Month: February 2021

Jared Leto’s Joker and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn have gone on two different paths since Suicide Squad. She starred in Birds of Prey, one of the best comic book movies in recent memory; he turned into Joker Christ. I’d say she’s winning the breakup.

Robbie will reprise her role as Harley Quinn in The Suicide Squad, the first DC film from Marvel Cinematic Universe all-star James Gunn. The writer and director called Harley his “favorite DC character” and Robbie “probably the best actor I’ve ever worked with,” and the pair have already discussed other projects together.

In response to an Instagram follower asking him about working with Robbie again in the future, Gunn replied, “Margot and I discussed this just the other day. We will have to see what happens!” With apologies to Harley for paraphrasing her ex: we live in a society… where this needs to happen (as along as Birds of Prey director Cathy Yan is involved).

Gunn also recently fielded questions from Twitter users, including one who asked him about the “decision” he had to fight the hardest for. “I’d say hiring @DaveBautista on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1,” he wrote back. “The first thing Kevin Feige told me after seeing the first cut is how right I was about him.” This was Gunn rubbing it in to Feige.

The Suicide Squad comes out on HBO Max on August 6.

Defending Donald Trump as an attorney sure doesn’t pay. Just ask Michael Cohen, who’s still salty about that prison sentence. As for Rudy Giuliani, the damage was not only to his hair dye but also where it may hurt most: his wallet. Trump reportedly refused to pay America’s (Former) Mayor for his work on the Elite Strike Team that vowed to overturn the election. Not only that, but Dominion Voting Systems sued Rudy for $1.3 billion (and also separately sued wacky Sidney Powell and the MyPillow guy, Mike Lindell) for his baseless election fraud claims.

Did Rudy want to sued? Of course not, yet he apparently put up a ridiculous fight. The NY Daily News details how (despite Rudy putting on a brave public face and declaring that he was prepared for legal battle) Giuliani managed to dodge process servers for a full week. He refused to waive service and accept the 107-page document via email, so they had to chase him down, old-school style. Oh boy:

“After not responding to requests to waive service, Mr. Giuliani evaded in-person service of process for nearly a week. It took numerous attempts, at both his home and office, before we were able to successfully serve Mr. Giuliani on February 10. Mr. Giuliani’s repeated false claims about Dominion have been immeasurably damaging; this service of process is one more step forward in our pursuit of justice,” said Tom Clare, an attorney for Dominion.

In all fairness, this news suggests that Rudy got his hair-dye game working for him (finally), since process servers couldn’t literally follow the black-goo trail. Good for him? A full week of dodging is pretty hardcore, but you can’t run from the law forever, man.

(Via NY Daily News)

It was reported yesterday that after spending six years behind bars, Bobby Shmurda (real name Ackquille Pollard) would get out of prison on a conditional release today. Sure enough, this morning, the rapper was released from Clinton Correctional Facility.

A spokesperson from the New York State Department Of Corrections told Vulture, “At approximately 8:30 this morning, Ackquille Pollard was conditionally released from Clinton Correctional Facility. Mr. Pollard will be under community supervision in Kings County until he completes his sentence on February 23, 2026.”

Shmurda preemptively celebrated his then-upcoming release last night with an Instagram post. He shared a 5-minute clip from the movie King Of New York, in which Christopher Walken’s character gets out of prison and then celebrates his freedom. Shmurda wrote alongside his post, “How the fuc y’all forget about me.”

Quavo recently vowed to be the one to pick Shmurda up from prison, saying, “I’m going to get my guy. I’m personally gonna go pick up Bobby Shmurda. I’m ’bout to go get him. I’m gonna let him show you how I’m gonna pick him up. It’s gonna be big.” Yesterday, Shmurda’s mother indicated that once the rapper is free, he plans to spend most of his time making music.

Ted Cruz appeared on the Ruthless podcast to discuss his ill-advised trip to Cancun during a historic winter storm that left millions of Texas residents without power. Hosted by conservative “royalty” Comfortably Smug, frequent Fox News guest Josh Holmes, and “digital media expert” Michael Duncan, the podcast aims to “bring next generation conservative talk to the next level,” making it a perfect destination for the senator.

“So, how was your weekend?” Cruz was asked at the beginning of his interview. “Calm, uneventful, not much of anything going on,” he answered. “Look, I haven’t had this much negative press coverage since Northern California in the 1960s.” You can’t make Zodiac Killer jokes, Ted. Only we can make Zodiac Killer jokes. He also unloaded on the American heroes who leaked his wife Heidi’s group chat, where she asked friends and neighbors if they wanted to visit Cancun with the Cruzs (I can’t think of a less appealing offer):

“I will say, Heidi is pretty pissed at that. She was over at the neighbor’s house yesterday, sort of walking through… She texted several of our neighbors. Look, our neighbors, we got a number of Republicans who are neighbors but we also have a lot of Democrats, folks on our streets who put up Beto signs, which I thought was a little rude. But, y’know, I didn’t hold a victory party in their front yard when I won… Here’s a suggestion: Just don’t be assholes. Yeah, like, just, you know, treat each other as human being, have some degree, some modicum of respect.”

