Month: March 2021

Earlier this month, Lil Baby was the talk of Twitter and it wasn’t because of his music. During the NBA’s All-Star Weekend, the rapper joined 2 Chainz for a pickup basketball game against Jack Harlow and Quavo as a part of Bleacher Report’s “Open Run.” Despite Lil Baby’s claims that a “guy like Jack Harlow” would be unable to beat him in the game, the matchup turned out to be an easy one for Quavo and Harlow, as they took home the win by a score of 21-7. Lil Baby had quite the underwhelming performance, from a pretty bad free throw attempt to a few air-balled shots. Despite this, he’s calling for a second chance.

The rapper shared a video of him practicing some shots before the pickup game earlier this month. “Give me three months Im setting one of [these] up,” he captioned the video. “Y’all got [me] f*cced up.” In it, viewers can see the rapper making a couple of baskets, so it’s completely possible that his performance in the “Open Run” game was just a case of bad luck.

Until the rematch is confirmed, the next thing fans of Lil Baby can expect from him is one of two projects: his Lamborghini Boys tape, which will only feature rappers who own a Lamborghini, and The Voice Of The Hero, his joint tape with Lil Durk.

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

The Houston Rockets entered Sunday afternoon’s game with the Oklahoma City Thunder riding an active 19-game losing streak, as they have quickly careened to the bottom of the NBA standings. However, with Christian Wood back in the lineup, the Rockets are more competitive and on Sunday they had a chance to snap their skid.

The Rockets and Thunder traded leads late, with Houston leading 110-109 and then tying the game at 111 with two minutes to go. From there, neither team could do much offensively, with the Thunder getting one more two-point bucket and John Wall splitting a pair of free throws with a minute to play to make it 113-112. That was the score that remained with 10 seconds on the clock as Wall drove by Luguentz Dort with what looked like an open layup for the lead and, possibly, the win. However, Wall chose to try and lay it up over the front of the rim rather than going to the glass, and Dort took that opportunity to make a sensational, game-saving block.

Aleksej Pokusevski would split two free throws on the other end and a Wall game-winning three would go begging as OKC continues to pick up wins despite a roster actively built for the future, while the Rockets losing streak runs to 20 games.

After the game, the emotions of this losing streak and how it’s wearing on the Rockets was evident on coach Stephen Silas, who was visibly dejected and struggling to find the words after yet another gutting loss.

It’s hard to imagine what it’s like being Silas, having been hired to guide a team that figured to be in transition somewhat, but quickly became a full-on rebuild without a lot of assets. He’s a coach that’s waited for this opportunity to be a head coach, and after finally getting that chance he’s been left with a team that is depleted and, right now, can’t really see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Florida ended state-wide lockdowns and mask mandates long before anyone else, but even state officials were horrified by what happened over the weekend: Not only was there an outbreak at Mar-a-Lago, where former president Donald Trump likes to hold maskless soirees, but there were also huge crowds packing into Miami Beach, celebrating Spring Break as though if we weren’t still dealing with a pandemic. Even instituting an 8pm curfew did little to disperse the crowds, which included such colorful figures as a dude with Joker facepaint, waving a flag and prematurely declaring the age of COVID to be over.

The man was caught on video by filmmaker and self-avowed “Florida Man” Billy Corben, who showed the guy not only shouting, “Fucking COVID is over baby!” but also throwing up a bunch of bills. Corben also threw in the face-palm-y hashtag “#BecauseMiami.”

Of course, COVID is not over. As per The New York Times, Miami-Dade County just went through one of the nation’s worst outbreaks, to say nothing of the more than 32,000 Floridians who have died from the disease. The state is also dealing with what is believed to be the highest number of B.1.1.7 cases — the more contagious and deadly strain of the coronavirus, fir noted in the U.K. — in the United States.

Dr. Anthony Fauci recently went on Today to warn against the very behavior exhibited in Florida, noting that, even with a dramatic uptick in vaccinations, we could still see something similar to what’s been happening overseas.

“History has shown us that when you have that plateauing, that’s usually the forerunner of another surge — we’ve actually seen that in the European Union,” he explained. “I’m really concerned if we declare victory prematurely that that’s the same thing that’s going to happen.” He added, “If we can just hang on a bit longer, the more people get vaccinated, the less likelihood that there is going to be a surge.”

Then again, you tell that to Florida Men like the Joker guy.

