Month: January 2021

One of the next hosts of Jeopardy! played in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, as the show has enlisted a group of guest hosts while it searches for its permanent replacement following the death of Alex Trebek. It’s unlikely that Aaron Rodgers stops playing football soon enough to be that next permanent host, but another option may have talked their way out of the chance if you believe a report about future guest host Katie Couric.

According to Page Six, a source said Jeopardy! producers were “immediately worried” about comments she made on Bill Maher’s HBO show about Donald Trump. Couric spoke about Trump supporters and the dangerous rhetoric they believe in the wake of a MAGA coup attempt at the US Capitol that left five people dead.

“But I also think some of them are believing the garbage that they are being fed 24/7 on the internet, by their constituents, and they bought into this big lie,” Couric said during her January 15 appearance where she discussed Trump’s ban from Twitter and various GOP lawmakers who have amplified his rhetoric of election misinformation. “And the question is how are we going to really almost deprogram these people who have signed up for the cult of Trump.”

That “deprogram” comment has apparently raised eyebrows among people in charge at Jeopardy!, which Page Six notes attracts an audience with an average age of 64.2.

The source said, “The ‘Jeopardy!’ audience is very conservative. And the show has always steered clear of politics.

“Katie’s comments so soon after she was announced as a host are very concerning to the producers. They are worried there will be a backlash against her. There has already been some complaints.

“Jeopardy viewers are quite a traditional bunch, and there’s fears she might be too polarizing after this. At the very least, she already appears to have ruled herself out of becoming the permanent host of the show.”

It’s worth noting that what Couric said wasn’t particularly inflammatory, just merely something that can be seen as anti-Trump. Whether that’s actually enough to disqualify her from a role she hasn’t even auditioned for seems tough to imagine, as so many other factors are at play here. But Jeopardy! has been careful about this process to say the least, and the current guest host, Jeopardy! GOAT Ken Jennings, has already apologized for past tweets that were long viewed as insensitive ahead of his new episodes airing.

Jennings later got in trouble for defending Bean Dad, you know, back when that guy was the main character of Twitter for a day before Trump incited a riot in Washington. The point here is that things move quickly these days, and by the time Couric is guest hosting Jeopardy! we may all be concerned with something else entirely. But the report is a worrying one for those who want to see her take the stage, thrive and replace Trebek permanently.

[via Page Six]

The first half of the NFC Championship game between the Bucs and the Packers in Green Bay was quite the rollercoaster of emotions for those with any sort of investment on the first half side or total. The Bucs marched for a touchdown on their opening drive and then the two teams traded touchdowns early in the second quarter to make it a 14-7 game, and for those with the first half Over, things were looking very good.

However, from there, a Bucs red zone stand forced a field goal and those that got the total at 24.5 early in the week were in for a sweat in the final five minutes. Both teams got big stops, first the Packers forcing a punt and then the Bucs picking off Rodgers — which felt like death for Under bettors — at midfield.

The Packers defense stood tall and forced a 4th and 3, where Bruce Arians initially sent the punt unit onto the field before calling timeout and then sending Brady and company back on the field with 13 seconds left. Brady found Leonard Fournette for a first down and then, rather than try a field goal from 56 yards in the cold, they called a four verts that, somehow, the Packers were not ready for to get a touchdown to Scottie Miller and a 21-10 halftime lead.

It was a Jets-ian blitz that left everyone in 1-on-1 coverage on the outside and that means Brady was always going to find Kevin King, who was a disaster in the first half, giving up the first TD to Mike Evans and then this one to Miller with some of the worst man coverage technique you’ll see, as he simply stares into the backfield while Miller runs by him.

For those with the Under 24.5 like yours truly, it was a horrific end to a half that saw us feel every emotion possible when betting, from despair to excitement to abject horror as that pass flew threw the air. My condolences to all on the first half Under. Invoices will be directed to Kevin King at the Packers facility on Monday.

Master P is back with plans for a new venture. The famed entrepreneur recently announced that he and Richard Patterson, CEO of Trion and a former engineer at Tesla, are working on a Black-owned supercar line. The vehicles will be built under the brand name, Trion Supercars, with the first model, The Nemesis RR, serving as the first completed design. The new line will also become the first Black-owned supercar manufacturer in the United States. Master P shared the news about his latest endeavor in a statement shared by Rolling Out.

“Richard Patterson is a genius,” he said. “He has created the blueprint for the next era of supercars. It’s time for us to change the narrative for our culture by offering economic empowerment with this partnership.” He added, “The Nemesis RR is about the superb performance, head-turning appearance, and technical innovation that creates the blueprint for the next era of supercars.”

