Month: July 2020

In a bizarre and worrying rant on Twitter, Kanye West claims that his wife, Kim Kardashian tried to have him “locked up,” among other disorienting statements that have fans concerned for the mercurial rapper’s well-being.

In the stream-of-consciousness-style burst of seemingly random thoughts, Kanye posited that “everybody knows the movie Get Out is about me” and called out several of his celebrity acquaintances, including Vogue publisher Anna Wintour, Drake, actor Shia Labeouf, and mother-in-law Kris Jenner.

Among the disturbing tweets, Kanye claimed Wintour “looked at me like I was crazy” when informed of his Gap deal, that “NBC locked up Bill Cosby,” and that “Kim tried to bring a doctor to lock me up.” He tweeted combatively toward Kris Jenner, writing “don’t play with me” and sharing a screenshot of a DM he sent her on Twitter.

As of press time, some of the tweets have already disappeared, but others remain. Screenshots are provided below to preserve as much as possible as the situation appears to be fluctuating.

This isn’t the first time Kanye went on a worrying Twitter rampage. In late 2018, he went on a similar rant, claiming that Drake was out to get him. Incidentally, 2018 was also the year that Kanye revealed his bipolar diagnosis via the cover of his summer album Ye. In 2019, he discussed the diagnosis with David Letterman, making the claim that he was not taking medication to regulate his condition.

Just over 24 hours before his latest rant, Kanye held a “campaign rally” in South Carolina, where he made the bizarre claim that Harriet Tubman never freed slaves and tearfully spoke out against abortion. It’s reported that he was not accepted onto South Carolina’s ballot.

For a long time, Charles Barkley and Draymond Green have exchanged barbs through the media. Green is well-known for his no-holds-barred attitude, both on and off the court, and Barkley is legendary for having (very) little filter in his role as the face of TNT’s NBA studio coverage.

In advance of the NBA’s restart in Orlando, TNT launched a five-part series called “The Arena,” which the network describes as “a new in-depth storytelling franchise created to provide a thought-provoking forum for content on topics occurring on and off the court of play.” Green and Barkley are both panelists, alongside Dwyane Wade and Cari Champion, and the first episode featured an early conversation between the two men on their issues in the past.

At the outset, Barkley plainly says “I like Draymond,” while noting (with a smile) that “he does annoy me at times on the court.” From there, Green gives a more serious answer about why Barkley’s commentary has bothered him in the past.

“He’s a black man,” Green said. “I respect him. The issue I’ve had is that a lot of people watch the game of basketball and they don’t know what they’re looking at. So when they look at a Chuck or at different guys who have this platform, they take what you’re saying and they listen to that and they run with that. For me, it hasn’t necessarily affected my pockets. But there are a lot of guys in this league that, people run with what guys say on these platforms, and it affects guys’ pockets.”

Later, Green said of Barkley that he has “done too many great things in this league and won a lot to hear some of the stuff he is saying about me.” Of course, it will be interesting to see if anything changes with Barkley, especially when he’s not sitting next to Green on a panel, but this appears to be a situation in which both (and especially Green) were candid about their feelings. In addition, Green makes interesting points, and Barkley seems to be willing and open to listening to perhaps inform his commentary in the future.

As the NBA has begun its bubble restart at Disney, a significant topic of conversation has been the food after a number of players posted pictures that made the rounds on social media.

The initial food reviews weren’t great, as the meals players got delivered to their room during quarantine suffered from the same issues just about all mass-produced delivery food suffers from. The food has gotten better, but seeking out variety will be something many players look for as their stay in the bubble continues for the next month (or three months as the playoffs wear on). As such, the league is working on bringing in outside options for players to order in from, to avoid more Richaun Holmes situations where someone breaks the bubble zone and must quarantine because they went to grab a delivery bag of food.

As such, the league is working on partnerships with some Orlando restaurants. The first was a reported deal with Landry’s restaurant group restaurants owned by Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, which drew some criticism for not answering the call of the moment to support locally owned restaurants that have been hit especially hard by the pandemic — and particularly Black-owned restaurants in the midst of the current social justice movement. On Monday, Chris Haynes of Yahoo reported the league was working to address that concern by looking into a partnership with 10 local, minority-owned restaurants to join the bubble campus delivery program.

The league wants to ensure any food entering the bubble is being made following their safety protocols — and delivered understanding those rules — but it’s good to see the league working to address not just a concern of players in the bubble of wanting food alternatives but also stepping up to work with local minority-owned businesses. Hopefully they’re able to get all the details worked out soon and we’ll be seeing pictures of some of these restaurants offerings on player social media.

