1. BRANDI CARLILE DROPS OUT OF FORTUNE CONFERENCE OVER KIRSTJEN NIELSEN APPEARANCE: Singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile is the latest speaker to drop out of the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, which began Monday in Washington. Carlisle joins Hillary Clinton and Surviving R. Kelly executive producer Dream Hampton, who exited the event because of the appearance of Kirstjen Nielsen, the former homeland security secretary involved with implementing President Trump’s family separation policy at the Mexico border. Fortune defended its decision to keep Nielsen involved. Washington Post: “‘I don’t think that human rights violators and merit-based abusers of displaced people should be given a platform to ‘reimagine’ history. Ever,’ Carlile tweeted to her more than 100,000 Twitter followers. … The singer pegged Nielsen specifically as her reasoning for dropping out. ‘Respectfully, I absolutely cannot support Kirstjen Nielsen having a voice among the most powerful and inspiring women in America. Her access to power is righteously over,’ she wrote.”
2. INSIDE A CHURCH EVENT SERIES INSPIRED BY BEYONCE: The Beyoncé Mass, a church service inspired by the singer, has become a worldwide event since it launched in San Francisco in 2018. The service, which debuts in New York this week, was launched by Rev. Yolanda Norton, a Hebrew Bible scholar and the H. Eugene Farlough Chair of Black Church Studies at San Francisco Theological Seminary. The event focuses on how issues of race and gender affect African-American women. The New York Times: “The Mass, which features black women singers, dancers, and officiants, is a complete church service with a sermon, scripture readings, and the Lord’s Supper. It is not, however, about worshiping Beyoncé. Instead, the Mass uses Beyoncé’s story and songs, from ‘Formation’ to ‘Flaws and All,’ to reframe the narratives and struggles of black women through the lens of the Christian Gospels and their message of radical hospitality and inclusion.”
3. VIDCON HIRES FIRST V.P. OF PROGRAMMING: Online-video convention VidCon has hired Carter Hansen, a founding executive at AwesomenessTV, to oversee conference programming. Hansen previously founded Different Entertainment, a producer of live and experiential events. Both VidCon and AwesomenessTV are owned by Viacom. Variety: “In 2019, VidCon events in the U.S., London, and Australia have drawn nearly 100,000 total attendees. It’s now expanding into Asia and Mexico: The first-ever VidCon Asia Summit will run December 3-4, 2019, in Singapore, followed by the annual VidCon London (February 20-23, 2020) and the inaugural VidCon Mexico (April 30-May 3, 2020). Next year’s flagship VidCon US is slated for June 17-20, 2020, at the Anaheim Convention Center.”