newsmakers

newsmakers

Swift’s date for ACM Awards hospitalized

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

The New Jersey teen who is fighting cancer and scored a date with Taylor Swift to The Academy of Country Music Awards is in the hospital and won’t make the show.

A Facebook post Saturday says 18-year-old Kevin McGuire was admitted to the hospital Friday night and can’t keep his date with Swift. It was not clear why McGuire was hospitalized.

“Just talked to Kevin McGuire,” Swift said in a tweet. “He’s not well enough to join me at the ACMs. Please keep him in your thoughts. I’ll make it up to you, Kevin!”

Swift asked the Somerdale, N.J., resident to Sunday’s ACMs after his sister started a campaign to get her to attend his prom. The reigning ACM entertainer of the year couldn’t make the prom but offered to go on the date instead.

Wrestling star takes stand against bullying

NEW YORK

Most people wouldn’t dare call chiseled WWE superstar John Cena any names, let alone “a bowl of Fruity Pebbles.”

But in the lead up to their WrestleMania 28 “Once in a Lifetime” match today in Miami, that’s exactly what The Rock told Cena he looked like.

Instead of getting upset, Cena said he turned the situation around by contacting the cereal maker. Now he’s on “three million boxes of the stuff.”

Though it was done in typical WWE trash-talk fashion, Cena says the pressure can get to you.

“I’m one of those guys that gets cheered, but also gets booed. Those who don’t like me, severely don’t like me,” Cena told the Associated Press on Friday. “Usually your first instinct is to lash out at these people. ... But I believe you always need to turn a negative into a positive.”

Heavily involved in the Be-A-Star anti-bullying campaign, Cena is not just a voice for the cause; he also says he was a victim.

According to the former WWE Heavyweight champion, he was bullied as a kid because he loved rap and wore hip-hop clothing in a town where it wasn’t popular. He started lifting weights to protect himself.

“By the time I was 15, I was a built kid, and the comments didn’t come so often, and the people making fun of me sort of fell by the wayside,” Cena said.

Though most of it was talk, Cena doesn’t see much of a difference when it comes to hurtful remarks.

“The introduction of social media pretty much gives everyone a voice, but unfortunately, people choose to use that voice in a negative way,” Cena said.

Cena wants young people to know that not everyone is going to like you for who you are: “The best way to get back at them is to put a smile on your face and do whatever you can to succeed.”

Associated Press