Something tells me Cruz won’t be appearing on Springsteen and Obama’s podcast, but if you want to listen to his Ruthless interview, you can do so here.

(Via Raw Story)

Last week, Meek Mill found himself in some hot water after some unreleased lyrics of his surfaced, in which he makes a joke about Kobe Bryant’s death, which came as the result of a helicopter crash. On the track, he raps, “And if I ever lack, I’m going out with my choppa, it be another Kobe.” The backlash was quick and plentiful, and now Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s wife, has publicly expressed her discontent.

In an Instagram Story last night, Bryant addressed Mill directly, writing, “Dear @meekmill, I find this line to be extremely insensitive and disrespectful. Period. I am not familiar with any of your music, but I believe you can do better than this. If you are a fan, fine, there’s a better way to show your admiration for my husband. This lacks respect and tact.” Bryant also shared a post from Candace Parker, who wrote, “Dear @vanessabryant I’m sorry YOU and your GIRLS have to continually deal with SH*T like this. It’s not fair it’s not right! We love you and I continually am in awe in your ability to take the high rode. So I will follow suit and say to everyone #dountoothersasyouwouldhavethemdountoyou.”

Following Bryant’s posts, Mill shared what seemed to be a reaction to the situation, writing on Twitter, “I don’t think we on the same signal y’all .. I don’t see what y’all see… I be looking at the net laughing like I did whet. I say random sh*t all day on social … it becomes a trend to hate on me every once in a while but I feed off that sh*t ima beast literally.” He then more directly addressed Bryant’s posts, writing, “I apologized to her in private earlier today not to the public…Nothing I say on my page directed to a internet viral moment or the family of a grieving woman! If you care about someone grieving change the subject!”

Find Bryant’s posts below.

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

The Lakers are officially in a funk. After some narrow escapes earlier this month, the Anthony Davis-less Lakers have dropped three straight, with the latest coming in rather ugly fashion after blowing a 14-point halftime lead to the streaking Wizards to lose 127-124 in overtime.

L.A. was on cruise control in the first half and it seemed like they would right the ship and pick up a win to end Washington’s four-game winning streak. However, Bradley Beal, Russell Westbrook, and the young Wizards had other ideas as they stormed back to take a four-point lead late in the fourth quarter, thanks to a Deni Avdija three-pointer with just under 30 seconds to play.

LeBron got to the basket for a layup to cut the lead to two, and the Wizards rather bizarrely inbounded the ball to Russell Westbrook, who is shooting just 62.5 percent from the line on the season. Westbrook split the free throws to make it just a two-point lead, and James again got inside to make a leaning shot against Russ for an and-1 opportunity. However, LeBron also had his free throw issues pop up at the worst possible time, coming up way short on his attempt to take the lead.

Bradley Beal’s game winning attempt went begging, and the Lakers, for the fourth time this season, were headed to OT against a sub-.500 squad. In overtime, the L.A. offense again stagnated and the Wizards jumped out to a lead thanks to some sensational shot-making from Bradley Beal.

A Kentavious Caldwell-Pope three late made it a one-point game and after a foul called on Marc Gasol with 14 seconds left, the Lakers had to try and trap or at least foul to keep hope alive. Instead, LeBron lost the inbounder as Westbrook cut to the rim and got an and-1 layup to go up three.

He missed the free throw again, leaving the door ajar for the Lakers, but LeBron took an early 30-foot heave that wasn’t close and Kyle Kuzma’s mad scramble three from the corner missed everything to hand the Lakers a third straight loss and Washington an improbable and impressive fifth straight win. Beal and Wesbrook combined for 65 in the win, while James had 31 points, 13 assists, and nine rebounds in the loss, as the Lakers continue to struggle to figure out how to consistently create on offense without Davis in the lineup.

The most frustrating part of playing sports video games aren’t the mistakes you make as a player, but the glitches and mistakes forced on you by the game. You can live with a bad decision of yours but when you do everything right and still end up on the wrong end of the result, that’s when expletives (and sometimes controllers) fly.

It’s why people get so frustrated with the glitches in Madden that make the game at times unplayable, and why those that play the games for the actual gameplay and not the story modes, beg for that to be the area of focus for developers. A great example of this comes from Twitter user @LVD____ who posted a video of one of the most ridiculous moments of virtual sports robbery you’ll ever see.

Playing as the Sixers against the Jazz in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, he scores a go-ahead bucket with Joel Embiid thanks to the computer playing some of the worst defense possible with seconds to play. The virtual Jazz don’t have any timeouts left, so they have to inbound it full-court with 2.5 seconds to play and what comes next is truly incredible.

