Month: November 2020

It’s been a tough week for Donald Trump, and Sacha Baron Cohen added insult to injury on Saturday. The Borat creator who ensnared the president’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, into his Amazon Prime sequel had jokingly offered Trump a job expecting that he would be replaced as president by Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

But with the election all but decided by network TV projections and vote counts indicating Trump will be out of a job come January, the president has refused to concede and offered baseless accusations of fraud in the days since the election ended. He also falsely declared victory in the immediate hours after polls closed. Which is perhaps why Baron Cohen has apparently changed his mind about the job offer. The director and actor tweeted about Trump on Saturday, making it clear that his late October offer of a job to Trump to play a part in his movie no longer stands.

“I’m always looking for people to play racist buffoons, and you’ll need a job after Jan. 20,” Baron Cohen had tweeted. “Let’s talk!” But on Saturday, it seems his recent “performance” made the director go in a different direction.

“Donald—you’re out of work and I know I offered you a job,” Baron Cohen tweeted. “But your performance this past week was tragic and sad. Offer rescinded.”

All of this is in jest, of course, as both men have made it clear they are not fans of one another. But Baron Cohen does seem to be already looking into new projects. He also tweeted ominously about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, posting a photo of him and Trump with the caption “one down, one to go.”

Baron Cohen has expressed his displeasure for the propaganda and misinformation on the social media site and the way it’s been manipulated by foreign nations and impacted elections and public sentiment around the world. Perhaps it’s best Zuckerberg and Facebook be a bit more vigilant about falling for a Baron Cohen fabrication, though they seem to have trouble keeping their facts straight at even the best of times.

Finneas may be best known for his production work with his sister, Billie Eilish, as the two racked up a slew of awards for Billie’s debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go. His talents as a solo artist should not be overlooked, however, and he’s been steadily adding to his catalog recently. Following last month’s “Can’t Wait To Be Dead,” the pop singer made his return with a politically-charged track, and a very timely one at that, called “Where The Poison Is.”

On the new track, Finneas delivers a number of references to the current state of life in the United States. He discusses the coronavirus pandemic, singing, “When the month of March felt more like 40 years.” He also takes a shot at President Trump on multiple occasions on the song. Finneas shared his displeasures with Trump’s handling of the coronavirus saying, “When all my friends get sick it’s on the President / When all my friends get sick it’s on his government.” He continued his onslaught on the President by labeling him “poisonous” and a “snake.”

“Take me to the place where the poison is / To put a face to what’s poisonous,” Finneas said. “To give him a little taste of his medicine / There’s a snake that thinks it’s the President.”

This is not the first time the pop singer has delivered a socially-charged message in his music. His video for “Can’t Wait To Be Dead,” which he released in late October, is filled with references to some of the year’s most talked-about subjects including the election and social justice protests.

Listen to “Where The Poison Is” above.

Sunday morning brought about the incredibly sad news that Alex Trebek had died at the age of 80 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. The legendary game show host, best known for his three decades on Jeopardy!, was beloved by millions whose lives he entered most every weekday evening for years and years.

As with anyone that’s in your life that regularly, whether you know them personally or not, there are going to be plenty of memories that come flooding back when you think about them, and on Sunday Jeopardy! fans broke out some of their favorite Trebek moments from years past on social media to laugh and cry and remember a tremendous host and, by all accounts, a tremendous man.

The Jeopardy! GOATs all paid tribute to Trebek on social media, and as Jennings said, for millions of people we felt like Alex Trebek was part of our family. The remembrances included some hilarious moments, like the time he matter-of-factly said to a contestant telling him about nerdcore hip-hop, “losers, in other words,” or his long history of making fun of contestants who failed miserably at sports categories.

Any time Trebek had to dive into pop culture, particularly music, it was always a hit, like when he’d rattle off rap lyrics to the delight of everyone watching.

My personal favorite might be this moment with Ken Jennings in which the legendary champ took Trebek aback with the question of “What is a hoe?” to an answer.

Trebek will be sorely missed, and the dry humor he would occasionally unleash on contestants is something that really only he could do and remain as endearing a figure as he was. Jeopardy! will not be the same without him, but at least we have thousands of episodes worth of memories to remember him with.

For the past two years, Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek has battled Stage IV pancreatic cancer, but throughout the grueling treatment he continued to host the show with the same delight and passion as always. On Sunday, we learned that Trebek had passed at the age of 80, with TMZ reporting he died at home surrounded by his family.

Trebek had been open about his cancer diagnosis and the timetable doctors had given him, but made it his stated purpose to continue living as he had and hosting the show he loved and had made into a phenomenon of pop culture. In that time, he brought three of the shows greatest contestants back for the Jeopardy! GOAT Tournament back in January, as Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, and the newest Jeopardy! juggernaut James Holzhauer all faced off in a primetime special.

As the news of Trebek’s death emerged on Sunday, those three all paid tribute to the man they had become close with, remembering him as a one-of-one who gave them and the world something special.

