be released in US theaters.

The suit calls the 85-year-old director of “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now” a “creative genius” and says others are “jealous” and therefore tell “knowing and reckless falsehoods.”

It says Variety's “writers and editors, hiding behind supposedly anonymous sources, accused Coppola of manifest incompetence as a motion picture director, of unprofessional behavior on the set of his most recent production, Megalopolis, of setting up some type of scheme so that anyone on the set who had a complaint of harassment or otherwise had nowhere to lodge a complaint, and of hugging topless actresses on the set. Each of these accusations was false.”

The lawsuit also names the story's reporters, Brent Lang and Tatiana Siegel, as defendants.

It repeatedly says Variety was either knowingly publicizing falsehoods or showing reckless disregard for the truth, echoing a standard for libel established by the US Supreme Court.

A Variety spokesperson, Jeffrey Schneider, told The Associated Press, “While we will not comment on active litigation, we stand by our reporters.”

Coppola said in a statement Thursday that nothing in his career compares to the difficult yet triumphant efforts to make “Megalopolis.”

“It was a collaboration of hundreds of artists, from extras to box office stars, to whom I consistently displayed the utmost respect and my deepest gratitude,” Coppola said. “To see our collective efforts tainted by false, reckless and irresponsible reporting is devastating.”

The July 26 story used anonymous reports and videos from crew members of the shooting for “Megalopolis” of a nightclub scene in an Atlanta concert hall in February, 2023. The story said Coppola tried to kiss young female extras and “appeared to act with impunity” on the set. It said the film's financial arrangements meant “there were none of the traditional checks and balances in place.”

In one video, Coppola, wearing a white suit, walks through a dancing crowd, stopping to apparently lean into several young women to hug them, kiss them on the cheek or whisper to them. Another video shows him leaning into a woman who pulls away and shakes her head.

All of the women have tops on, and the Variety story mentions “topless” extras only in reference to an original report on the allegations in the Guardian.

In a subsequent story about a week later, which is mentioned only parenthetically in Coppola's lawsuit, one of the women, Lauren Pagone, spoke to Variety and agreed to be identified, saying Coppola left her “in shock” when he touched, hugged and kissed her without her consent.

Pagone said she came forward because another of the extras, Rayna Menz, said in Variety's sister publication Deadline that Coppola did nothing to make her or anyone else on the set uncomfortable.

Pagone also filed a lawsuit Monday against Coppola in Georgia, alleging that her treatment on the set amounted to civil assault and civil battery.

Asked for a specific response to that lawsuit, a Coppola representative said there would be no immediate comment beyond the director's broader statement.

The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly as Pagone has.

Asked about the touching and kissing allegations by The AP before the lawsuit was filed, Coppola said, “I don’t even want to (talk about it). It’s a waste of time.”

Later in the same interview, without being asked about the subject again, Coppola said, “I’m very respectful of women. I always have been. My mother taught me — she was a little nuts — she said, ‘Francis if you ever make a pass at a girl, that means you disrespect her.’ So I never did.”

The lawsuit takes particular issue with an assertion in the Variety story that Coppola inadvertently got into a shot and ruined it. The suit says Coppola was well aware that some camera angles would include him, and that he was supposed to appear in the scene anyway.

“The average reader would understand that Coppola was so aged and infirm that he no longer knew how to direct a motion picture,” the suit says.

“Megalopolis” is a Roman epic set in a futuristic New York starring Adam Driver and Nathalie Emmanuel. Coppola sold off pieces of his considerable wine empire to largely finance it himself.