Month: February 2021

Now that Donald Trump is out of office and they can no longer complain about the media being unfair to the president, conservative pundits have taken up “cancel culture” as their new favorite topic. It’s at least 75 percent of what Tucker Carlson spews about every night. Tomi Lahren, Fox Nation’s most meltdown-prone host, also frequently discusses cancel culture and how it’s the [checks notes] most deadly threat to America?

“The most deadly and un-American threat to this country and our freedom is this rampant and rabid cancel culture. We don’t give grace anymore, we rush to cut people off at the knees and ruin their lives all for some sick twisted 5 mins of satisfaction. It’s wrong & it has to stop,” Lahren tweeted. She quickly followed that by what I assume is her bumper sticker: “Cancel Cancel Culture.” Wow. Really makes you think.

Lahren continued, “Does ripping away everything from someone do anything to advance anything for anybody? Or is this just another cheap thrill for the woke keyboard crowd? A trophy for the cancel culture mob? A feather in the hat of self-righteous jerks who take pleasure in misery/downfall of others?” Based on the timing of her tweets, the “someone” Lahren is referring to could be country star Morgan Wallen, whose record label dropped him after he was caught on video using a racial slur. Or maybe she’s speaking generally. Either way, Lahren would never support a president who loves to cancel people. Oh wait.

Also, pretty sure there are other, more deadly threats than cancel culture out there.

Cardi B makes no secret of her past as a stripper in various New York clubs before her time as an international rap superstar. Well, it turns out she hasn’t left that life completely behind after “retiring her G-string,” so to speak. Cardi dusted off an in-home stripper pole and her requisite dance skills to join in on the TikTok trend known as the #SilhouetteChallenge.

As you can see, she actually puts a lot of effort into her video, making the transition cut in motion as she spins around on the pole with her hair pinned up in a nightgown. The “silhouette” portion of the video doesn’t show much we haven’t seen before — this week, in fact, when she posted the racy cover to her forthcoming single “Up” — but it’s an impressive entry, especially for someone who believes “It’s so hard to do tiktoks,” as she put it in the caption.

She also won the approval of her commenters, including Doja Cat, whose song “Streets” is used for the filtered half of the challenge’s videos. “Streets” made the jump all the way to No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 thanks to the trend, and Doja no doubt appreciates Cardi’s “exquisite” contribution to her impressive streaming totals. Doja also finally jumped on the trend herself, as well.

Watch Cardi B’s “Silhouette Challenge” video above.

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

The shortest track from Vampire Weekend’s 2019 album Father Of The Bride is “2021,” which clocks in at 1 minute and 38 seconds. Now, though, the group has given the brief song some extra attention with their new project, 40:42, which includes two reimaginings of the song that are each 20 minutes and 21 seconds long.

Vampire Weekend recruited jazz saxophonist Sam Gendel and jam band Goose to help them out, tasking them with making new versions of the songs that run for the specified length. Sure enough, Gendel’s rendition is a spaced-out and jazzy affair while Goose takes things in the jammy direction that Vampire Weekend have flirted with in recent years.

This is the first new release in a few months from Vampire Weekend, who released the Live From Florida EP back in mid-2020. Meanwhile, Brandon Flowers of The Killers recently admitted that Father Of The Bride inspired his band to put their all into their latest album, Imploding The Mirage. He said, “That really helped to propel us into the right direction and realize that we couldn’t just phone in The Killers’ record. We had to do better. I told Ezra [Koenig] that. I’m grateful for people like him.”

Watch both performances above and stream 40:42 below.

To promote her return to the MCU in the Disney+ series WandaVision, Kat Dennings has been doing the interview rounds and telling some great stories in the process. While stopping by the “Just for Variety” podcast, Dennings opened up about her worst audition, which involved being in the same room as a major star for an Oscar-nominated film, but she noticed something was off when the actor refused to touch her. Before being convinced to reveal that the actor was Nicolas Cage, Dennings recalled the very awkward experience of basically miming her way through the audition. Via Variety:

“I have everything memorized. I’m ready to get into like the physicality of the scene, but I realized pretty quick that that actor is not going to touch me. He’s also not going to be near me. He was at the other end of the room, which seemed to be his choice, which I was like I’m going to be miming this. So a scene where I am asking to be let go of and physically wriggling out of this man’s grip became a mining session. But I understand and I respect that the actor made that decision. But at the time, it was not great because I was like, ‘I look like an absolute moron.’ I’m not getting this.