Trebek had just taped a number of new episodes and while he continued on with business as usual, the past two years had seen contestants recognize the importance of making sure the legendary host was given his flowers while he was still with us. In the Tournament of Champions, a contestant used Final Jeopardy to say “We love you Alex,” and recently, a newly crowned champion Burt Thakur explained to Trebek that he had learned English by watching Alex host Jeopardy! with his grandfather, thanking him for all he’d done.

The influence of Trebek and Jeopardy! on American culture and millions of people who have competed on the show or became regular viewers is hard to overstate. He will be missed tremendously, but if there is any silver lining in all of this it is that the gratitude and love people have for him was able to be shared fully with him in the final years of his life.

The hip-hop community was unfortunately shaken once again this past week as it sadly lost another one of its promising young acts. Up and coming Chicago rapper King Von was shot and killed at a nightclub in Atlanta on November 6. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the rapper, along with four other individuals, were shot at Monaco Hookah Lounge.

The incident apparently occurred after an argument began in the lounge’s parking lot and resulted in three killed and two injured. Just a day after the Chicago rapper’s untimely death, authorities in Atlanta revealed that a suspect was arrested and charged in King Von’s death.

On Saturday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Atlanta police officers obtained warrants to arrest the person they think is responsible for King Von’s death. The individual, 22-year-old Timothy Leeks, was later arrested and is currently facing a felony murder charge. Leeks is in police custody at Grady Hospital where he is receiving treatment for a gunshot wound. Prior to the arrest, a representative for the Atlanta Police Department spoke to Complex about the rapper’s death and events that led up to it.

“It is our understanding Dayvon Bennett, aka King Von was shot and killed during this morning’s shooting and we are seeing rumors being spread indicating he was shot and killed by APD officers,” the rep said. “At this time, our investigators believe Mr. Bennett was shot during the initial shootout between the two groups of males, prior to police responding and attempting to stop the shooting. Additionally, Mr. Bennett was not located at the scene, but arrived at a hospital shortly after the shooting, via private vehicle.”

(via Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

A heartbreaking and difficult year got even harder for game show fans on Sunday when reports confirmed the worst fears of Jeopardy! fans. TMZ reported Sunday that legendary game show host Alex Trebek had died at 80 of pancreatic cancer.

Trebek was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer in 2019, and underwent a number of treatments in order to fight the diagnosis and extend his time hosting Jeopardy! The beloved host had worried his cancer would ultimately force his retirement from the Jeopardy! soundstage, though he passed away before ever formally announcing his retirement.

The show confirmed the news shortly afterward on Twitter, sparking an outpouring of grief and appreciation for the longtime host of the trivia show.

Trebek’s death comes in a year where Jeopardy! was as popular as ever. The show’s Greatest Of All Time Tournament drew high primetime ratings and an autobiography, The Answer Is…, was released earlier in the summer. Though not the only host in the show’s history, Trebek’s impact on Jeopardy! is undeniable and for many fans it’s impossible to imagine it without the Canadian at the helm.

Various stars of Jeopardy! started to mourn his loss online on Sunday, and the coming days will likely give us more details about what will happen to the show moving forward. But Sunday, though inevitable, served as a shock to fans and contestants alike.

One of the biggest games of the day in the NFL on Sunday sees the Seattle Seahawks make the cross-country trek to Buffalo to face off with the Bills in a matchup of two division leaders. For many, this game is mostly about the Bills and learning exactly where they stand in the hierarchy of the NFL as a whole, as Buffalo has gone 4-0 inside the AFC East this year, but is just 2-2 outside the division.

Seattle strolls in with one of the league’s best offenses, but a defense that’s extremely gettable, allowing the most yards per game in the league this season. The Bills passing attack led by quarterback Josh Allen and new star receiver Stefon Diggs figure to be the two players primed to best exploit Seattle’s porous defense, and Diggs came ready with an extra special set of cleats for the occasion.

Diggs has long worked with sneaker artist Mache one unique cleats dating back to his time with the Vikings, and even though he’s in Buffalo now he still gets his custom kicks done. This week, he’s paying tribute to Buffalo’s very own Rick James with a pretty tremendous pair of cleats that take inspiration from the Rick James sketches from Chappelle’s Show.

They’re complete with Rick’s aura, as described by Charlie Murphy, and the infamous “I’m Rick James B*tch” line on the other foot. We’ll see if Diggs can be cold-blooded on the field against the Seahawks on Sunday to lead the Bills to a big win over Seattle.

Not even Dave Chappelle could keep it together in a sketch that lampooned Uncle Ben, Aunt Jemima and Pete Davidson’s lips on Saturday Night Live. The sketch, called “Uncle Ben,” featured a surprising number of guest stars usually saved for the show’s politically-themed cold opens. Alec Baldwin played an executive working for a company that was firing its racially insensitive mascots, while Maya Rudolph played one of those characters, Aunt Jemima. Kenan Thompson played the titular Uncle Ben, who quickly started fighting with Aunt Jemima about whose fault it was for their demise this year amid a new examination of racist tropes and characters in pop culture.

