Month: August 2020

The Los Angeles Clippers took down the Portland Trail Blazers, 122-117, in a game that had major implications in the race for the 8 and 9 seeds in the Western Conference on Saturday afternoon. It was a scintillating game, one in which the Clippers were shorthanded and rested Paul George down the stretch but still managed to come out on top, in large part because the usually reliable Damian Lillard missed a pair of free throws down the stretch while the Blazers were down by one.

Lillard rarely ever misses free throws like that, but as the second one hit the rim and fell to the ground, one person in particular was quite happy: Clippers guard and noted agitator Patrick Beverley. While he did not play due to a calf injury, Beverley had quite the reaction to Lillard missing his free throws.

While it’s unclear if this sparked Beverley’s reaction, Lillard did seem to challenge him after hitting a three earlier in the game.

Lillard is one of the league’s more proud players, so it’s no surprise that he wasn’t a big fan with what Beverley had going on. After the game, Lillard was asked about this, and while he took the reaction as a sign of respect, he speculated that Beverley had his reaction because he saw “first-hand” what Lillard is capable of during his second year in the league, when Lillard eliminated Beverley’s Rockets from the playoffs with a buzzer-beater three.

Lillard also made it a point to mention his other buzzer-beater that won a series: the one from last postseason, which eliminated George’s Thunder and saw the All-Star wing to request a trade that summer. Oklahoma City eventually sent him to the Clippers as a result, and the two had a bit of a back-and-forth over whether Lillard took a “bad shot.”

Things eventually spilled into the Instagram comment section. Bleacher Report posted an image that included Lillard’s quote. Soon after that, Beverley, George, and Lillard began commenting, with Lillard accusing George of “running from the grind.”

So far, the bubble hasn’t featured too much beef to this extent, but it’s obvious that these three dudes really want to get back onto the floor with one another — the only way that can happen, though, is if the Blazers get the 8-seed and then make a run to the conference finals, with the Clippers doing the same from the 2-seed.

In an era of music, hip-hop especially, where the success of rap groups is far and few, the YBN collective — comprised of YBN Cordae, YBN Nahmir, and YBN Almighty Jay — seemed to be well on their way to achieving such success with their arrival in 2018. After initially finding a foothold with “Rubbin Off the Paint” in 2017, YBN Nahmir would repeat with “Bounce Out With That” at the top of 2018.

With YBN Almighty Jay by YBN Nahmir’s side in the collective, the duo would eventually be introduced to YBN Cordae who helped elevate the group’s name with his solo work including his “My Name Is” and “Old N****s” remixes and his debut album, The Lost Boy. Despite this, it seems like the group is no more following an announcement from Nahmir.

Taking to Twitter to voice some frustration with the group’s current status, Nahmir revealed in a tweet that the group had disbanded saying, “They left this YBN sh*t in the gutter. Remember that. I’ll turn it up myself.” When questioned by a fan if that meant the group had split, Nahmir replied with “Yea it’s only me kid.” The group’s departure comes nearly two years after the collective shared their debut project, YBN: The Mixtape.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Major League Soccer will resume its 2020 regular season in teams’ home markets following the end of the MLS is Back Tournament, the league announced Saturday. The first game is scheduled for Aug. 12, the day after the tournament ends, and will feature a showdown between FC Dallas and Nashville SC.

The league’s 25th season began on Feb. 29 and was suspended on March 12 as many sports leagues around the world shut down operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The MLS is Back Tournament, which began on July 8 has been played entirely at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex just outside Orlando, Florida, is set to culminate on Aug. 11 with a final between the Portland Timbers and Orlando City SC. While the single-site environment worked for the tournament, the league has decided not to continue with that format and will instead take a multi-phased approach toward resuming the 2020 regular season.

“What drives MLS is this soccer culture and getting into our markets and getting our players back and getting them home, getting them to play in their stadiums and being able to train in their training grounds,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said during halftime of the MLS is Back Tournament semifinal match between the Portland Timbers and the Philadelphia Union on Aug. 5.

