Month: June 2020

Roddy Ricch began 2020 with a slew of accomplishments. His debut album Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial became the first album to top the charts on four separate occasions in five years following Taylor Swift’s 1989 from 2014-15. Simultaneously, Roddy would also begin his reign atop the Billboard singles chart with the “The Box,” where he spent 11 weeks at the No. 1 position. Extending his accolade list, Roddy took the 2020 BET Award virtual award stage for a colorful of “Ballin” and “The Box.”

Kicking off his performance by a piano, Roddy began with “Ballin.” Back a vibrant blue backdrop, he delivered a smooth and nearly-acoustic performance of the song before transitioning to “The Box” halfway through the song. Turning things up for the former Billboard chart-topper, Roddy kicked off the song in a Lamborghini before transitioning to the stage to complete the rest of the song. Earning the second-most nominations with five, Roddy will also look to an award tonight in the five categories which include Album Of The Year, Video Of The Year, and Best Male Hip-Hop Artist.

Roddy’s BET performance comes as his second in as many days. Saturday night, he was one of many artists to perform virtually as a part of the 2020 Roots Picnic festival. Rocking what looked like a diamond-laced jean jacket, Roddy gave an acoustic performance of “Ballin” for viewers. Both performances came on the heels of his newly-released “Rockstar” video with DaBaby.

Check out his performance in the video above.

Roddy Ricch is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The New England Patriots appeared ready to hit the reset button at the quarterback position this season after Tom Brady left Foxborough for Tampa Bay. Brian Hoyer was the veteran of the group, with former fourth-round pick Jarrett Stidham and Brian Lewerke, an undrafted free agent from this year’s draft class, serving as the remainder of the quarterback room.

There was some thought that the Pats might just kick the can down the road and look to next year’s very solid quarterback class, headlined by Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, for the future of the franchise, but on Sunday, word came that they were taking a swing on former MVP Cam Newton on a one-year, “incentive-laden” contract after the long-time Panthers QB was released earlier this year.

According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the deal is a minimum contract that can become worth up to $7.5 million.

Newton had yet to find the right situation for him, as he looks to prove he still has plenty left in the tank after injuries derailed his 2019 season. While Newton has been pinged with the “injury-prone” moniker, the 31-year-old had started at least 14 games in every season prior to last year in spite of two shoulder surgeries and the Lisfranc fracture in his foot that ended his season a year ago. The question is where Newton is with the arm and if he’s fully recovered from his foot injury to be the mobile threat that made him so dynamic at the peak of his career.

If he is, Bill Belichick might have found himself a steal in free agency and the Pats may not be out of the running in the AFC East despite losing a first ballot Hall of Famer at QB.

In lieu of actually shooting movies during the ever-rampaging pandemic, movie stars have done the next best thing (or thereabouts): virtual reunions. Rounding up casts of popular movies, be they modern classics or ongoing franchises, have become de rigueur in these strange times, and on Saturday, as per ScreenRant, we got a biggie: a handful of the vast, vast cast of the X-Men movie franchise got together on Zoom for a session that ended when Ryan Reynolds swung by to continue his longtime fake-beef with Wolverine/Logan himself, Hugh Jackman.

The chat session was winding down, with only Jackman, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, and Sirs Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart left when Reynolds suddenly popped up to annoy his longtime arch-nemesis. He wasn’t alone: Soon James McAvoy and Sophie Turner — of the second Origins/First Class wave — were making cameo appearances. “So many timelines, it’s like a recap of Knot’s Landing,” cracked Reynolds.

McKellen was the first to leave, but others soon split, too, joking that they had other virtual reunions to go to. Janssen was off to a Bond hang, being one of the villains of Goldeneye, while McAvoy’s said he had to do one for M. Night Shyamalan’s Split. (Turner, meanwhile, said, “I’m sorry, I thought this was a Game of Thrones reunion.)

Eventually only Reynolds and Jackman were left, but they were soon joined by Liev Schreiber, making this a reunion for another film: That’s right, it became a X-Men Origins: Wolverine pow-wow. Perhaps you forgot that Reynolds’ first played Deadpool when he was merely “Weapon XI”?

That film was also, Reynolds has said, the beginning of his fake beef with Jackman, which he said happened when he married Scarlett Johansson. Yes, they’ve kept it up for over a decade.

You can watch Reynolds’ appearance in the video above.

