Taylor Swift Wins Top Trophy at American Music Awards

Taylor Swift accepts the Artist of the Year award onstage during the 2022 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 20, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images via AFP)
Taylor Swift accepts the Artist of the Year award onstage during the 2022 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 20, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images via AFP)
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Taylor Swift Wins Top Trophy at American Music Awards

Taylor Swift accepts the Artist of the Year award onstage during the 2022 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 20, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images via AFP)
Taylor Swift accepts the Artist of the Year award onstage during the 2022 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 20, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images via AFP)

Pop superstar Taylor Swift won the most prestigious honor on Sunday at the American Music Awards when she was named artist of the year at the world's largest fan-voted ceremony.

The "Anti-Hero" singer thanked voters for supporting her after releasing four original albums and two re-recordings in the last three years.

"I cannot express how unbelievable it is to me that I still do this and that you still care," she said on stage at the awards show in Los Angeles.

Earlier, Swift's re-recording of her 2012 record "Red" took the trophy for favorite pop album. The 32-year-old singer has been making new versions of albums from her past after a dispute with her former record label.

"I cannot tell you how much my re-recorded albums mean to me, but I never expected or assumed they'd mean anything to you," she said.

Swift did not mention last week's controversy over Ticketmaster's sales for her upcoming tour, which were filled with glitches and prompted the company to apologize to her.

In the artist of the year category, Swift triumphed over formidable names including Beyonce, Harry Styles, The Weeknd, Drake, Adele and Bad Bunny.

Singer Pink opened the awards show dancing and singing on roller skates to her upbeat song "Never Gonna Not Dance Again."

Comedian and host Wayne Brady rapped in his monologue. "Ain’t nobody getting slapped tonight," Brady joked, referencing Will Smith's infamous attack on Chris Rock at the Oscars.

Dove Cameron, a former Disney Channel actress who reached the Billboard charts this year with the pop single "Boyfriend," earned the first trophy of the night with her best new artist win.

Machine Gun Kelly, wearing a purple suit with long silver spikes, was named favorite rock artist.



Doctor to Plead Guilty to Supplying Ketamine to ‘Friends’ Star Matthew Perry 

Matthew Perry appears at the GQ Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2022. (AP) 
Matthew Perry appears at the GQ Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2022. (AP) 
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Doctor to Plead Guilty to Supplying Ketamine to ‘Friends’ Star Matthew Perry 

Matthew Perry appears at the GQ Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2022. (AP) 
Matthew Perry appears at the GQ Men of the Year Party in West Hollywood, Calif., on Nov. 17, 2022. (AP) 

A California doctor charged in the overdose death of "Friends" star Matthew Perry has agreed to plead guilty to four counts of illegal distribution of the drug ketamine, according to a court filing on Monday.

Salvador Plasencia, who operated an urgent care clinic in Malibu, faces up to 40 years in prison, according to a statement from prosecutors. He is expected to enter the guilty plea in the coming weeks.

Plasencia was one of five people charged in the death of Perry at age 54. An autopsy found the actor died from acute effects of ketamine and other factors that caused him to lose consciousness and drown in his hot tub in October 2023.

Ketamine is a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties. It is sometimes prescribed to treat depression and anxiety but also abused by recreational users.

In the plea agreement, Plasencia admitted to injecting Perry with ketamine at the actor's home and in a Santa Monica parking lot in the weeks before his death, in exchange for thousands of dollars, and that it was "not for legitimate medical purposes."

Plasencia obtained the ketamine from another doctor, Mark Chavez of San Diego. According to earlier court filings, Plasencia texted Chavez about Perry, saying: "I wonder how much this moron will pay."

Chavez and two other defendants already have pleaded guilty in the case. None has yet been sentenced.

A fifth defendant, Jasveen Sangha, whom authorities said was a drug dealer known to customers as the "ketamine queen," has been charged with supplying the dose that killed Perry. She has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial in August.

Perry had publicly acknowledged decades of substance abuse, including during the years he starred as Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s television sitcom "Friends."