When HBO Max bowed in late May, subscribers were in for a surprise: All eight Harry Potter movies were on there, sharing space with DC movies, Looney Tunes, Adult Swim, TCM oldies, and HBO content. If that seemed too good to be true, it was, sort of: As per Entertainment Weekly, the filmic wing of the deathless franchise will be vanishing from the streamer on August 25, after only three months online.

The arrival of the Potter films — which ran from 2001 to 2011, and which made its central trio unimaginably wealthy — on the new streaming service wound up coming at a strange time. Mere weeks after HBO Max launch, Potter creator, J.K. Rowling faced severe backlash after making controversial comments about the trans community. The author has not backed off of her comments but rather doubled, tripled, quadrupled down, even prompting her still young-ish cast members — Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint among them — to speak up in defense of trans people.

Potter fan sites have also criticized Rowling’s comments, some of them even removing her name from their coffers entirely, as though their favorite franchise has no creator. That’s how strong Potter love is. In any case, you have a month and change to binge those eight movies, and good luck because most of them are quite long. But don’t worry; surely they’ll be back.

(Via EW)

The film and television industries have been on lockdown for over four months now, but of course that hasn’t meant there’s no new content. Lots of shows have relocated from the studio to the home, with performers, hosts, their guests, et al. talking into webcams in their living rooms. SNL has been among the programs to rework itself for the quarantine era, but The Hollywood Reporter are claiming that show is already plotting a studio return.

Granted, this is from a source, not NBC itself, who claims the longtime live sketch show’s 46th season will take a big step and return to its iconic studio. That being said, the full cast and crew are unlikely to return. As per THR, “One option would be to allow only limited configurations of cast and crew into the studio, which presumably would mean that a show consisting mostly of live sketches might not be in the offing for some time.”

Another probable major absence: that live studio audience. While SNL’s hometown, New York City — once the epicenter of the pandemic — has gotten considerably better, with cases relatively low and steady, the majority of indoor places, such as movie theaters and museums, are still closed to crowds. That may mean whatever cast members are back on any given week will be playing to empty seats. Maybe they could do what baseball is now doing and have cardboard cutouts — or, better yet, do what South Korean baseball did and fill the seats with stuffed animals.

Again, this is all in the larval stage, and everything can certainly change, as it often does these days. Still, shows ditching home webcams and returning to studios has already happened to certain programs. The Tonight Show, also at NBC, restarted in-studio taping last week, with Jimmy Fallon and house band The Roots keeping their social distance. As of now, the last time SNL recorded in the studio, with everyone present, was the March 7 episode hosted by Daniel Craig.

(Via THR)

Palm Springs is reportedly breaking records on Hulu, and for good reason. The wedding-focused Groundhog Day mashup starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti is a funny and refreshing twist on the time loop movie genre without it getting too far in the weeds or too zany. Mind you, that’s tough to do when the trailer shows Samberg literally hunted with a bow and arrow.

There have been a lot of questions about the movie’s ending and what it means, but one thing we now know for sure is exactly how long Samberg’s Nyles was in the time loop central to the movie. In an interview with Decider earlier this month, Palm Springs writer Andy Siara talked about the movie’s ending, and while he wouldn’t confirm whether the two lovebirds actually made it out of the loop or what the final scenes meant, he does confirm the exact length of time that Myles was trapped in Palm Springs.

“I don’t know if I’m supposed to say exactly, but Nyles has in there for over 40 years. There are versions of the script where—mainly when Sarah comes in—I put titles in of how much time has passed. The main thing I hope got across was that a lot of time had passed. A lifetime of memories has passed, basically.”

Four decades is certainly long enough to forget a lot of things about your past life, especially if every day you live is exactly the same. That’s more than 14,000 days of waking up to the same thing, over and over again, enough to truly drive you crazy. Given that information, it’s certainly understandable that most of the movie is him being nihilistic about his life and the possibility of ever finding a way out. It’s a good thing, then, that he eventually got some company to help him along the way.

Trader Joe’s will begin making changes to the packaging of some of its food products over concerns that variations on the Trader Joe’s brand name can be seen as culturally insensitive. For years, the grocery chain has been altering the brand naming on its private label products typically categorized as “ethnic foods,” using monikers like Trader José for Mexican-food inspired products, Trader Ming for Chinese food, Arabian Joe for Middle Eastern products, Trader Joe San for Japenese foods, and Trader Giotto on pasta and other Italian food staples. Criticism over the branding has existed for some time and recently picked up renewed interest thanks to a Change.org petition started by a California high school student, Briones Bedell.