(Via ScreenRant)

Anthony Mackie has been with the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which was the first time he played Sam Wilson, aka Falcon. It’s a good gig, and it got even better when he was bequeathed Cap’s mighty shield, but the actor isn’t afraid to call BS when he sees it. He did just that during a recent interview with Variety’s “Actors on Actors,” during which he criticized Marvel for the lack of diversity on their crews.

Mackie was speaking with Daveed Diggs, the Hamilton, Black-ish, and Blindspotting actor, who’s currently the lead on the TV version of Bong Joon-ho’s film Snowpiercer. He pointed out that with The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the show that reunites him with Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, coming to Disney+, that means they “both have the power” to demand their employers don’t employ a strictly white crew.

“It really bothered me that I’ve done seven Marvel movies where every producer, every director, every stunt person, every costume designer, every PA, every single person has been white,” Mackie said. The major exception is one of the MCUs that didn’t feature him:

“We’ve had one Black producer. His name was Nate Moore. He produced Black Panther … But then when you do Black Panther, you have a Black director, Black producer, you have a Black costume designer, you have a Black stunt choreographer. And I’m like, that’s more racist than anything else. Because if you only can hire the Black people for the Black movie, are you saying they’re not good enough when you have a mostly white cast?”

Mackie hoped to build a more diverse future:

“My big push with Marvel is hire the best person for the job. Even if it means we’re going to get the best two women, we’re going to get the best two men. Fine. I’m cool with those numbers for the next 10 years. Because it starts to build a new generation of people who can put something on their resume to get them other jobs. If we’ve got to divvy out as a percentage, divvy it out. And that’s something as leading men that we can go in and push for.”

Elsewhere in the chat, Mackie described The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as not feeling like a typical TV show. “Everybody who had worked on TV before was like, ‘I’ve never worked on a TV show like this.’ The way in which we were shooting, it feels exactly like we were shooting the movie cut up into the show,” he said. “So instead of a two-hour movie, a six or eight-hour movie.”

(Via Variety)

Sunday is the nine year anniversary of Beyonce’s fourth album, 4, and the Beyhive likely thought they’d simply celebrate the occasion. But the singer had something else up her sleeve: In a trailer posted on her website, she revealed that she would be releasing a visual album at the end of July.

Entitled Black Is King, it will premiere on the Disney Plus platform on July 31, and it will also be written, directed and executive produced by Beyonce herself. In a statement about the project, she described it as “a celebratory memoir for the world on the Black experience.” The film will, the statement read, be “a story for the ages that informs and rebuilds the present. A reunion of cultures and shared generational beliefs. A story of how the people left most broken have an extraordinary gift and a purposeful future.”

Disney and Parkwood Entertainment also revealed that Black Is King will reimagine the lessons presented in last year’s The Lion King remake, in which she co-starred and for which she produced the soundtrack, in order to help “today’s young kinds and queens in search of their own crowns.” The announcement comes almost two weeks after Beyonce shared “Black Parade,” a track that delivered praises to the ancestors.

As the July 1 deadline for rosters to be finalized for the NBA restart approaches, a handful of players have made their intentions of opting out of the restart. Players were allowed to opt out with no penalty beyond missing out on the game checks for however many games they miss (1/92.6 per game), with a minimum of eight games each.

Davis Bertans, Trevor Ariza, and Avery Bradley have all made their intentions of skipping the Orlando restart known for various reasons. On Sunday, Wilson Chandler of the Brooklyn Nets joins that list, informing the Nets he will opt out, per ESPN’s Malika Andrews. Chandler told Andrews that he wanted to spend more time with family and ensure their health and safety by not joining the bubble in Orlando.

“As difficult as it will be to not be with my teammates, the health and well-being of my family has to come first,” Chandler told ESPN Sunday afternoon. “Thank you to the Nets organization for understanding and supporting me in this decision, and I will be watching and rooting for our team in Orlando.”

Chandler, who missed the first 25 games of the season due to testing positive for a banned substance, averaged 5.9 points and 4.1 rebounds per game for the Nets and will become a free agent this offseason.

Finding a good bourbon has never been easier. But that also means it’s never been easier to find a bad bourbon. There are so many expressions on the shelves these days that reaching for the wrong bottle and wasting your hard-earned cash is a real possibility. That’s why we’ve taken to breaking down entire lines of whiskey in our UPROXX Expression Sessions. And this week, we’re breaking down the three mainstream bottles from Heaven’s Door, with one extraordinary bottle tacked on at the end.

