Month: March 2021

A fictional world with superheroes is bound to be very different from the one we actually live in, but The Boys universe is only slightly more absurd than ours, at least when it comes to shameless corporations peddling gendered products. Showrunner Eric Kripke knows that better than anyone, which is probably why the second set of images we’ve seen from the set of Season 3 features lots of pink guns targeted toward women.

We’ve already seen a very, uh, up close look at a Homelander statue from the man behind the series. But Kripke shared the latest images on Saturday, showing off three photos from the set in Toronto that show off a new line of Vaught Industries products: GalGear by Vought.

The first image is of what looks to be promotional material for a line of women-marketed weaponry. A banner featuring a woman holding a rifle called Linda Lockett has the GalGear brand name, along with a quote from Lockett about how much she loves guns.

“I love protecting my family,” Lockett says. The second image is more to the point: a banner that reads “Girls just want have guns,” along with what appears to be a much younger woman in hunting camo holding a rifle.

A third image really drove the point home: a hot pink rifle apparently also ready to make an appearance in Season 3.

Interestingly, that image appears to be a photo taken of a monitor of some sort, so it’s unclear if that’s from an in-show ad that will run or simply the showrunner taking a picture of what’s being filmed appearing on a monitor on set.

It’s unclear just how guns will protect you from a person who can make your head explode just by looking at you but, hey, a sale’s a sale. Especially in as cynical a universe as the one shown in The Boys.

Following a rather short-lived beef with his label, Rod Wave is ready to release some new music to his fans. The Florida rapper took to Instagram to announce that his upcoming project, Soulfly, will arrive at the end of the month. He shared the news in a post that displayed the project’s tracklist, which presents 19 songs for listeners to enjoy, as well as newly-released merch and photos from what can be assumed is an upcoming music video. Soulfly will also be a predominantly solo effort outside of a lone guest appearance from Chicago rapper, Polo G.

It was just a little over a month ago that the Florida native put his label, Alamo Records, on blast for apparently not paying him. In a post to his Instagram story, he said, “P*ssy ass label playing wit a n**** sh*t I ain’t dropping sh*t f*ck ya pay me. Y’all wanna album ask @alamorecords.” Just a few days later he apologized for the post and revealed that everything was “cool” now with his label.

You can check out the announcement above and the tracklist below.

1. “Soul Fly (Intro)”
2. “Gone Till November”
3. “Blame On You”
4. “Don’t Forget”
5. “Tombstone”
6. “All I Got”
7. “Richer” Feat. Polo G
8. “Street Runner”
9. “Pillz & Billz”
10. “How The Game Do”
11. “Shock Da World”
12. “What’s Love?? (Interlude)”
13. “OMDB”
14. “Invisible Scar”
15. “Calling”
16. “Sneaky Links”
17. “Believe Me”
18. “Moving On”
19. “Changing (Outro)”

Soulfly is out 3/26 via Alamo Records.

Elon Musk was the talk of Twitter over the weekend, but unlike other times he’s gone viral, it wasn’t because of something he did recently. It revolved around an old tweet from a media outlet that got people debating just how smart the Tesla and SpaceX founder actually is.

The New York Post did a story about potential plans for a neural implant that would make people smarter, with the headline “Could Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chips make us all as smart as he is?”

The headline was met with immediate backlash on Twitter, causing people to talk about how smart the billionaire actually is.

Later, the Post published the story with a different headline on Twitter.

But that didn’t stop screenshots of the tweet to keep talk on Twitter going.

A lot of people pointed to Musk’s insistence that the COVID-19 pandemic wouldn’t be that big a deal in 2020, especially in the wake of 500,000 Americans dying from the virus a year later.

Most just wanted to know more about this brain chip that’s supposed to make us all genius billionaires.

We’ll have to wait and see if this chip does what it says it can do, but there are plenty of folks out there who don’t seem too optimistic about the concept — especially considering the brains behind it.

Calling anyone an “epic trophy wife” is probably not a great idea for a man of the cloth, but it’s especially troublesome if the person you’re describing is Melania Trump. A pastor got himself into hot water by doing just that during a sermon that quickly went viral when video of it was posted online.

Pastor Stewart-Allen Clark, a Baptist pastor in Missouri, was placed on leave in the wake of the sermon where he was critical of women and their appearance in a speech that was described as sexist at the very least. A BBC story detailed some of what’s in the 22-minute video of the sermon, which was posted on Facebook and quickly spread to other social media sites as well.