(Via The New York Times)

Fat Joe found himself in a bit of controversy following a verse he did on Benny The Butcher’s new project, The Plugs I Met 2. On a song titled “Talkin’ Back,” the rapper said, “Track me in and out of court, Harvey Weinstein / Threw that white up in the pot, gave ’em pipe dreams / And watch it spread like the Wuhan virus / Do ’em dirty for the low like Wu-Tang ’Sirus.”

In the less than two days that passed since the song’s release, a number of listeners have hopped on Twitter to share their displeasures with the song. On Sunday, Fat Joe explained the verse in a tweet.

“I’ll adress the Benny verse i did that verse a year ago when the news was calling it the wuhan virus before they called it COVID i support and love all my asian brothers and sisters never hate,” he said in the post. The mention of the “Wuhan virus” is a poor and insensitive coronavirus reference, and with the song dropping amid the recent rise in anti-Asian attacks, it’s no surprise that fans were not happy with Fat Joe’s verse. The Harvey Weinstein name-drop was another reason the song faced criticism as he is currently serving a 23-year sentence on sexual assault and rape charges.

You can read his response above.

The Plugs I Met 2 is out now via Black Soprano Family. Get it here.

Loyola Chicago entered the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament as a favorite Cinderella pick for many, not because they were truly plucky underdogs, but because they were wildly under-seeded as an 8-seed. The Ramblers were a top-10 team in the KenPom rankings, and them being placed as an 8 felt more like the committee trying to create a highly anticipated showdown with top-seeded Illinois in a battle for state supremacy than them accurately placing the Ramblers into the field.

On Sunday, we got that showdown and the Ramblers dominated the Illini, 71-58, behind an historic performance from star big man and fan favorite of college hoops fans everywhere, Cameron Krutwig. Krutwig finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, and four steals, becoming the first player on an 8-seed or higher to put up that stat line against a 1-seed and win.

Krutwig isn’t the first of his kind, as there’s a long lineage of burly white guys who become March legends. There have been plenty of others, from Kevin Pittsnogle to Matt Stainbrook and many more, but Krutwig is the modern iteration of this archetype, playing as much with skill and finesse as he does brute strength. He is college basketball’s Nikola Jokic, a player you can’t believe dominates the game at a high level given his appearance, but when you watch him you can’t help but be enthralled by how a mostly floor-bound big man manages to take over in just about every aspect of a game.

To be clear, Krutwig isn’t the caliber of player Jokic is. He’s not a shooter and isn’t even a super efficient finisher at the rim, and while Jokic’s athleticism has long been the butt of jokes among NBA fans, Jokic is a better athlete than the Loyola big man. The similarities, however, are more than just aesthetic. And it’s hard not to make the comparison when you see how the Ramblers run so much of their offense through Krutwig, both on the block and at the elbow. His patience and refusal to play at any speed other than his own is quite Jokic-like, as he’ll simply stand at the elbow with the ball for three or four seconds, waiting for the teammate he wants to come get the ball on a dribble-handoff. His vision, touch, and timing as a passer is as good as you’ll find from a center at the collegiate level, slipping passes to cutters between defenders and hitting them in stride. While not an elite finisher, his offensive game is predicated on footwork, skill, and if those fail to get him right to the rim, off-rhythm push shots and floaters.

Look at this highlight package from Sunday’s win over Illinois, in which he was up against one of the most dominant physical forces in the country in Kofi Cockburn.

It’s all very Jokic-y. The passing, the footwork, the awkward finishes, even the strip at the end, just knowing Ayo Dosunmu wouldn’t be expecting it and taking advantage just feels very familiar. He doesn’t play above the rim, but he carves out space with that big body and uses leverage as well as anyone to get himself space to put a layup off the glass without being blocked. The play that I think solidified this comp for me more than any other was this touch pass early in the first half, where most players would need to grab the ball and take a beat, he simply bats it back to his teammate in the paint before the defense can recover.

If the Ramblers are going to make another Final Four run, it’ll be on the back of Krutwig’s funky play. We’ve seen the advent of the point forward in the post-LeBron era, as 6’8 creators become far more common and teams simply call on their best players to also initiate the offense. The next evolution is going to be more big men possessing these skills as the offensive orchestrators, not in the sense of bringing the ball up the floor, but once in the halfcourt, they’re the ones dictating and initiating from the elbow or top of the key.

Krutwig, despite looking like a 40-year-old who holds the record for most Portillo’s dogs eaten in one sitting, is that kind of player. The Ramblers have handed him the keys and the results speak for themselves, and as this tournament rolls on we all reap the rewards of watching one of the country’s most unique players dominate.

Sports can often shine an interesting light on the world, and apparently that includes the forthcoming CBS sitcom lineup.
The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, for example, floods CBS and its affiliate networks with viewers who may be unfamiliar with what else is playing on CBS when it’s not March and early April.