The group stage games of the MLS is Back Tournament will count toward the regular season, and the revised, phased schedule will see each team will play an additional 18 regular season games, resulting in a 23-game season. FC Dallas and Nashville SC were both forced to withdraw from the tournament after experiencing a significant number of positive COVID-19 tests. To make up the three group stage games they missed, the two sides will play each other three teams ahead of the league’s first phase.

Due to travel restrictions between the U.S. and Canada, the league’s three Canadian teams will play against each other during the first phase of the schedule, and it is unclear how they will play out the rest of the season. The regular season will end on Nov. 8, with 18 teams to qualify for the playoffs which will culminate with the MLS Cup final on Dec. 12.

According to its plan, MLS will continue to work closely with the league’s infectious disease advisors and will test players and staff every other day, including the day before each game. In continued efforts to adhere to health and safety guidelines, teams will travel by chartered flight or bus, planning to arrive on and depart location on match day to minimize the amount of time spent away from their home market.

The “majority” of games are expected to be played without fans in attendance, but MLS said that it is working with individual clubs, local health authorities and government officials on a plan for limited capacity at certain games where allowed. FC Dallas announced that it intends to allow fans at its games against Nashville SC with capacity capped at 1,500 people, but Garber said those plans have not yet been approved by the league.

Late last month, Michelle Obama announced she would be launching her own podcast, Higher Ground: The Michelle Obama, which would stream exclusively on Spotify. Shortly after the podcast’s first episode was released, which featured husband and former president Barack Obama and found the couple in conversations about community, their love for each other, and what they’ve been up to since their departure from the White House. Celebrating the podcast’s first episode, Michelle took to social media to share a new playlist of songs that helped inspire the podcast itself.

Comprised of 41 songs, Michelle posted a tracklisting of the playlist to her social media, one that is “filled with incredible new artists and a whole lot of #BlackGirlMagic” as she described in her post. Across the playlist’s 41 songs, appearances from Teyana Taylor (“Lowkey” and “Made It”), Beyonce (“Black Parade”), Chloe X Halle (“Do It”), SiR (“Still Blue” and “Hair Down”), Jhene Aiko (“B.S.”), and more can be found.

The playlist is not the first time Michelle has used her platform to shine a light on some of music’s best talent. Back in January, she shared a workout playlist that saw appearances from Cardi B, Lizzo, Nipsey Hussle, and more.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Blazing Saddles is a comedy more than four decades old, which is just one of the reasons it’s odd that the Mel Brooks classic will apparently be reworked for children. According to ComicBook.com, however, the 1974 comedy western is being reimagined as an animated tale called Blazing Samurai meant for a very different audience.

The original movie, which is a satire of classic westerns, featured Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder in a film where Little plays a black sheriff in an all-white town. There’s a lot of material from the movie that simply wouldn’t fly if the movie were made in the present, let alone on a children’s show. But apparently the bones of the comedy are enough to build upon in a very different kind of movie: a children’s samurai movie about a dog.

The Los Angeles film company Align is helping develop an animated film titled Blazing Samurai. The film takes the basic premise of Blazing Saddles and transplants it to the Samurai era. The story follows a dog named Hank who dreams of becoming a Samurai. When he becomes in charge of protecting Kakamucho, he learns that the town is populated entirely by cats.

Saturday’s reminder of Blazing Samurai‘s existence isn’t exactly new. The long list of high-end voice acting talent, including Brooks himself, was announced for the project back in 2015. But the film languished for years, and according to Screen Daily in late 2019 it was finally fully financed.

Much of the promo material appears to be the same in the present day, and Brooks is reportedly still on board along with voice talent like Michael Cera, Samuel L. Jackson, Ricky Gervais, George Takei, Michelle Yeoh and Djimon Hounsou. Interestingly, the only release date currently listed for the film is in Portugal, on June 10, 2021. ComicBook.com reported Saturday that Mark Koetsier, who was announced as the film’s director way back in 2015, is still on board as well.

