Month: March 2021

The Los Angeles Lakers will be without the services of LeBron James for the foreseeable future. According to multiple media reports, the injury that James suffered on Saturday afternoon against the Atlanta Hawks has been ruled a high ankle sprain, and there is no timetable for him to return to action.

James suffered the injury on Saturday afternoon against the Atlanta Hawks. Solomon Hill dove for a loose ball and ended up rolling on James’ right ankle early on in the second quarter, which sent the reigning NBA Finals MVP down to the ground in serious pain. James attempted to stay in the game, but after making a three determined that he was unable to compete.

An x-ray on James’ ankle reportedly came back negative, which certainly is a relief for the Lakers, but losing him for an indefinite period of time can only be described as a disaster for a team that is already without Anthony Davis, who is likewise out for an indefinite period due to achilles tendonosis.

Currently, the Lakers sit 28-14 on the year, putting them in third place in the Western Conference despite being the same number of games back of the 1-seed as the Phoenix Suns. In the ultra-tight West, though, they are only four games ahead of the 7-seed San Antonio Spurs, which would put them in the play-in tournament if they fell that far.

The final game of the opening round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament will not take place. The NCAA announced on Saturday evening that the tilt between Oregon and VCU has been ruled a no-contest, citing issues due to COVID-19 with the Rams. As a result, the Ducks will move on to the round of 32.

In a statement, the NCAA said that it could not identify specific players or personnel members who tested positive, and it is unclear if this is a matter of multiple people testing positive or contact tracing holding out close contacts.

The game was set to be the 7-10 matchup in the West Region — Oregon was the higher-seeded of the two squads — with the winner moving on to face the winner of the 2-15 game between Iowa and Grand Canyon.

For the fifth time in eight years, Texas Southern won the SWAC and qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Still, as a lesser-known school, participating in March Madness means that the university gets a spotlight on a national stage, something that is always really cool, even if the Tigers have danced a few times over the years.

This usually means that schools get a few fun “Do You Know?” segments at one point or another when they play. For the HBCU out of Houston that took on Michigan on Saturday afternoon, this included a pair of their most famous alums getting shouts: Former NFL player and current television personality Michael Strahan, and Grammy Award-winning rapper Megan Thee Stallion.

Ian Eagle was tasked with reading this, and because he is Ian Eagle, he decided to have a little fun with this. When Megan’s name came up, Eagle joked that she passed along a message to the team and proceeded to do an impression that was less than stellar.

Eagle is a pro, and he’ll do a few silly things whenever he’s calling a game in any sport, but I’ll level with you: I did not anticipate him doing any part of “Body.” Just call him Ian Thee Eagle.

Kanye West’s net worth has been a topic of interest this week, as some new fashion deals made the rapper give himself the title of the world’s richest Black man. According to a report from Bloomberg, his new net worth was somewhere in the range of $5.1 billion and $6.6 billion. These numbers could be credited to his Yeezy brand which was valued between $3.2 billion to $4.7 billion and the brand’s partnership with Gap, which was reported to be valued as high as $970 million.

West was thought to have $122 million in cash and stock, $110 million from his music catalog, and $1.7 billion in other assets, but according to Forbes, these numbers were grossly inflated. The publication recently reported that the aforementioned numbers were based on West’s speculative wealth and not on the actual money and assets he owns.

According to calculations from Forbes, West’s net worth is about $1.8 billion, a significantly large drop from the initial numbers. The correction comes as his Yeezy company was altered for a $1.5 billion valuation and not the $3.2 billion to $4.7 billion range that was initially given. Forbes added that the $970 million number of the Yeezy and Gap partnership is extremely speculative since the brands’ first collaboration has yet to be released.

Forbes also said that West’s reported $1.7 billion in assets was exaggerated, as the actual number is $160 million. This number was calculated based on a balance sheet that was obtained from the rapper’s team. The value of his art, jewelry, vehicles, furniture, and livestock proved that the $1.7 billion was inaccurate.

Despite the correction, West’s net worth still experienced a jump from $1.3 billion to $1.8 billion since he was announced as hip-hop’s second billionaire last year.

Justin Bieber is a little over a day removed from the release of his sixth album, Justice. While longtime Beliebers are happy that the new project is finally here, many of them hoped it would contain one of the singer’s unreleased songs— namely “Red Eye,” which was not made available on his album Changes following its debut in the singer’s 2020 documentary Seasons. While the song is not on the digital version of his sixth album, Bieber has given his supporters another way to get their hands on it.

The “Peaches” singer announced on Saturday that fans could obtain “Red Eye” by purchasing a special edition of Justice from his website. The song, which lists British DJ Troyboi as a guest act, can be bought on three different editions of Justice, each one boasting its own cover art.

The release of Justice didn’t come without a bit of controversy. Bieber faced some criticism for including Martin Luther King Jr. clips on the album. However, the King family gave Bieber the thumbs up for the move. “Thank you, @justinbieber, for your support, in honor of #Justice, of @TheKingCenter’s work and of our #BeLove campaign,” Bernice King, MLK’s daughter and CEO of The King Center, wrote in a tweet.

“Red Eye” is available for purchase on Bieber’s website here.

Justice is out now via Def Jam. Get it here.

LeBron James appeared to suffer an injury on Saturday afternoon during the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Atlanta Hawks. Early on in the second quarter of play, James and Atlanta Hawks forward Solomon Hill went for a loose ball, and Hill accidentally rolled up on James’ right leg.