Master P’s entrance into the luxury automobile industry comes after he debuted his line of Uncle P’s food products in 2020. He launched the brand with the intent of creating food products for Black people by Black people. The line includes rice, beans, grits, pancake mix, syrup, and oatmeal and with every purchase, a donation will be made towards charities assisting both the youth and the elderly in Black communities.

You can watch Master P and Patterson discuss The Nemesis RR in the post above.

(via Rolling Out)

On Sunday afternoon, Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were in frosty Green Bay, Wisconsin to take on the Packers in the NFC Championship game. It is Brady’s first visit to the NFC title game, having won nine AFC titles and lost in another four trips to the AFC Championship while with the New England Patriots, and he’ll have to takedown a fellow living legend in Aaron Rodgers to reach a 10th Super Bowl.

There are few things that the Brands love to do more than come up with a social media post that is tangentially related to the big sporting event of the day because it provides an opportunity for easy engagement that all of us crave. This is typically done if they have some connection to a team playing or a player as an ambassador, but sometimes they’ll just force it. An entity I was not expecting to go for the cheap pop of sports ball engagement on Sunday was the Minions Twitter account, but they went for it with one of the strangest, creepiest posts you’ll see all day, and an explanation is needed.

They then followed that up with a bit of a more traditional “who you got” type post but I still demand to know why a Minion was photoshopped into Tom Brady kissing his son, with the caption “squeeze us like a deflated football Tom Brady.”

I fear this image will be seared into my brain forever and I demand some answers as to why we were subjected to such a fate.

The Buffalo Bills are in Kansas City to face the Chiefs on Sunday night for the AFC Championship, as the Bills look to make their first Super Bowl appearance in nearly 30 years. It has been a drought that has seen some hellacious lows for the franchise and a fanbase that, until the last couple years, has felt increasingly tormented.

However, even in the face of constant disappointment and seemingly endless sadness, Bills fans have maintained their intense passion for the team. It is something that happens with long suffering franchises, as its nearly impossible to remain attached to an awful team without being incredibly passionate about them, as the losing weeds out fairweather fans (which, to be clear, is a pretty good way to live) and only the crazed fans remain.

Bills fan tailgates are legendary, as they consume massive amounts of grilled meats and alcohol, jumping through tables, and just generally doing ridiculous things to prove their loyalty to the Bills. The table smashing has become their trademark though, and ahead of their game on Sunday night Fox called in an expert on the subject, WWE legend Booker T, to cut a promo for the Bills AFC title game appearance and, of course, slam someone through a table.

After their win last week, people flooded the streets of Buffalo to celebrate, including some bringing folding tables to jump through, and if they make the Super Bowl by beating the defending champs one can only imagine what the party will look like.

Keyshia Cole and Ashanti’s Verzuz was an absolute success, as it became the show’s second-highest tweeted battle while breaking an Instagram Live record for most viewers in a livestream. This all came after the show was postponed twice and set back by more than an hour as viewers waited for Keyshia Cole to take her seat for the show. During a recent Instagram Live session with R&B singer Elijah Blake, Cole apologized for her tardiness and explained why she did not take her seat despite being ready to go.

“I want to apologize for not sitting my ass in that seat, because I was there and I should’ve sat down,” she admitted. “I should’ve just sat in the seat, no matter if I felt like the visual wasn’t clear or they said my music wasn’t gonna be right or whatever it was.”

She explained that she did not go in front of the camera after O.T. Genasis, who she had a warm moment with during the battle, told her that her picture was not clear and the Verzuz could become something similar to Babyface and Teddy Riley’s flawed matchup.

“I was really skeptical about that,” Cole said. “I don’t want to go on and they not see me and I’m looking blurry, the connection is not right and everything like that.” She added, “I wear my heart on my sleeve. I’m Keyshia Cole,” in response to fans who said they could tell something was wrong when she finally on camera appeared to start.

You can watch the Instagram Live session above.

Last summer, during a series of tweets, Kanye West proclaimed Lil Baby as his favorite rapper but said he “won’t do a song with me.” Days later the Atlanta rapper revealed that he was unaware that Kanye wanted to collaborate with him.

“Nobody told me ye was trying to get me on a song [face with monocle emoji] that’s f*cced up,” he said before adding, “@kanyewest no disrespect nobody told me [shrugging emoji].” A month later, the two were spotted in the studio working on what appeared to be new music. In a recent profile with NME, Lil Baby shared what it was like working with Kanye and why he “respected” the rapper for the opportunity.

“[After the tweets] I tried to reach out to him,” he said. “I got his number to give each other a direct line then he sent me on a jet to Wyoming – and the rest is history.” He also said the compliment from Kanye was “definitely amazing to hear” and noted it’s not a compliment West throws around often.