Shooting for a summer 2021 release is certainly more feasible than anything over the next few months, especially given the uncertain state of movie theaters and safety amid COVID-19. And despite some skepticism about the concept a children’s version of Blazing Saddles is certainly not the craziest idea we’ve heard in 2020. There would be at least a bit of interest from parents who remember a very different kind of Blazing movie, and the talent attached is certainly notable. If it has Brooks’ stamp of approval, it’s got to be at least as good as Robots, right?

Trying to figure out how this college football season is going to work is quite difficult, in large part because it seems like gigantic dominoes keep falling. Whether it’s been smaller schools canceling their seasons, major conferences opting to go to 10-game schedules without non-conference games, or an FBS school in UConn kicking the can down the road, dominoes have been falling in recent weeks.

The biggest domino so far fell on Saturday, when Brett McMurphy of Stadium reported that the Mid-American Conference has opted to forgo a football season altogether. This report was confirmed by Heather Dinich and Adam Rittenberg of ESPN, who mentioned that this cancelation applies to all fall sports and also confirmed McMurphy’s report that the conference plans to try and give it a go come spring.

On a call with reporters, MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher indicated that the road ahead involves coming up with plans for all of the sports impacted by this decision to play in spring 2021. He did, however, indicate that this is not guaranteed to happen.

“This fall our presidents will get updates on a monthly report,” Steinbrecher said. “By mid-fall, hopefully we’ll have plans in place that will have been approved. And then, somewhere later this fall, whether that’s November or December, I think the virus will have a big determination on our ability to ultimately say it’s a go or a no-go. At some point, we’ll make that determination that we can move forward with these plans.”

With the move, the MAC became the first FBS conference to announce the cancelation of all fall sports, including football. Now, all eyes are on the rest of college football and how it responds, with one individual in Power 5 football ominously telling McMurphy that the “college football season is done.”

Robert Pattinson has been on furlough from London set of The Batman, which was in the middle of filming when the pandemic forced much of the world into quarantine. But the Twilight alum hasn’t been idle. One thing he’s been doing has been giving hilarious interviews, filled with amusing anecdotes. The latest comes in a new chat with Irish Times (as caught by Entertainment Weekly), and it involves him trying, and failing, to keep a secret from the exacting Christopher Nolan.

When Pattinson got the job as the Caped Crusader, he was in the middle of filming another blockbuster, Nolan’s Tenet. He needed do sneak away from the set to audition for the role, thinking he could keep a Batman secret away from the director of three Batman films. And, well, it didn’t go so well.

“It’s funny because Chris is so secretive about everything to do with his movies,” Pattinson told the publication. “And then I had to be really secretive about Batman stuff. So I had to lie to Chris about having to go for a screen test — I said I had a family emergency. And as soon as I said ‘it’s a family emergency’ he said: ‘You’re doing the Batman audition, aren’t you?’”

So lesson learned: Don’t lie to Christopher Nolan. Elsewhere in the interview, Pattinson talks about how Tenet — and co-star John David Washington — helped him get in Bruce Wayne shape.

“When I’m running on screen I’m generally paired with John David, who is an ex-NFL player so it was the most unfair thing in the world,” Pattinson said. “The maximum workout I do most of the time is a casual stroll. John David can run all day long. It was good that I ended up being pretty fit. But definitely, at the beginning, there were days I just could not walk afterwards.”

Anyway, who knows when The Batman will re-commence shooting? And who knows when Americans will see Tenet?

(Via Irish Times and EW)

When it comes to using your voice and speaking up for your community, you can count on Cardi B. The rapper has spoken up time and time again about topics like the coronavirus, politics, social injustice, artistic diversity, and more. An avid supporter of Bernie Sanders and his presidential run earlier this year, Cardi has now shifted her attention to Joe Biden, the Democratic Party’s nominee for president. Fresh off her “Wap” single with Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi took to The Breakfast Club to force her support for the former Vice President.