In it, he is seen using a well-known online meme of a distracted boyfriend to tell women not to “give him a reason to be looking around”.

He tells churchgoers that it is “really important” for men to have a beautiful woman on their arm, asking the crowd: “Why is it so many times that women, after they get married, let themselves go?”

“Now look, I’m not saying every woman can be the epic trophy wife of all time like Melania Trump, I’m not saying that at all,” he says, as an image of the former First Lady appears on screen behind him.

“Most women can’t be trophy wives, but you know… maybe you’re a participation trophy.”

You can watch a bit of the clip below.

The backlash to the sentiment was pretty significant, both in the comments from the pastor but also in him calling Trump a role model to emulate. The pastor got some ire from Twitter, to say the least.

And so did Melania Trump, who didn’t exactly ask for this but also has earned her own ire over the last four years after various instances where she quietly supported her husband’s long like of racist, sexist and insurrectionist behavior along with her own controversies. Such as, for example, saying she didn’t give a f*ck about Christmas.

Some had other ideas of who to emulate.

Either way, don’t expect to see any more videos from this pastor talking about what women should be doing anytime soon.

It’s March, in case you hadn’t heard, and as such, it’s that time of year for college basketball to take center stage and turn up the drama as we approach NCAA Tournament time.

On Sunday, a red-hot Memphis team visited No. 9 Houston in a massive game for their NCAA Tournament hopes, as the Tigers are currently on the outside looking in on the tournament according to most bracketologists, and a win over a top-10 squad would’ve gone a long way to getting Penny Hardaway’s team into the field. With 10 seconds to play and trailing 64-61, Memphis needed a three to force overtime and, after a miss and offensive rebound, they got it from Boogie Ellis with just under two seconds to play.

With Houston needing to go the full length of the court for a game-winner of their own, it seemed all but assured we’d be headed to an extra frame, but Tramon Mark had different ideas, as he caught the ball near midcourt, turned and managed to bank in a prayer to give Houston the win and hand Memphis a gutting loss.

It’s the kind of moment you dream about as a player in March, the chance to hit a buzzer-beater in a massive game, whether in the tournament or in the weeks leading up where seeding is on the line. Memphis, falling to 15-7 on the season, will now need a lot of help or a run in the AAC Tournament next week to get themselves into the dance.

This year is certainly an unconventional year for the Grammys. On top of working around the coronavirus pandemic, the show is holding the award ceremony much later in the year than normal. The Recording Academy was forced to delay the show from its original January 31 date following a spike in coronavirus cases in the Los Angeles area. It was rescheduled for March 14 and with just a week left until showtime, it appears things are going as planned as the Grammys have officially announced performers for the upcoming show.

The Recording Academy announced the lineup for the 63rd Grammy Award show in a string of tweets. The resulting list displays Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Cardi B, DaBaby, Lil Baby, Roddy Ricch, Doja Cat, Bad Bunny, BTS, and Harry Styles as some of the chart-topping acts that will take the stage next Sunday. Chris Martin, Post Malone, Dua Lipa, HAIM, Mickey Guyton, Brittany Howard, Maren Morris, John Mayer, Miranda Lambert, and Black Pumas are also slated to perform.

On the awards side of things, Beyonce leads the way for the 2021 Grammys with nine nominations. She’s followed by Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift, and Roddy Ricch, who each tallied six nominations.

Scroll down to see the announcement for each artist performing at the show.

https://twitter.com/RecordingAcad/status/1368622222219350022?s=20

The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards will air on 3/14 at 8pm EST/ 5pm EST on CBS.

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

On Thursday night, the NBA aired the 2021 All-Star Draft as LeBron James and Kevin Durant made their selections for their respective squads, and after 21 picks had been made, the final two players left on the board were both from the Utah Jazz.

Charles Barkley called the two captains out for “Utah Jazz slander” and LeBron tried to insist that wasn’t the case and, in doing so, proceeded to dump all over the franchise’s history, noting that no matter how good they’ve been, no one has ever really wanted to pick the Jazz’s stars. It drew plenty of laughs, but in Utah, it was the latest example of disrespect towards a franchise that believes it hasn’t gotten its just due, particularly this season as they enter the All-Star break with the league’s best record.

On Sunday, Donovan Mitchell had his All-Star availability and was asked about James’ comments, noting that he doesn’t care about it at this point and that he’s heard people “talking sh*t” about him since he came into the NBA.