Indeed, sports fans had a strong reaction to a new CBS comedy from Chuck Lorre, whose trailer played a lot over the last few days. Called the United States of Al, it involves a former US soldier (Parker Young) who was deployed to Afghanistan and is struggling to readjust to post-war life in Ohio. His Afghan interpreter Awalmir (played by Adhir Kalyan) has also moved to the United States and is struggling to adjust to life in America.

The show’s trailer, which you can watch above, debuted about a fortnight ago. But over the weekend the footage went viral on Twitter, as people couldn’t believe the show’s premise and the flippant jokes.

The trailer also made Chuck Lorre, the show’s creator, trend on Twitter, as many criticized his past work as well. But the focus was about Al, and what was deemed at the very least a missed opportunity and at the most, wildly insensitive to the immigrant experience and the impact of a decades-long war in Afghanistan.

As The Hollywood Reporter pointed out on Sunday, an executive producer for the show posted a lengthy defense of it:

One of the show’s executive producers, Reza Aslan, responded to the criticism on Saturday, tweeting, “Maybe learn a little about the show, its creators, it’s producers, it’s four Afghan writers, it’s plot, and pretty much everything else before you announce your opinion of it. Just a thought,” and also, “Because it’s my show I can make sure that it is written and produced by Afghans and Muslims. That it uses the format to reframe the perception that people have of both. That it portrays a Muslim Afghan protagonist in a true and honest light.” He also challenged, “Fun fact: you haven’t seen it so can’t really comment from a place of knowledge now can you?”

That strong rebuke did nothing to slow that wave down, though, and Lorre’s shows are certainly not immune to criticism for their content. But we’ll just have to wait and see what the show is actually like when it debuts on April 1. No, really. That last part is not a joke.

Chika is enjoying a fairly good start to her 2021 year. She attended this year’s Grammy Awards in addition to being a nominated act in the Best New Artist category. She’s also a little over a week removed from the release of her Once Upon A Time EP. Despite this, she still faces disrespect from others on social media, and the latest example came from well-known blogger Perez Hilton.

It began when Chika shared a tweet about a past interaction with Hilton. “i distinctly remember perez hilton purposely misgendering me on here a couple years ago, but now his b*tch ass is playing cinderella (pt. 2) on his IG story without crediting me,” she said.

Hilton would respond in a now-deleted tweet writing, “Misgendering someone is assigning or referring the wrong gender to a person. I never gendered you. So the stupid one is you.” He added, “Hey, at least you’re stupid and making some money now. Xoxo.”

The rather tasteless response caused Chika to give the blogger a piece of her mind through a lengthy thread on Twitter. “1.) Saying he/she, even to someone whose gender you don’t know is wrong. Esp bc nonbinary and agender people exist. Which is why the majority of the intelligent population says ‘they,’” she said. “You adhered to the binary because you wanted to offend me, and that’s clear, doofus.” She added, “2.) You, yourself, as the f*ckin anal polyp you are have admitted that you know who I was PRIOR to ‘not gendering me.’ It was clear that I am a woman. But you trying to be cute actually showed your transphobia live and in stereo. You wanted to defeminize a black woman.”

In a third tweet, she continued, “3.) Even now, 3 years later, you’ve refused to acknowledge your sh*tty behavior — instead you’ve doubled down after using MYYY content on YOUUUR dead Instagram. You don’t have [the] decency to apologize for that, you tw*t.” In additional posts, she called Hilton the “cancer of an industry that will make my family wealthy forever,” a “waste of an existence,” and a “vile human being.”

You can watch the interaction in the post above, which Chika reposted on Instagram with the caption, “wanna see a ded bawdy?”

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

It’s never a good idea to believe everything Donald Trump says, and the same can be said for the people still working for him. His close allies claim the twice impeached former president is happier now that he’s been banned from Twitter for helping incite violence at the US Capitol on January 6.

Now they’re claiming he’s hard at work making a social media network all his own. That comes from Trump spokesperson Jason Miller, who appeared on TV on Sunday to tout a new Trump-centric social platform coming in a few months. As The Daily Beast laid out, Miller gleefully appeared on Fox News to talk about how much social media misses Trump. And so he’ll alleged return with a platform where he’s always the focus.

Miller called it “interesting” that Trump’s time away from Twitter and Facebook has seen his press releases still get traction on the network, though Miller dubiously says they’re getting “more” attention than his tweets ever did. The hyperbole continued as he made the big announcement: Trump is making his own social media site, which is “going to be big” and will attract “tens of millions” of MAGA followers.