While James attempted to stay in the game, merely heading over to the sideline and relacing his shoes, he pulled himself out after hitting a triple — James stood in the corner on the play and did not try to test his leg. Understandably, James was visibly frustrated as he headed to Los Angeles’ locker room.

The team eventually announced that James is our for the remainder of the game with a right ankle injury.

The Lakers are already without one of their two All-Star selections, as Anthony Davis has not played since mid-February due to achilles tendonosis. Being without Davis is already a gigantic burden for the Lakers, and not having James for any period of time would be a major lift. James has also been vocal about his desire to be named league MVP this season, and while he has been outstanding, being sidelined would potentially hurt his candidacy. On the year, Los Angeles is 28-13, two games back of the Utah Jazz for the one-seed in the Western Conference.

We’ll keep you updated as more information comes in about James’ status going forward and the extent of this injury.

Last summer, Lizzo signed a first-look television contract with Amazon Studios to draft and produce an upcoming series. The show that resulted finds the singer on the hunt for “dynamic full-figured women to join her world and perform with her on stage.” While it’s unknown when the show will arrive on the platform, she recently put out a PSA that called plus-sized models and dancers to apply for possible roles in the series.

“I BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE!” she exclaimed in an Instagram video that finds her on a boat surrounded by women. “Are you a full figured dancer or model? Have you felt underrepresented and under appreciated? THEN I’M LOOKIN FOR YOU! It’s time to find my dream team of beautifully talented big grrrls and @amazonstudios is helping ya grrrl on this journey!” She added, “We are casting NOW so head to BigGrrrls.com to apply. @AmazonPrimeVideo – it’s time to change the game!”

Shortly after Lizzo’s TV contract was announced, the head of Amazon Studios, Jennifer Salke, spoke about her excitement for their collaboration with the Grammy-winning singer. “Lizzo is one of the most exciting, creative, joyful artists in the industry, and it is such a pleasure to announce this new deal with her,” she said. “She has such a unique perspective and we’re so excited to hear her ideas for new content that our Prime Video customers are sure to love.”

To read more about the role Lizzo is looking to cast, click here.

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

In the wake of the tragic mass shooting in the Atlanta area, which ended with eight people dead, six of them Asian, there has been growing awareness of the bigotry faced by AAPI communities. And as always, it’s comics who to say what those in power won’t. Amber Ruffin, whose self-titled late night Peacock show began late last month, devoted a segment of Friday’s show to laying out the long history of anti-Asian racism coursing through American history and up to the present day.

“America has a long, violent history of scapegoating Asian people, which I, a comedian, will try to tell you about in the five minutes I have between commercials because the American school system has failed us all,” Muffin said.

She touched on our present — how crimes again Asian-Americans skyrocketed 150% last year. “It’s really impossible — Trump — to say — Trump — why something like that — Trump — would happen,” Ruffin explained. “But I do know that anti-Asian violence spiked after Trump and other Republicans started referring to the coronavirus as the ‘China virus’ and other racist terms.”

Ruffin then dove back into history, talking about the “model minority myth,” the “Yellow Peril myth,” the 1871 Chinese massacre in Los Angeles, the Federal Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Japanese internment camps of World War II, and more — all right up to the president and his many supporters referring to COVID-19 as the “China virus” and “Kung Flu.”

“America does not get to hide from its racist past or present,” said Ruffin. “What we’re not gonna do is act like white supremacy isn’t at the root of all this. Contrary to everything this country was built on, white men don’t get to decide who lives and who dies. White people don’t get to decide our humanity.”

You can watch the whole segment from The Amber Ruffin Show in the video above.

(Via EW)

Benny The Butcher recently dropped a sequel to The Plugs I Met, his album from two years ago. While many expected to talk about the high-quality raps, one of its songs has sparked some controversy due to a few lines that Fat Joe, who appears on the project, rapped during a verse.

On “Talkin’ Back,” Fat Joe raps, “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 (ODB).” Listeners were upset with the lines for a pair of reasons. First, they were not pleased with him name-dropping Weinstein, who is currently serving a 23-year sentence on sexual assault and rape charges. Secondly, there was the mention of the “Wuhan virus,” a poor and highly insensitive coronavirus reference, which was seen as especially insensitive given the current rise in anti-Asian attacks, such as the mass shooting that occurred in Atlanta earlier this week. As a result, many took to Twitter to share their displeasures with Fat Joe and his verse.

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

It seems pretty safe to say that Brad Stevens is not going to be the next head basketball coach at Indiana University. Despite the fact that there are plenty of Hoosiers fans who would like the Indiana native to return to the college ranks and take over his home state’s program, Stevens has said on multiple occasions that he is not going to leave the Boston Celtics.

Any final hope of this seemed to get stomped out on Friday, when Stevens met with the media before the Celtics played the Sacramento Kings and made clear that he has become a “Masshole” who eats food from Dunkin’ Donuts and roots for the New England Patriots. Now, hopeful Hoosiers fans can move on to other candidates, but first, one decided to take a unique approach to mourning the dream coming to an end.

Someone took up a tiny bit of real estate outside of Indiana’s Assembly Hall, one of the sites where the all-Hoosier State NCAA Tournament is taking place, by framing a photoshopped picture of Stevens in Bob Knight-inspired threads and laying it out with some candles.

This is extremely funny, and the fan who thought to toss it together deserves to be commended for this. Here’s to hoping that whomever the Hoosiers hire makes them as happy as Stevens seemingly would have.