It’s the right response from Mitchell, who has certainly had plenty of experience this season dealing with some Hall of Fame criticism after the entire episode with Shaq earlier in the year. Between letting their frustration with the officials fly after the first half finale in Philadelphia and the All-Star Draft process, the Jazz won’t be short on motivation going into the second half of the season. As for Sunday night’s All-Star Game, Mitchell will be playing against his two Utah teammates as part of Team Durant, and can try to exact a little on-court revenge on LeBron if able.

Kanye West’s 2020 presidential campaign didn’t result in the win that he had hoped for. The rapper only tallied a few hundred votes from a handful of states around the country, and while the election is a thing of the past now, it looks like he’s in a bit of trouble as a result of it.

According to The Daily Beast the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has named several violations from the rapper’s campaign, all of which could lead to legal action pending an investigation. The report states that Kanye accepted multiple donations from minors as well as some from possible foreign officials. Contributions were also listed under fake names and addresses that traced back to drop-shipping facilities on the east and west coasts.

These unlawful fundraising practices accumulated nearly $100,000 in small donations this year. In an interview with the publication, 16-year-old West donor Ian Bloom revealed that he’s yet to receive $3,280 worth of Kanye 2020 gear that he ordered from the rapper’s campaign store in late January.

“I don’t know what’s happening there,” he said. “I ordered like 20 hoodies off his campaign website, along with a lot of other people that I know. They said it would be three weeks, and after that I emailed the support team, and the email just wasn’t a thing.” He shared a screenshot of the automated email response that revealed his address had been blocked. The Daily Beast adds that people under the age of 18 accounted for more than 1,200 of the reported 3,161 donations to Kanye’s campaign, making for a total of $349,160 with $26,540 of that arriving in 2021. It should be noted that it is illegal to seek and accept donations from anyone younger than 18 years old.

Bloom added that he’s in a Discord chat with other hopeful resellers of Kanye’s 2020 gear, many of whom are underage. “I can say with confidence that at least half of us in the group have to be still in high school,” he said.

On Sunday, the NBA announced that Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons would not play in the All-Star Game due to contact tracing after the two Sixers stars visited a barber in Philadelphia prior to this weekend who tested positive for COVID-19.

It was the exact situation the NBA had hoped to avoid as it attempted to thread the needle of hosting a one-day All-Star in the midst of the ongoing pandemic, as, if nothing else, the optics of the two having to be removed for contact tracing caused the conversation around the game to once again shift to whether it should be happening. The Embiid and Simmons situation likely didn’t change the minds of many, but for those who already had warranted concerns about bringing players from different markets into one place for a made-for-TV exhibition, it certainly highlighted why the concern existed in the first place.

Among those who have expressed their belief that the game shouldn’t happen is Paul George, who was honest when asked about the situation involving the Sixers’ two stars and noted that in a time when health and safety should be at the forefront of every decision, hosting an All-Star Game should not be happening.

George was far from alone in being against having an All-Star Game, as other top stars like LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo likewise questioned why it was happening weeks ago. They will speak later and it won’t be a surprise to see them likewise reiterate their stances on the game being unnecessary. Others, like Damian Lillard, were asked about the situation and noted it’s unfortunate, while also pointing out the vigilance required to stay out of protocols this year.

The game will go on, with Zion Williamson shuffling into the starting lineup for Team Durant in place of Embiid, and the league will keep its fingers crossed that the only protocol issues that arise from the All-Star festivities are the absence of Philly’s two stars for contact tracing.

Despite all the awards and commercial success she’s attained in her career, Lizzo still faces harmful comments from fans throughout the music world. Unfortunately, another instance of this occurred this past weekend during an Instagram Live session. While chatting with her followers, the singer was asked how she deals “with being obese every day.” Upon reading the message, Lizzo cracked a smile and delivered a response that saw her get the last laugh.

“I wake up into my obese bed — I have to get a king bed because I’m so obese — and I put on my I put on my obese Louis Vuitton house slippers,” she said. “I walk into my massive, obese bathroom and I just stare into my wall-to-wall, obese mirror and lather myself in the most obese, expensive oils and creams, and — oh, god — I walk into my obese, gorgeous, mid-century modern kitchen, and by the time I’ve made it into my kitchen, I’ve already made another obese million dollars.”

She continued by shedding some fake tears and adding, “My bank account is so fat. My bank account is so obese, and, like, I tried to put it on a diet but she’s just so stubborn, like, she won’t listen.”

You can watch the video from the Instagram Live above.

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