The name changes, Bedell writes, “Belies a narrative of exoticism that perpetuates harmful stereotypes,” and seems to imply some food items are normal, and therefore ethnic foods are deviations from the norm. Following the petition, Trader Joe’s announced their intention to change the branding and addressed the criticism over the overtones of its branding. Trader Joe’s national director of public relations, Kenya Friend-Daniel told ABC News, “While this approach to product naming may have been rooted in a lighthearted attempt at inclusiveness, we recognize that it may now have the opposite effect — one that is contrary to the welcoming, rewarding customer experience we strive to create every day,” but indicated that the decision was not because of Bedell’s petition, stating that Trader Joe’s “have been in the process of updating older labels and replacing any variations with the name Trader Joe’s” since before the petition.

Trader Joe’s is currently in the process of changing the product labeling but has not publically indicated how long it’ll be until we see the new labels. Does that make your case of Trader José beer a collector’s item now? Probably not. But it’s still a pretty decent beer, so there’s that.

While the actual sports calendar is in complete disarray due to COVID-19 and the still-ongoing pandemic hitting the United States particularly hard, the virtual sports calendar has stayed relatively unchanged. Some video games have seen coronavirus-related delays, but major sports titles like NBA 2K and Madden remain on track for their traditional release windows, which are just before the real seasons would start in real life.

That changed on Monday, though, when EA announced that its upcoming hockey game NHL 21 would move from a September release to sometime in October.

To answer the most commonly asked question first, NHL 21 will launch a little later this year, shifting from our usual September window to October. This year has been full of extraordinary circumstances and we’ve had to make major adjustments in developing the game from home. This transition has been very successful and we’re happy to say that the game is on track and feature-complete against our original vision, we just need a few extra weeks to do the polish, fine tuning and bug fixing.

The announcement assured fans that the game would be “worth the wait” and EA promised a look at the nearly-finished game sometime in late August. EA Sports also announced on Monday that it would not have true next-gen releases for the game on the upcoming Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, though the game would be forward compatible and playable on those consoles with the same features it will launch with. Sports sims like NBA 2K21 will have next-gen releases, but it looks like hockey fans are left out in the cold on this one.

Another thing we’ve seen questions around is next-gen consoles. For NHL 21, we made the decision to focus on adding innovation and new features rather than the resource-heavy task of porting the game to new console technology. You’ll still be able to play NHL 21 on the next-gen consoles through forward compatibility but we are fully focused on launching NHL 21 on the Xbox One and PS4 and look forward to the opportunities the next-gen systems will bring in the future.

None of this is particularly shocking, especially when you consider that game development largely shifted, like much of the rest of industries across the world, to a work from home situation. There are countless issues that could have come up to delay the game’s release, but even with a month added to its development time the title will come out well before the next season of NHL hockey is played. That league’s bubble is expected to begin play on August 1, and no schedule for next season exists right now, either.

The NBA will resume play this week in the form of scrimmages in the Disney bubble, with actual games that count beginning July 30. On Monday, teams had to submit final rosters for the bubble, noting players that will be eligible to play, although not everyone on the rosters is guaranteed to play in the restart.

There are a number of players on these rosters that are still awaiting arrival in Orlando after testing positive for COVID-19, but hope to join their teams eventually once cleared and, as such, are included. That’s important to note as these may not be the exact rosters teams have available for the first games, but offers an official look at who will be eligible to play provided health and clearance to get into the bubble.

Boston Celtics

Jaylen Brown
Carsen Edwards
Tacko Fall
Javonte Green
Gordon Hayward
Enes Kanter
Romeo Langford
Semi Ojeleye
Vincent Poirier
Marcus Smart
Jayson Tatum
Daniel Theis
Kemba Walker
Brad Wanamaker
Tremont Waters
Robert Williams III
Grant Williams

Brooklyn Nets

Jarrett Allen
Justin Anderson
Chris Chiozza
Jamal Crawford
Donta Hall
Joe Harris
Tyler Johnson
Rodions Kurucs
Caris LeVert
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
Jeremiah Martin
Dzanan Musa
Garrett Temple
Lance Thomas

Dallas Mavericks

J.J. Barea
Trey Burke
Antonius Cleveland
Seth Curry
Luka Doncic
Dorian Finney-Smith
Tim Hardaway Jr.
Justin Jackson
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
Maxi Kleber
Courtney Lee
Boban Marjanovic
Kristaps Porzingis
Dwight Powell
Josh Reaves
Delon Wright