Chappelle’s brilliant monologue had just aired when the show went to commercial, then rejoined the broadcast with what basically looked like the comedian picking back up on his monologue on the SNL stage. Chappelle notably didn’t say the typical “we have a great show for you tonight” that introduces the musical guest, opting for a mic drop on his monologue capper. But his appearance on stage was to set the scene for the sketch.

“It’s been a long, hard time. I know a lot of people have lost their jobs. And that this climate has unfortunately made a lot of Black people lost their jobs,” Chappelle said. “This next piece is about two Black people who lost their jobs because of this social climate that we’re all trying to figure out. And sadly these two Black people may never get those jobs back.”

Chappelle showed up at the end of the sketch as the “Allstate guy,” which is actually actor Dennis Haysbert, who perhaps most famously played Pedro Cerrano in Major League. Haysbert is known for his deep voice, but when Chappelle tried to mimic it he immediately broke. Chappelle stood up angrily, slamming his hands on the table. But his lines never came: he laughed, turning away from the audience and the camera to try hiding his mistake. But his voice broke, too, and he couldn’t help but smile after saying “now wait a cotton-picking minute, Uncle Ben.”

Chappelle got it together, and actually gave a good impression of the actor. As did Pete Davidson, who as Count Chocula insisted he was not Black, just made of chocolate. But Chappelle not only broke character, he also broke the fourth wall, asking that people “look at Pete Davidson’s lips,” which got the SNL cast member to break and nearly lose the fake fangs he was wearing as the Count. Just like classic Chappelle’s Show sketches that helped make him a comedy superstar, the concept both brought attention to and made light of the concept of race. But this one took it to an absurd that even Chappelle couldn’t handle.

The coronavirus pandemic has obviously done considerable damage to the entertainment world this year, not least of which has been how it has interrupted the well-laid plans of AMC in its ability to roll out episodes of The Walking Dead and its two spin-offs. One upside, however, has been the decision to add six additional episodes to the tenth season (ahead of the 24-episode final season), which means we’re probably going to get a few stories that we would not have otherwise gotten.

We will finally get to see the Negan origins story, for instance (which has allowed AMC to cast Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s real-life wife, Hilarie Burton, to play Lucille, the wife of his character on The Walking Dead). In fact, the six bonus episodes figure to feature a lot of Negan because, besides his origins story, we will also see the first interaction between Negan and Maggie since she nearly killed him in the ninth season before bouncing out of Alexandria (and the series) for a season and a half.

Maggie is back now, and presumably, she’s still not thrilled with the man who brutally murdered her husband. It should be an interesting reunion for the two characters, and AMC has given us a glimpse into exactly how that initial reunion will happen by offering a table read (over Zoom) of their first interaction in an upcoming 2021 episode. It is chilly, to say the least, not to mention the fact that Maggie also has to contend with the fact that Carol released Negan, who ultimately aided Alpha in the destruction of Maggie’s old home, The Hilltop.

Notably, Maggie doesn’t go into a lot of detail about where she’s been in the interim, except to say that she met someone named Elijah and formed a community. Elijah is presumably our masked ninja, although we do not yet know who will play him. He does not appear among the actors in the table read.

It is also worth noting that showrunner Angela Kang previously said that the six episodes will feature Daryl, Carol, Negan, Maggie, Gabriel, and Aaron. The table read, however, also includes Kelly, Lydia, Judith Grimes, and Ezekiel, who provides narration here. It’s unlikely, however, that he will play much of a role with these characters, as he is still on his journey with Eugene, Yumiko, and Princess.

We’ll know more when The Walking Dead returns in 2021.

Last week, in what was a delayed announcement for the late-night show, Saturday Night Live announced Foo Fighters would be the musical guest on the show’s post-election episode hosted by Dave Chappelle. The appearance was the band’s eighth time on SNL, with their first performances on the show dating back to 1995.

In addition to the SNL announcement, the band also teased the release of their tenth album in a tweet that featured a 32-second snippet of audio. The Shazam App revealed that the song is titled “Shame Shame” and would apparently appear on an album called Medicine At Midnight.

Bringing their talents to the SNL stage, the band premiered the “Shame Shame” single in their first performance of the night. A press release sent out shortly after confirmed that the album is indeed titled Medicine At Midnight and that it can be expected to arrive on February 5. The album will be a fairly short effort as it comes equipped with just nine songs and clocks in at 37 minutes.

As for the band’s second performance of the night on SNL, Foo Fighters reached back to their 2002 album, One By One, to play “Times Like These” to close out the show.

You can watch Foo Fighters’ SNL performances above and check out the Medicine At Midnight tracklist below.

01. “Making A Fire”
02. “Shame Shame”
03. “Cloudspotter”
04. “Waiting On A War”
05. “Medicine at Midnight”
06. “No Son Of Mine”
07. “Holding Poison”
08. “Chasing Birds”
09. “Love Dies Young”

Medicine At Midnight is out 2/5 via Roswell/RCA. Pre-order it here.