Despite being forced to mime the scene, Dennings has no hard feelings towards Cage. In fact, she actually spoke to him after the audition, which was a highlight of her career, and she respects that he didn’t feel comfortable man-handling a young actress in an audition. “I’m a young girl so he didn’t want to physically touch me and make me uncomfortable,” Dennings said. “I appreciate it. I really do.”

(Via Variety)

Ted Cruz can’t stop himself from fighting, even after being mercilessly and roundly trounced by Seth Rogen. The insurrection-inciting senator from Texas can’t even stop himself from talking about movies and TV after he completely bungled the meaning of Watchmen while attempting to slam “rabid environmentalists” as the true supervillains. This time, though, the feud is hitting very close to home for Ted, and by that, I don’t mean Texas. I’m referring to Cruz’s superfan status for The Princess Bride. He’s called it the “perfect” film and has been known to quote the movie (out of context) on Twitter, and he was crushed when the cast reunited to raise dollars for Democrats. He was also undoubtedly upset when Westley actor Cary Elwes declared himself a non-fan of Cruz.

Neither Ted nor Cary have forgotten their first round of tweets, and they’re back for another round, this time with extra vicious swipes. As it turns out, Cary noticed the Watchmen and Avengers disaster on the Not-Zodiac-Killer’s podcast, and he had something to add. “How does it feel to know that not only the entire cast and crew of your favorite movie The Princess Bride, but almost the whole entertainment industry, have nothing but rabid contempt for you?” Elwes tweeted at Cruz. “#inconceivable? I think not, you miserable ROUS.”

Oh boy. In The Princess Bride terms (and also out-of-context in honor of Cruz), Cary was all like, “First things first, to the death,” and Ted was like, “No. To the pain.” This is how Ted responded, by reminding Cary that he once signed memorabilia “To Sen. Cruz,” and he posted the evidence, like it meant something very profound.

Cary wasn’t here for it and pushed back with a solid slam: “Nah you can keep it as a reminder of how tragic it is that you had to have someone forge your name. Which makes sense since you are a forgery.”

Another very bad Twitter feud for Ted Cruz.

The nominees for this year’s Golden Globes were announced yesterday and Sia earned some recognition for her directorial debut, Music. The film previously faced backlash for its portrayal of autism, and in light of the movie’s nominations, that feedback resurfaced, which prompted Sia to share an apology.

Last night, Sia wrote in a pair of tweets that are no longer available (according to Variety), “I promise, have been listening. The motion picture MUSIC will, moving forward, have this warning at the head of the movie: MUSIC in no way condones or recommends the use of restraint on autistic people. There are autistic occupational therapists that specialize in sensory processing who can be consulted to explain safe ways to provide proprioceptive, deep-pressure feedback to help w meltdown safety.”

She then added, “I’m sorry,” and continued, “I plan to remove the restraint scenes from all future printings. I listened to the wrong people and that is my responsibility, my research was clearly not thorough enough, not wide enough.”

As Variety notes, the tweets were online for about an hour before Sia’s account was deactivated.

Sia previously defended the film, tweeting of her decision to cast Maddie Ziegler as an autistic character, “I’ve never referred to music as disabled. Special abilities is what I’ve always said, and casting someone at her level of functioning was cruel, not kind, so I made the executive decision that we would do our best to lovingly represent the community.”

Jimmy Kimmel had his fun with Mike Lindell’s wild Newsmax interview, and now it’s Trevor Noah’s turn. “One thing that set [the Capitol riot] off was the conspiracy theory that the Democrats stole the election using rigged voting machines from Dominion,” The Daily Show host said during Wednesday’s episode. “It’s a conspiracy theory that was pushed by Trump supporters like Mike Lindell, the MyPillow founder and alt-right Mario, and the right-wing network Newsmax talked about it all the time.” It’s no “POOTY GHOULIANI,” but I move that we only refer to Mike Lindell as “alt-right Mario” from now on (the motion passes). “MyPillow Guy” makes him sound too cuddly.