Denver Nuggets

Will Barton
Keita Bates-Diop
Bol Bol
Vlatko Cancar
Tyler Cook
Torrey Craig
Troy Daniels
PJ Dozier
Jerami Grant
Gary Harris
Nikola Jokic
Paul Millsap
Monte Morris
Jamal Murray
Mason Plumlee
Michael Porter Jr.
Noah Vonleh

Houston Rockets

Bruno Caboclo
DeMarre Carroll
Tyson Chandler
Chris Clemons
Robert Covington
Michel Frazier
Eric Gordon
Jeff Green
James Haren
Danuel House Jr.
Luc Mbah a Moute
Ben McLemore
Austin Rivers
P.J. Tucker
Russell Westbrook

Indiana Pacers

Goga Bitadze
Brian Bowen II
Malcolm Brogdon
Aaron Holiday
Justin Holiday
Alize Johnson
Jeremy Lamb
TJ Leaf
T.J. McConnell
Doug McDermott
Naz Mitrou-Long
Victor Oladipo
Domantas Sabonis
JaKarr Sampson
Edmond Sumner
Myles Turner
T.J. Warren

LA Clippers

Patrick Beverley
Amir Coffey
Paul George
JaMychal Gren
Montrezl Harrell
Reggie Jackson
Kawhi Leonard
Terance Mann
Rodney McGruder
Marcus Morris Sr.
Joakim Noah
Patrick Patterson
Landry Shamet
Lou Williams
Ivica Zubac

LA Lakers

Kostas Antetokounmpo
Devontae Cacok
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Alex Caruso
Quinn Cook
Anthony Davis
Jared Dudley
Danny Green
Talen Horton-Tucker
Dwight Howard
LeBron James
Kyle Kuzma
JaVale McGee
Markieff Morris
Rajon Rondo
JR Smith
Dion Waiters

Memphis Grizzlies

Grayson Allen
Kyle Anderson
Dillon Brooks
Brandon Clarke
Gorgui Dieng
Marko Guduric
Jaren Jackson Jr.
Josh Jackson
Tyus Jones
John Konchar
De’Anthony Melton
Ja Morant
Jontay Porter
Anthony Tolliver
Jonas Valanciunas
Yuta Watanabe
Justise Winslow

Miami Heat

Bam Adebayo
Kyle Alexander
Jimmy Butler
Jae Crowder
Goran Dragic
Udonis Haslem
Tyler Herro
Solomon Hill
Andre Iguodala
Derrick Jones Jr.
Meyers Leonard
Kendrick Nunn
KZ Okpala
Kelly Olynyk
Duncan Robinson
Chris Silva
Gabe Vincent

Milwaukee Bucks

Giannis Antetokounmpo
Thanasis Antetokounmpo
Eric Bledso
Sterling Brown
Pat Connaughton
Donte DiVincenzo
George Hill
Ersan Ilyasova
Kyle Korver
Brook Lopez
Robin Lopez
Frank Mason
Wesley Matthews
Khris Middleton
Marvin Williams
D.J. Wilson

New Orleans Pelicans

Nickeil Alexander-Walker
Lonzo Ball
Zylan Cheatham
Derrick Favors
Josh Hart
Jaxson Hayes
Jrue Holiday
Brandon Ingram
Frank Jackson
Nicolo Melli
E’Twaun Moore
Jahlil Okafor
JJ Redick
Sindarius Thornwell
Kenrich Williams
Zion Williamson

Oklahoma City Thunder

Steven Adams
Darius Bazley
Deonte Burton
Hamidou Diallo
Luguentz Dort
Terrance Ferguson
Danilo Gallinari
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Devon Hall
Kevin Hervey
Mike Muscala
Abdel Nader
Nerlens Noel
Chris Paul
Andre Roberson
Dennis Schroder

Orlando Magic

D.J. Augustin
Mo Bamba
Khem Birch
Michael Carter-Williams
Gary Clark
James Ennis III
Evan Fournier
Melvin Frazier Jr.
Markelle Fultz
Aaron Gordon
Jonathan Isaac
Wes Iwundu
BJ Johnson
Vic Law
Terrence Ross
Nikola Vucevic

Philadelphia 76ers

Alec Burks
Joel Embiid
Tobias Harris
Al Horford
Furkan Korkmaz
Shake Milton
Raul Neto
Kyle O’Quinn
Norvel Pelle
Josh Richardson
Glenn Robinson III
Mike Scott
Marial Shayok
Ben Simmons
Matisse Thybulle

Phoenix Suns

Deandre Ayton
Aron Baynes
Devin Booker
Mikal Bridges
Jevon Carter
Cheick Diallo
Ty Jerome
Cam Johnson
Frank Kaminsky
Jalen Lecque
Elie Okobo
Kelly Oubre Jr.
Cam Payne
Ricky Rubio
Dario Saric