That’s Jordan Clarkson spotting up from a good 70-plus feet from the rim and cashing the game-winning basket at the buzzer to win the NBA Finals. If the computer pulled this against me I would be furious and would bring it up anytime anyone is ever playing a sports video game. However, from a neutral observer position, this is objectively hilarious and I’m glad to have this video in my life. In the end, it was indeed Jordan Clarkson time, and Jordan Clarkson time waits for no one.

The UCLA gymnastics team has earned a reputation for their stellar floor routines in recent years, and junior Margzetta Frazier has been in the center of the spotlight. In year’s past, the athlete graced headlines after some of her routines included both voguing and soul-inspired dance moves. More recently, Frazier competed with a routine to Janet Jackson’s music — and the singer loved it so much that she personally thanked the gymnast.

After a video went viral of Frazier nailing a floor routine to a medley of Jackson’s music, the singer was able to get in contact with the gymnast. During their FaceTime call, captured by TMZ, Jackson gushed over Frazier’s skills and even asked to be her student:

“I would one day love to tumble. And if I do, I would for you to teach me. I did it once in the video ‘The Pleasure Principle’ and the way it was shot, people didn’t think that it was me, but it was me doing the back flip. I would love for you to teach me. Hopefully I won’t break anything. But I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for sharing your talent, it was so beautiful to see you tumble, it was really inspiring. It just inspired me to want to do more, do better, and be stronger. I loved it, absolutely loved it. […] I would love to meet you next time I’m in LA and just sit down and chat, I really would.”

Jackson’s words apparently inspired Frazier to “do more, do better, and be stronger” because after their call, Frazier headed straight to a meet and performed her best. Per TMZ’s report, Frazier recorded personal bests both on the beam and on the vault.

See Frazier’s floor routine above.

Maybe you remember that Ryan Reynolds had a superhero gig before Deadpool. Ten years ago he played Hal Jordan, aka Green Lantern, aka Earth’s representative in the intergalactic police force known as Green Lantern Corps. The movie, entitled simply Green Lantern, wasn’t a bomb but it wasn’t a big hit either, and Reynolds went on living his life, unencumbered by the need to do future installments. (He’s even openly mocked his DC stint.) But some recent rumors had it that Zack Snyder had pulled him back in, to appear in his forthcoming cut of Justice League. But Reynolds had some bad news.

It all started with a post by the fan site Discussing Film, which zeroed in on a bit from a new Vanity Fair piece on the chaotic making of the film, whose first iteration, the not-much-liked Joss Whedon cut, was released in 2017. One person teased that the long-threatened “Snyder cut” would include a “hero cameo that will blow hard-core fans’ minds.”

One person floated the idea of Reynolds’ Hal Jordan — a fair guess, given that in the comics Jordan is a founding member of the Justice League. They were so confident they even tagged Reynolds’ personal Twitter account — only to get a firm no.

“It’s not me,” Reynolds tweeted back. “But what a cool pirate flag to cameo as Hal. Maybe it’s another GL? But for me, the suit stays in the closet. I mean, computer.”

So keep guessing! Moreover, it sounds like he’s done with Green Lantern, having found his true calling as Wade Winston Wilson, aka the wise-cracking, near-invincible Deadpool. Oh well — you always have Nathan Fillion’s voice in the one Green Lantern animated movie.

(Via THR)

Two-time NBA All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas appeared in 40 games for the Washington Wizards in 2019-20, making 37 starts and playing nearly 1,000 minutes. Thomas, who starred as a member of the Boston Celtics, was a very positive story as he recovered from long-term injury issues, and he even averaged 12.2 points per game while shooting 41.3 percent from three-point range. However, Thomas has not played in the NBA for more than a calendar year, last appearing on the court last week as a member of Team USA in a FIBA AmeriCup qualifying matchup against the Bahamas.

Still, that didn’t stop the folks from Spectrum SportsNet from giving Thomas an inadvertent shoutout in advance of Monday’s game between the Wizards and the Los Angeles Lakers. While introducing the Wizards’ starting lineup, the Lakers-based broadcast used a photo of Thomas in place of Russell Westbrook, drawing all kinds of attention.

Not only did the swap make the rounds in the form of a still frame photo, the video came to light and it even made reference to the difficulty of stopping Washington’s backcourt.

This is mostly just hilarious, and there is no real harm done. In fact, broadcasts make mistakes on occasion and swapping in the wrong photo is just one of those blunders. Still, it is even funnier that this mishap involved a former MVP from the Wizards being swapped for a player no longer on the team’s roster, and it isn’t as if the Lakers would be unfamiliar with Thomas, given that he was on the roster for Los Angeles back in 2017-18.