“It’s not a regular thing that a lot of people get. A lot of people never get that opportunity or would die for that opportunity,” he said. “And the fact that I wasn’t even pressing for that opportunity and I got it – I think I respected [that] more.”

When he was asked about the music he and Kanye worked on, Lil Baby didn’t share too much about it saying, “he had some songs that I started to lead on.” He added, “I didn’t actually see [West] work on music too much… but I saw him working more in a different form – working on his clothing line and his shoes. That’s even more inspiring than the music.”

(via NME)

Cyberpunk 2077‘s release was fraught with issues, with glitches that have ranged from the hilarious to the infuriating and eventually led to the game being pulled off of the PlayStation Network. Despite years of hype behind it, the game released in a state that many would consider unfinished, which means fixes were dramatically needed.

Since the game’s release, the developers have apologized multiple times and promised to fix many of the more infuriating bugs that exist in the game. With Patch 1.1 releasing they did manage to fix a large variety of the game breaking bugs that were plaguing the game. As of the most recent patch the game is officially more playable. That is unless you come across the new bug they managed to add to the game with this patch, via Kotaku.

Patch 1.1 addresses an issue in the mission “Down on the Street” where Takemura would not call, thereby preventing any progress in the mission. He’ll call now, apparently, but then won’t say a word. Some users say that reloading old saves or creating new save files doesn’t fix it either.

There’s at least one apparent workaround. First, try to call Judy before Takemura calls. When he does, hang up the line, then tackle a side job. (The player who reported this workaround tackled a Delamain side-quest.) Wait 24 hours in-game and Takemura should call in—with dialogue and everything—allowing you to progress in “Down on the Street.”

So close! It feels so fitting that even as CD Projekt Red continues to fix their broken game they somehow manage to break it in new ways at the same time. That said, it’s somewhat appreciated that they’re taking the time out to fix their game. Even if there’s no excuse for it releasing in the state it did.

One of the bummers of Cyberpunk being such a broken mess of a game is that many have found it an enjoyable experience when it does manage to work. Who knows, maybe one day the game will be an enjoyable experience and worth playing. As of this moment though, you still can’t buy it digitally if you own a PlayStation and clearly there are still issues with it. They have a long road ahead of them before we can even begin considering a potential redemption story, but they’re trying — it’s just they manage to take a few steps forward and at least one more backward.

The NFL’s playoff championship round between Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills as well as the Green Bay Packers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicks off on Sunday with the respective winners setting the matchup for next month’s Super Bowl LV. On the music side of things, we know that The Weeknd is set to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show as he looks to extend the success of his 2020 album, After Hours. Jazmine Sullivan and Eric Church will also deliver the national anthem at the game and now it has been announced that Miley Cyrus will take part in the pre-game festivities for Super Bowl LV.

The NFL revealed on Sunday that Miley would headline their upcoming TikTok Tailgate showcase. The event was curated to celebrate healthcare workers who were invited to attend the Super Bowl. According to the announcement, 7,500 vaccinated healthcare workers will be in attendance at the show. It’s unknown at the moment if any other performers in addition to Miley will take the stage. The TikTok Tailgate event will kick off on February 7 at 2:30 PM EST/11:30AM PST and premiere on both TikTok and CBS.

This news comes as Miley continues to work on her upcoming Metallica covers album which she recently revealed is set to include guest appearances from Elton John, Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s Chad Smith, and legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

You can read the announcement above.

While their Verzuz was delayed for more than a month, Ashanti and Keyshia Cole’s battle still saw a large audience for their matchup this past Thursday. In fact, the pair broke an Instagram Live record for most viewers watching a livestream. The news was shared by Verzuz on Saturday night as the platform revealed more than 8.1 million viewers tuned in to watch the battle across their Apple Music and Instagram livestreams.

Of that number, more than 6 million people tuned in on Instagram, surpassing the previous record of 5.5 million that they set for November’s Jeezy and Gucci Mane matchup. That battle still holds the Verzuz record for most overall viewers with more than 9.1 million viewers.

There were plenty of memorable moments that surrounded Ashanti and Keyshia Cole’s battle. O.T. Genasis making a surprise appearance to sing “Love” beside Cole and 21 Savage letting his Verzuz vocals fly from the comfort of his home, which seemed to impress Missy Elliott, are just a couple that stood out.

As for the show’s future, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland revealed that their “holy grail” Verzuz would be Tupac vs. Notorious B.I.G. and Michael Jackson vs. Prince, a set of battles they both hope to execute in the best way possible.

You can check out the stats from Ashanti and Keyshia Cole’s battle above.

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