For those who don’t know, Heaven’s Door is Bob Dylan’s signature whiskey from Tennessee. It’s not a “Tennessee Whiskey.” It’s just produced there. The idea behind the whiskey is to “tell a story,” according to Dylan. The company achieves this by sourcing some serious juice and giving it great finishing touches and then bottling it in legitimately cool bottles (each one has an overlay of Dylan’s famed iron farmstead gates).

This week we had a slightly shorter Expression Session, as we only had four bottles to taste. Still, it was illuminating and both David Duran and I found a bottle that truly stands out in the line. (Spoiler: It wasn’t the priciest one!)

Heaven’s Door Tennessee Straight Bourbon

ABV: 45%
Average Price: $50

The Whiskey:

This “high-rye” bourbon has a mash bill of 70 percent corn supported by 30 percent “small grains.” Basically, that’s mostly made up of rye with a dash of malted barley. The juice is then aged in new American oak for eight years before the barrels are blended into the bottle.

Tasting Notes:

This feels like a classic bourbon with notes of vanilla, bread, and oak upfront and is too basic to truly stand out. The sip edges towards a creamy vanilla essence with hints of stone fruit, like cherries, next to a slight spice. It’s very straightforward and drinkable with a long finish that leans into the spice, fruit, vanilla, and maybe a hint of chocolate.

Heaven’s Door Double Barrel Whiskey

ABV: 50%
Average Price: $50

The Whiskey:

This is the most “Tennessee” whiskey of the line. The expression is a blend of two bourbons and a rye that then goes through the Lincoln County Process — sugar maple charcoal filtration — that makes Tennessee whiskey what it is (still, since this is a blend, it’s defined as “American whiskey”). The juice is first aged for six years in new American and second-use bourbon barrels before blending and additional aging of new American oak for up to a year, hence the “Double Barrel” moniker.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a sense of red berries with a slight tartness alongside a very clean nose. The sip edges those berries into chocolate territory, with an almost cinnamon bread feel, touched with plenty of oak. There’s a slight hint of herbs on the short finish.

Heaven’s Door Straight Rye Whiskey

ABV: 46%
Average Price: $80

The Whiskey:

This was the clear winner of the Expression Session this time around. The juice is a classic rye that spends seven years in new American oak. It’s then transferred to French “Cigar” barrels which are dried in the French sun and then lightly toasted, not charred.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a clear pepperiness alongside bright florals up top. Cherries, more florals, citrus, and sharpness of ginger follow. The depth of the sip really shines through as the matrix of florals, fruits, spice, and oak slowly fades and leaves you ready for more.

Heaven’s Door The Bootleg Series 2019 Edition

ABV: 55.75%
Average Price: $495

The Whiskey:

This bottle is going to be hard to find outside of private collections. The 26-year-old whiskey is finished in Japanese Mizunara oak barrels. These barrels are made from trees that have to be at least 200-years-old and impart something truly unique into the juice that touches the wood.

Tasting Notes:

This whiskey is shockingly easy to sip. First, we have to talk about the color. There’s a dark green (almost black) hue to the yellow liquid that’s unlike any whiskey I’ve ever seen. The nose is a mix of herbaceous, fruity, and spicy without any one element overpowering. The sip surprises with coconut, clove, and a hint of fresh coriander. The end is short-lived but sort of beautiful in how subtle it brings all the oak and flavors to the fore, leaving you eager for another sip almost immediately.

Check out our LIVE tasting of each bottle below with food and travel writer David Duran and UPROXX Life Deputy Editor Zach Johnston!

Sacha Baron Cohen has made a career out of duping people into proving his points for him, and his latest stunt has targeted a far right rally in Washington. The Who Is America creator’s latest target is a far right rally organized by Three Percenters in Olympia, Washington. The group is a right wing antigovernment militia movement. The “March for Our Rights 3” event was organized by the Washington branch of the organization, which claimed that Baron Cohen approached them disguised as a leader of a political action committee who wanted to sponsor the rally.

The event organizers claim that he provided a security team for the event that later prevented them from getting him off stage once he started performing and even prevented them from cutting power to his microphone. Videos circulated over the weekend of Cohen on stage and performing a song with a band that included racist lyrics, which he had the crowd chant with him as he performed.