The conversation began when Cardi was asked how she felt about being “stuck with Biden” after Sanders ended his campaign for president. She replied, “I’m salty but I’m okay.” She then revealed that she spoke to Biden, and after a bit of persuasion from the hosts she went in detail about their conversation.

What I’m saying is that I know him. I always felt like Biden balanced Obama because I thought he was conservative and that’s what swayed the conservative votes, the ones in the middle. Knowing him and everything, I think he’s getting it and I think he understands the people’s pain. He’s getting what we want. People think we want so much, but we want really simple things if you really think about it.

Cardi said she stressed to Biden that the people “don’t want no false promises,” adding, “We don’t want no fake sh*t to get people voting. This is what we want. Please make it happen.” Cardi then took a shot at those who complain about being “stuck with Biden” but failed to show their support for Sanders during his campaign. “When I interviewed Bernie and I kept telling people to make sure y’all do your research on these people and vote, and they were like, ‘Shut up, b*tch. You don’t speak no English.’ And now you’re mad!”, she said.

You can watch Cardi’s sit-down with The Breakfast Club in the video above.

Cardi B is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music.

NBA Players Association Executive Director Michele Roberts has made it clear that, unless the United States’ bungled handling of the COVID-19 pandemic changes, the league might need to play the 2020-21 campaign in a bubble. Obviously this would a gigantic headache for the league — both because of the sheer logistical nightmare that would come from tossing 30 teams into a bubble and the loss of gate revenue from playing fan-less games — but according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the league is considering an idea that takes this concept and decentralizes it.

Via ESPN:

This time, ideas center on regional sites and windows of participation that would extend a month for teams, sources said. After that, teams would go home and train — perhaps for two weeks — and move onto the next regional bubble against a new pod of teams. Orlando is a consideration, and Las Vegas — a finalist for this summer’s restart — would reemerge as a possible site too, sources said.

An idea in this vein sounds somewhat similar to what NHL is doing with its restart, where 24 teams were divided into bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton. Of course, the NBA would then take this idea a little further, using them as ways to play out the entire season with all 30 teams and giving squads the opportunity to shuffle around and travel from one place to the next. While not everywhere is able to be turned into the ideal sort of home for basketball like Disney has been so far, the fact that only a handful of teams would go down instead of the 22 that are currently in the bubble would assuredly make the task of figuring out lodging and facilities easier.

Still, the concept of multiple bubbles to hold games is hardly new. The NBA has plenty of time to figure out how this can work — Wojnarowski mentioned that while the league’s telling teams it plans to start on Dec. 1, there are scenarios in which starting the 2020-21 campaign could be pushed as late as March if fans can safely attend games, something that has been reported in the past.

Award shows, including the Billboard Music Awards and BET Awards, were forced to alter their plans to this year in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. And now so has this year’s MTV VMAs. Originally set to air on August 30 at The Barclays Center, it will now have to relocate elsewhere, as large crowds in indoor environments isn’t a good idea right now.

The orders came in part from New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who in June announced that the award show could proceed with plans so long as there was “limited or no audience present.” A little over a month later, a report from Page Six revealed that representatives for The Barclays Center and MTV revealed the award show would no longer be held at arena due to safety concerns.

The 2020 VMAs will be held on Sunday, Aug. 30 and pay homage to the incredible resiliency of New York with several outdoor performances around [NYC] with limited or no audience, adhering to all state and city guidelines. In close consultation with state and local health officials‎, it became clear at this time that outdoor performances with limited or no audience would be more feasible and safer than an indoor event. The VMAs will highlight the boroughs in an exciting show and return to Barclays Center in 2021. MTV will continue to work closely with the Department of Health, state and local officials, the medical community, and key stakeholders to ensure the safety of all involved.

The announcement comes after Keke Palmer announced that she would be hosting the upcoming award show. With just a little over three weeks left until the show’s schedule date, it remains to be seen what plans will be put in place, especially since nominees and performers have already been announced.