Tabloid money… ageing rockers are rolling in it
⬤ Youthful pop stars such as Ed Sheeran and Calvin Harris are amassing fortunes, but Elton John (pictured) proves “it’s the oldies who are still golden when it comes to making money”, says Richard Eden in the Daily Mail. According to the legendary singer’s company accounts, he made “a staggering” £55m last year – more than £1m a week.
Elton is currently on his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour, which had to be postponed because of the pandemic. He apparently took an “astonishing” £60m financial hit in 2020 when Covid-19 forced him to drop the shows. Still, Elton isn’t the only golden oldie raking it in. The wealth of Paul McCartney is believed to have gone up by £20m, while The Rolling Stones’s biggest earners, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, saw their net worth rise by £25m.
⬤ Elon Musk’s fans rejoice at the free-speech policies the billionaire claims are behind his bid for socialmedia platform Twitter, but the rest of us should be sceptical, says Joshua Potash for the Metro. While it would be “wonderful if the richest people on Earth used their wealth for good”, largely they don’t. Musk is known for his outlandish promises about everything from brain implants to robots to space travel – we can all expect a human presence on Mars before too long, we are told. His legions of followers may not mind the hype, but we should. Whether Musk ends up selling his Twitter shares “at a higher price, inflated by his actions, or ultimately takes over the company, we can be sure it’s about one thing – not the greater good, but Elon Musk”.
⬤ Film and TV-streaming service Netflix has lost £40bn “because subscribers have had enough of it”, says Rod Liddle in The Sun. “Can’t say I’m surprised, if the barrel of gibbonsplaff I’ve been watching on the channel is typical. The Anatomy Of A Scandal, starring Rupert Friend and Sienna Miller, has dialogue seemingly written by a tin of Fray Bentos Steak And Kidney Pudding.” Netflix is “dead woke”. That makes the plots “so predictable”. It’s really “just an orgy of posh Tory and white-male bashing”. The progressive template that every programme follows means that you always know exactly what is going to happen. Elon Musk has a point when he says the business is failing because it has contracted the “woke mind virus”. Go woke, go broke.