Per Variety:

“Obama, what we gonna do? Inject him with the Wuhan flu. Hillary Clinton, what we gonna do? Lock her up like we used to do. Fauci don’t know his head from his ass. He must be smoking grass. I ain’t lying, it ain’t no jokes. Corona is a liberal hoax. Dr. Fauci, what we gonna do? Inject him with the Wuhan flu. WHO, what we gonna do? Chop ’em up like the Saudis do,” Baron Cohen sang.

Another video posted to Twitter showed an interview with the event’s organizer, who described how the event was given a mysterious boost late in its planning. The security hired for the event then prevented him from pulling the plug as the

As Variety noted, Who Is America was never formally canceled or renewed, so some wondered if the stunt would be part of a new season of the series.

It’s been a full decade since LeBron James shook up the NBA by announcing his plans to “take my talents to South Beach” and form the Big 3 in Miami with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, officially ushering in the superstar team era.

“The Decision,” the hour-long special aired on ESPN in which James announced his intentions of leaving Cleveland to Jim Gray, made LeBron a villain for the first time in his career. Him joining forces with two other All-Stars might have done that anyways, but for many it was the way he announced that decision in a primetime TV spectacle that turned people against him — even though “The Decision” resulted in millions of dollars going to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

It remains fairly incredible that the greatest misstep in LeBron James’ career was this misguided TV special for charity, but for many, questions have remained about how this all came to be. Who was responsible for this concept? Was it ESPN or LeBron’s team that pitched it to the other? Why did LeBron’s team think this would work in their favor, particularly if he was considering leaving the Cavs?

On Sunday night, those questions will be answered in a new “Backstory” episode on ESPN that looks at “The Decision,” and will confirm that a 38-year-old Pistons fan was the initial spark for the idea thanks to a mailbag question he sent to then ESPN columnist Bill Simmons, who pushed the idea aggressively to his ESPN bosses, per ESPN’s Don Van Natta.

“What if LeBron announces he will pick his 2010-11 team live on ABC on a certain date for a show called ‘LeBron’s Choice?’” Drew wrote, with no last name published. “What type of crazy ratings would that get?”

Drew Wagner never knew for sure if his mailbag question led to “The Decision,” but now has confirmation that it, indeed, was the spark that sent Simmons to John Skipper with the idea and also to bring it up in a meeting with LeBron’s then agent, Leon Rose, and William “World Wide Wes” Wesley. While Simmons provided the initial push, he says he was not involved in the show actually coming to life.

Reached for comment by ESPN on Saturday, Simmons said in an email, “I never thought LeBron would do the show if he was planning on actually leaving Cleveland. They were the favorites to win the title that year and it just seemed like he was staying there. Even when I met with Wes and Leon in May, they were playing Boston and were the favorites, i think they even won that night. But after those 3 Boston losses and how badly it went, I gave up on pushing the idea, it seemed like there was no way. I thought it was dead. I wasn’t involved after that.”

Jim Gray was the one that eventually got it done, working with Maverick Carter and Hollywood agent Ari Emmanuel to pitch ESPN on the special, per Van Natta. Unsurprisingly, many of the people involved have worked to distance themselves from the show given the PR disaster it caused. It remains the biggest public misstep of James’ career and took years for him to shake the reputation it brought him, and might’ve all been avoided had Drew from Columbus, Ohio never given the idea to Simmons.

On Saturday night, Shaquille O’Neal and Rob Gronkowski put on a livestream together, competing in various challenges to raise money for social justice, with Shaq playing for the Boys & Girls Club of America and Gronk playing for the NAACP.

The two competed in everything from a lip sync battle to jousting, but the highlight of the night was seeing what happens when Shaq is allowed to dunk on a basketball hoop that’s not a regulation NBA goal. During the HORSE portion of the evening, Shaq decided to do an off the backboard dunk and proceeded to rip the rim clean off the backboard with one hand.

It’s honestly one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t shatter the backboard — as he’s done multiple times before in his career. He doesn’t bend the rim or cause the goal to collapse — again, a thing he did while in the NBA. No, he rips the rim off the backboard and slings it to the ground.

Gronk’s reaction is terrific, as he just stares in disbelief at the carnage that just unfolded — while wearing a Shaq jersey. That was the end of the HORSE competition, which was never something Gronk had a chance at but did yield the best possible result in Shaq doing things that remind us how preposterously big and strong he is (Related: he recently told us that his “go-to” order at Krispy Kreme is three boxes of glazed doughnuts).