In reference to the Newsmax anchor who stood up from his chair and walked off screen as Lindell continued to rant, Noah said, “That defamation lawsuit has Newsmax shook. You see that dude? He peaced out of there like the Chipotle just hit. But you see, that’s the power of the courts right there, because Mike Lindell tried to stage a coup and Newsmax was fine with inviting him on, but the second he started saying sh*t that was going to get them sued, all of a sudden they were like, ‘No, no, no, my man! Overthrowing the government is one thing, but a lawsuit? That sh*t’s serious!’” He also compared Newsmax to “Fox News after it stopped taking its meds.”

You can watch The Daily Show clip above.

Lil Durk is coming off a very strong 2020, one that will go down as one of the best commercial years in his career. The Chicago rapper hit fans with his Just Cause Y’all Waited 2 last May, one he delivered a deluxe reissue for less than two months later. The project earned him his highest debut at No. 2 on the album charts while landing him a Gold plaque by the end of the year. While this may have been enough to celebrate, he doubled back in December with his second project of the year, The Voice, an effort that also received the deluxe treatment. Extending the life of his latest full-length project, he returns with a new single featuring Kehlani.

The Bay Area singer and Durk collide for their first collaboration, “Love You Too.” The song is a remix of “Love You,” which originally features Sydny August and appears on The Voice. While Durk’s verse on the song stays the same, Kehlani’s contribution sees her standing as the ride or die companion beside the rapper. She labels their situation as one of kind, which requires her to put in as much energy to it as he does so that it may last forever. “You the realest so I make it a point to match that,” Kehlani sings.

The track joins a growing list of guest appearances Kehlani has made in the last year that includes Pink Sweats “At Your Worst,” Victoria Monet’s “Touch Me” remix, and Russ’ “Take You Back.”

Press play on the video above to hear the track.

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

Last summer, Migos filed a lawsuit against their former attorney Damien Granderson. The group sued him for malpractice and claimed they were “cheated out of millions of dollars” due to “glaring conflicts of interest.” The claim stemmed from the fact that Granderson represented the group and their current label, Quality Control Music. Despite this, it seems like the group has resolved their differences with the lawyer after just a few months.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the group recently filed to dismiss the case against Granderson. The Migos filed the voluntary dismissal without prejudice back in November which allowed them to file another claim, but on Wednesday they returned with another request for dismissal, which they made with prejudice. It can be assumed that both parties came to an agreement behind closed doors, but whether that happened or not and the terms of a possible agreement have not been revealed yet.

The news comes after the trio began teasing fans with the release of their upcoming fourth album, Culture III. Migos recently shared a trailer that teased the upcoming project and found the rappers speaking about their current position with their music. “We’re just young men trying to grow,” Quavo said. “Right now, we’re at a point in our life we’re allowed to sit down and build and start from scratch.” Prior to that, Quavo also confirmed during a podcast appearance that the album would arrive in 2021. “We done with the album, we just waiting on 2021, man so everything can crack up,” he said.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

Right as people were celebrating the two-year anniversary of his debut album, Everything’s For Sale, Westside Boogie made his return to the music world. His latest offering comes in the form of a sizzling freestyle over Moneybagg Yo’s “Said Sum,” which finds him rebuking the attitude and actions of a past lover while sounding a bit cold-hearted himself. He also uses the track to brag about his success and briefly touch on his hope for a timely end to the pandemic.

This freestyle arrives less than a week after Westside Boogie surprised fans with his “Joe Exotic Freestyle.” The Shady Records signee rapped his head off on the track, proving that despite the scant amount of music over the past two years, his lyrical abilities have anything but dulled. Prior to the the new track, he joined Joey Badass, Denzel Curry, and Jack Harlow for a remix of Reason’s “Extinct” and linked with Badass again for their single “Outside.” He also teamed with OMB Bloodbath for a video to their collaboration “12 Days Of Bhristmas,” which put a spin on the Christmas track. He also appeared on LVRN’s compilation Home For The Holidays.

You can listen to the freestyle in the video above.