“This is something that I think will be the hottest ticket in social media,” Miller said. “It’s going to completely redefine the game and everybody’s going to be waiting and watching to see what exactly President Trump does.” Miller made it clear in his appearance that the platform will be owned by Trump, and he’s coming back to social media in two or three months.

It’s important to note, though, that none of this adds up for a variety of reasons. There already are conservative-leaning platforms like Gab (and, formerly, Paler) out there, though the echo chamber of those has bored some who abandoned more traditional places like Twitter and Facebook to hang out with their more-riotous friends. Gaining sustained popularity on a social platform happens for a variety of reasons, but joining one just because you’re a fan of a disgraced president might not be as sustainable as many conservatives hope.

We’ll see if Trump’s social platform can get off the ground in just a few months, and if it ever finds any traction. As many have discovered in recent weeks, scaling a website is a tough order and building a platform can take a long time. And there’s another thing: as Parler has seen, finding hosting after you’ve helped incite an attempt to overthrow democracy may be difficult. But perhaps in his recent unemployment, Donald Trump has learned to code.

The second round of the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament saw a monster matchup between top-seeded Illinois and 8-seed Loyola Chicago, a top-10 KenPom team this year and one who many thought was woefully under-seeded. From the opening tip, the Ramblers took control on Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis, jumping out to an early lead, one they would never give back in a dominant 71-58 win.

On offense, Loyola dominated inside, shooting 26-for-51 from the field, attempting only 10 three-pointers and making four of them. They attacked downhill on the Illini, using dribble handoffs and pick-and-rolls to force the Illinois defense into tough decisions and seemingly always made the right read. On defense, they frustrated the Illini into a 22-for-49 shooting afternoon, including going just 4-for-14 from three-point range. All-American Ayo Dosunmu couldn’t find his stroke or get in any offensive rhythm, going 4-for-10 from the field for nine points with six turnovers. With Illinois’ star guards struggling, they relied heavily on big man Kofi Cockburn, who had 21 points and nine boards to keep the Illini in the game.

However, he faced a ton of pressure from the swarming Ramblers defense, and any time he failed to go quickly he had a double or triple team immediately swiping at the ball.

The Ramblers forced 15 Illinois turnovers, playing terrific defense, but it was their sensational offensive sets that gave the Illini fits all game. Cameron Krutwig, who has built a cult following for his appearance, reminded everyone just how good he is, playing a Jokic-esque game on Sunday with 19 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists, showing off his his insane touch both with passes and scoring at the rim.

Krutwig even capped the game off with a game-sealing steal, his third of the game.

It was a thorough and dominant performance from the Ramblers, which when the seeding came out felt like a wildly disrespected 8-seed, and proved why with a dismantling of the top-seeded Illini, who had dominated in the Big Ten Tournament a week ago. It’s also unfortunate for the Illini that they ran into a team the caliber of Loyola in the second round, as this was a second weekend matchup, not a second round matchup, and for them to exit in the first weekend isn’t indicative of their ability or quality as a top seed.

The Ramblers, meanwhile, look the part of a team ready to make another deep run, as they follow the lead of their veteran big man in Krutwig and play tremendous fundamental basketball on both ends of the floor, stressing opponents into near-perfect execution to be able to win.

Back in July, Florida’s Disney World reopened despite a coronavirus surge in the state. The park opened with a mask mandate that applied for all guests “ages 2 and up and Cast Members, including those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine.” These official guidelines came into play for Joey Badass when he and his family, which included his autistic cousin, took a trip to the theme park. Unfortunately for them, they were all turned away after they said Badass’ cousin could not enter without a mask.

The rapper criticized Disney World for the incident on Instagram in a video that captured some of the ordeal. In it, Badass can be seen approaching a security guard and two vacation planners at the park and questioning their decision to turn away his cousin. The video’s caption added more context to the situation.

“Here’s Luis, Cameron, and Kaitlyn and they just turned away an autistic child at Disney World because he didn’t want to wear his mask,” he said. “The child thinks the mask is suffocating, the child also has no idea why it is even a requirement. Not to mention that, kids under 2, doesn’t have to wear a mask. These guys have completely ruined my family’s trip.” He added, “We came out here 30+ for my daughters bday and they turned my lil cousin away, can’t even enjoy this experience anymore.”

It’s unclear how old the rapper’s little cousin is as it would factor into whether or not the mask guidelines would have applied. Disney has not issued a statement about the matter as well. You can watch the Badass’ video above.