Portland Trail Blazers

Jaylen Adams
Carmelo Anthony
Zach Collins
Wenyen Gabriel
Mario Hezonja
Jaylen Hoard
Damian Lillard
Nassir Little
CJ McColum
Jusuf Nurkic
Anfernee Simons
Gary Trent Jr.
Hassan Whiteside

Sacramento Kings

Marvin Bagley III
Harrison Barnes
Kent Bazemore
Nemanja Bjelica
Bogdan Bogdanovic
Corey Brewer
Yogi Ferrell
De’Aaron Fox
Harry Giles III
Kyle Guy
Budy Hield
Richaun Holmes
Justin James
DaQuan Jeffries
Cory Joseph
Alex Len
Jabari Parker

San Antonio Spurs

Marco Belinelli
DeMar DeRozan
Drew Eubanks
Bryn Forbes
Rudy Gay
Keldon Johnson
Trey Lyles
Chimezie Metu
Patty Mills
Dejounte Murray
Jakob Poeltl
Luka Samanic
Lonnie Walker IV
Quinndary Weatherspoon
Derrick White
Tyler Zeller

Toronto Raptors

OG Anunoby
Chris Boucher
Oshae Brissett
Terence Davis
Marc Gasol
Dewan Hernandez
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson
Serge Ibaka
Stanley Johnson
Kyle Lowry
Patrick McCaw
Malcolm Miller
Norman Powell
Pascal Siakam
Matt Thomas
Fred VanVleet
Paul Watson

Utah Jazz
Tony Bradley
Jarrell Brantley
Jordan Clarkson
Mike Conley
Ed Davis
Rudy Gobert
Joe Ingles
Donovan Mitchell
Juwan Morgan
Emmanuel Mudiay
Georges Niang
Royce O’Neale
Miye Oni
Rayjon Tucker
Nigel Williams-Goss
Justin Wright-Foreman

Washington Wizards

Isaac Bonga
Troy Brown Jr.
Thomas Bryant
Jerian Grant
Rui Hachimura
Ian Mahinmi
Garrison Mathews
Shabazz Napier
Anzejs Pasecniks
Jerome Robinson
Admiral Schofield
Ish Smith
Jarrod Uthoff
Mo Wagner
Johnathan Willams

One day when the glory comes
It will be ours, it will be ours
Oh one day when the war is won
We will be sure, we will be sure

The song “Glory” from the feature film Selma won an Oscar in 2015. Originally performed by John Legend and Common, the song combines elements of rap, hip hop and gospel, and was a powerful anthem representing the Civil Rights Movement portrayed in the movie.

Now, that anthem has new lyrics and a young, fresh face—or rather, a bunch of young, fresh faces. The Detroit Youth Choir’s rendition of “Glory” includes the original chorus, plus lyrical nods to the coronavirus pandemic and the current uprisings for racial justice. Seeing these young people singing their hearts out in a song written about a similar fight decades ago is both chilling and thought-provoking.

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Members of the choir, which reached second place in last year’s America’s Got Talent competition, walk through the empty streets of Detroit while they sing in the video—socially distanced, of course. (The video includes a disclaimer at the beginning and the end explaining that the health of the teens was first priority in the making of the video.) The image of them singing spread out while walking over “Power to the People” painted on the street sums up so much of our current moment.

Detroit Youth Choir ‘Glory’ – featuring IndigoYaj

www.youtube.com

People love this new version of the song, leaving comments like the following on YouTube:

“Powerful. From their lips to OUR ears. We owe these kids a better reality.”

“I got chills just listening to these talented youth singing Glory. We all must work together to ensure that every American has equal and sustainable rights. We must end any pre-conceived notions about each other without knowing who people really are. The passion in this rendition of Glory is astonishing. Kudos to the Detroit Youth Choir. Keep singing!”

“Love this and will keep trying to change those minds that don’t see the need to change one at a time. Please keep inspiring us to keep making change happen

“This is beautiful, moving and inspiring. Bravo!!!! I live over in Basel, Switzerland now, but I was born in Detroit. May all of the beautiful, talented and courageous young people in this video continue to shine so brightly. You are already making a difference. I have goosebumps and you had me in tears. Systemic racism must finally come to an end. #Glory #WeAreOne #BlackLivesMatter #DYC #ExitRacism“

“God bless these babies. Their generation surely are going to make changes for the better.”

The YouTube video also includes a fitting quote from the late civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis: “What I try to tell young people is that if you come together with a mission, and it’s grounded with love and a sense of community, you can make the impossible possible.”