PHILADELPHIA — Rapper LL Cool J and R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan did not perform at a Fourth of July festival in Philadelphia in support of a strike by nearly 10,000 city workers in Philadelphia.

LL Cool J had been scheduled to appear at the Wawa Welcome America Festival on Friday, along with Sullivan and other performers.

LL Cool J said on a social media video that “there's absolutely no way that I can perform, cross a picket line and pick up money when I know that people are out there fighting for a living wage.”

“I hope, I hope, I hope that, you know, the mayor and the city can make a deal. I hope it works out,” he said.

LL Cool J also said he never wants to disappoint his fans and that he would stay in Philadelphia in case an agreement was reached.

The strike moved into a fourth day Friday. Trash has been piling up in some areas, and more than 30 Medical Examiner’s Office staffers have been ordered back to work because of a growing backlog of bodies in storage.

Sullivan, a Philadelphia native and Grammy award-winning artist, said in a post on Instagram on Friday she would stand with the striking workers “until the city and the union find a way to bring fair living wages to our working class. I love my city and I believe in you,” she wrote. “Hopefully we will get to celebrate when things are better.”

The latest talks between the city and leaders of District Council 33 — the largest of four major unions representing city workers — ended late Wednesday. Both sides said they are willing to continue negotiations.

Mayor Cherelle Parker responded to LL Cool J's statement, saying she spoke with him Thursday.

“I respect his decision, and understand his desire to see the city unified,” the mayor said. “He is always welcome in Philadelphia.”

The union also responded, saying LL Cool J's support for municipal workers “highlights his commitment to social justice and community well-being.”

“His support not only brings attention to our efforts but also inspires others to recognize and advocate for the rights and respect of all workers,” the union said. “It’s heartening to see public figures using their influence to champion causes that matter to everyday people.”

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Idris Elba says he has never watched ‘The Wire’ and never will

Idris Elba has revealed that he’s never watched “The Wire” and he never will.

The actor and sought-after DJ confessed he hasn’t seen a single episode of the HBO hit that made him a household name, in which he played debonair yet dastardly drug dealer Stringer Bell.

“If I’m really honest, I didn’t watch ‘The Wire,’” he shared on this week’s episode of the “Good Hang with Amy Poehler” podcast. “I didn’t watch it. And I feel bad. It’s not that I’m not a fan of it — I was there.”

The London native made a career breakout on the David Simon-created drama, hailed as one of the best shows in television history. He appeared in the first three seasons of the series, which also propelled the careers of Michael K. Williams, Andre Royo, Dominic West, Sonja Sohn, Tristan “Mack” Wilds, Wood Harris and Tony Award-winner Wendell Pierce.

Despite understanding now “the importance of the show,” Elba admits that he’s never “participate[d] in its celebration as a viewer, as a fan” so he feels “a little bit outside of the club.”

And while he does “feel proud” of his time on “The Wire,” the Golden Globe and SAG Award winner has no desire to ever watch his work.

“It [would be] weird for me to go back and watch it,” Elba told Poehler. “I don’t like being overly conscious about what my performance is like, because it makes me conscious about doing it. I like being in it rather than watching it.”

Still, Elba acknowledges the lasting effect the show has had and continues to have on viewers, even 20 years later.

“At least once a day, someone says, ‘Bro, Stringer Bell, The Wire,’ … It really does, it surprises me how much impact that show had,” he said. “In a good way, it surprises me continuously that, you know, multi-generationally, it’s still being talked [about by] people that weren’t even born then.”

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Sean 'Diddy' Combs gets standing ovation from inmates after court victory, his lawyer says

NEW YORK — Sean “Diddy” Combs got a standing ovation from fellow inmates when the music mogul returned to jail after winning acquittals on potential life-in-prison charges, providing what his lawyer says might have been the best thing he could do for incarcerated Black men in America.

“They all said: ‘We never get to see anyone who beats the government,’” attorney Marc Agnifilo told the Associated Press in a weekend interview days after a jury acquitted Combs of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges.

Combs, 55, remains jailed at a federal lockup in Brooklyn after his conviction Wednesday on prostitution-related charges, which could put him in prison for several more years. Any sentence will include credit for time already served. So far that's almost 10 months.

After federal agents raided Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and the Miami area in March 2024, Agnifilo said he told the “I'll Be Missing You” singer to expect to be arrested on sex trafficking charges.

“I said: ‘Maybe it’s your fate in life to be the guy who wins,’” he recalled during a telephone interview briefly interrupted by a jailhouse call from Combs. “They need to see that someone can win. I think he took that to heart.”

For Combs, Agnifilo sees a long road ahead once he is freed and resumes work on personal demons, likely reentering a program for domestic batterers that he had just started before his arrest.

“He’s doing OK,” said Agnifilo, who added Combs genuinely desires improvement and “realizes he has flaws like everyone else that he never worked on.”

“He burns hot in all matters. I think what he has come to see is that he has these flaws and there’s no amount of fame and no amount of fortune” that can erase them,” he said. “You can’t cover them up.”

From combined wire services